Media Evaluation Question 4

1. By Toke Oyegunsen

2. Research
 In terms of research, I used many different forms of technology. The
most significant being the Internet. The internet was a significant tool
in the planning and construction of my media product because of
many reasons.
 Several different search engines such as Google and Yahoo were used to
find information about how people conventionally make a music video.
Wikipedia was the most beneficial web page in terms of finding
simplified information because it broke down what I was looking for
into smaller sections and offered definitions with the terms explained.
 YouTube was another site that I used to gain information about how
music videos were commonly structured. Having the ability to view
current rap videos helped me to decide the best way to shoot my video;
i.e. one setting or multiple settings. YouTube also allowed me to put
links to music videos which were a similar style to what I was going for
in my blog. This meant that other people could get an idea of the
direction in which I was going to take my video.

3.  I used Nikon D3300 DSLR to record the footage for my video. The
camera was an important part of deciding where to shoot the video
because it allowed me to see where the camera could be accommodated
and where wouldn’t be possible to shoot. This is what ultimately led me
to shoot the video in open urban areas because this setting worked best
when having to take the camera and have the space to film.
 I also used programmes such as Google forms which allowed me to
create questionnaires which could be distributed amongst other people
as a way of getting feedback in terms of what they would like to see in a
music video. This was beneficial because getting the results of the
questionnaire online saved me a lot of time and allowed me to quickly
collate the results. I then used Google sheets to put the results of the
questionnaire into a spreadsheet which allowed any patterns to become
obvious and allow me to know what features I should definitely include.
I then created a mood board based on the results gained form the
questionnaire; a mood board includes several images which relate back
to one topic. My mood board was created on Microsoft PowerPoint and
included images of the typical codes and conventions of a hip hop/rap
video.

4. Planning
 In terms of the media technologies used; I used a mobile phone
to keep in touch with my artist which was very important
because I needed to make sure that he could be aware of how the
video making progress was going to happen. I used web pages to
see what attire is usually found in current rap videos to ensure
that the artist looked appealing in the video in order to attract
people’s attention. I used email to notify my artist of any changes
that were going to be made to the track or video so that
communication could be active and I could take on board any
suggestions that they had surrounding the production of the
video. I used the Nikon D3300 DSLR to capture evidence of me
working behind the scenes of the video, this provided me with
proof of how often I was working on the video as well as showing
that my video is an original production.

5. Construction
 One of the main media technologies that was the most significant in
constructing the music video was the Nikon D3300 DSLR camera.
Firstly because of its HD quality which increased the standard of my
music video to make it more professional. It was easy for me to use this
as this was the same camera I used last year for AS so I was able to use
this fluently without problem.
 Final Cut Pro was the software I used to edit the music video. This was
the upgraded version of the software that I had used last year for my AS
media product. It was easy for me to adapt to using this software as I
had used most of the features last year so it was easy for me to apply
them. The features I was aware of were the basic transitions and
inserting media etc. This improved the footage already shot however,
after exploring Final cut this year I learnt how to use even more
features for example the split screen which I used quite a bit in the
video. This improved the quality of the video as it was various scenes
collaborated together to make one big video.

6.  In the construction of my first ancillary task which was a digipak
I used Adobe Photoshop CS6 as well as Adobe fireworks. During
my research and planning process, I noticed conventions of rap
album covers which help me plan how my digipak was going to
look. To create my the pictures on my digipak I used “fireworks”
as this was the software I was familiar with. However, I then had
to use “photoshop” as it has the feature of layering filters on top
of each other which made designing the digipak simpler and it
made for a better final outcome.
 When constructing my second ancillary task which was a
webpage, I used a template from “Wix.com” because it is a
professional website that has various designs for music artists.
The theme of the web page was black, red and white, this is
because I had used these colours throughout the project.

7. Evaluation
 In my evaluation stages, I used four different kinds of
media technologies. This consisted of a Microsoft Office
PowerPoint presentation that I then uploaded to
slideshare, a Prezi, a voice recording and a video. The
reason I did this was to show how I can be versatile with
different form of media technology.
 Overall, there were various media technologies used
through the research, planning, construction and
evaluation stages of this course. Some technologies were
unfamiliar and I had to use tutorials to learn how to
operate the technologies however, apart from those I was
familiar with the rest so it saved me time. Media
technologies was a very significant tool in all stages and I
wouldn't have been able to complete our project without it.