HOW DID YOU USE MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND RESEARCH, PLANNING AND EVALUATION STAGES?By Matthew Hartup

Internet• When researching our topic, we used the internet to gather

most of our information. The main websites we used were search engines such as Google and trustworthy sites that had information that we knew would be reliable, such as BBC and NHS.

• Search engines allowed us to narrow down what results would show and allowed us to get to the information that we needed quicker.

• We needed to gather information from well-known companies and websites so that we knew the information would be correct. Websites such as BBC News would not post incorrect information as it could damage their reputation.

YouTube• We used YouTube to upload our

documentary once we had completed it. YouTube would host the documentary and then we could put the documentary onto our blog.

• We also used YouTube in editing. This was when we wanted to use one of the tools to reduce the ‘shaky camera motion’.

Microsoft Word and PowerPoint

• I used Microsoft Word to record all of the research that I got. This allowed me to keep all of the information in one place.

• I used Microsoft PowerPoint to make this evaluation. This allowed me to make a simple presentation that had all the information I needed in organised slides and in a suitable order.

Blogger, Scribd, Prezzi and Slideshare

• I used Blogger for my blog. This is where I kept all of my posts about what the group has done, what has been completed and decisions that we made. We also used the blog to upload all of our research and planning work.

• I have used Scribd, Prezzi and Slideshare in my evaluation to use a variety of different programs to present my work. They all show presentations and documents in different ways and allow me to use a wider variety of media technologies.

Filming Equipment• We needed a variety of different

equipment to get our footage. We used a tripod, camera and microphone. These well all essential in getting the video footage, the sound quality and the good footage we needed.

• The tripod was needed for filming the interviews with experts as we needed the camera to be steady and not move, as well as at a suitable height.

In DesignWhen using In Design we needed to make a few changes to the images that we had. We made slight adjustments such as adding noise to the main image, this was so that it would look more inventive and comic like.

We made the magazine article on In Design. We were familiar with most of the tools as we had used them the year before when creating our music magazines.

Editing in Final Cut

• On Final Cut, after filming all of our footage, we had to choose which clips we were going to use. We used the log and transfer to get these clips from the camera on to final cut. After selecting each individual clip we would add them to the queue and wait for them to transfer over to our project where we could then use them.

• On Final Cut, there is a little toolbar that has lots of different tools available. These tools are very useful during editing as they all have different purposes.

• Each bit of video is automatically linked with the sound that was filmed with it. The background footage did not need any sound therefore we needed to unselect the link before we could delete the sound part of the clip.

Some of the clips we changed so that we could edit the speed of the clip to slow down and make the clip last longer. This was so that the length of the clip would match the length of the voiceover.

• We used layers on our project so that we could add background footage over the top of some of the interviews. This also meant that we would have to mute some of the clips so the sound from the background footage did not interfere with the other sound.

• The razor tool allowed us to cut clips up and make it easy to edit some of the interviews. As we wanted to use different parts of the interviews in different places in the documentary, we would have to cut them up.

• Some of the footage was blurry and therefore we couldn’t use it as it was. Therefore we decided to blur it more so we could add text over the top and make it look more effective.

• We didn’t know which type of blur would be best for the effect that we wanted. Therefore we tried out a variety of different types until we found an effective combination that looked professional and realistic. The types of blur we used were soft focus, defocus and Gaussian blur.

• After adding the blurred effect onto the video. We wanted to add text that would appear over the top. The background needed to relate to the text that was going to feature, therefore we used on clip for the title sequence and another clip of a gym instructor on the gym equipment to show some facts about exercise. We needed to use a bright font colour (white) so that the text would be easy to read on top of the background.

• After checking some of the clips, we realised that some of the shots were not steady and there was some obvious movements while filming. We wanted stabilize the clip to make it look better and more effective. We found out that you could upload the clips to Youtube and then use a tool that will remove shaky camera motions. After the Youtube tool had completed removing the ‘shaky camera motions’, we added the clip to our project. The clip was much better and was steady which allowed us to include the clip in our documentary without having some shots that looked unprofessional.

• I wanted to add a banner to the bottom of the formal interview so that it would include the expert’s name and occupation. This would make the interview look professional and realistic. We did this by using a ‘Lower 3rd’ piece of text where the top line would include the name of the expert and the bottom line would be a smaller font that has the occupation. We made the background of the banner in black (although it was transparent), with the text being white so it stood out clearly over the top of the banner and was easy to read.

• We added a cross dissolve to the start and end of the banner so it appeared and disappeared smoothly. This effect made the banner look more professional as it was not going to suddenly appear on screen and look ‘jumpy’

• The interview with the academic coach had some framing issues as there was some writing on the board behind her that was not supposed to be in the shot. We wanted to remove this part of the screen so we had to manipulate the image slightly.

• We had two choices of how to remove the part of the shot that had the writing on the board. We could either rotate the image slightly or just simply increase the size of the shot and move the visible part so that you could no longer see the background.

Some of the interviews were a lot louder than the others. Therefore we needed to change some of the sound levels of the clips to make sure that there were not any sudden jumps in the volume. This was done by adjusting the bar on top of the sound clips.

Garageband• We wanted to include

some of the sound from the interviews in our documentary. Therefore, in Final Cut, we needed to export the files as ‘Wave’ so that it would be available to use and edit in Garageband.

• We put all of our sound clips in order of layers so that it was easy to edit each clip individually without affecting the others. This also allowed us to locate any errors easily as each layer only had one clip inside it.

• This bar allowed us to play the radio trailer over to ourselves and rewind and fast-forward the trailer. Also, the volume control was very useful as it increased the sound of all of the clips at once instead of going through each part individually and editing the sound levels and volume.

• We inserted the clips from the documentary by saving them as ‘Wave’ files in a folder and then dragging them directly to where we wanted them to be in the radio trailer. This was very easy to do and allowed to easily select what layer and where we wanted each section to be.

• Some of the interviews that we put directly in from the documentary were quieter than the other clips. Therefore we duplicated the layer and played the two clips at the same time to increase the volume. This allowed us to make the clips louder without losing any of the sound quality.

Conclusion• Overall, we have used many different types of media

technologies in the process of creating and evaluating our products.

• I believe all of the different technologies we used were effective and were used correctly to get the best out of them. This allowed us to research effectively, as well as editing the final products to make them exactly what we planned.

• I think that we used all equipment well to make a very good documentary and good supporting ancillary texts, as well as in-depth research and planning and an honest evaluation.