Question 4- How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

In the research stage of my production I used a lot of familar media outlets and programmes such as google, youtube and blogger to find appropriate examples and basic information on the generic foundations of a music video. This is as I was analysing the existing soul genre and market including current artists and videos to determine what the foundations of a successful music video and noted my findings on blogger. To gain an immediate and current understanding of the music tastes of peope I then looked at iTunes and the top download list to highlight popular artists as well as the correlating music videos to understand cinematography and styles currently favoured. After this the final stage of my research was to chose an artist and song I wanted to create a video for and after deciding on the soul genre I picked 'Only Love Can Hurt Like This' a popular song on the artist homepage, as I felt the lyrics and beat allowed me greater creativity as it could be interpreted in many different ways. 

As the programmes used within the research stage were used throughout with blogger being a constant resource to display information gained through exploring the industry. Other than these, two of the main tools used within the planning stage were the two digital cameras and equipment for photo shoots. I used two cameras for the production as conventionally soul music tends to have a deeper connection to the artist. This is as the intended purpose of a soul music video is to connect to the audience through a relateable scenario or emotion making the artist seem approachable and ordinary yet their emotional expression through a music video makes her seem extraordinary. This compromising balance can therefore be expressed through two cameras as angles such as close ups; to show the artist through her emotions and expressions and long shots; to include locations and filming sets with the artist which shows her two sides to the audience so they feel they have a greater access to the artist as a person allowing them to create a relationship. On the other hand other tools used for the filming and photo shoot included the trip to hold the camera steady, a contrast to the emotions felt within the song. 

I therefore feel that the digital technology shows my development from consumer to producer as with a more creative flare I was often put in charge to come up with scenarios and filming ideas and locations. However at times, due to the filming schedule I often took charge of the camera and so now feel I can sufficiently match appropriate cinematography angles and scenes together to covey a particular emotion. I also managed to overcome difficulties such as the shaking camera due to my shivering, filming in the cold weather. As the artist walked the panning shot reflected this looking jerky. I therefore expanded my knowledge overcoming this through putting a hairband on the camera and pulling the camera so that it had limited body contact making it more consistent. 

In terms of the construction stage of my production one programme used was Final Cut Pro X. Using this, I was then able to merge and edit the clips to synchronize that of the music. Through my research into exisiting songs such as Adele' s Set Fire To The Rain I identified editing styles such as jump cuts from Adele on the chair to the dance which conventionally shows the hurt and betrayl within the song as instant and unexpected which helps the audience empathise with the urt and they understand the raw emotion felt by the artist. This inspired me to use transitions such as dissolve and fade to show how the break down of the relationship felt like a blur from happiness to distress determining her confused attitude. As well as this, I decided to use a filter over the memories images called 'Aged Film' to connote how happy times seem so long ago suggesting she hasn't been happy in a long time. 

On the other hand to develop and edit my ancillary texts I used the photoshop tool. Overall my chosen theme was black and white to connote the two contrasting emotions within the song and hints of romantic colours such as pink and red to show passion and romance. To do this I layered over the black and white filter on the backgrounds to make the artist stand out instead using filters such as Veranda and altering settings such as the saturation by 20% to draw attention to her for promotional aspects as well as making the colours more vibrant making the theme of love more obvious to people viewing the advert or digipak. 

This is therefore one programme I would say appropriately demonstrates my development as I used to rely heavily on assistance as I could only use basic filters and text types. However I now have the ability to work independently to adapt minor issues such as font shades and saturation and contrast, which I would previously overlook, making a well rounded high standard image. 

Overall I feel my understanding and ability within different media forms has progressed from basic to proficient as I now feel I can carry out tasks independently to a relatively high quality. Therefore I would say that I have benefitted through my productions as I have been taught how to use certain programmes I would not necessarily be exposed to which has broadened my overall knowledge of different media forms as a consequence.