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

We used several forms of technology in the construction stage of our video. Firstly we used a standard digital camera. This provided us with an average quality and it meant we could play back what we had just filmed to see if it needed shooting again. This also meant that we could save time because we didn’t have to go and re shoot another day if we hadn’t realised the shot wasn’t right until we came to editing. We didn’t used a tripod for many of the shots because we wanted the camera to be able to get right up close to the zombies to be able to capture close ups and we also wanted to be able to move with the zombies.



We used an Apple Macintosh to edit using a program called Final Cut Pro. This application allowed us to put all the clips together in a time line first so we knew which shots were going to be in what order and we could watch each one through to see which one we liked the most. It allowed us to use many effects in our video such as equalize and glow. It was very easy to add these effects and you could change how much of each effect you wanted in that section of the video. Final Cut Pro also allowed us to add transitions to our shots, allowing them to flow more easily and give the video an overall more professional look. The effects were easy to add to the video and also easy to remove if we decided we didn’t want them. This made the editing process a lot easier and quicker. It also allowed us to insert our green screen shots and add images or videos to the background.



To do the green screen, we went into the studio at college and used the HD camera to get a variety of shots, which we were only going to use if we needed them. The high definition cameras allowed us to capture details in the shots and better quality shots. In the end we decided to use one of the shots of Liz and Beatrix playing and then have Matt come out afterwards, with a secluded image of the park behind us.





To get the photos for the CD pack and magazine advert we used a DSLR camera which we borrowed from the photography department. These camera are much better at making photos seen professional and they are clearer and of a better quality meaning that our CD cover and magazine advert will be of a better quality than if we used a standard digital camera. To edit the photos we used Photoshop Cs5, as opposed to cS3 at college due to it allowing us to basically add any effect we wanted. Photoshop was useful so that we could crop the images how we liked and again, it was easy to add and remove effects making the process quicker. The application allowed us to used different textures and images behind our pictures and we could fade the pictures around the outside giving us our desired mysterious and gothic effect which relates to the song and genre of the video. To upload the designs we made of the CD pack and magazine advert, we used a scanner at college. This allowed us to upload anything that we had drawn or written on paper instead of having to re-do it on the computer, allowing us to save time.


In the research stage we again used an Apple Macintosh and Youtube to watch and analyse videos and in the evaluation stage so we could upload our video. Youtube made it very easy for us to watch other videos as it contains the majority of music videos and you can watch them again and again which made it easy for us to do the analysis of other videos. It also made it easier to allow other people to watch our video. We could have done this using Final Cut Pro, however you can only watch the video on one computer, whereas with Youtube, the video could be watched on any computer and even at home . We also used Microsoft Word to write down our thoughts and anything we wanted to include in our video and to also write up the evaluation process.