1. Technologiesusedforthe research and planning,construction and evaluationstages of Snowflake:
Mahbubul Karim
One veryimportanttechnologythatwe have usedwas WordPress,WordPressishow I’m
communicatingtoyourightnow,WordPress allowsme toblogas frequentlyandwheneverIwishto
keepyouupdatedonwhatI’ve beendoingandwhatI’m intendingtodo.Duringthe entire creation
of Snowflake,fromstarttoendI’ve beenable tothoroughlyexplainhow andwhatI’ve beendoing,
for example whenIcarriedoutresearchintofilmmagazinesforexample,Imade sure the researchI
had collectedandusedIbloggedinapost called‘FilmMagazine Research’toensure thateven
thoughI have gainedknowledge,Imade sure myreadersdidalso.
Anotherveryimportantpiece of technologywas Mac,alsoknownas Macintosh.Thiswas the
computerI had used,Ihad usedthiscomputerprimarilyforthe constructionprocessof Snowflake,
specificallythe editing,the majorityof the editingwascarried outon the Mac, the Mac has a variety
of software’sbuildinforusto make use of forour projectSnowflake.
One piece of software the Mac had builtinwascalled Final Cut Pro X, thiswas a great piece of
software asit had manyfunctionalitiestoallow ustoeditour footage,the toolsthatthe software
had includedwere very interesting,becauselastyearIdida lotof editingIwas veryfamiliarwiththe
software andwasaware of the toolssuchas transitions,text,slow-motioneffectsetc.
Also,anotherpiece of software was Adobe Photoshop,Photoshopisaverypopularsoftware thatis
usedheavilybydesignerstocreate all sortsof designsvaryingfromfilmposterstoartwork,itcan
evenbe usedtocreate Gifs,Ipersonallycreatedgifsformyblog,the gifsthatI had createdwere of
Snowflake,capturingsmall clipstobe shownandreplayedconstantlysothatyou,as my readercan
see whatI am talkingaboutinvisuals.Photoshopwasalsousedinthe creationof myFilmPosterfor
Snowflake,Ihadtakenadvantage of the fact thatPhotoshophadmanytoolsand effectsthatcould
be usedto aidthe filmposterandmake itlookeffectiveaspossible,forexample creatingdifferent
layersandworkingonan overlayof ‘Gradient’onthe title of my film poster,tohave itcontrast
betweenblackandwhite.
Anotherpiece of software as MicrosoftWord,whichisa textbaseddocumentthatcan be usedto
make notesor type outinformation.IhadusedMicrosoftWord a lot duringthe evaluationstagesof
Snowflake,like rightnow.Iamusingwordto type out thisdocumentationof whichIwill uploadon
Slideshare andthenontomyblogsoyou can see whatdifferenttechnologiesIhave used.
MicrosoftPublisherwasalso usedforthe creationof myFilmReview,itallowedme tofollow the
structure of Little White Lies,especiallybecause itwaspublishingsoftware designedtomake things
such as reviewsorposters.Forexamplethe guidelinesthatwere onpublisherallowedme tostay
aware of notto type anything outof the linesotherwise itwillnotbe able tobe seenon the film
reviewonce itiscompleted.
Anotherpiece of software was Safari,Safari isa webbrowserthat we had usedthroughoutthe
entire processof Snowflake,we mainlyuseditheavilytocarryout research.The browserallowedus
access to searchenginessuchasGoogle.
2. Google,Google isasearch engine thatismostprobablythe mainsearchengine beingusedatthe
moment,ithasmillionsuponmillionsof informationthatyoucanhave access to. Google allowed
me to carry outresearchintothingssuch as Fonts,I neededtoknow whatfontsare appropriate for
filmposters,orresearchintoLittle White Liesfilmmagazine becauseIneededtoknow the structure
that the followwhentheymake theirreviews.
Anothertechnologythatwe have usedisthe HD Camera, the camera allowedustorecordin high
definitionof the footage thatwe woulduse forSnowflake,ithasahand camera soit was easily
portable sothat we couldtake it aroundwithus to differentfilminglocationsandtake the shotsthat
I neededtoasa cameraman.
Youtube,Youtube isa huge platformof whichvideoscanbe uploadedandviewedbymillionsof
people aroundthe world.WithoutYoutube I’mnotsure asto where Iwouldbe uploadingall my
videos,animationsandnotto mentionSnowflake(the film).Itallowedme toshowcase notonlymy
filmbutalsothe evaluationof Snowflake itself,asIaimedtoevaluate Snowflake asmuchas possible
usingmediatechnologiesandnotjustsimple text.
Voki,was anotherpiece of software thatIhad used.I hadusedVoki to evaluate Snowflake asa
projectas a whole.Voki allowedme totype outinformationof whichIwantedtobe readby the
animation,it’sareallyinteractiveandintuitive wayof attractingreaderstobe interestedandnot
justhave themread plainoldtext.
Powtoon,was anotherpiece of software thatI hadused.Powtoon isa presentationsoftware that
allowsanimationsalongside textandimagestobe viewedbythe audience. IhadusedPowtoonfor
the evaluationof Snowflake topresentastohow effectivethe combinationof the mainproductand
the ancillarytextswas.Itwas a verygoodpiece of software asit had a lotof featuresandanimations
that I playedaroundwithto make the presentationmore Interactive.
Summary:
Overall Ibelievetechnologieshave allowedthe productionof Snowflake tobe extremelyeasierthan
we had initiallyImagined.Technologyhassavedusalot of time that we didnothave to spend,for
instance Photoshopallowedustocreate a filmpostereffectivelywithall the toolsitprovidesto
assistsuch as the magicselecttool that outlinesthe object/image if youwishtoonlycropjustthat
item.Whereasif we hadjusthand drawnour final filmposter,theywouldlooknowhere nearas
goodas the filmpostersthatwe hadcreatedon Photoshoppurelybecauseitwasjustlookplainand
basic,and veryunprofessional.
