Evaluation 4

Evaluation 4- How did you use media technologies in construction, research, planning and evaluation stages?

Firstly I thought that it was a good idea to gather all the technologies I used in my portfolio and present it on http://www.glogstar.com/:



We have used the Adobe softwares greatly throughout the whole of our project. Without the use of these softwares it would have seriously hindered our work and would not have given it the proffesional edge. We have never used these softwares before our project, apart from photoshop which we used in our foundation portfolio at AS. However although using these technologies were not easy, we intended to explore into them and become knowledgeable before using them. We did this through http://www.youtube.com/ we accessed many great tutorials online that took us through the process of using final cut step by step.

By clicking on the grab shot of the tutorial below, it will directly take you to the youtube videos we watched to do with final cut pro.

Final cut was the first time my group members and I have ever used an editing software and there were many different tools we had to get used to. This was essential otherwise we would not have been able to add post production effects (what we really wanted to do).

Using the cameras

However, before all of this we need to actually use a video camera to film... On our first day of filming in Camden we used a Canon HD e03od camera. We particularly liked this camera due to its stunning HD lens however had lots of different functions that we had to get used to before hand. Due to the fact we filmed with a HD camera this meant we had to use memory cards to record the footage instead of using tapes. This did have SOME benefits, like the fact we could re watch what we just filmed compared to a tape. However, we found it very challenging due to the size of the footage. We had to use a total of 6 Memory cards on day one! Which happened to take a lot of time away as we constantly changed it. However, this allowed us to upload our footage using a memory card reader, this was very easy and simple to do because all you had to do was find your movie clips and import them into final cut..

Simple? Additionally, the major problem we faced with this is when we placed it into final cut, due to the size of the footage every time we edited the movie clip we had to render it.. which took a very long time.

Here is a quick photo animation of the technologies used and mentioned above: This was created in Picasion.com which allowed moving photos on our blogs.

This did take a lot of time away from us and become increasingly difficult to work with, especially with such fast pace editing. We then had a group talk and thought we needed to be more effiecent with time management, therefore we decided to use a video camera instead. Though, we used the camera for our digipak and some parts of our music video which was very beneficial to us.

Independant research/construction of evaluations:
When it came to research and evaluation stages I didn't want to simply type everything because this looks a bit boring and I wanted to make it look a bit pretty...

(My own research)
Throughout my research I believe I have used different technologies to present my findings. I particuarly enjoyed working with http://www.prezzi.com/ an poster/presentation software which allows you to post pictures, videos and texts onto a poster online. I very much liked this when researching because it was a fun way of displaying what I had found and also allows others to view whilst on my blog.

Furthermore, throughout my blog I have used voice animators which I have found particularly enjoyable and useful http://www.voki.com/ and http://www.goanimate.com/ I believe this allows interaction and a chance for personal opinion.

When it came to my evaluations, I was aware that there were four questions therefore thought that it was the perfect opportunity to display media techologies. In evaluation 1, I wanted to present my answer using final cut. I recorded myself using a voice note under the format of AMR which I uploaded into MPEG streamclip and transfered into final cut. This allowed me to answer my question whilst showing on scream my evidence.

I also wanted to present my feedback in a different way, which was anonymous. I think this was a good idea because it meant that people could be honest. I presented this on Wallwisher.com which allowed my peers to add notes to the board. I do believe this was very effective because it shows all the opinions across the media feedback.

Throughout my coursework you will see lots of different short documentaries that I have created on my own using final cut pro. Due to using this technology in the construction stages, I become quite knowledgeable of the software at the end of the process therefore thought that it was a good idea to present my evaluations in this way. However, it did have its limitations to it. As you can see on my blog I have done short documentaries for evaluation 1,2,3 and 4. This was very time consuming however believe it is engaging.

I initially recorded myself on my iPhone and emailed the voice record to my computer, then I was able to import this into final cut where I would place it in audio section. After I did this I had to show images of the construction process and compare it to existing media (evaluation 1). However the only limitation of this way of presenting my work is the fact it was very time consuming because I had to render it totally when I finished which took approximately 20 minutes..

Spider Diagrams/Drop down menus

In the research process, we spent a lot of time conducting our work using spider diagrams. This was a good way of researching within a group because we were able to all place our opinions on one sheet. However we found a website which allowed us to present this using technology, this was www.bubblr.com which was used within our target audience research as shown by the grab shot below.

