{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.

Blogger 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.

Blogger

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.

MacBook Pro

YouTube 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/TubeChop

I 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.

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.

Safari

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.

Animoto

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.

Microsoft Word

iMovie 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.

I 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.

Scribd

I 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.

Twitter

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 Camera

After 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 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 Photoshop

During 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.

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.

Instagram 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.

Instagram

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.

Flickr

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.