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

Adobe Premiere CS6Production - Documentary

To produce our documentary we used an editing software called Adobe Premiere CS6 which proved to be very efficient to use during the production time as we were able to add and remove different clips and effects to the timeline and alter the different properties of each audio and video clip easily. We used the sound controls to alter the sound quality of each of our audio tracks; if a clip was too quiet or too loud compared to the other clips in the selected track, Premiere allowed us to add extra tracks and enabled us to ensure that the sound quality was high in each clip we planned to use. The extensive tools within this software meant that we were able to unlink audio from certain clips and the different audio tracks were helpful when inserting cutaways and placing them over interviews. These two features meant that we could break up our interviews and conceal any jumps we may have had in the footage as a result of cutting while preserving the sound quality of the interview audio and not distorting it in any way.

Adobe Premiere CS6Production – Radio Advertisement

We used the same software to produce our radio advertisement. This involved selecting audio from the different footage from our documentary which was again made simple because of the software we were using. It was easy to create another product within the same project and all we had to do was copy and paste the selected clips from the documentary tab to the radio tab. We recorded the narration for the main documentary and the radio advertisement on a ‘Zoom H4n Handy Mobile 4-Track Recorder’. After recording our narration in a quiet room, we inserted the audio tracks into the appropriate parts and used a selection of sound effects to ensure that the track flowed smoothly and again, used the sound controls to be sure that the sound quality was as high as it could be. We used some parts of the narration in both the documentary and the radio advertisement so that the link between the two could be easily identified.

Camera and TripodProduction – Equipment

To film our documentary we used a Soy DCR-SD 1000E braodcast camera and a tripod. Using such a professional piece of equipment enabled us to create high quality footage and the use of the clip and external microphones we were able to achieve crisp and clear audio levels. We had problems with the equipment at times; for example, in one incident, we were unable to use the clip mic during an interview due to a faulty battery. This meant that we had to use the external microphone which picked up the background nose and lowered the effect of the interview. We also had issues with the tripod and a missing quick release plate during the same interview which meant that we had to find another way to balance the camera. Due to the technical issues, the footage we came out with was perhaps not as high quality as we could have achieved, but we learned from these mistakes and ensured that all members of the group were present on every filming opportunity to prevent these issues to happen again and we made sure to check all of the equipment before we went to our filming location.

Zoom H4n Handy Mobile 4-Track Voice Recorder

Production – Equipment

To record the narration for our documentary and radio advertisement we used a Zoom recorder which was a simple voice recording device that created recordings to a professional standard. This enabled us to add the narration to our documentary and radio advertisement easily as the quality of it meant that the recording could be heard over the soundbed of both products.

Adobe Photoshop CS6Production – Newspaper Advertisement

We used Photoshop to create our newspaper advertisement because of it’s easy to use features. We used a variety of tools to create our advertisement such as the magic wand and the quick selection tools which we used to select certain areas of the image and remove it to make way for the other parts of the advertisement. We used different functions within this software such as the levels and curves to adjust the appearance of the tones in the main image and create a strong contrast which would enhance the dramatic effect that had already been created by the black and white image. We also used the rectangle shape tool and text tool to create and position our documentary title, tag line and the date and time it would be aired.

Adobe Photoshop CS6Production – Documentary

We used Photoshop to create the lower third titles for our documentary interviews which identified who was speaking and what their relevance was to the documentary. We decided to use the theme of twitter in our lower third titles in relation to what our target audience answered as the most popular social network in our audience research prior to the beginning of production. Creating the lower third titles involved taking a screen cap of the twitter tweet box, using the eraser tool to remove any parts of the image which we didn’t need such as the background and the icons next to the ‘Tweet’ button and then applying the text.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CS6Production – Newspaper Advertisement

We used Lightroom briefly during the production process of our newspaper advertisement to edit the main image. We applied a black and white effect to create a dramatic feel and a strong contrast between the darker and lighter tones. We then used the different tools in Lightroom such as the black and white mix and tone curve which allowed us to adjust the different tones within the photo to emphasise the dramatic effect and help the image stand out. Having an image with a strong contrast means that our advertisement will be a lot more eye catching and will therefore attract the audience to our documentary.

BloggerResearch and Evaluation

We used a site called Blogger to document most of our work for this project. This work was completed individually instead of in a group like the production side of the project. Presenting our work this way means that there is proof of the individual stages we went through in planning and producing this documentary. We presented our work through a variety of different platforms which were then embedded into blog posts.

PreziResearch and Evaluation

We used Prezi as an alternative platform to present some of our research and information clearly and effectively. Prezi is useful for displaying information in fun and interactive ways where all of the information is in one place which makes it a good choice for our work. The mind map format breaks the information down and makes it easy to read and therefore a lot more effective. After creating these presentations, we then used the embed codes to share the information with the other people in the group to then present it on our individual blogs.

Slideshare and ScribdResearch and Evaluation

Slideshare and Scribd are similar to Prezi in the way that they both allow you to present information however, they are not as interactive and you are limited to only being able to present slideshows or word documents. Regardless of this restriction, Slideshare and Sribd have both proven to be effective during this project as we have been able to present powerpoint presentations and word documents easily and embed them onto our blogs. Having our work in neat presentations like this means that all of the information is in one place and there are no colours or images distracting you from the important information in the presentation.