A2 Media studies evaluation question 4 for my blog.

1. FILM TRAILER
EVALUATION
QUESTION 4

2. 4. How did you use new media technologies
in the construction and research, planning
and evaluation stages?
I will be exploring how I used new media technologies which juxtapose less contempory
methods during the multiple stages of the creation of my media product. Each stage of
creation was accompanied by a new media technology, both digital and physical.All of
these technologies aided my ability to create an accurate film trailer as they enabled me
to research and plan my film trailers essentials, such as: film trailer conventions and my
film trailers cast.As they enabled me to create my final piece, and the ancillary tasks that
accompany it, my progress would’ve been severely hindered without these various new
media technologies in making this media ensemble.

3. Physical MediaTechnologies
The increase of new physical media technologies acted as the catalyst for new digital technologies
as it meant that these new digital technologies were far more accessible.A recent study has shown
that 7 out of 10 people in England now own a smartphone.The popularity of smartphones has sky
rocketed in recent years which has lead to the inevitable improvement of physical media
technologies in other areas, such as laptops and cameras.The quality of physical media
technologies in the 21st Century has made producing your own media far more accessible, as a
study showed that 41% of people use their smartphones to create videos.This is especially true
when physical media technologies combine with new digital media technologies such asYouTube,
as another study showed that 1 in 5 adults have posted original content onto websites likeYouTube.

4. My Camera: Sony SLT-A35
Ella and I both used my camera to film our film trailer with.The camera is a
Sony SLT-A35 which enabled us to shoot in ‘Full HD Film’.This was effective
as it allowed us to create clear and high-definition footage to use in our
media product.The camera has two lenses, one of which can be seen
attached to the camera which is the lens we used for the majority of the
footage.The image directly right, shows the second lens we used which is a
macro lens. I used this lens to create the soft focus close up shots of the
protagonist and her love interest in my film trailer.

5. MacBook Pro Retina
I uploaded my footage onto a Apple Mac which therefore enabled me
to access Apple’s exclusive software: iMovie, which can only be
accessed through their Apple products. I uploaded the footage by
using an SD Card Adapter, which is another example of a physical
media technology, as seen in the image to the left.Access to Apple’s
software was a definite strength, however, I did struggle with the
overall layout of Mac’s, particularly when accessing my downloads,
which I did eventually overcome.
To the left of the MacBook is a Dell laptop which Ella and I used to
research similar film trailers, such as ‘Blue isThe Warmest Colour’ on
IMDB while we were editing.This was to compare the first draft of our
film trailer with their official trailer to see if there were any codes or
conventions we were missing.This was very useful as we realised
there was a fundamental code that we were forgetting: the end
credits.At home, I used my LenovoYoga 500 to do research and
planning.

6. My Laptop: LenovoYoga 500
For me, my laptop played a crucial role in all stages
of my film trailers construction and evaluation. It
allowed me to access websites such asYouTube
and IMDB which played essential parts in these
processes. I also used my laptop to type up and
create blogposts that I would upload onto Blogger
which would illustrate the construction, research
and planning process. My laptop enabled me to
increase the amount of time I could spend creating
blogposts and planning and researching as it
meant I could do work outside of school and
home, which was essential.Also, without my
laptop, I wouldn’t have been able to create my
Evaluation PowerPoints that are uploaded via
SlideShare onto Blogger.

7. Recording Equipment
Ella and I used multiple pieces of new physical media technology in order to create our
film trailers soundtrack, which was a cover of Sam Smith’s ‘LeaveYour Lover’.Combined,
these pieces of technology allowed us to create a professional sounding piece to
accompany our film trailer which would have consequently increased our film trailers
validity as a professional film trailer in the film industry. However, our cover still has an
element of amateurism which was our desired effect as it correlated with our films
independent nature.

8. BlueYeti Microphone
As the recording studio that we had booked at our
school had broke, Ella and I made other arrangements. I
have a BlueYeti microphone for personal use which
records straight onto a computer via a USB chord. Ella
and I plugged the USB chord into an Apple Mac, in a
recording room we had booked, so that we could record
into Logic Pro.The microphone has multiple settings
which enable you to choose what directions you want
sound to be recorded from.We chose the
Omnidirectional Mode which meant that it picked up
sound equally from all around the microphone.This was
the most appropriate setting as it meant that Ella, Molly
and I could all play/sing together, to ensure our singing
matched the speed of the piano.This contrasts to
previous personal use microphones as it produced a
much clearer and professional sound that it would have
10 years ago.

9. Apple Mac
We used plugged my microphone into an
Apple Mac so that we could access its
exclusive feature: Logic Pro.
The mac was effective as it has many USB
ports which meant that we could not only
plug my microphone into it, but we could
also plug in Ella’s memory stick to save it
onto and plug in a guitar link interface for
the headphones.

10. Guitar Link Interface Headphone Splitter.
The Guitar Link Interface
which plugged in via a USB
port in the Mac is usually
meant from plugging into
electric guitars for recording
without any other external
physical devices. However, it
can be used for headphones
if you want to be able to hear
what is being recorded, or if
you want to layer with
another the recording, you
can hear the other recording
through the headphones
while you record your piece.
This enabled Ella and I to
sing effective harmonies
which matched the primary
tune we had already sung.
The headphone splitter
isn’t that ‘new’, however,
this piece of media
technology meant that
both Ella and I could use
headphones in order to
sing accurate harmonies
with the primary tune we
had already sung.

11. Electric Piano: Casio CDP-120
As we weren’t able to get a real acoustic
piano into our recording room, we used an
electric piano instead.This is different and
more effective than an electric keyboard for
the sound we were trying to achieve. We
wanted to replicate the sound of an acoustic
piano and so the elective piano was the best
alternative as it had a foot pedal to diffuse
notes which emphasised the soft and
delicate nature of the song we were singing.
We used a Casio CDP-120 electric piano, as
illustrated below.
Molly (bottom right) used her iPhone to grasp an
understanding of the required chords for the piece.We had to
transpose the piece as there was a key change in the song.The
electric piano had a transposing mechanism which meant that
we could do this with ease.This contrasts with older
technologies as this would have had to have been done with an
acoustic piano, purely by ear which is a very difficult and
sophisticated skill to attain.

12. iPhone 6s
My iPhone was particularly helpful during the entire
process of creating my film trailer and its accompanying
media products. I used my phone not only to take several
pictures of Ella and I during the construction process to act
as evidence on our blog, but it also enabled me to access
apps and new digital technologies such as PicsArt and
Gmail. I used Gmail a lot on my phone which meant that
Ella and I could send each other important images that we
needed for our blogs.
My phone also enabled me to easily access Facebook
Messenger which played an essential role in my
communication with Ella,Ann, Flo and Ben.

13. Digital MediaTechnologies
In 2017, we live in a contempory new media age where modern digital media technologies
are increasing in popularity and availability, daily.Therefore, it is fundamental to be up to
date with the latest media technologies especially in the new digital era we live in. Digital
media technologies have enabled its users to shortcut, what would have been long and
gruelling processes. For example, maintaining a physical paperwork folder, having to
watch the movies yourself or use the method of word of mouth to your advantage when
you’re curious about a film, or even having to wait until you next see someone you needed
to talk to in order to complete the media product.

14. Facebook Messenger
Facebook Messenger made the planning
process of the film trailer much easier as Ella,
Ann, Flo and I were able to communicate
quickly and simply through it. A Facebook
Messenger chat was set up so that we could
plan times where we would all be free to film,
as illustrated by the screenshots to the left.

15. Blogger
I used Blogger to display all of my research and evidence
for my film trailer.This allows for my work to be easily
accessible and for it to be placed neatly and sophistically
in one place.Without this, I would have had to have kept
all of my planning and research in a physical folder which
consequently has a higher risk of being misplaced or
damaged. Blogger also allowed me to present my work
in multiple forms of media, for example,YouTube videos
and presentations on SlideShare.

16. Social Media:Twitter
Twitter enabled me to accurately illustrate to my trailers audience,
not only the internal and unspoken feelings of secondary character:
Brad, but also address the increasing issue of cyberbullying in
today’s digital era. Exploring this issue withTwitter allowed me to
keep in touch with my film trailers desired genre: Social Realism
Drama, and without it, I don’t believe I would have had the ability
to portray such thoughts.

17. YouTube
YouTube acted as an internet platform where I could post videos which illustrated my
progress throughout the creation process. I posted them onto myYouTube account which
I could then hyperlink and share onto my Blogger account to provide more multi-media
techniques to present my blog work as. I also usedYouTube a lot during the research
process, it enabled me to find specific film trailers, and also suggested similar ones to me
which proved to be very helpful when looking for trailers with similar genre’s and
storylines which was necessary for my research.

