Evaluation Question 4By Jack Jackson 13G

Introduction The use of media technologies in my advanced

portfolio this year is undoubtedly, one of the most important factors that holds my pieces together. It is the very thing that has enabled me to create the best pieces that I could possibly achieve, through either helping me to gather research to actually creating my three pieces for my advertising package; my film poster, my film magazine, and my film trailer all of them would not have been possible to create without the use of media technologies.

Research and Planning A lot of media technologies where used in research and planning, however

all of it was used for two main purposes:1. To gather and collect research from either your target audience or real media pieces such as

poster, magazines, and trailers

2. To be used as evidence of your progression that you are making with your planning ideas for your pieces. Being able to develop ideas.

This was very important to the production of my pieces as it was my first ideas from my research and the planning I was doing to create my pieces and the use of media technology was able to influence how I was seeing my choices. I allowed me to research into the genre I was creating for, making me aware of the common features that pieces from this genre have, but also allowed me to create plans for my work. It demonstrated my progression through my ideas and how I was being influenced by the research I had collected .

Internet Internet: Using the internet is vital for research and planning, as it is so easy to

find what you are looking for in such a quick space of time.

For instance in my case, I used the internet to research real media pieces for my own project such as the evil dead film poster and empire magazine, understanding the codes and conventions of real media pieces that I will then take as influence in my own pieces.

I also used it to look into the history of the horror genre, seeing how it has developed over time in the world of film and how each audience is different when it comes to being scared but the main conventions are still used even in films today with conventions from the 1920s.

It was a very useful tool to use in my research and having it be so easy to access it made finding more information on the genre of horror much more easy then going to the library.

Survey monkey Survey monkey was mainly used to gain information about what the

audience thought of horror.

This was very helpful as I was getting primary research straight from my target audience about what they would like to see in a media piece for the horror genre.

It enabled me to be accurate in what I put in my pieces, allowing me to accurately represent my target audience, with the information I received from them.

It was a great way to get information from your own target audience and use it to influence your planning.

Blogger Using blogger, for my planning and research allowed me to show a clear focus on task. With its basic and

simple layout, blogger could potentially be one of my favourite and most important pieces of media technology I have used.

It easily allows you to set out your entries however you want and using it for gathering my research allowed me to clearly show the progress I was making through out my research and planning. It was able to show my ideas developing and changing in every entry from my flat plans of my magazine and poster to the planning for the shooting of my shots for the trailer. freedom was what I needed. Blogger was the perfect choice for collecting my research and showing my planning as it allowed you to structure your answer in a way that is simple and understandable for the reader. If I used something like Prezi for this question it would be much more difficult to set out as it wouldn’t be as clear and well thought out.

Through my planning and research I was able to clearly show my knowledge of the horror genre slowly growing through each entry highlighting important parts of the genre, such as the conventions of media pieces designed for the horror target audience to emphasise how they sell the film to the audience and the meanings I wanted to create through my pieces for my target audience. I also used relevant images of media pieces in planning and research such as; movie posters, scenes from film trailers and analysed them, right down to the last detail comparing the with each other to gain as much information I could about what makes a horror movie and how I was going to use them .

It was create to use, as it was so simple and effective.

Prezi Prezi is a great way to present an interactive presentation. It allows you to make very

important text, into something that can also be seen as fun and interactive. It allows the user to emphasise their creative media minds through a very creative and interesting piece of technology.

I used Prezi for my planning and research; in which saw me created presentations on genre, from the information I collected from the internet to create presentations helping me understand more about the genre I was creating a promotion package, allowing me to create these pieces accurately for the target audience . But, I also used it to display my finding on different shots types used in horror and how they are used for different effects, this was very helpful as I knew how to scare my audience the most through the use of different camera shots.

Prezi was a great choice for this question as It allowed something like comparing my fun to whoever is viewing.

It was very easy for me to link my points together and therefore strengthen all of them as the presentation was clearly set out for the comparisons between each piece.

Cameras The camera played a big part when researching and planning for my pieces, as I

wouldn’t have any evidence with out it.

It was used through in a lot of pieces of research and planning as it was very simple to take a photo of my research or plans for my piece and post them on to blogger.

