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

Jack Campbell

IntroductionMedia technologies were vital in the production of my product and in this evaluation I will be evaluating and assessing how and why they were useful to the creation of my products, which are shown below.

Blogger

Blogger has been a vital tool throughout both years I have been studying Media at college, my AS media blog was also held on Blogger meaning that by the time I had reached A2 I was extremely

comfortable with the website. It was vital because I published all the work that was in my portfolio onto it, including development, planning and my finished texts too, quickly, easily and most

importantly securely as my work was available online it could not get lost on either a memory stick or the hard drive of the college computers meaning I would not have to redo work due to

misplacement. In addition, I could easily embed work I had produced on Prezi, Go Animate, YouTube, SlideShare and more which meant my work was more varied and meant I could complete my

planning and research in a more vibrant and original way, better than plain text posts. Furthermore, the fact my storyboard was uploaded in the form of a SlideShare, my script was uploaded from Celtx and I had put my filming diary on there meant I could use my blog on location filming to check what

the next shot would be, much easier than bringing a lot of paper out on location every time.

CELTX• Celtx was a website that I found after researching softwares that would help

with the production of my script, as there are several precise conventions to follow such as font and spacing regulations, which would be hard to reproduce accurately on Microsoft Word. Celtx lets you type your script onto a blank online document, helping you format it correctly and then being able to print it, which is useful as it was clearer to read for my actors, included appropriate directional commands and looked more professional. I could separate the scenes which made it incredibly useful to break up the dialogue and direction of my short film as well as highlight which character says what line, which meant this website was extremely useful in the pre-production and production stage of my short film.

WEB 2.0• Web 2.0 was very useful during my pre-production stage as I was able to easily

research what i wanted my genre to be and the conventions I would need to follow, target audience and conventions of short film making. I researched the genre of crime-thrillers using websites such as Wikipedia and Slideshares made my short film professionals to determine what conventions I would use. I then documented this research on my blogger to keep an online record of my research so I could easily refer back to this research during post-production. I also used YouTube to get inspiration for my short films by watching crime-thrillers as well as longer music videos and even TV shows like Hollyoaks and EastEnders to bring camera and editing techniques from these texts into my own work, making my own work more enjoyable to make as well as more professional with greater levels of verisimilitude

iPhone 6 • My iPhone 6 was extremely useful throughout the production

and post-production processes. On location, I used it to access my blog using 4G so the actors could read the script in an easier way as well as direct it using my storyboard as a guide for shot positioning and ect. I also took many different pictures on location for my filming diary such as props used ect and it was extremely easy to use it as it was lightweight and I always had it with me, meaning it was the best choice of hardware to capture images and use on the go for my blog.

Collection of images ITook on my iPhone

Microsoft Office: Word/ PowerPoint

• Microsoft Office was a necessity during the production of my Media portfolio. I often used PowerPoint to make my presentations before uploading them to SlideShare so I could embed them onto my blog, or save them as JPEG's and upload them. Furthermore, Word was extremely useful for typing up blog posts before posting them into Blogger so they were formatted correctly and didn't get lost by accident. These simple tools went a long way to help during the production of my media product in terms of research, however I used more complex tools like Celtx to produce my script instead of on Word.

Microsoft Publisher• Publisher was vital in the production of my DPS film magazine

article, as I needed to get the right dimensions for my magazine so it fitted into what the conventions were. I did this by selecting Blank A4 Landscape mode which separates the page and creates two identical sized areas to work on

I also used some of the shapes on Publisher, such as the arrow to follow the conventions of the magazine, which shows how useful I found this software.

Prezi

Prezi was an alternate and useful way to present my ideas that I had researched and developed during

Pre-production, as well as chronicling production too,in the case of my filming diary. I had used this software

throughout AS and I continued to use it during A2because it was creative and the many templates

allow to present your ideas in a unique and helpfulway as you can embed images and videos from

YouTube much easier than on PowerPoint. Imade Prezis on subjects such as the theories I have studied in lesson, LLIAR analysis as well

as planning and research such as filming diary andplaces where my short film may feature ect

Tripod- Velbon DF-61

• I borrowed a Velbon Tripod from college to make sure shots were steady therefore professional. The tripod was easy to use and had a latch to attach the camera on so it was always safe and secure meaning there was a limited possibility of any damage being caused. I used the lever to tilt the mechanism which meant I could film a variety of angles, such as low and high to connote different emotions. Furthermore, by twisting the handle I could pan which was useful for creating shots of the car driving away and such like, which created the steadicam effect. I also extended the legs of the tripod for certain scenes, especially with the different heights of the actors. Overall, it's portability and versatility made it an essential tool to avoid shaky camera shots, aiding the production process.

