The document evaluates the use of digital technology in research, planning, construction, and evaluation of a media project. It finds that digital tools provided easy access to information for research, allowed planning to be organized and shared, helped achieve high production quality, and enabled varied presentations for evaluation. However, learning to use new software took time, and not all aspects of the process could be supported through technology.

1. EVALUATION OF OUR USE OF
DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY

2. USE OF DIGITAL
TECHNOLOGY IN…
RESEARCH

3. Search Engines
What is a Search Engine?
A Search Engine is a programme that searches for and
identifies items in a database that correspond to keywords or
characters specified by the user, used especially for finding
particular sites on the Internet. Obviously search engines are
driven y digital technology and in particular by the internet.

4. Access to
Information
YouTube
We used YouTube to research
real media products of all
kinds. We were able to find
examples of film openings,
idents, music, intertitles,
credits and tutorials to help us
with the editing. It would not
have been possible to
complete our project without
YouTube.

5. Access to
Information
Wikipedia
We used Wikipedia to find facts and
statistics about which genre films tend to
do well in the UK/abroad. We also used it
to research the names of
distribution/production companies. It’s
very quick to find out the odd fact,
however the information is not very
concise and the information can be
altered by anyone so to ensure our
information was accurate we always had
to cross-reference facts with more
reliable sites.

6. IMDb
One of those sites was
IMDb, which has a many
statistics and facts and is
also a valued site used
as a fact verifier on
game shows such as
“Pointless” and
therefore reasonably
reliable.
Access to
Information

7. BFI Statistical
Yearbook
This was another
excellent site for gaining
exact facts and figures
and checking that our
instincts were right
about the audiences for
our genre film. This is
now all online and easily
accessible.
Access to
Information

8. Google
We used Google for nearly everything that
we wanted to find out some information as
we had an collection of results that would
correspond to key words. We used Google
the most out of all the search engines
because we found the results tended to be
more relevant to what we wanted to know.
Google gave us a wide range of results and
we narrowed it down to exactly what we
wanted.
Access to
Information

9. Related Searches and Tagging
When you search an ambiguous keyword like
‘psychological thrillers’ it gives you a page of the most
searched/popular psychological thrillers.

10. Research Summary
• Advantages
• A lot of information can be gathered
easily
• Free
• Filters can be used to make sure that
search results are relevant to what you
need
• At the bottom of the page there’s
similar searches- help you find the
exact page that you’re looking for
• Tags- type in a key word and receive all
related articles/webpages/pictures etc
• Disadvantages
• Not checked – cannot always be sure
information is accurate
• So much information that it can be time
consuming finding what you want
• Easy to become side-tracked and forget
what you were originally searching for
• Use of search engines prioritises some
sites over others and so harder to be
original

11. USE OF DIGITAL
TECHNOLOGY IN…
PLANNING

12. Blogger
Blogger is the free digital blog publishing tool which allowed us to create and
store all of our planning for the blog. This included text, photos, videos
which we could share to construct the planning stage. Blogger is also
accessible anywhere which meant we could work on it at home or in school,
enabling us to do extra work when needed. We could store our work
chronologically, look back on it and access the work of others very easily.
We could also comment on work.

13. Blogger – Images and Video
We used a wide range of images
throughout the planning stage in
order to reference screenshots
from other film openings,
locations, credit layouts etc. We
also took a lot of our own photos
which we could upload.
We could always refer back to our
planning images as they would
stay located on Blogger.

14. Blogger-Sharing
With Blogger, we are able to view other
group’s work as well as people within our
groups, which allows us to get a greater
understanding, and to make sure we
were progressing in line with others.
We also received comments throughout
each individual blog post suggesting
improvements and corrections and it was
very easy to get comments on our work.
Audiences outside school were even able
to comment on our work.

15. Use Of Cameras
The use and getting familiar with the
camera was a vital part of the planning
process. We did a lot of practise filming so
we could get used to moving the camera,
what sound it can pick up, how it handles
movement etc.
We also had to work out how to transfer
our work onto the iMacs in school, how to
back it up and how to keep logs of footage
so we knew we could go back to the
original material on the SD cards if we ever
needed to.

16. Final Cut Express
• We had to plan how we could edit the
final piece, as well as put together the
storyboard presentation, which was all
done via FCE.
• At first, we had problems in terms of
continuity and how to get the perfect
timing, however with using FCE as we
went along, we gained sufficient
knowledge on how to edit properly
with many transitions and special
effects used where necessary. This is
why the prelim task was vital in
establishing our key skills in Final Cut
Express.

17. Planning Summary
• Advantages
• A wide range of digital technology was
available to us to help us with our
planning
• Using it made our preparations more
organised and was a lot quicker than
using old technology.
• Our planning is permanent – we can
always go back and look at it to help
with the next stage and even with
coursework next year.
• Disadvantages
• Has taken a lot of time e.g. taking
photos of storyboard to make animatic.
• Sometimes we have replicated each
other’s work without realising.

