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

In my A2 coursework, I used a wide range of technology and software, including digital cameras, video cameras, Photoshop, adobe, Premiere Pro, After Effects, and such online programs such as scribd, and slideshare. At the first planning stages, I had to present things such as costumes, project proposal, audience, design inspirations, props I would use, locations. To present these effectively on my blog, I used scribd and slideshare which convert powerpoint presentations into visual and interactive presentations, which is useful due to the fact they are easy to use, clear to understand and means they can be presented effectively on my blog. The internet as a whole has been very useful to me as it means I could gain information very quickly, which especially came in handy when I was planning and finding out research, e.g. Andrew Goodwin’s theories, and of course the fact that my coursework is based online, on the site “Blogger”.


The digital cameras I used in order to get the pictures which I needed for the digipak, using a digital camera enabled me to take an unlimited amount of pictures, and could view them straight after I had taken them, so that I could make changes accordingly. The fact that I used studio lights provided me with the correct level of lighting in order for my pictures to come out clear and realistic. I then uploaded them via a converter, which meant I could view the pictures faster and larger, and from that, I chose the photos which I favoured most. I edited a number of them in Photoshop, which meant I could alter them in many ways. I edited the background from all of the photos taken which gave me just a plain background so I had the opportunity to choose whichever background I wanted. Photoshop also enabled me to remove spots and freckles from my models face in order to give the model a more professional and glamorous look.

For the front page of my digipak, I was aiming for the image to dominate the page in order to fully represent the artist. I wanted her to be the main focus, which is why the front page is quite simple and not too busy. The black and white effect meant that I was able to eliminate colour, in order to tie in with my continuous use of dark colours and a depressed theme. On the front page of the digipak, using Photoshop I changed the colour of Beckie to black and white but kept her lips red, in order for them to stand out, and to tie in with the colour scheme I had chosen, for which I used the Lasso tool. “Chase and Status” is the second most important item on the page, so in order to make it stand out, I used a large font which was all in capitals and added a bevel and emboss effect on it, which gave it a faded zebra print effect, which is used to reflect the artists personality and love for fashion, prints and textiles. I used the “stroke” effect in order to give the text a red outline which ties in with the colour scheme and used the “drop shadow in order to give a shadow effect to the text. I added the publishers’ logo, the sort code of the CD, and the name along the side of the CD in order to present is like a real CD.

The back of my digipak has quite an old fashioned effect due to the fact that I added brushes to the plain background. I used a photo of Beckie laying on the ground and kicking her leg up. Photoshop enabled me to delete the background meaning there was nothing other than Beckie herself in the picture, which enabled me to carry out the next stage, which was highlighting that whole layer and using the plain circular brush tool, I made the whole layer black. This left me with just a black silhouette version of the picture, which tied in with my colour scheme and the chique feel which I wanted to create. I flipped the photo of Beckie which was previously her kicking her legs to the right, which meant that I could now place her in the bottom left corner as she was now kicking out to the left, which gave the back page sort of an outline which appealed to me, as it was the outline to the centre of the page, which was of course the track listings. I added a black silhouette effect chandelier in the top right corner which I found in Brushes on Photoshop, this added to my modern and chique look and tied in with the silhouette of Beckie. Photoshop also enabled me to easily copy a barcode on to the back page, which is a typical convention of digipaks, and shows a true representation of a CD cover.

For the thank you page for the digipak, I had an idea I wanted to use which was having a black and white picture and writing emotive words over the picture, and then deleting the words from the picture, which meant that the white parts of the picture would stay the same and only the black parts of the picture would have words across it for example her highlighted hair and eyes. I used different fonts for the writing, which enables me to give various looks and styles to my coursework. By doing this thank you page, I had really used Photoshop to the best of my ability, as it was a new experience, and the results were just as I had imagined them to be. The image I used for my thank you page is purposely placed to the side rather than the centre, due to the fact that I put her thank you message beside of her to make the audience feel as though she was actually speaking to them, and to enhance this feel, I used a handwritten font and put speech marks around the text. I then also wrote “thank you…” in a handwritten text, and easily rotated it at a 90o angle anti-clockwise which meant it could fit along the top left side of the digipak.

For the institutions and page, I used a large mid-shot of Beckie, which I added an inner glow which give the picture a different effect than before, and reduced the opacity by nearly half way, which meant the picture is quite see-through. The brush effect that I had used on the back cover of the digipak, I also applied on this page, in order to make sure similar themes were running through the digipak. The institutional information is layed out around the image of Beckie, which I created by using the Lasso tool. Over the picture of Beckie, I have contained the Editor and Publishers Logo, which is also used on the front of the cover, however here, I made the logo the same size as the whole page, and reduced the level of opacity, which means that it is visible, but Beckie can be seen through the logo. I used the opacity tool in Photoshop numerous times in my coursework, I found it useful due to the fact it meant I could have various layers on top of others, and the fact that the layers could have a see through effect, meant it was easy to view them all.

