Evaluation 4

How did you use media technologies in the constructions and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Throughout the creation of my product of a ancillary task and a music video, I have used an intense variety of media technologies for the construction of research, planning and evaluation, allowing me to create successful products. Having not took Media for GCSE, I feel I lacked experience for my AS studies therefore I was unaware of the variety of technologies I could use in order to better my product each time I edited. Therefore comparing my AS and A2 productions you will be able to see a drastic change as my A2 production I used much more varied techniques which have affected my layout, and the format of my blog as I've fit the theme/genre of my music video to continue through my blog which allows the product to look much tidier allowing it easier for others to view.

SoftWare
Blogger- Blogger allowed me to post research in both the creation of my products in AS and A2 where I had researched the history of thrillers and music videos and famous directors, educating myself on how to create a successful product which relates well to the genre and target audience, blogger allowed me to present the source of information in a quirky and interesting way, however analysing both my AS and A2 product, I used blogger much more technically in A2 than I did AS. Whilst creating my AS production there were some problems with the uploading of videos and images. The videos took several hours to upload on -to my blog, or they did not load at all or they did not play. Whereas for my A2 production I acknowledged the problem and uploaded my videos in a smaller memory which allowed the video to upload quickly and play. During AS I had problems with my images I had chosen to upload as some uploaded blankly, or they were not a focused picture and were slightly blurry, and I felt this did not do my product justice, therefore i had to upload several different versions of the image to find a good image. Therefore for A2 instead of copying and pasting the image on to the blog, i saved the image and then uploaded the image which allowed the image to be of good quality. Also due to a better layout my blog for my A2 production is a lot more easier to navigate as my blog, as all my work is in chronological order and named correctly, which allows readers/audience to understand and enjoy my blog much more.

IMovie- I used IMovie for the creation of both my Thriller opening 'Stalker' for my AS production, and my Music Video 'Golden drops' for my A2 production. However the way I used IMovie varied for both my productions as I lacked editing skills for my AS product and therefore you could tell this in my final product. Whereas for my A2 product I was educated more on advanced tools, transitions, editing skills such as brightness, colouring and other effects which helped make my product look more professional. My AS production was a lot more simple, as I used basic editing skills, I did not play around with different colourings/editing skills which would of helped intensify the atmosphere which is a key aspect thrillers use. Therefore for my A2 production i was educated much more on advanced tools, therefore enabling me to to explore different editing effects which fit well with the genre of my music video (House),

Other Software; I also used other software to create posts for my blogs such as prezi, slideshare and also I used software such as photoshop, picasa and gump which allowed me to create my ancillary task which included a digipak and a magazine advert for my A2 production. During my AS production i was unaware of all software available to me, therefore the main one I used was prezi and I only used that a little, therefore my blog was presented quite boring and including a lot of writing. Whereas for my A2 production after researching into other softwares, I found a lot more softwares such as slideshare, picassa, powerpoint and videos were much more interesting ways to present my work keeping my blog busy, which also relates well to my chosen genre (house), as house is a fast beat genre constantly busy with a different shot or a different beat. Also I have learnt new software like photoshop and picassa which helped me create my anciliary task for my A2 production where i created a digipak and an advert magazine, I found picassa was easier to use as the tools were basic and easy to access, but Photoshop helped me advance my product due to the advanced tools were i could overlay images, sharpen the colour and insert text.