Evaluation Question 4

1. A2 Media Studies:
Evaluation Questions
BY HANNAH PELLEGRIN
Question 4

2. “How did you use new media
technologies in the construction
and research, planning and
evaluation stages?”

3. This PowerPoint will explain how I used different new
media technologies throughout the process of planning,
researching and filming my group’s short film ‘Saving
Grace’. It will also explain how my knowledge of certain
technologies has developed and grown through the past
two years of using them. A variety of new media
technologies have been used during the production of
our film such as camera equipment, editing software and
essential websites such as YouTube and Blogger.

4. Pre-Production Research
Research was an essential factor in our pre-production work
as it allowed us to gather ideas for our own film through
watching other short films as well as giving us an insight into
what types of films audiences prefer. One essential website
used in the research process was Short of the Week
(https://www.shortoftheweek.com/). This was a really helpful
website as it contained hundreds of successful short films that
can be watched for free. At the bottom of the page there is
also a list of genres that you can choose from which is helpful
as it takes only a few seconds to select the one you want.
Another helpful aspect that features on Short of the Week is
the discussion thread that is available for every short film. It
gives the audience a chance to voice what they liked and
disliked about the film they just watched – something that
was helpful to us as we could then add in or leave out
things after seeing what audiences had to say about other
short films from the thriller genre.

5. Another new media technology we used during pre-production was Blogger
(https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5555584567370800275#allposts). Using Blogger
allowed us as a media group to upload work individually but also create group work by labelling each
other in the posts. It was a beneficial technology to use as we were able to upload all of our research
and ideas to one place for all group members too see. It was also relatively easy to find one specific
post if needed due to the options of being able to select a certain date or specific person’s profile.
Another positive of Blogger was that it allowed us to organise our work by person and time so every
post remained chronological, organised and easy to find.
One issue I did find with Blogger was the way you had to manually order the posts yourself to make
sure everything followed chronologically. This was time consuming and became an issue after it had
to be done on several occasions.

6. We conducted research into target audience through creating a questionnaire,
recording the answers people gave and uploading it to YouTube and Blogger. We
created the questionnaire on Word and also stated the synopsis of our film idea. We
then recorded the answers on a Canon Legria HFG 25 and imported the clips onto
Premiere Pro to begin the editing process. Editing on Premiere Pro is a fairly quick and
easy process. It’s fast and simple to upload and import clips, therefore something can be
filmed, uploaded and edited in a matter of minutes. At the beginning of my first project
last year I had no experience with Premiere Pro so only basic editing could be done e.g.
making sure the clip had continuity and everything flowed from one scene to the next.
However, this year I have been able to develop my knowledge of Premiere Pro further
and try introducing more complex editing such as adding effects and sound
manipulation. For example, in one of the scenes in our short film the main characters are
in a loud night club with flashing lights. In order to portray this scene effectively the clip
had to feature fast paced editing and quick shots of Grace laid on the floor had to flash
up while the camera tracked people on the dance floor and panned across the room.
One negative factor regarding the use of Premiere Pro was the way it would
occasionally delay whilst I was editing which made it difficult to edit clips together and
ensure they moved from one to the next seamlessly. However, the programme auto-
saves work ensuring that even if the software did become unresponsive my work
wouldn't be lost.

7. Microsoft Word was used during the research process to create the target
audience questionnaire. Although Word is simple to use when composing an
essay or report, it was slightly more difficult to create a questionnaire as there
are no templates to choose from for this document style. The thing I struggled
most with was creating answer boxes for questions that required a more
detailed response due to Word not being made for things like that. A feature
that I did benefit from was the automatic spell check that picked up mistakes
and underlined them in red so words could be quickly corrected.
If I had to re-do the questionnaire again I would choose to do it on Survey
Monkey (https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/user/sign-in/) as the website is
designed specifically for many different types of questionnaires. Later on during
the evaluation of our product I used Survey Monkey to create post-production
questionnaires and found that it was much easier and took less time to create
them. This is because there are already options available to choose how the
audience will respond to a certain question e.g. a tick box, comment box, yes or
no answer etc. A downside of Survey Monkey is that you have to pay a
subscription fee to access all the features, therefore I faced limitations such as
how many people would access my surveys.

8. Research Evidence
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pG
DZx22vKg
Questionnaire response analysis

9. Planning the Production
After deciding what genre our production was going to be and coming up with
a plot, we began to storyboard the short film and plan out what types of shots
and angles we were going to use. I created the storyboards using a paper
template, sketching pencils and felt tips. I made this decision as I thought it
would be a quicker way to complete the storyboards in time for filming the
production. Making the storyboards on paper allowed me to be more creative
as I could make several quick sketches of how I wanted a certain scene or shot
to look and rub out the ones that I didn’t want.
Another option was to create storyboards through a programme on the
computer but as I’d never used this before I realised it would probably take up
too much time learning how to use the programme when the storyboards
needed to be ready as quick as possible. One benefit of using an electronic
storyboard is that it would have been much quicker to alter a mistake instead of
running the risk of having to start again like you do if you’re working on paper.
It probably would have been easier to share the workload on a computer too.

