How did you use media technologies in the construction

and research, planning and evaluation?

Focus: Research and Planning (Some technologies that have been used in this

section will be shown in the other sections where they are more prominent)

Screencast-O-Matic

Throughout the course i have been using the technology Screencast-O-Matic. I started off using just a simple webcam but changed due to the fact that this technology allows me to capture what is going on my screen and allows me to talk as i demonstrate. I have created many research videos such as the trailer and poster analysis as well as the genre influences while also creating videos for the detailing of the synopsis, the script, magazine masthead development, mood board, typography and feedback. I used it to create most of my videos for not just my research and planning but also for my construction and eventually my other evaluations. It has been extremely useful as it allows me to tell the viewer of my video how I'm doing whatever is in the video but it also gives me the chance to show how I'm doing so the audience can see and hear my explanation. It also allowed me to gain valuable knowledge in terms of using a new piece of technology and getting to grips with it. I now use this product regularly as i feel it is the best way for me to show off the work in video form. One of the main points in the media studies course is to learn and understand new technologies and multi media formats, while i feel i have learnt some new formats of my teachers, i also feel i have gain personal knowledge in new fields of media texts. While this is under the research and planning section it is important to realise that i have used it over all three formats but felt it best to put it in the this section as i feel it has helped me the most here.

Word it out

For part of my research task sheet i had to create a word cloud that summed up what i felt the genre i was researching represented and what words would a typical audience think of when talking about the specific genre. I found this technology incredibly simple to use as all was required was to put words into a text box and click word it out which then created my word cloud (which is on my blog with a detailed explanation as to how i created it). This technology’s advances were that it was simple to use, it made the work look eye catching and attractive and that it helped portray my feelings towards the genre that i have been studying as part of my coursework. It has helped me as i have gained a invaluable skill in finding and being able to use this technology. It has also helped me in the sense that i can use these website to create other word clouds that help me not just in media studies but in other subjects i study. For example i have created a few word clouds in order of revision to remember key words so it has helped immensely in helping my overall studying.

Voice Recorder/Phone

This two pieces of technology were used specifically for the case study into the history of the chosen genre that i have chosen. For this myself and my group had to create a voice over detailing the history of the drama/teen drama. For the voice over section we decided to use a voice recorder and a phone recorder. The voice recorder was used for Brad’s part as he voiced his section at home while me and Josh used the phone recorder to detail the sections of the case study that we had focused on. The advantages for the two pieces of equipment was that it was simple, very quick to do, picked up our voices with relative ease. The only negative towards these pieces of equipment was that in the voice over video in is quite evident that the phone recorder picks up a lot of background noise and static and therefore made the quality sound slightly worse than the voice recorder. Overall it helped a lot in terms of allowing myself and the group to create a voice over and put our views across with relative ease.

Slideshare

For many of my PowerPoint presentations, in order to enable them onto my blog i used the website Slideshare which allows you to upload PowerPoint presentations with also a direct embed link to word press. This has been extremely useful as i can simply upload and them embed it to my coursework blog. Although i have put this in the research and planning section, it will also be used in evaluation but i felt that i have used the technology more in this section. The advantages of this technology is that it is quick and simple to use, it has a direct link to word press so it is simple to on blog and that it allows you to gain feedback from other Slideshare users and also allows you to look at other people’s PowerPoint's in hope of getting information or ideas for your own. I have been using this technology throughout all my years doing Media Studies and has been so useful that i now use the technology for my other lessons when i have to complete presentations. I would go in further in saying that this along with Screencast-O-Matic has been one of the cornerstones of the technology's i have used throughout this year for my coursework.

Prezi

This year after using the Slideshare website for a couple years i was introduced to the website Prezi. I have created research and planning with this technology. Again like Slideshare it is designed to create presentations and has a direct link to word press in terms of embedding it to a blog. In terms of comparing the two technology’s in could be said that Prezi is a more creative tool as it allows you to navigate freely around the presentation and the user can create an interactive presentation in terms of that it the viewer can follow the presentation using the view tool in a ‘storytelling’ manner. The advantages of this product is that it is highly creative and inventive (i have used it to show initial ideas and the synopsis planning), relatively simple to use and allows more technologies to coincide within the Prezi, for example you can properly embed videos into the presentation. Prezi has helped me create presentations such as the codes and conventions of the genre that i am focusing on and the initial ideas presentation. I have learned from this technology how to create a more expansive and more creative presentation. As well as this i have learned that this can be used to interact more with the viewer of the presentation.

