Evaluation

Question 4

The research was a vital component in order to create my ancillary texts and my music video.

Using a wide variety of media technologies helped me quickly establish my target market

and different options I could take for appealing to them as successfully as possible.

BloggerBlogger was the main media technology that allowed me to

complete and post all research and planning surrounding the ancillary texts and the main product – the music video. The blog enabled me to post all ideas and inspiration during the research

stages of this process. This could be achieved in various ways; either through embedded codes to videos from YouTube, images,

or simple text posts either produced directly on Blogger or documents from Scribd. In addition, when completing both the

ancillary texts and the main product, it allowed peers to post feedback, which I was then able to analyse and review. This

feedback was used when developing drafts and, ultimately, when evaluating the overall success with the texts and main piece.

Blogger reflects the effort and standards that have been produced throughout the research, planning, and evaluation stages.

MacBook Pro

My MacBook Pro contributed massively during the research and planning stages, construction, and evaluation. This allowed me to store all footage,

photos, and documents to then enable me to post new information onto my blog. All of the other

technologies that I have stated, in some way, lead back to this piece of equipment. Without this, I feel

that I would have struggled to complete the research and planning stages to a high standard.

YouTube/TubeChopYouTube was extremely helpful to both my music and ancillary texts. I first used YouTube to research the current videos that

suited my genre and fitted into my target market. I was able to use the embed code from these and insert them into my blog posts so that I could refer back to them later for inspiration. I

found this useful during the planning process of my storyboard so I could refer quickly back to videos that I liked and take

inspiration from the conventions that they portrayed and that were popular amongst the audience. When referring to specific elements, I was able to capture screen shots from the platform

to pick out key shots that may have been useful for my own product during the later development of the planning process.

YouTube/TubeChopI used YouTube also during the editing process of my music

video. For example, I was able to quickly type in a function that I could not perform on iMovie and find tutorials that other users had created. This was relevant as I found a tutorial on how to

layer text over a piece of film, which was necessary for the opening titles at the start of the music video.

I also used YouTube as a platform to present the different drafts of my music video. This helped me further in other stages such as feedback as it meant it was easily accessible by my peers and

also allowed me to see how my video would look completed. During the final construction stages I used YouTube as the

platform to present my final video. By doing this, I was able to share a link to the final video on the artist’s Twitter account,

allowing fans the opportunity to watch and comment.

Safari

By using the search engine, Safari, on my MacBook Pro, I was able to compile a range of images that

fitted into the style that I decided upon for my artist. This helped me quickly find new ideas and inspiration

that I did not originally decide upon. This was a significant tool when conducting mood boards on

costume and makeup, as I was able to gather images that, I felt, best represented the image that I was

aiming to achieve. Any inspiration that I found would then be posted onto Blogger open to feedback.

Animoto

Animoto was a really easy platform used to present my ideas visually, which gave myself and my peers a better indication as to what route I was taking. This

was especially useful as I was able to add images and text alongside the song that I decided to base my music video upon. This assured me that the song

would work effectively alongside my visual concept. By presenting my idea in a creative and visual way, I was able to transfer my ideas easily to my audience

and receive feedback quickly.

Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word is common platform to present texts, which I have previous experience in using. Therefore

it was an easy choice to use this when presenting materials that I have analysed. For example, I used it during the research process of analysing real digipaks

and magazine adverts. I was able to present this analysis and identify conventions alongside the

material. I could then come back to it if I needed to, so that I could add more detail and edit previous

mistakes before publishing the document.

iMovieiMovie was used for the planning process of my music video.

This was used when creating an animatic of the shots that I had decided upon for my music video, previously laid out in a paper storyboard. This was a quick video-making format for presenting

this and I was able to export the footage, ready to present.iMovie was also used during the editing process, as this was the

central platform in the construction of my music video that allowed me to edit the raw footage I had previously captured on the SLR D3100 Nikon camera and form them together to reach

my final product. I had vague previous knowledge of this software, however never in such detail. Although, it was not

difficult to soon get to grabs with the software and I could easily find YouTube tutorials on any issues that I had.

iMovie

iMovie gave me a wide range of options to explore when editing my video; I could insert all of my raw footage into the library, which then allowed me watch clips I had shot before I began to insert them into

the video timeline. This speeded up the process significantly, allowing me more time to edit the footage. I also used the timeline zooming in

and slow motion viewing mode to ensure that items such as the lip syncing of the video was precise to the lip movements.

In terms of the editing features, the interior projection shots were left to the default settings, as these resulted in the best quality footage. However, I edited the properties of every exterior shot to have 0%

saturation. This made the shots black and white, whilst maintaining the professional look, as the natural lighting was not affected.

