How did you use media technologies?Evaluation activity - 4THUVAARAGAN KURUPARAN

Planning & Research

This is the initial stage of the course, where the development and research of the idea for the short film. The planning involved in this stage is working out logistical issues like when and where to film and the cast.

Web 2.0 Most of the software we used to present our work are the result of web 2.0. the main

difference between Web 2.0 and the world wide web are that there were changes in the way Web pages are made and used. With the world wide web, users could only post, view and download but with web 2.0, they can now collaborate and share information online.

Some elements of Web 2.0 are – Social Networking – Where individuals are able to communicate and connect. Examples of

social networking sites are Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Video sharing – where individuals are able to upload and share videos for others to watch

legally. An example of this is YoutTube. Blog – A discussion/informational site where the people are able to post and share their

personal work for people to see/follow. Web 2.0 allows us to present our work in dynamic ways as well as allowing us to connect with our audience like never before.

Blogger

We used Blogger throughout the course , particularly in the Planning & Research stage. The site allowed us to create blogs in which we could customize certain features such as the layout and the color scheme. The group blog and the personal blogs were all maintained on blogger and this is where all the completed work from all stages was posted and shared.

We all decided on using Blogger and not Tumblr as we though that Blogger was more user friendly and was easier to get around. Organizing the posts was easy as we could create labels in which we can tag posts under and this way the blog looked neat and posts were easy to find. This way we could also keep track of what work we still had to do.

Microsoft Office

I used Microsoft Office in both the Planning & Research stage as well as the Evaluation stage. Word was one of the programs that I used the most as it was used for a range of documents, from questionnaires to release forms and topic research. Powerpoint was best for presenting documents such as the weekly updates and the analysis of credits used.

As I was familiar with Word and Powerpoint, I didn’t face any difficulties in using it. Also, I chose to use these suites as it was available at both school and home, therefore it was ideal for completing work.

Majority of the time, I would use these suites to write up and present the work, and then use a secondary website such as Scribd and Slideshare to upload the work on to the blogs.

Scribd

Scribd allows users to read documents from different formats as well as share them via uploading them onto the site. They could then publish these documents using Scribd onto sites such as Blogger. Scribd was extremely useful to me as its sharing capabilities allowed me to embed documents onto the group r the personal blog.

The one negative about Scribd was that sometimes the layout of the document would change once it had been uploaded i.e. the images moving around.

Slideshare

Slideshare, like Scribd, is a website that allows you to upload and share your work; in this case powerpoint presentations. You can then publish it on blogs using the embed code feature. I used Slideshare to publish documents such as weekly updates and other topic reseach, which I had earlier completed with Powerpoint.

Bubble.us

Bubble.us is a website that allows you to make brainstorms and mindmaps. This was useful to us as we used this software to create the brainstorms for out production company name and also for the idea of our 5 minute film.

SureveyMonkey SurveyMonkey is a software designed to make and

present questionnaires as well as its results. We designed our pre and post questionnaires and then asked our audiences and potential audiences to take part in the questionnaires. We used the response we got from the questionnaires to improve our final product i.e. we asked the potential audience in our pre-questionnaire whether we should have a male lead or a female lead. The audience chose a male lead and we decided to go with a male lead. We also used SurveyMonkey in the evaluation stage where we assessed the audiences’ response to the final product.

Outlook

Outlook is a part of Microsoft Office and we used outlook is a software which enables you to send your work to other people. This was essential as in our group, we were able to email our work to each other when needed. Through outlook, we could ask individuals for permission to use their soundtrack from YouTube as well as request permission to use certain locations.

USB

USB’s were one of the most essential devices used during all stages. Al the work we did would be backed up on our USB’s as well as it being used to transfer work. Wrok can be lost at any time and therefore it was important that we backed up all our work on a USB. Moreover, I used my USB to transfer all of the mp3 files, voiceovers and also the final product from my mac to other laptops/computers when needed to.

Mobile Phones (iPhone 5s and Samsung Galaxy S6)

Mobile phones were another essential part of all stages as we used our phones to communicate to each other. We used applications such as WhatsApp or Facebook to communicate and plan what we needed to do. This was extremely important when we needed clarification concerning work and shooting plans. Moreover, our phones were also used to take recce pictures when a camera wasn’t available.

