1. Evaluation
How did you use new media technologies in the research, planning and
construction of the evaluation?

2. Throughout the process of this project, I have used a variety of
different technologies, some of which were entirely new to me
and I had to learn how to use them. Sometimes I was able to
do this with ease for example with the help of a member of my
group. However, some difficulties I came across were harder
to overcome and I had to use technology to research some of
the problems and questions I found when using software
which I was not familiar with.

3. As this was a group task we had to make sure we kept
communication between each of the technologies, we utilised
digital technology in order to keep contact between group members
with ease. We all exchanged numbers at the beginning of the
project and as all of us had smartphones which we have with us at
all times so this was perhaps the most convenient way to contact
each other. We were also able to use Facetime and Skype to
communicate via video message when necessary for example if
one of us missed a lesson. We also created a group on social
networking website Facebook which meant we could post images
and ideas as well as having group conversations, this was very
useful in communicating between the group out of lesson time. The
use of digital technology greatly aided the project as a whole as it
allowed for ease of communication in the group

4. This coursework is all displayed on a group blog, on this blog we had
to upload evidence of all the work we had done both individually and a
group. Therefore the first piece of technology we used was the
website “blogger”. We created a group account that all four members
could access as we all knew the password, we also created a group
gmail account and used this email address to sign us in to blogger.
The website “blogger” I have previously used during the process of my
AS coursework to evidence my work during the construction of a
music magazine. I therefore did not have issues with accessing the
blog or posting straight onto it. I did however struggle to upload
documents which I had previously made on another programme but
overcome this with the help of my group members. Blogger was an
extremely successful use of technology due to the fact that it allowed
us to track our progress throughout the project and it is an effective
way for the work we did together to be displayed clearly.

5. We used Survey Monkey during our research into our target audience
so we could find out their opinions and use these to our advantage in
the planning process. We posted the survey we produced via our
social networking sites and the survey and anyone with access to the
link was able to answer the survey. This is a disadvantage for our
research as it means people who are not actually a part of our target
population could answer the survey. However, Survey Monkey was
good to use as it is an effective and simple way for the data to be
collated and it allowed for charts and graphs to be produced which
displayed results clearly and allowed for us to make comparisons and
observations which we could use for our planning.

6. At the start of the project I did some research into already existing
products. To display the information I found on the 1975s video for
“The City” I used Microsoft Word, this was because it is a technology I
am already familiar with so I felt it would be most appropriate to use as
I had to use a lot of different images such as screenshots from the
video. Microsoft Word was effective in displaying these pictures next to
the appropriate text in a clear way so that it was easy to see which
image matched what I was discussing in certain parts of the essay. I
used Microsoft Powerpoint to display my analysis of the existing
website and digipack, this was an effective programme to use
because it allowed me to separate different ideas and points that I
made about each of them and this allowed me to clearly organise my
thoughts in terms of the influence the research and on my own
product.

7. The filming process is something I did not have a lot of experience
with. Through this project I was able to gain knowledge in how use
technology in terms of the actual filming of the music video and the
taking of the pictures for the digipack. I was able to learn a lot from
other members of my group how already have knowledge of and
experience with certain technologies which I did not share, this is
because they have experience with photography, their study of
photography benefited our group and my knowledge as they knew a
lot about the camera which we were able to utilise in the filming
process of our music video. I was able to film for the video, during
these filming days I learned how to use a camera properly for
example being able to make sure the footage I filmed was focused
and the angles and movements I used were going to be appropriate
for the image and representation we wanted to convey.

8. To edit our music video we used the software Sony Vegas.
This was an extremely unknown programme for me as I was
completely unfamiliar with it before this project. It took me a
while to get the hang of the editing software however with
the help of other more experience group members and
youtube tutorials, I gained the ability to do things such as
adding filters and overlaying the effect of fire onto some
shots.

9. The AS coursework provided me with a basic knowledge of how to
use photoshop. During the making of my music magazine last year I
learned how to do things such as changing the lighting, using
different filters and cropping images. These are the types of skills
which I had to use in the production of the digipack as our images,
which were taken on a camera that we used because of it’s high
quality, were edited on photoshop. The editing on photoshop
allowed for us to produce a professional looking digipack which
appealed specifically to our target audience.

10. The website for the artist we created included the use of the website
moonfruit.com. This software allowed us to create our website using
a variety of tools and make it look exactly how we wanted it to. We
were able to embed social networking links, display videos and
images on our website using this software. The software also
provided tools which allowed us to change elements of the website
such as the colours and the typeface so that it fitted in with the
brand identity we created and was continuous through the three
products. We created Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages for
our artists so that we could put the links to these on our website. As
we are all familiar with using social networking sites because we use
them in our everyday life this was a simple task but was successful
for making our website appear professional as in this day in age all
artist would have these types of social networking sites for their fans
to use to get information.