Evaluation Question 4How did you use Media technologies in the construction and research, planning

and evaluation stages?.

By Lewis Rogers

-Adobe Premiere Pro CC• Without doubt, the most significant software used throughout this whole project was Adobe Premiere

Pro CC. This software we used to edit our footage, sequence it, add titles, adjust sound levels, and manipulate the footage we had taken. Overall the software is easy to use once you work with it for a few hours. Initially, with the vast amount of buttons, it is easy to change footage unintended, or in a serious case, delete footage by accident. Premiere Pro CC allows you to do three vital things to your

footage. Firstly cut it with the razor tool. This tool allows you to select any part of your footage, unlink it with your sound, and delete or re-sequence your footage. For example, our interview with

Rebecca Browne was heavily manipulated thanks to the razor tool, we could make the interview non-chronological to how we recorded it, however the zoom options, allow you to really focus on making

it seamless, so it appears natural. The second helpful element within this software is the effects page. Within the programme, you have the option to add effects to your footage. Most commonly we used the ‘dip to black’, effect. Along with the ‘Addictive dissolve’ which allows the scenes to fade in and out to one another, so the cuts are not harsh, and more importantly, not noticeable. This was

another contributor to the seamless editing throughout the 5 minutes. The third element is the volume adjustment. Throughout the whole documentary, we were taking a set of both professional

interviews, vox-pops and presenting scenes, which given the different locations, had different volumes levels naturally. Premiere Pro allows you, frame by frame, to level out the sound, so that

there are no dips.• One issue I must raise with this software, is the corruption of footage. When saving vast amounts of

footage, of which a large amount will not be used, files can overwrite one another, corrupting the footage that you require. This happened during filming and early editing, requiring us to re-film one

scene.

Software

General editing screen, timeline at the bottom enabling footage sequencing.

Razor tool, allowing you to cut footage and audio.

Effects Controls page, allowing effects to be added and levels to be adjusted.

- Blogger• The second piece of software, used essentially for the whole length of the project was Blogger. We

use Blogger to present our step-by-step journey from research down to evaluation. For example, we would post blogs with ‘Existing documentary research’, ‘Filming schedule’ and ‘Final product’. Overall the software was easy to use, it allows you using programmes such as ‘SlideShare’ to import a different document presenting your information. It was a fantastic way to keep up with what you are doing, as well as enabling you to keep a neat track of your work, like an online folder. Not only this but I was able to use the sheet presented by Blogger itself, however this was very rarely used as I used such a wide range of software's. It’s a good software as not only do you have your own personal blog for your group, but anytime we were unsure about a post or area of the project, we could look at other groups blog, and watch their videos, presentations and documents for example.

• Initially it was difficult getting documents and presentations created on other software's onto Blogger. You would have to find the embed code and transfer it over, which at times I had problems with. One Prezi I created had a broken embed code, which means it could not be viewed from the link, however Blogger is easy enough to use, and this error was quickly amended.

Our own groups personal blog, each post lined in time order.

Here is one of our posts, a Prezi created by myself on magazine research, the embed code from the Prezi is copied over and presented on the blog as seen above.

Software

-Microsoft PowerPoint-Microsoft Word-Microsoft Excel

• These three software's are arguable the most simplistic and easy software's to use when presenting information. I would use Microsoft PowerPoint to deliver one of my evaluation questions. Initially my radio research was a Microsoft PowerPoint, however I went back and changed it to a ‘Prezi’ PowerPoint as it offered a wider variety of fonts and styles. However in this instance PowerPoint is a great tool to use. It is simple for presenting information, for example radio research, each slide would present a different radio station, with an explanation as to why I wanted to use that particular one, presented with images which are easily transferable to PowerPoint, as you will notice from this one.

• In terms of Microsoft Word, we used that mainly for planning documents. For example ‘Radio Trailer Script Draft’. Word is great for note taking, however when presenting a huge research task, it lacks style and aesthetics, a blank white sheet can become boring and repetitive, however for planning, scripting and reading off it is very helpful.

• Finally, we used Excel to construct our filming schedule. The software again is not the most pleasing on the eye, but you can organise information well, and we had our filming dates and locations organised into columns, so that we could read off, and show to the examiner we had a planned out schedule for when we would be working.

• Overall, the only real issue with these software's, is the fact they become to repetitive, which is why we converted to using other forms of presentations for more important areas of research, and used these three for planning and drafting side of the project.

Software

- Prezi • Through my research and planning, and my blogs production Prezi was the most common form of

PowerPoint presentation. I found it to be easy, simple and aesthetic, taking the designs a step further than a normal PowerPoint. For my most significant research projects, such as the magazine and radio research, and for one evaluation question, Prezi is a fantastic choice. I would choose a new style of PowerPoint for each topic, and with ease could transfer links to videos, and insert images, to illustrate what I am talking about.

