How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
1.
2. I used a variety of media technologies to create my
main product and two ancillary products.
Medion MD
85830
Google
Chrome
Wordpress
Blog
Microsoft
Office Excel
2007
Adobe
Photoshop
CS4
Paint
Adobe
Premiere Pro
CS6
4. This is my own personal camera that I have owned
for a number of years, so I was comfortable using
this device for shooting my media products.
The camera is 7mpx meaning it takes a reasonably
clear picture and allowed me to create a ‘found
footage’ effect when filming the trailer.
I used the camera in the daytime in an overcast
setting to take pictures and film shots for the
products.
5. By using this camera I have developed my shooting
skills and have become more aware of camera
angles and shots and how they affect the end
result. I experimented with a range of shots and
angles to acquire these new skills.
Extreme Long Shot Over the Shoulder
Shot
Point of View Shot
6. The overall result has been altered significantly by
using this camera, as it is not the quality
equipment that would be used on a Hollywood
production. It has given the trailer a ‘found
footage’ effect though, which will create a lot of
interest in the film, because of the ambiguity
associated with found footage.
8. I have used Adobe Photoshop CS4 to edit and
manipulate the images in my ancillary media
products. I have used this software previously, and
for my AS coursework project, so I am familiar with
how the program works and felt confident using in
for this purpose.
Much like a camera, this software also allowed me
to create a completely new shot from a number of
images.
9. The main example where my use of Adobe Photoshop
is present is on the film magazine cover.
I took two separate images here and merged them
into one to create a two shot. I then manipulated one
of the figures heavily to create a normal girl and a
ghoulish figure.
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10. I have developed my skills from using this program
too. I was familiar with the software before I
started this project, however some of the effects I
wanted to create I was unaware of how to do, so I
sought out some online tutorials to teach myself
more techniques, for example the ‘Motion Blur’ on
the magazine cover. These are things that are
really useful to know and things that I can
remember to use again on future projects.
11. Overall it has enhanced the end result hugely.
Without using this software I wouldn’t have been
able to manipulate the images or merge them
together. My magazine cover would be very bland
and wouldn’t have any professional elements and
my poster would not have dark lighting. Without
the use of Adobe Photoshop I would not have
been able to have created a horror aesthetic to
any of my media products and then they would
not be fit for their purpose.
13. Paint is a picture editing software that comes as
standard with most Microsoft computers. Because
of that factor many people have had experience
with Paint, and it has been made an easy program
to use because of it’s compulsory aspect.
I used paint to crop certain images and create
screen shots that I wanted to upload to my blog.
The program was incredibly easy to use and very
efficient for getting the job done.
14. I didn’t really develop many skills as such because I have
been using this program since I started using a computer
over ten years ago. I practised the skills I had already
acquired though, such as using the tiny buttons on the
side of the canvas to adjust the size of the canvas and
zooming out of the canvas when working on a particularly
large image. This was particularly useful when obtaining
screen captures from the internet.
15. Overall using this software has allowed me to
create a better blog to display my coursework on
and helped me explain situations better through
using screen shots.
If I hadn’t of used this program it would have been
much more difficult for me to analyse things like
the horror film trailers as I could collect images
from them to analyse further.
17. I used Adobe Premier Pro CS6 to create my horror film
trailer. This software was appropriate for the purpose
because it is used by professionals to create video clips
and sequences.
I imported the elements of the trailer, which had all been
created by hand, and arranged them into the order I
wanted them on the timeline. This sequence was then my
horror trailer. I was able to add in professional effects
such as fades to make my trailer appear more
professional.
18. All the skills I now have for using Adobe Premiere
Pro were acquired when creating my teaser
trailer, as that was the first time I had ever used
this software.
I felt quite intimidated by the software to begin
with as it was all very new and confusing, but after
searching online for some tutorials, like I
sometimes do with Adobe Photoshop, I found my
feet and was able to create my trailer successfully.
19. Overall I am happy with how my horror film trailer
has turned out. The fading features make the
trailer run a lot smoother than using jump cuts.
I feel that if I had longer on this project I could
have refined my skills a lot more and become more
specialised in creating teaser trailers. This would
have resulted in my own trailer being more
professional aesthetically.
21. I used Microsoft Office Excel 2007 to create a
schedule of work that needed to be completed
and presented on my coursework blog.
I used the fields on the spreadsheet to display the
type of task, whether or not it had been
completed and posted on the blog and then the
date it was posted on the blog.
I also used colour codes to make it easier visually
to see how much of the work had been done and
how much was left to do.
22. Rather than developing skills, I used the skills I
already had from studying ICT to create this
schedule of work.
Overall this has made the whole project more
organised for me and the schedule of work has
allowed me to keep track of my progress. It has
also helped me to make sure all of the necessary
components are included on the blog, without
accidently forgetting any.
24. I used Google Chrome to access the internet so I
could view current film posters, magazine covers
and trailers, as well as post my progress on the
blog.
25. Again I used all the skills I had already developed
from using the internet for a number of years to
enhance the quality of my A2 coursework.
I used things like advanced searches to access the
content I wanted when researching the history of
horror and narrative theories.
It has changed the overall result dramatically
because without a web browser I would not have
been able to have posted anything on my blog or
done any reliable research.
27. I used the blogging service Wordpress to
document my A2 Media Studies coursework.
I created individual posts to and categories to
organise the work and make it easier to access.
28. From using Wordpress both this year for A2
coursework and last year for AS coursework, I have
acquired a range of blogging skills which can be
used in the future.
I have learnt how to organise the blog properly
and how to make the blog aesthetically pleasing.
Overall my A2 coursework would not have been
possible without Wordpress as this is how my and
my classmates have decided to present our work.
If we presented our work on paper it would not be
as versatile and would lack new media elements.
