How did you use media technology in construction and research, planning and

evaluation stage?

When planning my documentary I used Microsoft Word to create a plan of what shots we were going to film when on location so we saved time and didn’t mess around. We also used this media technology to type up our interviews so we didn’t have to think of random question whilst interviewing a person so it was fluid and less stilted. I then sent these files to my Blackberry rather than printing them out so I could access them easily as we could lose them whilst carrying equipment. I also used Word to type up my questionnaires for audience research.

When researching for my documentary I used numerous websites such as Google to find locations for interviews and for information on the topic. I had prior knowledge from dance classes but I used Wikipedia to research different styles I wasn’t so familiar with. I also looked at other documentaries for inspiration on Youtube and researched peoples opinions on them using the message boards on the IMDB website. We watched videos of dance classes, talent shows and tutorial dance videos to help our research.

We then watched previous documentaries in class on Windows Media Player. I also used IMDB to look at archive footage and how it was shot which gave me ideas for my own documentary. To see what people would want from this documentary I used Microsoft Word to create a questionnaire and to gather the results I used Microsoft Excel.

When constructing my documentary I used all types of media technologies. For filming I used a SONY HXR-MC2000E camera to capture footage, clip mic to record live sound and vox pops and USB transfer cable to transport the footage onto the Dell Inspiron computer to edit the footage.

When gathering the archive footage from the internet we downloaded an MP4 Firefox plug-in to enable us to this.

To edit the footage I used Adobe Premiere CS5 which provided me with a lot of features that could enable me to edit my footage in a way that would make it look like a professional documentary. We used the effects bank to edit our footage and sound using different transitions and effects. We imported all the clips off the camera.

To create a full sound we used the fill left tool on all the audio clips as a clip mic doesn’t picks up all parts of the sound. When transitioning between footage we used cuts and dissolves and we had to use the constant gain tool to make the transition between the clips more smoother.

When creating the title sequence I used a show lights overlay to make it look like a music video and we used chroma key by changing the similarity of the background of a women dancing in front of the green screen to give it a black background. We also used the moving tool and sizing tool as they were too big and we wanted to make it look like the they were dancing on the letters so we made them smaller.

When constructing the radio advert we used adobe premiere CS5 to lock layers and just use the sound rather than both. We also locked the video layer so we could just transfer sound bites from our actual documentary. To create a fuller sound we used the fill left tool as otherwise it would fill a right speaker and wouldn’t sound as professional.

Also to isolate either the audio or video I locked layers so I could use one without the other. At the end of the documentary I rendered all the footage to give it a better and more professional quality.

When creating the poster I used Adobe Photoshop CS5 as it has effects and tools that makes the poster look professional. We used an abstract idea as channel 4 posters are usually are quite innovative and different. When creating the poster for our documentary we exported an original image from our documentary and edited it in the software. We used the blend tool to get rid of any dark spots on the image to make it look more polished and professional.

We then subtracted a layer to add a colour effect of changing the pink ballet shoe to black. We then added an overlay of show lights to give synergy between our products by using overlays in both products and also to make it look more professional and effective. In photoshop we used the box tool to create text boxes which are features of channel 4 posters and manipulated the sizing. When then used the text tool to create the text on our advert and tried different fonts and sizes. We also downloaded an image off the internet of the channel 4 logo and decided because of the overlay to change the colour to white to make it stand out. We used the fill tool to change the colour to white.

When creating our documentary we used photoshop to create the graphics in the opening sequence. We created the text using the text tool of ‘can you stand still?’ and then added overlays of different textures found on the internet and then downloaded them onto photoshop. Then added them as another layer.

We also used the photoshop to create the graphics of the interviewee’s name and how they’re associated with dance to give then audience more information. We used the shape tool to draw the black rectangle and then found an image of a dancer and added on another layer so it could be seen above the black rectangle. We then changed it to black and white and then used the shape tool to add the stars.

When carrying out my evaluation I used the software Microsoft Word to create a questionnaire for people to give feedback on my documentary. I then gathered the results using Microsoft Excel to create audience feedback. I also used Slideshare to present my work in an interesting way. I also used a Canon camera to record some audience feedback for my evaluation. I then used a usb cable to transfer the data to a dell computer, I then added this all to my blog on the website blogger.