Evaluation; Question Four

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

In this technological age, using new media technologies is vital when constructing, researching, planning and evaluating media products.
When constructing my own product I used a range of different technologies in order to research, plan, construct and evaluate my A2 Promo Video Coursework.

Research

Before constructing or even planning to make a music video; there was a considerable amount of research that needed to be done.
Firstly I researched some of my personal, favourite music videos on Youtube to get an idea of what elements go into a music video. Once I had an idea of what to include into a music video, the next step was to find and receive permission from an unsigned artist.

To do this I used Unsigned.com; which is a website dedicated to showcasing talented unsigned artists. On Unsigned.com is where I found Charly Houston.

I listened to the song on her profile page (caption above), instantly I really liked her easy listening style. To find out more about Charly, I looked on her Youtube channel, that is where I found her song 'Paper People.'

(Below: Charly's Youtube Page)

I then emailed Charly asking for her permission to use her song 'Paper People' for my Music Video coursework.

Once I received permission, I then researched further into my chosen artist to get a better insight into her music and to get an idea of what to include in the video.
I looked on her Soundcloud, Myspace and Facebook pages.

Audience Research

For my audience research, I created a survey using Survey Monkey, the website is highly accessible and user friendly; this made the creation of the survey very quick and easy to create.

Once all results were collected, I used the 'Analysis' feature on Survey Monkey, to further breakdown the results.
I then presented the data collected on Survey Monkey using Padlet.com. I embedded my 'wall' onto my blog, the 'wall' itself is interactive and allows you to be creative in how you use the feature.
(Below: my wall; which is featured on my blog)

Planning

When planning the music video I used google docs, which I downloaded from our media department's blog. I used google docs for the Risk Assessment and the Contingency Plan.

The treatment was uploaded to slideshare; which I then embedded in my blog.

The animatic was made using Windows Movie Maker, which is a basic editing program.
The rest of the planning were published as blog posts on my blog page.

Construction

When filming our video, I used a Canon HV20 camera, which records in High Definition.

(Picture below of filming in Hainault)

To edit the footage we used Final Cut Express. Final Cut Express is a professional editing software which allows you to edit many different medias.

I used Adobe Photoshop to make the magazine advert and the digipak. Photoshop has many sophisticated tools to enable you to create professional looking images. Once I got used to the program, it was very easy to use.

(Below: editing an image for he digipak)

Evaluation

For my first and second evaluation questions I used Slideshare which is a website that allows you to search and upload PowerPoint presentations, videos and word documents. Slideshare is very easy and straight forward to use, and is very popular.

I used Prezi for my third evaluation, I included screen grabs from Survey Monkey.

And for my forth evaluation question, and final blog post which you are reading now, I used Blogger.com - a website that I have blogged about the whole coursework process. Blogger is a diverse blog website that covers a range of topics; you can search, read and follow certain blogs as you wish and it's free. 

Evaluation; Question Three

Evaluation; Question Two

Evaluation; Question One

Review of Music Video

Evaluation
The dark colours and empty location are all conventions of the acoustic genre, as well as the use of instruments and lip syncing are typical conventions of most music videos.

The slow paced editing matches the slow pace of the song and adds to the sombre mood of the video. The dissolves are effective as they help to transition the video from one scene/location to the next. Generally, the video transitions help to bring out the mood of the song hence making the meaning of the video apparent to the viewer. 

In the video there is only one character: a young female. In the video the actor can appear fragile and vulnerable in some parts ( such as the forest scenes); but in the guitar and dance shots she seems strong and dominant. I wouldn't say that there is use of stereotypes in the video as the video is not about a statement on society or political views.    

I would imagine if the video was to be played on any music channels it would probably be on 4Music and Smash Hits! as they are music channels targeted at the younger viewers aged between 14- 24 years old; and perhaps MTV Rocks as they show alternative and acoustic music videos as well as rock videos. Due to the content of the video, I would say that the video would be able to be shown during the day as there is no offencive content.

Finished Music Promo Video

Here is the finished music promo video for 'Paper People'

Video Narrative: The narrative of the video is that the protagonist is looking for clarity on a present event, the protagonist has to over come self-conflict and doubt to find the answer which she is searching for.

The Finished Digipak

This is our finished digipak, which I edited using Photoshop.

After much debate, we changed the front cover of the digipak because the original photo was blurred and pixeluated. I think that the new front cover reflects the genre more and it is more stronger visually. It also looks like a real front cover of a CD/Digipak which is an added bonus.