Q4. HOW DID YOU USE MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES IN THE RESEARCH,

PLANNING, CONSTRUCTION AND EVALUATION STAGES

Sanjidah Rahman 12A1

When creating the film, a whole range of technologies were used through out the research, planning, construction and evaluation stages. These technologies were also used to create the ancillaries e.g. Film poster and radio trailer.

RESEARCH

My team and I had to do a lot of research in order to give us an idea of what kind of films the audience would enjoy, we did secondary research via internet, this allowed us to visit many different websites, giving us some inspiration. For example, we researched on many famous film institutions and came across 20th Century Fox and its most successful film.

We then researched on the elements of the film and why it was a success, this gave us some inspiration for our own film.

RESEARCH BBC FILM NETWORK & YOUTUBE

BBC Film Network allowed us to watch short films similar to our genre of the film to get a better understanding on what elements this particular genre needs giving us more ideas for the story line, similarly with YouTube. These websites were used as we have easy access to them and they are simple to use.

RESEARCH IMDB

We also did more secondary research on a website called IMDb, because it has information of over a thousands films and has message boards for the public, using this website helped us to gain knowledge about the genre of our film and also what the public views are.

PLANNINGSURVEY MONKEY

We used Survey Monkey to create a survey and have the general public to answer them giving us their opinions on what would help make a good film. This then helped us for the planning as we knew what the audience's preferences were. The reason why we used this particular site was because it is not too complex and it lets us take the embed codes and paste it on different social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter as it allowed the audience to have access to the link for the survey.

PLANNING MICROSOFT WORD

When we started planning for the film, we used Microsoft word to create the drafts, final script, the location and actors contracts and meeting schedules and the timetable for the actors. It allowed us to compose, edit, format, and print these important documents. This software was particularly useful because it had all the tools for us to create tables for meeting schedules and timetables,

PLANNING EMAIL

As we had our own responsibilities for certain parts of the script writing and contracts, it was important that all members of the production group had all important documents, therefore we used Windows Live Hotmail to email each other with the document attached to it.

Email was one of the ways we notified each other of any changes that has been made to the filming or meeting schedule.

PLANNING FACEBOOK

I communicated with the group through a range communication tools, one of the ways was social networking sites. Facebook in particular was a very efficient means of communications as it has an instant messaging software on it, which allowed the group to speak to each other in real time and assist each other on tasks that was set, it also allowed us to form meetings for when we could not physically be in the same room together.

PLANNING MOBILE PHONES

Another effective way the group communicated was with mobile phones. This allowed us to call, or text each other for any questions we may have had, we also set up meetings by calling each other and finding out if everyone is free for the meeting. I believe its a good way to communicate with the group as we would get fast replies which would make the planning process more faster.

CONSTRUCTION FINAL CUT PRO

We used Final Cut Pro which allowed us to edit the film for example it let us cut any unwanted material in the film and to add effects, transitions and sound to the film making it more effective which may have an effect on the audience. We used this particular software because it was fairly simple and it had high-quality effects which would make our film look professional.

CONSTRUCTION LIVETYPE

We also used LiveType to create the film title and credits and tagline, this is because it was simple to use and it helped create a good feel for our film genre.

CONSTRUCTION IMOVIE

iMovie was used for importing video clips from the camera, we used this as it allowed us to view the clips first before importing.

We also used this software at the beginning to we get used to the editing process until we moved onto Final Cut Pro.

CONSTRUCTION AVC CAMERA

We used AVC cameras to shoot the film as its a high quality camera, which gives good images, we used this because it helped us to give our film a good quality, professional image that may affect the audience when watching.

This camera also has microphones on it which would pick up the sounds in the setting very clearly, this meant we didn't need extra microphones for when we were filming.

CONSTRUCTION PHOTOSHOP

I used Photoshop to create the poster, this is because it has effects and tools that will help me to make the poster relate to the genre and the film.

CONSTRUCTION DIGITAL RECORDING SUITE

This is where we recorded our Radio Trailer for the film. The reason why we used this place is because it has all the equipment and software needed in order to create the perfect trailer for our film. As I was familiar with this studio and the equipment, it was easy to get the trailer completed

EVALUATION BLOGSPOT.COM

Blogspot.com allowed me to keep a blog of all the development and creative phases I went through, it also allowed me to upload the different stages using different technologies, for example I was able to upload presentations using slide share, upload podcasts and YouTube videos.

EVALUATION POWERPOINT

PowerPoint's allowed me to structure my findings and deliver them in a visual way. For example when I got the results back from the audience survey, I was able to put them in graphs and charts, by using the tools provided in the presentation software.