Throughout the course of my media A and AS level studies new media technology has been a constant and needed resource. Whether it’s the use of social networking sites to source, air and profile material, or the advantage of using computer software to enhance, edit and construct a variety of work.
All of these technologies are enhancing media communication. One of the main pieces of media technology that I have used throughout the course of my media studies is the networking site Blogger. It’s allowed me to broadcast my work on the internet and gain immediate help and feedback. The immersion into the web 2.0 community provided me with an instantaneous audience and at times gratification. Although there were some negative aspects of the networking sight, such as the impossibility of a closely annotated piece of work, and the fact that your work can not just be seen but mimicked. Also there is n face to face personal interaction and so if you have and qualms or queries with your work you still have to contact the marker personally. However this leads me into another media technology. Emailing has been a quick and easy way to send and receive private information over the course of my studies, from organising shoot dates, to checking up on work, the fast free communication has been a dependable source. Continually, Blogger was not the only social networking site that I used during my course; Myspace, YouTube and Facebook have also been useful, viral sites.

Myspace was where I first sourced my artist (for my music video project in year thirteen) Ruth Bewsey. When we were presented with the immeasurable task of finding an unsigned artist Myspace was the immediate sight that we turned to. It allows people to air their music online for free, with the hope of being picked up by a record producer like the eight million artists that have already been signed through the sight. The specified search engine allowed us to find and access an artist that suited what we wanted to do and the instant messaging service meant that within a minimal amount of time we had contacted and secured our track.

YouTube was a brilliant resource during the research and planning stages of our task, as it allowed us access to other ‘fan made’ videos, and similar commercial products. YouTube is the quick fix to fame, with users such as ‘Chris Crocker’ and ‘The sneezing baby panda’ becoming ‘celebrities’ over night. This creation of free entertainment is having a detrimental effect on the music industry with unprofessional productions using animation, special effects and creativity to produce trained pieces of work. Which creates an ‘any one can do it culture’, putting an end to the specialist market. The productions also present the offer on a free ‘no cost, no profit’ site, which of course is enticing to any user.

The site was also useful during evaluation stages, to gather audience feedback on my music video and thriller, as well as to upload my work on to Blogger. Like YouTube Facebook also aided me in my evaluation stages by providing me with instant contact to my target audience.

In contrast to the above these enhanced my creativity. A piece of computer software that enabled me to create my two main productions - a thriller opening, and a music video- was Adobe Premier Elements. The application was used throughout all stages of my film and video production, from the creation of a settings mini movie, to the construction of my final products. The program - which was released in September 2004 and is the biggest competitor in its class, against other programs such as Sony Vegas and AVS video editor- allowed me to create a professional looking product at a minimal cost, which links back to idea of amateur productions paving the way to a web 2.0 future. It also helped me to add my own style to the productions through effects. For example cross fades and superimpositions were used in my thriller to create sinuous transitions, whilst brightness and contrast effects were used to alter the hue of some of my music videos shots, to make the colouring flow and the text more aesthetically pleasing.

Another piece of new media technology that I used was a video camera; all of my filming was done on the schools cameras and then uploaded to a computer for edit. I also used a digital stills camera in the course of my studies, to create still animation shots. At first I experimented with using a video camera (to create the still animation that I wanted to use within my) by recording, pausing and moving objects. The problems that occurred with this technique were that some of the shots had hands and unwanted objects in, and that editing each individual frame took a long time to process. Therefore on the advice of a teacher I turned my attention to using a still camera which turned out to be more reliable and simpler to use.

A further piece of new computer software that I utilized was Adobe Photoshop which I used to make my makeup advert in year twelve and my magazine and Digipak in year thirteen. Photoshop was a viable piece of software as it was easy to learn and use, but still provided the results I wanted. However at times it was slightly basic like when I wanted to superimpose an image onto a background and smooth the edges using an effect.

Furthermore I have employed a range of new media technologies within the course of my Media studies, many of which have integrated me into the user/producer world and allowed me to create professional, amateur productions.

Below is a link to another of my posts which examines the up and coming web 2.0 computer community.
http://flincoln.blogspot.com/2009/10/blog-post.html