Research & Planning.
What have I used?
I used websites such as google this was to search up artist's websites, and looking at conventions of pop music videos. In addition, I used YouTube to help give my group and I inspiration for our own music video, also we used YouTube to reference to music videos to use in our research and planning. I also used, Blogger which was a website where we wrote everything we researched and planned for our final products. Blogger allowed me to document my journey of creating all my three products. It's a very useful website, also access it from any device using the internet. I used, 2.0 websites such as Prezi and Slides, these helped to display my researching and planning creatively add show that I am using different technology effectively to display my work.
Why have I used them?
As technology has gotten incredibly fast, effective and easy to access we decided that using them to our benefit would help improve the quality of our work. As all of these technologies had only been created within the last 10 years, this shows that we are using contemporary new technologies, which would also appeal to our target audience. Using google allowed me to get accurate information from a variety of websites, such as conventions of pop music videos - without using google to understand the conventions of pop videos and apply them to our own work, we would lack key elements of a music video, digipak or website which would show that we didn't research nor plan fully. However, by using google to also look up artist's website and digipaks, allowed us to know that our artist should be at the centre of each product so they can be recognised by their target audience. Using YouTube was a great help to think of ideas and get inspiration from successful music videos.
From looking at other music videos it allowed us to have a range of developed ideas that we could show our target audience, and show that we are gaining influence from other videos to make our videos more higher quality. Also, I used YouTube to gain tips on how to make good and authentic music videos, as I learnt that using 60 frames per second when filming is better. As when editing and slowing down the video, it allows the footage to seamlessly slow down without being jumpy, since we sped up the frames per second when filming. I used Prezi and Slides as it's a free, quick and easy to use. I was able to produce more aesthetically presentations that would please our audience as we are displaying our ideas in a more creative way. On blogger I have learnt how to embed presentations or gifs [created on Giphy] to make my blog work more attractive, and show skill. For example, when wanting to show an example of a music video that had inspired me e.g. Too Good At Goodbyes by Sam Smith, I liked the use of cold blue tones that the music video had used. Therefore, I would want to visually show how that certain clip helped building ideas around a certain mood or tone that we would want to convey in our music video.
Research & Planning Cont.d
During Research and Planning we also used a media technology called 'Giphy.com' [mentioned in previous slide]. Giphy is an online database, and search engine that allows users to search for, create and share animate gifs. We used Giphy, as it simple and easy to use, also we used Giphy to show examples of generic pop music videos as well as ones that have inspired us with creating our own. When using Giphy I was able to create a gif which showed a section of the music video I was using as an example for my blog post on Blogger. This was very useful as I would be able to visually show music videos that have either inspired my creativity or helped me to understand codes and conventions of pop music videos. After creating the gifs I would embed them onto my blog post using the HTML code. Using Giphy I have learnt to choose 4-5 seconds of a music video clip from YouTube by using the link and pasting it into Giphy search engine. Giphy has been really helpful as by showing visual examples of music videos, have showed that I am being creative with the way I display my examples, and also show that I am being very specific.
Another media technology we used during research and planning was 'Survey Monkey', which is an online survey development. We used this media technology to receive feedback from our target audience for the rough cut for our music video, website and or digipak. Using a online survey allowed our target audience to easily access the questionnaire through laptops, computers and smartphones etc. Also, when we wanted to receive the answers back we couldd easily review the different answers and be able to act upon them to improve our work. After receiving the feedback we would included them within our blogposts to show evidence for using audience feedback to improve the quality of our work.
Research & Planning II
Another media technology we had used was a web 2.0 called Pinterest. We made mood boards for the type of moods and aesthetic we wanted for our music video that would attract our target audience to watching it, and possibly buying our artist's digipak. I used Pinterest as it's a very trendy website that can be used on the internet as well as mobile phones, therefore this shows that it's easy for our target audience to access to get a look at our mood boards. Also, the layout of Pinterest is very contemporary which made our mood boards look more attractive. Using Pinterest I learned how to create different type of boards to separate photographs that display moods and tones, from outfits and makeup. This was a great help, as our intentions for the type of aesthetic we wanted to achieve would be much more clearer for our target audience.
