RESEARCH
ONLINE MAGAZINES AND NEWSPAPERS
Online magazines were invaluable to my research. I checked several music online magazines each week and the NME everyday. They not only informed me about music news but about technology as well: evolving technology for advertising and the music industry: I was able to watch snippets of videos very easily, see online magazine advertising and keep up to date with current music media trends - Q's online magazine was very good for media trends but did not update on a daily basis so it was harder to keep up with evolving technology news.
The Guardian's online journal (free as most are) has its own technology forum so I was able to regularly check for new developments related to music or media.BLOGGER
AS COURSEWORK
OTHER BLOGS
My chosen band and most others use blogs as well as the other Web 2.0 platforms, giving information in another form. I looked at Foster The People's use of a blog as a means of communicating and interacting with their audience. It gave information about the band which helped considerably with my research.SOCIAL MEDIA
Twitter has helped me to communicate with friends, teachers, other members of my class/group and other institutions. It is a great platform for institutions to publicise their news, celebrities to give gossip and people to find out what is happening globally.
I have followed several bands and institutions including chief examiner Pete Fraser as he provides up-to-date media guidelines as part of my research, using these groups to find up-to-the-minute information.Twitter has flourished since many more people have smartphones, like Blackberry and iPhone because tweets can come in like texts so people are constantly abreast of the news feeds. They can also investigate interesting tweets immediately by accessing the internet on their smartphone. There is a new development in Twitter that follows trends and peaks of interest in certain areas by use of a hash code to draw attention to a particular word or phrase - this made it easier to find current media trends within my research.
A very popular and familiar form of social media, and in the last 3-4 years has become, like MySpace, a major marketing and distribution platform. In my research, I 'liked' band Facebook pages as a means of following them. I also shared links to one of my prezis, asking for comments from my Facebook friends as they are the social group who would be my target market.MYSPACE
This platform was very useful for my research into Indietronica bands, especially seeing how they market themselves. I looked at lots of band's Myspace pages to find links with album artwork as research for my digipak and magazine advert.TELEVISION AND RADIO
Many music institutions have their own TV channels and/or radio station, for example, Q, NME, Kerrang etc. Radio advertising like XFM, Capital, Magic etc speaks directly to people and is a valuable marketing tool. I watched alot of music videos on different channels to see the different genres and kinds of videos featured on each channel: For example; Q, MTV, Kerrang, Smash Hits etc. This has been invaluable in my research for the video itself also the magazine adverts as they feature highly on music television.
PREZI
After being introduced to Prezi, I taught myself to use it and found it a great way to present my research. Its advantages are that it is creative, flexible and suitable to this genre as you are able to upload YouTube links, images etc. I ended up using this for 4 different topics and it is really useful as people can view it then leave comments. Furthermore, two people can edit this, making it easier for group work.
 |
| http://prezi.com/uqkzzy8ayd6m/music-videos/ |
 |
| http://prezi.com/po6jwt4dmtvt/analysing-music-videos/ |
 |
| http://prezi.com/3xfnmiwj1680/album-artwork-through-the-decades/ |
 |
| http://prezi.com/hstjr_pirxsf/magazine-advertising-of-music-cds/ |
 |
| http://prezi.com/ubrv4juzfzsa/evaluation-question-2/ |
YOUTUBE
I have used YouTube extensively for research - probably my main resource for researching music video, continuously watching music videos to use as an influence for our own video. Luckily, I was able to save a playlist of the videos I had viewed in a side platform called DAGADOP. Click HERE! to see my DAGADOP playlist.ACCESSING THE INTERNET
Throughout the course of my work, I found that I was able to find different ways of accessing the internet: through my mobile phone, on my laptop or macbook pretty much anywhere and via games consoles (especially my Xbox). However, I did prefer to use a laptop/computer as it provided all of the requirements for working.
PLANNING
I used Twitter to ask Foster The People for permission to use their song for our music video
I used Facebook in my planning to give my peers and filming partner information regarding the shoots - time, location, prop/clothes needed etc. Easy access meant messages were guaranteed to be read. Better than text or phone call because everyone could see everyone else's comments.BLOGGER
Blogger has been useful to look back on the ideas I'd had and develop them. It's also been useful in planning to be able to see all the tabs at the side and have an easy reference for what I'd already done and what was still to do.
