In the final section of the evaluation, I will be exploring the methods and technologies that I have used throughout the planning, research and evaluation sections of the project and reviewing their effectiveness and how well I utilised them.
Research
The quality of my research for A2 Media studies was conducted using similar technologies to AS. Some of these technologies include use of Blogger's Embed to put in videos, presentations or images, embedding all three of those things in my Existing Music Videos post (which can be seen here).
The use of this tool makes presenting my research as well as my evaluation much more visually appealing while also allowing the reader to see the content quickly and alongside the rest of the post. This had definitely improved the quality of my work, and is a good improvement to my AS work where I perhaps didn't utilise it enough.
One of my favorite tools for making research posts is Prezi. Prezi is a piece of presentation software that can be used for free online, and offers an upgrade to other presentation software like Microsoft PowerPoint which tends to lend itself to plain, straightforward presenting.
With Prezi, I was able to embed videos and images straight into the presentation, which makes viewing much easier and smooth. Furthermore, Prezi offers a wide variety of preset designs, one of which was a music record, so it fitted perfectly in my music-based analysis.
Planning
When planning for the music video, I was able to create an animated storyboard to show my audience to gain feedback while also giving me a base to work with when creating the final video. Furthermore, I was able to compare the video to the animated storyboard when it was completed.
The process of creating the animated storyboard used the following technologies;
Scanner - After sketching my characters and instruments on paper, I was able to use a scanner to transfer them to the computer electronically ready to edit. This was extremely useful and gave me a lot more time to crop and edit due to the process being so quick. Below are images of the scanner and a couple of the images I drew and scanned in.
Serif DrawPlus x6 - I used this software to make some small adjustments to the images such as cropping, sizing and orientation. This was useful as making sure the images were shaped like a rectangle and were the right size in terms of taking up the frame as the actual actors in the proper video, for example the lead singer ought to have a close up or mid-shot so the audience can see their face, so it was important to reflect that in the storyboard.
Serif MoviePlus x6 - This was the main piece of software that I used to create the stroyboard, using the program to upload the song and crop, move and sync the drawings to the music. This took around 2-3 lessons to complete and was saved as a video before being uploaded to my blog.
For the other aspects of planning such as prop lists and shooting schedules, I used Microsoft Word as it is a trusted software that I have a lot of experience using, and had all the tools I needed for the planning such as tables and text manipulation.
Construction
During the construction of the music video, I used a Sony HDV camera to record the footage and Final Cut Pro on an Apple Mac to edit.
The Sony camera is a high quality recording device that is capable of filming in 1080p HD. Having HD footage was important as it keeps the video looking good, and also made it easier to edit in terms of being able to see the settings and movement of the characters better when deciding on what shot to use.
One difficulty I had with the camera was that it can be difficult to take dynamic shots as the camera is fairly large and heavy. This meant that any shots from up high or that did a lot of moving around were more difficult to film steadily without the help of a dolly or tripod.
Evaluation
During the evaluation, I was able to use a lot of the technologies that were used in the research and planning. This made the evaluation a lot less stressful as I knew the best ways to present what I wanted to say, especially after having used many types of presentation software at AS too.
For Evaluation Question 1, I decided that a Prezi would be the best way to present my findings as it has the ability to embed my music video and ancillaries seamlessly, while also being a clear and fun way to read the evaluation points. I was able to split up many sections of the question such as splitting the ancillaries from the video, then splitting up the codes and conventions further so they were a bit easier to read.
For Evaluation Question 2, I decided that the most effective way to show the similarities and synergy between the media products was a commentary video, as it allowed me to show individual parts of the digipak or advert and explain them, and also allowed me to show specific clips of the music video before cutting back to the ancillaries to comment on what I had done.
In Evaluation Question 3, it was easiest to do a Google Slideshow, with mainly videos and images, due to the amount of different types of media included, from the reactions of the target market to some images to show them watching it, it was easiest and most logical to include it as a presentation that can be clicked through.
Finally, in this question I decided to end with a blog post as there is quite a lot of information to read and is the best way to get through the information with minimal hassle. I have included some images to help accentuate some of the points and break up the text, which helps improve the flow of what is almost the final post on the blog.
