4. How Did You Use Media Technologies In The

Construction And Research, Planning And Evaluation Stages?

By Tasnim Choudhury.

Docu

menta

ry

Research

And Planning

Research

Internet

The internet was one of the most

important technologies we used, It

helped us to access a range of different

information in regarding our

documentary topic and background

information

Without the internet a lot of the

research tasks could not have been

possible, having said that, the computer

itself was a very important technological

item, 95% of the coursework relies on

using the computer

Google is a search engine which directed us to a range of specific areas and information that were to do with our research topic.

Although Wikipedia is helpful, it is not as

reliable compared to other websites, as it is

produced by the public. It is however a free

internet encyclopaedia and contains

millions of information.

We used Wikipedia to research about

different documentaries, we used it to find

out the history of social networking and had

also used it to find out if it held any reliable

facts and statistics about social networking.

The B

rief

His

tory

of

Soci

al M

edia

I wanted to research some of the history behind social networks and social media and I finally came across this website that had a brief yet useful information all about the history of social media which allowed me to use and learn quite a lot about the topic.

Social Media Today

This was another website which I used to find out some of the good and bad effects of social media, I thought this could be quite essential towards our documentary to intrigue in our audience.

StatisticBrain.com

We used Statistic Brain as it is a very reliable website used by businesses, and the general public to get all the latest updates and can even hold old information if searched.

We used this because we wanted to find out the latest statistics gathered on social networking.

eMarketer

Then I came across another trustworthy

sight used by many people such as

businesses because it has many bar

charts, graphs and visuals about the

latest facts and statistics about the

number of people using social networks,

it’s quite detailed and broken into

sections to make it easier to read and

understand the information.

I thought that some of these information

were very useful and could be applied

into our documentary.

Researching about Documentaries

Before we decided what our

documentary topic will be about, we

researched into the type of

documentary modes they were. We

found this PDF on Google about Bill

Nichols documentary modes and

found it very helpful towards our

choice of mode, we had then

brainstormed some ideas on some

documentary topics we could do, to

do this we analysed many existing

documentaries and finally chose

social networking.

DVDs

To get access to existing

documentaries, we first

looked at some documentaries as a class

in our media lesson, these

were provided in DVDs

and played to the class for

inspiration, one of which

inspired us was Super Size

Me and we followed some

of their codes and conventions.

We had to analyse many more existing documentaries to ensure our

product can be proficient. To do this we initially used YouTube, which is

another search engine which navigates you to specific videos.

This allowed me to watch and analyse some documentaries that

were available on YouTube. However it wasn't always reliable as parts of

the documentaries were divided into sections and were not always easily

accessible.

For a further reliable source, I

used Netflix. It has a range of

different Films, Dramas,

Series and even Documentaries.

I used Netflix to look at a

number of relatable

documentaries that linked to

our topic such as documentaries about social

networking like Catfish, to

documentaries about

students as our documentary

was also focused on students.

Blogger was also very useful in terms of finding

previous A2 students who had created their own

documentaries. We also used blogger to upload all our

research and planning towards the production.

I had looked at some of the top documentaries created

by students and took some of their techniques and

skills into consideration for our documentary.

PR

ESEN

TATIO

N To make our blogs

look interesting, we presented our research and planning

using: Prezi Scribd Slideshare And even YouTube

Channels

Before we started the practical work to our production we had to decide on a channel that would best suit our documentary

The reason we chose to research on just three channels which were BBC One, ITV1 and Channel Four, was because we thought they would be the most effective in reaching our target audience. We had also done a focus group in which they also said that they mostly watch documentaries on these channels.

Finally from all the research and findings, the channel we thought best suited displaying our documentary style was channel Four, because of the fact that it shows similar documentaries to ours.

Another technology that was used while analysing existing documentaries was TV

and the Sky Box. Without these we

could not analyse many documentaries

that came on the channels we were gathering information

on.

TV

a

nd

sk

y B

ox

MOODLE AND THE MEDIA CENTRE

Moodle and the Media Centre were

also used, these are a college

facility intended to help us to

access things that are difficult to

find on the internet, these helped

us to get access to even more

examples of documentaries made

by students and helpful links to

other existing documentaries.

Planning

Microsoft

word

For our planning we used

Microsoft word to create our:

Article- we used Word to create

our written article so that all the

grammar and spelling and

punctuation was correct .

Voice over script for the

Documentary - so that the

speaker can be prepared for the

recording

Voice over script for the Radio Trail

– we had also used the same

technique for the Radio Trail

Preparing the written work and

voiceovers on Microsoft Word

helped to run the production

easily and smoothly.

Storyboard

Initially we took a few pictures of

items that applied well to the

documentary topic and added

them on a storyboard layout on

the computer. Although this gave us some ideas,

it wasn't’t enough for an over all

outlook of a five minute

documentary, I then created a more detailed

storyboard on the Ipad using Pro

Create and Strip Design .The

detailed storyboard helped us to

follow some of these scenes in a

specific way and made the filming

process a lot quicker to do.

