1. How did you use Media
Technologies in the Research and
Planning, Construction and
Evaluation stages?
Rhiannon Jenkins

2. Media Technologies
• Throughout the entire process of creating my
trailer and two ancillary tasks, I have used
many different types of media technologies to
research, plan, construct and evaluate. I used
online tools such as YouTube as well as
Software such as Premiere Pro and Photoshop
and Hardware such as Zoom Voice Recorders
and Sony Video Cameras. This PowerPoint
aims to outline the types of media
technologies I used and what I used them for.

4. FujiFilm Finepix S9600
• I used the FujiFilm Finepix S9600 in the construction part of my production
to capture images for my ancillary tasks as well as the using it in the
planning section to produce images for the mock-up magazine cover I
created.
• Using the camera for my mock up images gave me time to get used to
using it before the shoot for my actual task. I think this was really
beneficial because it allowed me to plan more carefully how I was going to
go about doing my final ancillary shoot.

5. Sony HDRSR8 Video Camera
• The Sony HDRSR8 video camera was a key media technology used in the
construction of my trailer as all the footage for my trailer was filmed on it.
• Before taking the camera out to shoot the final product, I made sure I had
practiced on it, by using people to stand in for practice shots of scenes
that would be featured in the trailer. I found that the camera was really
easy to use and was also very compact, which did not have a detrimental
effect on the resultant footage at all.
• As well as using the camera in the construction portion, I also
incorporated it into the research and planning, and evaluation sections of
my coursework. I took the camera out location scouting with me so I was
able to see what the locations looked like on moving camera rather than
just in front of me. I also used the camera to shoot some of mine and my
partner’s Production Meetings in which we discussed ideas regarding the
audience and genre of the trailer we would be making together. As for the
evaluation stage, I recorded myself talking through question one regarding
the convention I had incorporated in my trailer on this camera.

6. ZOOM H1 Voice Recorder
• This piece of hardware was used in the construction portion of my
coursework. It allowed me to record voice-overs for the trailer, as a lot of
the dialogue filmed on camera is not as clear as it is when reproduced on
this device. We had already decided that because of this our trailer would
feature many voiceovers that didn’t necessarily need to be matched up to
footage of characters speaking.
• I liked using the ZOOM H1 recorder as it was very easy to use. You simply
had to slide down a button on the side to turn it on or off and press the
big red button to stop or start recording. Finally, in order to hear back
what you have recorded, you just press the play button on the side.
• The pro’s of using the voice recorder was that we filmed everything on the
video camera first and when we had the resultant footage, we were able
to watch it back and record voice-overs that we thought would fit and add
to the scenes being shown.

7. MAC Computer
• The MAC computer is my most used piece of media technology as I have
used it throughout all stages of my coursework production.
• Research: the MAC computer gave me access to the internet and sites
such as Google, which further gave me access to the online tools I needed
to watch and analyse existing trailers (YouTube), access existing audience
research (BFI website) and post out surveys that I had created myself to
gain my own research(SurveyMonkey). The MAC is also home to software
such as PowerPoint and Microsoft Word which are the programmes I used
to document my findings and conclusions.
• Planning: I used Microsoft Word on the MAC to
create production schedules, call sheets and any
other type of paperwork that was needed to make
sure that the construction of my products ran
smoothly.

8. MAC Computer (cont)
• Construction: I used a variety of different programmes that are only
available or run best on a MAC computer, such as Photoshop in which I
edited my resultant images as well as creating skeletons and my actual
magazine and posters. I also used Premiere Pro to crop, edit together and
adjust the colour of my clips whilst piecing them together to create my
trailer. I used LiveType which only runs on MAC’s to create my titles and
company production logo.
• Evaluation: I have created the majortiy of this PowerPoint on a MAC
computer as well as accessing the internet to
create Prezi’s which showcase my other
evaulation questions.

9. iPhone
• I used my iPhone for a few things throughout the process of creating my
coursework products:
• Firstly, my iPhone was my main source of communication between myself
and my partner as we were able to easily call or text to discuss ideas.
• My iPhone can access the web, making it easier to transfer information
and images straight to my Gmail account which I can access via a MAC or
normal computer and then upload these things to my blog if needed.
• My iPhone was also used to take stills when out location scouting as it was
of a slightly higher quality than the video camera,
meaning that I had some more detailed shots.

