A2 Media Evaluation pt. 1

1. A2 Media Evaluation pt. 1 How did you use media technologies in the research, planning and construction or your media product. By Richard Maguire

2. Technology involved in Research In order to gain information on the music industry in hip-hop and rap ,I used search engines such as Google , where we typed “hip-hop , rap artists” and found various websites showing us different well known hip-hop rap artists , such as famous celebrities as “2pac (dead) , lil ‘Wayne , 50cent ,Kanye west and Akon, after finding these artists we goggled their names and found websites dedicated to each of these artists with their video performances and details of their lifestyle and career defining moments. After finding some links on these websites to YouTube , I found it of prior importance to such artists via YouTube and look at audience feedback to see what artists are getting positive feedback and why there getting it via their video uploads and how some artists are getting negative feedback and what are they doing in their video to contribute toward this. After doing this I was able to understand the hip-hop rap genre of music and try find a capable struggling artist trying to make it big , and found the artist named ‘question999’ - you can see the artist via this MySpacelink http://www.myspace.com/question999 By doing all this I was able to contribute towards the creation of a controlled media product.

3. Technologies used in the Construction of the Music video We used a variety of different technologies in the making of the music video , such as the key equipment of the digital camera , we did various practice exercises to develop our key camera shooting skills, We attempted all different camera motions such as pan and zoom in/out Shots ,we made these camera shots more stable by using a tripod to make Sure the camera didn’t move a lot causing blurs in the filming or miss Key filming clips. On the day of the filming we had brought one digital camera and a tripod , We overcame the difficulties of not having multiple cameras and tripods for More varied shots by keep repeating the same shot in different angles and framing Styles to make sure the shots could be used in the music video editing stage for a Complete product. We Filmed in Various locations around Neasden and Willesden as these are Suburbs of London and tend to have gangs, mostly working class people , and A high rate of poverty , i.e. “church road” has its own well known gang. In Neasden We used the bridge setting to symbolise poverty and a socio-economic inequality, And Willesden we used a graveyard setting to symbolise death as the song relates to Violence and “shanking” which ends in a violent death – usually gang related. Zoom in Zoom out

4. Editing filming clips into a finished media product (Music video) To Construct our Music video we first developed key digital technology skills by using ‘final cut pro’ an apple editing programme that allows you to edit clips into a music video by various different techniques , such as an easy technique called an ‘ assembly edit’ where you just put clips together without any graphics put or etc. Whilst creating the music video , we learned the editing skills first , as these skills were Vital towards the finished constructions of the music video, these skills were very Difficult to learn at first and I needed the help of various people who had prior Knowledge of this programme ( such as the media technician –TJ , and fellow media Btec/A level students) but after some weeks I learned the basic skills to create a music Video and within weeks after that tried to develop the skills needed to add graphical Abilities to the music video but failed . As I couldn’t understand how they actually Worked . Whilst editing the music video we found that the lyrics were not in sync with the sound track or performance of anyone in the music video , So we had to edit the lyrics with the sound track first and then use the lyrics with specific performances to create an effective music video, we did this by moving the moving certain sections back or fourth of the timeline with the track timeline. Whilst editing we found how to use certain added visual effects as quick one second shots in-between the lyrics soundtrack and the edited clips to go quick in and out shots for an effective illustration of the lyrics meanings, this effect was used several times throughout the music video but still was the minority of shots.

5. Technologies involved in the CD Cover/Advert There were two Designing software's used in the creation of the CD Cover and Magazine Advert , called Adobe Photoshop and adobe in-design. I used Photoshop to enhance the quality and style of the magazine advert and cd cover via removing all the un-necessary pieces of the image as ‘background’, so all that’s left is the image to be used for the cd cover or magazine advert. After using Photoshop I used the design software called in-design , where it enabled me to construct the cd cover and magazine advert via putting all the bits and pieces together as image, texting and background. The Photoshop programme was generally difficult to use even with AS Media experience using it , however in-design became easier to use at A2 as I was able to grasp more abilities , however with these problems , I was able to overcome them to create the cd cover and advert. The photos we took were in a dark lit place so a lot of editing was needed to turn them into useable material for the cd cover and advert – such as making the images brightness # Go up , making the images sharper to remove pixel straining.