Filming And The Construction

Canon

Camera

When Filming; The canon allowed us to

use the Manual and auto focus which was

very effective as we used these in some of

our close-ups and over the shoulder shots.

We had also used White balance on some

of our shots to balance out some of the

colours that we were getting in our

footage for example, blues and yellows.

TRIPOD The Tripod was also used with the canon camera From looking at a few documentaries, we knew that a tripod was essential for interviews and vox pops, we made sure we used the tripod for almost every occasion so that all our videos could be

level and still It allowed us to do a variety of shots such as; panning, tracking, tilts, low angles, and high angles all in a steady motion.

Sound Sound is very important in documentaries, we made sure we used a Shotgun microphone , with a directional cardioid polarity pattern which is inserted into the canon. This Can directly point at the speaker with good clear sound without much background noise. With the microphone we had also used Sennheiser headphones which you attach to the camera, allowing you to hear if it is working, as well as if the sound is clearly being received well into the microphone.

Digital Recording Device

we used this for our

voiceover. This enabled us

to have a very clearly

expressed voiceover to help

the audience understand

our documentary in further

detail.

We had the voiceover in

one continuous recording

and had also had some in

different parts so that the

editing process could be

easier in terms of cut and

editing the sound.

Edit

ing

Before the editing started we

uploaded all our footage, audio

and sound onto the Apple Mac

where we had our own files we

could access, this made it easier

for us to find all our documents

for the production in an

organised system. We had also used a sight in

which helped us customise and

make our own animation which

was called Wideo, we made

drafts on the website and then

the final version was then

downloaded and transferred into

final cut which we used as our

title sequence.

Final cut express

We opened final cut express and log and transferred all our footages and only kept the ones we wanted and labelled them all individually, we did this so when editing we could easily find a particular footage and use it for our documentary. After that we then added the clips in the log and transfer queue making it easier to quickly access and define our clips.

Editing pro

cess

After we had planned out our

editing process, we just

dragged and dropped all of

our footage and cut and

edited them by using the

razor tool We had also used cross

dissolves on the visuals and

cross fades to the audio so it

applies a softer flow to the

documentary. I had also used

the pointer tool to lower

certain parts of the volume

in the audio .

Blur and Speed Effects

We used some effects on our documentary for example we used speed, to speed up the first opening scene. We also added a blur effect to which was an establishing shot of Solihull Town Centre, we did this to make our audience know where it is set and get them curious and intrigued to watch our documentary.

We had also used speed in the last scene, where we slowed down the speed of the shot to tell the audience that the first five minutes is coming to an end.

Text

In final cut express we had

inserted a text overlay with a drop

shadow and applied white formal

texts over it, we used this to

introduce our professional

interviews, the overlay, helped the

text to stand out and get the

viewers attention. We had also used simple, white

plain texts in some of our stock

footage and cut away shots to

display some of our facts and

statistics which we had gathered

from our research.

• To make sure th

at all our fo

otage

were level and perfectly fra

med

in the corre

ct proportio

ns, we

had used the Wire Fra

me to do

this, it h

elped us to portra

y some

of the im

portant im

ages

displayed within th

e frame.

• It had also

helped us to make

sure nothing would be cut out

when exporting th

e video.

Wire Frame

Voiceover

After all our audio and visuals

were in place, we added our

voiceover using the razor tool

to cut out long pauses and to

also cut the voiceover into

sections so we could apply

parts of them to where they

were necessary We did this to create a better

flow and consistency.

BACKGROUND MUSIC

We got our non- copy right background music from a website called Vimeo And Applied it into sections using the razor cut into final cut express Before we used Vimeo, we were using Garage Band, however the music we had in mind weren't fitting our needs on Garage Band. We wanted a music style that conveyed a happy atmosphere, so we went on Vimeo and searched for the perfect instrumental music that gave a calm yet content atmosphere to our documentary.

Sound levels

After we had added all our

voiceovers and background

music we had to make sure all

the sound levels were in a

consistent flow, to do so we

used the pink velocity line to

increase or decrease the level

of the sound, as we did this, the

decimals would be displayed,

so you can get it as accurate as

possible every time. We had also used cross fade

effects to add a smooth

transition of sound as well as

the pointer tool which we

applied to get specific parts

lowered or raised.

Double

page

spre

ad

Research and Planning

Research

Before we constructed and

created our double page

page spread, we analysed

some existing Articles.

I gathered some reliable

double page spreads from

Google images to which I

analysed and presented

on PowerPoint. I had also

uploaded my findings on

blogger to show all my

research and planning

skills.

Raw

Mate

rials

of

Art

icle

s fr

om

Radio

Ti

mes

Although this isn't a

technological item, I had

also used some raw

materials such as double

page spreads that were

tangible products such as

tangible newspapers and

magazines.

We had particularly

analysed the Radio Times

article and from this we

followed a lot of the codes

and conventions from

Radio Times.

Guard

ian O

nlin

e I had also read articles

online such as the guardian. This was very helpful because I

wanted to get into the

style of a journalist, in

order to create our written article for our

double page spread.

Planning

Draft Layout

After the research we did a draft layout of our double page spread.

We included where everything will be in terms of where the images will be, how big each image would be and where the written article and heading would go.