11. Adobe Photoshop CS6
• Adobe Photoshop CS6 allowed me to do a lot
creatively regarding my ancillary tasks.
• Before I even thought about taking or editing any
images, I used Photoshop to create a skeleton layout
of both my film magazine cover and poster so that
once it came to the construction of the actual
products, I had already planned out where
everything would be placed.
• Straight after my ancillary shoot, I used the
programme to create a contact sheet to view all of
my resultant images. Having them all together made
it easier to pick out the ones I would use as my final
image for both magazine and poster.

12. • Most of what I altered in terms of the image
itself was the ‘Brightness/Contrast’ and the
‘Color Balance’. I altered the brightness so
that my actress’ face looked more
illuminated against the darker background,
as this way she would be the audiences first
focus of attention.
• I edited the colour balance and as you can
see in the screenshot to the right I’ve made
the main colours that filter through
predominantly shades of blue and cyan. I
did this because I wanted the colour
scheme of my ancillary tasks to mainly be
blue, black and white to fit the genre so it
made sense to filter this into the image
itself.
Adobe Photoshop CS6 (cont)

13. Adobe Photoshop CS6 (cont)
• The image to the right is one of my first attempts at
having one image behind the other. Photoshop
allowed me to do this by placing the image of my
actress over the image of a building. I then clicked
on the eraser tool, having only highlighted the
image of my actress (the top layer) which allowed
me to rub out the background and have the
building filter through. I made sure to have the
eraser on the softest level it could be so that the
edges didn’t look sharp and messy.
• As well as editing images, this programme allowed
me to add other layers such as text boxes, shapes,
barcodes and other images based on my skeleton
layouts which made my ancillary products look all
the more professional.

14. Final Cut Pro
• I used Final Cut Pro to create my first videos showing two students in
college having conversations. The programme allowed me to cut clips, edit
the colour of them, adjust the volume and piece them together as a
finished product. Although this wasn’t technically part of my coursework,
after using this programme and Premiere Pro, I decided to use Premiere
Pro to create my final product on as for me it was easier to use and the
results were better.

15. Adobe Premiere Pro
• As stated before, I chose to use Adobe Premiere Pro to create my final trailer on.
As well as this I used it to create my Location Scouting video in the planning
stage of my coursework which allowed me to get used to the way it worked and
some of the effects I could expect to use when constructing my final product. I
filmed myself talking through question one of the evaluation and also used the
programme to insert clips from real trailers to illustrate my points.
• I edited a lot of my shots by lowering red in the colour balance, leaving a
majority of green but mostly blue. I did this because I wanted to create a chilling
effect and appeal the supernatural thriller genre.

16. Adobe Premiere Pro (cont)
• One of the major things I edited on a lot
of clips in my trailer was the lighting.
Firstly, to again accent the blue tones I
wanted to seep through I put an “Omni”
light over the top of some scenes with the
main colour being a pale blue which
created a ghostly feel.
•However, I felt that this wasn’t
making the clips dark enough so I
added a black video over the top. In
this I added an inverted circle, made
it black and feathered the edges
which made a vignette effect. I
applied this over every clip in my
trailer to create a more tense and
dark atmosphere.

17. Adobe Premiere Pro (Cont)
• I will talk later on in the PowerPoint about the titles I made in LiveType but
once I added them into my trailer I noticed that the pace they moved at
did not fit the trailer that well. I decided to edit this in Premiere Pro by
speeding up the entrance of the text and then freezing it for longer on the
still title itself. I did this by razoring the clip at the exact moment the title
had entirely entered and then held the frame so that it did not move. I
then dipped the clip to black so it had a ‘fade out’ effect.
• I used the Dip to Black effect right at the very start of my trailer too, to
create an effect as if the camera was someone’s eyes blinking. The shot
shows Adam looking straight into the camera as if it is a person and the
injections of Dip to Black create a realistic blinking effect.

