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

Research stagePrimarily I used www.google.co.uk and www.wikipedia.com (for facts and figures as a minority question the use of this) as seen below

Research stageFor useful documentary research and archive footage I used www.youtube.com (left) to convert these videos I used www.keepvid.com (right) where you enter the URL and download the file.

Research stage

www.bbc.co.uk/sport and www.skysportsnews.com are reliable and trusted sports websites and so were every useful for investigating money in football.

Planning stage

Microsoft Word was used for the majority of the planning phase. We documented the Formal proposal, logging sheets, scheduling, edit decision list and the questionnaires. On word I took advantage of the tools at my disposal to create tables and graphs which enhanced the clarity and interpretation of my work.

Uploading photo’s via the use of a USB cable and my phone (Blackberry Bold 9930- below left) meant we could show evidence of our planning and the whole process (as shown below). The Blackberry has a 5 MP camera with a flashlight and so was well suited enough to capture images that we could use.

Construction stageFor all our filming we used a Cannon XM2 Camera (top right) with the added use of a Tripod (below left), Clip Microphone (below right) and Boom Mic. The boom mic was simple to plug into a port on the camera and I opted to use it for the recording of the narration as it has a more clear cut and velvety sound, I wanted the highest quality audio for our narration and the boom mic was the best option.

The Cannon XM2 is a pro camcorder so we knew we were getting good quality and it came with many useful features such as the playback option, the handle, the built in mic and the ports for headphones and clip mics. Portable, light and easy to set up it proved to be an ideal piece of equipment for this kind of filming. Another good feature was on the LED panel in which you could see the left and right audio level bouncing and so could monitor the audio quality.

The clip microphone was used for all interviews (except one in which the battery ran out and so we had to scrap the interview when editing), it was simple to use and we also always wore headphones whilst recording an interview so that we could ensure the sound was OK and would not hinder us later upon review when editing.

Construction stage

After each piece of filming we uploaded the footage by capturing it off the Mini DV tapes through the use of a DV capture deck which linked to the computer enabling us to control the capturing which was a smooth process.

The software we used for editing was the CS5 version of Adobe Premier. This was used for all aspects of editing which included putting into a timeline (corresponding with our timeline in planning), cutting the footage down and snipping it into sequence, controlling audio (including unlinking audio and video), importing archive footage, audio and video transitions (e.g. dip to black, cross dissolve), audio balancing (fill left, constant gain), text generation, time re-mapping (such as slow/fast motion) and cropping/resizing of video footage. Another function of Premier that was paramount to the aesthetic quality of the piece was the manipulation of still images through the use of key framing and basic animation (e.g. the zooming on the stats). Also wore headphones throughout the editing process so that any kinks with audio could be smoothed out so that there was no errors (e.g. a poor transition or in consistant volume).

Construction stage

On Adobe Premier there is lots going on and so the Samsung LCD monitor T200 HD was pivotal for previewing my work as I went along and gave me good perspective of the progress I was making.

Construction stageAfter finishing the documentary we then moved onto completing a print advert for it, for this we used Adobe Photoshop CS5 this was enjoyable to do as well and involved a lot of work with the computer, we had before hand took a couple of pictures of a football sat on top of a vast amount of fifty pound notes which we made via the use of printer, this was great as it automatically showed what the documentary was about and contrasting football and money together, the way in which we gained the fifty pound notes was through research, we used internet explorer to help us for this and we found the exact dimensions of the note, then found an image on google. We created an exact fifty pound note but it wasn't double sided we only had the queens head side. As we took a couple of pictures we had different shots and views of the ball, but came to a group decision on the picture we used.

For the printed advert we used Photoshop CS5 which we had had some experience with but not much, we had some assistance and guidance but after a few sessions on Photoshop the whole group could use the program rather well and we could add some quite advanced effects to the image.

On the whole we basically broadened the colours of the ball, grass and redness of the fifty pound notes before adding the relevant text, info and logo (all within the conventions of print adverts) we thought this was a grand idea and which would capture passers by eyes and grasp there thought and this could potentially lead to them finding out more on the documentary and even view it.

Evaluation stageQuestion 1.

To answer this question me and Matt decided that we could work together to create and script a more detailed and relevant response and so I drafted a script split it into 4 colour coded sections and assigned a 2 paragraphs each to me and matt. For this I used Microsoft Word to script the dialogue we would be using for the recording.

In the background we broadcast our documentary that was on www.youtube.com (shown on the top right) through the use of a projector, this was very important to the visual aspect of the recording as the projected image/video was clear and large.

We then made use of Matt’s HTC desire smart phone which records 780p with 8 megapixel camera.

We uploaded the video to www.youtube.com onto my account where we made it public ready to embed, so it was a familiar and simple process.

Evaluation stage

Question 2

. For this question I went about a similar process of using Microsoft Word to draft my answer (below), as this gives me clarity and structure. Then it was a case of using the Cannon digitital camera I have at home which I knew was reliable due to past experience with it. I left the lens over the camera and recorded my voice with the built in mic. I then uploaded the video through my USB cable, saved it into onto my computer and uploaded the video to my www.youtube.com account.

Evaluation stage

For this question I have used Microsoft PowerPoint and incorporated such tools the back ground effects, text, titles and pictures

Here I have taken screen shots of me composing various slides, I am pasting a screen shot (left) and sending the picture to the back so that text can appear in front for it (right).

Question 4