4.) How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Here is a list of Software that I used during all the stages of creating my media product and the tools I used within these programs.

Safari Web Browser	www.google.co.uk/imghp www.last.fm www.myspace.com/music
Cubase 4	Record function and various inserts which were used in the mixing stage of the recording process of the song.
iMovie 08	Imported video files. Chopped video clips. Arranged clips. Added music to video. Edited the lighting and effects on the video.
Photoshop Elements	Imported pictures. Used the filter tool to change the colour of my digipak background. Used the polygon selection tool to cut out letters from another image to import into my digipak front cover. Magnetic selection tool to import the peacock into the digipak front cover. Invert tool to get the right colour for the peacock. Brightness/Contrast on the back of my digipak image. Text Input.

In my A2 Media Production I created a music video.  This has taught me many new skills which I feel have developed over the time in which I made my video.  The fact that I made a Music Magazine for my AS Media Production meant that I had to learn completely new skills in my A2 Production.  I had only used iMovie when creating a preliminary task at AS, and this was using a different version of iMovie.  My skills quickly developed when undertaking my A2 task, I am now very experienced in cutting footage and editing lighting in iMovie 08, whereas before, I only had limited expertise in cutting footage in iMovie HD.  My photoshop skills have developed a lot as well since my AS Production.  The skills I used in photoshop at AS were very basic and limited, I only really used the tools for editing brightness and contrast whereas in my A2 production I used various different tools to a much higher standard.  This is because my AS production did not need to use as many tools and skills as my A2 production to keep within the conventions of an indie music magazine.  

My photo and video editing skills are the skills that have improved the most during my A2 Production.  Before I started making my video, I had extremely limited knowledge and expertise with iMovie.  The same applies to my photoshop skills,  I had never used photoshop before I constructed my digipak and magazine advert.  I can now use all the tools confidently and produce edited pictures to a high standard.  

I wish that I had chosen a different song which involved a full band set up.  I would have liked to have worked with other people so that different peoples ideas and creativity mixed together to create a better result.  I would have liked to have had a more striking image for the front cover of my digipak because this is how my influences are.  I would have liked to have used the same camera that I used in my AS Production for my A2 Production because I would have had more control over the image quality.  The picture I used was good, but was highly edited rather than being a quality picture in its raw form.  I wish I had access to FInal Cut as it has a lot more features than iMovie and is therefore able to create videos to a higher standard.