I created the magazine advertisement in Photoshop, which means it is easy to edit, delete or move layers effortlessly. I did not want my magazine advertisement to be too busy and for readers just to turn the page, so I made the magazine advertisement spacious. I placed the image I was going to use towards the side of the page so I had the whole other side to write the information which I wanted. I placed the title “Chase and Status” across the top of the page, in order for it to be easily found, and kept the same font of writing as I used on the front cover in order to create Beckie’s brand image. I used the same large font which is in capitals and added a bevel and emboss effect on it, which gave it a faded zebra print effect, which is used to reflect the artists personality and love for fashion, prints and textiles. I contained a photograph of the digipak on my music magazine so that the potential buyers would know what to look for when purchasing the album. For the image to look as though it was 3D and not just a picture, I added a “Drop Shadow” which gave the picture the illusion that it had a shadow, therefore making it 3D, and “stroke” which gave the whole image an outline, separating it from the rest of the page. The layers on Photoshop made it easy for me to move and rotate the texts and images so that they were just as I wanted them to be.

When making my Music Video, I used the Sony HVR-A1E camera for the indoor shoot, due tio the fact that this camera would enable me to end up with both high quality and high definition footage. I used a shoulder rig instead of using a tri-pod to give the hand held feel, this was because I wanted footage that had a wide range of camera shots and I had previously seen a video hand held which allowed the various shots to be portrayed effectively. For the outside shoot, I used the Panasonic DV cam, due to the fact that I was trying to create a home video that the couple had recorded throughout their time going out, and also, this camera is light and quite portable, which meant that it was easy for me to travel to the locations with the camera. The outside footage was filmed with a tripod, however, in order for me to create the effect that it was a home video; the couple took turns in holding the camera and recording. To add to this effect, the couple placed the camera down on a park bench and ran to the lake to skim pebbles in to the water.

Once I had shot all of my footage, I opened them on to Adobe Premiere Pro, where I cut the footage that I did not want to use, and kept the footage I did want to use.

Premiere enabled me to easily view exactly what I was moving where, across the timeline. I used slow motion for the scene where the girlfriend pushes the camera, then it ends up turning in to the boyfriends hand, that brief clip of him is in slow motion. Premiere also enabled me to edit the clips, for example, the shots where it’s just Beckie in a room, I used the “Levels” effect and the “Black and white” effect in order to create the visualisation of her being drained of colour and love. Premiere also enabled me to add lyrics to my music video, by using “Titles” which meant that I could edit the lyrics too, for example I made the "PAIN" lyrics flash in time with the beat. In Premiere, I cut out the recordings that I did not want to use, and put the ones I did want in sync with the video. Gradually, my video had some shape of form. I could then add new layers of videos, of which I used several times, when I used fast cuts to cut between two clips repeatedly by putting one clip on “Video 1” and placing the other clip directly above, in the column called “Video 2”. I also used the column “Video 2” and also “Video 3” in order for me to contain several different fonts used for the lyrics to appear at the same time. This leads me on to the next feature which the technologies of Premiere which is the “Effect Controls” which enabled me to move the lyrics and make them a different size at the same time by using the “scale” tool. Premiere also enabled me to change the opacity of the lyrics, which meant that I could make them appear and disappear when I wanted to. Through using Premiere, I added fades between the calm shots, so that it flowed nicely, as if it was a montage of memories.The timeline made it very easy for me to see and understand what I was doing, in particular, when editing the end of my music video, I cut the clips very fast simultaneously in order to emphasise the build up to the end of the song, and the build up of her emotional breakdown.

In Adobe After Effects, I was able to add a “Reel 8mm Film” tool which enabled me to select the parts of my music video, which I wanted to resemble an old fashioned home video. This was a key feature in my music video, therefore After Effects enabled me to improve my video vastly.

When providing evidence of feedback, the Blackberry App called “Screen Grab” enabled me to take a picture of the Blackberry Message which I had received. Also, I print screened my emails, in order to include the email in my evaluation. I converted the Audience Feedback Form from a powerpoint presentation, to a JPEG, by using Powerpoint.

The use of technology has helped me through every step of my coursework, for the planning, the production, and the evaluation stages, and has enabled me to create my coursework to the best of my ability. The things that I had ideas about came to life, thanks to technology, but Photoshop, Premiere and After Effects in particular.