Use Of Media Technologies In My Project

SMcClinton

SMcClinton

WordPress

Primarily, I used WordPress to host all my work.

Once I had used it to make an account, I created a menu and pages, then I would upload images, embed videos and paste my documents onto my site over the course of the project. Before giving assess for an examiner to moderate, I have also used the site to show my teacher work for marking and feedback. This is convenient as it requires less printing and paper. On the subject of convenience, this software has been more so, compared to IWeb, which we used last year. This is because then we couldn’t access our site at home, or test it out on the internet ourselves. It also meant there was a rush to finish and export our sites, and then they had to be hosted. Now we can update our websites at anytime during the course from home, and they are already hosted by WordPress. Consequently, I would say the improvement in this area of my project has been very significant.

Editing a page Managing Pages Uploading Media

Microsoft Word

I used Word mostly to type up text before pasting it to my blog. I also used it a lot to resize or crop images, such as those featured in my research into similar media texts, as it is quicker than doing it on Photoshop, unless I am completely editing the picture already. The programme was also of use throughout my project to copy and paste pages from WordPress to serve as back-ups for just in case something went wrong with the site.

Part of my Planning page to be uploaded to WordPress and serve as a back-up in case.

Paint

Paint was useful to get print screens of horror trailer shots, and then crop and save them individually as image files, before uploading to my web site for analysis. My audience profile mood board and storyboards where edited in Paint due to the ease of inserting images by copy and pasting, moving them around and cropping. The programme is convenient for just cropping various images I used throughout the project, like those in my character profile. After scanning work, I did open the files in Paint to crop/resize them too, just because it is quicker than Photoshop unless you are already heavily editing them, like for my ancillary images.

Pasting a screen print to Paint, before cropping, resizing, saving and uploading.

Web Browsers

Naturally we used browsers to access the internet. This included iWeb when at school on Macs and otherwise Google Chrome. I have used web browsers to view websites like SurveyMonkey when producing questionnaires plus Google Images and individual film sites to find posters and horror magazine covers. It was also used to access WordPress and horror film trailers on YouTube, etc.

Using Google Chrome Using Safari

SurveyMonkey Research

SurveyMonkey was useful in my project because I made questionnaires on it. After logging in, I made a survey including lots of questions to provided responses that would come to help me in the rest of my project. I used it to get insight into the preferences and expectations of the target audience when it comes to horror genre media texts. After creating the survey, I distributed it through social networks to get responses, before making graphs of the resulting data in Excel.

Using SurveyMonkey to produce questionnaires.

Social Media Research

I used social media such as Facebook and Twitter to promote my surveys and acquire responses. Once logged in, I would use these to post the link through a status update or tweet, to gain results from people who mostly, I trust to provide decent answers.

Microsoft Excel Research

I used Microsoft Excel to store the data from my questionnaire. This also acted as a backup in case anything went wrong with my results on SurveyMonkey. Once I had added all the responses, I used Excel to produce a several different types of graphs, so I could display the results in formats that are easy to interpret at a glance. Once created, I would then import them and their results tables into Word, and add the questions. Lastly, I would screen print the questions, results table and question in word to copy them into Paint, save them individually as image files then upload them to Word Press.

Using Excel to manage data and produce a variety of graphs based on my

questionnaire results.

Google Images Research

I used Google Images to find five magazine covers and five posters. They had to be related to the horror genre and I wanted to have one of each form that follows, subverts or challenges their conventions. Firstly I used it research different types of horror magazines and then search for this brand. Once I had one to analyse, I went to the website and copied the image into paint, before saving and uploading it to my blog. From there I analysed it.

Using Google images to find appropriate media texts to analyse.

YouTube Research + Construction

I used YouTube to view similar media texts for the research part of my project. Of course I used the search function to find the official trailers of horror movies, and then play and pause options to watch and stop the video for taking screenshots. Once I used the screenshot shortcut, I copied the images into Paint for cropping, saving uploading for my site. Later in the project, I used YouTube to look up some tutorials on how to use small aspects of the editing software, as I was new to the programme. Further on, I used it to host my videos, so I could imbed or link to them on WordPress.

