Evaluation Question 4

How did you integrate technologies - software, hardware and  online - in this project?

This year I had to create three different products and in order to product them I have used different kinds of software, hardware and online. 

Softwares:

Final Cut Pro X

I have used this software to edit my music video and all the extra projects such as vodcasts, tutorials, practice video, etc, for this years coursework. 

I have used this software previously but this year I was able to learn how to do key framing, masking objects and how to use colour correction at its best and to use green screen.

These are some of the effects I have used in my music video. The first  filter is Cold Steel. This filter made my videos cold toned which are the conventions of an electro pop as well as indie/alternative music video genre. I have certain percentage to protect the skin colour and to avoid any extreme colour change. I have also looked at the shadow scale to avoid shadows appearing too dark and as a result canceling the shape of each object. 

The second filter I have used in my music video is Colour correction. I have used this filter to add extra colours to the scenes. I have used different colour selections for each scene because the lighting of each scene carried a lot.  I wanted the colours to match throughout the narrative scenes of the music video. I have alternated the colours when I had Halsey performing. To make the video more interesting I have changed the colours and made them cut to the beat. I have also used exposure and saturation in the colour correction filter to make the layering work better when Halsey performed.

 In this video I have used colour correction and I will be showing how I used it during my production. The footage I am using in this video is taken from my Control Music Video sneak peak which I have used on Twitter and Instagram.

 The third filter I have used is Draw Mask. I have combined this effect with key framing to cut out my demon from one scene and move him to the other. This was a quite long process because I didn't have still shot of my demon therefore, I had to cut him out of a scene using keyframes for every 0.01 second.

Bellow you could see a giph with the exact scene I have used this effect in. As well as the Cold Steel effect which gave my video achieve verisimilitude.
Bellow this Gif you could see the original video without any colour correction nor Cold Steel effect. The scene without any effects looks plain and unnatural. It also looks too bright for the theme of my video. This lighting might have effected the overall view of the music video and made my music video less realistic. 

Another tool I have used in my music video is Stabilization. This tool helped me a lot during my production. In some of the shots my camera and tripod was affected by the wind and made the whole scene look shaky. To avoid any shakiness I have used this tool. The only problem I found with this tool is that if the shot is not still then it might crop out the whole mage leaving it with blurry extreme close-ups. Therefore I haven't used this tool on the scenes where I had shaky footage with some panning, tracking or tilting shots.  I mostly used this effect for the narrative scenes, specially when I filmed the burgling scene with the male character entering his house. I used it because I had to use hand held camera with a stabilising equipment. 

To create overlays I have layered one footage over the other using Final Cut Pro X. I mostly done this on the performance scenes. I have layered these bellow the shots of the demon with the smoke bombs.


Moving on to the green screen. During my production I wanted to use green screen but I didn't have suitable equipment at first. Later we had a trip to a green screen studio. There I was able to film my artist sining in front of a green screen. Later I have added sone effects and overplayed it on the top of the long shots of the forest. I have used Keyer effect to get a clear black background instead of the green one and later I added the footage on the top.

Here you could see how Evie (singer) is singing in front of the green screen and how I used Keyer effect to cover the green screen with an actual footage of the first. I have also used colour correction to match her skin with the background. 

For special effects which are one of the conventions of music video. I have used key framing and masks. Bellow is a video which I have created to ask my audience of what they think about the possible effects in my music video. I have blogged on this before. 

Quick Time Player

This is a software provided by apple computers. I have used this software quite a lot when I was recording my podcasts where I talked through each my step and explained what I did that week. After recording the audio I posted them on a website Soundcloud which I will go into more detail later on in this post. 

I was already familiar with this software, I have used it in my last years coursework. I have also used this software for my vodcasts which I uploaded on my YouTube channel. Another use for this app was to screen record while I was evidencing my photoshopping or editing on Final Cut Pro.

Photoshop

Photoshop is an editing software which is used in Macs and Windows. In my case I have used this software on Macs. I found it easier to use it on apple because I was already familiar with apple. I have used this software to edit my digipak. I have created my whole digipak using this software. I found it very useful but hard to use at first. I was similar with it before but it was still hard for me to use it at its best. I have also designed my whole merchandise using photoshop.


