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1. Name: Natalie Warren
Candidate Number: 6763
Centre Name: St. Paul’s Catholic College
Centre Number: 64770
HOW DID YOU USE
MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES
IN THE CONSTRUCTION
AND RESEARCH,
PLANNING AND
EVALUATION STAGES?

2. Research & Planning
For the research and planning stages of my production work, I mostly used Microsoft
Word and PowerPoint to organise, plan and finish my work along with SlideShare to
upload this work onto my WordPress blog. I used WordPress as it is free software which
allows me to display my coursework in a neat and organised format onto one page. I was
also familiar with the website as I had used it last year for my AS coursework which made
it easy to use.
I did a lot of analysis into professional soap opera trailers such as EastEnders, Hollyoaks
and Skins – by watching them on YouTube - and evaluated their use of verbal, non-verbal
and technical codes and their overall strengths. This therefore ‘informed and educated’
(Katz) me on the traditional codes and conventions in popular soap operas and how they
used them effectively to attract their target audience, which influenced my own soap
opera trailer as I ‘repeated’ (Steve Neale) some of these conventions. I used PowerPoint to
display this analysis in a clear and organised way as it allowed me to separate my analysis
of the trailers onto a slide each. Next, I uploaded my PowerPoint onto SlideShare which
then allowed me to embed it onto my WordPress blog.
I also used the BBC Trust website to help me with my institution research into BBC Two
and displayed my work on a Word document. Through this research I was able to identify
the areas that BBC Two was falling short on with their viewers and therefore represent
those areas into my own trailer. For example, their reach to a young audience had dropped
therefore I included young characters in my trailer in order for my target audience to be
able to ‘personally identify’ (Katz) with them so they may be encouraged to watch the
show.

3. Furthermore, I also used social media, specifically Facebook Messenger as an
organisation tool which allowed me to communicate with my group members so we
could talk about any additional ideas we had for our trailer outside of lessons as well as
discuss things such as our filming dates, the props we were using and who we were
using as our actors. This was very useful as we didn’t always have much time in lessons
to finish on deciding on the different factors we wished to include in our trailer.
In order to plan my ancillary products, my main form of research was investigating real-
life soap opera magazines such as Soap Opera Digest and posters through google images
and noticing the traditional codes and conventions which are ‘repeated’ (Steve Neale) in
each of them. For example, the use of colourful front covers in most soap opera
magazines was something I ‘repeated’ in my Soap Variety front cover.
Research & Planning

4. To create my ancillary products (magazine front cover and
poster) I used Adobe Photoshop CS4 which is a software I am
very familiar with as I have been using it since GCSE. This has
been advantageous in producing my coursework as tools such
as the Quick Selection Tool I have used continuously in
manipulating my images, in both GCSE and AS, so I was able to
quickly, and with minimum effort, use this tool for my
magazine front cover. This tool allowed me to effectively edit
around the people in my pictures so I could remove only the
background behind them using the Eraser Tool.
Construction (Ancillary Tasks)
Another tool I have used many times would
be the Rectangle Tool. I used this tool to help
create my magazine front cover as it was
significant in creating the variations in my
multi-coloured front cover. I created
rectangle shapes in order to organise my
magazine into separate sections. For
example, I coloured the left section purple
for my cover stories, light purple for my
main headline and images and lastly light
blue to include my puff/promotion.

5. On the other hand, my poster was much easier to create as it didn’t require as
much editing due to its simplistic design. For instance, my poster’s main image is a
close-up of the chess pieces used in our trailer from a shot that we didn’t end up
using in our final product. Therefore the only editing required was for adding text
using the Horizontal Type Tool; particularly my poster’s tagline and social network
links.
Construction (Ancillary Tasks)

