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

evaluation stages?
ResearchThe importance of research is to inform action our study should to contextualize our
findings. Research for my preliminary task took on place on YouTube; an established
platform to share music videos through institutions like VEVO. We researched different
types of music videos, resulting in being fond of narrative performance videos and being
fond of music within the mainstream pop genre and our interest of a target demographic
of stylers distinguished from the UK Tribes youth research website, it was an
unanimous decision to choose our song Im Not the Only One Sam Smith. The music
video research carried out on YouTube was an example of using Media Technologies as
YouTube enabled me easy access to Music videos for future research and referencing.
After establishing our chosen song, I could then convey more specific research into codes
and conventions that would apply to my target demography, an artist and song that my
audience would also listen to could be songs like Ed Sheeran Thinking out Loud
another mainstream artist. After writing about this particular music video I evaluated it on
my Tumblr blog with a video link through using a URL, this could then later had
references made in my analyses.
As a group we also carried out research into established theorems within the media
institution; for example we carried out research into Goodwins Theory, which
distinguishes relationships between lyrics and visuals and music and visuals, as a group
we have incorporated this by portraying our character in a narrative performance where
the lyrics project an unsuccessful relationship which can also be identified as a theme in
our music video.
This is a screen capture of a slideShare document I found on the Internet using the
tool google chrome as a search engine enabling to gather my research.

As it is a convention to create a brand image or a motif for an artist. I decided to

research extensively into mainstream artists, I learnt that Ed Sheeran has developed a
motif of being instantly recognisable through his trademark red hair this was
something in our research stage we identified as a technique we wanted to emulate, so
we decided to feature our artist throughout in a sharply dressed suit, which would be
perceived as a motif for our artist, this can be exemplified further through more
research into Goodwins theory who puts forward his star theory which defines that
the protagonist, the star will feature in predominant camera shots making him/her
centre of attention. This was something we wanted to incorporate in our music video
is it is an established genre characteristic.

These are photos showcasing our own motif

development of a sharp suit image developed
from our research of mainstream artist Ed
Sheeran. You may notice in the featured photos
that we decided to change the colour of ties as
we felt black projected a more slick image.
Above pictures a photo of Ed Sheeran in the late
2000s when he broke to mass fame, below is a
recent photo of a 2015 performance, you can see
his signature motif of red hair has remained as it
can now be connoted with Ed instantly, this
exemplifies the potential marketing success
motifs can bring.

Although as a group we identified that was not only beneficial to research established
products, we also distinguished that audience research was important especially into
our target demographic. So, we went about creating a questionnaire uncovering what
aspects of media conventions would appeal to the demographic for example usage of
intertextuality references to other media institutions, Portrayal of Laura Mulveys
gaze theory etc.
Here are some screen captures of our findings this was a very beneficial process
because it was pitched our ideal target demographic; the social class B.

Type of music
video you
prefer?

Performance
Artistic
Narrative

Do you like watching

music videos?

These are results from a recording we made

interviewing our target audience, what is below is
quotations of the exact conversation:
Two out of six of our recipients said they looked
for pretty women in the music video this is Laura
Mulveys theory of The Gaze in context.

Sometimes

Yes

No

We found that three out of the six recipients said

they look for the artists interpretation of the
lyrics, and how they express themselves This can
only be taken into consideration. We will used this
in our ancillary video, as we feel our song choice
Sam Smith Im Not the Only One can easily
present and show the artists performance and his
expression when performing it.

The created questionnaire was pitched to the target demographic. We published these
on Tumblr via using the publishing service Scribd; it allows the prosumer to publish
documents that can then be embedded to other sites like social networking Tumblr
which I deem efficient as my portfolio in later stages will be published on Tumblr
through HTMLs, embedding.

Planning
we began to proceed with the planning
stages of the portfolio by firstly, contacting
the record label and the institution that
handles the distribution of our song. We
located a contact email to Capitol Records
requesting the rights for the song, we got
permission rights to use the song, although
the video was subjected being labelled
Unlisted, meaning that the public can
only view the video directly from a link,
which examples our usage of HTML
embedments once again as well using the
technological tool of Scribd to document
our reply from Capitol Records.
This is the email I sent to Capitol Records, I
fully enhanced the ease of web 2.0 by
sending this email using the tool outlook
express

Furthermore, further planning will entail producing scripts and storyboards made on
paper which were then scanned onto the computer, then imported onto Tumblr.
Tumblr also used to document filming schedules, lists of props and characters by
uploading from the software Microsoft Word onto Tumblr as a PDF File, this enabled
us to be very time wise and efficient in filming as we already enhanced a detailed
plan.

Individually, I constructed a dummy digipak and poster using the technological tool
of the editing software, Photoshop. In the process of doing this I determined ideas and
brainwaves on exactly how I wanted my finished digipak to look. The planning
process enabled me to smoothly produce my digipak and posters as appose to starting
from scratch.

