Evaluation: Question 3.

Q3: How did you use new media technologies in all stages?

If the video does not work for some reason, please see the text for it below!

PRE-PRODUCTION

Blogger -  In this day and age blogs are becoming evermore popular for people who want to share things with the world via the internet. In using Blogger, I can also incorporate the use of other media including YouTube and Prezi. With this in mind and having used Blogger for my foundation portfolio I decided it would be the most effective and current median to collate and present my research, planning, construction and evaluation of my three artefacts. This year, I wanted to be able to insert a link into some of my posts so that I can easily reference older posts and my reader can simply find related posts without having to scroll through my blog. After using Google to search how to do this properly, some of my posts now link together well, making the navigation of my blog slightly easier if looking for my previous ideas on a certain subject.

Google - When doing my research Google was my primary basis for searching the videos and magazine adverts that I wanted to analyse. Although I chose the digipaks I wanted to analyse out of my own collection, I also used Google Images to find some better pictures of the different faces of the digipaks to use on my blog. 

YouTube - I used YouTube in two ways. Firstly, during my research for watching the music videos that I analysed. But secondly, after producing each draft, I uploaded my video to YouTube so that I could gather feedback from my target audience. URLs are so simple and easy to share via email or on Facebook and Twitter, whilst I can also easily embed a YouTube video into my blog. This means it has been the perfect way for me to share my work to a vast amount of people. When I used YouTube last year to showcase my work, I simply uploaded my videos and to navigate between them one would have to go to my page and select the video they want. However, for my Advanced Portfolio, thanks to the recent YouTube upgrade at the end of my videos I now have links to previous or related videos that I have made for both my Foundation Portfolio and Advanced Portfolio.

Facebook - As another way to showcase my work and get feedback on my products, I put my two ancillary artefacts up on my Facebook page and asked my audience to reply to a survey about the two products. I also created a group on Facebook called Project I'll Be Ok (see my post Project I'll Be Ok for details). I had never made a group on this social media site before so it was a new skill for me to learn.

Twitter - Much like Facebook, I messaged a few of my target audience on Twitter to ask for feedback on my music video. Facebook and Twitter are both popular social networking sites with my target audience and this is why I decided to use them to get in contact with my target market.

Prezi -  To lay out some of my research I decided to use Prezi. Although relatively simple to use it makes the long texts in my research a lot easier to read and allows me to show the logical progression in each code and convention in that I analysed. Founded in 2009, it has become very a popular way for creating presentations to share online. For my foundation portfolio I was not very creative in my use of Prezi as I simply used templates for my work, however, this year I decided to start with a completely blank canvas and construct my Prezis how I wanted as well as adding a voice-over.

Padlet - This was a new website that I discovered and I used it in a similar way to how I used Prezi - as a platform to present some of my research. On this website I have the ability to place pictures and text wherever I like on my 'wall'. Although it's not as interactive as Prezi, it is still another median which shows the range of technologies I have had the opportunity to use in this project. 

Survey Monkey - Much like last year, I used Survey Monkey to collect data from my target audience on what they would like to see in my music video, magazine advert and digipak. the 'Analyse Results' feature of this website easily allowed me to compare results and produce accurate bar charts of my quantitative data, whilst viewing the qualitative as well. I took screenshots of all of the results for each question to place on my blog. One new feature I discovered was being able to change the charts from bar charts to pie charts to even line graphs depending on how I wanted to present them.

PRODUCTION

Canon HD Camera - For my Foundation Portfolio last year I used my small Canon HF200. However, this year I decided to use an even better camera - Canon XF305 loaned from the BBC. This gave me the opportunity to use manual focus, a skill I had not used before and produce an overall a better quality picture.

IPad - During my filming I scanned my storyboards into my IPad using the 'Scanner Pro' app. This meant I good carry my storyboards around with me, without having to worry about the pieces of paper getting blown away in the wind. By using 'Scanner Pro' instead of simply taking a picture of the pieces of paper, the documents were a lot clearer to view, whilst demonstrating the variety of apps these days. 

POST-PRODUCTION

Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 - To create my magazine and advert and digipak I used Adobe Photoshop Elements 7. Firstly, I started off my editing the pictures I wanted to use. This included amongst many other things, cropping the pictures, removing any blemishes or unwanted shadows and lightening the photos. I then used the program to add in everything else to construct both my magazine advert and digipak. Although Photoshop is primarily a photo editing program, I found it to be perfect when constructing my two ancillary texts. As each element was on its own layer and I had the option to merge layers too, moving text or pictures about and manipulating them to how I liked was very simple. I briefly used Photoshop last year to create a quick DVD cover to show how I could create a house style from my opening sequence if I needed to. But the making of my two ancillary texts this year, was really the first time that I properly used this program, meaning I have gained another valuable skill from completing this Advanced Portfolio.

