4) How were media technologies used in the tasks

Research

-Internet was used to gather information on existing products

-Browsed YouTube looking for music videos
-Found Album covers on Google Images
-Blogger was used to record all our research, images and videos can be uploaded to
posts

-Some of the videos found on YouTube weren’t enabled for embedding, so

sometimes we had to look for an alternative, which may not have been as good as the
original

Planning

-Digital Stills Cameras were used to take location shots

-Blogger was used to keep a record of everything that was produced
Filming and Editing

-When filming we used Video Cameras that were supplied by the College
-All editing was done using an Apple Mac with Final Cut Express installed

Advantages of using Final Cut Express / Apple Mac’s

-Editing is very easy and straight forward

-Add effects such as colour correction and transitions
-We were able to integrate 2 or more shots onto one screen (CCTV scene)
-Ability to change the speed eg. Speed up the bus and slow down the walking
-Easy to learn when program hasn’t been used before

Disadvantages of using Final Cut Express / Apple Mac’s

-If a mouse button was accidently knocked, the screen would move around
-The Apple Mac’s are slow because of all the College’s software
-Importing and Exporting of footage takes a long time and doesn’t always complete
-None of the group members own a Mac so editing could only be done in College
hours
-If you’re not an experienced Mac user, it is very easy to lose your patience when it
makes some things more awkward
Creating the Ancillary Tasks

The ancillary tasks that we created were; Album Covers, Magazine Advertisements
and a Webpage. These were created using; Adobe Photoshop and Abode
Dreamweaver.

Photoshop

-The album covers were created using Adobe Photoshop

-Effects are easily added to images at the click of a button
-Very easy to use for experienced users and easy to learn for inexperienced
-Widely available on PC and Mac’s so Ancillary Tasks could be done at home
-The webpage design was created using Photoshop

Dreamweaver

-The webpage was created using Adobe Dreamweaver

-Coding is straight forward for experienced users
-Can see the design of the page at the same time as editing the HTML
-Many features can be used, including transitions and uploading images
-Widely available on PC and Mac so tasks could be edited at home quite easily
Creating the Evaluation

The main of my evaluation was created using Blogger and PowerPoint. However,
other programs and websites have also been used. These are listed below:

Programs

-Internet Explorer
-Mozilla Firefox
-Microsoft PowerPoint
-Microsoft Paint
-Microsoft Excel

Websites

-www.blogger.com
-www.youtube.com
-www.imageshack.us
-www.photobucket.com
-www.scribd.com
-www.hotmail.com (SkyDrive)
Main Problems

While producing our project we did encounter a few problems with the technology
available. The main one being the Apple Mac’s. We found them awkward to use and
sometimes extremely slow and prone to crash.

Another big problem was that with the Video Cameras. On several occasions we
borrowed a camera from College to do some filming in other locations and the
batteries in these cameras didn’t last very long at all. In one case, we only managed
to get the camera setup and ready to film before the battery died.

Saving work also ended up becoming a problem. I had a copy of all the work on my
USB PenDrive as well as having a copy on the College computer. However, my USB
managed to get a virus that was being sent around the college server, from one of
the computers . This led to losing everything that was saved on there. Many of the
images taken were lost and the Webpage was also lost as I kept it saved on there to
work on at home. This meant that I had to remake the webpage, in less time and I
don’t feel it is of as good quality as the original.
Blogger

Throughout the whole project we have used Blogger to document our work,
including research, planning, production and evaluation.

The idea of using Blogger to keep record of all of this a very helpful, especially as
we were working as a group. It allows everything to be accessible by everyone who
needs it and also easy to keep all the work together without losing it. There are
many features on Blogger that make it efficient, such as; uploading, editing posts
and formatting posts.

However, I don’t like the use of blogs so I found it difficult to keep on track with
updating it all the time. Another issue I had was that, with our class all sharing the
same account, it sometimes meant waiting longer to pages to load when everybody
was editing their blogs at the same time.

Throughout creating this evaluation, Blogger unexpectedly closed on me several

times, which led to some frustration. However, Blogger saves drafts of your work at
regular intervals, which meant I only lost a sentence or so each time it did this.
To Conclude

I feel that as a group, we have managed to create a good brand image and appeal to
our target audience using all of the video and ancillary tasks.

I think that I contributed well to the workings of the group as I helped with the
research by conducting some by myself as well as others as a group, I also played
the main protagonist in the music video even though I am not fully comfortable in
front of a camera. The album covers and webpage that I produced with Ash are of a
high standard and follow the brand image that we set and still match the album
covers and magazine advert that Blake and Danny produced.

If I was to do this task again, I wouldn’t rely so much on one location in the initial
stages of the research, as when Tesco rejected out request to film, we were then
stuck and had to explore other options which started to waste valuable time.

Given the problems that occurred with both the technologies and our time
planning, I feel that we managed to meet our brief of creating a successful music
promotion that challenged the codes and conventions of the currently available
products.