Q4. How did you use new media

technologies in the construction and

research, planning and evaluation

stages?

For my primary research I used a variety of different approaches to collect, record and conclude my results.

I produced a questionnaire in Microsoft Excel to give out to my target audience in order to find out specifics that could effect my coursework; their favourite film genre for instance. Once this was completed and I had collected my results, I turned the results into graphs and charts using Microsoft Excel to make the evaluation of responses easier.

I presented my completed research as a powerpoint presentation which I uploaded to www.slideshare.com which was also a new piece of software I used in this years coursework.

Primary Research

My secondary research consisted of closely looking at teaser trailers of the same genre which would help me in the construction of my product. I used the website www.youtube.com to do this as I knew it would have the latest and older trailers of films I thought were like my idea. I mainly looked at aspects such as shot types, dialogue, lighting, the speed of transition from each shot and colour.

From this I learnt that teaser trailers are generally no longer than 2 minutes, fast paced (depending on the genre of the film), mainly light colouring in my specific genre and that specific shots are carefully chosen to ensure enough information is shown to the audience without giving too much away. This research also helped me with time management in and out of production. As well as this I learnt that many of the same conventions are used not just in teaser trailers, but in romance films in general.

Like my primary research, this was also presented as a powerpoint presentation and uploaded to www.slideshare.com

Secondary research

To aid me in the construction of my product I produced a storyboard. This year I decided to do an animated storyboard on Windows Movie Maker.I found this way easier as it was quicker than drawing a storyboard and more simple to understand as I proceeded with production. Before I conducted the storyboard I noted ideas of what to include which ended up being photographs of key parts I wanted in my teaser trailer, with an explanation of each shot over the photo which again helped during production.

Planning

As well as a storyboard I decided to make a shot list which I produced on Microsoft Word. This gave me a run down of every shot, location, props and costume I needed to produce my teaser trailer. This was extremely helpful during production as I could see what shots I had done and which ones needed to be done, making filming easier and quicker than I anticipated.

I also did a small risk asessment which outlined areas that I thought would be a risk to the people I used in my film and myself.

Planning #2

During planning I intentionally set out to use a variety of songs from artists such as the Jonas Brothers and Demi Lovato as I felt they matched my product perfectly. I didn’t approach music for my product this way during my AS coursework, so I feel I have developed here.

After researching the ways to gain permission to use the music I wanted, I emailed the company that produce the artists music and asked for permission to use certain songs. However rules said that permission couldn’t be given over email, so instead I settled for music that was already installed in imovie, and after adding them to my product I thought they worked just as well as what the original ideas would have. Even though I did use music that was already put together, I edited and added them myself in ways which I thought would fit into the mood of my film, as well as keeping in with the continuity of shots.

Music

Music #2

I used Photoshop to produce my magazine front cover. I felt that using Photoshop created a more realistic article that what would have done in amateur software such as Paint and Microsoft Publisher. I had also never used Photoshop before so producing my magazine front cover in that format not only helped me develop skills, but also developed the creativity of my work.

Before creating I researched various magazine front covers. From this I set up a small photo shoot with the people in my film and selected the photo I thought would fit best on the front cover and would also promote my film. I used a still camera to do this.

Ancillary task #1 – Magazine front cover

For my movie poster I decided to go the traditional way with a photograph using a still camera of one of the characters in my trailer. Again I researched movie posters and set up a photo shoot with the character I wanted.

Like the magazine front cover I added my own take to the poster on areas such as colouring, the type of shot of the photograph and the placing of the text. However an aspect I kept the same is placing the credits at the bottom of the poster, in small, readable and clear text to give it a more realistic and natural feel. Like the magazine front cover I used Photoshop to produce my movie poster.

Ancillary task #2 – Movie Poster

To edit my product I used imovie. I originally planned to used imovie to edit my product but I also looked into other software that I could use. A main one was Windows Movie Maker that I used to edit my Storyboard as I was familiar with this software.

However after looking more into Windows Movie Maker I felt it would be better to edit in imovie as it has more applications such as transitions, sound effects and clip by clip editing which would seriously benefit the outcome of my trailer. After reviewing the finished product I think it views better because I edited it in imovie. I feel it wouldn’t have worked as well or felt realistic if I had used Windows Movie Maker because it doesn’t have the same standard of applications as imovie which made it hard to edit, and I also felt it was more complicated to use.

Editing – imovie and the mac