How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and

evaluation stages?

By Jack Suddaby

I used many different technologies and programs to express my range of ability and to create a wider portfolio of different technologies; it also allowed me to portray my research and planning through different visual mediums.

Youtube

To actually convert the file from Final Cut, I needed to export it:

I went to 'File' and then 'Export' and finally I selected 'Using Quicktime Conversion' . As if I exported it as a 'Quicktime Movie' it wouldn't work on Youtube because of the formatting, Once I clicked that I used a sheet as a guideline to exporting it correctly to Youtube:

Youtube

As I selected certain sections of the on screen 'Options' I simply used this sheet and it worked perfectly. The video then exported to wherever I wanted it to go, and I went on the website 'Youtube".

Youtube

I used this website to upload any video that I made, it's incredibly simplistic to use.

At the top of the website there is a simple 'Upload" button, for which you click to give you this screen:

Youtube

It then came up with this screen, you click 'Select files to upload' and then choose the video file you need to upload:

This screen then allowed me to edit the 'Title' choose the 'Description' and add 'Tags' (which are used as key words when people type them in to the Youtube search bar)Once completed, I could then use this video and upload it to

my blog. This is as simple as the steps that came before it, all I needed to do was to: go on the video, select 'Share', then choose 'Embed‘.

YoutubeThis is what it looks like. Once I have copied (cmd - c) the 'Embed' I then went over to my blogger:

Created a new blog post and copied the 'Embed" to the 'HTML' section. Once that was complete the video would be uploaded, and it became possible to view all my videos.

Evaluation of YoutubeI used Youtube to help me with my research, for example: I uploaded my first draft, and people were able to watch it on their own computers at home and give me feedback as to how and what I need to do to change it to become my final product. I also used it to help research into trailers and intertitles. I uploaded videos that helped me evaluate what would be the ideal intertitle for my final product. I also used it for an animated storyboard, which gave me a structure to work on for when I finished my final video. Youtube also helped me find idents. I actually created my own ident which features at the beginning of my trailer. This came from looking and evaluating different idents all found from Youtube.

Youtube also helped to portray my Target Research into Font's, as I filmed my target audience selecting their favourite font, the video was an effective way of collating the research I have done. Considerably the most important factor of Youtube was to look at other trailers for which I could quickly compare theirs to mine and use Youtube to base my initial ideas from several different horror trailers; each trailer that I researched into on my blogger features a clip from Youtube of their trailer, which gives my blog an easy reference point when looking at my work to professionals.

Slideshare

• This has been one of the most useful online websites of my coursework, not only to upload my own power points, but also to help in extensive research in simplistic and bullet pointed facts about trailers. It enabled me to give information in a different format which made it far more simplistic and easy to read. It also didn't clog up my blog, with lots of long paragraphs (kind of like this one, ironic) . Slideshare also made it possible to quickly show editing stages i.e my magazine, through step by step production. (This may sound a bit like a cooking programme, I hope you like masterchef)

Slideshare

Here is the website. All you have to do is select 'Upload' which is the orange button at the top.

SlideshareOnce selected:

This will appear (left) because I have the simple package I select the orange 'Upload'

Once I select this option you choose the Powerpoint you want and convert. You then add the 'Title', 'Category' and a description if you wanted to. (I didn't want to).

Slideshare

Once that’s all done it's ready to be uploaded onto my blog.

Here is what it looks like once finished uploading onto Slideshare. I can look through my final Powerpoint before copying the embed to my blogger. This is useful as if I have made any mistakes at this point, it isn’t too late to correct them, and upload the corrected one. I then copied and pasted the Embed code onto my blogger, just the same as Youtube.

Evaluation of Slideshare

I have mainly used Slideshare when I have wanted to contract a lot of information into a shorter, easier reference. It has enabled me to collate lots of different pictures and information and have it held together with a tidy Powerpoint, it also makes everything look far more professional, opposed to long, weary essay formats.

Prezi

This is a website I used a couple of times. It's effectively an online spider diagram. Much like Slideshare and Youtube it's incredibly simplistic to use. However although it's simplistic I most certainly found it the very frustrating. The website expects you to know what to do with all the icons. I did not know what to do with any of the icons, it took me some time to get my head around the arrows and 'paths' for which the Prezi ‘timeline’ would follow, however I got there in the end.

Prezi

Here is a print screen of the website in the 'editing stage'. Prezi is handy because you can upload Youtube videos to show the audience during the Prezi timeline. You simply click 'Media' and then Youtube, you then need the URL of the video, and you will have to video in your Prezi.

Prezi

This also took me a bit of time to figure out, and what confused me more was just to move the video around and to resize, as it was hard to correspond to the pathway with the video in the correct time.

Evaluation of Prezi

In evaluation of Prezi, although it isn't my ideal online website, it still looks smarter than long paragraphs and is more convenient for the audience to actually evaluate how I have researched into different products, not to mention it’s pro media style.

