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

evaluation stages?

Ryan Soanes

Physical Hardware

MacBook

To create my whole project I used a MacBook this was probably the most useful and of all the technologies I used. All software's and websites I used I wouldn’t of been able to if it wasn’t for having a MacBook this was a very crucial tool in creating my film. It was a good choice as it was very powerful and I didn’t have problem editing film or creating images. Also being a MacBook gave me portability to move it around.

iPhone

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I also used my IPhone to help throughout my project, it was handy as it allowed me to take pictures when I didn’t want to carry around my big DSLR camera. It also made web browsing very easy and I can do it on the go to update and edit my blog posting.

DSLR Camera

For my project I used a DSLR Camera and this gave me the best mix of both Image and Video and I could record in very high quality and play around with lots of settings to get my film and images looking at there very best. For my film I used a Nikon D5100 which is a very good camera, as it is an DSLR camera I had the options to set up manual focusing so I didn’t have the worry about the nose of the motor being recorded onto the soundtrack, and I could also adjust the ISO and Exposure to make the best out of my lighting to get the most professional looking shots. The only problems I had were that the battery on the camera didn’t last that long and didn’t give me ages to film.

Software

iMovie

I used iMovie to create my film, this was a good tool as it is quite professional but also isn’t the most complicated software. This software was also good because it was available to use at both home and school so I didn’t have to worry about it not being accessible. I had a few problems with iMovie though, I was quite limited with the effects I had as they only had about 10 options of effects that you could use. Another problem was it was hard to move iMovie project from one computer to another so I had to work on the same computer most of the time or I would run into problems.

Photoshop

Photoshop was another important piece of software I used, I used it throughout my project but it was mainly used when creating my ancillaries. It’s a great software and its of a very professional standard and you can do nearly anything to do with imagery inside of it. I was able to create 2 very professional looking ancillaries using Photoshop. A bonus with using Photoshop is that I already have quite a lot of experience with it so I know what a lot of the tools do and I didn’t have to waste time getting used to the software.

Websites (Web 2.0)

Blogger

Blogger was the website that I used the most as I uploaded all of my work to this it’s a great choice as it is a very stable website and very easy to use. You can easily upload your work and even get audience feedback using blogger, using forms and comments. You can also go back other previous posts and edit them, this was by far the best option to keep a portfolio on my project.

DaFont

DaFont was another important website I used when creating my ancillaries and also my film a bit. It allows you to download custom fonts, which is great as the fonts default on a computer are very boring and not good for design. It allowed me to search my genre on there website and get some custom fonts and download them for free and then use them in my ancillaries/film. It give my film a much more professional overall finish.

Social Media

I used social media a lot through this project as it was a great way to gain audience feedback using websites such as YouTube and Facebook I was able to receive instant audience feedback. It was also very simple for the user as all they had to do was go on a site that they probably go on everyday anyway and take 5 seconds out to write a comment. It was a great method to integrate my film with my audiences everyday life.

Prezi/SlideShare

I also used sites like Prezi/Slideshare/Worlde to create more visual ways to display information so when I had to create a presentation I would use Prezi to make it different and make it more interesting for people to read instead of just being a generic text presentation.

Negatives of TechnologyTechnology isn’t always great, sometimes the accessibility is not always the best and you can get stuck with files that you can’t open on some computer because of the wrong software or outdated software.

Other problems with technology can be the fact that they are quite expensive not everyone has DSLR Cameras and MacBooks available to them as both of these parts of equipment can be £600+. This also goes for the software with Photoshop being priced at around £800.

The other huge factor with technology being so widely available and the use of web 2.0 is, it’s harder to get your content seen, as there is so much professional quality products being made it’s hard to get your product seen.