Here is my Prezi presenting what channel the documentary would be on. The style is unique, and explorative, allowing the view to move back and forth between the information rather than slide after slide.

The other two are examples of Prezi’s which can be viewed on the blog, with different styles, still presenting the information and research in the similar neat and professional manor.

This tool box was very helpful. Once you have finished your presentation, you can re-edit it, share and save or most importantly embed, allowing me to post it on the blog.

Software

- YouTube • When creating our Audience Research, and talking about our brand identity, we decided to use

YouTube. At this point we had used most PowerPoint software's and similar documents, and wanted to change. Making a video is much more engaging for an audience, seeing the person talking, and for example with the audience research, the viewer will see the real reactions of the people in a video format.

• The uploading process was fairly time consuming, however once you have uploaded a video, it is easy to attach a link or embed to Blogger for easy viewing. The reason we used YouTube for these two areas was they included a range of people, and could be delivered verbally better than worded on a document. After making the first YouTube video, we became much more familiar with the process, and including my evaluation, I will now have 4 videos on the blog, uploaded to YouTube.

Here are the three videos on the blog, as you can see two contain many people, and are presented in a engaging interview style, which is great for reflecting on audience research.

Software

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmT648mb3Gg&t=107s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrcM9hDfhI8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DbXdScdVMM

- Adobe InDesign CS6• InDesign was used to create our listings magazine. Although I did not create this mainly, I found

overall the software to be fairly difficult. Unlike Adobe Premiere Pro CC, the tools seem to be a little more complex to use. For example, during the early stages of our magazines production, I was attempting to zoom out, but found it difficult to do so, and spent a while having to amend the work afterwards. Premiere Pro CC seems to be much more simplistic.

• However the software was used to create our great magazine, which we are very happy with. It allowed us to create and design our own text, and position it to conform to the conventions of a Radio Times magazine article. Not only this but we were able to perform neat effects such as wrapping the text around the image of one of our interviewers. The small effects were fairly simple to perform, and the wide range of texts, fonts and colours were very helpful.

• We did not use InDesign for any other area of the project, but found it was great for out magazine, and we would certainly use this again.

Tool box used to construct the article. Some of the tools here are the same as in Premiere Pro, for example the select and text. However many of them I was unable to understand quickly.

Options to alter the style, font and shape of the article.

Software

- Garage Band • Garage Band was used to create our music. Rather than using a college sample, we decided to

create our own music, after experiencing copyright issues with a band’s song we wanted to use. In all it took an hour to make the basic track, and another hour to Editing and finalising it.

• We found it easy to use, and quick as it is easy to drag and drop samples, loop them easily and adjust the sound quickly. What helped was the fact our sound person was experienced in this area, and had made music before.

• The software also has a helpful search option, to find any sound you wish, and drag and drop it into the soundtrack and add to your song.

• However, we did not make the radio trailer on garage band, which is something we initially wanted to do. However, we had trouble with the audio from the documentary on Premiere Pro CC onto Garage Band. So we settled for Premiere Pro as we could easily transfer the audio clips, and overall this was successful.

Software

Camera, Microphones and Tripod. • To physically create our project, we used two different cameras, two different microphones and a tripod.

• Firstly looking at the camera, overall this hardware was simple to use. Right at the start of the project as a group we took test videos, to familiarise ourselves with the camera’s settings. Those settings were the lighting, what we were shooting in and so on. By the end of the project, we were setting up for filming naturally. The cameras were also great in terms of quality, the footage was filmed well, and came out great when uploading it to Premiere Pro. One issue we did find with the cameras was the steadiness, when we were filming a scene where we could not use a tripod, the hand-held camera effect became to shaky, and some scenes which re now deleted, looked unprofessional.

• To help with the audio, we used Microphones, both boom and clip to enhance the sound. The boom mic was great, it allowed the presenter and interviewee’s audio to be clear and audible, and we experienced no technical issues. We used the boom mic for the more formal interviews. We had to be innovative however, having one member of our group physically lying underneath tables, making sure the mic was out of shot, but still so we could hear the person speaking. During other scenes we used the clip mics. They are great also, they are much smaller so can be hidden underneath a coat for example. During my presenting scenes, I was wearing clip mics just below my jacket, and the sound came out great. The only issue with the clip mics was that the were attached to a long wire, so keeping that completely out of shot was difficult.

• Finally the Tripod. This was a huge aid to us, allowing us to conform to conventions by performing nice panning and tilting shots, especially outside Birmingham City University. It is a great piece of hardware, which we used virtually in all scenes, to help maintain a steady camera, which again when editing the final copy, we noticed was a success.

Hardware