Evaluation Question 4:

How did you use media technologies in the construction, research,

planning and evaluation stages?

Introduction

• Through out the coursework I have used a wide range of technologies, all of which have helped me in different areas of my planning, research, construction and evaluation. In this presentation I am going to analyse how I used these technologies to my advantage, weather I found them effective or not, if they helped me to be more creative and weather I enjoyed using them.

Celtix• Able to format any sort of script ranging from film and television, to comic

books, to audio plays, Celtx enables you to work in any medium. The formatting features include scene headings, scene descriptions, automatic dialogue formatting, slug lines, transitions and more. Celtx enables the user to have the ability to storyboard, keep track of characters and scenes, manage production, organize props, vehicles, wardrobe, etc., and keep production of a film on track.

• Every section of the software is tied together, allowing users to tie certain props, costumes, and other items to the various characters and actors in the film. Probably the most useful and unique feature of Celtx is the ability to organize all of the characters, props, costumes, effects and more that are listed in the script. As a user writes, he can create character files inside of the software that store information such as the characters physical characteristics, back story, traits, and personality.

If a certain prop is mentioned in the script, the user can create a prop file for that item that lists its physical details, price, location, attributes, availability and more. Celtx's powerful organizational tools can really streamline the preproduction of any film.

Blogger• Through out the campaign I have used blogger in order to post my

development through out the stages of the coursework. Blogger has acted as an online interactive diary in which I can update from anywhere.

• Blogger has many features that make it suitable for an media technology based course such as this, for example our can easily add a photo to your blog post by clicking on the image icon in the post editor toolbar. Adding a video to your post is just as easy; just click on the film-strip icon on the post editor toolbar to get started. This to features enabled me to document my work in a more interesting media based manor, rather than just writing a summery or analysis of a lesson or piece of work for instance I regular created video recordings in which I analysed trailers or posters through narration, I found this method of blogging enjoyable and interactive. Blogger is also another way of getting feedback for your work, enabling you to see what you have done right or wrong and correct your posts.

Slideshare

• Slideshare is an website that enables users to upload power point presentations which then can be embedded to a member’s website or personal blog.

• I used Slideshare frequently through out the course particularly in my planning stages. As this course isn’t heavily text based and relies on a lot of analysis of print medias or stills for trailers, slideshare is the perfect way in order to present your in a professional manor enabling you to directly analysis posters or still as well as giving you the option to have sections of detailed contextual analysis that you would find in essay based work.

Prezi

prezis many functions and media’s to be displayed in an simple way as if flicking through a power point presentation. Another useful aspect is that unlike power point it enables its users to present there work through a range of media technologies for instance users can upload videos, podcasts and mp3’s, creating more interactive media based way of presentation. I prodomately used Prezi within my planning and research stages using its features to help me analyse character profiles and theory's in an more dynamic way.

Prezi is a new web based form of presentation, ditching the linear approach of power point and enabling the the user to use an infinite area in which to display there work. One prezis best functions is creating a pathway, which allows the creator of the presentation to the map out a pathway for the viewer to easily pass through, this function allows

Photoshop

useful when creating our poster as without it manipulating the main image, combining the elements would have been almost impossible. Photoshop allows anyone to create professional standard images (as it is the programme which industry professionals use themselves) therefore we as media students are extremely lucky to have access to such a high standard program. As I have been using Photoshop for over two years now I feel confidant when editing and designing using it which has allowed me to become more creative

Photoshop is an programme that enables you edited, manipulate and create images as well as design graphics such as logo’s. I used Photoshop prodomately in our production work creating our poster, production company logo aswell as still for the trailer using it. Photoshop was hugely

Examples of How I used Photoshop:

As you can see from these images Photoshop enables the user to manipulate images in order to fit there idea of how they want it to look. Photoshop allowed me to be creative within my work giving me the equipment in order to reach the visual outcome I had planned for, as you can see from the top two images it allowed me to edit and manipulate an image in such a way it turned a normal photograph into an image in that is fitting to the horror genre. Photoshop can also be used a method designing showed in the bottom two images which is the masthead that we designed for our trailer and posters, slightly manipulating them in order to make them unique to the particular media while keeping the constant image through out the campaign.

iMovie

• iMovie is a sophisticated simplified editing program which is easy to use through its basic methods of editing. iMovie allows users to import there footage and from there the user can edit the video clips, add titles, music, and effects, including basic color correction and video enhancement tools and transitions such as fades and slides, it also has a library of Foley sounds which are very useful when editing for horror trailers due to the need for tension building sounds. One of iMovie's most practical features is that it allows the user to store the footage within program enabling enabling the user to select what clips to use and what to leave out. Overall I believe iMovie offers all the functions and features needed to create a trailer.

Facebook & Twitter

• We used these two social networking sites during our Marketing campaign, the websites where extremely useful enabling us to create a successful viral marketing campaign. Social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook have become possibly the most effective ways of reaching out to the mass audiences through the modern day online 'Domino effect' such as Twitter's 'Re-tweet' system and Facebook's 'Sharing' tool. From my own experience as a regular social networking using teenager, I knew from first hand experience the benefits of these tools particularly Twitters 're-tweet' system where I had encountered on numerous occasions the infamous 'Twitter Storms' in which a subject, person or event gains an enormous amount of attention and documentation that it dominates all worldwide trends meaning it appears in nearly all of Twitters 175 billion registered users newsfeeds. Twitter enabled us to create an interactive campaign through the use of the trending system, we created the Hash tag #WhosWatchingYou encouraging our followers to get involved in our campaign. While our Facebook account allowed use to post photographs, videos and news allowing our target audience to comment, like and share the posts.

Cannon 550d DSLR• This camera allowed us to film in 1080p providing a device capable

of filming footage to the highest quality possible. I was familiar to this camera before we started filming due to previous photography based subjects however I had never used it to film, this is something that at first I found difficult as there are a number of different components you need to consider when filming for example lighting is far more important during filming as it affects both the quality and mise-en-scene of the shot, also there is a lot more movement than photography during filming focusing the camera is far more difficult (something that I had problems with during filming). But overall once I gained some experience in filming I found using the camera relatively simple as it is a very good piece of equipment