ScribdI used Scribd in the research process to present my ideas from documents that I had formed in

Microsoft Word. I prefer Scribd to host my documents as it presents them clearly and can

be zoomed in and out. By uploading documents into my Scribd account, I could then use the

embed code to then insert it into Blogger. This medium could also allow my research to be read

by other Scribd users.

TwitterI used Twitter to promote my artist. Twitter is becoming one of the most popular social networking sites that are used by music artists of all genres to promote their new

releases and gain fans. Therefore it was an important platform in imitating this process otherwise my artist would have lacked a marketing strategy. I mainly used

this social networking platform via my iPhone as an app – by doing this, I was able to take quick snaps of my

artist during filming periods and upload them onto the Twitter account. This provided on-the-move

communication between the artist and their fans.

SLR Nikon D3100 Camera

For the construction process of producing my music video, I used an SLR Nikon D3100 camera to capture the footage.

The camera functions were relatively straightforward to use so the raw footage I caught was filmed with ease.

There was an issue with the focusing of objects, however this was soon overcome through practice and test shots.

The camera’s advanced imaging system assured outstanding quality and it’s subject-tracking AF kept

subjects properly focused – this enabled me to make the artist the main subject in the shot, blurring out the

background as and when I wanted to.

SLR Nikon D3100 CameraAfter shooting, I could frequently review what I had recently filmed on the large 7.5cm LCD monitor so that I was perfectly

aware of what I have shot and whether it was acceptable – this was time efficient as I could re-shoot specific scenes as

many times during one filming session and know when I had reached the final product that I was aiming for, without having to retreat to my laptop to gather a clear view of the shots that I had taken. I could also perform simple editing tasks, such as

trimming scenes before or after a designated point, even before I began to edit on the iMovie software.

I think that without the quality of footage this camera provided, my music video would not have looked as effective –

the high quality resolution gives detail.

Adobe PhotoshopAdobe Photoshop is the most accessible and widely used

platform to create graphic designs from amateur to industry standards, therefore I chose this in the construction process of

my ancillary texts. I had in depth knowledge of the software from previous projects, so I found it easy to begin a new document and create my digipak and magazine advert professionally.

Photoshop allowed me to achieve a more accurate colour scheme using the colour palette, which I could save into my

own favourite palettes and quickly adopt later without having to copy and paste the colour code. I also used this to compare,

which colours would work well together by creating colour blocks directly next to each other. This allowed me to

experiment in the research and planning stages as well.

Adobe PhotoshopDuring the construction stages of my digipak and magazine advert,

the tools in Photoshop allowed me to create a unique design specific to my artist. Firstly, I was able to insert a digipak template and create a new file in which to begin the process of creating my digipak. From my previous research, I had developed a concept in my head that I was able to quickly transfer into my draft version. After this, I was able to tweak my design as and when I desired through different effects, such as ‘darken’ or ‘soft light’ and see

which would look the most professional to those I had seen in my research stages. The same construction process applied to the

record label logos, which I ‘placed’ into the document to ensure the highest resolution quality, where I applied the ‘darken’ effect again so that the white background of the logo was removed and I was

left with the solid logo. This prevented any edges appearing rigid or white pixels appearing outside of the logo, which would have occurred if I were to have erased it using the selection tool.

Adobe Photoshop

All the elements of my digipak and magazine advert – results of all the technologies that I had used up until this stage – were combined using

Photoshop to produce my final ancillary products.

Photoshop was a piece of technology that helped me to edit photos and, ultimately, piece together different elements in order to produce

a completed digipak and magazine advert.

InstagramInstagram was extremely useful in the construction stages of my

ancillary texts. Instagram is an online photo sharing, video-sharing, social network service. I was able to upload raw images that were taken for my digipak and magazine advert, and apply digital filters to them so that a certain effect was achieved on each photograph.

A distinctive feature is that the application confines photo’s to a square shape, therefore I was assured that each photo had the same dimensions and that they would be precisely equal once

placed into the Photoshop file. When designing my first draft, I used the filter ‘1977’ on my

photographs, which gave the images a slightly pink tint to coincide with the colour palette already established by other images.

However, when re-constructing my following drafts, using the new set of photos that I had created on Flickr, I used the filter ‘Inkwell’

to edit the colour of my images.

Flickr

I used Flickr after I had taken images from a shoot with my artist with my SLR D3100 Nikon camera,

ready to use for my second draft digipak. This online platform allowed me to create sets for each shoot, which were then shared onto my

blog for easy and quick viewing. This also allowed me to browse through my photos and

highlight/select the appropriate images that I was planning to use in my magazine.

Attempting to construct the ancillary texts and main product without the above technologies would have had a significantly negative impact on the quality and standards of the products.

Using these technologies allowed me to make a digipak, magazine advert, and music video to a

professional standard. It also enabled me to make a product and brand that uses, challenges,

and develops conventions – similar to a real media package.