HOW DID YOU USE MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES IN THE

CONSTRUCTION, RESEARCH PLANNING & EVALUATION STAGES

EVALUATION QUESTION 4

RESEARCH & PLANNINGMoodle was our primary hub for resources during the research and planning phases of our project. Moodle had been set up to contain all the relevant documentation we needed, assembled into organised files and folders. One advantage of using Moodle, is that we could access the site whether we were at home or at college. The documents contained in the Media Studies section were of great help and importance as it outlined all the crucial information needed for advancing our work and organising ourselves. One example is that when we started initial pre-production, Moodle had relevant worksheets and templates needed for us to draft and document our initial ideas.

We were then able to download them when needed which helped both myself and my group members to organise ourselves. Some of the templates we needed to use, included the risk assessment form, recess form and production schedules. Having a predesigned template made everything much more convenient, and as a result, we had more time to spend on developing our ideas.

Microsoft PowerPoint is another software that we made use of during the course of our project. PowerPoint was primarily used to compile information and ideas we had developed during lessons, and subsequently present them to the rest of the class. One of the main advantages of using PowerPoint is that it allows information to be presented in a clear, concise way. Because of this, it allowed our audience to know exactly where we were coming from and for us to receive accurate and relevant feedback.

We used PowerPoint when presenting our initial treatment to the class, along with our ideas for the print products.

Google was one of the most important and crucial tools when it came to the research and planning stages of our project. We first made use of google when we were trying to come up with concepts for our short film. We later used Google in order to search for material that we would base our case studies upon. For example movie posters and reviews. Google also owns the website YouTube. YouTube was also extremely helpful as it allows us to access the vast quantity of short films that already exist on the internet, allowing us to look for inspiration as to what we would create. I also searched for videos that would teach us how to execute certain camera shots effectively. For example there were tutorials on how to use a homemade dolly although we just ended up borrowing the college’s one. Finally, YouTube was used to search for specific songs we wanted to use in the film. We browsed through several before coming to our final conclusions.

Prezi was an extremely useful presentation tool that was used when presenting my evaluation question 1. It is a web based software, so I could save my work at any time, easily allowing me to progress both at college and at home. Due to its intuitive zoom based interface, I was able to fit a lot of information into one presentation, without the use of repetitive slides.

One advantage that Prezi had over other presentation software is that I could make use of various multimedia in my presentations. I made use of standard images along with flash based video clips that showed excerpts of my short film next to the relevant piece of text analysis.

Outlook.com (Previously Hotmail) was used constantly throughout the development process of our films, particularly during the development of our script and storyboard, as these needed to be shared between the group for editing. WhatsApp was another important technology that allowed every person involved in the production to communicate in one consolidated environment. WhatsApp is extremely helpful in organizing of our filming days as everyone is updated instantly. We used it to discuss the timing and schedules and also to discuss ideas away from class. Finally, Dropbox was another important website that we made use of. We used Dropbox to share very large files in a quick and efficient manner. We shared raw footage that we used for editing, in addition to images that we used for the production of our print products.

FREE APPLICATIONS

Slideshare was a technology that allowed me to present this PowerPoint presentation through the web. This allows me to embed it within my blog, allowing for a more streamlined viewing experience. The site is free and easy to use and most importantly, renders the PowerPoint accurately.

Blogger was the most crucial technology for my course as it allowed me to consolidate all of my work and present it in a neat and ordered way. It is extremely flexible, with a variety of themes to choose from and allows embedding of other presentation technologies.

PowToon was another presentation based software that I made use of when answering Evaluation Question 2. It very innovative, allowing for a range of animations to be implemented, and allows presentations to be rendered into YouTube Videos.

CONSTRUCTIONWe made use of various equipment and technology during the construction of our short film and accompanying print products. Equipment we had during the filming days were the DSLR Camera, Tripod, Dolly, Shoulder Mount and the Zoom microphone. With this equipment, we were able to capture high quality, professional footage that was then later edited to make our film. When operating the equipment, we actually carried out a range of techniques that we had learned in theory.

