Research

The most important part of creating my music video, advertisement and website was making sure that it would be as close to a professional product as possible. This meant that the research and planning was vital to achieve this; as it would allow me to increase my knowledge of the ‘Alternative Rock’ genre. During this I used as many multimedia product as possible to enhance my knowledge of media presentation.

PowerPoint Presentations.

I used PowerPoint presentations frequently throughout the

research and planning stage of my coursework.

I first used PowerPoint to present what I had found on

Goodwin's theory. This product enabled me to present all the

research I had found on this particular topic, then present the

information; it allowed me to show my understanding and

knowledge on this particular theory and apply it to the song

‘Monster’.

I then created 5 PowerPoint's about website designs and what

aspects of them related to my ‘Alternative Rock’ genre. I found

this product particularly useful during this piece of research as I

could effectively create a layout, which allowed me to screen

grab website views and comment my thoughts and feelings

around them.

How effective was PowerPoint?

PowerPoint presentations were extremely helpful to me. It

allowed me to successfully highlight the important parts of

particular subjects and refer back to important information when

I needed to. For example, my PowerPoint on Goodwin’s theory

was full of the relevant information that I could easily relate to

other music videos.

I then put all my PowerPoint's on to my blog. To do this I used

Slideshare, this website allowed me to upload my

PowerPoint's easily.

I found this product useful as it was convenient and easily

accessible.

YouTubeYouTube is a popular website that it used by millions and contains thousands of videos. This is why I chose this product to find official videos of songs that related to my genre.

I used YouTube for the first time when analysing music videos for my genre. When doing this I was able to pause and re-watch the videos numerous times to note what aspects were important and inspirational.

I then went on to using this product when analysing music videos shot by shot. Once again, the videos were easy to pause after each shot . The timeline bar at the bottom of the video helped me move easily from one shot to another; I could then easily screen print the picture crop it and analyse it further on my blog.

YouTube became particularly important when identifying the conventions of ‘Alternative Rock’ in music videos from specific bands that linked to my genre; as it enabled me to search for any song I required.

How effective was YouTube?

Due to YouTube being an extremely popular video search engine, I found this product very helpful. It allowed me to search for thousands of videos of the ‘Alternative Rock’ genre; which I could then go on to analyse, either briefly or shot by shot.

However, I did not only find this product useful just for its popularity, I found the small aspects of YouTube extremely helpful. The timeline below the video appears when you hover your curser over it. This was particularly beneficial for me as I could easily go back to the shot I required. For example, in my shot by shot analyse, I could pause and analyse shots then easily go back to a previous shot to compare them both and how they relate to my genre.

I also found the quality of the videos were to a high standard; which means I could effortlessly point out aspects that linked to the conventions of my genre.

Finally, an interesting aspect was the link to other songs that were relevant to the one I had just played. This allowed me to find songs that I may have not considered or thought of when concerning the ‘Alternative Rock’ genre.

WikipediaThe main reason I used Wikipedia was to find bands that linked to the ‘Alternative Rock’ genre. Once I had found these bands, I used this product to research key information about them.

The first piece I researched through this product was ‘Alternative Rock’. I did this as, although knowing a few bands from this genre, it was hard for me to give a clear definition of what the genre actually was. Once I had identified this however, I print screened it and presented it on my blog. This way, the audience could understand what the ‘Alternative Rock’ genre was about.

After this, I researched into particular bands, such as Biffy Clyro, by doing this I got key information including his record label. This was quick and convenient and allowed me to develop and understand the type of people who were involved in the ‘Alternative Rock’ genre.

After discovering the record label, Wikipedia enabled me to research key information about the bands and who their record label was. After I had several record labels to refer back to I was able to chose which was most appropriate for my ‘Alternative Rock’ artist.

How effective was Wikipedia?

Wikipedia was an effective tool when finding information and researching particular bands, subjects and labels. The process was quick and convenient and allowed me to gather numerous amounts of information on a particular band; which would influence the style and background for my artist. For example, I was influenced by Biffy Clyro after researching his life style and origin.

I also found this site useful as it presented links to related subjects; which allowed me to jump form information about ‘Alternative Rock’ to Biffy Clyro to his label Beggar Banquet.

The only downfall that Wikipedia had was its reliability, as anyone and everyone can edit a post about certain subjects. This meant I had to question whether the information given is accurate. This then means I then had to back up the information you have just received by checking whether it is correct on another site. This is ineffective but the information I had researched was correct and therefore did not create any inconvenience .

