Question 4

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

During the production of my A2 coursework I have used several different types of media technologies ranging from Prezi in the planning stage to premiere in the construction stage. These media technologies have helped me to gain new skills as well as develop e ones I have gained from my AS coursework the previous year.

In the planning stage I used a mixture of Prezi and PowerPoint to create my evidence of research into music videos. The first part of research I completed was the history of music videos which I completed as a Prezi. Prezi is an easy way of presenting the information as its interactive and allows you to be creative with how you present.

In the planning stage I developed my skills with a camera as I used my Lumix G2 to take photos of the locations I plan on filming my video in, I also went on to use this camera when filming my video. This camera allowed me to film very clear footage to a high quality that could then be edited in premiere afterwards. I researched into my camera beforehand to ensure I knew what all the buttons were for and to make sure the camera was appropriate to film with, luckily it was.

I also used blogger to showcase my work to my teachers and fellow students, I also used blogger to keep track of everything that I have done so far and is accessible for me o use both in school and out, which meant that I could do work from home and post it straight on my blog. Blogger also allowed me to see what other students were doing with their coursework to give me inspiration of ways to research and film my own coursework. Through blogger I was also able to keep a diary of my progress, which enabled me to write about things that I may not have made a post about previously.

I used adobe photoshop during my production stage to create my digipak and magazine advert, I developed my skills on photoshop from AS as well as gaining new skills as I now have a better knowledge of how to use the programme. In my digipak I created something which I feel enabled me to show off my photoshop skills, I took several photos of first aid kits in different locations, I then placed these photographs in photoshop and edited them so that they had a coloured saturation over each image, this gave the digipak a very colourful yet simple look which fit perfectly with my theme and music genre if country.

Another form of media technology I used in my media coursework is adobe premiere CS6, I was able to cut and arrange my footage into the particular order that I want it. I was then able to sync the song to the footage so that when the singing is in time. I found premiere very difficult to use in the first place which set me back in the construction stage as I had to take the time to work out how to use each of the different tools.