Evaluation 4- How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Research:

IMBD

I used IMDB to look at all the trailers and film posters that I could analyze. This website has all the trailers of the most recent films and has it in sections which makes it very easy to find the trailer you want and the watch it and analyze. This was very beneficial because it gave me a wide choice of trailers to choose from and they were very high quality so could do in depth analysis on it but the only downfall was that you couldn’t upload it to blogger straight from IMDB so you had to find exactly the same trailer on YouTube to upload it from there. The impact of this technology is that I could analyze 5 teaser trailers in great detail and find out other information about the film on the same page. I don’t think I have become more creative because this stage was just watching videos which were already provided for us on a website and analyzing them. 

FindYourtribe 

 

I used find your tribe to do research into target audiences. This website asks you a series of questions which will then tell you which social group they think you belong to. This can determine which target audience we could aim our trailer at. We had to answer all the questions as we would because we are part of the target audience. This website was beneficial because it told us which groups we should aim our trailer at and then it gave us some information on that type of group (shown in the picture above). This has made me more creative because this has enabled me to find out some research and then develop it into something that we can use for example what age rating to give this film.

YouTube

I used YouTube to upload the trailers I had analysed to blogger. I did this because you couldn’t upload videos directly from IMDB so found the exact same trailer on YouTube. It was easy to use and easy to follow instructions on how to upload the videos to blogger. This was beneficial because otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to upload my trailer videos to blogger although sometimes I couldn’t find the same trailer so I would’ve had to start again. The impact of this technology has been that I can now have videos on my blog which give me credit for creativity and also makes it easier for the moderator to watch rather than having lots of hyperlinks. I don’t think this has made me more creative because it was just using the simple link between blogger and YouTube to upload a video to my blog.

Planning:

Iphone and Email 

 

 I used the Iphone and email to communicate with potential actors that could appear in our trailer. This was done by text messaging them locations, dates and what role they might be playing if selected. Once they got back to us we chose the select few to star. Using this was very beneficial because I have an Iphone so it was very easy to carry around and communicate with people and also using email was good because you could send one email to lots of people. The impact of this technology has been that we have become more organized in getting the actors to a certain place and at a time that can suit everyone. It also is light and portable to carry around so doesn’t mean we have to go out of our way to do anything. I don’t think I have become more creative because all I have done is email and text people which is what I do on a daily basis.

Digital Camera

I used the digital camera to take pictures of locations and actors which we could potentially use in the trailer. This was beneficial because it was easy to carry around and take quick pictures as well as being able to compare things afterwards when we put the pictures up on the computer. This let us look at them and chose carefully which scene looks the best to show the genre and set the scene of the storyline. The impact of this technology has allowed us to make the correct decisions in when to shoot the film and which actors to have in it. This has made me more creative but not because of the use of the camera just because of the way it let me use my creative side to choose locations and actors and see how they mix. I feel I now have a much better understanding on how to create the right type of mise-en-scene for a particular scene.

Indesign

I used Indesign to do the drafts of the magazine and poster front cover. This was beneficial because it gave it a professional look and also at the same time it allowed space for editing and anything we wanted to change to the picture to make it look like a real poster or magazine. The only downfall was that we didn’t know how to use it very well so had to receive help from the teacher. The impact of this technology has given us two very high quality and professional looking drafts of a movie poster and magazine. I think this has made me more creative because before this project I had never learnt how to use this before and now I know the basics, and feel that I will use this in the future when needed.

Production:

YouTube

 

We used YouTube in our production in order to be able to put our trailer up on the internet to load up to our blogs. This was also done so we could potentially get more viewers than we could, by just showing people in our class what we have done. We got our clip off Adobe Premiere and saved it into a special format so that it can be played in Windows Media Player and then set up a YouTube account and uploaded it before putting the link up on our blogs. Putting it on YouTube was a good idea because since we put it up there, it has had 70 views from friends and potentially others around the UK who gave comments on it and liked it. This added to our audience feedback that we got from our class mates. This was very beneficial to us as it made it easier to upload the video to our blogs and also it got more people to view it which was a bonus. The impact of this technology has been huge because without uploading the video to our blog, it would have been a lot harder to gain audience feedback. I think we have become more creative from using YouTube because this was the first time I have ever created an account and uploaded videos. I have gained further knowledge about navigating in and out within YouTube.