These are some of the products I have created using photoshop. staring with digipak ending with caps.

I have also created a separate collection for my fans with Halsey autographs printed on the merchandise.

I have also used photoshop to make my logo for Halsey. I have followed a tutorial, which I found on YouTube. I found that it was useful and a good started. This was my first Photoshop experience and I have made a post on this.

In this video I have edited my vinyl for my "STORE" page on my website. I have decided to add in a vinyl to attract collectors and I have also made it pink in oder to make it attractive for the female audience. 

This is a video I have done to show how I created a collection for my merchandise called "Autograph". In this video I have placed the signature on the top of a t-shirt. 

Microsoft Powerpoint

This is a software I have used to create my production schedule. 

I have used tables to make the table neat and readable. 

I have first placed the deaths and activities the table I have then saved it and published it on Slideshare.net. Where I have them copied the link and embedded it into the blog. 

Lightroom CC 

I have used this app for editing my photos for the website. I have used the trial which means that I was able to use it only for 7 days. However, most of the images which are on my website ere edited on this software. It was easy to use compared to Photoshop because it mainly way used for lighting and exposure. I changed the background to purple and blue. Bellow is a video of how I have used this software to edit my images. 

Photos

This is a software which allowed me to keep all the videos and photos I have taken on my SD card. In that way I was sure that all the footage is kept in a safe place as I had a copy on my CD card, Photos software and on my Hardware. 

iTunes 

This software allowed me to store all the music from Halsey. 

Using this software I uploaded songs on my website and my Final Cut Pro X to use for my music video and vodcasts annotations. 

Calendar 

This calendar was useful as I was able to schedule all the filming dates, blogpost times and vodcasts. This software helped me with my time management. 

Hardware

Moving on to hardware. This year I have used much more hardware than last year, Using all this equipment allowed my work go smooth and avoided errors which happened to me last year.

Camera - Nikon D5200

This is the same camera I have used last year. This camera had an option to have the sense on auto focus or manual which I found very useful. I have used auto focus while I was filming because I found it easier to focus it automatically as the image in my frames were constantly moving therefore it would have been hard for me to keep up the focus. Where as for the photoshoot I used a manual focus and applied the focus on the parts which I wanted to, This gave me more control ever the photo, which made the image look more professional. This camera also had a filters option which allowed me to choose the right filter for the right weather. For example the the lighting was dull I have used the night effect which automatically brightened the image on my camera and made it much more clear. 

SD Cards

These are the SD cards which I have used in my production. 

The reason why I have used two although I had only one camera is because I used 16GB one for photoshoot and 32GB was used for filming the music video. 

In that way I was able to separate the two and avoid confusion.

 Micro SD card

I have used micro SD card for my GoPro Hero 4 to record videos for my music video. I thought that having a 32GB SD card is a good idea as it allowed me to film as many videos as I wanted and I didn't have to limit myself. 

GoPro Hero 5

I have used it to film my music video and all the extra footage for my lyric video.

I have used this on a selfie stick and put in downwards to get a low angle shot for my music video. 

MacBook Pro

This is a laptop which I have used to edit my music video and my lyric video on Final Cut Pro as well as my digipak using Photoshop.

I have used this laptop whenever I needed to blog something in school and in the lesson. I think it was very useful as it allowed me to add quick changes to my blog whenever I needed to.

iMac

This is a computer with I have used a lot during this year. I have created all my vodcasts and my music video editing on this computer. I have also used it to edit my digipak. As well as to blog on my blogger. This has been the most crucial equipment for me this year as it allowed me to do a lot of different changes to my products. It had also a very big storage which allowed me to keep my videos and photos to work on. 

Hardrive

This is the hard rive which I used to save all my work on. I have also had a copy of a Final Cut Pro software which allowed me to edit on any mac computer even if it didn't have Final Cut Pro. 