Using YouTube to view horror trailersin preparation to analyse them.

Scanner Planning

Over the project, I used my scanner to scan in several documents that I had drawn on paper. These included my storyboard/shot list drawings and the map of the filming location. In doing this, I put the paper in the scanner, used the accompanying software to begin a scan, saved the picture and then cropped and edited it in Paint if necessary.

The programme i use for scanning.

iMovie Construction

I used iMovie to construct my horror trailer. This included importing my footage, then selecting the parts I want to use and putting them in order on the video tracks. I also cut clips to remove unneeded parts and to change pace, plus I used effects like TV static and film grain to convey certain meanings. Furthermore, IMovie was useful to edit the brightness/contrast of my clips. I also made transitions like fade to black and fade-ins. In terms of audio, I did the same for some sounds, and added non diegetic ones like a phone call, jump scare noises and the score. This programme was also of use to edit together my other videos like the unused footage, location, prop another for one of my evaluation questions.

I used this software to produce all the videos in my project.

.Gif Maker Construction

I used this website to create an animation. This was so I could show before and after shots of my dominant images in a format by which you can clearly see the changes I made through editing. I used it to upload the photos before downloading the .gif to put on my site.

Uploading the photos and editing the gif’s attributes.

Camera Planning + Construction

I used my camera to produce the results of my photo shoots, with just the standard photo setting, but several camera angles, and posses in the case of my models. Afterwards I used the video settings of my camera for recording the trailer, on location in the alleyways near my house. Once again I used many shot types to achieve different effects and connote/denote certain meanings. In the process the play back function was used to review my photos/footage and check it looks good and there are no faults, like a person in background or a loud vehicle going past to break emersion/authenticity. This piece of technology was also employed to record the other footage on my website, like the location organising, prop organising and unused footage videos. At the point where I had collected all the necessary material, I would use the camera to remove the SD card and import the files to my computer for reviewing, to make sure it all still looks okay on bigger screens, and then edit it all.

Just one folder of footage taken from my camera.

Photoshop ConstructionI used Photoshop extensively to edit all my dominant and insert images. Once I had some from my photo shoots, I would use the programme to import them, and then I sometimes rotated or crop shots using the crop and rotate tools. For the more complex editing of my dominant images, I used Photoshop for tools like brightness/contrast to brighten images and specific parts like the eyes. I used the colour balance tool to recolour parts like the wood backdrop for my magazine masthead, to give it a red tint, symbolic of blood. Additionally, the blur and smudge tools where of use to remove skin imperfections, like spots, shadows and lines plus generally smoothening the skin/clothing to make the image look of a higher quality. I also omitted marks on tops, the divide between the antagonist’s jumper and trousers, date watermarks and some blemishes in the photo caused by the camera. I also brightened and opened the eyes a bit with these functions. Moreover, the quick selection tool was useful to define areas to recolour/brighten, as well as those to cut out from the background, like my model from the wall behind him, or the fence panel I used on my magazine cover. Cuts on the model’s face where produced with several tools. This included the pencil, to draw basic lines, then the smudge and blur tools to add the lighter areas of skin around them and flesh the cuts out. In the process the burn tool was useful to darken the cuts and make them more authentic.

PowerPoint Evaluation

I used PowerPoint to address question four of the evaluation, regarding the use of media technologies throughout the project. Firstly, I made a text box and listed all the things I used, including hardware, software and several websites. Next I made the first slide and a template slide with a theme and text box. After copying this one several times, I used PowerPoint to fill them out with descriptions of how I used the technologies, along with their logos, or a photo of the hardware, and relevant screenshots. Once I had finished, I saved and uploaded the PowerPoint to SlideShare, before embedding it on the evaluation page of my WordPress blog.

Using the software to produce a response to the evaluation question.