EVALUATIONHow did you use media technologies in the construction

and research, planning and evaluation stages?

EDUBLOGS

• Edublogs is a free blogging website that is on the internet and open for anyone and everyone to use. Edublogs has allowed me to present and showcase my portfolio of work all on one website or page. It has allowed me to post and share images, videos, polls, texts, thoughts, links and much more. By putting all of my work on to Edublogs it has meant that other students can access it easily to view and comment on my content. Edublogs is easily accessible at home so this meant that I could blog whilst I'm at home as well as in school. This has been an amazing tool that has aided me in my research and planning and construction phases of my trailer and poster.

WEBSITES

GOOGLE

• The search engine google has helped me massively during the research and planning stages of my production. Google allowed me to type or search any question and would be able to give me the answer simultaneously. Google allowed me to research genre, target audiences, find other blogs and trailer etc. Most of the images found during my research and planning were dragged of google images for example my poster analysis’.

YOUTUBE

• YouTube was used regularly during my research and planning of existing media trailers. I was able to search for any trailer and watch them straight away. YouTube was also used during the construction stages of my trailer, if I need to find out how to use certain tools in the programs I used. YouTube was also used to upload my trailer, idents, and clips , which therefore meant I could embed them on to my blog using the old embed code, which meant everyone could view and potentially help my blog grow.

IMDB

• IMDb stands for International Movie Database and is a website that is used to view everything about every film, TV programmes and games. I used IMDb to obtain information about different films or genres. For example I researched into gangster films on IMDb and looked at there target audiences and their gross profits to see whether my genre and film theme were popular choices.

INFORMATION FROM TARGET AUDIENCES

• The technology over the internet that was available for me allowed me to gather lots of information from my target audience. I used Edublogs to present my work to my target audience which then allowed them to comment on it. This meant that I could interact with my target audience and teachers quickly and efficiently. Another way I gained information from my target audience is from a website called PollDaddy.com. This is a easy-to-use survey creating program via the internet that allowed me to create a poll that helped me gain hard statistics about what my audiences wanted and liked.

IPHONE 5

• The iPhone 5 was the main piece of equipment used when creating my trailer. I used the Video recording, HD (1080p) up to 30 frames per second with audio camera to film my clips. This produced some great quality clips and looked professional when edited with and rendered. Only bad aspect with using an iPhone 5 camera is that it made it difficult for me to keep the camera still or pan it smoothly, but apart from that it was a great bit of technology.

ADOBE SOFTWARE

• Adobe software is a group of programs that are installed or can be installed at school or at home. I used 3 different Adobe applications these were Adobe After Effects, Adobe InDesign and Adobe Photoshop. This software helped me edit and construct a professional looking trailer, design a poster and build a magazine front cover.

PHOTOSHOP

• Photoshop was mostly used to create and edit my magazine front cover and my poster. Although the majority of my magazine front cover was edited with in InDesign, I used Photoshop to edit the photographs that I added to the poster for example the main background photo. To increase the aesthetics of the magazine I wanted the colour correction to match the theme and look dramatic. I used functions with in Photoshop such as Hue and Saturation and Levels to edit the contrast and brightness of the picture. I also used the spot healing tool in order to remove any obvious marks from the models face to ensure that there is no imperfections. I designed my whole poster with in Photoshop as it did not require as much layout specification as my front cover need. My poster is very dark and I have focused my saturates on the reds and oranges on the flame of the cigar as this fits the theme of death and violence well. To do this I masked the cigar and added a Hue and Saturation to it in order to make that one specific bit different without changing he whole poster.

INDESIGN

• InDesign is a brilliant Adobe program for editing and creating amazing posters/magazines. I used InDesign to design my front cover page for my Gangster Squad magazine. InDesign allowed me to set columns and correctly place text on to the front cover in order to make it look professional and structured. InDesign allowed me to align my text down both sides of the page, create borders and headings and place images behind and in front of the text in order to make it look layered and realistic. InDesign allowed me to also export my image in a range of file types, one of which I chose was PNG. This made the magazines quality crystal clear and allowed me to place the PNG on to my blog to then advertise it to the audiences.

AFTER EFFECTS

• After effects is the third type of software that I used. I used the technology with in after effects to construct my trailer. This involved importing all of my clips into the program then setting them out on a timeline and deciding where a bout's I wanted them to be placed. I also imported audio from the internet on to the program in order to play over the top of my trailer. My main priority when edit the trailer it to make sure that the clips synchronised well with the music, so this involved quick transition bright flashes, scale changes etc. After effects is also similar to Photoshop in the fact that there is a range of colour correction features. I wanted the trailer to suit a specific gangster theme so I wanted dark colours and high contrast. The effects I used consisted of levels and curves mostly with hints of imported textures from the internet in order to give a gungy dirty look.

TECHNOLOGY USED IN EVALUATION

• The only program that I have used in my evaluation is Microsoft PowerPoint. PowerPoint allowed me to create a presentation consisting of as many slides as I want. It allowed me to insert text, images, videos, borders, themes, and arrange them however I want. This software has aided my evaluation as without it I would not be able to express my ideas about my productions creatively as I have done. PowerPoint allowed me to import pictures from the internet such as the Adobe logos and then present them on my document.

TECHNOLOGICAL CONVERGENCE

•Youtube

•Social Networking

•Adobe Software

•Google

•Poll Daddy

•Camera

• IMDb

•Edublogs

•Mediachs

TECHNOLOGICAL CONVERGENCE • After researching into all the products used during the different stages of my

A2 course, I’ve come to realize that none of it would be possible without the use of technological convergence, which is the combination and connection between all the different technologies used. From recording a video, then taking it to After Effects, then to YouTube, then to social networking sites, the to Edublogs. Through the connection of different technologies it has allowed me to produce quality content and share it with the world, whether it be my trailer, poster, or magazine cover.