Q4. How did you use digital technologies in the construction, Research and Planning and

evaluation stages?

Research and PlanningIn order to recreate a professional documentary that resembles a true media product, we had to research and fully understand the conventions of existing documentaries. This was only accessible through the use of internet explorer or safari (when using the Mac computers). We used this digital technology in order to view existing documentaries on YouTube. Just by using the search bar tool to find documentaries to watch and analyse.

Research and Planning

Also with access to internet explorer or safari, depending on computer type, we were able to research and dig deep into our topic and find statistics and newspaper articles to support our polemical documentary. This helped us create a reliable documentary as we stuck to using articles that came from well known news reporters such as the BBC and the Telegraph. The newspaper articles we found were also used in cutaway shots to help create our authentic, professional documentary.

Research and Planning

As well as You Tube, we also used 4OD in order to access existing documentary; ‘Sexting teacher’. This documentary was crucial in the making of our documentary as the product had a similar target audience to us as a group, as they were appealing to a younger audience but still wanted to attract an older audience such as parents and teachers concerned with the topic discussed.

Research and Planning

Our Research and Planning relied heavily on the use of communication. So apps such as ‘Whatsapp’, ‘Facebook’ and ‘Twitter’ saved to our smart phones made it extremely easy to discuss ideas, meeting times and arranging filming times, as the conversation was accessible to us all, wherever we were, through the use of a mobile phone to access these apps and conversations.

ConstructionArguably, the most important digital technology we used was the Canon HD camera in order to shoot our clear, sharp footage which helped make our documentary look so professional. The use of a tripod helped create steady, professional footage and good balance when filming Vox pops, expert interviews and archive footage. However, when filming our background footage such as the students in the canteen we regularly used hand held filming as it created a more laid back and fun aspect to the documentary, looking as though the camera was a fly on the wall in the students friendship group.

Construction

We also used a clip on Mic upon filming our expert interviews and Vox pops as we found that this Mic gave us the most clear voice recording and sound levels were good when using this Mic. However we found that when using the clip on Mic it was sometimes visible in the footage frame and sometimes when clipped onto the interviewees clothes, there was a ruffling sound that fortunately was easy to edit out.

Construction

In our editing stages we used Adobe Premiere Pro to log and edit our footage to create smooth transitions and create the basis of our documentary. The programme allowed us to find the footage with the highest quality aesthetically and cut them, add transitions and editing sound levels which was needed when editing the interview clips and archive footage.

Construction

When searching through our footage we found that a lot of our archive footage and an orangey tint. This orangey tint made the footage appear unprofessional at times as the image was not sharp, but saturated. To solve this we added a blue overlay on Adobe Premiere to the image, to neutralize the image and create a clear, sharp footage result. This added to professionalism of the documentary.

Construction

The cut tool was extremely effective when creating certain footage such as the makeover scene. This was effective as the tool allowed us to crop out any imperfections; for example a man walking across the scene, and the tripods handle moved causing the footage to drop down, however by using the cut tool we were able to crop this out and create still footage.

Construction

We also used the ‘video effects’ tool when perfecting the split screen at the end of the makeover scene in order to correct the backgrounds and mesh them together to create, what appears to be one single image rather than it visibly being 2 separate images put along side each other.

ConstructionWithin the making of our interviews we wanted to create a professional look by adding in the use of captions, when showing our expert interviews, to introduce who are interviewee is to the audience, and follow the conventions of existing documentaries. In order to do this we created an overlay to form a white background for our text. We then used the ‘T’ text tool to write our caption. To improve visibility we made our text black so it juxtaposed with the background and stood out and was clear.

Construction

Sound levels were crucial to perfect and were arguably the longest and most complex part of the editing process, not so much through technique, but through the need for perfection in this area. When editing the sound levels even the slightest difference could be recognised between clips, as they had been filmed in different settings and recording different voices. However, having correct sound levels was crucial in creating a strong professional product.

Construction

Within the construction of the double page spread, we used programmes such as InDesign and Photoshop to manipulate images, layout and to create professionalism between the 3 media texts. We had practise and foundation knowledge of using these programmes and I had a more developed knowledge of Photoshop through my work in A-Level photography.

Construction

In our magazine production we used Photoshop to manipulate the images we took as screenshots from our documentary product and manipulated them in order to create a more clear image through the use of ‘brightness and contrast’ and the changing of levels and saturation. We did this for our main image and our subsidiary images.

ConstructionIn the writing of the magazine article we created this on Microsoft word, however the manipulation of the text was done on InDesign through the use of the ‘columns’ tool and the ‘place’ tool when copying the text over to InDesign. During this step we decided to create 3 columns to a page of text and a drop cap (performed by using the drop cap tool) as this was informed to us by ‘Radio Times’ magazine, as this was the chosen magazine we wanted to exhibit our product.

Construction

The text wrap tool enabled us to create pull quotes amongst our text to draw attention from the readers and establish the topic of the article by just a quick glance at the page. We chose an emotive quote from the documentary, in order to attract more attention from the audience.

ConstructionWe only used one different programme in the creation of our radio trailer; Garage band. It was our first time in using this particular programme and so our knowledge of the programme was severely sparse. However, the programme effectively enabled us to have a regular convention SFX at the start and finish of our trailer and allowed us to use the same background music, which helped us to create a more clear link and house style between the ancillary texts. We also used premiere in order to take sound from our documentary archive footage and interviews, again, helping us to create a house style and an informative documentary radio trailer that included all the possible information needed, such as airing times of the documentary, what channel its on and the date of airing.

Evaluation

The use of programmes such as blogger, Prezi, PowerPoint, Infogram and Microsoft word have been extremely effective amongst the recording of our documentary process as it enabled us to report all our progress back to blogger and so all our work was organised and visually pleasing rather than in rough notes and hard to read. The recording of our work was also presented professionally and showed clearly how we worked together sufficiently as a group.