Evaluation activity - 4

1. How did you use media
technologies?
Evaluation activity - 4
THUVAARAGAN KURUPARAN

2. Planning & Research
 This is the initial stage of the course, where the
development and research of the idea for the short
film. The planning involved in this stage is working
out logistical issues like when and where to film and
the cast.

3. Web 2.0
 Most of the software we used to present our work are the result of web 2.0. the main difference
between Web 2.0 and the world wide web are that there were changes in the way Web pages
are made and used. With the world wide web, users could only post, view and download but
with web 2.0, they can now collaborate and share information online.
Some elements of Web 2.0 are –
 Social Networking – Where individuals are able to communicate and connect. Examples of social
networking sites are Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
 Video sharing – where individuals are able to upload and share videos for others to watch
legally. An example of this is YoutTube.
 Blog – A discussion/informational site where the people are able to post and share their
personal work for people to see/follow.
Web 2.0 allows us to present our work in dynamic ways as well as allowing us to connect with our
audience like never before.

4. Blogger
 We used Blogger throughout the course , particularly in the Planning &
Research stage. The site allowed us to create blogs in which we could
customize certain features such as the layout and the color scheme. The
group blog and the personal blogs were all maintained on blogger and
this is where all the completed work from all stages was posted and
shared.
 We all decided on using Blogger and not Tumblr as we though that
Blogger was more user friendly and was easier to get around. Organizing
the posts was easy as we could create labels in which we can tag posts
under and this way the blog looked neat and posts were easy to find. This
way we could also keep track of what work we still had to do.

5. Microsoft Office
 I used Microsoft Office in both the Planning & Research stage as well as
the Evaluation stage. Word was one of the programs that I used the most
as it was used for a range of documents, from questionnaires to release
forms and topic research. Powerpoint was best for presenting documents
such as the weekly updates and the analysis of credits used.
 As I was familiar with Word and Powerpoint, I didn’t face any difficulties in
using it. Also, I chose to use these suites as it was available at both school
and home, therefore it was ideal for completing work.
 Majority of the time, I would use these suites to write up and present the
work, and then use a secondary website such as Scribd and Slideshare to
upload the work on to the blogs.

6. Scribd
 Scribd allows users to read documents from different formats
as well as share them via uploading them onto the site. They
could then publish these documents using Scribd onto sites
such as Blogger. Scribd was extremely useful to me as its
sharing capabilities allowed me to embed documents onto the
group r the personal blog.
 The one negative about Scribd was that sometimes the layout
of the document would change once it had been uploaded i.e.
the images moving around.

7. Slideshare
 Slideshare, like Scribd, is a website that allows you to
upload and share your work; in this case powerpoint
presentations. You can then publish it on blogs using
the embed code feature. I used Slideshare to publish
documents such as weekly updates and other topic
reseach, which I had earlier completed with
Powerpoint.

8. Bubbl.us
 Bubbl.us is a website that allows you to make
brainstorms and mindmaps. This was useful to us as
we used this software to create the brainstorms for
out production company name and also for the idea
of our 5 minute film.

9. SureveyMonkey
 SurveyMonkey is a software designed to make and present
questionnaires as well as its results. We designed our pre and
post questionnaires and then asked our audiences and
potential audiences to take part in the questionnaires. We
used the response we got from the questionnaires to improve
our final product i.e. we asked the potential audience in our
pre-questionnaire whether we should have a male lead or a
female lead. The audience chose a male lead and we decided
to go with a male lead. We also used SurveyMonkey in the
evaluation stage where we assessed the audiences’ response
to the final product.

10. Outlook
 Outlook is a part of Microsoft Office and we used
outlook is a software which enables you to send your
work to other people. This was essential as in our
group, we were able to email our work to each other
when needed. Through outlook, we could ask
individuals for permission to use their soundtrack
from YouTube as well as request permission to use
certain locations.

11. USB
 USB’s were one of the most essential devices used
during all stages. Al the work we did would be
backed up on our USB’s as well as it being used to
transfer work. Wrok can be lost at any time and
therefore it was important that we backed up all our
work on a USB. Moreover, I used my USB to transfer
all of the mp3 files, voiceovers and also the final
product from my mac to other laptops/computers
when needed to.

12. Mobile Phones (iPhone 5s and
Samsung Galaxy S6)
 Mobile phones were another essential part of all
stages as we used our phones to communicate to
each other. We used applications such as
WhatsApp or Facebook to communicate and plan
what we needed to do. This was extremely
important when we needed clarification concerning
work and shooting plans. Moreover, our phones
were also used to take recce pictures when a
camera wasn’t available.

