1A

Digital Technology

Describe your use of Digital technology from AS (magazine) – to A2 (music video/ short film) 

Before beginning anything, I had to create a blog on www.blogger.com, this was so that I could keep note of everything I did during the process of creating all 3 products and the research and planning involved. I found that using blogger to keep my work was quite useful as I used it for my AS coursework also, therefore I had no problem with it for my A2 coursework. However as in my AS coursework I didn’t usually use videos, I noticed that if I uploaded directly onto blogger, the quality of the video was very poor. This meant I had to create a free vimeo account where I could upload my video and have a high quality outcome if I exported the video correctly. Blogger wouldn’t allow videos over 100MG, which is another reason why I couldn’t upload my music video straight on. Other ways in which I was able to upload videos was by uploading them onto YouTube, however Vimeo was better as the videos where in HD and looked a lot more professional when uploaded onto blogger.

Many of the presentation applications which I used for my AS coursework before and after creating my magazine, I have used for my A2. For example, Prezi and Microsoft PowerPoint where key presentation applications which I used for the planning stages. This is because they were easy to use and the information displayed looked interesting. Prezi is web based, which allowed me to create presentations which looked entertaining. It allowed me to paste in links from YouTube and then embed the whole presentation onto my blog. Microsoft PowerPoint was used a lot throughout both courses. I found that using this programme made my work look more organised. This is because I had the Text Box and Shape Tool which I could use to move around and place where I wanted. For example when analysing similar products such as magazines I was able to point at the certain information which I was talking about. However I was never able to upload a PowerPoint document straight onto blogger. I had to create a SlideShare account which is a digital documents library which allows you to publish and share presentations and then embedding the code onto blogger.

Collecting audience feedback was essential for both the magazine and the music video. I created an online survey using www.surveymonkey.com. For AS I created a pop survey where I asked questions which would enable me to understand the genre I was aiming my magazine at, by asking questions such as ‘What types of freebies would you like to receive when purchasing your magazine?’, this type of question allowed me to find out an expectation from my audience. When I had a sufficient amount of responses I generated the responses and uploaded graphs/charts of the responses onto blogger. I also created another survey for A2; this was to collect audience feedback for my draft music video. In order to get useful feedback, I sent out my survey to over 100 people on Facebook, and collected 68 responses in total, with useful feedback and possible improvements.

When shooting photos outside for my AS magazine I used a Cannon 5500 1.8f 50mm lens which blurs the background and focuses on the model. I also used a Cannon camera when shooting photos inside, when editing the photos I used Adobe Photoshop, which allowed me to remove the background. This meant I was able to put my photo on a different coloured background. This is similar to what I did for my A2 magazine advert and digipak; however I didn’t shoot any photos outside. I created my magazine using Indesign, this is the software that is used to make actual magazine. By using Indesign it enabled me to use tools and features that would allow me to produce a successful magazine. Compared to Photoshop the text wrap on Indesign is a lot better and easier to use, by using text wrap it allows you to have text going around an image and it fills in all the spaces available leaving you with no uneven white gaps.

I used Adobe Premier Pro CS6 when editing my music video, this allowed me to cut shots to the beat of the song using the Razor Tool and then I could rearrange them into different orders. I used this lot with all the different dance routine clips. I used a lot of transitions in my music video, the dissolve transition was used a lot throughout which would fade into a different clip. This transition is used in professional music videos also.

Creativity 

Creativity, the use of imagination and original ideas was used a lot throughout my AS and A2 coursework to create products such as the magazine and the music video. Each course has its own creative ideas through research and planning and the final products.

For both my AS and A2 coursework I have gained a lot of inspiration and creativity through my research and planning. By this I mean, I have used many different ways to present my work onto my blog. I have used, YouTube, Prezi, and vimeo and presentation software’s such as PowerPoint. I feel that by representing my work through video highlight the use of creativity, as many people would usually show their work on a word document. Having created videos and uploading them onto my blog, I have also provided a transcript underneath which allows the end user to also read what would be in the video also. Throughout presenting my research and planning stages of both courses I have also used an online presentational programme which allows me to create interesting presentations which I can then embed onto my blog. I feel that this was creative as I was able to be creative with the designs and animations used.