18. Gmail
I previously downloaded the Gmail app onto my phone so that I
could access emails easily on the go. Gmail meant that Ella and
I could send each other pictures of our film trailer that we could
use as evidence in our blogs. Gmail made sending and
receiving these emails very easy and it also meant that we’d
receive them immediately. Ella and I have used Gmail
countless times over the construction process because it was
so effective at allowing us to share relevant and important
images.

19. SlideShare
I found that formatting my work in the form of
PowerPoints was effective as it accurately
allowed me to illustrate my process’s and how
they progressed.This was especially the case
when I wanted to create a blog post on Blogger
that included many pictures as spacing pictures
in an aesthetically pleasing way was very
difficult as the pictures wouldn’t stay where I
placed them. SlideShare enabled me to transfer
my PowerPoint documents onto my blog in a
way that means that my blogs audience can
look through them with ease and that my blog
has examples of multi-media presented work.

20. IMDB
Using IMDB meant that I could access a vast range of films and the majority of
information surrounding them, for example, their film trailers, plotlines, cast and ratings.
This was a very useful tool to have as it meant that during my research into film trailers, I
could find films according to genre and also have immediate access to their official film
trailers as fake and fan-made film trailers are increasing onYouTube. IMDB meant that I
didn’t need to go searching in several alternative websites about differing films, as the
IMDB website contains thousands of films which I could research through one platform.

21. PicsArt
PicsArt is an editing app I downloaded on my iPhone which enabled me to
create rough drafts of both my production logo and film poster.This was a
rewarding process as it allowed me to visualise what I wanted to create and
also showed me methods that did and didn’t work.
For example, in my first draft of
my production logo for ‘Three
Strikes’, I used an art deco styled
font which correlated with the
indie theme I wanted to achieve,
however, the font turned out to
be quite thin which would have
been ineffective as I wanted a
bold font in order for my title to
be easily recognisable. I then
created a second rough draft
which confirmed my desire for a
bold font as it was far more
visible than the first.
Draft 1. Draft 2.

22. AirBrush App for Film Poster
AirBrush is an app available for iPhone which enabled me to edit the primary
image that I wanted to use for my film poster. AirBrush enabled me to edit and
airbrush my actresses faces, which is something I wasn’t sure Photoshop was
capable of doing.This helped me achieve a professional but natural look for
my film poster.

23. Logic Pro
Ella and I used Logic Pro which is a digital music software exclusive to apple products, primarily
Apple Macs, in order to create our film trailers soundtrack.We covered the Sam Smith song ‘Leave
Your Lover’, where our friend Molly played the acoustic piano piece.We recorded several pieces
which Logic Pro allowed us to layer over one another in order to create a professional and effective
sound. As displayed below, Ella and I recorded Molly’s piano piece, alongside our vocals.To give the
soundtrack more depth and emphasis, Ella and I recorded harmonies which we could add to it.
These layered harmonies turned out to be really effective for our film trailers plotline.After adding
the soundtrack to our film trailer, Ella and I decided that the overall piece would benefit from the
inclusion of strings in the soundtrack.We then went back onto Logic Pro and added soothing
strings retrospectively, which increased the soundtracks overall quality.

24. iMovie
iMovie could be considered the most fundamental
digital media technology that I used during the entire
process.As without it, I would have been unable to
successfully create my final media product, which
would’ve therefore rendered my use of other media
technologies for the other stages of planning and
research, completely useless. Essentially, iMovie
enabled me to create a fluid moving picture which
would substitute as my final media product: My Film
Trailer. However, iMovie allowed me to do so much
more than that. iMovie’s features meant that I could
also edit and cut sound and dialogue and stabilise
footage that was shaky due to Ella and I not having a
tripod.

25. PhotoShop
The digital editing software known as PhotoShop
enabled me to accurately and professionally create
my Magazine front cover and my films poster. If I
didn’t have access to PhotoShop I would have found
an alternative software, however, this would have
meant that my poster would have lacked the
professional look that I wanted to achieve.When
removing the background to my film posters primary
image, I attempted to do this using the app Picsart,
however, I eventually used PhotoShop to do this
which consequently resulted in the background being
removed much more effectively, as illustrated below.