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

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

At the start of the whole production me and my production group began to research initial ideas from all medias. For example we used the internet to look at pictures and print them to contribute to a visual concept mood board so we could gain ideas and a sense of what visual style we were trying to achieve. From the song which we found on the internet we got a sense of our audience. We researched several tribes using FindYourTribe.com and understanding different tribes, and from this we got a sense of our own audience. The song is folk-pop similar to Ellie Goulding or Kate Voegele so our audience has elements of folk, and pop. Our concept board had images of the beach because we originally decided on a beach location, and our concept board featured a couple which aimed to a female audience of 16-24 in age. From this we began to brainstorm together by watching movies such as 500 Days of Summer and without the use of new media technologies we wouldn't have got the basis of our idea which was split screens and the sense of a relationship breaking up and the emotional difficulties tied to this experience. From this we used the internet and websites such as youtube and vimeo to study videos like Daniel Powter - Bad Day and Jean-Sebastien Monzani - Your Secret to get the ideas about using notes to explain the narrative and further research into split screens. From using the internet to study Monzani's video we were able to link his video to Death Cab For Cutie - Grapevine Fires therefore using the internet to explore this video further and taking ideas from this video also. One of my initial ideas was to use a scrapbook to tell the narrative which came from the Grapevine Fires video so without the help of youtube this idea wouldn't have let me developed into another idea. Going back to 500 Days of Summer as a production team we watched the movie on television and the idea of setting the music video on a train came from this movie so new technologies have helped a lot in developing ideas and coming up with the initial ideas. 500 Days of Summer use the train for the couple in the movie to meet again, so I took this idea and used the train as a somewhat metaphor the couple moving through their relationship hence the flashback to their past. The flashback also links to the 500 Days of Summer movie because of the way the narrative jumps through the relationship so I took this idea as well. Using the internet we explored other music videos such as Plain White T's - Hey There Delilah where we decided that we liked the use of the split screens being a variety of different shaped boxes instead of just a split so we could then show audiences different aspects of the location (the beach, the waves, other people surrounding the area, etc...). Another music video which I really liked and would loved to have responded to further was Cheryl Cole - 3 Words because her music video has split screens but they come together so I used this idea for the end of the music video where the couple meet and the split screen comes together to show the couple have joined together once again. We took a lot of elements from music videos and movies that we had watched either on the internet or using some other technology so our ideas wouldn't have really developed if we hadn't have used these new technologies to help us.

To plan our music video we used the internet to search for props and costumes to get a slight idea of how we wanted our cast to visually look to the audience. We searched costumes through google and then posted them on our blogs to create a slight visual mood board of our character's costumes. We also used the internet to plan our props: a mobile, a watch, cereal etc to visually explain our ideas and show what we were thinking and make sense of our ideas. While planning I sketched a mood board to show our step by step shots visually, and trying to gain a sense of what our music video would look like essentially. After sketching the mood board I had to scan the mood board onto my blog, which meant that without technology we wouldn't be able to experience what the music video would essentially look like. During planning I also took location shots of Sheringham with my Nikon D60 and used my laptop to upload the photo's onto blogger. Photographs of our location really helped to visualize where the narrative would take place, and help people viewing my blog what my visual processes were which the photographs contributed too. My blogger has also helped me to plan the music video because it has brought all of my ideas into one place so I can keep referring back to it to help develop ideas, and see how my ideas go together and if my visual ideas go together or if they clash. My blog has helped me to keep my ideas in one place, and help me remember what ideas I have had while new ideas are being developed.

When it came to the editing process of the music video we used Adobe Premiere Elements to edit all of our music video together. It took us a long time because we wanted to use split screens so we had to take each shot and place them on new tracks on Adobe to edit them together. We changed the sizes of the video clips using Advanced Editing by either cropping, or just adjusting the sizes of the clips. When we added our live performance we laid down the music track on the audio, and the whole shooting of the live performance and made sure they matched up, then we hid certain parts of the video by using the razor tool too cut the video up and dragging the visible line down so it was no longer there. We used transitions on Adobe to move smoother from some of the shots so the audiences eyes can adjust to the new shot appearing on the music video. Adobe Premiere helped pull the music video together and bring out the themes of a relationship being broken up.

For the evaluation I have used a social networking site (facebook) to ask my target audience (friends of mine who are apart of my target audience) what they think of the music video and what is visually interesting, if it appeals to them, and what they enjoy most about the music video along with other questions. Facebook has helped me find out what my target audience really thinks of a music video we have created with them in mind all the time.