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

ResearchNew media technologies were crucial in all stages of our production and utilising them effectively was key. The internet was the main technology used in the research stages of our film. We mainly used the following sites: Google YouTube Blogger

Google

We used the search engine ‘Google’ to navigate to various websites and to find desired, specific information. This mainly consisted of looking up things on film-noir (the history of/common conventions etc.).

YouTubeYouTube is a video sharing/streaming website. We found it was host to many useful tutorials, such as lighting and shooting tips. The channel ‘Filmmaker IQ’ had a very useful video regarding lighting for film noir which expanded on our knowledge of ‘three-point lighting’. YouTube also offers very simple to use sharing options which allowed us to embed videos on our Blog.

BloggerBlogger is a publishing service which we use to create a blog, documenting all of our work in all stages of production. Blogger is a fairly good website for presenting our work, it is simple to use and doesn't require any particular knowledge or training to use. On its own, Blogger has the bare minimum in its ability; able to create simple text documents with images. However, it is possible to embed things such as videos and presentations which added a dynamic to how we were able to present our work.

BloggerPros Cons

• Simple to use and very easy to learn

• Able to view other group members post with ease

• Can share different media platforms such as PowerPoints and Prezis which helped our creativity in terms of presenting our work

• Can be ‘clumsy’ in terms of formatting text and images which limited our creativity to an extent

• No outstanding features that offer particular creative abilities

Production

We also used a range of new technology when shooting our film, from the cameras we used to the equipment that helped us achieve certain shots.

GoPro Hero 4 BlackHaving a GoPro to hand was extremely useful for one of our ‘tricky’ shots. When tracking through the computer to the car park scene, we had issues in figuring out how we could shoot inside the tower. The GoPro was small enough to fit through a hole we had cut in the front of the computer. We also put a protective case on the camera to prevent scratches from the inside of the computer. We also mounted the GoPro on a monopod in order to reach the back of the computer and keep the shot steady. It was still very difficult as certain parts of the computer would cause the camerato snag. We matched the interior computer shot withhandheld shots so the shakiness lined up slightly and appeared more fluid.

GoPro Hero 4 BlackThe size of the GoPro massively helped our creativity in allowing us to achieve the shot inside the computer. The shot is one the things I am most proud of from our film and was only possible due to the GoPro.We had the options to shoot from 360p to full 4K and from 24fps to 260fps. These options further pushed our creative abilities, although we simply shot in 1080p at 24fps to maintain the quality from our main camera, it was nice to have more options. We were also able to fully adjust the ISO, white balance and exposure.

Canon HF G20This was the main camera we used for shooting our film. Not only was it a huge upgrade from our AS year but also a very high-end, professional camera in general. One of the most useful and creatively engaging features of the camera was the manual focus ring which allowed us to set our focus perfectly for each shot. Also, the display screen was touch screen and featured a pull focus option which could be manually set to shift the focus from specific points. Included with the camera was a stylus whichensures the camera does not shakewhen the screen is pressed. A coverwas also available which allowed us to shoot in the rain without smudging or otherwise distorting the lens.

Pre-ProductionAdobe Premiere Pro CC

When editing our film we used Adobe Premiere Pro CC.Premiere Pro is an industry standard piece of software and was very powerful when used for editing our film. As well as being a sound linear video editor, it held some very useful tools in regards to colour correction, sound, effects and more.

Of course one of the main effects in our film was the Black and White effect. Premiere Pro offers a range of different ‘types’ of black and white which varied in contrast, brightness, gain, tone, depth etc.

Pre-ProductionAdobe Premiere Pro CC

We chose to use the ‘SL. Noir Nouvelle Red’ effect.

Pre-Production Websites

FreeSFX and FreeSound were websites we used for finding royalty free audio. These were the best websites of the ones we looked at for finding the sounds we required, they had large libraries and were very simple to find audio. It was also useful to see the websites had category and filter/tag systems to help narrow down our searches. We used FreeSFX for the phone ring sound and for the various sound effects heard in the computer tower. FreeSound was where we found our music at the beginning of the film and the ‘fan sound’ throughout.

Prezi (Evaluation)Prezi is an online presentation software similar to that of Microsoft PowerPoint. Prezi is a fairly unique way of presenting work as it relies on a fair amount of creativity from the user. Prezi has the ability to embed images and videos directly onto ‘slides’ which makes referring to specific examples in the evaluation much easier and dynamic. Prezis can also be embedded onto Blogger which make them very useful in terms of sharing.