Throughout the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages we used media technology for numerous methods. When we came to picking an artist/band for a media production we used www.unsigned.com to prevent us from breaking any copyright restrictions we would come across whilst using signed artists. This website enabled us to search for artists of our particular genre, read about background information concerning the bands history and then contract the band when it came to producing our media production to the one of the bands tracks.

When searching for an artist under the R&B/ Hip-Hop genre we came across an American Hip-Hop group called ‘Inflowential’. The information on unsigned.com allowed us to research the bands tracks by using www.youtube.com to listen to various tracks the band has produced. We then used social network sites such as www.facebook.com and www.myspace.com  to find out information regarding the band such as how they came together. There were various ways of contacting the band in regards of asking for permission to use their song – Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. To present a more professional approach we decided to email the band with the email address provided on unsigned.com.

Inflowential’s presence on the web has allowed us to research into the band and contact the band to gain permission to use their material.  The band have pages on various social network sites and there presence on these sites shows they are making use of new technology in todays world. New technology has allowed us to find a suitable unsigned band; research the bands background information and then contact the band to gain permission to use their track. The new technology which has allowed us to do this is Unsigned, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.

YouTube is another new technology which enabled us to research in the Hip-Hop genre and look at similar bands. By watching these videos we can identify common conventions used in these videos and hopefully we can take inspiration from these elements.  By watching music videos by artist such as Rizzle Kicks, Ed Sheeran, Kanye West and other Hip-Hop artists we can look at the camera work, mise-en-scene, editing and representation of the band then incorporate these elements into our production.

Music Videos that have inspired us:

Rizzle Kicks – Down With the Trumpets

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ip8OsExLJs

Ed Sheeran – You Need Me, I Don’t Need You

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXvzzTICvJs

Kanye West – Good Life

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEKEjpTzB0Q&ob=av2

As well as taking inspiration from professional music videos created by signed artists we decided to look at past media students work who produced music promos for Inflowential. ‘http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXMfkbJYm9w’ this video by students from London was an example of a video that A2 students had to produce. After watching their production I was able to analyse their video then criticise on areas of their production. This helped me to make sure I didn’t make the same mistakes when it came to producing our music promo. Without YouTube I would be unable to identify these poor areas in this production or be influenced by professional music videos and use there elements in our production.

Other Technology used:

Video Cameras - We used Sonny handheld video cameras to film the music video, then we used the cameras memory card put it into the iMac to import the footage.

Camera - We used the same Sonny video camera as a camera to take still images of various locations for our ancillary task of producing a Digipack and Magazine advert. 

iMac - We used the iMac to edit the footage for a music promo

Software - We used a variety of different software types such as iMovie and Final Cut Express to edit the footage we had and then add effects. We used Adobe Photoshop 2011 to add effects to the pictures for our ancillary tasks.

The Internet - We used the internet to research music promos using the sites www.youtube.com and www.vimeo.com. We also used various online editing websites such as www.picnick.com and www.dafont to find suitable texts to use for our ancillary texts. We also used a wide range of social network sites for our audience feedback www.facebook.com and www.youtube.com this helped us to gain peoples views and opinions of our target audience.

 When it came to filming our media production we have progressed from the previous year and from our preliminary task. We learned how to use more effective camera shots which would get everything in the shot and would what angle would look effective. We also had the Golden Mean and the Rule of Thirds to consider when filming.

When it came to editing I developed my skills as certain aspects such as lip syncing and timing the music with the right verse.