1. 4) How did you use media
technologies in the production and
research, planning and evaluation
stages?

2. Production - Documentary
Adobe Premiere CS6
To produce our documentary we used an editing
software called Adobe Premiere CS6 which proved
to be very efficient to use during the production
time as we were able to add and remove different
clips and effects to the timeline and alter the
different properties of each audio and video clip
easily. We used the sound controls to alter the
sound quality of each of our audio tracks; if a clip
was too quiet or too loud compared to the other
clips in the selected track, Premiere allowed us to
add extra tracks and enabled us to ensure that the
sound quality was high in each clip we planned to
use. The extensive tools within this software meant
that we were able to unlink audio from certain clips
and the different audio tracks were helpful when
inserting cutaways and placing them over
interviews. These two features meant that we
could break up our interviews and conceal any
jumps we may have had in the footage as a result
of cutting while preserving the sound quality of the
interview audio and not distorting it in any way.

3. Production – Radio Advertisement
Adobe Premiere CS6
We used the same software to produce our radio
advertisement. This involved selecting audio
from the different footage from our
documentary which was again made simple
because of the software we were using. It was
easy to create another product within the same
project and all we had to do was copy and paste
the selected clips from the documentary tab to
the radio tab. We recorded the narration for the
main documentary and the radio advertisement
on a ‘Zoom H4n Handy Mobile 4-Track Recorder’.
After recording our narration in a quiet room, we
inserted the audio tracks into the appropriate
parts and used a selection of sound effects to
ensure that the track flowed smoothly and
again, used the sound controls to be sure that
the sound quality was as high as it could be. We
used some parts of the narration in both the
documentary and the radio advertisement so
that the link between the two could be easily
identified.

4. Production – Equipment
Camera and Tripod
To film our documentary we used a Soy DCR-SD
1000E braodcast camera and a tripod. Using such a
professional piece of equipment enabled us to
create high quality footage and the use of the clip
and external microphones we were able to achieve
crisp and clear audio levels. We had problems with
the equipment at times; for example, in one
incident, we were unable to use the clip mic during
an interview due to a faulty battery. This meant
that we had to use the external microphone which
picked up the background nose and lowered the
effect of the interview. We also had issues with the
tripod and a missing quick release plate during the
same interview which meant that we had to find
another way to balance the camera. Due to the
technical issues, the footage we came out with was
perhaps not as high quality as we could have
achieved, but we learned from these mistakes and
ensured that all members of the group were
present on every filming opportunity to prevent
these issues to happen again and we made sure to
check all of the equipment before we went to our
filming location.

5. Production – Equipment
Zoom H4n Handy Mobile
4-Track Voice Recorder
To record the narration for our documentary and
radio advertisement we used a Zoom recorder which
was a simple voice recording device that created
recordings to a professional standard. This enabled us
to add the narration to our documentary and radio
advertisement easily as the quality of it meant that
the recording could be heard over the soundbed of
both products.

6. Production – Newspaper Advertisement
Adobe Photoshop CS6
We used Photoshop to create our newspaper
advertisement because of it’s easy to use
features. We used a variety of tools to create our
advertisement such as the magic wand and the
quick selection tools which we used to select
certain areas of the image and remove it to make
way for the other parts of the advertisement. We
used different functions within this software
such as the levels and curves to adjust the
appearance of the tones in the main image and
create a strong contrast which would enhance
the dramatic effect that had already been
created by the black and white image. We also
used the rectangle shape tool and text tool to
create and position our documentary title, tag
line and the date and time it would be aired.

7. Production – Documentary
Adobe Photoshop CS6
We used Photoshop to create the lower third
titles for our documentary interviews which
identified who was speaking and what their
relevance was to the documentary. We decided
to use the theme of twitter in our lower third
titles in relation to what our target audience
answered as the most popular social network in
our audience research prior to the beginning of
production. Creating the lower third titles
involved taking a screen cap of the twitter tweet
box, using the eraser tool to remove any parts of
the image which we didn’t need such as the
background and the icons next to the ‘Tweet’
button and then applying the text.

8. Production – Newspaper Advertisement
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CS6
We used Lightroom briefly during the
production process of our newspaper
advertisement to edit the main image. We
applied a black and white effect to create a
dramatic feel and a strong contrast between
the darker and lighter tones. We then used the
different tools in Lightroom such as the black
and white mix and tone curve which allowed
us to adjust the different tones within the
photo to emphasise the dramatic effect and
help the image stand out. Having an image
with a strong contrast means that our
advertisement will be a lot more eye catching
and will therefore attract the audience to our
documentary.

9. Research and Evaluation
Blogger
We used a site called Blogger to document
most of our work for this project. This work
was completed individually instead of in a
group like the production side of the
project. Presenting our work this way
means that there is proof of the individual
stages we went through in planning and
producing this documentary. We presented
our work through a variety of different
platforms which were then embedded into
blog posts.

10. Research and Evaluation
Prezi
We used Prezi as an alternative platform to present some of our research
and information clearly and effectively. Prezi is useful for displaying
information in fun and interactive ways where all of the information is in
one place which makes it a good choice for our work. The mind map
format breaks the information down and makes it easy to read and
therefore a lot more effective. After creating these presentations, we
then used the embed codes to share the information with the other
people in the group to then present it on our individual blogs.

11. Research and Evaluation
Slideshare and Scribd
Slideshare and Scribd are similar to Prezi
in the way that they both allow you to
present information however, they are not
as interactive and you are limited to only
being able to present slideshows or word
documents. Regardless of this restriction,
Slideshare and Sribd have both proven to
be effective during this project as we have
been able to present powerpoint
presentations and word documents easily
and embed them onto our blogs. Having
our work in neat presentations like this
means that all of the information is in one
place and there are no colours or images
distracting you from the important
information in the presentation.