How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
The internet in general was the most useful form of media technology as it gave me access to a range of different resources and programs that were a high influence on my work and allowed me to gain a wide range of information that was relevant to my task. Websites such as Google and YouTube especially as they often gave interactive help in detail. However, I also used programs such as Adobe Premiere to edit and Photoshop to create posters and a magazine review. We had access to a range of different filming equipment including a HD digital camera and tripod.
YouTube
was a valuable tool for my media product as I was able to use it for a number
of reasons. I was able to watch a range of video tutorials that gave me an
insight into areas that I previously had little experience in such as Photoshop
and Adobe
Premiere. The videos I watched allowed me to teach myself editing skills which
were helpful when producing our film. Also, I was able to use YouTube to upload
videos onto, such as our final film, and also embed videos from onto my own
blog.
A video that I found useful when editing our film was this as it gave me the basic knowledge and understanding of Adobe Premiere:
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Another website which I found useful was Prezi as I was able to make informative and interesting presentations to embed into my blog. It was also an easy way for me to plan particular tasks as I could spread my ideas out in an appropriate and useful way. I could use it to show my research in a presentation instead of just using basic writing.
Similar to this, Pinterest was a website that I could use for research. It was useful when creating a collage of film posters that were similar to my genre and placed them out in a tidy layout that made them easy to look back at. Here is an example of when I've used Pinterest during my work.
Skype and Soundcloud were used during the research and planning stages of the task. We were able to use Skype to talk, via web chat, to a professional Script writer, Dudi Appleton. This allowed us to be given feedback that then helped us to improve our script to a professional standard that seemed more realistic. I was then able to use Soundcloud to upload a sound clip onto then share on my blog. When researching for music to use in our film I used Soundcloud and found this song:
We had access to a range of equipment, such as a HD canon digital camera and a flip camera. Both were used throughout all three stages. By using a HD digital camera we were able to have a clearer picture which improved our film as there was no blurs. The flip camera that we used was convenient for when we had to film shot clips to use on our blog because they're quick and easy to use.
To produce our film, Adobe Premiere Pro was used as the editing tool. By using this media technology we were able to produce a film of professional standards. During the editing process I knew the basics of the program but I also managed to teach our self skills and techniques. This process had some problems as during the editing we realised some of the footage wasn't going to flow the way we had originally hoped, we therefore had to make slight adjustments to the footage that allowed it to work. For example, in a scene with the gang we had to make quick cuts to close-ups as when looking at the footage we realised that one of the characters had moved out of position before we had finished the scene. We were able to insert music into our film via this program, that emphasised on the feelings of the characters.
Here is a screen shot of a part of the editing process. The split screen was useful as we were able to watch all the footage that we had recorded and then edit the needed footage at the same time, therefore being able to see what we had and what we needed.
Photoshop was a key technology used for my ancillary tasks, including the poster and double page magazine review. I was able to use this to create a poster that looked similar to real film posters by including a QR code, film title, cast photograph, etc. Photoshop allowed me to make cuts to photographs I had previously taken of the characters and edit them to make them look appropriate in the poster and review. When creating my double page spread I was able to cut around a template of another review but then insert my own words and pictures about my film.
A finished copy of a double page spread that I made using Photoshop:
