The document describes how new media technologies were used at various stages of producing a short film. Google was used for research, survey monkey and face-to-face surveys were used to collect audience feedback, The Student Room and Reddit provided ideas for the storyline, YouTube and Free Sound provided copyright-free music and sound effects, a Canon camera was used to film in high quality 1080p, Blogger recorded planning and research, Celtx was used to write the script, location photos informed planning, Premiere Pro was used to edit footage and add effects, a Zoom recorder captured clear audio, and PowerPoint was used to present evaluations.

1. QUESTION 4:
HOW DID YOU USE NEW MEDIA
TECHNOLOGIES IN THE CONSTRUCTION
AND RESEARCH, PLANNING AND
EVALUATION STAGES?

2. Research - BBFC
◦ BBFC: Before producing our film we needed to conduct research
on certificates and what footage would be appropriate for our
film. With our synopsis to our film already made we were
intending on making our target audience either PG or 12
depending on the guidelines. We decided to choose this age rating
as it targets a wide range of audiences as well as our specific
target audience: children. The childlike innocence of our main
character matched with the fidget spinner is the perfect
combination of a fun and enjoyable film for the children to
watch. Therefore after contemplating the guidelines we decided to
give our film a rating of a 12 due to one “attempted” mugging
scene which may upset children under the age of 12 and a slightly
complex concept of time travel as the storyline which could
confuse children under the age of 12.

3. Google:
◦ Google: When searching up relevant information for our film I used google as my search engine as Google is
a reliable piece of software that gives you the best and most efficient results such as bringing up the BBFC
website for age rating and relevant pictures for our blog. Furthermore, through this search engine I managed
to find ideas and inspiration for our film and due to this search engine being globally recognised this gave us
a wide variety of ideas and inspiration for our film.

4. Audience Feedback:
◦ Audience Feedback: Collecting audience research
for our film proved easier than we thought as we
collected our results through both survey monkey
(an online questionnaire) and handing them out
face to face. On these questionnaires we provided
a variety of both quantitative and qualitative
questions which helped us significantly during our
planning processes as we could decide on a final
certificate for our film and what genre our film
should focus on the most. Furthermore, due to the
qualitative data, we were able to find out what our
audience disliked in our rough cut of our film so
we could upgrade our draft to a final production.

5. The Student Room:
◦ The Student Room: In addition to the research
materials we have already used, we also used The
Student Room to gain advice on what scenes to
add to our film after we gave other students our
storyline. From this we gained many valuable ideas
of which we twisted and interpreted into our own
such as the idea of giving our main character
mundane tasks to accomplish instead of serious
tasks, due to our quantitative data inferring that
the most appreciated genre is comedy. In addition
to this, this interactive interface helped us gain
ideas from other people’s short films as well as our
group giving them feedback on their short films in
exchange.

6. Reddit:
◦ Reddit: Similar to The Student Room this website gave our group ideas for a storyline. We saw many
different storylines from life being one huge dream and when you wake up you are in an alien civilisation to a
post-apocalyptic dystopia where you are one of the few survivors of a nuclear warfare. However due to the
post-apocalyptic idea being too similar to our film and the other idea being too farfetched we settled on our
own idea: the time travelling fidget spinner.

7. YouTube:
◦ YouTube: Researching into a soundtrack that wasn’t
copyrighted was tricky but after many videos we found a
soundtrack that was a great addition to our film and we
messaged the producer to ensure we could use the
soundtrack for our film. The old school hip hop beat called
“I Am” fitted the aesthetic to our film perfectly due to our
main character being laid back just like the music. Therefore
we included this soundtrack at the beginning of the film
where are character is the most laid back and relaxed.

8. Free Sound:
◦ Free sound: As well as using YouTube to gain soundtracks for our film we also decided to use a website
called freesound.com to gain non-copyright sounds and effects such as the diegetic dinosaur roar at the end
of the film. This website worked extremely well for our film as we gained a list of sounds from this websites
for transitions in our film and special effects such as the rewind scenes.

9. Canon Legria HFG25:
◦ Canon Legria HFG25: It is important that when you produce
your film, the outcome needs to be in the best quality it can be
for the best experience for the audience to watch. Therefore we
decided to gain the best camera for our filming so our audience
could experience the quality of the film in 1080p. By filming in
1080p this is great for exhibition purposes as when we uploaded
our film to YouTube there was an option for the quality of the
film to be seen in and if we didn’t film in 1080p then our
audience couldn’t experience our film to the best quality it could
be experience in. As well as choosing this camera for exhibition
purposes, we also decided to use this camera as this camera had
auto and manual settings so you could adjust the settings to suit
your film. For example if you wanted to pull the focus from one
object to another you could do this in the manual settings by
adjusting the focus length to suit the range of the objects. Having
all these qualities in one camera aided our group significantly as
we were able to produce a high quality film with several effects
adding to the quality.

