Evaluation 2 - How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

In the media, digital technology is used frequently throughout planning, production and distribution. During the making of our production I used a number of different software in order to present my research, planning, production and distribution in different and interesting ways.  To start I needed to research, which I presented on several mediums. I felt this was a more creative way of displaying information. I decided to present some of my research in presentations using PowerPoint; this creates a more interesting and easy read. It also allowed me to break the research down in to smaller parts using bullet points, which made it easier to reference back to when planning our own trailer.

I used YouTube to select an appropriate trailer to analyse in order to understand trailer production. From this I could see that Shutter Island is a successful and interesting film trailer. I created a PowerPoint presentation for this analysis as it allowed me to be separate my ideas into different parts, like shots and editing, locations, sound etc.  In order to get this research onto my A2 coursework blog I used a website called ‘Slideshare’. By using this I could upload my presentation in the correct format. It also gave me the opportunity to make my blog slightly more interactive and visually interesting.

I have used blogger to present all of my coursework in a digital format. This is useful as it can be accessed anywhere, whether it be a computer or a mobile device. It has also given me a more visually appealing way of expressing my ideas throughout the journey of my production. A problem with this web tool however is that the internet is necessary for its use; therefore if access were not available I wouldn't be able to update my blog. If this was a paper based assignment on the other hand, I would be able to update whenever I intended to with no problems. 

We used word documents for a number of things throughout the project. For example we produced consent letters that we handed to our cast to ensure they were happy to be part of the trailer. We also used word to create various questionnaires both in the research process and also to gather feedback on our final product. We also used word documents for a number of things throughout the project. For example we produced consent letters that we handed to our cast to ensure they were happy to be part of the trailer. We also used word to create various questionnaires both in the research process and also to gather feedback on our final product. Word is a good word processor to use for our planning as it structures the text in a way the blog doesn't. Last year we used Word to create scripts however this was not that suitable. When making plans for the production we used another software called ‘Celtx’ to create the script for the trailer and ‘Scribd’ to upload the script to blogger. Celtx made the script writing process much easier as we were able to make the script more efficiently as it provided us with a proper layout to work with. 

As part of planning, we devised call sheets using Microsoft Excel which included information about actors, locations, filming times and breaks. This allowed us to be organised when filming as we knew exactly what needed to be filmed at exactly what times during the filming period. Using a spreadsheet made it easier for us to put all the information we needed onto one organised page.

To edit and construct the trailer, the main software used was ‘Pinnacle Studios 10’. We used it to create the trailer and arrange our camera work into an order that was appropriate and conventional to film trailers. At the start of the project we were faced with various problems when using Pinnacle Studios as we had some technical difficulties. These were soon resolved though and we were able to create our trailer including everything we needed, to a standard that we were extremely pleased with. We edited the whole film using this software and it was beneficial for us as it gave us a fairly simple method for editing and producing the trailer, therefore helping our production to be successful. Pinnacle although was not as good as using a professional software such as it's parent company Avid, was alot better than using something basic such as Windows MovieMaker. The latter does not provide all of the effects we had available in Pinnacle. 

We also used ‘Audacity’ in the post production stage to change some of the sounds in the production. We found that Layla’s (Evylyn) voice when saying “get the girl” was too high pitched so we edited the tone and pitch to make it sound lower. This was vital for our production as it made this line in particular sound much more intense and frightening but also to make it sound more professional. By doing this we were able to make our trailer more representative of the horror genre.

To film the production we used a range of different tools to get the shots we needed. First of all, we used a Panasonic full HD SD camera to film the scenes we had planned. Sometimes we used the camera to create handheld shots, however most of the filming we done using a tripod. This allowed us to get steady shots which made the production look more professional and clear. The hand held camera shots were effective when edited into the trailer as is gave the scene an eerie tone as it is assumed the camera was standing in for Evylyn. I felt this was an effective use of the technology we had and as the camera was small it allowed us to succeed in creating it. 

After the production was complete, we used another software which was vital for us, Adobe Photoshop. This was used to create the poster and magazine cover for our ancillary tasks. I enjoyed this aspect of the project as it allowed us to express our creativity by making something that would help to promote our film. Photoshop was definitely the best software to use for these tasks as it includes all of the options we needed, for example the blur tool and colour altering. We were able to change the colours of our image so that they became more conventional of the horror, and positions text such as the billing block exactly where we needed them. We used the colour and lighting effects to ensure that the ancillary tasks fitted in with our main production. 

Vimeo is an online software that allows you to watch, upload and share videos. Vimeo and Youtube are used by the film industry as a way to reach out to technology savvy audiences. We used this to share our final production and also for my first evaluation of the trailer. Vimeo also allowed me to to take screen shots of the production where I needed to which I could display on my blog, so overall vimeo was a very essential software we used. Uploading the trailer to an online video sharing website allows us to use our twitter to contact and share it with our potential audience. We have used twitter as a means to further promote our trailer and access the young target audience who regularly use new technologies. Twitter is a way that the audience themselves promote a product instead of the production company. The audience becomes the producers in this respect. 

When beginning to write my evaluations, I decided to present them in different ways using different software, just to make them a little more attractive to read. These include a Powerpoint presentation evaluating my audience feedback and a DVD commentary where I speak over the trailer about how my media product uses, develops and challenges forms and conventions of real media products. I made this in Pinnacle Studio and uploaded it to Vimeo. The reason for using such a wide range of different technologies is because we wanted to make our coursework as interesting and creative as possible, and not just in the production itself and use a diverse range of new technologies.