How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and

evaluation stages?

Critical Evaluation – Q4

Annabelle Derham

The use of new media technologies was vital to the construction of our film. This year we have had to learn how to use more advanced equipment to help us create a film which was of a higher standard to the one we did at AS. We have carried out a lot more research mainly using the internet, I have learnt which key words were more successful when researching specific things such as radio adverts. Searching ‘radio spots’ brought up more results than ‘radio adverts’ we have also used the internet to help us create our own Blog as well as using it to research similar films to our own, genre, narrative style and prop research along side production and distributor research, this helped us greatly in the making of our film.

Using New Media Technologies

Research!To create our film we needed to use the internet to research into the

making of films! We used 5 main websites to do this these being ;

1. The BBFC – We used this for guidance into classification

2. The IMDB – We used this for guidance into popular genres

3. Google – For general information on the film production and distribution

4. Youtube – For tips and ideas we could use in creating our own film

5. Google Docs – To create questionnaires to gather opinions on our storylines

Google BloggerUsing Google Blogger we have created a place which we can update regularly with posts about the progress of our film and the research we have carried out to enable us top create things such as radio trailers, film posters and analysis of other media products often found in the film industry. We post things in a variety of formats; From Prezi, to essays with photographs to videos which we edit on final cut.

Filming EquipmentThere was a lot of equipment used in the construction of our film. We used a Song HDV1000 camera for the filming of our film, this is a much higher quality camera than the one we used at AS level and once we had learnt how to use it, we managed to get some high quality close up shots which has helped us portray important details of our film to our audience effectively. We used a tripod which had a build in spirit level to help us get accurate shots from a variety of angles, this was also helped by the tripods adjustable legs.

Extras

For our film we needed some voice recordings we chose to do these with a zoom recorder instead of a camera as this allowed us to alter the sound and add the correct effects to make it fit our film, we needed to record the other half of a telephone conversation to be played over the top of our film along with the narrative for over the flashback sequence. By doing this with a zoom recorder we have been able to change the sound easily and effectively.

Creating Our Film Poster

To help the advertisement of our film we created a film poster, we carried our research using the internet into other film posters which we thought were appealing to the eye. We favoured film posters with characters from the film on, so we decided that we would try and recreate the ‘Just My Luck’ film poster but using the back ground and characters form our own film …

A professional film poster Our Film Poster

Film Poster

To create our film poster we carried out a photo shoot on a black back ground to get pictures which would be suitable for our film but have a background we could easily remove in PhotoShop. We used PhotoShop to construct our film poster as it allowed us to easily construct a professional looking poster editing fine details which helped us create a final product we were satisfied would promote our film and catch the attention of potential viewers. The use of the DSLR camera and PhotoShop were vital to the making and creating of our film poster.

Here is a link to our photo shoothttp://youtu.be/fy86UFoUOHA

Final Cut Express

Final Cut Express has been the most vital programme we have used within the construction of our film, this is the editing software we have used throughout the creation of the film. We have use a selection of edits, and features of the programme such as cross dissolves and black and white as well as layering sound to give our film depth. The use of this product has given our film a professional style and allowed us to be flexible and create the film exactly how we want it. This software is known for being used to create professional short films such as Shifty which gave us the confidence to use it and create a film of high quality with smooth and effective edits!

Conclusion

The use of new media technologies has been vital in the research, production and distribution stages of our film. All of the technology we have used has plaid a vital role in our film from the editing software Final Cut Express to the tripod used to balance the camera for tricky shots, I feel we have learnt how to use these media devices to our own advantage and this has helped us create a final product we are proud of, we have made some small errors but the advanced technology we have been able to access has helped us correct these along the way and create a professional looking and sounding film with all the research to back up why we have done the things we did to create it.