Q4; HOW DID YOU USE NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND RESEARCH, PLANNING AND EVALUATION STAGES?

RESEARCH AND PLANNINGWhile in the research and planning stages I used a variety of technologies and programmes-

Research; I searched photoshop tutorial to learn new skills to

make my Ancillary texts stand out to my target audience Watched existing products of similar horror trailers and

watched Blair Witch Project as this was close to how I wanted my trailer.

Researched 999 emergency calls to maybe use this as a feature in my trailer.

Before finding incompetech a music site I used YouTube to begin looking at what music would fit best to my themes and trailer.

Google was one of the most frequently used technologies in the research and planning.

Researching other horror films/conventions of horror films

Looking into horror genre Theorists- narrative structures Researching horror posters/ magazine Google images- find images similar to

those I wanted to use in ancillary texts Film distributors

Research;

Research; Word I used Microsoft Word to write up my job roles and risk assesment- I used the table tool to create a table so the information was shown clearly

I also used it to create my storyboards, taking a story board template from Google I was able to download it onto the page.

I used Powerpoint to create various presentations to display my research into different things such as the analysis of existing magazines and the psychology of fear.

I was able to use slide share to upload the presentations onto my blog by embedding the code

Slide share was very helpful in the planning stage as I was able to quickly find other peoples research into things such as horror genre, theorists, camera angles and many more.

Research; powerpoint + slideshare

Research- surveymonkey.com

I used surveymonkey.com to create surveys to give to my target audience to see what things they particularly liked to see in horror films, get a feel of what features of conventional horror films I could use in my trailer. This programme would also display the results in tables and charts which was easy to read and analysis.

Research-

Wordpress was the site of my blog where I would keep an up to date diary of all the research and any planning I had done in preparation of the trailer. This way it was easier for me to go back over my blog to look at the research I had done, any changes I made or look at how I could apply the theorists I found to my trailer.

Research- Nikon camera

During my research and planning stage I used a Nikon Digital Camera to shoot test shots for the trailer

I used the camera to experiment with camera shots and angles

The camera was also used when I was researching location and setting, I shot clips in various locations to see what worked best.

Planning- Photoshop When it came to planning the horror movie poster I played around on Photoshop

with a couple of ideas. Gave me a chance to understand the effects and features on the software before starting the real thing. Drafting ideas helped me in the planning stages as it gave me inspiration for my actual poster. Below are a couple of drafts I had done.

CONSTRUCTION

Software and technologies used in the construction stages of my products;

Construction- IMOVIE I used ‘imovie’ to create my trailer, I

imported footage from my Nikon camera into the programme and was then able to edit the clips.

Features of imovie include video effects such as ghost trails, earthquake and soft focus.

Audio effects- there are pre recorded music and sound effects on the software which is easily enough put onto the clips. You also had the option to import music from music websites onto I movie. Other effects included changing the volume of clips, this was handy when wanting to get rid completely of a piece of audio over a clip, silence is more effect in some aspects of horror films. Changing the pitch etc.

Options were available to add titles to the trailer and with the help of da font I added my titles to move the story along and give some narrative for the audience.

Construction- Nikon Camera

The Nikon camera was used for all my products in the construction stage.

All footage was uploaded onto the computer via iphoto

It was used to take draft pictures and draft clips

I took still images for the poster and magazine cover and used the camera to shoot the moving images for my trailer.

I had the option to use a tripod which would mean I could set the camera somewhere and the footage would look steady. However because I had chosen to have my trailer have a ‘shakey camera technique’ it was unnecessary so allot of my footage was filmed hand held.

Construction- Photoshop

Photoshop was used in the construction of my ancillary products- magazine front cover and horror film poster.

I could edit the image and add effects to create something that would sell my film to a wider audience.

Construction- Dafont.com Dafont.com was used in the construction of all 3 of my products. It allowed me to use more advanced fonts then those provided on Photoshop

and iMovie. The fonts could be themed round a certain genre or style. I chose horror and then experimented with different fonts.

The fonts were used for the writing on the poster and cover and then used for the titles and ‘credits’ in my trailer. I used the same font throughout my products with an exception to some of the text on magazine.

Construction Brusheezy.com

Brusheezy.com is a website where you can download brushes onto Photoshop for use of adding effects to an image

I downloaded 2 smoke brushes and experimented with different smoke outlines until the image of smoke in the center of my page was how I imagined it. I used eraser tools on Photoshop to tidy up the smoke Photoshop allowed me to change the color of the brush so the smoke had a red effect to it connoting blood and death.

Construction

I used Facebook in the construction of my horror poster. I was unsure about whether my poster looked right and had the feel of a horror poster, whether it could be compared to existing products.

I uploaded a shot of the poster on my Facebook page and asked people whether they liked it and If any changes could be made.

As my target audience is 15/16-25 Facebook is perfect for getting feedback my friends on there fit my target audience so I would be hearing responses from the people my movie is aimed at. Responses meant I was able to make needed improvements, some were silly grammatical errors but all mistakes were quickly changed.

Construction I used this royalty free music download site to get music to add tension

and create an atmosphere on my trailer. After editing the clips ad putting the clips together to follow a story it was missing pace and this is where music helped massively.

The music helped to make the piece flow and because I chose a song called ‘Bump In the Night’ which consisted of drums, it gave the trailer rises and falls.

Construction- Wordpress

Word press was also used in the construction stages as again I had to blog and keep my posts updated to how the construction of all of my products. I could look back at drafts and see what changes needed to be made etc.

EVALUATION Technologies used in the evaluation stage of the process;

Evaluation- When evaluating my work I picked PowerPoint to display my evaluation

questions as I can add screenshots and images on to the PowerPoint to make it more interactive instead of merely reading a list of things I have done.

I uploaded all my presentation onto slide share meaning I could embed them into my word press blog for other people to view and comment.

Evaluation I used YouTube to upload my final trailer, this made it publically accessible to any body who was

digitally active. By having my trailer on YouTube I am in touch with the my target audience who in todays day and age are always online. Perfect way to promote my film. However the only down side was that YouTube could not maximize the quality of my trailer and so because of how low the quality is I will be copying my trailer onto a DVD and sharing it this way instead.