How did you use new media

technologies in the construction

and research, planning and

evaluation stages?

Hannah Stubbs

Throughout each stage of production, (pre-production, production and post-production) of my trailer andancillary products I used a wide variety of different types oftechnologies. These technologies have been crucial in thedesigning and developing of my project.

Whilst at college I used an Apple Mac computer, which wasmainly for the more creative tasks, such as editing, and athome I used Windows, which was mainly for research andblogging. However, the use of two different operating systemsdid have it’s flaws as I was unable to take work home with meetc...

Pre-production:For the pre-production I mainly used the world wide web

in order to research various topics, on the Mac this was through

Safari and on Windows through Internet Explorer.

In order to research existing media film trailers I used YouTube, this allowed me to watch a largeselection of real videos, and to analyse these for similar features.

I also used the internet to research other elements such as a definition of a teaser trailer, throughwebsites such as Wikipedia and Free Dictionary.

Probably the most useful tool in the pre-production research was the search-engine, Google, thisallowed me to access a huge amount of websites.

The web page IMDB allowed access to details on films and also posters which I was then able toanalyse for the pre-production of the film poster. Similarly I used the ‘Total Film’ and ‘Empire’websites in order to view their cover archives in order to analyse existing products.

Pre-production:I created a blog in order to upload my progress and final products.Blogger allowed me to share different forms of multimedia, suchas images and videos. This meant my progress throughout thetask could be monitored and then viewed at a later date.

The ‘link’ button allows me to upload a link to a different

website, which will automatically become a

hyperlink.

This button allows me to upload images either from my blog or

from my own images

The ‘Edit HTML’ option allowed me to embed YouTube videos within

my blog, this was better and easier for the

readers than clicking on a link which would lead to

an external site.

The option to ‘follow’ other blogs meant I was able to view what my partner was uploading, this meant that if she uploaded an image from

her computer I would be able to access this.

The insert a video button is another way of adding a video

into my blog.

The ability to add text means I was able to create a mixture of

images, videos and text explaining and evaluating the significance of

these.

Production – Trailer.

In order to obtain the footage for the film trailer it was necessary to use a videocamera. This was essentially the most crucial tool used in our trailer, as withoutthe camera there would have been no footage to edit and create a trailer with,and without a trailer there would have been no ancillary tasks.

With the camera we used a tripod to keep the camera still and improve the quality ofthe footage.

Once we had the footage we had to edit this in orderto create the trailer itself. We did so on iMovie. Thisallowed me to crop the footage, edit audio over thetop, take audio off, add credits, add still images,

edit the transitions, watch the footage back,then upload the final product straight online,for example, once I had edited the footage Iwould upload it straight to YouTube.

Video sits here

Edit footage here

These buttons allow me to edit the footage, for example transitions

Production – Ancillary tasksI began the ancillary tasks by editing an image, which I would use forboth the poster and magazine cover. I edited this image on AdobePhotoshop, a print screen of which is in the bottom left hand corner.I began by cropping out the background so I was left with the girlalone. I then ‘featured’ the edges of this to decrease the harshnessagainst the black backdrop. I then edited her eyes to make themred, as this emphasises the genre. This image was then put onto ablack background. To improve this I would have liked to create a redsplatter effect in the background. I then saved this image as a JPEG.To create the magazine and poster I then opened this image inAdobe Indesign (print screen in right hand corner). I then addedtext over the top to create titles etc... In the poster I added anotherimage over the top, the 15 certificate, as this is a convention of filmposters. I changed the colours of the fonts to connotate differentideas, e.g. Red connotates blood and death. The use of differentfonts makes the products look more professional. I downloadeddifferent fonts from ‘Dafont.com’, which helped the production ofboth trailer and ancillary tasks as it helps fit the genre.

The variety of buttons in the tool bar allow me to edit the image in many different ways.

The ‘swatches’ allow me to pick whatever colour, which allows me to match my colours exactly. This helps as it looks very professional.

Production – 3DI added the 3D effect to my ancillary task, the poster, as this is more effective.

