EvaluationHow did you you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Research and PlanningBlogger:Initially we produced a blog that we could easily add

our work to and keep updated throughout each stage of the production.

Benefits:

- Accessible from any internet enabled device

- HTML options allows us to embed any kind of document into the blog posts

Google Drive:As we were working in a group we needed to be able

to quickly share the work we were producing, google drive allowed us to do so efficiently.

Benefits:

- Multiple contributors

- 30GB of free cloud storage

- Able to access on internet enabled devices

Research and PlanningPowerpoint:During the genre analysis, documentary theory and

research stage I used powerpoint to clearly display the information

Benefits:

- Clearly displays written information

- Photos and videos can be attached with ease to improve how the audience takes in the information

- People recognise the format

Slideshare:In order to embed powerpoints and other Microsoft

Office package documents onto our blogs we needed a third-party hosting program. I used slideshare throughout the process to overcome this problem. the only negative effect of choosing this option was that it removed the ability to add video or transitions to the presentation, but this was fine as I never needed to do so.

Benefits:

- Free

- Lots of hosting space available

- Can be accessed from multiple sources

Research and PlanningCompared to last year i think the thing I have most

improved on is my ability to present my research and planning methods and the next few examples of technologies display this growth

Prezi:This is an online program used to produce alternate

presentations of information in an interactive way. having never used it before I first used it for its ability to create digital mind maps to display my ideas for possible documentary subjects and genre analysis.

Benefits:

- Free online software

- Many tools for creating interesting methods of display

Tagul:This software produces ‘tag clouds’ using a given

bank of words, this was useful for turning lists of information such as my content ideas and codes & conventions into much more dynamic graphic

Benefits:

- Free online software

- Complete customisation, we were able to create a tag cloud in the shape of a coffee bean in keeping with the subject of the documentary.

Research and PlanningInfogr.am:This is a program used to produce infographics

based on given data. I used this to display my questionnaire results in a much more engaging way once they had be collated in Excel and the percentages etc worked out.

Benefits:

- Extensive list of graphs and tables that can be customised to suit the theme

- Free to use

- Some graphs breakdown informations into a more understandable visual experience

Scanners:It was much simpler to do hand drawn drafts of the

storyboard, the single frames for each interview and the drafting of the print advert than to attempt to use a drawing software to produce them. Therefore we needed to digitise them by running the sketches through a scanner and then uploading them as JPEGs to the blog

Benefits:

- Easier to free hand sketch and transfer them into a digital format

ConstructionSONY HXR-MC2000 HD Video

Cameras:In order to produce a professional-looking product we

needed to use quality equipment, our college was able to provide us with top range camera equipment which could be taken out as-and-when needed. They recorded video in 1080p HD and so gave us extremely well detailed footage

Benefits:

- Professional quality

- Portable, easy to take to various filming locations

- Ambient and pin mics for cutaways, interview, and voxpops

- Ability to maneuver them well to produce eye-level footage

DSLR Cameras:We used digital SLR cameras to capture images for

our print advert. They provide a high quality image than can be manipulated without loss of clarity

Benefits:

- High quality

- Ease of use

ConstructionPremiere Pro:This is the software I have used most through the

whole course, but never previous to that. Premiere is an Adobe software used to create professional content, specifically video-centric projects. We imported our footage into the software and was able to easily organise the clips into folders that would help in choosing the correct sequence, streamlining the editing process. The simple drag-and-drop functions made this software easy to use, and when finding anything I could not do, there were many tutorials on the internet which explained how to achieve the effect I wanted. - I then went on the use ‘cutting tool’ to shorten sections of footage to the required length removing any unnecessary video, especially during the Bru Station interview as there was a lot of mumbling and stuttering

- I created the title card inside the program and then applied ‘video effects’ to fade the title in and create the ‘steam’ like effect we desired.

- When using the pin microphones the camera only recorded in mono sound, this was easily rectified in ‘audio effects’ choosing “fill right’

- Some footage had much louder sound than others and so had to be fixed using audio effects.

-By using the zoom feature and the arrow keys to move between singular frames I was able to accurately pinpoint the correct time to cut each clip.

Construction- During the editing process we had a large number

of ‘flashes’ of black or frames from other clips, especially between to pieces of footage or where there had previously been a cutaway that had been moved or deleted. After zooming into the timeline as much as possible it showed that there were no gaps in the footage. When consulting with my tutors they said did not know the cause or the solution.

- I attempted to replace each piece of footage affected, but they persisted.

- I then used the frame snapshot tool to take the corrupted frame from the original file and place it over the top of the entire project. This method worked for the most part however there is still one noticeable flash in the documentary I was unable to fix.

- When finalised I exported the file into a HD format that was conveniently pre-programmed for YouTube which was the destination for my film.

- When it came to producing the Radio Advert I also used many of the same tools, except using purely the audio tracks and effects, taking the title card and placing it over the top.

Having never encountered the software before it was hard to get used to, but after figuring out the basics it soon became much easier for me to work with effectively.

ConstructionRadio Room:Our college has an in-house radio station and a

professional recording booth, it was in here that I recorded the voiceover for the documentary using high definition microphones.

Benefits:

- Professional set-up

- Sound proofing and ‘Mic Live’ signe for better production without interruptions

- Quality recordings

Audacity:The software in the radio room for simple recordings

is audacity. I was able to record, play and made minor edits to the raw voice recordings whilst all in one program. Easily transferring the audio into premier for further editing.

Benefits:

- Simple functional workflow

- Ability to save in multiple formats

ConstructionPhotoshop:To produce the subtitles displaying the name of the

interviewee and the print advert we used Adobe’s graphic software Photoshop. Being relatively capable with the software myself I focussed more on the radio advert production and editing of the film as I felt strongest with this role in the group. I was however aware of the processes involved

- Importing of photos for the print ad.

- Content aware-move tool and rectangular marquee tool used to neaten edges into clean lines

- Shape tool used to create text boxes and the type tool to add title, tagline, date and time, all conventions of C4 documentaries.

- Placing of the C4 logo, and then use of the magic wand tool to delete white from the outside and inside of the image.

- Using the eyedropper tool to select a colour from an imported page of the C4 style guide displaying the specific colours they use.

- Applying this colour to the necessary objects.

Evaluation

YouTube and Social Media:In order to share our documentary and gain

feedback from our audience we needed to upload it to YouTube. Then using twitter and facebook we shared our production with as many people we could in order to gain a response.I also created a video using Premiere to answer some of my evaluation questions which I also uploaded to YouTube

- Free to use

- Easy to share to many social media websites

- Easy for people to comment

- Ability to add relevant tags so our video will be suggested to those watching similar videos

- Can embed videos to blogger

Evaluation

Piktochart:This is another piece of infographis software which I

have recently discovered. The benefits to Piktochart over Infogr.am are that is has much better customization options, I was able to create a takeaway coffee cup and a brown and cream desing, with highlights of blue and yellow so that certain points stood out.

Benefits:

- Much more interesting display of information

- Ability to customize every part

- Free graphics to add to infographic

- Link to videos

- Free to use

Prezi:I used prezi again to display numerous parts of my

evaluation, however this time I looked more in depth at the software creating more advanced presentations than the typical mind map I had been restricted to previously