This is a great technology for more serious documents. This is to keep everything formal and presentable and I used this in one of my evaluation questions as like I have said it has a more formal feeling to it.
For my photography, I picked the photos I wanted to use on my print products and edited it on Photoshop. For example, I got rid of spots and the small color corrections in certain areas. In addition, I edited the model's eyes on Photoshop using the dodge and burn tool, emphasizing the color of the eyes.
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I wanted the smokey effect to be carried out throughout the cd so I added different layers of smoke png to the smokey background that I already had before. The idea of the golden image behind the BMTH logo was purely original. After adding the image I used the smudge tool to smudge the edges to the background. This is because on the right side of the image, to photo of the lead singer was very simple with a significant focal point on the eye. I wanted the right side if the inside to have more going on with more colour and smoke. I wanted the actual CD to be completely black so the golden colour could catch more attention. In BMTH's Sempiternal CD, the colour is also back with the sempiternal logo around the CD.
Photoshop
When creating my actual print products like my album cover, back, the cd and the advert I used Photoshop. This technology has helped me a lot and I had lots of fun experimenting with different tools and the more I experimented the better the outcome was in the end.
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I had experience using PhotoShop from my AS work last year however this year I learnt many things I did not know about before.
For example, I did not know much about layers and how it could make such a big difference on the product. I also did know know how to erase backgrounds however this year I found about a very simple way to erase it.
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​The CD front cover is my favorite part of the CD, this is because I had lots of fun experimenting with different tools and finding the perfect outcome. To create this front cover, I took different screen shots of the statues. After choosing the screenshot I liked the best, I removed most of the areas of the background however still leaving some areas. I then contoured the statues face using the dodge and burn tool, eg by darkening around the eyes, darkening the cheek bone area and the inside of the mouth and part of the wing. I used a dark colour scheme because this genre of music is usually aimed at people from subcultures such as emo's and scene's and people from those subcultures are into dark gothic colours such as black and gray.
Through Whatsapp I was able to communicate with all the cast members and avoid many problems. For example, to plan the date of the shoot, me and Larisa was communicating through Whatsapp so that we would ensure everyone is free on the date we planned to shoot. This enabled us to make changes if anyone was busy or could not attend. In addition we also used Whatsapp to figure out the location for our music video. Whatsapp is very simple to use and has helped us a lot . The fact that we could make a group chat was also helpful as we could all discuss things together as a group.
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In addition it allowed us to make free calls which was also good because using our data or wifi you can not only use calls but also video calls which meant we could always be in contact with eachother.
Blogger is a technology used to publish blogs and this years I used blogger a lot more compared to last year. One of the things I love about blogger is the fact that you can keep track of what you are doing, and when you publish something late you can change the publishing date to make everything get in order. In addition, I love the fact that you can change the background and the theme of your blog because I believe it makes everything feel a lot more personal. Using blogger to check out past students blogs have also been helpful as it give me inspiration and more knowledge. I also like the fact that you can upload different types of mass media eg weblinks, imgaes, videos.
Youtube has helped me a lot whilst searching for my case studies for the music video. I was able to discover different genres and after picking the music videos I was able to get inspiration from them. In addition by posting my music video on Youtube I was able to get feedback from the comments section. When uploading my music video I had to make sure to write that the music video had no copyright intended because I did not want it to be taken down from Youtube. Also I learnt about the tags that I could use to make my music video recognisable. Some of the tags I have used are 'BMTH, Metal, A2 Music Video'
Moodle was very helpful in the research process of my projects. I was able to access the call sheets, CD templates, risk assessments, location sheets and many more. It was really helpful because it allowed us to be independent as we knew where to find all the sources and we did not have to keep asking where everything was. Even the lessons about theories were on the page which meant if we missed a lesson we could find the lesson and do independent work.
This is a very high quality camera that I used when taking my pictures for my print products and recording my music video. Not only the quality, but also the different options available made everything very easy to use. For example, when recording our music video, if we had a different lighting in a different location we could play around with the brightness, contrast, saturation and the levels. Also, the fact that we could look at what we was filming was very useful because the band members could also watch each other.
CANON DSLR Camera
I used premiere pro when editing my music video. I have learnt a lot because in the beginning I only knew how to cut different clips and put them together however this year I have learn a lot. For example, I didn't know I had to render the clips after making changes like adding effects. At one point the music video’s quality went down dramatically and this was because we did not render and also some of the clips were lost as we did not save the edited version. After rendering it there was a huge difference.
Also, we played around with the lighting and in one of the scenes we made the eye colour of the main singer stand out by darkening all the areas except the eye colour itself. It made a dramatic difference because it looked like we had to go through a very hard process to achieve it however it's just mind tricking. Also, I found that zooming in really helped to make sure the music and the clips were in sync with each other.
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In addition, I learnt how to add slow motion or increase the speed for some clips, add effect e.g. The cinematic effect, playing around with brightness and contrast, saturation and reversing videos. Overall, I loved using premiere pro to edit my music video because it taught me many things. The only challenging process for me with the beginning when I did not render because everything was in slow motion and very time consuming to make.
Print Products
I used After Effects to stabilise the clips which made me have the ‘dizzy effect’. I loved using this technology because the stabilising made a huge difference on my music video as everything looked a lot more like a rock/metal music video. After effects was very easy to use because on premiere pro when you right click you can open up the file on after effects straight away as they are connected together which meant it was not time consuming to use.
Prezi is a technology that I have been using since last year and it is a great technology to present your work as you have a variety of themes to choose from which keeps the audience entertained. Also the fact that you can add music in the background for free is also a advantage because when creating my case study presentation I used prezi and used my music in the background.
This is a technology that I have used for the first time and I believe it is a great technology because you can be very creative. There are many different fonts, transitions, backgrounds and many more. I used this for question four because question four in my opinion is the creative question as you can talk about everything you have done and having this on Wix.com was the best option as it adds to the creativity. I enjoyed using it and I would love to use it again because it is also very simple to use.
Emaze is also a great technology as you can pick ,any different themes there too. It was useful as I used Emaze many times this year and last year and what I like about it is that you can have a timer which means the slide will change automatically if you wanted it too. This again is a technology that keeps the audience entertained because of the visual advantages that it has like the transitions and special effects.
Chroma Lighting
I used this traditional type of lighting and it made a great difference to my music video. In the beginning when they were the same colour the vibe of the genre was not shown through however later on when we decided to play around with the lighting it made a significant difference.
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This was recorded in the TV Studio and instead of the green screen we covered the studio with the black curtains so it could be dark and compliment our genre.
For Question 3 I used movie maker. I have never used movie maker in media however I have used it before for other reasons and I enjoy using the technology. This is because it is almost like premiere pro however it is more for beginners as it is easier to use although you can get complex with it. I used this because this question is about audience feedback and I wanted the slides to change by their selves with an appropriate music in the background and I enjoyed using it a lot.