10. Throughout the weeks of planning our production, members of our group would go
out and take location photos in order for us to build up a plan of where and when we
were going to shoot. Some locations such as the nightclub were more difficult to
arrange a time to shoot compared to arranging a time to film on Wellington Street. The
majority of the photos were taken on either an iPhone 6 or an iPhone 7 camera which
ensured good quality pictures even without a Canon camera which we used to film. The
location photos were then uploaded to Blogger so everyone knew exactly where we
would be filming. This was beneficial as we could use Blogger at home, at college and
on our phones so we were always up to date with what was happening.
Another new media technology we used was Celtx as it enabled us to write a
proper script for the actors in the short film. Celtx was a good programme to use
as it created professional looking scripts and made planning our production
easier. Although it took a little bit of time to learn how to use, once the basics
had been grasped it was fairly simple to write a clear script so everyone knew
their lines and didn’t get confused. A feature that helped make this possible was
the drop down list at the top of the page that gave you the option to select what
you wanted to type e.g. dialogue, a stage direction, the name of a shot, etc.

11. During the planning of our short film we were required to carry out an elliptical
editing task. The task consisted of us filming two people on a journey and then
arriving at their destination. We then uploaded the footage to Premiere Pro to edit.
We chose to film individuals walking into college, going upstairs, walking along a
corridor and arriving at the toilet. We filmed this on a Canon Legria HFG 25 with the
use of a tripod. Filming on a digital camera is beneficial as they are small and
portable therefore it takes no time at all to pick up the camera and move to a
different location without fuss if necessary. Another beneficial feature of the camera
is the playback option there is as you can instantly see anything you’ve filmed,
therefore any mistake or error spotted can be re-shot straight away instead of
having to wait until it has been imported onto Premiere Pro. Having experience
using a digital camera enabled us to film a variety of shot types.
A negative of using a digital camera at first was the fact we had never used them
before so it took time to get used to filming with it. In the beginning it was a
struggle to hold steady shots and frame a shot effectively, however, after taking
time to practice by filming the elliptical editing task it gave us the chance to get
used to working with the digital camera.
Elliptical editing task.

12. Character profiles were created during the process of planning
our film. After we had decided on the three central characters
each person sat in front of the camera and explained a little bit
about their character and what their role in the short film will be.
The character profiles were filmed on a Canon Legria HFG 25,
edited on Premiere Pro and then uploaded to YouTube so the
audience could provide feedback in the comment section.
Creating character profiles for the main characters meant that
the audience got the chance to know a little bit more about
them, therefore increasing the possibility that they may become
emotionally attached to the characters which will keep them
interested in the short film. Also, the character profiles provided
an opportunity for the actors to talk about why they chose this
particular storyline as it is important for young people to be
aware that there may be dangers when drinking.

13. Planning Evidence

14. Construction of the Short Film
To film the official short film we used a Canon Legria HFG25 and a tripod, although some shots were filmed freehand
depending on what type of effect we wanted to convey. Last year we used a different branded camera to the one we
used this year which ensured our skills could be carried over and developed due to using two different models.
However, the Canon Legria HFG25 had auto-focus which meant that it was less time consuming filming some shots as it
was much easier to capture a steady shot the first time around compared to manually pulling the focus like we did last
year.
The editing programme we used to edit our short film on was Premiere Pro. As previously stated our group has had
experience with using this software, however, this year we developed our knowledge even further by learning how to
manipulate sound and lighting to achieve a certain effect or atmosphere. Premiere Pro is a fairly easy programme to
work with due to the bar at the bottom right of the screen that allows you to clearly see your work and navigate to any
point of the short film.
Editing bar on
Premiere Pro

15. Throughout the duration of filming Saving Grace we used three different cameras to take
pictures and videos of our progress and to actually film the production.
The iPhone 7 camera was used to capture snaps of the filming settings, props and the actors
while they were being filmed for the production. The photos would then be uploaded to
Blogger as evidence as well as a way for us to keep up with what we had filmed. The quality of
the iPhone 7 camera was good enough but wasn’t a suitable device to film the whole short film
on.
Most of Saving Grace was filmed on a Canon Legria HFG 25. It was a high quality camera that
made filming easier due to features such as auto-focus. Its small size and light-weight feel
enabled us to perfect handheld shots that required the cameraman to be at a low angle (bent
down) while still moving which created excellent tracking shots. We had several different
locations included in our short film but packing up the camera and transporting it to different
places was extremely easy due to its size and weight.
However, the small size of the camera did prove to be an issue when attempting to film in the
night club as we felt it was more challenging to keep hold of the camera and perfect shots in
such a loud and robust environment. This is when we made the decision to use a Nikon D3300
when filming in this particular location. The larger size of the camera made it feel safer to use as
it was sturdier ensuring that perfecting tracking shots and pans whilst being immersed in a
crowd wasn’t as difficult compared to attempting it with the Canon Legria D3300.

16. During the construction of our film members of the group created
separate posters on Adobe Photoshop. Once everyone had created a
poster, the group then made a decision on which one to select as the
official one that would be used to advertise Saving Grace.
Having not had much experience using Photoshop, it proved difficult
to attempt any developed skills when creating the poster, however
basic techniques such as featuring a photo, changing the background
colour and adding text could be mastered. If I had more experience
with the software I would have added more advanced techniques to
increase the realistic effect of the poster.
To create an effective radio ad we used a Hi Zoom Recorder for the
voice overs e.g. “Saving Grace, coming to cinemas this April” and also
included sound from the actual film such as the girls laughing and
Becky screaming “Grace!” when she goes missing.