1. OUR USE OF MEDIA
TECHNOLOGIES IN THE
CONSTRUCTION AND
RESEARCH, PLANNING AND
EVALUATION STAGES:

2.  Blogger: I have used blogger throughout the entire
project. I have created a blog, by creating ‘posts’,
that creatively takes you through the research and
planning, construction and evaluation stages. I did
this by presenting a range of media technologies
(Prezi, Tagul, etc) to produce evidence of my work
and the development from where we started to our
final products.
 Microsoft Office: I have used Microsoft Word and
PowerPoint throughout the entire project as well.
We used Word to create a collection of research for
the documentary (research record), also to create
questionnaires to find out more about our target
audience and get feedback on our final products.
Word enabled us to script our voice over, radio
advertisement and produce logging sheets and edit
decision lists. I have used PowerPoint to present a
range of tasks; documentary theory, codes and
conventions of documentaries, print
advertisements, initial ideas, recording and editing
processes, this PowerPoint and others. I’ve created
clear, easy to follow presentations using a range of
‘designs’ and ‘images’ which have then been
uploaded to Blogger via SlideShare.

3.  Slideshare: We used slideshare to upload all of our
PowerPoint presentations and put them onto our blogs.
We did this by clicking ‘upload’ selecting the PowerPoint
we wanted and then ‘copied and paste’ the embed code
into the html on the blog post.
 Prezi: I used Prezi for the same reasons as using
PowerPoint. However, with Prezi I was able to make the
presentation more interesting and effective by using
music and videos in them. The creative designs and
use of a ‘path’ led to easy to follow and interesting
presentations. I then uploaded to them my blog using
the embed code like slideshare.

4.  Tagul: We used Tagul to brainstorm the content
for our documentary in our research and
planning. Using Tagul we were able to
manipulate the words into the shape and
colours of a burger which relates to the topic of
our documentary (fast food).
 PowToon: I used PowToon in my evaluation to
show how our documentary used, developed
and challenged the forms and conventions of
real media products. It allowed me to create a
short video presentation using animation
characters, text, pictures and effects on slides,
which I was then able to change the duration of
time each slide was shown. I thought that it was
a creative way to produce and effective answer
to that evaluation question. It also meant that I
had learnt about and discovered how to use
another media technology that I had never seen
before. It was uploaded to YouTube and then
‘shared’ onto my blog using the ‘embed’ code.

5.  Sony HXR-MC2000: We used this Sony HD camera in
the construction of our documentary to film all of our
interviews, vox pops, opening sequence and cutaways.
We would begin by setting up the tripod to the correct
height and then placing the camera onto the tripod. I
discovered that it was much easier to set up the camera
as a group or at least with two people, especially when
adjusting the height of the tripod and securing the
camera. We found it difficult to get the correct level to
begin with (getting all of the tripod legs level) but using
the spirit level on the tripod we were able to get it central
and this got easier and quicker with more experience.
We would then attach the microphone, headphones and
test the sound quality to make sure the microphone was
working and at a good standard, at our first interview we
didn’t realise that our sound was static, so we made sure
after that to test the microphone before recording the
interview. We would then film the interviews, vox pops
and observational footage attempting to use the rule of
thirds as much as possible with relevant mise en scene.
We would record the footage ‘pressing the record button
to start and stop when necessary’ and then upload the
videos onto a computer and log them. After this we
would edit the videos on Adobe Premiere Pro if they
were to feature in our documentary.
 Lumix G10: We used this camera to get the photo for the
print advertisement. We used the basic settings and did
not use and filters on the original photo. We took lots of

6.  Adobe Premiere Pro: We used adobe premiere Pro to edit and create the first
five minutes of our documentary and our radio advertisement. We began by
using it in our preliminary task which introduced us to the basics of the software
and is evidence of hoe much we have learnt from our preliminary to our final
product. Once we had almost all of the footage that we wanted we created a
‘documentary rough cut’. For this we began to place the footage that we had into
the order of our documentary. From this we were able to see how much more
footage we needed to get for the five minutes. We opened a new sequence in a
HD setting and started to create our final product. Using the ‘razor’ tool we were
able to ‘cut’ the parts of footage that we needed for the documentary, for
example, relevant answers from the vox pops, and not the entire interviews all
played at once, the removal of us asking questions. We edited the sound levels
so that the voice over, vox pops and interviews were loud and the music when it
was on its own was loud but when paired with the voice over it was faded, we did
this using the ‘add-remove keyframe’ tool in the audio line. We used video effects
for the banners saying who the person being interviewed was and their
occupation; using a ‘push’ for it to come onto screen and then to ‘slide’ off. We
made sure that the videos fit the screen on the left, resizing them if they did
not.Using more than one line we were able to put cutaways on in ‘video 2’ and
mute the sound of these cutaways on ‘audio 2’. On the radio advertisement
because we did not need the video of the vox pops, only the sound we were able
to ‘unlink’ them and delete the video. We used a ‘crossfade’ ‘audio transition’ on
the radio advertisement which enabled the music to be faded throughout, enough
that the audience was able to focus on the narrator and vox pops except at the
beginning and end using an ‘expositional fade’. Once our documentary and radio
advertisement were complete we exported them and uploaded them to YouTube.

7.  Photoshop: We opened the image we had chosen
(a magnifying glass looking into a McDonalds
burger) to use for our print advertisement into
Photoshop to use as our focal point to anchor
meaning to our documentary. We ‘flipped’ the
photo because so that we could locate the Channel
4 logo on the right-hand side in the middle to
match the conventions of real media products. To
make the image seem more professional we used
Photoshop to edit it by adjusting the ‘brightness’
and ‘sharpness’ settings. We then went on to add
the ‘text boxes’ and put them in the typical Channel
4 layout (tagline top left, title and scheduling
bottom left). The text we used was ‘Trebuchet MS’
which is the closest font we could get to the one
featured in the Channel 4 adverts. Next we put a
rectangle box ‘behind’ the text using the ‘shapes’
tool and coloured these ‘white’ using the ‘fill’ tool so
that we conformed to Channel 4’s advertising.
Finally to complete the print advertisement we
uploaded the Channel 4 logo and removed the
white section using the ‘lasso tool’ so that it was a
plain black ‘4’ that blended into the background
after taking out the white making it transparent.

8.  Audacity: We used audacity in the construction of our radio
advertisement. In the radio recording room we used
audacity to record the voice of our advertisement with the
decibel sound at 6. Once we had recorded the advert we
played it back to make sure it was suitable and then saved
it as a ‘wav.’ file and proceeded to edit it on Adobe
Premiere Pro; adding vox pops and music.
 Windows Live Movie Maker: I used this in the research and
planning stage when looking at the codes and conventions
of real documentaries (The Devil Made Me Do It). I also
used in in my evaluation to show the audience feedback we
receive on social media. First I would insert the images into
the order I was going to talk about them. I would then
record my voice using the ‘voice memo’s’ app, e-mail to
myself and upload it onto movie maker. I would then adjust
the length of the images to match what I was saying. When
I was happy with the video I would save it as a ‘Windows
Media Audio/Video file (.wmv)’ and upload it straight to my
blog, youtube or presentation.
 YouTube: We used YouTube in all three parts of this
project. In the research and planning we used it to give
example of documentaries and their codes and
conventions. In the construction of our documentary we
used YouTube to get the archive footage of ‘the history of
fast food’ and ‘supersize me’. We also got the music from
YouTube ‘the fast food song’ and ‘food glorious food’. Once
our documentary and radio advertisement were complete
we uploaded them to YouTube. Finally in my evaluation I
have used YouTube for my PowToon presentation and
audience feedback via social media.