Question 4: How did you use your media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Programmes and projects used to complete my A2 music video project:
- Apple Mac Computers
- Photoshop
- Blogger
- Final Cut Express
- Da Font
- Camera
- Tri pod
- Google
- You Tube
- Sound Cloud
Apple Mac Computers:
Throughout all stages off completing my A2 music video, I have used the Apple Mac Computers at my sixth form. This has allowed to access programmes such as Photoshop and Final cut express, which i have used to upload and edit my video and bring together my digi pack and poster.
Photoshop:
There is number of techniques to be used when using Photoshop.
I used the photo shop programme to design my digi pack and my advertising poster.
We done a Photoshop Tutorial, and in that tutorial I learn the basic techniques of the programme. I learnt how to put layers on the image. This enables us to add an image/ text onto of the background layer without it interfering with anything already on the background layer. You can change the name of each layer by double clicking over 'Layer 1' for example and just type out what you want to rename it. You can also position which layer you want them to be, so you are able to overlap images and text.
To add an image onto Photoshop you right click and press down Ctl and a tab appears you then select ' open with Photoshop' the image on your desktop screen will then open on a different tab on Photoshop, allowing you to get easy access to your other open files on the programme You then select the move tool and grab the picture and hover it over the original tab. It will then transform into your original Photoshop tab and will automatically go onto a fresh layer.
Photoshop enables you to cut a certain part out from an image to a high standard, using the magic wand tool, it selects a chosen part of the picture and the area around it until it hits a distinct line where you can then delete which makes that part of the picture disappear so you can see the background image with another selected image over the top. It works best when an object has a contrasting colour to its back ground image.
To add an image onto Photoshop you right click and press down Ctl and a tab appears you then select ' open with Photoshop' the image on your desktop screen will then open on a different tab on Photoshop, allowing you to get easy access to your other open files on the programme You then select the move tool and grab the picture and hover it over the original tab. It will then transform into your original Photoshop tab and will automatically go onto a fresh layer.
Photoshop enables you to cut a certain part out from an image to a high standard, using the magic wand tool, it selects a chosen part of the picture and the area around it until it hits a distinct line where you can then delete which makes that part of the picture disappear so you can see the background image with another selected image over the top. It works best when an object has a contrasting colour to its back ground image.
If you want to move or change the size of an image you can use the Free Transform tool. If you go to 'Edit' and select 'Free Transform' it will select the image and enable you to nave the picture around the page and change the size of the image. If you want to change the size of the of the particular image but don't want to distort it, you need to hold done shift whilst moving the corners of the image. This will change the size of the image but will not change the shape.
Today we learnt how to use photoshop by learning how to place each layer on top of each other, and how it all comes together. Here are examples of what i done today;
so here is the cd rom template
I done this by applying the glitter image onto the back ground layer and then applied the cd rom template to the second layer and then combined them together to get this as the final image.
Finally I learnt how to add text onto the page. To do this we select the big 'T' on the tool bar and the begin typing. This will add a new layer to Photoshop and it will be named whatever is written on the page. You are able to move the text around on your image, you can also tilt the text by just hovering over the text and a tilt icon will appear.
Blogger:
Blogger is a website that allows me to blog and update my findings and my final finished pieces, It also allows me to state each of the stages of each piece. A mobile app is also available to download, which I did so I was able to update my blog straight away whilst shooting my music video, it also made uploading photos a lot quicker as I could upload pictures straight from my phone. Some problems did occur when using the app but they were only minor and didn't effect majorly on my project. This website is clear and is easy to use.
Final Cut Express:
Final cut express is an editing software created by The Apple Company which allows you to edited videos. This software has played a major role in the completion of my A2 project as it has allowed me to perfect my music video. We had a lesson to teach us how to use the software in our lessons, this helped me a lot as I was not familiar with the software. It helped me with matching the lip syncing as the software allows us to mark the sounds with the visuals, so gave us a clear image when the visuals and sound would match.
I have learnt many skills whilst using final cut express, such as cutting parts of my video and moving them around. Also I learnt how to over lap the two videos together helping me to link both visuals together, to create the story I was trying to put across. To improve my skills on this software I would look at tutorials online to help me with dealing with the sound and visual effects such as transitions.
Sound Cloud:
I also used sound cloud to listen to my selected artist songs, so I could pick one I felt I could produce a music video to. it also helped me when filming the video, as I had it playing in the background whilst filming. Sound cloud also allows you to download it to use on final cut express as the song for the music video. Also sound cloud has an app you can download on your mobile device which is really helpful I used the app on my phone more than I did on the computer, this was because it was easy and quick to listen to the song on my phone whilst filming, making it quicker to pause and play the track.
Camera and Tripod
For the filming I used an SD card video camera and a tripod, It was essential to use a tripod as my filming was taking place in a open space, so the weather may have effected the way in which it filmed especially for the start and stop motions, because if the camera was not kept still and in the same exact position and angle the affect of the start stop motion would be lost, so I therefore had to keep the tripod and camera in the exact spot.