Sony Movie Studio 12 - As I had great success using this software last year to create my thriller opening sequence I decided to once again use it this year, to construct my music video. The built in media generators and effects particularly came in handy when distinguishing between my split narrative, but also help to make the video flow better. A key skill that I learnt this year was how to remove reflections from a shot. I did this by using the gradient effect and manipulating the size and shape to cover the side of the piano. To see exactly how I did this please see my 'How to remove reflections' post.

Adobe Captivate 7 - I downloaded this piece of software to create my 'How to...' style video for my blog. After gaining feedback from my audience I found that I needed to remove some reflections in a few of the shots. Once I had found the most effective way to do this, I used Captivate 7 and its 'Video Demo' option to record my screen and my voice, in order to show exactly how I did this. 

I'll Be Ok Music Video Final Draft

Here is my final Music Video to the song 'I'll Be Ok'. As it was shot on an HD camera and rendered HD please go to 'Settings' - 'Quality' then choose '1080p HD' for the best viewing quality possible. Also please make sure you have a good, secure and fast internet connection! Please note that sometimes, going full screen will also compromise the picture quality, so choosing 'large player' (next to settings) may be better. Enjoy!

How to Remove Reflections From a Video

After talking with my target audience about my first draft music video, it became apparent that some of the shadows reflected in the piano were distracting. I tried many different ways to solve this problem, but eventually found an effect that worked really well. I made this YouTube video to demonstrate exactly how I manipulated this feature to solve my problem. This video was made using Adobe Captivate 7 - a program that allows you to record your screen activity and then edit a the video afterwards. You can even alter the course of your mouse if you made a mistake whilst filming.

 Please look yourself at my first draft to see what it looked like before I removed the reflections, and then watch my final draft to see just how it improved.

Music Video 1st Draft - Commentary

As before I started filming I made precise storyboards which labelled which shots I would need, in what order and for how long, when I came to editing it all together the initial part of placing all the shots in the correct order was relatively simple once I had found the best take for each shot. Whilst I was filming with my actors and actresses I did each shot three times to make sure that I had at least one usable take every time. Even if I was happy with the first or second take I still did the others in case there was a mistake in it which I had not noticed at the time.

In my 'Project I'll Be Ok' post, I showed how I used Facebook to collect pictures of my target audience. To incorporate these into my music video, I opened up a new project and placed each picture on its own track. Whilst it would have been possible to put them all on the same track, this made it a lot easier when making them fly in just half a second or so after the previous one and it also helped me to get the fades right. If they had all been on the same track, I would not have been able to so easily manipulate the fades. After I got every picture where I wanted it in my specific timeframe, I exported the whole thing as its own movie. This then enabled me to put it into my music video project and the whole section being on one track.

To make my music video look realistic and appropriate for my genre I used mainly straight cuts and fades between the shots. Spinning clips or 'blind fx' would simply not have been appropriate for the style of the song, and would definitely not appeal to my target audience. The fades help the video flow with the slow tempo, whilst the straight cuts indicate slight tempo changes and urgency within the song.

As my music video, is based around a split narrative I decided to use some filters that change the colour of the clips slightly to indicate the difference between the narrative and the singer storyline. At present, my singer, Katherine-Anna, has not filter on as her colours are vibrant and natural already, indicating happiness and normality. On the other hand I have used a 25% Black and White filter for my narrative storylines. By making these scenes darker, I hope to evoke sympathy and sadness in my target audience. I plan to hold focus groups and conduct more surveys to see whether my target market of young people, think that this filter should be more prominent and if they think a 50% or even 75% Black and White filter would be better.

At the beginning of my music video, we see a scene about the nuclear family. To show this ideal but also to suggest a flashback I used 'Light Rays - Moderate Bound Spotlight' I find that this FX is very effective as the family appears to be shining through the light rays.

For some shots, I have used slow motion. On some occasions it is not noticeable as the aim was the simply to slow the actions down slightly. In other shots it is more noticeable, especially in between scenes. I did this because I think it fits in nicely with the tempo of the song and gives the audience an extra second or so to relate to the character. When the homeless girl pulls the glove off the branch, for example, with the use of slow motion, the audience can see her struggle more and realise how sad her life is that she has to take a glove she has just found to keep warm. When this clip was not slowed down, it also was not very appropriate for the song as the tree swung back rather quickly, ruining the emotional effect I wanted it to have on my audience.

1st Draft Music Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0K_zs_0ovxo

This is the link to my 1st Draft of my music video. Unfortunately due to issues when rendering the video I had to change the track I used to the version without the lyrics. But, I will sort this issue out very soon and upload one up with the lyrics.