Prezi

Prezi is a presentation website that enabled me to present

important information in a more interesting way.

I first used Prezi to present my information when researching

the logos that ‘Alternative Rock’ bands had used. I chose to

use this particular product as I wanted to emphasis the

pictures and this allowed me to highlight them as they were

the main subject of my research.

Not only did the product present the pictures as the most

important aspect, it also allowed me to analyse them after in a

way that was imaginative.

How effective was Prezi?

Prezi was effective as it successfully allowed me to present my

ideas in an inventive form. Rather than creating lengthy essays,

this product enabled me to split the information up into particular

and relevant sections and show it in a way that easy to read and

understand.

However, I found this product slightly ineffective as putting all

the information on to Prezi was slightly over complicated and

time consuming.

VokiI only used Voki once throughout the research and planning stage. I used this to talk about the record label; as it allowed me to apply multimedia to present my information.

How effective was Voki?

Aspects of Voki was effective as it allowed me to present my information in a varied way. I also felt that the person I chose to speak reflected the characters that would be associated to the ‘Alternative Rock’ genre; although this is a small aspect I found it effective as it gave a sense of who my target audience was.

Although, I did find Voki was ineffective as once one Voki had been added to a post, it did not allow any others to be posted; as it would replace the original automatically. Unfortunately, I could not fix this problem and only used the product once.

Vimeo

Vimeo is a sight smaller that YouTube, it has several movie and TV openings on it, so, that is why I chose this product to have on my blog when showing my ‘True Blood’ opening.

How effective was Vimeo?

I found Vimeo effective. The site enabled me to get the ‘True Blood’ opening; which I was unable to find on other sites, such as YouTube. I also found the opening was of a high quality and easy to watch. This meant that I could show what my inspiration was easily and quickly. I also felt that this product was effective as I could easily share the videos on my blog by using the embedded code, this was easy to find and worked straight away.

The only downfall to Vimeo was that it didn’t have music video’s relating to my genre on. Regrettably, this meant I was unable to use this again as that was vital.

Animoto During my research and planning I had to chose and highlight the

clothing common in music video’s based around the ‘Alternative

Rock’ genre. Once I had picked all the photo’s that I felt portrayed

the costume used in my genre I uploaded onto the Animoto sight.

This put both ‘Alternative Rock’ music and pictures together and

played them in a slideshow. This enabled me to combine all my

thoughts and ideas about costume together; so I could see and

understand my genre in more depth.

How effective was Animoto?

I found Animoto effective as not only did it present my idea in a

creative form, it combined all my thoughts and ideas; which then

highlighted the important costumes I could refer back to when

making my music video. For example, I referred back to my artist

wearing a suit.

Animoto only allowed me to use a small clip, though. I felt that this

was ineffective as a longer clip would have benefitted me more as

more of my ideas could have been shown.

PaintPaint was only a small part in my planning and research but

very useful. I used Paint to create print screens into JPEG

pictures and crop them to the correct size. Once I had done this

I was then able to add my pictures to my blog.

How effective was Paint?

Despite the fact Paint is only a small product and did not create

any significant changes to my work, I felt it was extremely

effective. Without Paint I would not have been able to add

pictures to my blog quickly. For example, Paint became very

useful during my shot by shot analysis as this required several

print screened shots to justify my thoughts. I also felt that paint

was convenient as it did not require any downloading and is

found on almost all computers and laptops.

Google

Google is one of the most popular search engines and I used it

constantly during my research and planning. Google allowed me

to search questions or quires; which then enabled me to get the

vital information I needed to complete my in-depth research into

‘Alternative Rock’.

How effective was Google?

I found using Google very effective. As Google is one of the

leading search engines. Because of this I was able to find and

use information/pictures quickly and without any hassle. Google

also enabled me to check the reliability of my information from

other sources; so I knew that my information was accurate and

dependable.

Altogether, Google was the most informative and educational.

Blogger

Blogger was my choice when deciding which blog site I should use

for my A2 Portfolio. The reason I chose Blogger was the security; as

blogger was linked to my Google account, I believed this site was

the most secure to upload my work onto. I had also used this site

during my AS studies. As I already had in-depth knowledge on how

to work Blogger, I felt overall, it was the best site to use.

How effective was Blogger?

Using Blogger throughout this process has been extremely effective.

I found making posts and uploading different information, in several

multimedia forms, was easy and simple to do. I also found that

throughout the process none of my work had been lost and therefore

did not create any unnecessary re-writes.