We used our mobile phones as they are technologically converged and integrated devices, they are portable and quick and easy to use, also can connect to multiple of connections. Using our mobile phones was a way for us to communicate with each other easily. We used WhatsApp [a mobile app] since we made a group chat where everyone was able to express their ideas, ask any questions and update each other on everything that everyone is doing. Without using our mobile phones, it would of been much harder for us to communicate outside of the classroom effectively. Also, by using our phones we were able to call each other to know where to meet for filming and also the timings. In addition, we used our mobile phones to take photos of group discussions and also we took photos and videos for behind the scenes of filming our music video. As many phones are evolving rapdily and the camera quality is becoming off an amazing standard, using our phones to take photos and videos helped as they were quick and easy to do.
Screenshots of our group chat.
Screenshots of behind the scene photographs.
Research & Planning III.
Despite using really advanced technology, there is also some limitations to them. When using google as their are a various amount of different websites and those who make them have their own opinions about the conventions of "pop genres". Some websites I used were not reliable and gave false information about conventions of pop music genres, or even about a artist I would search for references. Another limitation when using mobile phones sometimes is when taking a photograph or video it can get deleted by accident easily or lost which has not been helpful as we would have to re-take the photograph which would take up time, or find a way to retrieve it. In addition, when using Whatsapp as it is a mobile app and has faults, sometimes it would crash when we are communicating with each other ideas and then we would not be able to go onto the app for a few hours, which delays us creating plans and figuring out our next steps in our project.
However, overall using new media technologies for our research and planning has been a success. As if we were trying to create such a big project 10-15 years ago it would be a lot more difficult. As we wouldn't be able to communicate outside of the classroom so less work would get done independently. However, due to mobile phones allowing people to send messages fast and easy we were able to always speak to each other with no hassle. Also, without YouTube or Google it would be much more difficult to research information about music artists, or music videos. Modern technology is much more accurate, and instant.
Research & Planning IIII
During research and planning to get actors for our music video we used StarNow which is a casting website allowing us to get a variety aspiring actors that are willing to be a part of our project. By using this casting website we were able to advertise our project to a range of people, and get many replies back. When using this website, I have learnt how to create a casting call, as this is essential to drawing in many actors, I had to make sure that it was bold, clear and also displayed our intentions for the project, which was to create a music video using two actors who are meant to be 'in love'. Even though this website was a great success with getting actors, it also had it's limitations. When using the website, as were not paying the actors, some of their reliability wasn't good, many actors had dropped out at the last minute, and due to us not being able to contact them immeditaely sometimes did take away time that we needed in order to find new actors. Also, when creating a casting call, sometimes it was difficult to correctly type up the characteristics that we wanted our actors to have, therefore sometimes StarNow wasn't clear enough with their instructions on how to create a casting call.
Another technology we used for our research and planning was Skype which is a telecommunications application software product that allows people to video chat and have voice calls between computers, phones, tablets etc. We used Skype when it came to having the interviews for choosing which actor suited the roles in our music video. Skype was really beneficial for us, as we would all sit in a quiet room whilst using our phones to Skype our applicants. As Skype can work on any type of device, whether it's an Android or an Apple device, it was therefore easy to use without any hassle. However, with Skype if there is a faulty internet connection, the video call will stop and start and sometimes try reconnect constantly. Sometimes we would be in the middle of an interview, and Skype would suddenly stop working and possibly end the call which would waste time and also distract us from interacting with an applicant. So therefore, when using Skype I learnt that being in a room that is spacious and has a good connection is vital to making sure our video call is consistent throughout.
Research & Planning.
By Beyond Dee.