18. Adobe Premiere Pro (cont)
• I sped up some clips such as those of the two
protagonists running through the woods in order to
create tension and to keep the narrative within the
trailer moving forward as it is only a teaser so there
is not as much time as a theatrical trailer.
• Another effect I used in this programme was the
Additive Dissolve. I used this to dissolve the screen
from a coloured shot to a black and white shot to
create the effect of a flashback. I went to effects,
then selected Additive Dissolve and dropped it over
the portion of the frame I wanted it to change over.

19. Adobe After Effects
• I tried out After Effects and have
made a video showing what I can do
on it. However, I decided that this
programme wasn’t really for me. I
managed to get all of the effects I
wanted on Premiere Pro and
decided to do my production
company logo and text/titles on
LiveType as it had more options that
I felt I could be more creative with
whereas on After Effects I felt I
would be stuck with a boring font
that looked like it was ripped off of a
word document.

20. LiveType
•I used LiveType to create both my Production
Company Logo as well as all of the intertitles in my
final trailer.
•For my Production Company Logo I used two text
effects as well as an effect that creates a flashing
light behind to make it appear a bit more majestic
than the titles. I used inspiration from New Line
Cinema’s logo in terms of colour.
•To adhere to conventions, I also made the titles a
similar colour to the logo to create more of a
brand. In LiveType I decided to add three different
types of text effects to create a supernatural-
esque entrance for the text which adheres to the
genre.

21. PowerPoint
•PowerPoint made it easy for me to quickly
put together data I had collected from
research and I used this programme to
compile a lot of my research and planning
which was then posted onto my blog.
•I also used PowerPoint to create my “Initial
Ideas” presentation which I then showed to
the class to get my first lot of feedback. This
was the point where I began to see the
direction my products were going to go in in
terms of genre and target audience.
•I put my Codal Analysis and Detailed
Research onto PowerPoints which were easy
for me to go back to if I ever needed
reminding of conventions of genre or some
inspiration.

22. Microsoft Word
• I used Microsoft Word mostly in the planning
part of my coursework. This programme was
the perfect place to create simple but
professional looking documents such as call
sheets, location release and talent release
forms. As these documents were going to be
used by other people such as the actors and
people who owned the locations I wanted them
to look as realistic as possible and this
programme allowed that.
• I also used Microsoft Word to create my shoot
plan and production schedule by inserting
tables which allowed me to organise things
easily by listing times and dates in alignment
with what needed to be done at that point. This
helped me stay organised and on top of things
whilst continuing to plan and eventually
construct my products.

24. YouTube
•I used YouTube in the research stage of my
coursework to analyse already existing film
trailers of the same genre I was planning to
create. Doing this allowed me to pick out
codes and conventions that I could apply to
my own trailer.
•As well as being a viewing platform, I also
used YouTube to upload my own videos. I
uploaded a Production Meeting to show
myself and Yasmin’s individual contributions
and ideas that we had found through our
own research.
•YouTube allowed me to upload multiple versions of my trailer as it was
under construction. At around the third edit of my trailer I began posting it
to social media sites in order to gain feedback as to how it could be
improved. After getting feedback, I could then upload the newer version.

25. Gmail
•I used Gmail as a form of communication between myself and my partner
as it allowed us to send information such as copies of signed talent and
location release forms and images needed for location scouting within the
planning part of the portfolio.
•As well as this, using my Gmail account meant that I could send images
taken on my iPhone to myself, as my Gmail account can be opened on both
a computer/MAC as well as on my phone. Once they had been transferred
to a computer/MAC I was able to then upload them to my blog.

26. Prezi
•Prezi is an online site that allows you to present information in an interesting
way. Although they are sometimes a bit harder to create as you have to take
notice of the paths that take you from one point to another, they are more
visually appealing than a PowerPoint usually is, but I feel that may be because
they are usually designed to carry less information.
•I used Prezi to create presentations
for tasks such as planning and research
into main task and ancillary tasks as I
felt that after doing my research into
the genre as a whole, I had a wide
enough knowledge to pick out the
most important bits which would be
included on my Prezi.

