How did you use media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages? Media technologies are an essential part of modern society, and without them I would not have been able to construct my trailer and ancillary texts. There have been various new pieces of software I have had to use and understand, along with having to adapt my old skills from Photoshop and only again put them into practice.

Research and Planning

A crucial piece of software when researching the horror genre in genre was Google. This search engine enables people to find out information about any topics possible. This allowed me to expand my knowledge of the horror genre, in a fast and efficient manner. The software is easy to access and since it is so well known, you can research it on near enough any

computers. I used Google for both my teaser trailer and my ancillary texts, since it allowed me to look into the horror history. Along with this, I also looked into Google Images. This software also allowed me to develop my own ideas about posters and magazine covers, and gave me an impression of what was visually necessary to incorporate within both my poster and magazine cover. Further software I used includes YouTube. YouTube is a search engine which allows you to browse through videos; something which was essential when finding out the key conventions of horror trailers. This media technology allowed me to study a variety of film trailers, and the films they originally came from. This was useful, since it gave me an idea of how to represent a full film in just a few minutes. YouTube was an essential part of the research and planning, since the software allowed me to look at different shot types and angles used in creating a horror trailer. Along with this, YouTube also involves clips of how to create horror make up, which is also helpful in the production of the trailer making itself. Along with YouTube, DVD’s were also used when viewing full films. This software is extremely beneficial since a DVD can not only play on a TV but also in a computer, meaning I was able to view films whenever I wanted. Unlike some YouTube copies of films, DVD’s are completely legitimate copies of the film that was previously shown in the cinema, meaning you will be getting the full impact of the film itself. IMDB is a website which helped me immensely when finding out specific details about films

and directors. IMDB is a specialised website, and therefore is very benefiting when you are looking for information about any film you want.

When doing my research and planning, this was extremely useful since it allowed me to look up character names when evaluating whole movies, along with showing still images from the films themselves. Since it is such a

well known website, IMDB is easy to navigate around, allowing it to be prompt and full of the necessary facts and figures.

Construction

It could be argued that the construction of the trailer is essentially the most crucial part of my coursework, therefore it was important to use the right technology, the first of which being the video camera. The camera allowed me to not only take still images for my poster and magazine, but also allowed me to film the trailer itself. The camera I used allowed me to produce a variety of shots, one of them being a pull focus, which gives the viewer the idea that they can see something that victim cannot. By using this, I was able to create tension through shots, simply by just using the correct pieces of technology. In addition to this, the camera also allowed me to film shots that would not be seen just by the human eye, which gives as idea of horror and fear. Along with using the camera, I also used a tripod in order to assist me with some of the shots. This allowed me to keep a steady focus, to overall make the trailer look more professional. The use of a tripod allows shots such as a pan to be produced, something I did when creating an establishing shot; this would not be able to be done without a combination of these technologies. I used a footage called Power Director, in order to edit my trailer. Since using different software to everyone else, I found it particularly difficult to learn to use the software as I had not used it before. Once I grasped an understanding, the software allowed me to adapt the sound and volume levels, change the pace of the clips, cut them down, and ultimately enabled me to produce my trailer. The software enabled me to import still images, which I used when advertising the production companies, but also allowed me to incorporate YouTube clips, which were used in a similar way. I feel that using the Final Cut software would have been more successful when producing my trailer, since there were some things I did not know how to do on Power Director, such as adjusting colour effects and lighting to make the

shots look more eerie, which would

have been available on a different

piece of software. These skills would

have benefited my trailer further,

though looking at the finished product;

I am pleased with how it turned out. Photoshop is a program which I have used previously, therefore I felt reasonably comfortable when using it. This software is used by

some of the biggest companies around the world in order to make magazines, posters and billboards, therefore I knew it was trusted and had the resources needed to produce my ancillary texts. Photoshop has many different tools, which can be used for various tasks, though I found that whilst creating my ancillary texts, the most useful included the magic wand tool; a fast and easy way to edit a person/object away from their background. This tool is very time saving, since without this you would have to simply rub out the background. In addition to this, Photoshop offers many effects to edit the text, including strokes, glows, shadows and gradients. This was extremely important when creating my magazine cover since it allowed some of the text to stand out more than the rest. Since I have never made any music electronically before, I felt that it would be most effective to find a suitable royalty free backing track to support my trailer. The website names ‘Incompetech’ allowed me to whittle down the genre of music along with the different features I would like to be included within it, for example ‘dark, eerie and intense’. This software allowed me to find the perfect backing track to my trailer, which is seemingly essential, since the music to a trailer adds intensity and drama to the whole trailer itself.

Evaluation

The main software which was used within the evaluation and throughout the whole project is Blogger. Blogger is a website which allows individuals to share work, photos and videos, to the World Wide Web. This software is extremely time-saving, compared to physically writing out work, and is alot more organised, therefore I found it extremely successful when storing all of my work in one place. The software has further organisation since each post has the ability to be labelled, meaning that each collection of work can be stored together. Blogger allows its users to insert images and hyperlinks’, meaning it was simple to import my trailer and ancillary texts all at the same time. By having all of the work in one place, there is no chance

of work being lost physically, and altogether the entire production looks more professional.