A2 Coursework

1. How did you use media
technologies in the construction
and research, planning and
evaluation?
Focus: Research and Planning
(Some technologies that have been used in this
section will be shown in the other sections where they
are more prominent)

2. Screencast-O-Matic
Throughout the course i have been using the technology Screencast-O-Matic. I started
off using just a simple webcam but changed due to the fact that this technology allows
me to capture what is going on my screen and allows me to talk as i demonstrate. I have
created many research videos such as the trailer and poster analysis as well as the
genre influences while also creating videos for the detailing of the synopsis, the script,
magazine masthead development, mood board, typography and feedback. I used it to
create most of my videos for not just my research and planning but also for my
construction and eventually my other evaluations. It has been extremely useful as it
allows me to tell the viewer of my video how I'm doing whatever is in the video but it also
gives me the chance to show how I'm doing so the audience can see and hear my
explanation. It also allowed me to gain valuable knowledge in terms of using a new piece
of technology and getting to grips with it. I now use this product regularly as i feel it is the
best way for me to show off the work in video form. One of the main points in the media
studies course is to learn and understand new technologies and multi media formats,
while i feel i have learnt some new formats of my teachers, i also feel i have gain
personal knowledge in new fields of media texts. While this is under the research and
planning section it is important to realise that i have used it over all three formats but felt
it best to put it in the this section as i feel it has helped me the most here.

3. Word it out
For part of my research task sheet i had to create a word cloud that summed up
what i felt the genre i was researching represented and what words would a typical
audience think of when talking about the specific genre. I found this technology
incredibly simple to use as all was required was to put words into a text box and
click word it out which then created my word cloud (which is on my blog with a
detailed explanation as to how i created it). This technology’s advances were that it
was simple to use, it made the work look eye catching and attractive and that it
helped portray my feelings towards the genre that i have been studying as part of
my coursework. It has helped me as i have gained a invaluable skill in finding and
being able to use this technology. It has also helped me in the sense that i can use
these website to create other word clouds that help me not just in media studies but
in other subjects i study. For example i have created a few word clouds in order of
revision to remember key words so it has helped immensely in helping my overall
studying.

4. Voice Recorder/Phone
This two pieces of technology were used specifically for the case study into
the history of the chosen genre that i have chosen. For this myself and my
group had to create a voice over detailing the history of the drama/teen
drama. For the voice over section we decided to use a voice recorder and a
phone recorder. The voice recorder was used for Brad’s part as he voiced his
section at home while me and Josh used the phone recorder to detail the
sections of the case study that we had focused on. The advantages for the
two pieces of equipment was that it was simple, very quick to do, picked up
our voices with relative ease. The only negative towards these pieces of
equipment was that in the voice over video in is quite evident that the phone
recorder picks up a lot of background noise and static and therefore made the
quality sound slightly worse than the voice recorder. Overall it helped a lot in
terms of allowing myself and the group to create a voice over and put our
views across with relative ease.

5. Slideshare
For many of my PowerPoint presentations, in order to enable them onto my
blog i used the website Slideshare which allows you to upload PowerPoint
presentations with also a direct embed link to word press. This has been
extremely useful as i can simply upload and them embed it to my coursework
blog. Although i have put this in the research and planning section, it will also
be used in evaluation but i felt that i have used the technology more in this
section. The advantages of this technology is that it is quick and simple to use,
it has a direct link to word press so it is simple to on blog and that it allows you
to gain feedback from other Slideshare users and also allows you to look at
other people’s PowerPoint's in hope of getting information or ideas for your
own. I have been using this technology throughout all my years doing Media
Studies and has been so useful that i now use the technology for my other
lessons when i have to complete presentations. I would go in further in saying
that this along with Screencast-O-Matic has been one of the cornerstones of
the technology's i have used throughout this year for my coursework.

6. Prezi
This year after using the Slideshare website for a couple years i was introduced
to the website Prezi. I have created research and planning with this technology.
Again like Slideshare it is designed to create presentations and has a direct link
to word press in terms of embedding it to a blog. In terms of comparing the two
technology’s in could be said that Prezi is a more creative tool as it allows you
to navigate freely around the presentation and the user can create an
interactive presentation in terms of that it the viewer can follow the presentation
using the view tool in a ‘storytelling’ manner. The advantages of this product is
that it is highly creative and inventive (i have used it to show initial ideas and
the synopsis planning), relatively simple to use and allows more technologies to
coincide within the Prezi, for example you can properly embed videos into the
presentation. Prezi has helped me create presentations such as the codes and
conventions of the genre that i am focusing on and the initial ideas
presentation. I have learned from this technology how to create a more
expansive and more creative presentation. As well as this i have learned that
this can be used to interact more with the viewer of the presentation.