When creating my magazine for AS, I gained inspiration through previous years coursework and already existed magazines. My skills developed using Adobe Indesign CS6; this allowed me to create my magazine and enabling that I got a professional outcome due the professional magazines using this same software. I feel that Indesign allowed me to become more create than if I was to create the magazine using Adobe Photoshop, an advantage of this is that the text wrapping tool on InDesign was better than if I was to use it on Photoshop. I was able to be creative with my photos on Photoshop; I edited a few of them. For example I made a few of the photos black and white.

When creating my music video, I gained inspiration from videos found on YouTube, especially music videos in the pop industry due to having chosen this as my music video genre. I found that by watching them I was able to incorporate some of the different camera shots used. Also the editing found, in particular the quick jump shots which are typically used in music videos now-a-days. I feel that by creating my music video it has allowed me to expand on my creativity skills and digital technology due to having had to be creative about the narrative to the music video. Having said this, I have had to be creative in the way I have presented the performance in my music video. An example of this is the way I have cut my dance clips to the beat of the song; to me I feel this was being creative as different angles where shown throughout these clips and it still followed all the conventions of a successful music video.

Research + Planning

Research and Planning

Throughout both courses research and planning have been important to complete in order to have a successful outcome of both the magazine and the music video.

Before beginning anything, I had to create a blog on www.blogger.com, this was so that I could keep note of everything I did during the process of creating all 3 products and the research and planning involved. I found that using blogger to keep my work was quite useful as I used it for my AS coursework also which meant that I already had an idea of how I was going to set up the account with the labels which would separate the research and planning side of the coursework.

Two types of research used was primary and secondary research. I used primary research when receiving audience feedback from my target audience. I learnt that by collecting this feedback it allowed me to improve my products and make them to the best of my ability. I carried out this research by creating an online survey using www.surveymonkey.com. For AS I created a pop survey where I asked questions which would enable me to understand the genre I was aiming my magazine at, by asking questions such as ‘What types of freebies would you like to receive when purchasing your magazine?’, this type of question allowed me to find out an expectation from my audience. When I had a sufficient amount of responses I generated the responses and uploaded graphs/charts of the responses onto blogger. I also created another survey for A2; this was to collect audience feedback for my draft music video. In order to get useful feedback, I sent out my survey to over 100 people on Facebook, and collected 68 responses in total, with useful feedback and possible improvements. I also collecting audience feedback for my magazine advert and digipak, I did this by gathering together a small group of media students and they talked through my work giving appropriate feedback for improvements.

Secondary research was essential as I used the internet a lot in order to find out about the course, and also when I had chosen a genre I used the internet to do some research and carried out a number of tasks before creating my final product. I believe that using secondary research can be in a way successful and not successful. This is because the information that we read on the internet may not always be reliable meaning that we would be writing about something which may be from 20 years ago and not current stats.

After each lesson I completed production diaries, this allowed me to keep an update of the progression of my work which I could refer back to. I found that creating these diary entries where quite useful as I would also set myself specific targets. For example when I would complete my storyboards by and how long I would spend drawing them.

By completing all my research and planning before creating my final products allowed me to have a wider knowledge of the genre, conventions which would enable me to create a professional looking product.

Post-production

Post Production

Production at AS for the preliminary task consisted of taking photos of the school before creating a school magazine page, and then writing a contents page. For the coursework this consisted of taking numerous photos of the model, which would be featured in the magazine. An example of this where the photos on the article page which features numerous photos of the models in order to draw the audience in.

Post production at AS consisted of editing the photos which was going to be used in the magazine. This was done by using Photoshop, which allowed me to remove the background of the image and edit the levels in order to have a black and white picture. I created my magazine using Indesign, this is the software that is used to make actual magazine. By using Indesign it enabled me to use tools and features that would allow me to produce a successful magazine. Compared to Photoshop the text wrap on Indesign is a lot better and easier to use, by using text wrap it allows you to have text going around an image and it fills in all the spaces available leaving you with no uneven white gaps.

