Digipak and Poster

I printed off my Digipak and Poster to see what they would look like as a real product, I glued my poster into a real magazine to make it look realistic and to see what it looked like. 

Question 3

Weekly Log

This week I have finished my music video and my ancillary texts, I am now moving onto my Evaluation, to do my Evaluation I will be using softwares such as Powtoon, Powerpoint and Prezi. 

Finished Music Video

Question 1

Question 2

Question 4

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

Planning and Research 

• When planning and researching for my media texts I used many different programmes to help me, such as, Blogger, Survey Monkey, YouTube, Wikipedia, Google, Powerpoint and Twitter. When it came to researching into my music genre, I used the internet and YouTube to help me, I searched into Indie video conventions and watched many videos on YouTube to inspire me and to gain ideas of how to create an indie video. Google was useful as it allowed me to gain information and research into the indie genre, James Bay and typical indie videos, I also gained the lyrics from James Bay Let It Go from Google, which helped me to link my video with the lyrics. When researching into my Digipak, I used Google Images to collect ideas from other Digipaks out there, such as Lana Del Rey and The 1975. This helped me to plan and research into my Digipak as I had inspiration from Google Images. 
• Throughout the planning and research I used Blogger to upload my ideas and initial ideas, this was a useful tool as it allowed me to look back at my work and ideas, which made it easier to plan my video. Blogger was useful as I could embed videos and upload pictures to show my ideas and where I got my ideas from. I used Blogger from the start till the very end and uploaded my progress. Blogger also allowed me to create a weekly log where I could use it as a diary, explaining everything I had done that week. 
• When constructing my Survey to collect ideas from the audience, I used Survey Monkey, this allowed me to easily gain responses from everyone. Survey Monkey allowed me to choose questions to ask and give multiple choice options to answer. Once everyone had answered questions on my Survey, Survey Monkey gave me the option to look at all of the findings in one place, this made it easy for me to read through my audience responses as they were already put into pie charts and percentages. I found Survey Monkey easy to use and I would use it again when planning and researching for a product. 
• My iPhone also helped me to plan and research as it allowed me to quickly search something and gain knowledge from my phone, I used my phone to open up the James Bay Lyrics, when planning my shots, so I could link the shots with the lyrics. 

Construction: 

• In the construction stage, I used a Canon camera to film my footage, I found this easy to use and it gave me focused and relevant footage, I also used a tripod to keep my camera still and focused, without the tripod I wouldn't have steady footage as it would be jumpy and moving around. 
• Once I had filmed the footage I needed I uploaded it to the Apple Mac and imported all of my footage onto iMovie, I then edited my footage and put the footage together all on iMovie, which made it easy to edit my footage. iMovie is a video editing software application sold by Apple, for the Mac and iOS (iPhone, iPad). iMovie imports video footage to the Mac from digital cameras and allows you to add titles, themes, music and effects including basic colour correction and video enhancement tools, iMovie allows you to change the speed and pace of the video and add transitions. Using iMovie made creating my video easier as it was easy to understand and once I got used to it, I found it a lot easier. 

• To create my Digipak and poster I used Adobe Photoshop to edit the filter of the pictures, add text and create an effective poster. The tools on Photoshop really helped me as it made it easy to write on my pictures and made it look professional. I had basic knowledge on Photoshop from creating my magazine front cover in AS Media, however this year I learnt how to use other tools such as Free Transform, which allows me to change the size of the picture without making it blurry. I also learnt how to copy text onto my poster and to erase the background to make it look professional. This can be seen on my poster, the "Virgin Logo" has been edited to erase the background, to make it look effective and realistic.

• My basic knowledge from last year allowed me to create my ancillary texts, and anything I didn't already know I picked up on the way. I now feel confident with Photoshop as it really helped me this year. 

Evalutation 

• Blogger was used to record all of my work throughout the year, including screen shots of editing and raw footage, and any other activities that were done throughout the year. Blogger was easy to access on any format, I used Blogger on my iPhone, iPad and laptop as it was so easy to access. I kept my blog up to date and looking back I can now see a clear view of my work throughout the entire year, and I can see a link between my video and my planning and research. 
• Facebook and Twitter allowed me to gain feedback from my target audience, my target audience is teenagers and young adults as this is the typical indie audience. I used Facebook to send pictures of my Digipak, Poster and my final video to my friends, the feedback from this gave me an idea of what people, thought of my video and if my chosen target audience liked my style of video. I used Twitter to tweet my video so anyone that missed it on Facebook could look at it on Twitter. I then got feedback from my audience from this. 
• To create my Evaluation I used Powtoon for one of my questions, Powtoon allows you to create animated presentations and animated explainer videos, I found Powtoon effective as it made my work easy to read and look professional. It allowed me to add pictures and text whilst using transitions. I used Powtoon in AS which helped me this year as I had knowledge on how to use the software. 

• I used Microsoft Powerpoint to create my Evaluation, Powerpoint made it easy for me to create a slideshow explaining what I had done this year and showing my work. Powerpoint is an easy software to use, which made it easier for me. I then uploaded my Powerpoint as a JPEG File onto my blog. 

To conclude, the media technologies I used in my construction and research, planning and evaluation stages helped me to create an effective final piece. The softwares used made it easier for me to log my work, plan and create my video. The main softwares I used throughout the year are Blogger, iMovie and Photoshop and these softwares all included everything I needed for the year. My knowledge in each software improved as the year went on as I learnt through the year. Without the softwares I wouldn't have been able to create a music video, Digipak or Poster.