Tripod

This is a tripod I have used in my fillings. It was a good tripod and kept the balance and stabilised my camera very well. However, there were some times when it was too windy which cause some shakiness in my filming. However, I was able to fix it using stabilization tool on Final Cut Pro

Dolly

I have used it for the performance scenes. I really liked using this equipment as it allowed me smooth transitions from one angle to another. I had to attach my tripod on the top of dolly to use it. The reason why I couldn't use it anywhere but performance scenes id because it needs smooth surface to slide on. I filmed in the forest and outside which would've made the camera very shaky. Therefore I was able to use it only indoors where I filmed my artist. I have also filmed with it at the green screen studio. 

Handheld camera stabilizer 

This equipment allowed me to film without shakiness while using a hand held camera. I have used it for over the shoulder scenes.

Bellow is a Giph of a clip where I have used this Stabilizer.

iPhone 6

During my filming there were incidents where I didn't have a change on my camera and I had to finish filming. 

The next best alternative to a DSLR was a phone.

I have filmed quite a few using this phone. The graphics were very good and it stabilised image very great.
I have also used this phone to play the song when I was filming lip-syncing scenes. 

iPhone 6

There were also times when I didn't have enough storage on my phone so I had to use my friends phone. 

The graphics were good but the lighting was a bit shallow because we were indoors with no natural light. 

Bellow is a Giph with the scene in which I had to use this phone. 

Online

During my production I had to use online which I didn't have to use last year. These involve social medias. For each I had to create an account from my artist names and inform my audience about different activities I was doing. Including the shooting dates and updates in my merchandise.

Twitter

This is a media which I have personally was not familiar with until my coursework. I had to post online informing the audience what I was doing and what is coming up. After using twitter for quite a while I figured out that it is a very useful media to inform the audience of upcoming events. Overall I had 65 tweets and 16 followers who I didn't know.  It was easy to ask people options about things and inform them about Halsey. This was very easy to use as I was able house this app on my phone as well as on my computer.

Facebook

I have created a Halsey account and Halsey page where my audience could get updates on coming up tours, merchandise and activities. 

This was different to Twitter as I have already used this app before. I have also had people following the page who I didn't know. But I also had my friends following it which gave me a variety or audience. 

Instagram

I have used Instagram to post photos from the behind the scenes, promote my other products, inform my audience of upcoming events and to directly messaging my audience who I didn't know in person and ask them for feedback on my music video and digipak. 

WiX

This website helped mw to create my website for Halsey. I have also created a merchandise store for my artist. 

I have placed my music video, photos from the Instagram, tweets from twitter, music, subscription box, etc. 

Although it was hard to use it at the beginning because I was never familiar with this website before. I quickly got to learn how it works and it also provided useful manuals to the website. After working on it for a while I found it easy and helpful. 

In this video I have a screen recording of my first draft of a sample website. As I have mentioned earlier I have never used this website before. This is a recording of my first attempt in creating a website.

This is a video of my second website draft. The image I have used for the home page was taken from the images which WIX provided. However, I thought it would be better if I use the original image which I would then later take from the photoshoot which I would do of my artist.

Blogger

I have used this website last year so I knew how it works. However, I didn't know that they had an application for the phone. I have used this app to write down my quick notes and to look up my story boards, production schedule, etc. This app was very helpful when I was location scouting and didn't have my laptop with me. This application allowed me to blog very quick notes while I didn't have my other equipment. 

Soundcloud 

I have used this website and app to upload my podcasts which I recorded using QuickTime Player. 

I have posted the audio recording on this website and then embedded it into blogger, 

I have also tone a tutorial on how to embed files on blogger. 

Prezi

I have used this website to do analysis from my researching. I created presentations on this website and then posted them on my blog. I have done one on digipaks. 

This is a tutorial I have made on how to embed a Prezi into a blogger. 

SlideShare

This is a website I ave used to upload all my production schedules into. I have also done some analysis on digipaks. I first used Photoshop and then posted on SlideShare. 

GIPHY

I have used this website to create gifs, small continuous video clips to illustrate my point during my attestations, like I have used it on this blogpost. 

Dafornt.com

I have used this website to find the four to use for my digipak and music video. 

I have selected quite a few fonts which matched my genre conventions and done a questionnaire, where I have asked people which one they prefer the most.