We found that using the shoulder mount was ineffective and the shots came out too shaky for our liking, continuing the shoot using only either the camera dolly or the tripod. This allowed the shots to look professional due to the smooth panning and tracking that was now at our disposal.

Whilst filming, our group came more to terms with the technology and we were able to discern what shots were suitable for any given scene. We wanted to make the advanced equipment we were given so we attempted a multitude of advanced shots that we hoped would add to the professionalism of the finished product. Examples were the tracking shot used in the opening scenes, along with the worm eye view shot during the opening of the board game.

The lighting was one particular problem we had during the filming stage. Due to us filming in the winter time, the days were very short, with sun setting at around 4PM. This was a problem because, the lighting needed to be consistent throughout the whole film, and due to the environment in which we were filming, any change was fairly noticeable. We thought that using the artificial lighting in the house would remedy the problem, but the light was a different tone compared the bright sunlight. In order to work around this, we set the film shoots to start at an earlier time, and we colour corrected existing footage. This made the problem largely unnoticeable for the most part. In terms of sound, this was mainly handled by group member sibel, as I was operating the camera. We used the zoom due to its high quality audio recording and its easy access to recorder files. However we did experience technical difficulties with it, as we lost some sound recordings that were taken in mayfair.

EDITINGWe used Adobe Photoshop when constructing and editing images used in our movie poster. The package contains a wide range of tools that allowed us to make the poster as bespoke as it needed to be. The layering aspect of the software is excellent, as it allows you to understand the different elements that make up the poster. Although for the most part, we achieved what we wanted with this software, our initial idea would’ve been very difficult to achieve considering our groups level of skill and experience in the software, along with the resources required for capturing the right imagery. We abandoned this idea and went for a new approach whereby all the characters will have mug shots the feature on the poster. This had its advantages as it allowed the characters personalities to come through. I used Photoshop when altering the brightness/contrast and saturation of each characters photo, so they all look evenly lit when they are in the poster.

For the editing of the short film itself, we used Final Cut Pro X. I was fairly confident with using the software as I had prior experience from AS during some test footage. I found using the software to be very easy once we got to grips with it, and once you get into the flow of things, editing footage together becomes a seamless process. The difficult part would be visualising in your mind how the edited footage should look and then going on to recreate it. This is what would set apart the talented editors from the rest.

The main tasks carried out in final cut pro including trimming video clips and then joining them together. We also used it to create some fades in the romance scenes. Editing was carried out by myself and Solomon and we each worked on different scenes, but also advising each other at the same time. This allowed us to get more work done as we were never short on ideas as to how the film should be edited.

We also used Adobe InDesign for the construction of our magazine review. This piece of software was similar to Adobe Photoshop in its user interface, so I was already familiar with some of the tools. In addition, I had experience from using the software to create my magazine in my AS year. I felt very comfortable using this software due to my past experience and this allowed me to focus on the magazine itself rather than getting my head around the means to make it.

Layering is one of the most important aspects, as there are many different layers that were in our review. The text facilities were also excellent, allowing for Dropcaps to be implemented.

WHAT TECHNICAL SKILLS DID YOU DEVELOP AS A GROUP AND INDIVIDUALLY?Compared to before we started this project, I feel my technical skills have been developed in a variety of areas. For one, my ability to film good shots using a camera have developed, and I enjoyed filming for our short film immensely. I was already familiar with my camera, but mainly used it for photography. Using it to film scenes in the film allowed me to develop a sense of how I should frame each shot, and when a shot is suitable for a specific scene.

My editing skills have also developed with experience. Using final cut pro allowed my intuition for a flow of scenes to develop. This is markedly different from a year ago where I only knew the basic principles of each software. At the start of the course, we had a tutorial on how to use Final Cut Pro and whilst initially, it seemed confusing, both myself and my group members got to grips with it.

One aspect of the whole process that I enjoyed, was the fact that all of our group members taught each other some things. The fact that we each excelled in our respective fields allowed us to combine our strengths and produce a film that hopefully reflected upon that fact.