1. HOW DID YOU USE MEDIA
TECHNOLOGIES WITH THE
CONSTRUCTION, RESEARCH, P
LANNING, AND EVALUATION
STAGES?

2.  Throughout this course I have used many different forms of new media to
create my final pieces. For the research part of the course we looked at
three different films which all fitted into the horror genre. These films
include Psycho (1960), Dawn of the Dead (1979), and Dawn of the Dead
(2004). These films were sown to us via a DVD player which was then
projected onto the white board for the whole class to see and make notes
on. We also watched various special features DVDs, including The Dead
Will Walk (a documentary of the Dawn of the Dead (1979) Ultimate Edition)
and The Butcher of Plainfield (a documentary about Ed Gein on the Texas
Chainsaw Massacre DVD).After I had watched the films and special
features, I then used Microsoft Word to analyse three still images from each
of my primary research films.

3.  After analysing and learning the key aspects of what makes a good horror
film, I moved onto internet research. After some class trailer research, we
all individually watched our own choice of trailers which were part of the
chosen genre, which I found using YouTube. The trailers I found which
helped me with my research and where a massive influence for my own
work includes Insidious (2011), The Conjuring (2013), and Evil Dead
(2013). YouTube gave me an easy access to these trailers and other
trailers in which we watched as a class which helped me when creating my
own trailer. To help me find out more information when it came to writing a
review for a few of the films, I also used the website IMDB.com which gave
me information about the cast, synopsis, and release dates. This gave me
a better insight to the films which we looked at as a class and the films I
looked at independently for example The Yellow Brick Road (2010) and The
Woman In Black (2012).

4.  When it came to planning my own trailer myself and my group all worked
on Microsoft Publisher which allowed as to create a simple shot list plan for
our trailer. This focussed our ideas and gave us a clear insight to what we
wanted to film and the angles we wanted to use. Although we didn’t
thoroughly stick to the original shot list, this process did help us a lot and
saved us from thinking what to film at the time. By having the file online
also meant we could not lose it and had constant easy access to it.

5.  For the construction of my worked I also used a variety of different technologies. To
create my ancillary products of the movie poster and the magazine cover, I used
Adobe Photoshop. I have a lot of experience using Photoshop. For the photo shoot I
used a digital DSLR camera and then uploaded the images into Photoshop. For my
movie poster I was able to add a textured background, which I thought created an
unsettling effect to the product. I adjusted my chosen photograph into black and
white and experimented with the brightness and contrast of the image. I also added
a red coloured filter over the eye and then changed the opacity so it wasn’t so
noticeable. In Photoshop I was able to add the selected text which I needed and
wanted on my poster for example the title of the film, the certificate rating and the
credits at the bottom. For my magazine cover I simply adjusted the brightness and
contrast of the chosen photograph and worked around the image by adding the
chosen text and graphics I wanted to use. To get my fonts I used the website DaFont
which allowed me to see a variety of fonts and choose one which I thought best
suited. I used the snipping tool around the head of the photograph, and then
duplicated the layer. I then placed the duplicated layer in front of the title of the
magazine, so a proportion of the title was covered. I was inspired to do this from the
magazine “Empire” but changed the title to Total Film, to ensure it was copyright free.

6.  For my main product I used the editing programme called Adobe
Premiere Pro. As a group we firstly recorded or footage using a
HD video camera. We then uploaded the footage into Premiere
Pro, which allowed us to edit the footage the way we wanted.
The majority of the footage needed the brightness and contrast
to be adjusted to create a darker piece of film, showing that the
trailer fits the low key lighting of a horror. In After Effects we
downloaded some copyright free AE pre-sets and then modified
the text layers which we could then use to add a narrative to the
trailer. At the end of our trailer we decided to add a sound effect
of a recording, we later re-recorded Libby screaming, to enhance
the restricted narration by having violence off-screen but sound
audible.

7.  To finish off, to evaluate my products I also used different
technologies. The main website I used was blogger. Blogger
allowed me to submit all of my coursework onto my own blog
where it was all kept in one place. I liked this technique because
it allowed me to be organised and go back and look at the
trailers I have already looked at and evaluate them in more
depth. I gain used YouTube to evaluate my products, the rough
cut of my trailer was uploaded to YouTube which allowed me to
show my friends and family, and also gave me feedback in class
during the Focus Group and Evaluation Screening. Finally, I
uploaded my ancillary products to my Facebook page to allow
my friends to see them, and this gave me even more feedback
on what to alter to my work to make it better.