Evaluation Question Four- How did you use new media technologies in the construction, research and planning and evaluation stages?

Research and Planning

In addition to our regular group meetings which we drew up in school, we also used a number of platforms to share information with each other throughout the project. Initially we browsed on websites such as Hype M, Last.fm, YouTube and scoured Spotify and our own iTunes playlists to decide on a song.

We created a message on the smart phone app WhatsApp in order to converse instantly any issues or ideas about the projects and finalise and share photos and videos with each other about ideas for costumes or locations or props.

In order to brainstorm ideas for costumes and styling we looked to websites such as LookBook.nu as fashion blogging is an increasingly popular way to keep up with trends as well as being a site popular with our target audience of teenage girls. We used Adobe Photoshop CS5 to make moodboards of influences and serve as tear sheets for potential ideas for our band image.

We also used the internet to research existing band websites to brainstorm ideas of what we needed to include on our own and the different ways different artists are marketed.

We also tweeted each other and used the website TwitLongr for anything longer that 140 characters. Using the web to communicate was helpful as we were able to link ideas, for example, Odelia referenced a few photoshoots that we used as inspiration for our album cover and promotional shots.

We also used several websites in order to source props such as the old fashioned microphone. In some cases I had to email the companies to enquire about the look and price and received emails with photo attachments.


Construction

Music Video

The construction of the video however was where I really feel we excelled in using new media technologies and I feel I was really able to advance my technical skills, using professional software and equipment to create finished products we were proud of and showcased the skills we had picked up on along the way.

The original song was 3:47 in length so we decided to cut it down to 3 minutes using Premiere, which clearly displays the audio waveforms so we could seamlessly match it.

You can here the original song and our edit here, uploaded to SoundCloud.

Group 6 JOC- Stripper Cut by thexyzs
Original Sohodolls - Stripper by thexyzs

We used a Sony HDV 1080i 3CMOS camera to film both the narrative and performance. We particularly wanted to use this model since it allowed us to use switch the focus and experiment with fast zooms very easily. For the shots we were not all in together, such as the master and some freehand shots, we took it in turn to film each other, however for group shots we instructed our camera operator Michael on how we wanted it filmed. For some shots in the performance, the camera was positioned on a tripod on top of a trolley and wheeled from side to side to create a fluid, jib-type movement similar to that used in our Five workshop in the Summer term.




In addition to the flood lights we used for the narrative and redheads for the performance, we also made use of the extensive lighting options in the Seward Studio and I was taught by technician Chris how to rig the lights in order for each band member to be well lit and not overexposed. We checked this on the camera itself by enabling the 'zebra' function which displayed on the screen in the form of black and white stripes the areas of exposure ensuring that we would have the best quality footage as the outcome.

We began post-production by capturing the footage into Adobe Premiere Pro CS5. This was the first time we had used the CS5 update and allowed for greater possibilities when it came to editing. However, harnessing what we had learnt from our AS project, continued to use multi-track editing, the razor tool to make simple cuts, as well as transitions such as cross dissolves (to create the fade to black effect) and changing the clip properties to reverse and speed up/slow down some shots.



Concerned with the overall look of the video we wanted to create a really eye-catching colour grade. After experimenting using the Three-Way Colour corrector tool on Premiere we decided to play around in After Effects using the plug-in SA Colour Finesse and curves to create a high contrast, slightly pink effect to connote the glam rock genre.

We added a vignette and radial blur on the edges to make it even more stylistic and create a kind of voyeuristic- peeping through the keyhole feel.

Website

We created our website on Wix which uses flash which makes it really interactive and visually engaging. We really wanted to harness new media technologies in order to create the most interactive website for our audience so we used HTML to code a mailing list form where you can enter your email and a QR code. You can see exactly how it works here:




We wanted to present a multiplatform strategy rather than just a standalone website so also created an XYZs Twitter (@theXYZs) as well as individual twitters for each member (@XantheXYZ), a Tumblr, a Facebook page and a simplified mobile version of the website (using Wix).

However we did encounter a few problems since the Wix format could at times be restricting in what we wanted to do so we often had to incorporate our own HTML into the standard format which took us a while to get used to. There were also problems with the school servers during the production period, however we found that when we switched to web browser Google Chrome there were no longer any technical issues.

Album Cover

For the album cover we used Photoshop and although we were all familiar with the software we really developed our skills, particularly using layer blending options (such as overlay), gradients to create the black, white and pink pictures on the back and the rulers and guides to ensure we kept within the digipack template, allowing space for images to run off into the bleed.

Our promotional and inside album photographs were shot using a Canon 550D 35mm lens and were taken in the Media department classroom with a simple lighting set up and black backdrop.

One striking feature of the bands image was Xanthe's (my alter-ego) dip-dyed pink hair. In the video shoot we used blusher to create this effect however on the album cover used the paintbrush tool with a low opacity and color overlay to bring it out even more. We used abstractfonts and dafont website to choose edgy fonts that suited our overall image.


Evaluation


All group members are active users of Web 2.0 and we all have Twitter accounts, Facebook and regularly use the website Tumblr. This was particularly useful during the evaluation stages of the project since we were able to promote our video across multiple platforms.


We wanted to get a diverse range of feedback however and harnessed the global nature of the internet and wider web community, so as well as receiving feedback from our immediate friends and family we were also able to ask opinions of those in different countries all over the world by creating a questionnaire on website SurveyMonkey which also provided us with visual presentations of answers to questions e.g bar charts.

We used the website WhatIsMyIPAddress.com to pin point exactly where the survey response had come from, revealing results from Switzerland to Canada! Odelia embedded our video onto her Tumblr page, where it was reposted by several other bloggers, gaining wider exposure. I encouraged my cousin who works as a graphic artist and animator to share the link on a web forum and my sister to show the video to colleagues in the office of the experiential marketing agency where she works, thereby being able to receive professional feedback.



Me and Eoin edited together a short promo video on Premiere to encourage pupils at Latymer to come to the screening which was then placed on the school Intranet.

We also created a Facebook event to drum up viewers. We all posted our video onto Facebook and Twitter, encouraging people to share and retweet. We analysed the data statistics on YouTube to see who our video was most popular with. Uploading the video onto YouTube meant it was easily shareable and accessible from web devices, as seen in the viewing data.