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

To overcome the issues with copy write within this industry, both the artist and the track we found and chose, we found using the website www.unsigned.com. Finding our artist and track using this website meant that we could use the song, and also meant that our artist would be much easier to contact and ask for permission from.

Facebook: We used Facebook as a means of carrying out research into what people expect of a music promo, through posting up a questionnaire and getting our target markets feedback. Using this technology also helped in the contacting of our artist, as he has his own page. This method was quick and simple, letting us easily find out some background information about him and the song as well as getting a fast response to any questions we had for him about the track. Using this technology also helped us gain feedback on our final products as it was a means of exhibiting our promotional package.

Twitter: This technology helped us to gain a wider area of research as it is open to a larger range of people, giving us much broader results which aided us in our research as it helped us to develop our idea into one that would be like by a larger number of our potential market. I also used twitter as a means of exhibiting our final products, as it opened them up to be viewed by a wider group of people, meaning that we would get a more accurate amount of feedback on our promo.

Youtube: Using Youtube helped as a research method. Through this technology we could easily search for and explore different
examples of music promos from a range of genres, this helped me to develop my own ideas for our promo as from this site you get a good idea of conventions, as well as a good idea of what people do and do not like. This technology also helped with the exhibiting of our finished promo, from which we can see a range of different peoples responses and opinions, and whether or not our final product was successful.

iMovie: This technology was used in the making of our music promo, we used this to put the selected clips together, add transitions and edit and add effects when needed or when necessary.

Photoshop: This technology was used in the making of our digipak and magazine article, the range of different effects that can be applied using this program helped us to create a high quality and professional final product. It helped us to confidently meet the plan we had set, as it allowed us to create our ideas as well as find ways of improving them.

Final Cut Express : We used this program as a means of joining two clips together that did not work separately. This helped us create a much more technically skilled clip, that gave an almost professional look to our promo. Helping also to give more depth and detail to the promo.

From this piece of work I have learnt and developed new skills of shooting and planning shots for filming. This project has helped me to develop my understanding on the layout of a shot and what makes a more effective shot, understanding this better has helped me to create and plan a range of effective and interesting shots. I have also learnt to make sure the area for my shot is completely clear and exactly how planned, and that there is nothing to compromise the mise-en-scene. e.g. litter. For example in my prelim, we didn't look too much at the rest of the mise-en-scene in our shots and below we can see a small amount of litter in the background.

Through this promo I have learnt how to use editing in an effective way, to compliment the promo, rather than outdo or overwork certain shots. We used sepia and black and white video effects on certain clips, and used the other video effects tools to help us to create a more effective image. By using only these set editing effects we created a consistent piece, that works well throughout, this is a skill I feel I have learnt a bit more about and so developed since earlier pieces of work.

Through using the Apple Macs, iMovie and Photoshop, I have learnt how to develop my pieces of work, in a way that brings them to a high quality professional standard. Using iMovie to create our promo, aided in the final outcome due to the range of different editing software available and the ease of being able to change and adapt ideas. The Apple Macs and Photoshop also helped in the making of our digipak and magazine article. I learnt how to use Photoshop in a way that creates a good, high quality final outcome, without looking fake. By taking ideas from other promos and promotional material we had seen and trying to recreate certain aspects using these programs, it helped to develop my own skills as I found new ways of completely tasks and new means of creating a better final outcome. This can be seen in the final outcome of our magazine article, the changing of the fading and opacity in the shots shows a development in skills as this technique I would never have considered before. However using it gives a much stronger image and final outcome.

Some problems we faced whilst filming were:
Low Lighting: During our filming one problem we came across that both of the days we had very bad lighting for anything we filmed, to solve this problem when it came to editing, we altered some of the variable elements such as the contrast, to create a better and lighter effect on the badly effected original shots. We also added effects such as sepia, which aided in the lightening of some of our shots.
Bad Weather: Another problem we faced when filming was bad weather, to overcome this problem we learnt about using different angles to get a better and clearer shot, and to use a better location where the weather was not effecting the planned shot as much e.g. somewhere under more cover.
Lip Syncing: When it came to adding sound to our promo, we found that parts of the lip syncing did not match up as well as they could do, to fix this problem, we magnified the timeline of the clip, helping us to gain a much more accurate result. 

Blogger: We used Blogger as a means of noting down our planning, research and ideas for the final outcome. This helped to keep everything in order, making sure everything was up to date, and so that when we came round to it, all the planning for our products would be completely sorted, and easy to find and use. 

Search Engines: We used search engines as a means of finding and sourcing information, for research and planning, such as images and information. We also used search engines as a way of finding out information about and contacting our artist, this helped up to understand our artist better and so, understand some of the key aspects behind the track.

Itunes: We used Itunes as a means of sourcing our track. This program allowed us to access the song at any point during filming, as well as add the song onto our finished product.

Through exhibiting our three texts online, we can find and gain a range of different views and opinions on our products. Due to the vast amount of people our promo will be available; we can achieve a large and informative range of results. Also by exhibiting our material online, it helped us reach the full range of our target market, meaning that most would either hear about or see the three products. Exhibiting our material online it opens up a number of free publicity options for our products. Due to the amount of people using the internet compared to the more traditional methods of sourcing music, our products will reach a much wider target market gaining a lot more publicity for the track and creating a buzz on this new artist.