With it being such a main piece of technology that was used in creation of my pieces, it was even more important for my research to get to the construction of my pieces, it allowed me to present my research and planning in a very simple but effective way, having it be solid, cold evidence of my work. I used the camera to take photos of some flat plans of my future pieces and also images of clothing, which I then analysed it to show its relation in the horror genre and therefore my pieces.

I took images of my settings, to clearly show the planning I was making for the construction of my pieces and that I was thinking about the mise-en-scene of my pieces, that I was deciding on the areas I wanted to shoot to create the perfect setting for horror related media pieces.

Slide share For my planning and research, I decided to use a media technology that I knew

was very reliable and engaging.

I decided to use Slide share to present my Power point's holding my research into the gene of horror. Reflecting on my work, Slide share allows you to easily construct and present your answer in a sensible but interactive way through being able to upload Power points onto the internet.

Slide share allowed me to easily transfer my research onto blogger and display my progress to eventually create my media pieces.

It is certainly a good choice to use for presenting, but I wouldn’t use it to ask my target audience feedback on my pieces like survey monkey, as it would be very difficult to reach the target audience. Yes, it may be very interactive but it won’t be able to collect the information I need to know to create an reliable reflection on my work.

Construction I think this was the most important time when using media technology. I

made a huge difference to how I was able to create my pieces, in fact all of the pieces I created where created through using media technology.

My trailer for one used a lot of media technology, mainly on the editing basis and it was very important to the finished piece but also when using the technology I was learn a new skill, which I found out that I have a talent for.

Manipulating images for the ancillary pieces was also interesting to do, using Photoshop, having used it last year in my foundation portfolio. It was interesting to use it an a different way and improve on the skills I learnt last year.

Camera The camera played a big part when creating my pieces, as I wouldn’t have

any shots to use with out it.

It was used through out all my pieces with it being either a video or still camera, it was used in my trailer, poster, and film magazine.

With it being such a main piece of technology that was used in creation of my pieces, I was able to improve my skills that I have previously learnt from last year, and use the knowledge I had learnt to correctly choose the correct mise-en-scene for each shot, with every detail thought about to successfully portray the meanings I wanted to create through my pieces to promote the film.

I went on to use the images I took to then be manipulated and edited in either I movie or Photoshop.

I movie The trailer of the film I was advertising was the main part of the promotion package I was creating. So having

a reliable piece of technology was very important to how the piece will be at the end of completing it.

After shooting all my shots for my trailer, I used I Movie to manipulate them and put them in order of how I wanted them in the trailer. It was very easy to use and I was able to trim shots down very effectively and have a collection of short shots being able to increase the pace of the trailer, creating more space. I was then allowed to have music going over the top of the shots, adding to that suspense.

I movie allowed me to add text into the trailer, giving the audience a better knowledge of what the trailer is trying to promote and making it more easier to understand, this was easy to fit into the trailer having the technology be so easy to use with its simple layout.

After playing around with the software and having a main base for my trailer, I decided to look deeper into the technology and see what I could do to possibly improve my piece. I discovered that I could change the clip and have a filter over it, creating a different tone for the audience. I decided to have a clip running through trailer of the antagonist to use as a constant reminder to the audience of the role the antagonist plays. I wanted to emphasise this even more, so I used the x ray filter on I movie to make the image more supernatural and unpleasant allowing the audience to know that when they see this, it is a symbol of fear.

I would certainly say that without the use of I movie, I wouldn’t be able to create such a good piece that I have done, as it was able to bring a air of professionalism to the whole piece instead of using a media technology like windows movie maker it makes the whole piece more crisp.

Photoshop Photoshop was mainly used to help create the ancillary pieces for my promotion

package and allowed me to create accurate pieces, that correctly portray horror.

Using Photoshop is a skill in itself, however once you know how to use it you are able to access one of the most outstanding pieces of media technology. You can do so much with just one image and turn it into something you would have never imagined.

For my poster, I had the two statues looking over my protagonist and to demonstrate the amount of power they had over him because of them being supernatural I wanted to make sure that this power doesn’t go without notice. So I decided to use solar flares and place them in a triangle in the poster, symbolising the bond between all the character and then this is emphasised with the use of the two copies of the main character next to the original showing his possession, this was done by copying the layer of the original twice putting a multiply filter over each, and reducing the opacity to then rub all the surrounding pieces of them layers to bring out the original but still keeping it darker then it actually was which adds to the claustrophobic atmosphere I wanted to create for the audience.

