Evaluation question (final1): 4
- 1. Evaluation Question: 4 How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? Jonathan Randall
- 2. Introduction Overall, when creating a successful film professionally, it proved challenging to customise myself to the specific types of relevant media technology needed for this particular genre. This is due to having to use media technology to research, plan, produce and evaluate the coursework itself. Without this, coursework and the project would be inexistent. However, trying to adapt to the media technology around me to create a successful looking professional film was difficult. But despite this, I feel satisfied with the end product of both my short film and my subsidiary texts, as for these I had professional programs to create them e.g. Adobe software. As well as updating my progress through this website I’m uploading this on now (blogger).
- 3. Research As said previously, media technology has been used throughout most of my stages in this project, however research has included a huge majority of it. Firstly, for my research I used the internet. This is because of how excellent it is in finding out about films. For example researching the typical conventions of short films enabling myself to create a short film that follows these. Also, for my analyses I could identify the specific short film’s I wanted to view (horror/thriller) as well as just normal short films. Short films are easier to locate on the internet than normal full length films, as short films are produced by independent companies/people and uploading to the internet is the best way to show their ability through filming. Therefore finding these short films uploaded to websites such as YouTube was easy, and I was able to research these to create an idea in my head for how to approach and how to create a successful short film.
- 4. Research Following the website of YouTube as a topic. This is an excellent site which influenced my work very thoroughly. It is an easily accessible website and any piece of media (short film) in which I analysed this year and for my AS was viewed from YouTube. As well as providing me with the basis of work to research into, it was also the main platform in which I located my media on to be uploaded to Blogger. As it showed in 1080p, as well as being free and can easily be shared from the website. An addition positive of using YouTube was the fact of how close Blogger and YouTube are working, as this made it easier again to establish my work from YouTube onto blogger with the function of embedding and sharing video URL’s on Blogger from YouTube.
- 5. Research For even more research, which I needed, I used the worldwide known search engine named Google. I used this as a important role in my research, It gave me the information I need as a digital encyclopedia. When using this search engine in my research, I mainly used it as a way of finding out the conventions of such areas in my coursework. For example, finding out conventions and uses of magazine review pages, posters and short films. This gave me a better understanding of the uses, and resulting in my knowledge being able to influence itself within my coursework pieces. Without this, when approaching the coursework pieces without any knowledge, the quality of the piece will show to be poor. As well as this, Google allowed me to link with websites, which I used regularly during the coursework making process. Websites such as Blogger and YouTube was popular with what I was searching. Also a website such as Wikipedia allowed me to access institutional information about any of the media texts I am analysing. This being such a huge source of information globally, it was very accessible for me to look at.
- 6. Planning In relation to planning, I have greatly progressed from my AS level coursework regarding the amount of media technologies I used, as well as the quality sources I used. Quality through the way I used them and the quality of the software/website itself. Firstly, PowerPoint was very helpful in regards with my use of presenting my initial ideas to the class, as well as carrying canvases for my mood boards to present the ideas for costumes etc. As well as this Microsoft programme, Word is a programme which I used a lot in my planning. It allowed me to plan risk assessments, call sheets and production schedules when I was organising all my filming days for my production of the short film. A final Microsoft programme in which I used was Excel, I used this to present my feedback for deciding my plans. For example, I used Excel to produce the graphs and charts for choosing and planning which initial idea I should choose and film.
- 7. Production Within the production stages of both my short film and my ancillary products I really tested myself with my choice in producing software. Within my AS production I had little experience with any Adobe Software, only the use of iMovie was really shown in production and only used basic tools for the editing side of my project because of this. For my filming aspect of my project, I used a Nikon D3100, which is a popular DSLR camera among photographers with it’s incredible high definition camera shots. This really helped us with our production by being able to create shots that many other cameras may fail to produce; these were substantial in our shot types. Although we did Go Pro shots on the bike of the main character, we didn’t end up using these due to the fact of the low quality and the shakiness of the shot. The camera stored recordings onto an SD card making the transferring process of our shots a lot easier to obtain on the school computer in which we edited on. However I did use an iPhone for taking pictures of locations and costumes as well as the photo that we used in the photo-shoot for our ancillary products; this shot being the one with the stalkers shadow portrayed onto the door. I was very pleased with the shots we took. However, some shots including the conversation of the two teenage characters within the living room of the sleepover location that the focus may be slightly out. This we couldn’t fix, however it’s not substantial in ruining the narrative flow and we just have to blame it on poor camera use at the time.
- 8. Production Around the subject of editing, personally I think that I used most of the media technology in this stage due to the fact everything has to be done on technology to create the project. During my time of editing in AS level, my knowledge was very small, as all I knew to start with was iMovie processes and editing skills, which were of course very basic. However, with the introduction of my A-level I became familiar with Adobe and their programmes, which was good timing due to the fact of the tasks set this year. Being introduced to Adobe was great as it had all the tools to make a professional A-level film. The fact that you can use such tools as the ‘warp stabiliser’ made it a lot easier for shots to be portrayed better, as some of the shots were slightly shaky. As well as this, adapting contrast changes and colour changes made the editing software even better as I needed to make one scene in the short film showing it be night, despite it being filmed in the day.
- 9. Production With Adobe as well, I found After Effects, allowing me to add my titles into the film of the characters names. I used this to make the titles of the characters names look indented into the object, which it is presented on. I feel this makes it look more professional and looks a lot better than just covered onto the screen. The skills I learnt for After Effects were in fact learnt from the use of YouTube online tutorials. This I felt was a good use of media technology because I was using YouTube as a source of learning new material to apply to my coursework. By having Adobe’s Creative Cloud, I could transfer the clip from one programme to another. In my coursework for example, I transferred the clip I wanted to add effects on into After Effects, and then it would change within the original programme, Premiere Pro to what ever I did on After Effects which I thought was very useful in my editing progression and use of media technology.
- 10. Production For my subsidiary texts, It involved even more media technology, including Adobe mainly again. The problem I found with Photoshop was that I had never used it before; therefore it took a considerable amount of time to establish good knowledge of the interface and the tools. With the photos already taken at the photo-shoot, I could use that as a basis to work on. Layers and the layout I eventually found easy so I could keep adapting to it over several weeks to get the look that I found was the best and followed my plan. The technique that I learnt and the ease it was to produce a professional looking poster, you couldn’t do in cheaper programs/websites such as Paint .NET or www.MonkeyPic.com. For my magazine review page I used Adobe InDesign, which is a publishing program like Microsoft Publisher, and it’s intent is to create magazine articles and designed work such as leaflets, so I saw this as an easy option to produce the media on. I hadn’t used this software in my life before, so my media teacher taught me the basic tools and techniques to create a successful magazine review which portrayed all the correct conventions. The graphic work I obtained from inspiration on the internet and through the technique of trial and error to get it how I wanted it and how my plan showed.
- 11. Evaluation Finally, within my A2 evaluation stages I presented my evaluations on a range of software including Slide Share, Prezi, through the use of iMovie (with images) with an audio track explaining the evaluation and a blogger post. Slide Share allowed me to present my evaluation question to you through Microsoft PowerPoint in an accessible way to be viewed. Prezi created a very aesthetically pleasing way of viewing my evaluation question through it’s varieties of designs and transitions. iMovie allowed me to supply the evidence through pictures on screen while explaining my question through audio, which I recorded on audacity. The diverse use of presenting my evaluation posts I feel summed up how I used media technology. From this, I feel on my coursework journey in A2, I have used a substantial variety in different programs and websites for the production of my media texts. Without these, my coursework would not be made to the best of my ability.