The document describes the hardware and software used to create a documentary, magazine article, and radio trailer for a media coursework project. It discusses using a digital video camera, tripod, microphone, headphones, and Final Cut Express software to film, record audio, and edit footage for the documentary. It then explains using still images from the documentary footage, InDesign templates, and FinalCut Express to layout and produce the magazine article. For the radio trailer, it discusses using the microphone, headphones, and Final Cut Express to record and edit audio, and syncing it with music from the documentary.

1. Documentary To make our documentary we used a variety of hardware and software when filming and editing. The hardware that we used included a digital HD video camera, tripod, a directional microphone and headphones in order to record the video and audio clips needed. We made use of the digital camera by using it to film regular footage, take still images, and adjust the brightness and contrast and also use the zoom feature. The tripod aided us in maintaining a steady and professional shot by using it throughout all of our filming. We used the tripod to do tilts and pans seamlessly. Traditionally in professional documentaries the panning technique is used to film an establishing shot and we implemented this in our documentary. The tripod was a constant piece of hardware during our filming. We did not use the hand held camera technique because we felt it was not needed in our documentary and would possibly make it look amateurish. We used the directional microphone whilst filming expert interviews and vox pops, in addition to the headphones which helped us to check that our sound levels were okay and that the equipment was not faulty so we would not have to re record footage. There are techniques on the camera that we did not use during filming, such as adjusting the exposure which is designed to make sure the cinematography is as aesthetically appealing as possible. Another thing we could have done was to alter the focus of our shots, such as blurring an image or to focus on something close up whilst blurring the background. I felt that our documentary coped fine without this technique, however the blurry image could have been a technique which we used to display our facts and statistics on. Without the use of any one of these pieces of hardware our documentary would not be as proficient as it is. The use of the hardware has developed my abilities in this area, having not used this equipment prior to the coursework and so I have learnt new skills from this project. We were required to use many different pieces of hardware and software in order to create our three products for this media coursework project as professionally as possible. This pressed our ability to work together as a team and contribute equal amounts to the group work. It enabled us to develop our technological skills across diverse areas of the project in order to fulfil the requirements of the task set to a high standard.

2. POST PRODUCTION Documentary We used Final Cut Express to create not only our documentary but our radio trailer too. Final Cut Express is a piece of media software on the Apple IMac which was very beneficial to us in the making of our documentary. We used Macs this year rather than regular computers like last year as Macs are designed to be more creative machines and are advantageous for design or media based work. To start off after uploading all of our footage via a USB port onto the Macs, we had to log and transfer our footage. This was time consuming as we had to filter out the good footage from the bad, and make judgments on what footage would be essential to us. We named each clip that was logged and then they were transferred into the browser of Final Cut Express. We were able to drag each film clip onto the timeline, moving them around as we made decisions about the structure of the documentary. The software enabled us to add several sound layers such as our voiceover and backing music, as well as additional visual layers like the cutaways and titles on formal interviews. We were able to include transitions such as fades and use straight cuts. We used straight cuts for a consistent flow and to keep interest in our documentary, and fades to signify a new ‘chapter’ of the documentary. Final Cut Express also enabled us to change speed of clips. We slowed down some of the shots to give the viewer more time to absorb the information or concentrate on that section, and sped up clips to ensure it never became boring. Final Cut Express was a good tool to use in aiding us to bring our documentary opening up to a professional standard. It was a learning curve for us as we had never come across this software before. This also meant it took a little longer to use, but it was beneficial for developing our media and ICT skills. Magazine Article To create our article, the first thing I did was to create still images from the footage in our documentary by pressing the apple key, shift key, and number 3 and then saving the shots as JPEG stills. Next I created a template in In Design of what the magazine could look like to make it easier for me to create rather than making it up as I went along. In the template I added the documentary name, image and text boxes, and showed where the documentary date would go. I placed the images where the image boxes were, and wrote the article to add to the columns that I had created. Then I edited. I rotated the images to liven up the layout, bolded the interview questions in the article to indicate the difference between the question and answer. I made the font Arial Narrow, to match the text that we had used in our documentary and therefore further our brand identity. We have seen that other magazine article examples tend to use a drop caps at the start of the article which is something that was also included in our article. I feel that In Design, despite having used it last year, was a little difficult to remember how to use. However as soon as I got into the production of the magazine I used In Design with ease and the software made the creation of the magazine easy as whatever I wanted to do I could.

3. Radio Trailer To create the radio trailer we had to go back to using some of the hardware that we had for our documentary. We used the microphone which plugged into the digital camera to record the voiceover and used the headphones to measure our sound levels and check the appropriateness of them. By doing this we could listen back and stamp out errors such as faulty equipment and changing the distance between the microphone and the voice. The voiceover for the radio trailer complimented the presented used in the documentary and the documentary itself by being a female voice again to create a connection to the target audience and by being clear, loud and well spoken, ideal factors for a voiceover. We then transferred the audio samples via a USB port onto the Apple Macs and imported our clips into Final Cut Express through log and transfer. When we added the sound clips to the timeline we deleted the visual layer as it was not needed. We used the program to manipulate sound in our radio trailer. We used fade in and outs to give the trailer a consistent flow and create professionalism. We also adjusted sound levels to try and ensure that the music did not override the speech and make certain that no bits of sound were too loud or too quiet. We repeated the music used in our documentary so that the audience would hopefully create a link between the two products and associate them together. The music was chosen intentionally to be aimed at our specific audience, in that it suited the subject of our documentary and was an appropriate style of music that would not put off listeners. Overall we found the usage of both the software and hardware for the radio trailer unchallenging having gained practice and skill using them for the making of the documentary. This meant that the creation of the radio trailer was a fairly short and problem free process where we were able to fine tune our individual technological skills in Final Cut Express and in using the media equipment. The draft of or magazine article. This is a basic layout of our article which indicates where everything will go. The boxes with crosses are image boxes whilst the columns show where the article will be placed. The masthead and dateline are already in place and there is a small paragraph box to show where the stand first will go.