Cameras- Sony and Panasonic camcorders• I borrowed cameras from college, meaning that the make differed

each time I took them out however both the SONY Handycam HDR-cx25oe and Panasonic had HD capabilities as well as filming in the correct aspect ratio for Final Cut Pro so they were good quality, in addition they slotted onto the tripod with ease with the adjustor clip. As I didn't need to film in the dark, the fact this camcorder doesn't perform well in dark lighting was irrelevant, and in light it produced good quality shots that were fantastic when edited on FCP. I used this exclusively for filming my footage, although I did use screencaps from my short film on my ancillary texts. On one occasion I also used a Canon camera to take pictures of Lauren for my ancillary text too. In conlusion, I was very happy with how my shots turned out on the camera I used to film.

SanDisk 8GB Memory CardUSB Memory Stick-

• I used a SanDisk SD Card of 8GB to store my footage and pictures, which was sufficient enough space to record what I needed as well as being easy to use as you just plug it into the Mac and edit from there.

• I also used a USB memory stick to save some of my work such as footage, pictures as well as the soundtrack on for several reasons, A so I could have a spare incase the footage accidently got deleted and B so I could carry my work around with me everywhere, meaning both these media technologies were helpful.

GoAnimate• GoAnimate is a tool I have used often throughout my years at

college studying Media as you can create interesting and fun ways to show data or explain something. I mostly used it to show results of my audience research, by having two characters discuss the results of the survey I had done. This was more interesting and vibrant than an average graph and made my work more creative.

Final Cut Pro• Final Cut Pro was absolutely essential to the production of my product as this was the software I

produced my short film on. I chose this over using Premiere pro on the edit suite as I found it had more varied options and the user interface was fresher and more responsive to what I wanted to use it for. Also, exporting video was easy and it could be exported in different sizes so it wouldn't take hours to upload to YouTube which was convenient. Despite having no prior experience of using the program, I quickly became adjusted and in no time I learnt how to use effects, create transitions, add text, cut and resize clips, splice audio to dub over scenes with bad audio. Using FCP allowed me to make sure my video looked as professional as it was much more sophisticated and intricate than other options available that I may have used in my first year like Windows Movie Maker for example. I also experimented by using sound effects such as 'Car Radio' over my diagetic music in the car which is realistic and I couldn't do it on any other editing software. I also used filters such as 'Heat' (shown below) and 'Black and White' to reflect the emotions being portrayed in the narrative such as anger, showing creativity only made possible due to the advanced technology I was using. 'Heat' was used during times of anger or danger to the characters, such as Lauren confronting Harry in the kitchen or the confrontation between Carl and Harry shown below. The 'Black and White' filter was used during the scene Harry is hit, adding drama to the scene as the shots are interspersed with fade outs and fade ins, almost reflecting his lack of consciousness. I also added my text shot at the beginning via this software, which was a requirement of the exam board. Overall, Final Cut Pro was the perfect software to create my short film in the most professional way possible.

Adobe Photoshop• Adobe Photoshop was the technology I used to create my poster of

my ancillary text. I had learnt how to use it for my AS portfolio last year, so was confident and assured how to use it to the best effect. For my poster, I used a vast amount of layers ,as seen in the image, such as text and images, as well as using Dafont.com to use the movie text that is conventional for the cast and crew listings at the bottom. I used many tools such as the magic wand, quick select and eraser to remove elements of the background on images I had exported in. I also used the filter tool too add noise tho my backround to create a TV screen effect, similar to a TV transition I had used in my short film showing how my texts work together as a whole. I also used liquify to slim down elements of my images, either to fit them on to the poster as it was rather crowded or fit conventions that film stars should be 'perfect,' perhaps relating to Richard Dyer's Star Theory. For this reason, I laso used the spot healing tool to remove any blemishes on my images, which made them look more professional, showing that Photoshop was a useful tool in creating my work.

These images show the tool bar on photoshop, which featured many tools that I found useful as shown in the last slide. I also show you how I used Noise and Liquify to

create effects which made my final product look better and more advanced if I had just used Publisher to create my poster.

Audience feedback

• I used a wide variety of Web 2.0 in collating my feedback during post-production to determine what my target audience thought of my music video. I used iMessage and Facebook Messenger to gage the opinions of people who were in the age of my target audience, as well as using email to gather the thoughts of family members and so on. As my audience members had easy access to YouTube, it was convenient that my short film was uploaded onto there showing the usefulness of that technology. I also created a survey on SurveyMonkey, which was extremely useful and more reliable than producing a paper questionnaire as the results were available online and in an easier format to analyse.

Conclusion

• I have used a wide variety of new technologies to a good effect over my A2 coursework, which have been successful in helping me plan, research and construct my texts- most importantly Final Cut Pro, Publisher and Photoshop as I used these to create my 3 texts. They have helped me create good work as well as stay on schedule and if I had to redo this portfolio again I would use the same technologies as they were excellent.