6. To create our trailer, we used a DSLR 1100D Canon camera to capture our footage. We
initially had some difficulty with the camera as it was something my group had never
used before. However after recording some test footage and experimenting with the
camera’s various settings, we were able to use the camera comfortably.
To begin with, the switch from auto focus to manual focus was slightly challenging as we
didn’t realise that some shots that we had recorded were out of focus until we uploaded
them onto the Mac computer. However, the camera was extremely significant in terms of
quality as it allowed us to replicate the high quality standards of footage used in
professional soap opera trailers. We were also fortunate enough to be able to use two of
these cameras whilst filming our footage in the Dark Room for our chess scenes. This
allowed us to get multiple shots of the same scene from different angles which
increased our range of footage and therefore gave us a variety of shots to choose from
so we could find the most suitable ones for our trailer. Furthermore, we also used a
tripod which was imperative for most of our shots as it was very valuable in keeping
them steady instead of accidently shaky which would have happened had we held the
camera with just our hands.
Construction (Trailer)

7. To edit our trailer we used Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 software. Similarly to the camera
we used for filming, Premiere was something my group wasn’t familiar with therefore
after some testing and watching YouTube videos for tips we were able to securely use
the software in a way we were comfortable with.
One of the first things we learnt to do was how to cut our clips using the Razor Tool
which was convenient as some shots that we filmed we wanted to use however the
whole clip wasn’t suitable. Therefore, Premiere enabled us to shorten our clips if we felt
that they were too long or to only keep certain pieces of a clip that would be most
effective for our final product.
This tool was also very beneficial in helping us to synchronise our shots with our
soundtrack; especially for the intro of our trailer. The music had a certain beat and pace
to it that we wanted our footage to match with therefore, in the image shown below, we
made sure there were either cuts or gaps between each shot in order to fully harmonise
both elements together.
Construction (Trailer)

8. Finding the soundtrack for our trailer was one of the most difficult challenges for my
group as we spent many hours searching online for a song that we felt would fit the
atmosphere of our soap opera with little success. Eventually, however, we came across
the song ‘Shy’ by Darwin, which we found on YouTube, and we felt that it would be
effective with our target audience particularly because of the fact that it is a suitable
contemporary song based on its tempo and also because it isn’t a mainstream song that
our audience would recognise which is something I have noticed that professional soap
operas also do with their choice of soundtracks.
Another tool we used in Premiere was the Keyframes Tool.
This tool allowed us to lower the volume of our soundtrack in specific parts of our trailer
which was very useful when we had shots with dialogue in them as this meant that the
characters would be heard without having the background music overtake what they are
saying.
Construction (Trailer)

9. FINAL PRODUCTS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYXoopvK8rU

10. For Question 1 of my evaluation, I decided to present my answer using the cloud-based presentation
software Prezi. I chose this software because I felt that the “zooming” function allowed my answer to feel
more interactive which made my work more visually appealing and therefore unique. It also allows users
to freely navigate the presentation however they wish which was beneficial in its creation as I could easily
go back and forth to each of my paragraphs without accidently disrupting the rest of my work.
For Question 2, I decided to stick with the simple format of Microsoft Word. I chose this specifically
because I felt that since my answer is more of an essay format than the rest of my answers, Word would
be the most suitable to present it. Software such as PowerPoint, Prezi and other websites I researched to
present my work wouldn’t have been as appropriate as Word for this question since they are more
presentation based.
For Question 3, I used the presentation software Microsoft Sway which
was recently released in August 2015. I had only discovered this software
a little while ago but quickly became invested in using it once I understood
how it worked and what it could do. Sway allowed me to present my
answer in a visually appealing way which was particularly useful for this
question as I had lots of pictures I needed to upload to support my answer.
Also, I found that it was quick and efficient to use because it almost
allowed me to complete my presentation at the click of a button. This was
because I had originally completed my work in a PowerPoint document
but, as evident from the image on the right, Sway enabled me to rapidly
upload my work onto the software by simply clicking on import. Aside
from a few bits of editing by me, Sway had mostly presented my work for
me.
For Question 4, I used Microsoft PowerPoint to display my work because this presentation format has
allowed me to make this answer in particular quite colourful and it also allows me to efficiently present
my images that support my work in various slides that can be embedded anywhere next to or around the
text without disarranging my answer. Furthermore, it is also a software I am very familiar with, therefore
I can utilise it to its full potential quickly and efficiently.
Evaluation