Adobe Photoshop

Digipak- My responsibility. Here I have made a short documentary using photoshop and Final cut to explain to you how I used photoshop in the digipak and more importantly why I did.

Vicky however was responsible for making the magazine advert and other digipak therefore I have not incorporated this into the below documentary.

Here is screen shot of 5 minutes that was recorded on Jing. It captures my screen when showing exactly how I used photoshop to create the digipak.

Vicky and Emily's responsibily-

Final cut pro

Explanation to how we used Final cut pro

To create our main product, our music video. We used final cut pro for our editing Rough cut and final cut.

Below is a short video constructed by Vicky on Jing. This caputures a short section of how the editing took place and how she did it. Firstly we had to import the clips and audio into final cut. Once all shots were imported this allowed us to place them onto the timeline and start the editing process.

We had to make sure we locked this tab so the audio did not move.
Once the first two shots were placed into the timeline, we added a cross dissolve effect in which was found under effects. This was one effect that is particularly prominent in our music video. Furthermore, our music video had many overlays therefore Vicky thought it was a good idea to display this on Jing.

As you can see we adjusted the black line below and this allowed us to change the opacity- allowing two shots on screen at the same time. We found out how to do this on Youtube.com tutorials.

Blogger

It would be surprising if we did not mention Blogger and how we used it in our media portfolio. Blogger has been used to present our work, through AS to A2. It has allowed us to use media technologies and exhibit this through a different way to just writing on a piece of paper. With the use of the HTML coding we have been able to showcase our videos, audios, brainstorms and slideshows. We were able to get these codes through multiple websites we found on google.com.Without blogger it would have seriously limited our use of media technology as we would not have been able to showcased our work using different methods.

Conclusion- limitations and strengths of using technologies:

Overall I believe I have used many different media technologies to present my work. This has been used during the research process, consturction of my portfolio and the final evaluation stages. Using blogger to present my portfolio has opened up the opportunity to use a wide rang of technologies that are avaliable at the click of the mouse. As shown above, it has made my portfolio look proffesional and allows interaction with the person viewing the blog.

However, using these diverse technologies has also come with limitations and drawbacks. For me, probably the only bad thing would be that sometimes the embedded HTML codes would not work on my blog therefore would not be displayed. In these cases, I had to result to screen grabbing the image and placing it as a hyperlink. Furthermore, many of the technologies I have used have been very complicated this has mean't that I have had to do research before using them to ensure I knew what I was doing.

However I have thoroughly enjoyed using different media technologies and will definitely help me in the future.

Evaluation 3

Evaluation 3
What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Here we posted our music video on Facebook because by doing this we would reach a mass audience and could gather lots of different feedback. We then took screenshots of this to display:



I thought that it was a good idea to get our audience feedback to post online their opinions, by doing this the feedback would not be bias and can be left anonymous which will improve the validity. As you can see we have got a range of different feedback opinions however a lot of them say the like the strobe lighting the most which is the most prominent feature of our music video.



Our target audience

As you can see below, we invited all year 13 media students to the room at lunch time to watch our music video. We each did this for each others coursework pieces because we thought that it was an effective way of giving audience feedback. It also gave us a chance to look at our own media video at a different perspective.




(Video directed and created by the group)

As a group we have put together a short interview documentary of the feedback we found from our target audience. We did this via final cut (Evaluation 4- use of technologies).







Evaluation of feedback

Overall we were very happy with our feedback, we believe it reflected our hard work. However we also believe we got back constructed criticism. The whelming majority of people believed that the lip syncing was slightly out of time though they thoroughly liked the split screen, high street scene and strobe lighting- Which I believe compensates for it.

Evaluation 2(By myself)

2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

We constructed two digipaks because we were unsure of which we preferred as shown below:

Our task was to create a promotional package for the album "escape" by Bloc party. To create brand identity across the 3 products it was essential that we used the same images, font and iconography.
It is essential our product would fit into our target market.

GoAnimate.com: Indie target audience by sjansen1



Audience feedback on how effective our ancilliary tasks were, correlating with our music video.
When showcasing our final cut to our target audience we asked the audience to fill out a questionnaire.

One of the questions was "Do you think our ancillary tasks linked to the video"?