Digital & film cameras

 

We used these devices quite a lot in our production. The video camera was used to capture all the footage we shot for the trailer. This was easily done because the camera was light and portable and then when the trailer was completed it was easy to connect to the computer so we could upload the footage to Adobe Premiere. The simple touch play, view and rewind buttons made it very easy to tape over any out takes we may have had whilst filming. The digital camera we used was to take behind the scenes pictures which we needed for our blog and also to take pictures for our film poster and magazine. The camera made it easy to view pictures and zoom in for extra detail which is always important when creating a film poster. Having the video camera was very beneficial because without it we wouldn’t have been able to capture all the footage we want to and also if we had a big camera then it would have been harder to transport around all of the locations we shot at. It was beneficial to have the digital camera with us at all times as well because it meant whilst we were filming we could take some action shots which would look good for the front cover of a magazine or the poster. The impact of this technology is obvious because without the video camera there would be no trailer and without the digital camera we wouldn’t have any pictures to put on our poster of magazine front cover. I believe that I have become more creative by doing this because I have learnt how different camera angles can create different affects and also I have learnt what else you can do with a video camera e.g. editing.

Photoshop

 

We used Photoshop to add affects to the pictures that we took for the front cover of our magazine and for the movie poster. We did things such as change the brightness of the characters and also we took the characters off the background they were originally in and moved them onto the background that we chose for the movie poster. We also created the magazine front cover and film poster in Photoshop which was very easy to use and very quick and easy to correct mistakes. I think that using Photoshop has been very beneficial because it has added extra affects and giving a stronger look to the pictures. Without Photoshop our images would be seem very basic. It gave us a chance to try different things to the picture to try and make it unique and eye catching as well which was a bonus. The only downfall of using this is that it took a long time for us to get to grips with how to work it, because neither I nor my partner had used this software before so we had to ask for lots of help, which was very time consuming. Overall, the impact of this software has been very good because it has produced professional and unique pictures which we have used for the movie poster and front cover of our magazine which will make them more attractive and appealing to the target audience. I think that I have become more creative by using this software because before this project I had never used Photoshop and now I have learnt the basics, such as adjusting the levels, brightness, contrast and using filters. This will be very useful when I need Photoshop in the future.

Adobe Premiere Pro

I used Adobe Premiere to edit all the footage that we filmed and put it into a sequence to create a trailer. By using Premiere, we were also able to add a soundtrack to our trailer which added tempo and other effects. Placing all our footage onto the time scale allowed us to cut some clips down in length and then match it to the tune of the music. Using this was very beneficial because it allowed us to shorten clips that were too long and then add a soundtrack to it to make it follow the conventions of a teaser trailer. This also allowed us to put in short clips of writing to inform the audience of what is going on, which you can’t do on other software’s. The only downfall of using this is that it took a long time for us to get to grips with how to work it because neither I nor my partner had used this software before so we had to ask for lots of help. The impact of this software is huge because without it we wouldn’t been able to edit the clips so the trailer would be very long and basic which is not what we wanted. It would also not have a soundtrack which would make the audience lose interest in it quickly. . I think that I have become more creative by using this software because before this project I had never used Premiere and now I have learnt the basics, such as adding in titles between clips, adjusting the sounds and cutting down clips which all created a professional film trailer look.

Downloading sounds/music

 

We used the soundtrack ‘Vocal Slam’ from a website which provided free downloads which weren’t copyrighted. This was made very easy by the instructions which were clearly supplied on the website (AudioJungle.com). After downloading this it was very easy to upload it to Premiere and then match it to our trailer. We had to find one that was up tempo to make it apply to our target audience and also try and portray which genre the film is. This was very beneficial because without the music the trailer would be boring and also choosing this website, saved us a lot of time because it was very easy to use. The impact of this has been that we now have a very exciting trailer and a good soundtrack to go with it which was easy to download and sync with the footage we had captured. I believe that I have become more creative from this because I have learnt how to sync music with footage and where to find all this copyright free music to download. 

