Evaluation Task 4- How Did You Use New Media Technologies in the Construction, Research, Planning and Evaluation Stages

Voice recorder-

I used a voice recorder in the construction of my film to record some voiceovers throughout our trailer such as our tagline “keep telling yourself it’s just a date” at the end of our trailer and the narrative voice over that says “this summer, 4 strangers, get a surprise they didn’t expect”. The use of the voice recorder allowed us to capture the voices of different people, for example we started off using one male voice for our narrative voice over, how it didn’t fit our genre of film due to his accent. Therefore we were able to use the voice recorder again and record the same voiceover with someone different and this ended up suiting the trailer much better. The voice recorder was a very good quality which was vital as we needed it to be clear as it conveyed the narrative more than the non-diegetic voiceover and created sound bridges which is stereotypical of a trailer. The voice recorders were available for us to borrow from school and we were allowed to borrow for as long as needed.This was very useful for me when doing my evaluation 2 as I used it to record my script to overlay onto my trailer. The fact it was so accessible meant I could take it home to record it instead of having to do it in school, as there was no quiet area for me to record in. This piece of technology has therefore improved both my evaluation process as well as the construction of my trailer as well.

Microphone-

To support our camerawork in the trailer, we used a microphone attachment for the camera which allowed us to improve the sound quality, compared to the video camera’s standard microphone. This was very important for the construction of our film because throughout my research I noticed how important it was to have clear and concise dialogue as it is such a short amount of time in a teaser trailer. Therefore this microphone attachment enabled us to have a very high quality level of diegetic sound in our trailer and conform to conventions of the horror trailer genre, making our product professional.

Powerpoint and SmartBoard-

For our initial ideas we had to carry out a pitch for our class mates and teacher. To do this we used Powerpoint to put all our ideas together onto a document. This allowed us to put together our thoughts about our plots, characters, music etc. in a visual way for our class.This allowed us to get some constructive criticism that we may have otherwise not seen ourselves, therefore benefiting the construction of our film. We also used an interactive whiteboard to display what we made on our powerpoint. This allowed us to clearly show our class and teacher our ideas that would otherwise have been difficult on a small computer screen. Due to this we got lots of feedback on how to improve our initial ideas, once again greatly befitting our film. 

IPhone-

-Firstly we used our iPhones and made a joint ios groupchat with our 4 group members and our actors. This allowed us to easily communicate information about the schedule for filming and costume choices when we couldn’t see them in person. This allowed us to keep every informed and up to date to avoid any issues with actors being busy on filming days. Without this new technology we would have come across issues as it was difficult to arrange a time within school that we could all discuss the film with our actors in person, therefore this feature was a great tool in the production of the film. I also used the camera feature on the iPhone for my ancillary tasks. I needed to take 2 photos using a portable high quality camera to conform to the photo shoot style of photography used on magazine front covers and film posters. Therefore with the use of my iPhone’s 12 megapixel camera I was able to create this high quality image that made my product look realistic. As it was lightweight and very portable I was also able to climb on top of a bollard with the technology to take the high angle shot that I wanted. This wouldn't have been possible without the use of this technology which is why it has greatly improved my campaign.

Social Media-

Social Media played a huge role in our research and planning process. I firstly used a site called Instagram to find out about what types of conventions that our target audience. I used the # to search for horror in the hashtag. This showed me pictures of what people had posted with the hashtag of 'horror' such as of the main character from Oujia. From this we learnt about what conventions from horror our demographic likes and we decided from this what conventions of the genre to conform to. This taught me how to use hashtags to search for different posts relating to a topic. We also used social media sites like Twitter and Facebook to post our draft of our film onto. We choose these sites because they have the highest traffic of 12-18 year old females compared to other sites. This allowed us to get feedback on our film opening from a suitable demographic and this gave us ideas on what to improve. Therefore this helped with not only the research but also the production as we made some changes to our film as a result of target audience feedback.

