4 ) H O W D I D Y O U U S E M E D I A T E C H N O L O G I E S I N T H E C O N S T R U C T I O N A N D R E S E A R C H , P L A N N I N G A N D E VA L U AT I O N S TA G E S ?

Q U E S T I O N 4

Bethany Vaughan Candidate Number: 4137 Centre Number: 64135

In the pre-production stages of ‘Merland Rise’ we all researched existing media products. I chose ‘EastEnders’ because of it’s success and my familiarity with it. I watched trailers online and viewed an episode on my TV at home. Through deconstructing the trailers on ‘YouTube’ I was able to evaluate and analyse the use of technical features (Mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing and sound) which enabled me to consider what I would like to ‘exploit’ (Abercrombie - 1995) in my own trailer. For example in the EastEnders “Hurricane Sally” trailer there was a shot of a swinging pub sign which I suggested we repeated in the ‘Merland Rise’ trailer to highlight the disequilibrium. I also looked at the wild west trailer. The research for my ancillary products was varied. While researching the poster I mostly looked online as there were few examples for the soap opera genre, I then analysed the products and presented my findings in ‘PowerPoint’ as it was an easy and effective way to present the information in a way which was clear so I could refer back to it in the future. I was then able to uploaded this work onto my Blog Page by embedding it using ‘Slideshare’. My blog page on wordpress.com allowed me to update my progress in the production of my trailer and ancillary products which was beneficial to myself as I was able to look back on and access my work easily, it also meant I could update the examiner on my progression.

In researching the magazine I purchased an issue of ‘What’s on TV’ to understand the conventional layout and format, as well as using front covers from online to analyse in PowerPoint. I also researched the magazine online and looked up the ABC and NRS figures using www.timeinc.com/ which is the official website for the magazine’s publisher and provides information about its products. I then used Google Images to find posters for other soap operas, once I had found posters for ‘EastEnders’ and ‘Hollyoaks’ which I believed were effective in promoting the soap I analysed their conventions in PowerPoint. I also found and analysed a poster which a student had produced. By analysing these products I was able to educate myself on what is effective in a poster and what I could ‘ repeat’ to help me connote the genre and tone of ‘Merland Rise’.

Our footage was shot using multiple cameras including the ‘Canon EOS 600D’ which was mostly used for tracking shots and shots which needed to be filmed from difficult positions, such as from against a wall as the viewfinder allowed us to set up the shot with ease. We used multiple cameras as it meant we had the ability to film action from multiple angles which was important in achieving continuity in our trailer, for example in the scene where Esme and Chris are sat on the sofa we shot the scene using three cameras at once at different angles, this meant that when editing post production we could easily achieve seamless continuity editing. Furthermore we used tripods to obtain steady images while filming these shots and many others such as the shots from the pub. We also used sliders and pull focus within the cameras manual focus settings in order to achieve steady professional shots such as the pull focus used for the exterior of the pub at the beginning of the trailer and the tracking shot seen at the end which was filmed using a slider.

Pull focus at the beginning of the trailer

Tracking shot filmed using the slider.

Me using the tripod and EOS 600D to film the upward tilt of the male. Continuity editing achieved

by filming multiple angles.

To edit the ‘Merland Rise’ trailer we used ‘Adobe Premiere Pro CS5’. I found that this was a useful software package to put together the footage we had filmed in a professional and appropriate way. The software allowed us to easily import our clips and place them in the work area. To make this as time effective as possible we used ‘bins’ to organise footage so we could easily find the clips we needed, for example we had a bin named “pub” which contained all footage shot within the pub setting. We then used in (i) and out (o) points to place the clips we wanted to use in the work area and timeline before importing, which allowed us to speed up the selection process and therefore be much more time efficient.

Once the footage we had obtained from our filming had been organised into ‘bins’ and placed in the work area as a rough edit in a way which fitted the brief we imported the non diegetic soundtrack of ‘Bang Bang’ by Nancy Sinatra and the diegetic dialogue of “last call”, phone noise, and pub chatter. Premiere Pro allowed us to place the sounds so that they were synchronous with the action, for example we were able to move the sound of the iPhone notification around until it was at a point which matched the action and therefore did not disrupt the continuity of the trailer. Adobe also enabled us to edit the music so that it was parallel and synchronous to the action through using ‘key frames’, which meant we could adjust the volume of the non-diegetic soundtrack so that significant lyrics such as “Bang bang he shot me down” were louder and clearer. It also allowed us to reduce the volume when there was diegetic dialogue so it did not effect the clarity of what the characters were saying. At the end of the trailer we used key frames to fade out the soundtrack at the end of the trailer creating a focus on the point of call and non-diegetic voiceover. Premiere pro also supplied us with the tools to easily edit the trailer together by using the ripple edit tool (B) which meant that when trimming clips the timeline would adjust to compensate for these changes which saved us time unnecessarily adjusting the timeline every time we altered a clip. I also used the razor tool (C) to split the tracking shot so that I could use parallel editing of the couple sat in the living room and the stalker stood outside. I also applied a sound bridge here by unlinking the audio from the video (Alt) which meant I could make it clear that the two events were happening at the same time.

