1. Q4:How did you use media
technologies in the construction,
research & planning and
evaluation stages?
2. The Internet
• The internet has helped significantly when constructing my media products as I was able to gain
access to YouTube and IMDB in order, to educate my self about the genre of gangster/crime
and conventions of products.
• I used YouTube to watch and observe trailers, for example I found trailers such as “Gangster
Squad” , “L.A Confidential” and “The Godfather” which is where I gained my inspiration and
spotted the typical conventions and symbols such as low key lighting, drugs, money , urban
surroundings , fast paced editing and soundtracks to build up suspense. When constructing
and planning my trailer , I would keep looking back throughout my conducted research and
make sure that I have incorporated these important aspect of gangster/crime trailers.
Furthermore, to evaluate my work, my group and I made a YouTube Chanel to upload out
final product and group evaluation questions.
3. • Internet Movie Data base is an information website revolving around the
world of film including cast, production crew, personnel and fictional
character biographies, plot summaries, trivia, and fan reviews and ratings. I
used this when researching specific films such as “The Godfather” to gain
a deeper insight into what's behind the scenes which helped to connect
with the film more.
4. Social Media
As a group, we used WhatsApp as a way to communicate our ideas, changes, plans and
scheduling filming. We did this by creating a group chat named after our production team
“CarpieDiem” . This was a helpful way in planning the construction of my trailer as it was
easy and fast way to communicate and inform my team members so that we work efficiently
and manage our time and organization. Also , there was a separate group chat of the cast
members which is were we informed our cast when we are filming next and sending out
their script so that they are prepared when filming.
In addition, using google classroom was a convenient way to share our research material so
that my team members can access it. For example, working in a team we divided research
into sections and then presented them onto PowerPoint so that we can educate each other
and access it on Google Drive.
5. An example of the beginning stages of
filming trying to get the cast together
discussing costume, timing and scripts.
6. • We used survey monkey to conduct our audience research, for example we asked
questions such as “what symbols do you associate with the genre gangster/crime?”
This was a way to reach our target audience geographically as we didn’t have to
psychically hand out the questionnaires which saved time and reached a wider
audience by sending it through social media. This was convenient because we
was able to gain information about what the audience expect in our trailer and
incorporate their opinion in our products in order to satisfy the audience. For
example, many participants associated the colour “Black” and “Red” with the
genre hence why the intertitle are red displayed on a black screen.
7. Equipment
We used Cannon 600D EOS camera to record footage and take pictures. When filming for our trailer I
was able to have more freedom and explore my creativity than I did last year for AS, the conventions
of my photoshoots were restricted to mid shots in order to conform to conventions of a magazine
however, making a trailer gave us the freedom to experience with different angles such as low/high
angles, close ups and dutch tilt shot.
We used a tripod to film dialogues so that we could get steady shots in order to emphasise on the
importance of the dialogue so that the audiences are not distracted by the shakiness that a hand held
camera would cause. But, looking back at the trailer hand held camera was used more often due to the
effect that it has and it is more flexible that filming on a tripod.
iPhone- to dub over the videos using voice recorder, communicate with group and to track our
progress using camera.
Macs- to edit trailer using photoshoot, PremierPro and After Effects.
USB- to store our footage