Macbook Pro

A Macbook was arguably the most essential piece of equipment outside the shooting equipment that we used. This is as we used Macs to complete work from all stages. During planning and research, we used macs to do the written work and during construction, I used the mac to edit and put together the final product. As I owned a mac, it made the process simpler for me as I could edit at home as well as complete other work at home. I also used the mac to create the poster and the review, using Photoshop.

Construction

This is the stage in which we produced all the elements needed for the final product i.e. filming and recording the voiceover. The editing process and the production of the ancillary tasks are also done in this stage.

Canon EOS 700D

We used the Canon 700D through the filming process as the footage was of the highest quality. Also, the size of the camera meant that it was easy to travel with all of the equipment and also easy to store it at home. It was also to our advantage that we had used the camera before and therefore we were familiar with using it. I also used the camera to capture the images for my ancillary tasks as the images were of the highest quality.

Tripod

The tripod was also essential as during the filming process, we used it to ensure that the camera was level and stable when it needed it to be. The tripod is a much better alternative to the camera person holding the camera as sometime the footage will be shaky, which doesn’t’t look professional. Some shots were also at awkward heights and the the tripod allowed us to film at these heights as it was adjustable and we were able film at different heights.

External Rode Microphone

The rode microphone was used to record all the sound as the sound was enhanced when recorded with the rode mic compared to the mic in the camera. As it turned out, we didn’t use most of the sound recorded through the rode mic as voice-over and background non-diegetic score was used more. However, the rode mic was still a vital piece of equipment that we used.

SD Card

We recorded all of our footage onto the SD Card. Although the SD Cards were small and easier to lose, we thought that it was the best option as it would easier for us to transfer all of our footage onto the mac for editing once the filming process was done. Another neativity about using SD Cards was that because we were using 8/16gb SD Cards, there was always a possibility that we could run out of space while filming. However, this scenario never occurred as we filmed over different days, hence not having too much footage stored up in the SD Cards.

Adobe Photoshop CS6

Photoshop was extremely vital in the construction stage, especially when it came to producing the ancillary tasks. I used Photoshop to create both the film poster as well as the film review. Photoshop is a professional grade software and therefore, the final outcome was of high quality. I also used Photoshop in the planning and research stage as I used it to make the group log. Each time I use it, once I'm don, I save the file as JPEG which I could then upload to the blogs.

Final Cut Pro X I used Final Cut Pro X to edit and put the final product

together. The sophisticated nature of the product allowed me to achieve a more professional look that if we had used a software such as Windows Movie Maker. Also, as I had used Final Cut before, I was familiar with it, which made the process easier and faster for me. The editorial process was key in the construction process as this is where all the separate elements such as the footage, voiceover and sound effects all came together. The were hours of raw footage that I had to import onto Final Cut and then had to specifically pick and choose the best footage. With Final Cut, I was able to change color contrasts, levels of audio and add graphics alongside the general cutting and placing of shots and transitions.

Cubase

Cubase was the software that we used to record the voiceover. We had to hire the recording studio for this. Cubase is a piece of music software developed to record, arrange and edit sounds and music. Once the voiceover was recorded, all that was necessary was some simple cutting and altering pitch of the track.

Evaluation

In this stage, we assess how successful our final product was. This is done in variety of ways such as through audiences’ feedback and analyzing the work in terms generic codes and conventions.

Social Media

Social media was key in the evaluative process as I used different platforms to assess our audience’s response and also to share our final product to a wider audience.

YouTube was one of the main social media site that we used as we uploaded our final product on YoutTube in order to share it with our audience. We chose YouTube over other video sharing sites such as Vimeo and Dailymotion as it is much more popular amongst the general public, increasing the chances of us gaining more audience. I had also used YouTube to find soundtrack and sound effects which I used in the construction stage.

Prezi

Prezi is a cloud based presentation software, allowing presentations to be presented through variety of devices. Prezi has many templates which I can chose from to create a dynamic presentation. I used Prezi in both the planning and research and the evaluation stage. Prezi is an excellent way of visually engaging the viewers as it is colorful.