Using YouTube I watched tutorials on text effects to apply to our trailer through use of Adobe After Effects CS5. These gave the trailer a professional feel as it conforms to the conventions of the soap opera genre and is seen in many trailers. After Effects meant that we could apply the smoke effect and rising arrow on the ‘Merland Rise' ident, which allowed us to highlight the connotations of danger as the smoke and gun shot sound when the arrow rises suggests a smoking gun or recently blown out candle which represent the end of a life. After Effects also enabled us to add a glow effect on the critical reviews in order to highlight their importance and sensationalising them. This helped us to promote the new soap as they make it seem unmissable while keeping it simple which was important as we did not want the trailer to appear tacky or confusing by going too over the top with effects. To apply these effects I used may tools which are available in After Effects, for example when applying the smoke effect I had to make the letters appear as though they were appearing from behind the smoke. I did this by applying a linear wipe with feather effect and an adjustment layer mask with distort turbulent displace and fast blur, this made the text appear smoothly and made the smoke effect look realistic and effective.

When producing my ancillary products I used ‘Adobe Photoshop CS5’ to edit, arrange and manipulate my images. In the original poster images the colours were much more vibrant, this created a optimistic feeling which did not achieve the tone I aimed to achieve so I reduced the saturation creating a much more serious image which suggested something bad was going to happen. Furthermore I used Photoshop tools such as the spot healing tool and applied glamorous skin tones to create a professional looking image by applying a gaussian blur and adjusting vibrance, saturation, and levels appropriately. The tools which I had access to in Photoshop allowed me to apply a vignette to the background image of the pub which I had altered to be in black and white, this was important in achieving the dark, dystopian tone of the poster. Once I had finished the image manipulation I inserted the point of call information, critical reviews and social media information on the poster by placing their photoshop files on the poster, this meant I could keep their transparent backgrounds. I then resized them so that they were easy to read and did not obscure the images. I applied a stroke effect to the BBC ident and social media information to make them stand out against the images, for the critical reviews and tag line of the poster I used the font ‘A Love of Thunder’ which I had found on ‘Dafont.com’ as I felt the worn effect would effectively convey the danger and risk of the narrative to the audience. I also added gradient overlay, inner bevel, and drop shadow effects to the tag line layer to make it stand out and emphasise the tone further. When creating the vignette I had some problems with correctly feathering the edges to create a gradual fade from black to transparency, however I was able to look at a tutorial online which informed me of how to resolve this issue.

In the production of the magazine I used many of the skills I had acquired at AS Level, however when editing out the background of the main images I had many problems with removing the background around hair effectively. After looking on the internet I found that I could use the ‘refine edge tool’ and ‘Quick Mask Mode’ to select individual hairs and remove the background easily and quickly. To do this I used the quick selection tool to select the area of the image I needed, I then selected refine edge and checked the smart radios box and increased the size of the radius until it had selected some of the individual hairs, finally I used the quick mask mode (shift + Q) to select anything I had missed and clean up any mistakes before selecting the inverse of the image and deleting the background. I then placed this on my magazine front cover and applied an outer glow causing the images to stand out against the blue gradient background I had applied, I also applied glamorous skin tones to therein image in the same way as the poster to make it appear professional.

After completing all of my products I exported jpegs of my ancillary products and embedded the trailer which we had uploaded to YouTube on my blog page at ‘wordpress.com’. My blog page allowed me to present all of my work together in one place while regularly updating my progress through the production of my media product which was incredibly beneficial to me as it meant I could check it to see what I had completed and what I still needed to do so I was aware of where I was at. In the planning and research of our media product we had used many Microsoft documents, Word was used in the production of our script and in the writing of our letter to request music permissions because it was useful for formal documents. We used PowerPoint to create mind maps and our storyboard as it allowed us to present visual information easily in an organised way. Finally we used Excel to produce our shot list as it was great for presenting the information in a concise and easy to understand way. This was all easily placed on the blog through ‘slideshare’ which enabled us to embed PowerPoint documents into my blog page so that they were easily accessible.

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E VA L U AT I O N

For the evaluation I made the decision to use multiple online presentation softwares as it meant I had the ability to embed them into my blog. I used ‘Prezi’, ‘Emaze’, ’Visme’ and ‘Keynote’ which I then embedded using ‘Slideshare' as they allowed me to present my information in a way which was both clear and creative. These all also had features to insert images so I was able to show visual examples and information relevant to what I was discussing. All four products had preset themes and layouts which was very helpful while producing presentations as I was able to save time and make it look professional.

In the production of my unit G324: Advanced Production Portfolio I have been able to use technologies to my advantage to create a media product which is effective and appropriate for

purpose. These technologies have benefited my ability to create a product

which is professional in an organised and time efficient way.