How did you use media technologies in the

construction and research, planning and evaluation

stages?

Internet sites I used

Although Google is viewed as a basic search engine, its simplicity makes it easily accessible to those of all intellects and ages. I have found Google extremely helpful throughout my course as it offers fast results and an endless amount images which I have used to make my blog stand out. I mainly used Google for researching film trailers, which I then put on my blog. An example of the research is below.

Google

Edublogs is the world’s largest educational blogging platform. It allowed me to present my work electronically and respond to helpful feedback from my teachers and peers. Compared with other popular blogging sites, such as ‘Wordpress’. Edublogs is able to aid teachers and students with educational support and ‘features’. Edublogs has enabled me to place my work in categories. This organises my posts and makes them easy to find. Through the use of this website I have been able to display my ideas which I have kept updated throughout the school year. The site has made it easy to share ideas in a creative way for example, I have been able to post videos, images, ideas, polls etc. My blog has really helped my planning and construction of my trailer, magazine cover and poster. I have used it to look back through my ideas in order to see the progress that has been made and visually see how much my work has improved.

Edublogs

YouTube has been a key part of my media coursework as I have used it to analyse other film trailers, posting my final products and carrying out evaluation questions. Throughout the documentation of my trailer, I can see how much my final trailer has developed. As well as offering a good way to document my progress it also makes my blog visually exciting and provides me with alternate ways to present my work. Through the use of other programmes such as Premiere Pro I have been able to upload high quality versions of my trailer and evaluation questions to YouTube. Similar to my blog YouTube also has a commenting and ‘Like/Dislike’ system which makes it easier to gather feedback. As well as showcasing my trailer to potential viewers I was also able to watch tutorial videos and trailers from other students. One YouTube tutorial I used enabled me to create a title in After Effects.

YouTube

I have used social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook to gain feedback from others. After posting my trailer publicly on Facebook I received some short responses which I was pleased with although I needed something more constructive. I then used the direct message feature on Facebook to ask my target audience for their opinions.

Twitter and Facebook

By expressing my thoughts on Prezi I have been able to present my ideas in an interesting way. The benefits of this ‘free online resource’ is that it includes the ability to use video, images and text all in one. This allowed me to create a professional, organised and imaginative piece of work whilst integrating different technologies. Prezi enables the user to experiment with many different backgrounds and dimensions.

Prezi

Slideshare is an easy way of creating effective and simple presentation accessible on my blog. Slideshare is easy to use and I commonly present my ideas in this way. By looking at other people’s slideshare documents that are relevant to me, I was able to understand about different things such as the codes and conventions of trailers. This assisted my research and influenced me to create my own Slideshare on the ‘Target Audience of Horror Films’.

Slideshare

Polldaddy is an ideal way of receiving audience feedback. I primarily made a questionnaire to find out what target audience is most ideal for a horror film. By doing this I was able to decide who to aim it at. This method was quick and easy, I embedded the questionnaire on my blog which made it easy for people to do.

Polldaddy

Thinglink is a software I used primarily for my evaluation. It makes annotations more interesting and interactive however, it is also simple to view. It has aided me in analysing the different shot types used within my trailer.

Thinglink

For the filming of my trailer I used the Cannon FS11 and to take pictures for my magazine cover and poster I used the Fujifilm HS50. The high definition quality of these cameras allowed me to show the close ups of each characters face. The focusing button on the camera allowed me to show the emotion of the character.

Filming equipment

Adobe software

Premiere Pro has been a vital piece of software in the creation of my trailer. Initially it seemed an overly complex programme and I was worried that I would not be able to understand how to use it correctly or effectively. However, after looking at tutorials and other online resources I was able to confidently use this software to edit video and audio. The zoom feature made it easier for me to apply detailed transitions and get rid of any music continuity. The timeline based video editing software allowed me to edit individual clips and then place them in order for my film trailer.

Premiere Pro

After Effects is a digital motion graphics and composition software package. I used it to create a typing effect for my title and layering it onto my trailer which I was making in Premiere Pro. In order to help me I looked at tutorials on YouTube which made it much easier. I used the animation presets that After Effects already offers and I chose Decoder Fade In as I felt it fit appropriately with my trailer.

After Effects

I used Photoshop to edit and compose my magazine and poster images. I found that Photoshop is much easier to edit singular images to a high quality. Photoshop gave me the ability to digitally alter a picture using image editing software.

Photoshop

The use of these programmes alone can lead to high quality work although by linking them together I am able to create exciting and interesting work. For example, my trailer would have been impossible to produce if it were not for technological convergence.

To execute a high quality trailer I:• Captured the video• Uploaded it to my computer• Edited in premiere pro• Created a title in After Affects• Upload to YouTube• Share on social networking sites• Embed on my blog

Technological convergence