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

stages?

PHOTOSHOP

Photoshop enabled me to construct both the magazine cover and the film poster for our film ‘The Last House’, as it let me manipulate images and adapt layouts according ‘Slasher’ conventions I had researched. Before constrtucting the ancillary products I had basic knowlege from AS however, when creating products for my advanced portfolio I was able to manipulate images using curves and blur tools, I wasn’t aware of how to use theses tools in Photoshop in AS. I feel that my knowledge has developed over the two years and that I will be able to take the skills I have develop within Photoshop and use them in the furture to create products.

We chose Final Cut Pro to edit our footage for our film trailer, this program helped us piece together our trailer effectively. Prior to editing, we spent some time getting to grips with the software and experimenting with different tools and aspects of the program to enable us to make our trailer as conventional as possible. We used transitions to help our trailer flow from one scene to another. We also learned how to adjust levels on the sound, which made a huge difference to the outcome of our trailer. I found that editing video and sound was straight forward once I learned the basics of the program.

FINAL CUT PRO

I used the program Prezi to present my inital research regarding connotations of ‘Slasher’ films, I had never used this software before and found it a more interactive was of presenting information. Its a more exciting program to use and a more sopisticated way of presenting information as oppose to a Powerpoint presentation. Prezi enabled me analyse and pick up on important connotations in detail, where as in AS I produced powerpoint presentations when conducting initial research, which wasn’t as fun or interesting to create.

PREZI

GLOGSTER

I used Glogster when analysing posters, the software enabled me to place my images of ‘Slasher’ posters alongside each other and made it easier for me to identify the conventions within the series of posters I had analysed as part of my research. I was able to further identify the differences. This is significantly different from the research I conducted in AS during my foundation portfolio as I examined each magazine cover in isolation rather than placing them side by side for instant comparison.

WORDLE

Wordle enabled me to make a collage with words to summarise connotations of the ‘Slasher’ genre. In AS drew out mind maps for this and then scanned them on my blog. Wordle was easier enabled me to expand my knowledge of digital technology.

AUDIO BOO

I used AudioBoo to upload audio files easily to my blog. This software was something I had only discovered when creating my advanced portfolio project. I analysed trailers for my inital research and as part of my evaluation. I found it easy to analyse trailers by talking about them as the analysis meant I had to think on the spot.

SLIDE SHARE

Slideshare was a program I used most , it is easy and efficient and I feel I will use this program in the future . I made PowerPoint's , summarising Conventions of 'Slasher ' films, to analyse one of my film trailers and to discuss audience theories. This program enabled me to upload my PowerPoint's to my blog as well as making them look more professional .

WINDOWS MOVIE MAKER

I used Windows Movie Maker to present another trailer analysis I produced, this was one of the trailer analysis's that took a great deal of time. Firstly I analysed the trailer 'House of Wax' and then I chose the most important shots within the trailer which I needed to analyse in detail, I then recorded audio clips and dragged them in to the timeline according to the part in the trailer I was analysing, it was very time consuming but helped me identify key conventions with in ‘Slasher’ trailers better than the ways I researched in AS.

SONY A1 & BUZZBI

W e used a Sony A1 video recorder when gathering audience research , none of the member in my group had ever use done of these before so we had a go and found it straight forward to use. The video camera had a built in sound microphones audio was collected as well as video. We used a Buzzbi video recorder to record audience reactions, as part of initial research. We used YouTube to upload, audience feedback and reactions .

CELTX

We used a program called Celtx to write our script for our trailer, I found it quite complicated when we were first introduced to the software by our lecturer. When we experimented with this software it be came relatively straight forward. By creating our script on Celtx , it helped us greatly when coming to actually shoot the trailer.

YOUTUBE & VIMEO

Y ouTube and Vimeo are well - known websites and very easy to use, I setup an account so I was able to up load our video footage straight from my computer to Y ouTube and then put them on to my blog .

SURVEY MONKEY

We created a survey using Survey Monkey prior to producing our film trailer and ancillary texts to gain some more knowledge of our target audience and what things appeal to them . It was relatively easy to generate the survey , we could decide on what type of questions we wanted to be featured e.g . open or closed questions. I had used Survey Monkey in AS however, I didn’t feature a range of questions like I did in A2 which gave me greater knowledge.

SOCIAL NETWORKING

We advertised our survey on our existing Facebook and Twitter pages, to encourage more people to complete our survey as well as generating a wider target audience. We also used Facebook to get some audience feedback for our evaluation on our film poster and magazine cover .