Evaluation - Question 4 (fourth draft)

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

I used a variety of different media technologies throughout each creative process of my work, in order to develop my skills and gain a wide range of resources.

Lyric Video

Research and Planning
For my research and planning, I gathered a lot of information from the Internet in order to collect both primary and secondary research. I used the Internet (particularly Google and YouTube) to research into the song Sweet Disposition and the band The Temper Trap, to learn more about their music and the correct lyrics. I used YouTube and searched through multiple different lyric videos, and also used Google filters to find a lyrics website, as there is a lot of debate over the official lyrics of the song. By using both of these technologies it allowed me to narrow down and select the correct lyrics, by combining both resources in order to make my final results more reliable. I also looked at their official music video on YouTube to make sure that my ideas were not directly linked to anything in their actual video.
Google was also very useful for finding real-life digipak and magazine advertisement examples, as I could use the specific filters to eliminate any student examples and fan-made artwork.

Filming

Canon 550D

Nikon D3100

When I began to construct my music video, I used both a Nikon D3100 and a Canon 550D to film outside around Nottingham and inside in the media studio. I used the Nikon for the outdoor scenes as it captured the true colours of our surroundings really nicely, whereas I used the Canon inside as it focused really well on my actor's face while he was lip-syncing, and also didn't over-expose his face against the studio lighting, whereas the Nikon did slightly.

Editing

Cropped Footage

Once I had finished filming all my music video footage, I edited it all together on Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 software, which I had used previously in AS Media coursework. With this software, I was able to add different transitions and effects into my video, such as fades, colour correction and colour tints. During this process Izzy and I also discovered how to crop two videos together, in order to create what looks like one video when in reality it was two separate occasions. We did this with a kitchen scene where we wanted the two actors to look like they were arguing, however in the shot of Izzy arguing, Tom was looking directly into the camera. To combat this we used the original footage of Izzy and cut it to the appropriate length and then found another section of footage where Tom was looking directly at her and cut it down to the same length. Izzy and I then layered this piece of footage over the top of the original clip of Izzy, and then using the crop tool we cropped it 40 from the left and 60 from the right.

Photography and Photoshop

Highlighting and Contour

For my ancillary texts, I used Adobe Photoshop CS4 to edit my photographs and create different effects. I used different tools such as the blurring tool in order to mute the background for my magazine advertisement, and also created a make-up like effect for both my ancillary texts using a variety of brightening and darkening shades on Matt's face to make him look more chiselled. In order to do this I created another layer on top of the original images of Matt, and then using one of the select tools in the side bar I cloned a shadow colour from the natural shadows on Matt's face. I then drew a triangle shape underneath Matt's cheekbone on each side of his face, as symmetrically as possible. I also drew a line following his jawline, and also his hairline to bronze up his face slightly and emphasise his chiselled features. I then selected a light colour from the colour palette on Photoshop, and drew some triangles underneath Matt's eyes to brighten up his face and make him look more awake and lit from within. I also drew a small triangle on his chin and just above the bridge of his nose in order to create a brighter image overall.

Blurring Tool

I then changed the two layers from Normal to Hard Light in order to see exactly where I had placed all the contouring and highlighting shades, I then selected blur from the top toolbar, and then Gaudian Blur, and changed the Radius until the colours blended into the skin and didn't look so defined and obvious against his skin. I repeated this step for the highlighting colours, and then repeated both these processes on all my other photos of Matt.
I also used the colour correction tools and played around with the different shades in order to create a reddish tinge on  my studio photographs for the inside of my digipak. I used a mix of the red, green and blue colour filters.

Evaluations

Emaze Presentation

For my evaluations, I have again used the Internet to aid my presentations by creating different formats. I have used a variety of online presentation websites such as Emaze, Slideshare, Prezi, Flipsnack, SurveyMonkey and MakeAGif.com in order to make my work more versatile and entertaining, rather than using the same formats for each question. To make each presentation format as engaging as possible, I used a wide collection of images and screenshots from my coursework to highlight exactly what I was talking about during each process, and also used a range of colours for both font and backgrounds in order to make each slide aesthetically pleasing to the audience. I also created multiple gifs to create the effect that my images were coming to life, so that the audience could clearly see the movement throughout my music video and the variety of shots I had used.
I have also created a documentary-style montage video of interviews, where I got three different media students to give me their personal opinions on my ancillary texts. I also received some constructive criticism, which was incredibly helpful.
To create my video I used the media studio, and filmed each student against the black back-drop so that the background didn't draw focus from the feedback I received. This also helped when I superimposed different images into the footage, as they all stood out against the black back-drop.

Interview Video

I used the Canon 700D as this camera is touch-screen so is easy to use, and also has a flip-out screen so each student could see themselves as they were speaking, which helped them to look directly into the camera lens rather than at me, creating the effect that they were being filmed by a real cameraman rather than by me.
I then used the studio lighting as well, as this helped the colour in the footage to stand out in better quality than the normal lighting.