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

PRE-PRODUCTION & PLANNING:

Internet based technologies

Blogger: to record all of my stages of research and planning I have used www.blogger.com to keep track of this work and to store and publish this when completed. I also used this website to post
examples and inspiration taken from other websites/sources (for example: music videos via YouTube).

YouTube: I used YouTube to conduct the majority of existing music video research, I am very familiar with this website and use it regularly, also I found the accessibility of it meant i could research almost anywhere and find more obscure/less known example videos. 

For the majority of the planning and research I used Google as the main search engine particularly with image based inspiration.
Some of the photos I have published I have displayed in a collage format, I used PowerPoint to create these images in the layout I wished then saved the preview as a PNG file to maintain the maximum amount of quality.

Also I used a website to help create the GIF files throughout the planning and evaluation: http://gifmaker.me/

PRODUCTION:

Camera used:

NIKON D5100

For all of the filming and photography throughout this project I used my own camera to capture these; I have had the Nikon D5100 for almost a year and feel very comfortable using this as I have a lot of practice with it at home.

I found it very beneficial using my own camera, as I didn't have to worry about booking times and availability with school camera, also I was able to capture a lot of trial filming with similar set ups in my own time to prepare for the real shooting day without effecting anyone else.

Tripod and Dolly:

 For some of the shot I have used a Dolly to create a smooth tracking shot around the character, this is most apparent within the performance scenes.

One of the most clear examples of this would probably be 2:27- 2:30, this clip is a clear and smooth example use of the Dolly around Josh - backing member #1 guitarist. (also see GIF)



 

 

 

POST-PRODUCTION:



Editing software

Music Video

Adobe premiere elements 3.0:
this was my first time using this software, I had very little experience with any video editing software other than very limited use of windows movie makers a couple of years ago. However I managed to get used to this program very quickly and found it very simple and user friendly.

Ancillary Texts

Adobe Photoshop CS: I started using Photoshop only recently for photography editing in art and for portfolio pieces, very quickly managed to find techniques and tricks which made this software I once saw very daunting in fact very simple and enjoyable. Using the assistance from online Photoshop tutorial websites I taught myself new editing skills (for example the broken glass text effect created for the band name).

Also for the CD design I created the initial boarded lines within InDesign, after this was finished I used Photoshop to create more depth by using different shades and variations of blue.

Adobe InDesign CS: I have used InDesign last year in media so felt very comfortable I knew the basics and various techniques within the program

NEW SKILLS

Over the course of this product I have learn a lot with mainly Photoshop, and Premiere Elements. I have never used a professional editing styled editor so this was a completely new experience and I gained a lot of knowledge throughout the process, for example I used Premiere to editing the contrast, brightness and saturation of each of the clips to enhance them and give them a better high quality finish.
In terms of Photoshop I have used a lot more use of the other tools, typically I stick to layers and masks; however I used the cloning tool, and pen tool to create sections and stroke paths.

Problems faced

I only faced limited problems in the pre and post-production stages of the project. It was the production of the product which was the hardest due to external factors which I had a lack of control over whereas the pre and post stages only involved myself and I was able to do this work whenever I was free without the need of others. However with production I had a lot of issues with weather, lighting due to the time of year, having all of the characters available to film, permission to use performance location and props.
Although I during the editing process of the music video I found that I had to variate from the original plans. I started editing with the Neverland shots and put all of these into place, after filming and reviewing the footage from the performance setup I noted which clips were the best from these scenes, however I found that I didn't have some of the footage I had planned, not to a good enough quality anyway. For example the count in with the drums didn't film well enough to use, also when watching the footage I found the end scene that I have used where Peter sings "Neverland" facing away then looks up and directly into the camera as the music cuts, after editing this through time stretching to match the audio timing I found this to be a really effective ending clip, in place for what I originally planned- to end on the two reunited.
These were all only minor problems faced which simply required a bit of re-editing and most just a rearrange of clips throughout the video.