Evaluation:

YouTube

 

We used YouTube in our evaluation in order to show our creativity and we thought that it would also be easier to analyze the trailer if it was on a big screen behind us. We did a video of ourselves analyzing the trailer and then uploaded it to YouTube to make it easier to put onto our blogs. This also showed our creativity skills rather than just writing a long essay and putting that on our blogs because that is less appealing. This was very beneficial because it made it fast and easy to get our video onto our blog rather than having to wait ages for it to load to blogger itself. The impact of using YouTube has been that we have saved a lot of time by uploading it there first and we have also gained a lot of credit for our creativity in doing a video blog instead of writing a long essay. I don’t think we have become more creative from using YouTube because we already knew how to use it; we uploaded the video when previously using it for our trailer. Although it was easier to use this time round as I had experience of using YouTube by using it from the other production tasks.

Microsoft Word

 

We used Microsoft word in our evaluations to write some analysis for the questions and also to plan out the script for our video blogs. We wrote who would say what and then print it out. This was very beneficial because it allowed us to plan what we were going to say before the filming so we didn’t have to make it up and also it allowed us to write professional looking essays to evaluate some of our work. The impact of this technology has been really good because we have produced some good essays and a very good script for our video blog which we have recorded for our evaluations. I don’t think we have become more creative from using Microsoft Word because we already knew how to use it, but this was an extremely effective tool as it was simple and quick to use.

Video camera

 

We used the video camera in our evaluation to do a video blog of some of our work. This made it easier to present it as we could have the trailer and productions on a big screen behind us whilst we talked about it to the camera. It was then very easy to rewind if we read something wrong or there were any mistakes. We then connected it easily to the computer and uploaded the footage to Adobe Premiere where it could be edited. This was beneficial because it gave us credit for using creativity and also it allowed us to present our work instead of just writing about it which is less appealing. The impact of this technology has been huge because without the camera all our evaluation would be essays which wouldn’t give us any credit for creativity and would take a lot longer to do. I don’t think that I have become more creative in the sense that we used the video camera in previous production, but I think I have become more creative in making ideas because of the use of the big screen and using the touch screen features in our video to make it more professional. The knowledge of using the video camera for the trailer made it easier and quicker to work the video camera for the evaluation as we had a better understanding and experience.

Adobe Premiere Pro

We used Adobe Premiere to edit the footage we took of us analysing our trailer for the evaluation. We made some clips shorter and took out all the outtakes that occurred whilst filming. This was beneficial because it meant we could cut out all the mistakes we made whilst filming in order to make the evaluation look as professional as possible. Using Premiere also meant that we could change the volume of the sound where we used the ‘DeNoiser’ effect to make voices seem louder and the background noise less which really helped to make the audience hear what people are saying. The impact of this has made the evaluation look very professional and also gives us credit for creativity and knowing how to use this software instead of writing an essay. We used it for evaluation 1 and 3 which meant it was a lot quicker. I think that I have become more creative by using this software because before this project I had never used Premiere and now I have learnt the basics, such as DeNoiser.

Blogger

 

In conclusion, the most important media technology used was Blogger. It has enabled me to show and express my creativity throughout all of the productions. This was an excellent way to present the completed coursework as it is clearly layered out. The bad side about Blogger is that when you write on a post, there is no spelling check to look at, so I had to write up all my work on Microsoft Word before putting it into Blogger. However, the simplicity was a key factor as it helped upload the work quickly and easily. By using Blogger, I feel I have become much more creative in presenting work to others. Blogger helped by giving a sample of how my blog could look like, and after a while I made it into my own style which has impacted on the creative ways I can show my work in. This is reflected throughout my Blog.