Here I have constructed a pie chart to display my audiences feedback on the above question. As you can see the majority replied with "yes" agreeing that the ancillary tasks did link in well with the video.

(I made this graph and asked my peers,using Excel)

Overall here was our feedback:

Ellie Blanchez: "Yes you can definitely see a tangible link from all media platforms, I especially like the way you have kept the same colours across all media products- this gives great continuity and a promotional recognition. If I had seen the music video then came across a billboard of the music magazine I would know straight away who and what it was for. Well done!"

Image of Beth writing feedback:

Beth:" I can tell that you have used screenshots from the music video, so straight away this gives a link. However, I also like the way you have shown Jake across all three tasks- Letting the audience know who the artist is, which is important".

Lighting across all 3 tasks:

Our choice of lighting links very well to the dark setting which is created in all 3 tasks and also would be a memorable factor to our house style. The majority of our feedback pointed out that they loved the use of strobe lighting and was different to any other videos our year has created- therefore we already know that this is the main aspect that stands out. With this, it was a good idea that we used this in our magazine advert so when customers would see this audience they would directly link this back with our video.
Our audience has a female minority however I believe the strobe lighting would appeal to any gender of our target audience 16-25 because it creates the setting for a club scene/electronica band which is very much fashionable for this market.







Below I have added the script that has been placed into the slideshare presentation, this is a word documented which has been uploaded:

(Presentation made by myself)
The presentation below goes through the narrative, font, protagonist and how we would change our portfolio if we could.

Evaluation 2

View more presentations from sjansen2473.

Evaluation 1 (By myself)

In what ways does your media products use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The conventions of our digipak have been placed in our research which can be allocated via this link: Magazine Advert

Digipak Conventions

How did our product challenge the conventions?

Although we researched and used many conventions of a music video we also challenged them to some extent, to make them unique and different. With our narrative, we wanted to steer away from the stereoptypical narrative of boy breaks up with girl, and then gets back together. Instead, we wanted to create a sense of confusion between the characters and gives an ending that didn't totally give away the narrative. Therefore, instead we slowed down the pace of editing and showed a long distance shot of Jake walking away.

This could suggest a possibility for a part 2 or follow on from the music video which would inevitably increase sales and be a promotional tool for fans.

Cover Art

Distorting our cover art

When constructing our digipak we wanted to see what it would look like in a different perspective. As you can see below this is a 4 panel digipak template that would be used in the real media world.

To place our digipak on this template we had to open Photoshop and distort our image which is shown in the grab shot below. I had to upload it into the tab then click free transform and distort image to place it in the angle of the template.


This is the template for digipak which we got from google images.





As you can see here are the two finished products. We thought that it was essential to do this because it allows the audience to see exactly how the album would look in stores where it would be sold.

Digipak construction [2]

Powerpoint presentations

I thought that it was a good idea to make two powerpoints to illustrate the construction and planning that went into making our Digipaks. I will firstly start with showing you on the first powerpoint the potential photographs we want to use, then In the second slide I will show you the process of our front cover.

Front page construction:

This is the picture we have chosen for our front page. I personally really like this photo; it is captivating and makes you drawn into it- which is very important for the promotional vehicle. This photo is actually a grab shot taken from our video therefore is actually good because we are showing continuity and house style.


Next we added the font to see how it would look together, and looking at the image below it did look professional. However, we are far from our finished product. I do not like the "wash out" effect and neither did our teacher. Therefore, we are going to work carefully on using the brightness, contrast, gamma and saturation in photoshop.

Text
This was very important in our construction of our front cover, we had to make it look realistic however we had to also make it look like Bloc party's font to keep the house style. We needed to put the masthead in bold with the album title in a normal font type.






Tools I used on photoshop:

Due to the fact we are working with a close up shot of our actor it was a good idea to use the spot healing tool to eliminate any blemishes and tidy the photo up. Furthermore, we depended greatly upon our effects in order to enhance the overall colour and make it more appealing- This is extremely important because it is the front cover therefore the image that customers will be buying upon.
We also used the eyedrop tool to take the colour from Jakes hair and apply it to the digipaks background, this is the way in which we were developing the sense of continuity and house style within our brand.

This is an example of using the spot healing tool, as you can see we simply selected the tool and placed it upon the blemishes we wished to eliminate. This helped make our front cover look professional and look attractive to our audience who would be buying the product.

The process of CD Construction

Final Magazine Advert