Use of Tech. in Construction, Research and Planning

Use of Technology in Construction
*Video Camera This was a vital part of creating the music video. It's portablilty enabled us to film anywhere with ease. It's handheld form gave us the ability to create the jolting camera movements that we wanted.
*At the same time, we could use the Tripod for added stability. Stable camera movements are often used in professional music videos, and so we used the tripod to incorporate these shots into our otherwise jerky shots.
*Lighting was
*iMovie was the software that we used to edit our footage. In order to create the final product, this was vital. It's features enabled us not only to edit and cut the footage, but adjust it's colouring, brightness, contrast, pace, repetition, and sound levels. Thus, we could experiment with these areas until we had created a video that used the conventions of a professional Alternative music video. To add a professional aesthetic, we added an introductory strip that introduced the band and the song name. This is a typical convention that one would normally expect to see on a music channel, like MTV2.
*Adobe Premier Pro was used only my myself. I decided that I wanted to use a more professional program for the editing of the beginning of the video. This professionalism, I hope, would attract the target audience. The features of this program let me edit the footage in ways that iMovie would never enable me to. I could *overlay two layers of footage [in the video, you can see how I have overlayed footage of myself applying makeup with another of myself dancing around in a bedroom mise-en-scene]; *adjust the lighting [I was able to create a flickering effect on the cheerleading section of the video for added interest]; and *add an effect to the footage to create a surreal, dreamy effect.
*Photoshop CS4 was used both in the construction of the digipak and the music video. In the music video, we used it to line up the cheerleading poses and insert this after the cheerleading footage was shown. This reinforced to the viewer that the word spelt was indeed 'PARTY'. The construction of the digipak was entirely thanks to Photoshop.




Use of Technology in Research
*Internet: Youtube.com This site let me view other established band's music videos. I particularly researched into the Alternative genre, of course. It was interesting to see people's comments and reactions to the videos. I think I will load my video onto Youtube to receive audience feedback, too.
*Internet: Google.com This site, of course enabled me to research everything from mask designs to album covers.
*Internet: HMV.com I used this to view album covers. However, it wasn;t very successful as you could not search by the Genre I needed.
*Internet: Music Magazines' sites, e.g. NME.com I used this to view how music advertisements are presented.
*Internet: Twitter.com I used this a little to research into band's Twitters, and see what kind of lifestyle they live.
*Internet: Myspace.com I used this to contact the band we are promoting. I was able to contact them to ask for the lyrics, and ask permission to use their uncopyrighted music.
*Internet: Jamendo.com I used this site because it enables you to search through uncopyrighted music, download it and use it. This is how I found the band Happiness, and their song Look At That Rabbit Go!
*Internet: SurveyMonkey.com I used this site for audience feedback. SurveyMonkey allows you create your survey online, distribute the link via Facebook.com, and create charts from the results. I thought it would be better to do it online as people are more accessible as they prefer to use computers; plus, it is more environmentally friendly.
*iTunes: iTunes' Store The iTunes Store was good for viewing album covers. I could search by the Alternative genre, too, which was very helpful. Also, you can view advertisements for Alternative bands.
*Television: Music Channels These channels allowed me, of course, to view other Alernative music videos. I mainly watched MTV2 as it shows more Alternative music.
*Radio: Radio 1 I listened to Radio 1 to listen out for bands that I could research in to. Radio 1 offers Indie/Alternative genre music, so this was good.
*Camera I used my camera to photograph different locations. This was helpful as we could make creative descions together easily without visiting the set. I also photographed items of clothing, so that I could confer with my group to decide which best suit the Indie image. I then wore these for the filming.


Use of Technology in Planning
*Mobile phones: Texting/Calling This was vital for communication. We could plan dates, plan when and where to meet, plan who would be taking the equpiment home, plan who would be editting next.
*Internet: Facebook.com This was also vital for communication. We could plan dates, plan when and where to meet, plan who would be taking the equpiment home, plan who would be editting next.
*Internet: Blogger.com This was used to plan, display and discuss ideas. Our group each Follow each others' blogs, so that we can see each others' ideas for the music video. It was good that we could meet in school, with our blogs up and discuss what every one had found and thus make group-creative-decisions.
*Microsoft Word This was good for when the Internet was not working. I could still write down my ideas and then copy, paste and post them later. It meant that my planning was not hindered due to any techinical problems.


Use of technology in Training
[2 days training with a company called 'CLC']
*GarageBand It was interesting to learn the basics of this program. Although, we did not end up making our own song. We opted for the more professional route of using Jamendo.com to promote the existing band, Happiness.
*iMovie We were taught how to mute the diegetic sound on our video and replace it with the non-diegetic sound of the band's song.