Video Camera-

This was an essential piece of technology that helped us to produce our film. These cameras were available to access from school and we could book them out and use them in offsite locations such as at home. This was very important because it meant we could conform to stereotypical horror/thriller locations such as an abandoned barn which we filmed at. This was a very easy process due to the very convenient small size of the camera which meant we could easily transport them to various locations. This was also important because it reduced the chance of damage equipment which we had to consider in our risk assessment. Throughout the filming process we were able to the camera in different ways to help achieve different effects. Firstly we learnt about the lighting settings on the camera which allowed us to create the best possible lighting for each shot, we used low key lighting in parts to fit the genre conventions of the horror/thriller. We were also able to take a range of different shots on the camera. For example we wanted to take a low angle shot of our main character Hayley and this was not an issue to do using the camera. This shot was important because it allowed us to portray her as a character of greater importance as a low key shot conveys dominance. Lastly we learnt the importance of a steady shot which we successfully achieved and made our film as professionally shot as possible, which is important when competing with other professional horror/thriller films. To assist us with this process we used a tripod, which although not entirely a piece of technology itself, it was an essential part of ensuring we took steady shots.

Adobe Premiere Pro CS5-

Using Adobe Premiere Pro was a new skill that I had to learn this year after using Final Cut Pro last year, skills from as simple as cutting videos was difficult because we had to work out a new method of doing so. However the software was great once we learnt how to use it, the software allowed us to add post production effects, such as our fade to blacks and cross dissolves which is stereotypical of the horror genre to have lots of simple fade to black; therefore the software allowed us to conform to this aspect of the genre. We were also able to import the music we had found FreePlayMusic.com with no issues, we simply had to use the important function and then we were able to drag this onto our film, therefore combining our footage with music that fitted the horror genre. Further to this the software had sound transitions called “expendational fades”, this was vital for us as we used two different soundtracks and this allowed us to seamlessly blend them together. I also made some inter title backgrounds on Photoshop, but I wanted to make the titles on the editing software so I could fade them in and out to add excitement for the audience. I was able to find a font and colour that suited the horror genre and also edit the title so that it moved slightly forwarded and faded in and out, this made our trailer look much more professionl than a standard inter title, so Adobe Premiere Pro was a great tool here.

Further to this the software also benefitted the construction of the trailer as it let us add in images onto the trailer. This was very useful for us because we have a section of our trailer where we have 5 different shots starting with an extreme long shot of the barn and ending with a close up of it. This software let us add this images and zoom into the length of the clips, allowing us to cut them to very short lengths as thriller trailers are stereotypically fast and jumpy, therefore this technology allowed us to recreate this. Another useful feature of the software was the image positioning tool, which allowed us to slightly rotate one of our shots because we looking at it we had filmed it with the tripod on a slight angle. This looked unprofessional but this tool allowed us the readjust the shot so it looked more professional. We were also able to change the lighting of a certain shot in our trailer, because we had filmed it outside in bright daylight it looked out of place as the majority of the rest of the footage was low key lighting to conform to the typical conventions of the horror genre. However the lighting change was simple to do on the software, benefitting the film as the clip fitted in, increasing the fluidity of the trailer. Not only Adobe Premiere Pro help our construction of the film itself, but there was a feature which allowed me to create a copy of the project. This was important as it allowed me to edit the trailer for my evaluation task 2 without effecting the original copy. Overall the Adobe Premiere Pro software was brilliant for both the construction of the trailer and also my evaluation task.

Dropbox-

Dropbox was another important website that we used throughout the process of the construction of my products. Dropbox is an online server that allows you to save documents and pictures on your account and access them wherever you are. This was very important throughout the planning and research process because it allowed me to save work and research that I had done in school and work on it during my free time at home. This helped benefit our film because having the access to the work at home allowed me to meet certain deadlines that I may not have otherwise met and this would have delayed the production of our film. Further to this when creating my two ancillary tasks this software was vital as I was able to edit them on photoshop at home, where I had much more time to improve the work I had already done in lessons. Dropbox allowed me to save these changes and then open up them up again in school to work on again in lesson. Without this technology my taks would have been a much lower quality of work because I simply wouldn’t have had the time in class to get it to the standard that I was able to at home. Therefore Dropbox not only helped with my research and planning, but also the production of my ancillary tasks.

