How did you use new media technologies in the

construction, research and planning and evaluation

stages?

Transcript – Evaluation question 4

Blogger has helped me in all stages of my media coursework. Without this website, I wouldn’t be able to showcase my work. It allows me to create new posts easily as well as being able to access it on the go. This is good for if I have any new ideas that I want to add, I don’t have to have access to a computer. Blogger also allowed me to embed PowerPoints and videos easily. It didn’t take me long at all to work out how to work blogger, which has saved me time so that I could focus on the construction stage of my coursework more.

For research and planning, I used google for everything. I researched other pieces of work for inspiration and what is typically expected for A2. The website ocrmediastudies.weebly.com allowed me to access work from previous years and what level they achieved. I have been able to base my work off of these marks, so that I have a rough idea of what I could achieve. I also researched popular films in the same genre that I planned to create. This is so that I could analyse the conventions that were used and how they were altered to suit the genre. Google also helped with finding hidden locations that turned out to be perfect for the film trailer.

I accessed all of my work through three main devices. The first was a Mac computer at school, where I done the majority of my research and design work. This is because it has all the software programmes that I needed, so it was very convenient. I also used my own laptop for work outside of school. I was able to access my research and planning so that I could work on more research as well as catch up if I needed to. By using my laptop, I was able to dedicate more time in class working on my designs, as well as being able to get things done a lot quicker. My iPad was another essential device that I mainly used for PowerPoints and Blogger. I was able to access Blogger through safari, which meant that if I needed to correct anything, I didn’t need to find a computer or wait until I got home. This meant that I could work on things anywhere.

For the construction part of my coursework, we used a Nikon camera that we borrowed to shoot videos and capture images. This was a high quality camera, which allowed us to get the best footage that we could, giving us a good chance at creating a professional campaign, that would look realistic.

YouTube was crucial for the film trailer. I used it to find film trailers and analyse them. This helped me in the research stage because I then had information that I could use to plan what the trailer would look like and what to include. YouTube was also helpful with finding tutorials when using the software programmes and finding special effects to include in the trailer. These were in-depth so that we could follow along step by step. In the construction stage, we placed our final trailer on YouTube, as we could embed the video into Blogger. It is a very accessible website and isn’t complicated to navigate at all.

PowerPoint has been used in all the stages as I can make easy to navigate slides. If needed, I could also add effects in, which would make them a lot more interactive. To include them on my blog, I made an account on SlideShare and uploaded the PowerPoint to then embed onto my blog.

Adobe Photoshop is the software programme that I used to create two of my products. I have become very familiar with it since using it for my AS levels, meaning that it didn’t take long to get back into it. It allowed me to place objects onto different backgrounds and place around with textures. I have learnt a lot more and this has allowed me to be more creative with my ideas. I managed to create a gradient on my film poster by following tutorials and practicing. Photoshop is used by a lot of professionals so I was able to create my products to a high standard as I had access to the same tools. For example, I am now able to create textures and merge layers together, which was something that I couldn’t do before I started this year.

For the film trailer, we used iMovie as we’ve had experience using this before. It is a simple application that allows us to edit the footage of clips together. We were able to add two different music clips in and use different features in iMovie to create different effects for the audience by cutting the clips down and editing it in in a specific way. We did have to wait a while whilst all the different clips loaded in iMovie, which meant we lost a bit of time. However, we overcame this and the final product is very polished.

PowToon is a website that I found that allowed me to create a fun alternative to PowerPoints. I was able to add in music and moving objects, which has made my evaluation look a lot better than just having plain writing. PowToon meant that I didn’t need to include loads and get straight to the point. I also chose to make it colourful so that it would stand out and not look boring.

Social media has been important for the evaluation as I could gain feedback quickly from the target audience. It also allowed me to reach a wider audience than if I hadn’t put it online. This means that I get more feedback, which would help in future if I was to alter the products in anyway.