The student used various media technologies throughout the research, planning, evaluation, and construction stages of their A2 media project. In research, they analyzed existing mockumentaries, documentaries, and films online. For planning, they created flat plans in Publisher and kept a blog. Evaluation involved online surveys through SurveyMonkey and presentations using Prezi. Construction included editing a trailer in Premiere Pro and creating ancillary tasks in Photoshop. While filming equipment was limited, Premiere Pro helped improve the raw footage quality.

1. How did you use media
technologies in the
construction and
research, planning and
evaluation stages?

2. Introduction:
• My research, planning and evaluation skills have developed significantly in
my progression from AS to A2.
• I have used similar technologies in A2 as I had done in AS however my skills
with these technologies have significantly developed in my progression
through my Media Studies course.
• I have gained experience in using various online applications to assist me in
the elements of construction, evaluation and planning but the most
significant help from these application and technologies have came in the
research phase of my production.

3. Planning:
• In the planning phase of my A2 production I have equipped
myself with various technologies to ensure the planning
phase was efficient and effective.
• I was able to create rough flat plans for my ancillary task
with Microsoft Publisher which has an user friendly
interface as well as the tools to create a flat plan which
accurately reflected the final product I intended to
construct. Since my experience with Publisher was a
positive one I returned to it at A2.
• For my ancillary tasks I used Adobe Photoshop based on the
experience I gained with this application at AS. Since AS I
have excelled from amateur status in regards to Photoshop
and have been able to effectively use the application in
order to create an imaginative film poster and a highly
conventional magazine cover.

4. Planning:
• As I did at AS, I used blogger to keep a diary of
my progress throughout my project. This was
helpful in reflection of my work and it was also
key in the planning phase as it allowed me to post
brief updates on the production and hold evidence
of me gaining music permission.
• Through the use of Microsoft Word I was able to
write the screenplay of my movie as a word
document which allowed me to easily seek
feedback on my screenplay and allowed the cast
and crew easy access to it via emails. This proved
valuable as it saved time as well as allowed me to
make easy adjustments throughout the planning
phase of the production.

5. Evaluation:
• Seeking evaluation of my work was a key aspect of this
project and gaining online feedback was absolutely key
in achieving a high standard for my main task. I was
able to use SurveyMonkey to gain responses on my
initial idea for my project as I did at AS level. I also
made use of Social Media which played an important role
as it enabled me to reach a larger demographic of people
to respond to my survey.
• In answering evaluation questions I have been able to
present detailed answers using various applications such
as; Slideshare, Prezi and Stupeflix. I also used some of
these applications for my AS evaluations however my
skills with applications such as Prezi have developed and
I have been able to use the tools Prezi offers increasingly
effectively.
• I was also able to conduct a test screening of a rough edit
of my trailer through using a media player application.

6. Research:
• The use of technology was integral to the vast
research I have conducted before beginning production
on my main task and ancillary tasks.
• As the research I conducted had to cover every aspect
of the production of existing media texts which are
comparable to the finished media product I wished to
create, I had to conduct a significantly greater amount
of research then I did at AS level.
• In my research I was sure to analyse in detail the
conventions of existing mockumentary movies, generic
documentaries as well as comedy films aimed at a
broad adult audience. This was achievable through
searching online for the scripts of episodes of the
popular mockumentary television series The Office.

7. Research:
• I was also able to gain access to clips of Louis Theroux
documentaries via YouTube so I could analyse the
conventions of a generic documentary such as; camera
movements, use of voice overs and talking heads.
• I was also able to look through a vast online library of
existing movie posters. I did this to learn the key
conventions featured in posters of comparable movies and
in turn applied these conventions to my own ancillary task.
• Through the use of the internet I was able to compare
various movie magazine cover pages to assist me in
choosing how to present my movie as a magazine’s cover
story while embodying the comedic and musical themes of
my movie trailer.

8. Construction:
• In the construction of my ancillary tasks I chose to
again use Adobe Photoshop as I was confident in my
skills with this software after my experience with it at
AS level. I was able to use the tools in Photoshop to
create the ancillary tasks I had desired to whereas I
was restrained last year due to my inexperience with
software.
• I was also able to use Adobe Premiere Pro which is an
editing software I was already confident with due to
my experiences with it outside of my Media Studies
course. I used this software to edit and craft a movie
trailer to the best of my ability with the footage I
recorded. I was able to insert title cards, music and
audio transitions to ensure subtle editing and create a
smoothly edited trailer.

9. Construction:
• In the filming for my main task I was restrained by
the equipment and technology I was given. I
experience difficulties with regards to audio, video
and the battery life of the camera due to the abysmal
equipment. I also had little experience with the
camera technology as my AS project did not require
any filming.
• Luckily I was able to amend most of the deficits in
quality caused by these restraints through the use of
Adobe Premiere Pro. Using colour balance effects I
was able to manipulate the footage to appear a
higher quality than the raw footage was.