SLIDESHARE
I used Slideshare to present the video treatment, digipak analysis's and the shot list as it was very easy.
Click HERE! to open the Slideshare on my treatment.
MOBILE PHONE
I have used my phone to keep in touch with my group about the work and also found it useful as a diary, using the calender function and setting myself 'to-do' notes as reminders.
I don't have a smart phone like many of my peers but I have however, used it to it's maximum potential by using the camera to record things that would prompt me later.
HOTMAIL
I used hotmail to email the owners of our shoot venues, asking permission to use them. I have also extensively used email to share files with myself and my partner to work on at home.
STICKY NOTES/EVERNOTE
I used these on my mac and pc as a reminder or note taker. They helped me to keep on top of things and prioritise my things for the day/week.
CONSTRUCTION
DIGITAL CAMERA
My partner and I used a Nikon D3100 Digital SLR camera for filming the footage and getting some stills as well. Towards the end of the assignment, the media department obtained a new camera; the 'Canon EOS 550d', which has the function to work on time lapse, something the other camera couldn't do. This led to getting our footage improved.The school media department was also able to provide a fish-eye lens which we used for a couple of our studio shots - giving a more professional look.
I also used a small point-and-shoot digital camera to take images of my analysed digipaks (see my slideshare) and adverts from q magazine (see prezi). It was very simple to upload the photos by usb lead, instant and direct to my macbook.
ADOBE PREMIERE
My partner and I used Adobe Premiere for constructing our video. It is a very efficient piece of software as it allows the user to sequence the film in a very simple way, whilst also being able to carry out complex jobs that 'iMovie' and 'Movie Maker' were not able to do. My partner and I had used the two programs before starting the coursework and decided that premiere had the best provided the best potential for our work. We uploaded our footage onto Premier from the cameras we used and transferred some of the footage into After Effects for further manipulation, and using screenshots we found some stills to use in Photoshop for digipak or magazine advert.
ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS
In the editing and sequencing of our film, we were very fortunate to have Adobe After Effects to maximise the video's technical potential, giving it a much more professional appearance. We used After Effects heavily during the opening scene on the vinyl: changing colours were added as it was spinning to give it a psychedelic look, something which would not have been achieved in Adobe Premiere alone.LOGIC PRO
My partner and I brought the song used for our video from iTunes music store, meaning that it is automatically downloaded onto a laptop/computer. The song was too long for us to get the footage we needed, this is why as a music technology student I used Logic Pro to cut the track down to a suitable length and then loaded it into Adobe Premier to accompany our song.
CLICK HERE! to see me talking to camera about the song.
ADOBE PHOTOSHOP
Adobe Photoshop was crucial in making my digipak and magazine advertisement. Layering enabled me to construct the magazine advert/front image for the digipak, as I needed to get the scrabble pieces over the top of the vinyl. I was able to use the colour replace tool to remove unwanted features within the picture. As layers could be hidden, it meant that it was very easy to make the magazine advert from the digipak as it was just a simple switch of layers. The screenshots on the left show me using the brush tool to clean up the vinyl and the scaling device which helped me size the original image correctly to the canvas.SOCIAL MEDIA
Facebook was a fantastic way of sharing my product with my peer group and getting feedback - people can leave comments and feedback on my posts, which I can therefore act upon, redraftand then repost.
EVALUATION
Facebook was very useful for obtaining feedback: I was able to get feedback on video footage, different font choices for my print products and the design of the print products themselves. I also shared a Prezi on my newsfeed for people to view.
YOUTUBE
YouTube is the main platform for marketing and distributing a video so me and my partner uploaded our video onto YouTube for feedback, to build up a following and also make adjustments to our footage according to public response.
GARAGEBAND
I used Garageband to record the voiceover narration for Question 1 - it was exceptionally easy to lower the track volume so our voices could be heard.
YUDU
I Used Yudu on my evaluation Question 3, it was initially suggested that I talked to camera for presenting feedback but as I had too much information, this was impractical so YUDU worked very well.
CONCLUSION
Technology is ever-converging and even during the course of this media project, I have discovered new technologies that have made my work both easier and more interesting/effective to present. My work has brought me round to realising that I would like to get a smart phone as there is huge convergence in this small piece of technology.
