Evaluation: How did you use new

media technologies in the

construction and research, planning

and evaluation stages? Lucy Bennett

Blogs

All pre-production, the production itself and post-production for

my A2 Media Studies coursework are being presented online in

the form of a blog. I am using Blogger (owned by Google), which

has developed my understanding of blogging since my initial

introduction to it at AS Media Studies, for which I used my

college‟s version of Wordpress.

I particularly like the „labels‟ feature on Blogger, which has

allowed me to organise the presentation of my work. I have made

a „navigation‟ page so viewers can find what they are looking for

easily.

I also used HTML codes for the first time, for embedding videos

and creating tables etc.

WordleAfter researching the conventions of thriller films, I used Wordle

to create a word-cloud of all the conventions I discovered.

Having never used it before,I found it very straightforward to use

I thought it was an interesting way to present terms and would

definitely recommend that people use it to present work in a

professional way.

www.wordle.net

Slideshare

To present my audience research, I created a slideshow

using Microsoft Powerpoint, and shared it online (which

I then embedded into a blog post) using Slideshare.

www.slideshare.net

Windows Movie Maker/Zoom Audio

Recorder

For my analysis of the trailer for Panic Room, I created

a video using Windows Movie Maker. After taking

screenshots of all the camera shots within the trailer and

recording my analysis on a Zoom Audio Recorder, I

edited the video on Windows Movie Maker.

YouTube

I used YouTube to share various videos on the

internet, which I have embedded on my blog. I created a

YouTube channel so I could present my work, which

other members of my group have subsequently shared

as it was used to publish various pieces of group work

(including the trailer itself).

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJextsMzvT5hKsC7Hcgu_vw/videos?flow=grid&view=0

Recording

Nikon D7000 Photography lamp & light

disperse umbrellas

Tripod

Flash gunRode Video Microphone

Up until this assignment, I had only studied basic

photography. Building on this knowledge by

progressing onto video and incorporating the use of

audio and complex lighting, I found it very interesting

and I am really pleased with the results that came out

due to my more recently developed composition skills.

Editing: Sony Vegas Pro 11.0To edit our trailer, we used Sony Vegas Pro 11.0. Here

is a diagram of the tools that we used to edit the video

footage and audio.

After importing various video clips into Sony Vegas, we trimmed/split them and began putting them in the order

wanted, and began to experiment with using fades as transitions.

Fades

Trimmed footage

Split footage

Once more and more footage had been edited, it became

necessary to move multiple shots around at once.

The shortcut to this tool was pressing “G” on the

keyboard.

An example of us adding text/captions to our trailer:

Due to the different lighting conditions in which we

filmed, and the fact that thriller films are often de-saturated

and the lighting is very low-key, it was important that we

used colour correction to maintain consistency and create

the mise-en-scene that we wanted.

COLOUR BALANCE TOOL – used to create the

illusion of artificial light coming from the laptopCOLOUR CORRECTION TOOL – gave

trailer blue tint (connotations of cold). Also

de-saturated shots – convention of thrillers.

COLOUR CURVES TOOL – adjusts

shadows/highlights/midtones.

Heightened contrast of camera shots.

COLOUR

LEVELS TOOL

– altered

shadow/highlig

ht effects to

increase

contrast to meet

conventions of

thriller films

E.g.

Editing: Adobe Photoshop CS5.1

Having used Photoshop previously (e.g. during our

AS Media Studies coursework), it was easy to

continue our development and understanding of the

editing software as we created our ancillary products

(poster and magazine cover)

1. Feathered top and bottom

using eraser tool to remove

unwanted parts and to blend

the image in with the

background

2. Removed all colour to make

image grayscale. This takes the

focus away from the slightly

coloured areas and draws most

attention to the silhouette

3. Addition of black

background

4. Addition of film‟s

title, using the text tool

5. We then added the actors‟ names at the very top, which is very conventional of film trailers. Under this we then added the film‟s tagline.

6. We also added credits to the bottom of the poster, along with the film‟s release date, a website address.

8. COMPLETED POSTER

POSTER

DEVELOPMENT

1. Most stages of

developing the magazine

cover were the same as the

poster

2. With this image we decided to

manipulate the colours to match

conventions and to make it seem

more scary and intense. Contrast as

been increased and shadow around

the eyes has been exaggerated.

3. We then added many more

layers, including text and images. To give

the writing more depth, we added subtle

drop shadows, which also helps the words

stand out to the reader.

MAGAZINE

COVER

DEVELOPMENT

PreziTo present the answer to one of my evaluation questions, I

used „Prezi‟, which is a way of creating presentations online

and sharing them with people all over the world digitally.

I embedded my presentation on my blog.