13. Macbook Pro
 A Macbook was arguably the most essential piece of
equipment outside the shooting equipment that we used.
This is as we used Macs to complete work from all stages.
During planning and research, we used macs to do the
written work and during construction, I used the mac to
edit and put together the final product. As I owned a
mac, it made the process simpler for me as I could edit at
home as well as complete other work at home. I also used
the mac to create the poster and the review, using
Photoshop.

14. Construction
 This is the stage in which we produced all the
elements needed for the final product i.e. filming
and recording the voiceover. The editing process
and the production of the ancillary tasks are also
done in this stage.

15. Canon EOS 700D
 We used the Canon 700D through the filming
process as the footage was of the highest quality.
Also, the size of the camera meant that it was easy to
travel with all of the equipment and also easy to store
it at home. It was also to our advantage that we had
used the camera before and therefore we were
familiar with using it. I also used the camera to
capture the images for my ancillary tasks as the
images were of the highest quality.

16. Tripod
 The tripod was also essential as during the filming process, we
used it to ensure that the camera was level and stable when it
needed it to be. The tripod is a much better alternative to the
camera person holding the camera as sometime the footage
will be shaky, which doesn’t’t look professional. Some shots
were also at awkward heights and the the tripod allowed us to
film at these heights as it was adjustable and we were able
film at different heights.

17. External Rode Microphone
 The rode microphone was used to record all the
sound as the sound was enhanced when recorded
with the rode mic compared to the mic in the camera.
As it turned out, we didn’t use most of the sound
recorded through the rode mic as voice-over and
background non-diegetic score was used more.
However, the rode mic was still a vital piece of
equipment that we used.

18. SD Card
 We recorded all of our footage onto the SD Card. Although
the SD Cards were small and easier to lose, we thought that it
was the best option as it would easier for us to transfer all of
our footage onto the mac for editing once the filming process
was done. Another neativity about using SD Cards was that
because we were using 8/16gb SD Cards, there was always a
possibility that we could run out of space while filming.
However, this scenario never occurred as we filmed over
different days, hence not having too much footage stored up
in the SD Cards.

19. Adobe Photoshop CS6
 Photoshop was extremely vital in the construction stage,
especially when it came to producing the ancillary tasks. I
used Photoshop to create both the film poster as well as the
film review. Photoshop is a professional grade software and
therefore, the final outcome was of high quality. I also used
Photoshop in the planning and research stage as I used it to
make the group log. Each time I use it, once I'm done, I save
the file as JPEG which I could then upload to the blogs.

20. Final Cut Pro X
 I used Final Cut Pro X to edit and put the final product together. The
sophisticated nature of the product allowed me to achieve a more
professional look that if we had used a software such as Windows
Movie Maker. Also, as I had used Final Cut before, I was familiar with it,
which made the process easier and faster for me. The editorial process
was key in the construction process as this is where all the separate
elements such as the footage, voiceover and sound effects all came
together. The were hours of raw footage that I had to import onto Final
Cut and then had to specifically pick and choose the best footage. With
Final Cut, I was able to change color contrasts, levels of audio and add
graphics alongside the general cutting and placing of shots and
transitions.

21. Cubase
 Cubase was the software that we used to record the
voiceover. We had to hire the recording studio for
this. Cubase is a piece of music software developed
to record, arrange and edit sounds and music. Once
the voiceover was recorded, all that was necessary
was some simple cutting and altering pitch of the
track.

22. Evaluation
 In this stage, we assess how successful our final
product was. This is done in variety of ways such as
through audiences’ feedback and analyzing the work
in terms generic codes and conventions.

23. Social Media
 Social media was key in the evaluative process as I used different platforms
to assess our audience’s response and also to share our final product to a
wider audience.
 YouTube was one of the main social media site that we used as we
uploaded our final product on YouTube in order to share it with our
audience. We chose YouTube over other video sharing sites such as Vimeo
and Dailymotion as it is much more popular amongst the general public,
increasing the chances of us gaining more audience. I had also used
YouTube to find soundtrack and sound effects which I used in the
construction stage.

24. Prezi
 Prezi is a cloud based presentation software, allowing
presentations to be presented through variety of
devices. Prezi has many templates which I can chose
from to create a dynamic presentation. I used Prezi in
both the planning and research and the evaluation
stage. Prezi is an excellent way of visually engaging
the viewers as it is colorful.