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

RESEARCH AND PLANNING - Edublogs.org

In order to present my work I used a site called Edublogs.org, in comparison to other sites I could have used I found that Edublogs was very simple and easy to use. It allowed me to post my research and planning stages in a matter of a few clicks so that I didn’t waste time, this benefitted me when adding to my blog as I was able to post my work at anytime of the day and from anywhere, this then does not limit my access when posting.

I found no issues when using Edublogs, as it was created for education purposes I found that it really catered to my needs such as allowing me to upload from different devices other than my computer; such as my laptop, iPad and iPhone, also giving me the ability to change the theme of my blog so that I am able to make it look more interesting. I have chosen a simple theme so that it is simple to navigate around and watch my research, planning and construction progress.

Another element that I took advantage of was that I could upload images and include links that can navigate you away from the page such as Vimeo where I was able to show my videos. I used this whenever possible so that I can clearly show the stages I went through clearly.

I also used Edublogs to track my progress so that I was able to clearly see the stages I was at and whether I needed to research more into my ideas to make sure that everything I was producing was at a professional level.

RESEARCH AND PLANNING - Edublogs.org

RESEARCH AND PLANNING – Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer played a huge part in my research and planning as it helped develop my ideas. I used the internet when learning more about my initial pitch that I wrote about my film to do with the miscarriage which helped to verify my change of narrative. If I hadn’t had had the internet to research in to this, then I would not have had any idea to the stages and emotions a miscarriage consist of.

I also used the internet then once my decision on the narrative had changed to reproach in to symbolic codes for what roses represent to an audience. After looking on to several websites it soon became clear what colour rose symbolised what, I was then able to use this information and progress on to using it in my film.

RESEARCH AND PLANNING – YouTubeI relied on YouTube a lot in my research and planning stages. YouTube is a video sharing website that allows people from all over the world to upload their videos on to the web. YouTube gave me great access to watch other short films that I was able to use and get inspired by. I found that YouTube was very simple to use and find lots of results that varied from professional productions to amateur. This is due to the simple search bar that I was clearly able to type in what I specifically wanted to watch.

Once I had discovered that I wanted to produce a romance drama for my main product when researching into romance drama short films there were related links to similar films found at the side of the page, this was very useful and helped to narrow down my search.

I also found when asking my potential audience about particular codes and conventions that it was very easy access, as I was able to use YouTube from my iPhone and show the video that I wanted to hear their feedback from. I was able to use this feedback then to improve my film.

An important feature that YouTube has is that it has very fast buffering speeds so that I am able to see the critical detail that the director has purposely created for the audience to see. This allowed me to be inspired and use such little detail such as the lighting in my film.

RESEARCH AND PLANNING – YouTube

YouTube was a also a good source when researching to find music for my short film. When constructing my film I found a piece of music on YouTube that I thought was very suitable for the narrative. I was then able to download this using an app I downloaded on my phone called ‘Tdownloader’. This app I used I was able to clearly find the piece I wanted from YouTube and then click download as an mp3 file. Using this app made the process be quick and easy, and didn’t falter with the quality of the music, which was an important issue that I had hoped not to happen.

CONSTRUCTION – YouTube

RESEARCH AND PLANNING – Vimeo

Vimeo is a very similar to YouTube and has all the same features which I found very beneficial; such as the related links, the high definition and the easy navigation. However I used Video to post my videos on of my final main product and also my focus groups too so that it is quick and easy for when navigating away from my blog.

Vimeo allowed me to upload my videos with no issues and accepts a wide range of formats. This is a very good aspect as then it doesn’t limit me to what I am able to upload.

Slideshare is website that allows people to upload their power points they have created onto the web so that they can be publicly viewed. You are able to upload power points that match a certain topic and from that you are able to see related power points so that your research can progress.

I used Slideshare to upload my power points to clearly state my progress and research from my blog. This makes it a more interesting technique to present my work.

I also used Slideshare to present the pictures for my location recce for FewstenResevoir as an alternative way to view every specific picture in a particular order; such as the images i took, the map and the google maps view.

Slideshare allows you to gain feedback as there is a feature where you as a user can comment on it. Another feature is that you are able to see the amount of views the PowerPoint has had. This is effective as then you can see how popular the PowerPoint is on the site.