27. Blogger
• Blogger is an online platform where I am documenting my work and progress
as I go along. Every time I finish a piece of research, planning or a new edit of
one of my productions I would post it on my blog to show my progress.
Having this blog means you can clearly see the journey from where the
research I have done has helped shape my ideas and filtered into the planning
process of my productions, which again then filters into the way the filming
and shooting of my products has been done. For example, my audience
research showed that they wanted a thriller trailer, which resulted in my
research into codes and conventions of this genre. Now that I knew the
conventions I was able to find locations and actors etc that fitted these
requirements and was able to plan the
shooting with them. I then moved onto
construction and post production, all the
time adhering to these conventions. All
of this is evidenced on my Blogger.

28. SlideShare
•SlideShare is a website that allows
you to upload files such as Word
Documents and PowerPoint
presentations which can then be
embedded onto other sites. This was
a very useful online tool for me,
particularly in the research and
planning stages as I was able to
upload all of my research that was
complied on these sorts of files and
embed them straight onto my blog. It
was also very handy in the planning
stage for files such as my Production
Schedule, which I embedded on my
blog and constantly referred back to.

29. Social Media Sites
•I used social media sites such as
Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to get
audience feedback in the research and
construction stages.
•In the research stage I posted my initial
survey on these sites to get a wide
range of people to undertake it, which
is where I began in terms of genre.
•I posted drafts of my ancillary and
main tasks on these sites and asked
audiences to fill out a survey which I
linked asking what they thought of
them. This allowed me to see what
audiences would be looking for and
might alert me as to things I may have
missed and should have been included.

30. Survey Monkey
• I used Survey Monkey to create my first survey which asked audiences
questions regarding their favourite type of genre and what they would want
featured in a film trailer or on a magazine cover and film poster. This research
allowed me to pick a genre and hone in on it’s conventions which I then
applied to the creation of my products.
•To the right I have added a
screenshot of one of the surveys I
used to get feedback for my ancillary
tasks in the construction stage. All I
wanted was for them to tell me what
they liked and disliked about both of
my products and this seemed like the
easiest, most structured way to do it,
and it was. Doing it on SurveyMoney
also meant I could easily gather my
results rather than scrolling through
unorganised Facebook comments.

31. Sound Effects
• freeSFX is a website that has loads of free sound effects that can be
downloaded. I went through many of them during the construction stage
of my trailer as I wanted to create more of an atmosphere with sound
effects but the only one I decided on using was a breathing sound effect as
it matched up really well to a shot I was using in my final piece and
created tension which was a plus for the genre.
• Incompetech.com is a site that has lots of free royalty-free music
composed by Kevin Macleod. They can be easily downloaded free of
charge and I used three of these tracks in my trailer and one as the sound
in my production company logo.

32. Empireonline.com
•One of my ancillary tasks was a
film magazine cover taking a lot
of it’s inspiration from Empire
magazine. I used their website
very often to pick up conventions
when planning my own product
as they have a huge archive of all
the past covers. This website also
had very up-to-date film news so
I used a lot of their headlines and
stories as coverlines when
constructing my own magazine
cover.

33. BBC – script format
• I used a PDF file on the BBC
website that described exactly
how to present a screenplay whilst
actually having it presented as a
screenplay itself which was very
helpful. I used this in the planning
stage of my coursework to create
a 4 page sample script of which I
used when filming portions of my
trailer to create a better sense of
verisimilitude with regards to the
actors parts. It also enabled me to
imagine other parts of the
narrative in a clearer light.

34. Video Copilot
• Video Copilot is a website I came
across whilst searching the best
way to create a billing block. This
site provided me with a free font
and template for a billing block
which really helped speed up my
constrction process, especially as I
had never made one before so did
not have an existing template.

35. Google
• Last but not least, Google is the most important online tool for me as it is
the starting point for finding any OTHER online tool. Google provided me
with almost all of the film posters and magazine covers I initially analysed
which allowed me to plan my own using research I gained from this.
• Google also allowed me access to BFI data and FilmSixty’s findings which
contributed to my secondary audience research, and made it clearer to
me what the audience was looking for and what aspects I should be
focusing on when creating my products.
• Google is where I first looked for a billing block template, video tutorials,
media packs such as Empire’s, talent and location release form templates
and a script format. It has given me easy access to all of these which has
greatly aided me in all aspects of my coursework creation.