Evaluation Question Four

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

Luke Conboy Our Film: ‘BRUV’

Media Technologies

• We used a variety of digital technologies in the construction of our project. Technologies ranging from PowerPoint to new digital cameras.

• We used a variety of technologies mainly because we wanted to exercise the options we had and fully utilise the technology at hand. By making the most of what we had, we have produced high quality work. Shown in the next slides are some examples of work from our project and the technology used to create them.

Examples From Our Work - PhotoshopPiece of work: Film Poster/Film MagazineTechnology used: Photoshop

Photoshop was used to create our film poster because it carries all the functions required. This programme allows us to group pictures together and it make all one image. Photoshop allows us take any picture we had at our disposal, then could select what parts of this one picture we wanted and then place it with other images – this is why we used Photoshop to create this artefact. It made this task simple and produces a high quality result as well.

Photoshop was also used to create our film magazine front covers. Again, it allows us to use any image and put an effect on it to make it look more professional. Photoshop also allows text to be added to it as well, thus it enables us to combine both images and text.

Examples From Our Work – Adobe Premiere

Adobe Premiere was the program we used when editing our trailer. This program allowed us to do everything needed to successfully edit our piece. Premiere was used mainly in the construction phase of our project. We used this piece of technology as it is considered one of the best editing programs available for students, therefore we took full advantage of this opportunity we had to use Premiere. Similarly with Photoshop, Premiere allows us to add text onto our images. We added text on this program for when we were placing and positioning our titles.

Premiere is also useful for adding effects onto our trailer. For example, we added a few ‘cut to white’ effects to make our cuts from scene to scene run smoothly. Premiere further enables us to lower the background noise from our footage. This was particularly useful when our camera picked up too much background noise and disrupted our piece.

Examples From Our Work - YouTube

Our Trailer – we also used YouTube in our production. Plainly, we used YouTube to upload our piece for others to view, but it also carries other important needs. For example, when we researched similar products to ours in the planning stage, we used YouTube to view trailers from other films to seek inspiration for our own. Furthermore, when we decided to shoot a fight scene for our trailer, we found this video on YouTube. The video helped us with many things, such as what angles we should film from to produce a convincing fight scene. So this video helped us in our construction and also planning stage.

YouTube was also used by us when obtaining our chosen music for the trailer. We were able to download this music from YouTube with ease, and this then made it easier when transferring in onto Premiere. Therefore it can be seen that YouTube had multiple uses in the construction, planning and research stages of our project.

Examples From Our Work - Internet

We also used the internet to find a range of websites for researching purposes. Two examples are: imdb.com and industry.bfi.org.uk/exitpolls . Both of these websites were used to gather useful data. Imdb was used for finding out things such as the box office takings for Adulthood – a similar film to ours. The BFI website was used to find out more detailed data. This website showed us the exit poll statistics for Kidulthood, which detailed how people heard about this film and what baits for attendance were most popular. Both of these websites, the BFI one in particular, provided valuable information for us.

The BFI data showed that ‘word of mouth’ was the most popular way people heard about Kidulthood and that the most common bait for attendance was the storyline looking interesting. Looking at this data helped us with our decision making, word of mouth being popular meant a successful marketing campaign and the storyline being the most common bait for attendance meant an effective trailer. Therefore, further emphasis was put on these two areas of our project.

Examples From Our Work – Blog

Our blog was used to communicate ideas from everyone in our group. Communication in a project such as this is vital; ideas need to be constantly shared and tasks need to be delegated. For example, I had the task of finding potential fonts for us to use in our titles. I came up with these results:

Once I posted these fonts onto my blog, the other members in my group we able to see what had come of my research. As it turns out, we could not agree upon any of these fonts. Here then the blog enabled communication as I was able to share what I had found with the rest of my group; we then discussed these findings and reached the decision that none of these fonts would feature in our titles.

Examples From Our Work – Digital Camera

The digital camera we used to film our piece was possibly our most important item of technology. The camera produced a high definition picture and this made our trailer look highly professional. It was accompanied by an attached microphone, this eliminated the need for a ‘boom mic’. The camera we used was a Sony HDV 1080i model – and is shown below.

We used this camera to shoot a variety of shots and used it on at least three different days and four different locations. Each time we changed location, we would adjust the white balance amongst other things to ensure a clear picture.

Examples From Our Work - Powerpoint

Powerpoint has been used through-out the project. It has been used to: present evaluation questions, store data in a creative way, annotate images, group images together, edit images, present information in a variety of ways, design and create tables of information and upload images onto - to name but a few. Powerpoint has been used in all four stages of our project. Shown below are examples from each stage. Powerpoint is a highly useful tool as it is versatile and simple to use.

Construction:

•Voiceover Script. (design and creating tables)

Evaluation:

•Annotating magazine cover. (annotating images)

Planning:

•Discussing target audience. (presenting information)

Research:

•Discussing marketing ventures. (grouping images)

Social NetworkingA key part of our project was the use of social networking websites, in particular Facebook. Right at the beginning of our project, we set up a private group chat on Facebook. The creation of this group heightened our communication capabilities, as we used this group to share ideas and keep in general contact over holiday periods.

This group was also used to send each other files that would help in completing work. One file that was sent was the audience feedback we had received. One person in our group had typed up the findings and shared this document in the Facebook group. This audience feedback was vital for answering evaluation question three, therefore it can be said social networking aided with the evaluation stage of our actual project – as well as working as a communication tool.