This was done through Photoshop; to begin the edited image is taken in Photoshop and then the layer is duplicated. 2 more layers are then added over the top and the bottom. These blank layers are then coloured red and blue, using the RGB colours. The layers are then merged and the 3D effect is created, it may be necessary to move the image to the left or right in order to enhance the 3D effect.

In order to view the 3D effect it is necessary to wear 3D glasses, which have one blue lens and one red.

Production -In order to present my the projects I have created in production it was necessary forme to create accounts on various sites.To upload the finalized trailer and trailer in different stages of production it wasnecessary for me to create a YouTube account – this allows me to upload videos whichare then available for anyone to see. This account helped in the production of ourtrailer as it provided a platform for viewing.Secondly I decided to create a Flickr account, Flickr is similar to blogging, howeverwith images rather than text. Therefore I decided to create an account as it provides alarge amount of space to upload images, which I had a lot of. By uploading the imagesto Flickr this also provides a platform for viewing, which was also useful for my partnerto access the images which I took, as she could also use these.

Production – Audience ResearchIn order to receive audience feedback it was necessary to use new technologies; to begin we did very simple audience research, through the use of paper – we printed surveys off using the printer, then handed these surveys out and once completed we analysed the data. When conducting more important audience research we did so through the use of social networking sites; the benefits of this is that it is done through the internet which therefore saves paper and ink, but more importantly reaches a huge amount of people which are more willing to leave feedback through the internet as it is much more anonymous and therefore the data collected is less likely to be biased. Therefore we used new technology in order to collect audience feedback, we did so in the form of the internet, printers and word processors in order to type up the surveys.

Evaluation – Q1 & Q3I completed questions one and three using a virtual presentation editor, in which you

can ‘Create astonishing presentations live and on the web’. I chose to use Prezi as it enables the user to display many different forms of media on one site, similarly to Blogger, however the Prezi is much more flexible. Both these sites are example of Web 2.0 and how the user has more power than in comparison to past decades in which the internet has been introduced.

On Prezi I uploaded images from the internet and images taken from our location, I also uploaded videos from our location and videos of existing products – this is done through YouTube. I was also able to write about these. The ability to create ‘paths’ means that the user can be very creative, and make the view go wherever they wanted. I will then embed the Prezi’s I have created through a HTML code.

Question 2For question two I used a site called ‘Wikispaces’, on which I wrote an essay

type response. This is similar to a blog, but more informative and allows for more types of multimedia to be included. The image in the right hand corner shows the ‘Widgets’ which can be uploaded onto a page. The definition of a widget from Wikipedia is ‘a stand-alone application that can be embedded into third party sites by any user on a page where they have rights of authorship (e.g. a webpage, blog, or profile on a social media site). Widgets allow users to turn personal content into dynamic web apps that can be shared on websites where the code can be installed.’

Question 4For this question I have obviously created a Powerpoint Presentation; this is a

Windows software, which does not require the internet. On Powerpointyou can upload images, which can then be made as background or simplyan image. In order to get this PowerPoint onto the internet I am going touse an external site, called SlideShare, which will upload the completedPowerpoint onto their website, I will then embed this into my blog post,by using a HTML code.

This shows how technology has adapted to different operating systems, andin order to overcome difficulties in uploading, e.g. If not for sites such asSlideShare I would have been unable to upload my PowerPoint to theinternet.

Throughout my coursework the whole project has been done throughthe use of the computer – we have not once used paper to presentwork. This shows how the we have used technologies in every stageof construction. This ability to have such ability to new technologyhas been very beneficial in creating my project.

I feel that the use of technology has had a positive effect on the qualityof my coursework – the new technology which allows close detail,such as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Indesign.

It could be said that Adobe products, such as Photoshop, Indesign andApple products such as iMovie, are focussed towards more creativemedia whereas Windows products are less visually focussed andgenerally used more for presenting the finished product. Which iswhat I have done in my coursework – the creative products such asfootage and images have been edited on a Apple Mac, using Appleand Adobe technology and I have then presented this work using aWindows software.

In conclusion I used a large variety of new technologies throughout theconstruction of my media product, which have been very beneficial.