7. Gliffy
For part of my research i had to create a flowchart to show the typical
structure of a trailer of your choice (I used the 2004 Oscar winning film
Crash). Our teacher told us that a useful site to try out would be Gliffy which
turned out to be a great tool to use. Its advantages are that in makes the
work you create look very professional and can show a clear outline of what
you are trying to get across in terms of showing the typical structure of a
trailer was easy to show as i used the flowchart to detail it. I found it so easy
to use and it also help me understand more how a trailer is structured
because of the use of the flowchart. I have now started using it for revision
in terms of important notes and key dates so it has branched out further
than media showing that the technology is highly useful. I have created a
short video on creating a simple flowchart and how it helped me:

8. Youtube
One of the most important technologies that i have used for each of the different
sections (they will be detailed in those sections) is the website Youtube. I have
used this website for my research and planning to get videos for the insight to the
genre, iconic sounds within the genre as well as uploading videos form my channel
as well as the group’s channel. It has been extremely useful as it has its
advantages as it is easy to upload, it directly links in with other technologies e.g
Screencast-O-Matic and word press which you can embed on. It also is useful in
gaining exposure for the product which is important as major companies would look
to advertise there trailer so by having it on Youtube we are following what the big
conglomerates would be doing. It has helped me personally as it has allowed me to
get use to upload videos on to the site, as well as this i set up a channel specifically
for my work which shows off the media work i have created. Like many people,
without Youtube i would not be able to upload and show off my work. This is one of
the most important technologies that i have used as a lot of my work is in video
form as i have tried to use different formats. It is one of the reasons our product
has been created successfully.

9. Websites Used
The main website i used in terms of research (alongside word it out and Gliffy
which have been separately mentioned) was the BBC website for a research task
in which i had to research the basics and find an insight into the genre that myself
and my group had chosen to research. Along with Youtube it helped me to gain
more information on the drama and teen drama genre in terms of the camera
angles, lighting etc. It also obviously helped me complete that research task. As
well as the BBC website, i also used the website Timetoast to create schedule for
the filming and editing of our trailer and ancillary products. This was very easy to
use and effective as well as having a PDF schedule i created a more interactive
which could be changed in case of a change in the film or editing schedule which
eventually happened as we had to reschedule due to weather conditions so it was
useful in its interactive sense.

10. Apple Mac
For all of the work i completed at school and during school time, i used the
apple Mac in the classroom that i study in. Like the video camera’s, i have been
using the Mac’s for four years and have become experienced in using the
different tools and settings on it. I have found it relatively simple to create the
different products on the Mac’s as well as finding it simple to gain access to the
necessary background research i needed to collect for my genre research. It
has been immensely helpful in letting me be able to create my work to a high
standard as well as helping me become accustom to the different software's and
technology’s on the Mac’s

11. Camera
As well as all of the software based technologies and websites, the simple
technology that is the forefront of Media Studies is the video camera. To create
the audience expectations, the magazine and poster analysis (group) we used
the department’s camera’s to film ourselves talking about and completing each
task. Myself and my group are hugely familiar with the department’s camera’s
after four years so this technology has not has the biggest impact on my work
this year even though it is still vitally important. The advantages of these
camera’s are that they are simple to use, good quality most of the time and that
they can help us work out what we need to edit in terms of the noise it picks up
as well as the lighting it shows when we play it back. The only slight problem we
have had this year is that of the camera picking up too much background noise
which we were able to sort out by minamalising the sound using the i movie tool
(More on that in Construction) but overall the use of the camera’s have again
been successful.

12. Summary of technologies used in
Research and Planning
Overall, these technology’s that are used primarily in the research and
planning section (But a lot are used in other sections) have been extremely
helpful in helping me create a very detailed and interactive blog for my A2
Media Studies Coursework. In terms of which i feel has made the most
impact on myself and my work, i would say that the Screencast-O-Matic
software has helped me so much in terms of improving my presentation skills
and making my blog more interactive and creative as last year one of the
problems on my blog itself was that it was too text heavy and by having more
videos and less text, i feel as though i have improved from last year’s work.
As well as Screencast-O-Matic, Slideshare and Prezi have been prominent
again in making my blog more creative and more attractive. As well as the
presentations software the use of Gliffy and Timetoast have improved my
skills in terms of managing and planning as the use of Timetoast has helped
me schedule more prominently. While these technology’s have primarily
helped me in Media Studies, they have also become skills i can put to use in
other ways such as using Word it Out for revision as well as Gliffy.