Question 4

How did you use Media Technologies in the Construction, Research, Planning and Evaluation Stages?

Internet:
Blogger - Blogger has been a great tool in documenting the creation of my products from start to beginning. By being able to post a wide range of formats/media/software products and being able to use its easy embedding utility, has allowed me to demonstrate all four stages of creation in my course effectively and clearly. The use of labels and dated posts also allows for easy navigation to older posts for myself or any peers and examiners making it a key tool in the course.

Prezi - Prezi is an effective online presentation tool which is completely different to all others in its field. Unlike PowerPoint which has set slides and can at time be awkward to fit everything on the already very small slides, Prezi allows you to work on one GIANT canvas with zooming in and out capabilities  which fits hand in hand with the synergistic ability of being able to display information, pictures and videos. This gives a great affect that is eye catching and exciting.

Vimeo - Vimeo whilst not being one of the leading video hosting sites around, it is by far my favorite. One reason for this is it is genre specific to creation pieces such as short films, documentaries and music videos making it a great site to host my music video on rather than sites like Youtube or Dailymotion which host a vast and obscure range of footage. Vimeo is was also the first and leading video sharing site in hosting HD videos. All videos are encoded into H.264 for HTML5 support and have a higher bit-rate than any other competing site.

Youtube - Youtube whilst being the leading video hosting site, it was a no brainer to use this site to host my music video on as well. Many successful music artists/bands have music channels where they display all their music videos and behind the scenes footage for the fans to openly view and comment on. While being less genre specific to creation pieces, it is still the most world known video hosting site, therefore, it would be largely beneficial for me to take advantage of that. Like Vimeo it is has HD hosting capabilities and all videos are encoded into H.264 for HTML5 support and has a almost equal bit-rate as Vimeo.

Software:

Sony Vegas Pro 11 - Sony Vegas is a form of video editing software and the one I used to edit and create my music video during post production. I decided to use this brand of video editing software over others such as Adobe Premiere, as the pool of effects available are greater and the ability to manipulate are much more simpler. For example in the scenes in which I had to do multiple cuts in very quick succession I was able to zoom in to edit my clip per 0.1 of a second and simply press the "S" key to separate the clip where I needed. However the best consequence Vegas was able to offer me was the ease of applying effects to clips by simply dragging and dropping a preset on to all the clips which I wanted to look the same. This allowed me to change the order of the clips i gathered and wanted in my music video and this allowed it to look darker and more ominous in seconds. This effect was very useful and played upon the theme of my music video excellently. This saved me having to use after effects which could become complex using multiple forms of software on the same project and could in a worst case scenario lead to corrupting and rendering a a file unusable which I worked so hard on.

Adobe Photoshop - Adobe Photoshop was a great tool for any image editing I wanted to do throughout the course. This was especially helpful in creating my magazine advert and my digi-pak, both of which were done purely on Photoshop. I was able to cut out my models and change the effects e.g lighting and contrast. When using black and white settings as well it enables you to have more free reign in the hues to get the 'perfect' picture. Another way in which Photoshop was very helpful was in my production posts on my blog. After doing a photo shoot I would need to upload all my photo's to the blog. I was able to create contact sheets for all my photo shoots with ease. However, individually uploading every single photo was time consuming and would clutter up my blog. Therefor Photoshop was the clear and more ideal choice.

Equipment:
Canon 550D DSLR - To film my music video there was only one choice from the beginning and that was the Canon 550D DSLR. The Canon allowed me to film in 25 frames a second rather than the typical 24, this extra frame was used in order to give my music video a more real life effect rather than cinematic. The fact it is digital is another key benefit rather than in the past where film was needed. This is beneficial as instant playback is possible after filming and doesn't need to be developed or processed on a computer before being able to view it, this allowed me to cut down the amount of filming I needed to do as I knew exactly what footage I had and was going to use. Digital cameras also have a vast memory capacity compared to film which allowed me to capture more footage, in better quality, and for free. It also makes post production a lot simpler as in Sony Vegas I can cut, speed up, reverse, slow down and generally mould any clips I have taken, into the way I desire. This camera was also used to take the photos for my poster and magazine article. This is because the camera is equipped with a cinematic shutter speed and with a 1.8 aperture lens I could take detailed and artistic photos of my models.