18. USE OF DIGITAL
TECHNOLOGY IN…
CONSTRUCTION

19. Video Camera
• Before filming it was important for us to
familiarize ourselves with the camera so we
could film to a high standard.
• We carried out a lot of practise tasks and
evaluated them as we went along, and a lot of
the mistakes we identified were to do with use
of the camera.
• Not all of these were digital-based - some were
framing and composition errors. However,
some were to do with not having the right
settings for e.g. movement resulting in
blurring.

20. Final Cut Express
• One of the main disadvantages of software like Final Cut Express, is that there is
a huge learning curve which requires a lot of time and experimentation to
overcome. Although there is this disadvantage, the pros definitely outweigh the
cons because without it we could ot have made an effective sequence. Final Cut
Express is quite well equipped and makes it easy to organize your footage. Its
features are more advanced than a lot of other software, making our filming
seem more professional.

21. Using Final Cut
Final Cut works in layers; sound
and video are added in layers and
then effects and transitions can be
added until the desired look is
achieved.

22. Advantages of Final Cut
• Final Cut Express has:
• A clear layout
• Complete freedom to
alter almost everything.
• the ability to mix audio
and visual tracks
together.

23. Disadvantages of Final Cut
• The problems we faced from using
Final Cut Express were:
• 1: We could only use it on the Macs
in school therefore we could not do
any of the work at home.
• 2: Also we could not all edit at the
same time so it caused some
problems.
• The software we used was hugely
costly, but vital to the completion
of our piece.

24. Live Type
• LiveType is another piece of software we used for our opening
sequence to create titles and credits and put them into our film
through Final Cut Express. It gave us quality looking text and some
unique effects in animation.
• However, like Final cut Express, it is hard to get used to and takes
experience.

25. Use of LiveType
Live Type was a useful piece
of digital technology
because it gave us a lot of
editing options for our titles
and credits to get the exact
effects we wanted, as shown
on the right hand side. We
had the freedom to choose
colour, font, etc.
This made it easier for us to
create a opening sequence
to a high standard.

26. Ident
The ident used a
combination of screen
capture software to capture
the orginal gif, LiveType to
create and animated title,
and Final Cut Express to
bring this together with the
addition of a sound effect
to be played beneath and
faded out. This proved a
good combining of the
capacities of several editing
packages.

27. Construction Summary
• Advantages
• The equipment and packages
we used helped us to achieve
a high quality of results
• Once we were familiar with
them we could use these
packages quite effectively.
• Disadvantages
• Learning the packages was
difficult at times and could
slow us down as we were
novices.
• There are a lot of e.g. effects
and transitions which you can
use but not always exactly
what you would like.

28. USE OF DIGITAL
TECHNOLOGY IN…
EVALUATION

29. Blogger
• We used Blogger to post all
of our coursework on. This is
a brilliant website as it is so
accessible. It comes with an
app that enabled us to
complete our work wherever
we were on ipads and our
phones. We could also
evaluate constantly
throughout every stage
because we were constantly
looking back.

30. Comments and Feedback
We were able to use the blog to get feedback from another
school who did not know us and we found their impartial advice
useful. This is a good example of the sharing capacity of the blog
and of digital technology.

31. Filmed Presentations
• We edited our filmed
presentations using Final Cut
Express. This gave the best of
both worlds – the sense of
personal engagement of our
debate and some visuals and
headlines to add structure and
support for the audience.

32. Photoshop Montage
• This was a useful technique
for discussing codes and
conventions. The overall
montage of shots gave a
striking visual representation
of the overall look of our piece
and it was easy to draw
attention to different points
relating to camera angles,
mise-en-scene etc by referring
to the numbered stills.

33. Images and Text
• Thanks to the variety of
software and websites such
as power point and blogger
we were able to present our
work in formats where
pictures were accompanied
by text.
• This added to the variety of
our work using a multi-media
format and makes the blog
more engaging for an outside
reader.

34. Images and Text
• We were able to turn a
rather stats heavy analysis of
our target audience into a
more attractive presentation
by using Photoshop to create
a poster that presented the
key information about our
reasons for choosing our
target audience in a more
interesting and creative
format.

35. Individual Presentations
• Having a short, guided
interview with our teacher
was a useful starting point
for our PowerPoint looking
at the use made of
technologies as this allowed
us to get some initial
thoughts together which
could then easily be shared
with others. As we were
asked similar questions it
was easier to collate our
ideas and think of how to
split up our slideshow with
the more detailed analysis.

36. PowerPoint
The use of slideshare
technology has helped
this evaluation
because we are all able
to contribute
individually but create
a single themed piece
of work as a group. It
also makes you make
short, simple points
and illustrate with
visuals.

37. Evaluation Summary
• Advantages
• All our evaluations are stored together
on the blog with a copy of the final
work and all the associated research
and planning.
• We have been able to use a variety of
presentational formats appropriate to
the task.
• We have therefore been able to work
as a group on these evaluations but at
the same time make our individual
contributions.
• Disadvantages
• Has been time-consuming getting all
the information and visuals together.
Digital technology cannot do this work
for you.
• A lot of our evaluation has been done
informally and in conversation and this
cannot be logged or tracked through
technology.