For my magazine front cover, I wanted to keep up this claustrophobic atmosphere creating by the use of dark colours so I decided to darken my main image, highlighting the writing around it, but also separating it from the text almost as if to show the main character now as his possessed of being overcome by the supernatural, making him alien to anything we see as normal.

Evaluation The use of media technologies in my evaluation were mainly

designed to make my answer of the questions more interactive and engaging. When answering the questions it is not just about what you say in them, it is also about, mainly how you present them. The more fun and engaging the presentation of the answer is, the more detail into your work is shown. You are showing the effort and determination you have put in through out your advanced portfolio through how you present your answers. Each answer needs to be its own individual, all of them need to stand out from each other and all of them needs to show your enthusiasm.

Prezi I used Prezi for my first evaluation question; in which saw me compare my

own pieces to real media pieces that I was influenced by. Prezi was a great choice for this question as It allowed something like comparing my fun to whoever is viewing.

At one point in the presentation I had scenes from my own trailer and the trailer I was influenced by, the evil dead and had them lined up against each with point after point coming into view about the how I either challenged, conformed, or developed the conventions in the evil dead trailer in my own piece.

It was very easy for me to link my points together and therefore strengthen all of them as the presentation was clearly set out for the comparisons between each piece.

Blogger Using blogger, not just for my evaluation but also my planning and research allowed me to show a

clear focus on task. With its basic and simple layout, blogger could potentially be one of my favourite and most important pieces of media technology I have used.

It easily allows you to set out your entries however you want and using it for my second evaluation question, freedom was what I needed. In the question; I needed to show how all my pieces were able to work together, to create the ultimate advertising package for a film. Blogger was the perfect choice for this type of question as it allowed you to structure your answer in a way that is simple and understandable for the reader. If I used something like Prezi for this question it would be much more difficult to set out as it wouldn’t be as clear and well thought out.

Through my answer I was able to highlight important parts of my answer to emphasise how their sell the film to the audience and the meanings I wanted to create through my pieces for my target audience. I also used relevant images of media pieces in my answer such as; movie posters, scenes from film trailers, and my own pieces to create a link between my pieces and real media pieces demonstrating that I have researched into real media pieces and how they have successfully advertised their films and related to the target audience.

It was create to use, as it was so simple and effective.

Google doc Google doc was another piece of media technology that was very effective. My third

question was for me to carry research on my target audiences feedback on my pieces, asking them what they thought of my pieces? What could have possibly been improved? What were some key areas that portrayed the genre the most?

It allowed me to create a questionnaire, designed for my target audience to give feedback on my pieces.

Google doc was vital for me, as it allowed me to look at all the statistics and responses and have it do it all for me making my life much more easier.

Because of it, I would have less chance of making a mistake counting the responses and finding the statistics myself making my evaluation more reliable.

It was very straightforward to use and easy to share to my target audience and I preferred to use it instead of using blogger as it wouldn’t have had the same results, having it not directly asking the audience on what they thought about my pieces, it is more suited to presenting information rather then asking it.

PowerPoint For my last evaluation question, I decided to use a media technology that I knew was

very reliable and engaging.

I decided to use PowerPoint to answer the fourth and last question, (the one I am answering now) about how I used media technology. Reflecting on my work, PowerPoint allows you to easily construct and present your answer in a sensible but interactive way.

In my answer when talking about how I used media technologies in my pieces, I used the transitions setting in PowerPoint to create a vortex effect through each slide, making it seem as if each slide is made up of thousands of tiny little pieces that make up one big slide, I thought this would be create to use as it symbolises the journey I have come on, adding all the little pieces together from the beginning to my final end pieces.

It is certainly a good choice to use for presenting, but I wouldn’t use it to ask my target audience feedback on my pieces like the google doc, as it would be very difficult to reach the target audience. Yes, it may be very interactive but it won’t be able to collect the information I need to know to create an reliable reflection on my work.

Thank you and may the odds be ever in your favour.

That is the end of my presentation.