EVALUATION QUESTION 4: HOW DID YOU USE NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND

RESEARCH, PLANNING AND EVALUATION STAGES?

I used many different media technologies throughout my research and planning, construction and evaluation stages. These technologies that are used were vital to me producing products of a professional standard and working successfully. I have learnt many new techniques whilst using these.

ADOBE PHOTOSHOP

I used Photoshop to construct both of my ancillary products (poster and magazine). The range of tools available helped me make my final products look professional. I was able to edit text, images and colours along with many other things. I used this program for not only making my products but editing the images for them using adjustments from the menu. I didn’t just use Photoshop for my poster and magazine, I also used it for my main product (trailer) and made the inter titles.

FINAL CUT EXPRESS

Final Cut Express was vital to me making my trailer. Using it taught me a lot more about editing techniques such as fading. I feel as my project progressed I improved using this programme and I now feel a lot more confident when using it. It helped me understand how certain editing techniques and shot types fit in more with certain genres when I was experimenting and seeing which shots would work best for a horror trailer.

GARAGE BAND

I used Garage Band in both my research and production stage. It allowed me to create sound effects and tracks to work with my trailer. I was able to see what worked and what didn’t as it was simple to work with and experiment. It made me realise how many layers of sound are in a trailer (dialogue, asynchronous sound, synchronous sound and background music) and how much work goes into sound in trailers/movies.

DAFONT.COM

Dafont.com is a website which allows people to download fonts to their computer for use on many different areas of software. It was useful in researching fonts and I also got all of the fonts I used in my final products from here. I was able to get fonts that reflected those used on profession products. It also helped me find fonts that worked well with the horror genre and I could navigate myself through different fonts using different subheadings – ‘gothic’ was very helpful when looking for fonts for horror.

iMACS

I was able to use the iMacs within my college, these were available all throughout the day so allowed me to finish my work to a good standard. These had all of the software I needed to produce my products such as Photoshop and Final Cut Express and these were of vital importance so the iMac’s were just as important.

GRAB TOOL

The grab tool on the iMac helped me screen grab throughout the construction of my products so I was able to track what I had done and show my progress through this. I was able to show the progress I was making on Final Cut when making my trailer and the development of intertitles and photo edits.

POWERPOINT & SLIDESHARE

PowerPoint has helped me to present my work in a different way other than a blog post. It helped most through my evaluation questions. It has been helpful to use as I feel I can include all of the information I need and make it look presentable and not essay like.

Slideshare allowed me to embed my PowerPoints onto my blog and it has worked very well for me.

PREZI

Prezi was another technology that allowed me to present my work in a different way. I used this in my research and planning and evaluation stages as I feel it is very effective, profession and the different layouts ensure that each Prezi is different and not repetitive. I am able to edit paths myself and start from nothing so I can completely design my own layout on this, it is a good way to present work and the voice over function adds another element to it.

GOOGLE

I used Google for many aspects of my work. I used it mostly in the research and planning stage. It allowed me to research professional products and look at both images and videos. I could therefore, once I had found these, compare my work to them.

YOUTUBE

YouTube allowed me to look into professional trailers and see what was typical of my chosen genre. It gave me ideas and helped in my planning stages. I could watch trailers and see which shots I could recreate and what would work well for me.

I also uploaded my final trailer to YouTube and then embedded it into my blog.

VIDEO CAMERA AND TRIPOD

I used a video camera to record my footage for my trailer. I experimented with shots and tried to replicate some of which I had seen in professional trailers.

I also used a tripod when filming this allowed me to ensure my shots were steady. I feel as if all of my shots were handheld my trailer would not have looked professional.

DSLR CAMERA AND DIGITAL CAMERA

I used a DSLR camera when taking photographs for my magazine and poster as I knew these would be extremely high quality and would reflect that of a professional product when used.

I used a digital camera when shooting footage to capture setting up and to show setting. I also took photos for my recce of location with this.

BLOGGER

Blogger has been very useful. It has allowed me to keep track of all of my work and update regular blog posts. My progress has been recorded through making my products through blogger and I am able to look back and refer to posts when I need to. It has made me aware of different ways I can present my work and has been very helpful.