Production at A2 consisted of filming the music video. It also consisted of things like taking the photos for the magazine advert and digipak and then creating the actual products.

Post production at A2 consisted of editing the footage on Adobe Premier CS6, using the cut tool to cut the footage to the beat of the song and making sure everything flowed well. I used Adobe Premier Pro CS6 when editing my music video, this allowed me to cut shots to the beat of the song using the Razor Tool and then I could rearrange them into different orders. I used this lot with all the different dance routine clips. I used a lot of transitions in my music video, the dissolve transition was used a lot throughout which would fade into a different clip. This transition is used in professional music videos also. It also included manipulating the photographs and putting all text and pictures on Photoshop. Again I edited some of my photos using Photoshop to make the photos more eyes catching to the audience.

Before creating any of my final products, post production tasks where crucial to complete as all the research and planning would allow my final product to be successful. Tasks such as planning the storyboard and researching equipment that I would need for to shoot my music video would allow me to plan ahead and enable me to shoot my video without having many problems. 

Using conventions for real text 

Over the last 2 years I have found that I have used many forms of conventions which are typically found in the music industry. For example a typical pop music video will follow a fun narrative; this could also include a dance performance in the chorus or throughout the entire song.

My music video and song choice were both based around the pop genre. It follows a linear narrative as it is a story told in order of which events happen, i.e. at the beginning of my music video, my artist is seen getting ready to go to go out with her friend. She is seen putting on various types of jewellery and make up, and styling her hair with her friend. Todorov’s theory of an equilibrium – disruption - new equilibrium is also applied in my music video. The equilibrium is clearly shown at the beginning of the music video of my artist getting ready to go out for the night, she is seen putting on her makeup and doing her hair etc and then her best friend arrives round and they get ready together. The disruption is where she ends up meeting all her other friend “I’m going out with the girls” and is partying all night. The audience can see that they are all heading towards a night out in a group. The new equilibrium isn’t very clear to the audience as they don’t see them arriving at the party as the main narrative for the music video is my artist preparing to go to the party and then arrives at the scene and you just see them closing the doors to the party.   

Roland Barthes theory of the Semantic code is also applied to the music video as the audience see my artist with bright colourful lips which connotates fun and love as expressed in the lyrics “Ready to show all the boys what I got I'm letting go of the hurt”. Vladimir Propp argued that narratives always have certain character types who perform certain actions. Therefore he believed that most music videos feature stock characters, this applies to my music video as my artist is shown to be a stereotypical teenager wanting to go out with her friends and be in complete different world. My main artist has bright blonde hair and she wears bright make up to stand out. She has a few changes of clothes throughout the video which in every one has different shoes also. The use of changing the outfits a few times link in well with the narrative.

“A high degree of narrative closure”, Pam Cook’s theory doesn’t apply much to my music video as my narrative is quite basic and real, for example most teenagers meet up with their friends to get ready to go out and they go partying etc and this is what my music video is all about, it’s all about having fun with friends and letting your hair down for the night. Laura Mulvey’s theory of the narrative being delivered through the eyes of a male is also applied throughout my music video with the variety of close ups used to emphasise my artist, this is clearly shown on close ups of my artists face highlighting her eyes and lips which stand out from her blonde hair.

My digipak also uses the forms of conventions as it includes a fan message from the artist which is typically found in the pop genre. Also of the artist referring to them as little pixies, such as Justin Bieber referring to his fans as Beliebers. I have stuck to using 4 pages in my digipak which includes various pictures of my artist, starring at the camera smiling and being serious. My front cover consists of two fonts, one font which is uses to distinguish her name throughout and the other for the general text. The image is of my artist being serious, which draws the audience in due to the image being in black and white and the text being in pink. I was inspired by one of pixie lotts album to do this, as she also used many serious facial expressions when taking pictures and I thought that this made the front cover more interesting. Also that she has also included many black and white photos.

The conventions where also met for my magazine advert, I made sure I included the ratings from pop magazines, the name of the artist and her album, where it can be downloaded from (apple) and websites to stay in touch. I used one image of the artist and created a landscape and portrait version of my magazine advert, with the same image. The font colours used were the same as the digipak so that I stayed consistent throughout.