How Did You Use Media Technologies In The Construction And Research, Planning And Evaluation Stages?

BloggerOne of the most successful aspects of my Advanced Portfolio was my use of the blogging website “Blogger”. I could use the blog to detail the creative process that went into my trailer and organise any research that I had done into different films and representations. Also, anything I had created (e.g. mind maps, moodboards) could be placed onto the blog. The blog was simple to use and I found that dividing the blog into separate pages made it easier to display information. The blog was broken down into 9 pages, each containing different research and planning processes. I found that making the blog more visually-pleasing with pictures and videos made information stand out more and research would be presented in a more interesting way and not just as a wall of text.

Power Director To edit my trailer, I used the editing software “Power

Director”. I found Power Director to be to easy to use due to its ability to easily trim and split clips. This allowed me to trim even the slightest portion of video off and remove anything I didn’t want to be included in the final product (e.g. camera shots wobbling). I also found it easy to adjust the volume of music and dialogue, allowing me to emphasise certain sounds I wanted to be louder and more prominent. I used Power Director in my Evaluation aswell, as it allowed me to place an audio recording of my voice speaking over my own trailer and remove the trailer’s sound so I could discuss certain aspects of it. However I also found problems with the software. Occasionally shots would be removed from the editing timeline even though the clips had not been moved or renamed. Also, if I wanted to go back and edit a section that was prior to where I had currently edited up to, deleting something would shift the entire timeline, unsyncing clips from audio.

Photoshop I used Photoshop to create my poster and magazine. I

had no experience with Photoshop beforehand so before starting my magazine/poster, I read several tutorials detailing the basics of Photoshop and then practiced them on photos. When I felt I was happy with the level my skills were at, I began to create and plan the final products. Overall I was extremely happy with the final result, considering this was my first time using Photoshop.

SlideshareThroughout my research on my blog I used the website “Slideshare”. Slideshare is used to place PowerPoints in an easy and organised manner and can then be easily viewed in a window. I found this tool to be extremely useful, as it made it more practical to place large PowerPoints on the blog. It is more practical to place a single window that can be navigated rather than dozens of pictures. For example, my Graffiti PowerPoint had 41 slides and would take up too much room.

Video Camera To film my trailer, I used a handheld camera attached to a

tripod. I found the camera to be high-quality and enabled me to get clear shots. The microphone was also excellent and picked up our dialogue, however at times this proved to be a problem, as it also picked up wind and could muffle our voices. This was particularly a problem when I filmed on top of a car park, meaning there was more wind as I was higher up. During the actual filming, I came across the problem that for some unknown reason, occasionally instead of taking a video, it would take a string of photos. This would happen at any time and made me anxious about filming scenes, because if there was a scene I was particularly happy with, I would not know if had been filmed or not.

During the planning and research stages, I also used YouTube to research film scenes that could help me find the codes and conventions of the genres and which could influence me. I also emailed the director of a social realism/zombie film called “Zombie Hood”. I feel that contacting this director helped me gain confidence in my own film and helped me understand that I should make the film for my audience and not for myself.