10. Planning – Blogger:
◦ Blogger: Blogger is an online software used by bloggers to publish either work or personal entries for others
to read or to record all of your research and planning. We decided to use Blogger as the software to record all
of our research due to the efficiency of how the programme works. Saving your work as a draft and coming
back too it later was one of the many reasons why this was the best site to record our research. However,
despite Blogger being the most efficient software to use for our planning there were some flaws with this
software such as uploading images and the structure of your layouts. I first encountered this issue when I
wanted to upload multiple images to a blog side by side to make the presentation look more presentable
however blogger didn’t allow this therefore I had to adjust the layout to my images accordingly or use another
piece of software such as: PowerPoint or slide share. Other than this Blogger was both professional and
reliable at recording our research and displaying our work.

11. Celtx:
◦ Celtx: Celtx is a piece of software used for
writing scripts to films, plays, and books and
much more in a professional manner. We used
Celtx to create a professional script that was
clearly structured and easy to read. In addition to
the professionalism of the software, the
programme also aided in structuring our script as
the software predicted what heading to add to
the script next. Due to all of these positive
outcomes, this made the whole filming process a
lot easier as every aspect of the script was clearly
structured and the software aided in making the
script more professional.

12. Location Photos:
◦ Location Photos: Prior to filming, we decided to take location photos to mind map ideas beforehand and we
used these images to plan out what shots we would use and why. Therefore from taking these location
photos, we managed to gain major plot ideas as well as creating a shot list of tricky shots to pull off and how
we would accomplish them. From the ideas we gained, we decided to draw them out on a storyboard so we
could picture parts of our film and put them together in a chronological sequence. Overall, taking location
photos before we started filming really aided our film as we gained ideas that we may have missed out on if
we just rushed into filming.

13. Construction – Premiere Pro:
◦ Premiere Pro: Premiere pro is a media application where you can
edit footage. We used Premiere Pro to edit our film and this
software proved vital for the success of our film as we needed to
cut scenes together as well as editing in non-diegetic music to
match the flow of the film. Feature length films such as “Gone
Girl” also use Premiere Pro when producing their film footage as
this software is easy, reliable and professional. From features such
as rewinding back in time to adding filters to depict emotions on
our character, Premiere Pro aids us in telling a fantastic short film
about a young man finding a fidget spinner and travelling back in
time. Furthermore, Premiere Pro worked so well that we decided to
use this piece of software for our radio trailer as well as the tools
were both simplistic and effective enough to make a professionally
crisp trailer that would encourage audiences to see our film. Here
are some examples of the ways we have used Premiere Pro
effectively:

14. H1 Zoom Recorder:
◦ H1 Zoom Recorder: In order for our radio trailer to sound
crisp and clear, we needed a device that would amplify the
sound as well as cancel background noise out of the clip. With
the H1 Zoom Recorder, we recorded the voice of our main
character in a couple of scenes where his voice was too quiet
and we edited that into our film using Premiere Pro. In
addition to this, we also used this device for the radio trailer
because it is important for our narrator to be heard only so that
our trailer sounded professional and realistic. The H1 did a
fantastic job of amplifying the sound however the device was
subject to picking up a little background noise. Therefore to
correct this we recorded the voice of the narrator to our radio
trailer in an empty room to get the best possible outcome for
our trailer.

15. Evaluation
Microsoft PowerPoint:
◦ Microsoft PowerPoint: This presentation device is
one of my favourites as I can display my work in
the way that I think works best and I can design
my page layouts to match the theme of my work.
Unlike the layout and structure to my work done
in Blogger, I can freely add as many images I want
to a slide of work as well as placing them side by
side to demonstrate my points. Furthermore, I can
embed videos as well as placing images into slides
to further explain my thought processes or to
exhibit my film. Overall, PowerPoint is an effective
and reliable piece of software that helps me
visually explain my work and make my work look
more presentable.

16. Microsoft Word:
◦ Microsoft Word: Similar to Blogger, Microsoft
Word is a great way to publish work from, as
the stylistic layout and structure enhance the
quality of my work. One of the main reasons
I like Microsoft Word is due to the fact that I
can place my text and images wherever I want
on my page whereas with Blogger I am
subjected to the simple stylistic structure that
is set as default on their system. Additionally,
Microsoft Word is also great as this application
gives my work more variance and creativity
due to the fact that I am using different media
to present my research and planning.

17. Slide Share:
◦ Slide share: Slide share is very similar to PowerPoint in the way that the presentation to your work is more
visual than writing as you can create a layout as well as embed pictures or videos to strengthen your work.
However, unlike PowerPoint, you can upload your work online so people can see your work. This is a great
way to display your work as you can gain other ideas from other groups and you can gain feedback from
other groups on your work as well.