How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

DocumentaryResearch and Planning

When we began this coursework module, we researched topics that our documentary could be on as well as existing documentaries. We used search engines such as Google to find the information we wanted to be the starting point for our documentary, and stuck to reliable websites such as the BBC and The Guardian to ensure that the information we used was accurate and reliable.

Once we had decided on a topic for our documentary we conducted research into existing documentaries such as My Tattoo Addiction, which we watched on TV catch-up services including 4OD (Channel 4 on demand).

When planning to construct our documentary, we used applications such as Microsoft Word to plan the questions for the interviews we filmed, and Microsoft Excel to create a timetable to plan filming times.

To film the documentary, we used a Canon HD HG20 which allowed us to get high quality footage and have a lot of control over the footage. The camera also allowed us to take stills, which we used in our magazine spread and on the production blog. We also used a tripod when filming to ensure the shots were steady and looked professional, instead of shaky as they would have looked with a handheld camera. Another piece of equipment we used was a shotgun microphone, which allowed us to record high quality audio whilst canceling out background noise (however, some parts of our documentary were filmed in noisy environments so some clips unfortunately still have background noise). Whilst filming we used Sennheiser HD201 headphones to check the sound quality as we filmed so we could adjust the microphone accordingly and get the best sound quality. We also used clip-on microphones for some interviews in our documentary so that the interviewee's voice is the only sound in the clip, which makes it seem professional. We also used this kind of microphone to record the voiceover for our documentary to ensure it was of the best quality.

Editing

To edit our documentary, we used the video editing software Adobe Premiere Pro. First of all, we logged all of our raw footage and imported it into the software. We were then able to trim the clips to what we needed and reject any footage we deemed not good enough to be in the final product. We frequently used the razorblade tool, which allowed us to cut and separate clips to delete what we didn't need (as there was still some extra unnecessary footage after the initial trim) as well as to allow us to use different parts of the clip at different points in the documentary, as we were then able to drag it across the timeline. In some of the footage, the lighting was not as bright as the rest of the documentary so we went into video effects and used the slider to adjust the brightness and contrast of the necessary clips, so the documentary had consistently effective lighting. We modified some clips by changing the speed at which they played, for example our title sequence, for which a member of the group wrote the title on her arm to look like a tattoo. We then increased the speed of the clip from 100% to 2558.27% so that it was significantly faster and only lasted a few seconds. We used some text overlays for several purposes, such as to display the names/titles of people interviewed. We did this by creating the title within the software and then dragging it over the footage. On one clip, on which there was a lot of text as we had conducted an interview via email and so quoted the interview in text, so we applied a typewriter effect, which made it fit in with the fast pace of the documentary and so the larger amount of text wouldn't alienate the audience. We also applied transition effects such as cross dissolve which is often used in professional documentaries (as we found out during our research) for a smooth and professional-looking transition between clips. Sound levels were also an important part of the editing process, and we found that our footage had varying levels of sound, so when the clips were imported and played, the one clip could be too loud and the next too quiet. To fix this we changed the volume of the clip, as is indicated by the yellow line on each clip.

When the documentary was finished, we exported it from the software in QuickTime file format (QTFF) and then burned it on to a blank DVD.

Magazine Spread

Research & planningWe began the process of making the magazine spread to advertise the documentary by looking existing spread in listings magazines to see which magazine would be most appropriate to list our documentary in. After doing this, we decided on the Radio Times. We analyzed several magazine spreads from this magazine and others, and then presented it online using Prezi.

After analysing these magazines to get an idea of what our magazine should feature and designing a draft by hand, we began constructing the product. First of all we took screenshots of the documentary (by pressing command-shift-3 in the Apple Mac computers we were using) and then editing them in Adobe Photoshop CS6 to ensure they were the highest quality to be printed on a magazine. The most important aspect of this is ensuring that the photos are bright enough and not discoloured. First of all, we went to "New Fill Layer > Solid Colour" and changed the setting to "Soft Light" and selected the colour white. This adds a layer of brightness to the image without affecting the quality of the image, but it does discolour it as the image appears too white. We then lowered the opacity until it was the appropriate level of brightness, and then selected the "Brightness & Contrast" adjustment to fix the discolouration, and increased the brightness/contrast using the sliders until the image was bright but still the appropriate colours and not distorted. After the images were completed, we constructed the actual magazine spread using Adobe InDesign CS6. We used several different boxes to create the initial layout and filled them with text/images as we went along. The images had already been edited in Photoshop and so we were able to add them directly into InDesign and then fill the surrounding space with text- the article had already been written in Microsoft Word. We used three boxes- one large box at the top and two next to it- for images, and a large box at the bottom for the article. Another box at the side was used to insert graphics and text for statistics. The graphics were also made using Photoshop then imported into a box in InDesign. When finished, we exported the magazine as a JPEG file.

Radio Trailer

We listened to several radio trailers and analysed them using a table to decide on the features we would use in our trailer and also which radio station we would advertise on. We recorded another voiceover for the trailer using a clip-on microphone and imported it into garage band. We also took select clips from the documentary and extracted the audio then opened them in GarageBand and further trimmed them so there was only short, fast quotes used. We also had to adjust the sound levels so that the music (the same music used in the documentary for continuity) and voice clips were balanced and the voiceover and clips were the same volume.

BloggerThroughout the entire coursework module we have documented our progress and uploaded our work on to a blog on blogger.com. We have uploaded the work using various technologies such as Prezi, Scribd, Slideshare etc. which we put on the blog by pasting embed codes into the html code of the blog posts.