Question 4 How did you use new media technologies in the research, planning, construction, and evaluation stages?

Throughout the course of our music video project we have used a wide array of different technologies in each different aspect of production.

In the initial research stages we mostly used the internet for finding different examples of music videos. Watching the videos via YouTube and other video sharing sites and afterwards they were compiled on a PowerPoint along with some research into the indie genre and research into the different institutions that could publish a music video of this genre. Once the PowerPoint was complete it was uploaded to our Weebly website.

YouTube was a massive help in helping us discover and link back to other similar music videos to what we wanted to produce, and in seeing these videos we drew inspirations and design ideas that would ultimately show up in the final video. PowerPoint was also useful in neatly displaying the research we had undergone, as well as keeping it more visually appealing when it was eventually uploaded to the website.

Weebly was a greatly important part of every stage of development, as it served as a useful place to store each individual piece of work we completed including this evaluation question now.

The planning stage included shooting the animatic, and planning the final locations for the music video. For the animatic we shot each scene using a digital camera and that footage was later uploaded to Adobe Premiere Pro where the file was edited and eventually uploaded to YouTube. The animatic can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybVJANKYitQ&feature=youtu.be

Once we were happy with our animatic we used Microsoft Publisher to create a questionnaire reviewing the animatic. This questionnaire was printed out and tested, and then the results were scanned and placed back on our website. Most of our planning was laid out into another PowerPoint, which could then be transferred to the website each slide at a time.

By using cameras and shooting our animatic this saved us a great deal of time, as compared to writing a storyboard or drawing one. By shooting the storyline we were able to have some understanding of how each location and each scene would take shape because we were the ones actually taking part in the shoot. Premiere Pro seemed like the best program to use when editing the animatic. We were able to fit all the shots together and create continuity within our storyboard without the need to flick through a PowerPoint later on. The animatic was then uploaded to YouTube where the link could easily be embedded onto the website, allowing for simple easy viewing.

When creating the questionnaire, Publisher seemed like the best program to use as it offers a wider array of editing tools than Word. We were able to create a neat, good looking Questionnaire with very little hassle. PowerPoint was used again for some of our planning work as it allowed us to segment each separate element of planning, as well as giving it a much more presentable appearance when added to the website.

The construction stage included several different technologies including a digital camera used to shoot the final music video as well as most of the shots for the digipak and magazine advert. For the music video, Premiere Pro was used again to piece together all the shots used and insert the song over the top. We needed to make sure that the music video was edited correctly, with the lip syncing matching the song as well as the transitions seeming smooth and natural. The video was later uploaded to YouTube for easier viewing.

The Digipak and the Advert were both created using Adobe Photoshop, as well as gathering some images from Google; such as band logos and company logos.

After a mostly positive experience creating our animatic we decided that using digital cameras, followed by Premiere Pro, seemed like the best method to create our music video as we already had some experience creating and editing there. YouTube was again very helpful in storing both our finished Music Video as well as a rough draft taken a few weeks before. The YouTube links can now be easily viewed on our Website, and the rough draft was used for basing another questionnaire on a more refined version of our production. Draft Video: https://youtu.be/wKoxvdW3edE Finished Video: https://youtu.be/suzzbHWmNC0

Photoshop seemed like the best program to use when creating my Digipak and Advert, mainly because I had experience in using the program from my music magazine project last year. Photoshop offers a very large plethora of tools and resources that can be used to improve the overall quality and appearance of the advert and digipak. By getting some brand logos from Google, I was able to insert them into Photoshop and add them to the work. This was done to add some of the more conventional features of an album cover or advert, such as logos, bar codes and where you can find the songs.

For all four of the evaluation questions, a first draft was written up in Microsoft Word so that each question could be explained as descriptively as possible, and then that would allow me to pick and choose what piece of the evaluation goes where once the answers are transferred over to another piece of media. I decided to use Prezi and PowerPoint to present my questions, as I thought it would allow me to present my points one by one, as well as accompanying my evaluation with images to help get the point across.