Evaluation Q4: How did you use new media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages?

Throughout the entirety of our project - research, planning, construction and evaluation - I have used a wide range of new media technologies in order to fulfill our needs. Across all three stages of the project, I became aware that the choice behind using newer technologies said a lot about how technology has developed in the last few decades, and that the best tools are ones that I could converge alongside others. During this project, my education on how to operate media technologies has flourished. In this post, I shall illustrate how I used these technologies, what I learned, and demonstrate my understanding of the impact of new technologies on the media landscape.

RESEARCH AND PLANNING

In the presentation below, I will describe the technologies we used during the research and planning stage, reflect on their importance and comment on their pros and cons.

Please watch my presentation below to find out more. Use the arrows on either side of the presentation to navigate between slides and scroll to zoom in.

CONSTRUCTION

We constructed our music video in our school's Seward Studio. We benefitted from the new media technologies we had access to having technological convergence. 

Please observe my diagram below to find out more. Click the image to enlarge.

In the presentation below, I will describe the technologies we used during the construction stage, reflect on their importance and comment on their pros and cons.

Please watch my presentation below to find out more. Use the arrows on either side of the presentation to navigate between slides and scroll to zoom in.

Another important feature in our construction was the prevalence of social media. 

We created three social media accounts to synergise with our website. We created and maintained these because social media is where most members of our target audience. Due to the proliferation of smartphones, most young people have social media downloaded as apps on their phones, and so can receive updates whenever there is an update from someone they are following. We intended to create a following on these social media accounts, and keep them updated with promotional opportunities, as we believed this was a good way of keeping our audience informed of our products. We also used social media to build upon the authentic image of the band - for example, by tweeting personal messages to the public. This will keep the audience engaged in the personal dynamics of the band and make them more willing to consume advertisements from them. 

• Facebook - here we placed updates for our audience on where the band were, i.e. whether they were on tour, and promote upcoming purchasing opportunities. Updates on here are more formal and less frequent - a typical band page updates once or twice a day.

• Twitter - here we tweeted promotional opportunities and personal messages to engage our audience. We tweeted frequently, i.e. four or five times a day.

The first tweet is a personal message showing Casey and Hugh's quirky relationship as siblings - this allows audiences to build an interest into their relationship.
The second tweet is a promotional message, that takes the user to the music video - this keeps the audience updated on the 

• Instagram - here we published promo shots of The Acrylics, fronting their band image as the main way of selling them to the audience. 

EVALUATION

In the presentation below, I will describe the technologies we used during the evaluation stage, reflect on their importance and comment on their pros and cons.

Please watch my presentation below to find out more. Use the arrows on either side of the presentation to navigate between slides and scroll to zoom in.

CONCLUSION

Throughout this project, I have used new media technologies that have enabled me the granted as many of our aims as possible, made our tasks quicker and easier to manage, and produced the best results. In the process, I have improved my skills using some of these technologies, most notably on Adobe Photoshop, and have learned entirely new skills, such as using website developing software on Wix.com and creating lighting states using the Zero88 Leap Frog Lighting Console.