Gliffy

For part of my research i had to create a flowchart to show the typical structure of a trailer of your choice (I used the 2004 Oscar winning film Crash). Our teacher told us that a useful site to try out would be Gliffy which turned out to be a great tool to use. Its advantages are that in makes the work you create look very professional and can show a clear outline of what you are trying to get across in terms of showing the typical structure of a trailer was easy to show as i used the flowchart to detail it. I found it so easy to use and it also help me understand more how a trailer is structured because of the use of the flowchart. I have now started using it for revision in terms of important notes and key dates so it has branched out further than media showing that the technology is highly useful. I have created a short video on creating a simple flowchart and how it helped me:

Youtube

One of the most important technologies that i have used for each of the different sections (they will be detailed in those sections) is the website Youtube. I have used this website for my research and planning to get videos for the insight to the genre, iconic sounds within the genre as well as uploading videos form my channel as well as the group’s channel. It has been extremely useful as it has its advantages as it is easy to upload, it directly links in with other technologies e.g Screencast-O-Matic and word press which you can embed on. It also is useful in gaining exposure for the product which is important as major companies would look to advertise there trailer so by having it on Youtube we are following what the big conglomerates would be doing. It has helped me personally as it has allowed me to get use to upload videos on to the site, as well as this i set up a channel specifically for my work which shows off the media work i have created. Like many people, without Youtube i would not be able to upload and show off my work. This is one of the most important technologies that i have used as a lot of my work is in video form as i have tried to use different formats. It is one of the reasons our product has been created successfully.

Websites Used

The main website i used in terms of research (alongside word it out and Gliffy which have been separately mentioned) was the BBC website for a research task in which i had to research the basics and find an insight into the genre that myself and my group had chosen to research. Along with Youtube it helped me to gain more information on the drama and teen drama genre in terms of the camera angles, lighting etc. It also obviously helped me complete that research task. As well as the BBC website, i also used the website Timetoast to create schedule for the filming and editing of our trailer and ancillary products. This was very easy to use and effective as well as having a PDF schedule i created a more interactive which could be changed in case of a change in the film or editing schedule which eventually happened as we had to reschedule due to weather conditions so it was useful in its interactive sense.

Apple Mac

For all of the work i completed at school and during school time, i used the apple Mac in the classroom that i study in. Like the video camera’s, i have been using the Mac’s for four years and have become experienced in using the different tools and settings on it. I have found it relatively simple to create the different products on the Mac’s as well as finding it simple to gain access to the necessary background research i needed to collect for my genre research. It has been immensely helpful in letting me be able to create my work to a high standard as well as helping me become accustom to the different software's and technology’s on the Mac’s

Camera

As well as all of the software based technologies and websites, the simple technology that is the forefront of Media Studies is the video camera. To create the audience expectations, the magazine and poster analysis (group) we used the department’s camera’s to film ourselves talking about and completing each task. Myself and my group are hugely familiar with the department’s camera’s after four years so this technology has not has the biggest impact on my work this year even though it is still vitally important. The advantages of these camera’s are that they are simple to use, good quality most of the time and that they can help us work out what we need to edit in terms of the noise it picks up as well as the lighting it shows when we play it back. The only slight problem we have had this year is that of the camera picking up too much background noise which we were able to sort out by minamalising the sound using the i movie tool (More on that in Construction) but overall the use of the camera’s have again been successful.

Summary of technologies used in Research and Planning

Overall, these technology’s that are used primarily in the research and planning section (But a lot are used in other sections) have been extremely helpful in helping me create a very detailed and interactive blog for my A2 Media Studies Coursework. In terms of which i feel has made the most impact on myself and my work, i would say that the Screencast-O-Matic software has helped me so much in terms of improving my presentation skills and making my blog more interactive and creative as last year one of the problems on my blog itself was that it was too text heavy and by having more videos and less text, i feel as though i have improved from last year’s work. As well as Screencast-O-Matic, Slideshare and Prezi have been prominent again in making my blog more creative and more attractive. As well as the presentations software the use of Gliffy and Timetoast have improved my skills in terms of managing and planning as the use of Timetoast has helped me schedule more prominently. While these technology’s have primarily helped me in Media Studies, they have also become skills i can put to use in other ways such as using Word it Out for revision as well as Gliffy.