Photoshop-

Photoshop was an essential piece of technology that I have used throughout the process of the construction of my campaign. Firstly I used the software to create a mood board of different horror movie posters in my research of stereotypical conventions found on them. Being able to put a series of different film posters together like this helped my to a great degree as I could easily identify key codes and conventions of posters as they were all together. In my research I also made an annotated version of the ‘Sinister’ poster on Photoshop, improving my research section on my blog as it allowed me to show research in a visual way to support my written research. When doing this I had to remember to save the images I created in a Jpeg as well as in PSD because the Jpeg format allowed me to upload them onto my blog.

Photoshop was also very useful as it allows you to use different layering on a single image. This come was very useful in the construction, firstly in the trailer as I was able to combine the image of our barn location with an old looking worn paper using the opacity setting to blend them together. This allowed us to create an aesthetically pleasing background for the inter titles to keep the audience engaged, whilst maintaining synergy of the isolated barn location by having it incorporated. Shortcuts were also another important aspect of Photoshop as the quickened the construction process of the tasks. For example ctrl+T allowed me to change the sizes of different images, this photo manipulation was very useful for my magazine front cover as I could make images smaller, such as the photo of Sean for the “special interview”. I also used the Lasso tool when creating my magazine front cover which was very useful as it allowed me to delete the background of the close up of Hayley, allowing me to just have her on the front cover, a typical convention seen of many front covers. Lastly the blending options tool came in very good use when I was making my film poster, I found a font I really liked as it fitted the horror genre. However having it in black or white made it stand out too much and it didn’t suit the genre. Due to this I used the blending options of bevel and emboss on “D.O.B”, creating a new depth to the text, making it suit the poster and it also made the appearance of the font much more professional.

Prezzi-

Prezzi was a website that I hadn’t heard of before starting the campaign; however it came into great use in the research and planning section. I saw it firstly when researching about the codes and conventions of film posters. I found that someone had created a Prezzi presentation about that and I felt that I learnt far more from this presentation than I would’ve if I had just read the information normally as it is so interactive. Therefore I decided to test the software for myself in my research of Bourne Ultimatum, after watching the film I created my own presentation about what stereotypical thriller genres I had found. Therefore this technology improved my research as I could present my ideas in a much more visual way compared to simply writing out what I had found. Further to this, I also used this new technology very useful in the evaluation process as well. I was able to use Prezzi as seen in task 1 to evaluate different aspects of my film. Prezzi was so vital to this because it allowed me to combine a visual representation with my evaluation of the different topics together, making my evaluation easy to read and understand. Which is why this technology is brilliant as it has allowed me improve my evaluation of my products as well as my research, therefore greatly benefitting my overall progress in the process. 

Freeplay music-

Freeplaymusic a useful tool to use during the process of constructing our projects. We used this website to browse different soundtracks that we could use for our trailer as it is free. The website has a wide range of music that is copyright free and also appropriate for the style of horror film. It is also easy to download onto the computer, as well as being able to cut and extend the songs in Adobe Premiere Pro. Therefore the website allowed us to find music and directly use it in our trailer without worrying about any copyright issues that may occur if we found the music anywhere else. We also found a soundtrack called “battleship descends” on the website which we decided to use in our trailer, so the website greatly improved our construction of the trailer.

Blogger-

Blogger was the first site that was an essential part of the process throughout this project. This is because it acted as an online diary that helped us track and keep all of our research and planning safe and recorded. The importance of this is that if we made these notes and records on paper it could be easily lost, however Blogger ensured the safety of our work. This benefitted the making of our film greatly because blogger is very easily accessible on a wide range of devices from desktops to iPads so it meant our research and planning was safe and ready to be used whenever we needed it for our film. Further to this blogger allowed our teachers to view our work whenever convenient to them and allowed them to leave comments on our research and planning and these improvements benefitted our film.

Youtube-

Youtube was an important asset because it enabled us to upload our videos such as our film trailer concept pitch and our final film, as well as being free to use. This made it easy to post onto places like our blogs which saved us a lot of time, allowing us time to work on other areas of our film. Youtube also helped me to great extent in my research as there is such a wide array of trailers from the horror genre, as well as horror styled music which made researching much easier. Therefore YouTube greatly benefitted our project as it allowed us to improve our blogs for research and planning and we directly used this research and planning for the making of our film.