This is a picture of my dummy digipak. I was not impressed with how it was coming
along, my skills were basic to say the least, so I watched a crash course video in
using Photoshop on the video upload tool site YouTube to enhance my skills; below
reflects my transformation in Photoshop skills. Left (before) right (After)

After completing storyboards I then created an animatic video using Premiere pro, animatics
incorporated frames from the storyboard to create a basis for the preliminary video,
foreshadowing when we edit it, its easier as the animatic projects rough implications on how
the video should look at the end of production as the concept of it is essentially in place, I
used frames from my storyboard then edited them onto Premiere Pro. They were edited in
time with the track creating a relative storyline. The planning stages contributed pivotally to
the success of our video, as it set us up effectively for the construction phases.

Construction The filming process was captured on a high quality video camera (Nikon D3200)
complemented with the usage of a tripod to create a perfect still image, we also used a small
camera recorder to create implications of past memories of the couple. After the filming was
successfully taken, the video was edited on Premiere Pro, we utalised the use of the animatic
that was previously made by cutting the video together using the cut tool. The most basic yet
essential construction we made was to create multiple video and audio layers, this enabled us
to edit efficiently to the backdrop of the song, by naming each clip appropriately e.g. bench
shot This foreshadowed that we could locate the clips on the timeline quickly so we could
edit them to standard. Within Premier Pro we constructed several techniques into our music
video by using several tools:
Time-remapping to speed up the bench shot in the video; also examples intertextuality as
this type of shot is used in other media products like in film commonly to reflect the fact that
time has passed.
We also used the tool motion scale to zoom in on our characters face emphasizing his
sadness to the situation. As well using razor tool to crop the video effectively.
Fade to black crossover of scenes.
Dip to white used to create crossover of scenes.
After successfully creating a music video I commended on with taking my images for my
ancillary task, to take my photos I would need for my Digi-Pak I used the same Nikon D3200
Camera, to produce a high quality image that could easily be edited on the editing software
Adobe Photoshop, Within Photoshop I used tools including:
Layering to create a conventional feel to the product alike established digipaks.
Text Warping to create another established feel to the video, to try and portray the image
that it is a professional product.
Eye dropper to cut out my image of the silhouette galaxy.
Burn and Dodge tool bring out the significance of the watchful eyes in my Digipak.
Gradient Changing to create a contrasting feel to my house style scheme, portrayed
through the contrasting pinks coral and hot pink.
I also used the brush tool to disappear the fill of my love heart shaped balloon making way
for my text warp to go over the top.
I also used the text tool to attempt to portray a consistent font scheme I used to the font
Trajan Pro with thick bolding to maximise class and style. I then went onto blending
options to the text layer. I increased the shadowing and outer glow whilst keeping its in your
face nature intact.
All the extensive editing I done to my digipak and poster was a deliberate to create an artistic
feel to the video, as within the mainstream genre it is becoming increasingly commonplace
for artists to convey artistic designs without their face on the cover digipak to sell the
product.
I created a house style and brand image creating convergence between my ancillary texts;

digipak and promotion poster. For example by using the stamp tool I transferred the same
shade of pink to my poster from my digipak creating this. My research of digipaks from
earlier on in the portfolio enabled me to identify the concept of brand images and house styles
which lead me to develop a style relatively easily.
Evaluation
In order to create a successful evaluation, I want to project the message that I was
savvy with a wide range of media technologies by presenting my evaluation through
various platforms such as the stylish cloud based presentation software, Prezi. Prezi
allows users to create an energetic form of publishing. I employed the embed tool to
present images of my digipak design, poster and YouTube URL link to my
preliminary video. Furthermore, I added HTML links to specific blog posts
(samlewismedia) that were relevant to appropriate research. Prezi like the more
conventional format of Microsoft PowerPoint includes the option to use an option to
use a variety of themes and templates. I chose to us the hourglass template which
exemplifies classic style a theme I desperately attempt to convey. The layout was
simplistic yet modernistic.
This is a screen capture of my Prezi that I completed to format my Evaluation.

I also flexed my technological know-how, through using Scribd again by uploading

Microsoft Word documents to show my evaluation as I chose to write it an essay style
Scribd was the obvious platform to upload on to Tumblr using PDF files as it is taken
from Word like for like. Scribd is also compatible with Microsoft PowerPoint that
also can be embedded through a link to Tumblr, I used this to format my answering of
the question relating to audience feedback. I use the tool of screen capturing to
document elements of audience feedback like Email interactions I use the crop tool
after screen capturing to make for a neat presentation.
To diversify my evaluation presentation even more, we filmed a directors
commentary on the same Nikon camera as previous with a boom mic to maximise the
sound quality. As it was put together during school time we capitalised on the
availability of Premier Pro, this was used to edit the commentary together with the
music video in the background; we used this Adobe software because we were so
familiar with it, after its completion I uploaded it to my Tumblr blog using the
YouTube embedding tool.
For the question in the evaluation process which was required to be completed as a
group regarding audience feedback was portrayed through questioning people from
our target audience on camera in a focus group style as this was a technique we

picked up from media students of previous, we recorded this using a Nikon D3200
again and a tripod to capture a still focused shot.

Here is a screen capture of our focus group.