Evaluation Question 4

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

During studying A Level media I have been able to develop my skills and knowledge of technologies, therefore this is evident in my blog due to the different sites and programmes I have used in order to make my blog interesting whilst also actually making my product. Considering this, my AS blog is noticeably different in its appearance, as my A2 blog I have set out more professionally and created tags so my posts are easy to navigate. I have also used more media technologies compared to the amount I used in AS and also used these technologies to a more advanced level as due to not taking media in GCSE I was not used to the new technologies that are used in the media course, so this meant in A2 I was more familiar with the different technologies and was able to use them to a better level. Furthermore, in this post I will be evaluating the technologies that I have used for construction and research and how I have used them for the making of my products.

Blogger-  Blogger enabled to post the research I under took for the making of both my products. Therefore, in AS I researched the codes and conventions of thrillers, the history of thrillers etc and in A2 I researched into famous directors and also the codes and conventions different music genres before choosing one. I educated myself on how to create a successful and professional product that would relate well to my target audience and genre. Blogger allowed me to display this information in a quirky, professional and interesting manner. However, analysing my blog from AS it is clear that I was not as familiar with blogger compared to A2, as in A2 I was able to use Blogger much more technically, therefore for example; being able to set it out so posts are easy to navigate by putting tags on them. Also I experienced problems during making my blog in AS such as uploading videos and images as they either didn't upload or uploaded in a bad quality. Compared to my A2 I was able to figure out the problem and upload them with a smaller memory. Also in AS I worked with a class member so this meant we shared the work out between us, so in A2 working on my own I was able to broaden my knowledge on Blogger and create exactly what I wanted to.

 

 

IMovie and editing- IMovie was used to create both my AS and A2 productions, AS being a thriller opening 'Stalker' and A2 being a music video to the song 'hex' by Kids Love Lies. Like Blogger skills with my IMovie improved from AS to A2, such as editing, therefore this is clear in my final products. Therefore when making my AS product I lacked editing skills as I wasn't aware of the more advanced tools, transitions, editing techniques and filters that all contribute to making my final product look more professional. Furthermore, this meant that compared to my A2 product, my AS product was a lot more simplistic as due to not being familiar with IMovie I only used simple transitions and basic editing skills as I didn't experiment with the different filters or colourings that could of improved my product. Lastly, this meant in A2 I was more aware of the different editing techniques you can do on IMovie and was able to achieve making my music video fit the genre I had chosen through editing. Here's an example of how I used the filter 'beachbybass' in order to make my video look indie/punk due to it being edgy and dark:

 

Other media technologies-  I used other software to create posts on my blog that looked interesting and professional, therefore I used 'Prezi' and 'Slideshare'. I used these when displaying my research and also used them when doing my evaluation to make them interesting. I also used other software such as 'gimp' 'picasa' and 'photoshop', all of these helped towards making my auxiliary task such as the: digipak and magazine advert.