Once we did this, we scanned it in and added it to our blogs to show the idea and plan of the double page spread before it was constructed, the draft helped us to remember and follow the layout of the page which made it a lot quicker in creating the product.

Mic

roso

ft W

ord

I had also used Microsoft Word to

create the article for the double

page spread. I used Word so that all the grammar, spelling and punctuality was correct before it

was inserted into InDesign. Writing the draft before hand

made the process of creating the

double page spread a lot faster.

Construction

After we had thoroughly researched double page

spreads and analysed them and drafted a plan of our

article we started the double page spread

To make the double page spread, we made some of

the footage in the documentary, into stills, which

were then used for our double page spread

Photoshop

We uploaded the still images into

Photoshop and edited them.

We used the crop tool to crop

some of the image to a preferred

size and because some of the

images were quite dark, we

increased the exposure and

saturation so the picture could be

more visible and clear.

InDesign –

Images We then exported and uploaded our edited stills, into InDesign, but before we could apply it into InDesign we had already crafted the layout for our double page spread, which was easy and quick to do as we had planned and done a draft.

In Creating the layout on InDesign we used the rectangle frame tool on specific areas of the page, which we then just uploaded our images in.

Article Then we used the column layout in InDesign and

uploaded our written text in there.

We had also used the technique of using a drop

cap to copy the codes and conventions of a

double page spread.

Our heading was also created and

customised from the text box to

our desire, we wanted white formal

text. We had also used a blue

boarder around the double page

spread, however we had removed

this in our final version as it does

not really follow the conventions of

a Radio Times Article

We had also used other text boxes

and added black fonts for the stand

first and page numbering and even

for the publication details of the

article. We used black font as it

stands out from the white

background

RA

DIO

TR

AIL

Research And Planning

Research

Before we constructed our Radio Trail, I didn't’t really know how to create one, I

didn't’t even know what some of the main codes and conventions were.

YouTube was quite useful in helping me to understand

the codes and conventions. I had analysed a few

existing Radio Trails that were found on YouTube and

started getting a rough idea on how to create one.

Radio channels

However just in

case some

of the Radio Tra

ils on

YouTube weren’t reliable I

did further research by

listening and analysing

Radio Trails that I h

eard on

the Radio and on Radio

channels on TV.

This enabled me to really

analyse all the codes and

conventions of a Radio Trail

and take note of all the

similarities as well as

contrasts they shared.

Media

Centr

e

- C

olle

ge F

aci

lity

On top of all the research I had found

myself, the college was

also very helpful in enabling us to access

things that were hard to

reach over the internet,

the Media centre, which

was a college site had a

few existing Radio Trails

which we could use to

analyse towards our

research.

Existing Blogs

Although we use blogger to update and upload all our

research, plans and creations, students from previous

years that did A2 media and created similar tasks were

also on the internet

This was quite useful as I analysed some students work

who had achieved high grades, enabling me to also get

a good grade by taking into consideration some of their

skills and techniques they used.

Planning

When I researched examples of

Radio Trails I picked a few to

analyse and did this on a table

using Microsoft Word which I got

from Moodle which is another

college website, this helped me to

learn the codes and conventions of

a Radio Trail and what I had to do

in order to make the Radio Trail

sound professional. I had also created the voice over

script for the Radio Trail on

Microsoft Word, and because of the

research I knew to include all the

music, extracts and speakers into

the script.

Construction

Final Cut Express

I used Final Cut Express to

create my Radio Trail, I

thought it would be easier

and quicker to make it on

final cut express as I had all

the extracts and

background music already

up on the software I then

just copied and pasted all

the main audio recordings I

wanted and applied it into

my Radio Trail.

This structure helped to

finish and finalise our

product a lot sooner.

I had also included another voice in the Radio Trail who was the Radio presenter.

This was recorded on a recording device which I then transferred with an USB port and finally dragged onto Final Cut Express where I cut and edited some of the parts into sections to apply in different parts of the Radio Trail.

DIGITAL

RECORDER

Once the Radio Trail was

complete, We then

uploaded our Radio Trail

into Soundcloud which

was then embedded into

our blogs.

Evalu

ati

ons

I used Premiere Pro for evaluation 1 to edit my video’s together and used a recording device to record my voiceover.I uploaded evaluation 1 on to Vimeo in order for my video to be available on Blogger, I had also used my IPhone and recorded a Focus Group Feedback for Evaluation 3 and used YouTube to upload this.To present what I had learned from evaluation 3 I used Prezi to do this where I also inserted my focus group video into Prezi.

For Evaluation 2 and 4 I had used PowerPoint to present my work, which was then uploaded onto Slideshare .

I felt like the presentations I used were different and

used appropriately in presenting my answers in the

best way.

Overa

ll

In order to make our production

proficient and interesting, we

had to use a range of Media

Technologies to gather

information before the

production started and then use

the right technologies to present

our ideas and products. The

production allowed me to use a

variety of Media Technologies I

had not used before. Some of

the Technologies were not easy

to use at first but after some

practice, the overall outcome

was successful and enjoyable .