updated

1. How did I use new media
technologies in the construction
and research, planning and
evaluation stages?
CHRIS SEVIER

2. The Internet - Research
 We used the internet a lot when doing our research during the research and planning
stage.
 We would use the software ‘Safari’ on the Macs, and use websites such as Google,
allowed us to easily search for articles and web pages which would be helpful to us.
This was especially useful when doing our genre research on heist films when we found
useful articles talking about the history if the genre.
 We would use programs such Internet Explorer or Google Chrome if not near an
Apple Mac.
 Another site frequently used by us was YouTube. This was used for research as we
could easily view other teaser trailers, and then work out what things are conventional
for the format, and later for our genre. For example, YouTube was helpful when trying
to find out if company idents were conventional in teaser trailers.
 To access the internet, and all of the other applications, software and websites during
this stage, we used the Apple Macs in lessons, and I used my laptop at home.

3. Mahara & OneDrive – Research & Planning
 We used the website ‘Mahara’ to document all of our progress, especially all of our research
and planning.
 We could embed pictures, videos and presentations on there, making it ideal for putting all
our work into one place.
 I used the website ‘OneDrive’ by Microsoft to save photos onto the cloud which I could then
embed onto my journal without actually saving offline.
 However, the embed function from OneDrive on Mahara stopped working halfway through
research and planning meaning I had to manually upload each image again from a computer
straight onto Mahara.

4. Microsoft Office – Research and Planning
 Microsoft Office was also used in our research and planning.
 PowerPoint was very useful when analyse teaser trailers, being able to
screenshot key scenes and put them on separate slides, and then type
commentary on the same slide.
 The website SlideShare was also useful to upload presentations from
PowerPoint, which could then be embedded onto Mahara.
 Word was also helpful in creating documents. For example I made a
poster analysis and I found Word the best program to use because I
could include arrows pointing towards different features of the poster.
 I also found programs on Office 365 such as outlook and OneDrive
useful for sending files and research to other group members.

5. Prezi – Research and Planning
 Prezi was used on occasion, for making presentations.
 It was most notably used when making a presentation for
genre research for Heist films.
 The website made visually appealing presentations, in a
good layout.
 However, frustratingly, I could not find out a way to embed
it onto my journal in the same way SlideShare does. This
made SlideShare the first choice for the rest of Research and
Planning.

6. iPhone
 My phone was helpful during all stages of production.
 It was useful as a camera, taking test shots which would be
used to build Poster and Magazine Cover designs.
 As a camera it also took pictures on filming day which
would be used in my journal to document what we did on
that day.
 As a communication device it also helped to organise with
the rest of the group about what we needed to do, and if we
needed to meet outside of lessons.

7. Filming
 To film our teaser trailer, and to photograph the images for our Poster
and Magazine Cover, we used a Canon 80D DSLR.
 This was my first time of any of us using a DSLR, so it took some time
for us to get used to it.
 The camera offered very high quality image, with features such as the
autofocus being useful for our filming. We also attempted to manual
focus the shots on occasion, to challenge ourselves, and also focus the
shot in the way we desired.
 The camera was perfect for the project, as was easy to use once we
had grasped understanding of it, and also had lots of different modes
and features we could experiment with if we wanted.

8. Test Shots - Adobe Illustrator
 When designing the Poster and Magazine Cover
using test shots, I used the program adobe Illustrator.
 Having no previous experience with the program, I
had to watch tutorials on YouTube and read
instructions to familiarise myself with it.
 I learned the importance of layers, making it easier
to keep different aspects of the design separate and
easier to change them when needed.
 Another advantage to using this software was that
you could edit an image on photoshop and the
changes would appear on the design on illustrator. It
helped to keep designs and images separate and
organised.

9. Adobe Photoshop
 Photoshop was used during our test shots for our poster and magazine cover.
 I used it to remove the backgrounds on the photos, using tools such as the magic eraser, so the
test shot images just contained the character. This allowed me to import the image onto
illustrator and put a different background on it.

10. Adobe Photoshop
However when making our Poster and Magazine cover
using our actual final images, the group decided to not use
illustrator altogether and simply use Photoshop.
 This was because half of the group were very experienced
with the program, and were confident that as a team the
products would come out better if we just used the one
program instead of both.
 So we used Photoshop to set all the layers of the
magazine cover and poster, just like illustrator had done
when doing our test shot designs.
 While this worked well, it was hard to locate the original
images of the characters with the background removed if
they were needed. It meant everything had to be done on
one file making it harder to collaborate on.

11. Final Cut Pro X
 To edit our teaser trailer we used the program Final Cut Pro X on the Apple Macs
 The program was easy to use, but also being professional enough to be able to do everything
we wanted it to do, and realise the vision we had when originally conceptualising the teaser as a
group.

12. Final Cut Pro X
What was especially
useful in the timeline
was that you could
easily separate the
audio from clips, and
move them onto other
clips, making the teaser
flow better.
This is where all the
clips we imported were,
and we could easily
favourite sections of
the clips so we would
know which would be
the best takes to use.
On this window we
could see in real time
how what we were
editing looked like in
practise.
Lots of effects were available
here, and while we used
these sparingly, to make ours
as realistic feeling as possible,
we used the blur effect at a
point in our teaser which was
effective

13. Final Cut Pro X
On this tab, we could
choose a range of pre
installed sound effects.
These proved useful in
enhancing moments in
our teaser, for example
during scenes of
hacking we used the
keyboard typing sound
effect.
There were a range of
different types of titles. This
was useful for us. We could
change the font, animation,
colour and much more. We
could also change how it
came onto screen so we
made ours expand from the
middle in this particular
title.
There were a range of
transitions available here,
which could be used between
clips. We mainly used the
wipe transition to maintain
consistency.
On this tool you could
change your cursor. This
enabled you to do different
things. Eg one cursor would
enable you to move clips
around, while another be
used to cut sections of clips
by clicking on them.

14. GarageBand
 GarageBand was used by us to create the soundtrack for our teaser trailer.
 The program was easy to use, allowing us to create music that sounded semi professional that
fit the tone of the teaser.
 We made our own drum pattern, but used the pre installed loops, which when built together
sounded professional and allowed us to build the sound we wanted to.
For example we had melodic guitar chords, which we played with different other sounds to
have the ‘heist’ feeling to the soundtrack.
 The ease of use saved time allowing more attention to be put on building the other aspects to
the teaser and the other products

15. Feedback - YouTube
 Finally we used YouTube to upload our final edit of our teaser trailer
 This could be easily done through Final Cut. We just had to sign into our YouTube account.
 But YouTube played another very important role. It allowed people to comment on the video
with our teaser on, giving their feedback on it.
 It was an easy way for people to share their thoughts on our work.