+How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

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Research and planning Media technologies have helped in many ways in

the construction of my research and planning. Research and planning were an important element of my overall course as without it I would not be able to create my trailer or ancillary tasks to the level I wanted.

Different types of media technology I used

Throughout the duration of my A2 course I needed to use a variety of media technologies just like in my AS course last year. I used a range of similar and different types of media that I used for each part of the production stages.

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I relied on Microsoft Word and PowerPoint a lot during the research and planning stages of the year .

Word was great for creating questionnaires that I used to get audience feedback from for my poster and magazine and the initial genre research at the start of the year .

Questionnaires allowed me to :• Receive important feedback

from my target audience • I used the feedback their

feedback to plan what I needed to include in my own work as it allowed me to understand the set of expectations the audience looked for and used PowerPoint to display the results clearly and in a readable way.

I created my storyboard in Microsoft Word as it was the easiest way to edit and create a storyboard that could potentially be very long and detailed.

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YouTube played a huge part in the research and planning of my film trailer. YouTube granted me with access to potentially any film trailer and any genre I wanted to view. This allowed me at first to look at a range of trailers from a range of genres before reflecting on my chosen genre. It then allowed me to research a range of videos within my chosen genre and I was able to analyse the codes and conventions used in the trailers. This helped me build a suitable narrative for my storyboard which will help create my horror trailer.

The

Internet

The internet in general was an essential element to my research. I used this for most of my research posts for my blog. I used it to :• Look at commercial film

posters and magazines which then allowed me to anaylse the codes and conventions that appeared

• Research prices sale locations

• Secondary research – look at other peoples blogs etc

I also used online sites to display my research on e.g. Glogster.

It also allowed me to post drafts of my trailer

+ Blogger

I used a blog throughout each stage of the production. I used the blog to post all the research and everything I had learnt from the common body positioning on a magazine to theorists Todorov’s view of narrative .The blog was a vital part of the production at every stage and allowed me to link hyperlinks to allow me to be more creative etc. to my blog to show what videos I liked and have looked at but also to other research I had created like a glogster about sale prices to my blog.

+ Construction

In the construction stage of the course media technologies were also essential . Without programs like FinalCutPro I would never have been able to even start to create and edit my trailer and I had to learn quickly how to use and c

Garage band I used Garage band for sound in my

trailer. I found it quite hard to use and found it hard to make a soundtrack. The majority of the time I used sound effects that were from Final Cut pro and I edited them, by either audio distortion and cutting sound clips .

+Final Cut Pro

Final Cut Pro allowed us to bring our storyboard and clips to life by allowing us to :

Edit and cut the duration of clips

Add text

Import images and sounds from garage band or Itunes

Organise images and videos to create a sense of narrative

It allowed us to create the best trailer we potentially could . Many of the tools like the edits granted us with more creativity in our work.For example we used the ‘rec’ effect for scenes were we wanted the clips to look like they were being filmed by one of the actors and less quality than a ‘normal’ camera.

+Digital camera/IPhone

I needed to use a digital camera for each stage of my tasks.

For my trailer I used both a video camera and my IPhone to film the clips for our trailer. The IPhone was good quality so this allowed us to film during the day and edit the clips later on without worrying about the quality being reduced. We used the video camera for clips were we used a tripod to increase stability or long shots as it had the zoom advantage that the phone could not offer.

I also used my IPhone to take images for my magazine and poster.

+Photoshop

I used Photoshop for all three of my final products particularly for my magazine and poster. Photoshop allowed me to use a range of tools from texts to shapes to editing tools to create a professional look that I could not create on programmes like Word. I used it to construct all aspects of my poster and magazine and even used it to edit my original images after they were taken. It was a great help and I relied a lot on it throughout the entire construction process.

An advantage of Photoshop was that you had unlimited access to a number of paintbrushes online. This was ideal when it came to producing my poster ,both in my draft and final poster and even for the text used in the trailer and poster .Photoshop allowed me to add effects to the image that helped create an edgier, more horror like image.

+Evaluation

The evaluation required me to use programmes or technology to present my questions in a creative but informative way. Technology is not as important in this stage as it is in the research, planning or construction stages. Programmes I have used are :

Powerpoint

Blogger

Prezi

Glogster

Bubbl