Final Evaluation - Question 4

Question4  – how did you use media technology in the construction research planning and evaluation stages.

Through the Duration of this coursework technology has been integral to delivering the final product. During the research, evaluation and planning stages it was clear that office tools would be used heavily. Programs such as Microsoft Word, Powerpoint and Excel were used. Word and powerpoint were used for presenting research findings in the forms of essays, reports or presentations. Whilst Excel was used for compiling and sorting quantitative data from the research. Microsoft Office became essential during this stage of the coursework as it enabled us to clearly organise our notes and thoughts. We used the office because of its ubiquitous availability and compatibility meaning that documents could easily be edited on the college network as well as at home.

Still during the research, evaluation and planning stages we used the internet as a powerful resource for finding out information. In particular sites that were used the most were video hosting sites such as DailyMotion, Vimeo and Youtube. These sites were used because of the abundance of music videos hosted on these sites. Other sites used for finding information include wikipedia and Reverbnation. The latter was of particular value due to the fact that the information was coming direct from the artist themselves thus meaning that you can guarantee that it is trusted.

With regards to the construction of the actual texts we used a array of different programs. Some of the programs we used included Photoshop and Final cut pro. Photoshop was used for editing of the digipack, magazine advert and parts of the music video. The advantage of using photoshop rather than the design tools within final cut pro is that because it is a dedicated photo editing tool the features are more refined, thus meaning we can create a better quality. This is also the same reason as to why we used it during the construction of the digipack and the magazine advert. Final cut pro is the industry standard and often program of choice by most editors which is one of the reasons we used it. It encompasses a large catalogue of features, effects and tools which can be used in the construction of our music video. The intuitive interface was also helpful in aiding the construction as we could clearly see all the necessary information on the screen at the same time.

In the construction we also used both a digital slr camera and a camcorder. With the camcorder the particular model we used was a Canon xm2. The still camera was used for location scouting and other things whilst the camcorder was used for the primary purpose of recording the footage which would later be used within the music video. Other technology also used included a track and dolly which was used for some shots indoors. Dispute the fact that the shots were not used within the final product using the dolly and tracks was beneficial as it enabled smooth movement of the camera without the need of a Steady-cam. The steady-cam was also briefly used in some shots, and was useful too as it enabled us to shot long takes without the complication of tracks.