Technologies used in my Coursework

Technologies used in research and planning, production and evaluation Bubbl.us Wallwisher Popplet YouTube Google iMovie Power Point Slideshare Survey Monkey

Facebook Blogger Microsoft Word Canon Hd

Camcorder Nikon Cool Pix s300

Popplet, Bubbl.us and WallwisherPopplet and bubbl.us are both mind mapping

programmed which allowed me to effectively express my findings into the crime thriller genre. For example for my 7 still image analysis I could paste each image and brainstorm idea's off it to analysis it in a way that's clear and ordered. With the use of the 'drag link to make a new popplet' I could branch off more idea's about each image.

It also allowed me to paste in a YouTube video's into one of the frames allowing people to play it and understand where each still image is from. It helped to add the interactive factor so that you can watch the trailer without clicking off of the programme.

Wall Wisher was useful to help me present my research as I could set out my audience research on this and set out responses clearly with each individual speech box. It presented my research neatly and interactively to identify the answers given by my audience. I could label each box with the name of my focus group member to clearly illustrate each answer in an order that made it easy for people to match up the response with the question.

iMovieFor editing our trailer we used the iMovie programme. With the trimming tools, we shortened each clip to fit the

correct sequence in which allowed it to flow conventionally. To fit conventions we wanted a fast paced trailer and so we trimmed and cut each shot to about 1.4-1.6 seconds long each by clicking on the 'clip adjustment'. This way it fitted the background music so created tension and seemed interesting. We could drag each clip into the footage and experiment with different shots finding out which fit best and most effectively.

To make our trailer more enticing we added special effects using the 'slow motion' tool that was on iMovie. Thus for we incorporated some slow motioned shots into our trailer to add a creative element into our trailer and conveying the scene of the character's on drugs. Other special effects that we used from iMovie used was the cartoonize effect. We experiment with effects such as 'sepia' and 'graphite' to match a shot we saw in the trailer to 'Spring Breakers' as it added to the 'drugs' element to distort the audiences perception. However we did not use the cartoonize effect in our final cut but did use it for our drafts.

We added voice overs to the footage and with the clip adjustment tool on iMovie we were able to adjust the volume on clips so that when we put the voice over's it wasn't made muffled by the noise from the footage. This way we could match the voice overs with the right scene and the voice over would be projected loud and clearly.

Filming Technology To film our footage needed to complete our trailer, we filmed on a Canon HD

camcorder. With the use of a tripod, we were able to get clear and defined shots which added the professional edge to it. The use of the face recognition meant we were able to focus on expressions when filming close ups and mid shots, to capture to emotion shown from the characters. With the tripod as well we were able to film more difficult shots at slants and on a tilt such as the shots of the characters on drugs. We were also able to shoot footage low down such as the shot of the cigarette butt being stomped out.

For my ancillary products I used a Nikon Cool Pix s300 with 14 mega pixel’s With the high resolution I was able to shoot clear shots, focusing on the character's. Since many of the shots for my poster were long shots the high mega-pixel meant that I didn't loose quality when shooting from long distance, the characters were still in focus.

The Internet

With the use of the internet I was able to do a sufficient amount of research into the genre of crime thriller as I could use search engines such as 'Google' to look for films within that genre. I could effectively gain inspiration for my final product whilst learning about the conventions of the crime thriller films. For example I needed to find lists of crime thriller films and when searching for some I came across films such as Kidulthood, Spring Breakers and The Runnaways which I used as influences to create my main trailer. I also used google images to copy film posters and magazine covers in which I analysed for my research and planning.

I used video streaming websites such as YouTube to watch lots of actual trailers on so I could analysis them and use screenshots of parts of the videos. For my creative analysis I used the 'Project X' trailer which was copied from YouTube and then edited on iMovie. Was able to pause the video to then screenshot and copy the image into other programmes. The video’s on YouTube were also easy to embed into various programmes such as popplet and my blog.

Survey MonkeyTo produce questionnaires to gain knowledge about my target audience I used survey

monkeys. This way I could use social media such as Facebook and Twitter to distribute my surveys and get a wide audience to answer them. The aspect that I thought was effective with Survey Monkey was that people could interact online as a pose to filling out one on paper. I could also use the website to analyse my resultsand findings which made it a lot easier to present my work and explain them as they were made into graphs and tables. I could easily use this programme and use the various options to ensure that my questions were suitable and provided with the answer options that would give me the best quality feedback. I used tools that allowed me to mix up the type of questions I asked so that people could tick an option for questions that required a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response and then a comment box where people could answer with their own written feedback.

Microsoft Word and Power point

I created both my magazine and poster on Microsoft Word as I found it easy to use and the variety of fonts, colours and layouts allowed me to have more options to experiment with. I was able to edit the size of images and text to fit the requirement of a magazine and poster size. I could also use the alignment tool to ensure that my magazine was ordered correctly and fitted the layout conventions.

I used Microsoft Power point to present work such as my 'conventions of crime thriller' presentation which concluded all of my research into the genre. I could divide each different section within my findings into a different slide making it easier to read. Also the tools on it allowed me to bullet point idea's and gather my findings in relevant sections. I also liked the way I could upload it to slide share and then people could easily navigate their way through each slide in the presentation quickly and effectively.