Evaluation 4

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

Hiba Butt

What is new media technology?

• New media technology was recognized in the 20th century, which lead to the breakthrough in the media industry. New media technology is essentially any type of programme or software which enables you to transfer digitally. An example of this would be Facebook. Twitter and a range of other networking sites. The most recent media technology would be smart phones, DVDS, MP3 players. This is what composes new media.

Which new media technologies did I use throughout the course of this assignment? • Throughout the course of this assignment I have used

technology equipment which I have used before and haven't used before. I was able to experiment with technology which I had not used before. By experimenting with new technology I was able to apply the skills I have gained which impacted my final production.

YouTube• This has been used during the process of pre production and

after production. I used this to help look for existing media products in order to influence my group and I. Allowing us to choose a genre which we preferred and wanted to do.

• I have used YouTube during pre production and post production stages, which allowed us to upload our final production on to YouTube. Also having a annotated copy for the evaluation stage.

• YouTube has given an insight with providing tutorials on different shots, lighting techniques, editing process ,cinematography skills and lastly coming to grips with Photoshop. Through the use of watching these tutorials it has allowed me to become independent in using these software programmes.

Blogger

• Blogger is an essential software used to upload our work. This website enabled us to create our own blog pages in which we could upload our progress to do with production stages. It also allowed us to upload work from other programmes such as scribd, slide share, ISSU and prezi . Work had to be converted then uploaded by an embedded link. Blogger allowed us to access work online and present our work in a chronological order showing how up to date we were on work. Not only did it let us upload work it also allowed us to personalise pages with a range of backgrounds available. Lastly the software also allowed us to become independent when uploading work. Blogger is easy accessible to upload work during and out of school hours.

Scribd• Scribd was used to convert work documents into an online format

which allowed our work to be presented in a professional way such as letters, scripts, and research. When uploading our work onto Scribd it was useful because the team members could share and overlook work which enabled us to exchange documents. In case we lost work Scribe acted as a back up, this software was easily accessible and easy to use.

Photoshop CS5

• Photoshop was a software that was difficult to use without having no experience. However by practising using other images allowed me to gain a understanding of how to use photo shop also using you tube tutorials helped massively. The more I practiced and watched tutorials I became more familiar with the programme and got into grips with how to edit over pictures, the uses of layers, how to fade. For the review it was a little bit different due to making boxes for the columns, making everything in line with each other. Although the write up for the review was easier as I did that before starting the review.

Final Cut Pro

• Final Cut Pro was used by our editor Anuka editing was a crucial element during post production as the film had to match the script. Anuka began logging and capturing every footage, she then labelled and organised the scenes on the timeline selecting the best shots to use. Editing wasn’t a big problem for Anuka as she has used final cut pro before and had no major problems with the software .However being in A2 Anuka had to take a different approach to editing rather than AS. Final Cut Pro allowed us to produce a well edited short film production.

USB

• This was very useful throughout the course of this project as it allowed me to save my work without any hassle . Also enabled me to do work at home and show other members of the group what I had done, or they could tell me what I could do to improve it. Alongside the USB acted as a back up saving all work I had done incase I was to misplace work.

Sound Cloud• Sound cloud was used to find sound relating to our short film. This

was very effective and easy to use allowing our film to be a of a better sound quality. Although myself and Anuka did not use Sound Cloud for anything, Uzair who was our sound person was able to find sound relating to our production. He also used this program to upload audio to our blog. However we did come across a problem as we could not upload many audio files as there was a limit. To overcome this problem we decided to upload the sound which was beneficial to our production. The advantage of this program was that we were able to find many audio files relating to our production. Lastly being able upload the audio file by embedding the code onto our blog for audiences to see.

Facebook• Facebook was used for the pre and post production stages of our

production, as it was important for us to gain feedback also promoting our product. We created a facebook account on behalf of our production which will allow the audience to give us feedback on what they think of the film. The facebook account can also be up to date on what we do to the video such as making improvements. Nonetheless as a group we had individual facebook accounts enabling us to communicate and keep up to date with work rather than messaging each other individually.

Twitter

• Twitter is a another social networking site allowing us to interact with our target audience and also being able to update them on our final production. By the audience following us on twitter they are able to see our updates and also giving us their opinion. It also allowed group members to communicate rather than messaging individually which is time consuming. By getting feedback from our target audience will allow us to know our strong and weak points. If we was to make another video we can learn from our following mistakes, to make a better video to meet the audiences requirements.

Macbook Pro & IPhone 4s

• These two apple products have helped throughout my coursework, the macbook pro enabled me to do my paper work, using the internet and the use of editing on photoshop. I used the IPhone 4s to take pictures of the progress of our project this allowed me to upload these pictures on our blog under the post ‘Reece Pictures’.

Prezi

• This online presentation allowed us to produce our work in a creative way. This could be used through pre production and evaluation stages. In the beginning Prezi was hard to master, however once I played around with the buttons I realised how easy it was to use. Also by using Prezi allowed me to present my work in a creative way as it was lively and colorful.

Bubblus.com

• Bubbl.us was a software used in the early stages of the pre production. As a group we used Bubbl.us to create a mind map with all our ideas for our production. This was useful as we were able to pick a idea together. The colours present allowed us to colour code each subheading making our work look colourful and neat. However at first we had trouble in uploading the brainstorm to the blog and the size of mind map was a problem as we would have to keep zooming in to see what was written.

Slide Share

• Slideshare enabled our presentations to be converted on an online format. By converting the presentations made it easier for us to upload our work onto the blog effectively.

Microsoft Word

Microsoft word was a vital software which was used throughout my coursework. Majority of my planning and research work was done on Microsoft Word which was converted and embedded onto our blog. This software is very important when creating documents as it gives you many options in how to organise work. Also the software is able to show if there any spelling mistakes by showing a red line underneath a word. Microsoft Word was very useful to me as it helped me grammatically while doing paper work.

Microsoft PowerPoint

Microsoft PowerPoint is another important software which I used during the pre and post production stages of our production. This software is very similar to Microsoft Word however this was used to break down different points as our audience do not want to be reading loads of information in a big paragraph. The software presents our work in a professional way.

HDV Filming Camera• During the production stages we used a HDV camera to film

our short film. In order for us to obtain this camera we had to sign a call sheet to book the camera. This was done for health and safety reasons alongside showing who was responsible for the camera if it was to get lost or damaged. The camera was very important when constructing our production as we were capturing footage. Many problems were present such as missing tapes, missing microphone and lastly the lighting setting. In some cases we needed to re do our filming which was very stressful. However once we redone our footage we made sure we did it to a higher standard also making sure the sound was working and we knew how much brightness we were going to need. The resolution of the camera was to a high standard making our final production look professional.

Summary

• Overall the use of new media technology was important for our work and as helped me through the course of my assignment. Without media technology we wouldn't have been able to produce high standards of planning and research work. Throughout this process I was not familiar with some technologies however through the course I became more comfortable and confident with the technology.