How was media technology used in the Research, Planning and Construction stages of the music video?

Throughout the creation of the music video, my group and I made use of media technology on a daily basis, these media included researching simple images on the internet to filming hours of footage using hand held cameras. However, at different stages of creation media was used in diverse ways, for example some stages meant that media technology was vital, whereas other stages only utilised technology for simple tasks.

Research
During the research stage of the music video I made use of media technology in order to explore different music genres and their conventions. For example, I carried out a number of research tasks where the proposal was to consider what genre of music played on certain radio station and television channels. It is for this reason that the aid of media technology such as 'Sky television' or radios were important. Furthermore, media technology such as the internet was also fundamental in the research stage as it allowed me to expand my knowledge of different genre around the world, for example Bollywood in order to influence ideas for the music video. Moreover, at this stage the team and I were able to use the internet to find the most suitable song for our chosen genre. This was carried out by searching through hundreds of listed songs on the 'LGFL Audio Network Website', which was extremely helpful as it allowed us to search songs by specific categories such as genre, mood, tempo.

Planning
Media technology was also of great help during the planning stages of the music video. Firstly, the group and I explored different techniques of making sounds in order to play over parts of the song. For example, we learned how to create sounds on a I Mac programme known as 'Garage Band', this helped, as before creating our storyboards the team had an initial idea of recording comical kissing noises over the ending of the song. Although this idea was abolished the use of 'Garage Band' furthered our knowledge of media technology. Secondly, to begin discussing the setting of the music video it was necessary for the team and I to explore a variety of settings. However, this was accomplished as we had access to a video camera, which allowed us to video different settings and later discuss which areas appeared better on film. Furthermore, this gave the team the chance to practice our filming techniques. Furthermore, with the use of software such as 'Microsoft' I created a number of costume designs for the characters of the narrative. Finally, throughout this planning stage it was necessary to continue searching for influence from other pop rock bands in order to create a genuine pop rock music video, hence the internet acting as a great source for researching videos and song lyrics.

Construction
The third stage of construction was the stage of which media technology was mostly utilised. The first step to the construction was the filming process which involved using a video camera and lighting equipment, without such media technology the filming process would not have been as productive as it was. Secondly, the editing process was to be carried out using a computer based software known as 'I Movie', therefore this meant that the team and I dealt with this software on a weekly basis. During the this time, the team and I were constantly looking for feedback in order to change and alter areas of the music video which could be improved. This was made easier as it was possible to revisit past scenes and edit them for the best possible outcome. Nevertheless, the disadvantages were that the software was not always reliable and therefore did not always work or save correctly. This was the case for my team and I as after the first week of editing our work was deleted and lost as a result of a computer crash, nonetheless we overcame problems such as these as we learned to back our working progress onto a portable hard drive continuously.

Evaluation
To evaluate audience feedback it was vital that media technology was utilised in order to store and evaluate data from questionnaires. For example, I made use of the software Microsoft Excel when analysing data which influenced the decisions made in the music video. Nevertheless, this was most useful when analysing open and closed questions, since I soon found that Microsoft Excel was most beneficial with quantitative data. Furthermore, media technology such as the video camera gave me the opportunity to explore different ways of collecting audience feedback, since I was able to film few candidates as proof of my audience feedback survey. Moreover, the internet was of great use when evaluating the music video, as it offered a range of platforms to submit our final music video and gain audience feedback. Therefore it is evident that media technologies came of use throughout all stages of research, planning, construction and evaluation.