Photoshop

Photoshop is an image editing software developed and manufactured by Adobe Systems Inc. Photoshop is considered one of the leaders in photo editing software. The software allows users to manipulate, crop, resize, and correct colour on digital photos.

It was a massive contribution to my final portfolio as it enabled me to expand what my camera and ‘make up’ skills weren’t capable off. Photoshop allowed me to create a far more spooky atmosphere amongst both my poster and magazine cover.

Photoshop

This is a quick example of how I used Photoshop to change images and manipulate them to how I want them to look. An example would be my poster:

Photoshop

Two Originals

Editing Process

Final Piece after feedbackFirst Draft

Photoshop

Two Originals

Final Piece after feedback

You can clearly see the change as the first two pictures are completely different to the final piece, Photoshop has enabled me to edit these two images to create shadows and dramatic effect.

Photoshop

• Here is another example of using Photoshop through my magazine cover:

Original image in Photoshop

Editing stageFinal Piece

Photoshop

• As you can see, much like the poster, I have been able to mutate the original models head and make it look far more scary than the original

I also edited in the ‘Little White Lies’ logo through Photoshop, by layering it on top if the

background image

Photoshop/FacebookI also put the magazine cover onto facebook. I have removed the identity of the people commenting, and some of the comments ( you can use your own imagination for them, if you like).

As you can see the general feedback is good, most people are ‘scared’ from the magazine cover. People also commented about a small white dot under the nose, for which my peer suggested a Photoshop technique to remove it, and so I did.

Facebook

• Facebook is a good secondary research tool as, it is a time effect way of getting lots of people to view and comment on your work. Because my main target audience is for teenagers, facebook directs easy, fast attention to my product strait to the TA’s eye’s. However because the people that view it are ‘my friends’ (most of them anyway), they are likely to be critical of my work, as they don’t want to offend me. However I can say certain people did comment, that I don’t have a great amount of contact with anymore which can say something about the poster.

flickrThis was the first time I have used the online site ‘flickr’. This is a very popular photo site and was a place were I could freely put up my magazine cover and wait for comments to help improve my final piece. Because it is an open website, it means the cover isn't just being subjected to my friends, hopefully resulting in a more trustworthy final result. It was extremely simple to use, and much like blogger, all I had to do was to make an account which I could do through my Youtube account and then just upload the image and wait. It turned out to be a successful bit of developed research as it pushed my final product forward.

Photoshop

• Overall Photoshop has been a massive help in editing my final ancillary pieces. To look at the specifics of how I edited my ancillary products go to my Magazine Post and my Poster post (they both show the steps I took to edit my images).

Evaluation of Photoshop

• The best way to look at what Photoshop has done for my coursework, is to actually evaluate what my final pieces would look like, without Photoshop. In reality, it looks bleak. Photoshop has enabled me to push my final pieces further and actually expand my grade boundaries by creating a far more effective poster and magazine, than what I could originally accomplish without the aid of Photoshop.

Complications whilst using Photoshop

• The main complication was that I couldn’t work out how to edit and do certain things such as change the colour on a Mac computer, because I did most of my work at home (on a PC) the change from my own version of Photoshop (which is shown through my print screens) and the sixth form’s Macs, mean shortcuts that I was familiar with on the PC changed when I used the Mac.

Complications whilst using Photoshop

• I also still struggled to work out how to do certain effects whilst editing, for example how to use the ‘drop shadow’ to create that effect for my poster. This is were I used the research side through Youtube, this enabled me to have tutorials such as this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vcqPuTHVm8

Complications whilst using Photoshop

Although I had to teach myself certain aspects of the editing stage through Youtube, friends also told me how to rub certain parts out, for instance the surrounding of the final poster:

Things to improve

This is the part of my Photoshop editing that I am most critical about as I believe the black outline doesn’t look as professional as it should do. If I were to do this again, it would be corrected by creating a smoother ring around the black line, instead of the sudden change from instant black to white. The stairs would also be highlighted more, to give a clearer idea of what the shadow is on. Everything else I am moderately pleased with, but the issues that I have stated are something that have been made clear through my own observation and several others and would be something I would like to correct if I ever did anything like this again.

Final cut pro/express

• I have predominantly explained how I edited major sections within my trailer on an earlier blogg post. I think the major things I have learnt have been simplistic shortcuts, for example if I wanted to view the whole of my editing process I just held down ‘z’ instead of scrolling out, shortcuts like that really helped my time management.

Final Cut This was one of the

most major editing milestones I had to complete as I needed to work out how to add a tint, as well as a shaky effect, which I simply managed to do through trial and error. I suppose a time effective way could have been to use a Youtube video, however I did manage to find tint etc pretty quick so it wasn’t to time restraining.

Final CutAudio was also a massive issue and was something I knew I had to get right. I used Soundtrack pro to create my draft ident, however I didn’t like using the software, and managed to find all the sound effects I needed from royalty free websites and music of Youtube that was copyright free. I then simply edited the audio via Final Cut, by using fades and pitches, which is all under ‘Effects’.