RESEARCH AND PLANNING – Slideshare

Adobe Premiere Pro is a software that specialises in editing footage. I used Premiere Pro through the whole construction of my main product as it involves a wide range of features that include being able to cut and place the footage in different orders. Since my film is a non-linear narrative it allowed me to vary my pieces of footage in the narrative i want it to play. This makes my film more effective and to more a professional standard.

In Premiere Pro you can also add titles so that it is an easier way to include codes and conventions of a short film rather than having to go on a different software. It allows you really take advantage of where you would like to position the title so that it is placed appropriately with the footage. I also adjusted sound levels off the footage and music on Premiere Pro by using key frames. This helped to achieve the mood of the film I was intending to create.

CONSTRUCTION – Premiere Pro

I used Premiere Pro for my research stages also when filming my focus group answering questions. This helped to achieve the outcome to be edited neatly so that it was easy to understand what question they were answering.

Connected to Premiere Pro is Adobe Media Encoder. I used this so that I was able to export my film into a format that Vimeo will definitely recognise so that I can easily upload it with no problems.

I also used Adobe Media Encoder to change the format of footage I had filmed of my focus group using my iPhone camera so that I am able to import it to Premiere Pro and edit the footage.

CONSTRUCTION – Premiere Pro

CONSTRUCTION – Microsoft Publisher

Microsoft Publisher is a software that is very basic to use in consideration to software's such as Photoshop. You are able to produce text boxes and shapes and purely rely on the presentations of the content such as the placements rather than editing.

I used Publisher to design my layouts for both my ancillary tasks as it is simple to add shapes and display them exactly where you want them to be and then add text so that you can clearly label then. I found this very useful to use and was very beneficial when it came to actually designing the tasks.

I proceeded to use Publisher to create my first draft of my initial poster. This is due to my confidence on using Publisher so therefore was very simple and quick to make. Due to no editing needing to be done to the main image I felt that Publisher was a suitable software to use.

CONSTRUCTION – Adobe Photoshop

I relied on Photoshop huge amounts in being able to create my final poster idea and magazine review. This is due to the wide range of tools that you are able to choose from to edit the images.

I used Photoshop for my poser to create the title and the text that is also included so that it meets the audiences expectations to how these codes and conventions should be presented. I also used a tool to be able to separate the foreground from the background, in my case the protagonist. I also used the clone tool and the blur tool so that it helped merge the images together into the poster so that it looks more continuous and professional looking.

I used Photoshop also when creating my magazine review as it was best suitable to use when considering all the content that needs to be involved. I created the magazine ’New Films’ and the colour scheme and layout that abides by that so that it helps upkeep the professional media convergences I am trying to create.

I designed my production company logo on Photoshop ‘CYP Productions’ as again it offers a wide range of fonts and creativeness in order to produce a professional piece. I decided to stay basic as little is more i feel especially in consideration to my film genre, i need to think what will be suitable and appropriate. I was able to save my logo as a PNG file format so that the background is transparent and wouldn’t affect the rest of the products when I inserted the logo in to it.

CONSTRUCTION – Adobe Photoshop

EVALUATIONFor my final evaluation I firstly wrote out all of my answers of the four questions on to Microsoft Word so that I then could go on to proceed and edit them using a range of technologies.

I used Slideshare to upload my the PowerPoint presentations I created, I did this exactly the same way that I have mentioned previously when talking about my research and planning stages. This way it helps to make my work look more interesting whilst also being a simple strategy to navigate away from my blog to view further work.

I used Prezi as a way to present my work also so that it makes it look more interesting when going from slide to slide. Prezi like Slideshare is an educational website where you are able to upload your own work so the public can view.

I also used Premiere Pro to edit my evaluations so that I am able to portray my answers clearly and in a creative way using the tools to cut and adjust my answer if necessary. I will then use Media Encoder to export it in to a format that Vimeo will recognise and upload it to Vimeo and share the link on my blog, like I have mentioned previously.

To conclude I feel how I have used media technologies in the research and planning, construction and evaluation stages has been very effective in order for me to produce successful products that are targeted well to my target audience. Obeying codes and conventions and creating them using these technologies helped to enhance the genre of my film and the promotion of it. This has helped hugely on the media convergence I have created that have been specified tasks I chose for this course.

Conclusion