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

Wordpress.

Wordpress. Wordpress was where my blog is placed. This was the main item I would look back at, it reminded me of what I needed to do and when I was planning to do it. My blog made me more organised. It allowed people who wanted to view my blog see clearly what I had done and when I posted it. My blog also gave me the option to organise my blog in to categories. This meant I could put all of my research and planning in one category which makes seeing previous work done more easier to access. People who want to see stages of the project can also done the same by clicking on the category which is the one they want to view. It is also placed in chronological order which helps me and the viewer see how much progress I have made.

On wordpress when creating a new post you are able to choose which category you want it in. It also allows you to edit the date of a post published and what time it got published. You can do this by pressing the quick edit on the post you want to change. This is helpful because if you make a mistake and put in it in the wrong category or have forgot to upload something you can go back and put it in the right order and time frame so the stages are still in chronological order.

Wordpress.

Wordpress. Wordpress also allowed me to post links and polls up. For example when researching trailers I was able to place links in my post and write my comment under the trailer itself. This was helpful because it allowed me to refer back to the trailers I had chosen and compare mine own to actual one out there, it was also a lot quicker to do this as it was on my blog in a category rather than searching for the trailer on youtube. Wordpress also allowed me to place polls in the posts. This helped me to collect data from my target audience.

Wordpress.I have also used wordpress to uploaded my story board to use as a guideline when filming my trailer and I have written a small character profile so I can keep in mind how I want my character to come across in the film trailer. I also got my actress to look at the character and story board before I filmed the trailer so she had a better understanding of the character she was playing. I feel this made a big difference as the actress had more confidence when acting as she knew more information. It also meant that the film went more smoothly.

Google.I used Google to get to Medi@chs which is my schools media website. On this website there were links to other websites which would help and give advice in planning our trailers. The blog also has not only my own blog on but my class mates blogs which allows people to see what the class mates have done. Its also a way to get to get some target audience research by getting people to vote on the polls which you have previously made on wordpress. These polls allow me to see the results and find out what my target audience would like to see. Deadlines are also put on the blog which helps me to stay organised as anything that is posted on the main section of the blog automatically sends an email straight to your email address which means I have a constant reminder.

Google.I used Google to research Film magazines and posters. Google allowed me to view are range of different genres. This allowed me to help compare them when analysing them. I have also used Google to get pictures of advertising such as bus stops so I could place my own poster over the top of them. I also used a site called dafont to create my film name in the style I wanted. This font helped the name stand out on my poster and film magazine because it was so different from the normal ones you get. I also used Google images to research film magazine and poster designs that already exist.

Google. I also used Google images to research film magazine and poster designs that already exist. Google was the main place I went to do my research for my poster and magazine because it had such a variety of examples. I could also be very specific in what style I wanted to research and Google still gave me examples such as I typed in to Google inception poster and it gave me lots of different examples of the film posters. This meant I could choose the best poster to analyse and get the best research from.

Google. I have also used Google to research existing idents and logos that are already out there. I have mainly focused on the colours and the layout of the idents. I also looked at how idents changed depending on the film such as the Warner Brothers logo changes to a darker colour before the Harry Potter film so the logo fits in with the theme of the film. I also used google to research film age guidelines and the definition for each of them. This was helpful and I had to bare in mind what I could put in my trailer and if it was suitable for my target audiences age range. AI also used Google to research green preview screen to go at the start of my trailer. I wanted to add this in because I wanted my trailer to look more authentic.

Youtube.Youtube has been one of the main site I have used this year. I have used the site for a variety of stages such as researching existing trailers and uploading my own. This required me to have my personal login. Youtube gave me a variety of trailers to look at. At the beginning when doing my research on trailers I wasn’t sure which genre I wanted to use I researched a variety of genres, they were Fantasy, Horror, Comedy and Romantic Comedy. Youtube also allowed me to manage my own videos which was very helpful because it was another way of seeing which versions of my trailer I had uploaded. I could also give each version I uploaded a name which helped with the organisation.

Youtube.

I also used Youtube to help me design my ident. After doing some research on previous idents I wasn’t sure how to create an ident which moved. I decided to type in to Youtube the software name I was using and ident at the end. This allowed me to see a variety of results and I choose a tutorial to listen to. As I was listening to the tutorial I was on After Effects and following the individual steps. Once I had finished creating my ident I uploaded it on to Youtube and placed it in a post on my blog.

Publisher.

Publisher.

I used publisher to help create my own personal green preview screen. After doing some research I decided to make my own green preview screen so I could put my own personal touch on it. For example I have advertised my own blog at the bottom and put ‘for more information on ratings’ which is a post I have on my blog. I have also used publisher to analyse film magazines and posters. I used publisher because it is easy layout to analyse my research. Using publisher was also good because when I was ready to upload the content up to my blog I just had to change the file to a jpeg.

Powerpoint and Slide share.

Powerpoint and slide share. I have used powerpoint to help me complete my evaluation questions. I chose to use power point because it is a well presented and organised software to use. It also allowed me to annotate any of my print screens I needed to. To upload my powerpoint I used a software called slide share where I had to make my own account. Once the powerpoint is uploaded to slideshare I can place the link in a new post and place it on my blog for people to see.

Photoshop.

Photoshop. I used photoshop to design my first magazine design and my film poster design. I have had previous experience using this software and therefore felt confident using it. I felt that photoshop was more helpful with my film poster as I had a lot of layers. It also allowed me to adjust the photo that I was on the poster. Before I edited the picture I had a coloured picture but after I had a black and white version. This helped the poster fit in with the film’s theme. The software also allowed me to adjust the colours of the font which also allowed the poster to fit in with the theme. I have also put my poster I design on bus stops so I could advertise my film.

In Design

In design. After getting feed back from my target audience from the medi@chs website I decided to do a new version of my film magazine. This time I decided to do it on a different software called In Design. This allowed me to choose a existing magazine and use the layout to make my magazine look more professional. I did this by drawing boxes around the layout out of the Empire magazine which covered the Harry Potter film. The only thing I didn’t like about In Design is that there wasn’t a range of colours I could use however I am happy with the ones I have used on my film magazine.

Premire Pro.

Audacity.

After Effects.

Premire Pro.I used premire pro to edit my trailer. This software was easy to use after I had got used to it. It allowed me to piece together my filming clips. It also allowed me to add sound in and my ident which I had previously made.

I used after effects to create my ident. This was a good software to use as I could follow tutorials on youtube to help me design

I also used the software audacity. I used audacity to record the voice over to add in my trailer. I had a problem using this software as the microphone wouldn’t work on my computer therefore I had to change computers. Once I had recorded the narration I was able to import it into Premire Pro and edit it and place the recording in the right places.

Audacity.

After effects.