The document discusses the various technologies and websites Andrew Oates used to research, plan, construct, and evaluate his film noir trailer project. He used Blogger to maintain a blog tracking his progress, YouTube to research film trailers and noir conventions, Google to search for example media texts, Flickr to host research images, PowerPoint to present findings, SlideShare to share presentations, Windows Movie Maker and Photoshop Elements for basic editing and mockups, and his Samsung Galaxy SII smartphone to capture footage and photos for the project.

1. Andrew Oates

2.  ‘Blogger’ is a website that allows
users to set up and maintain a
blog.This website is my primary
source of presenting my
research, planning, construction
and evaluation, and allows me to
track my progress from the
planning stages to the final
project.The ease of updating
allows me to maintain my blog
and keep all of my information
up to date, therefore making
presenting my progress to whom
it may concern a simpler
process.

3.  ‘YouTube’ was a key website for my project,
specifically in the research, construction and
evaluation stages. During research, I usedYouTube
to research and discover existing film trailers in
order to effectively learn the conventions of
trailers. Furthermore, I was also able to look into
existing film noir texts to research the conventions
of the genre.After completing my construction, I
uploaded the completed trailer toYouTube in
order to present it, as well as get feedback from it.
I also usedYouTube to present work in the
evaluation stages, in order to ensure my work was
created using a variety of methods.The ease of
accessing a wealth of video content was key in my
success during the research stage, and without
such easy access, the planning stage would have
been much more difficult as I would have had a
weaker understanding of the conventions of
trailers and the noir genre.

4.  While a rather obvious example of
technology that I used as a search
function, Google was paramount
in gathering research, including
finding examples of existing
media texts such as films in the
noir genres, as well as the
possibility of using its image
function to find examples of
magazine covers and posters, in
order to discover the conventions
of them for my ancillary tasks.

5.  ‘Flickr’ is an image hosting
website, that allows users to add
notes and tags to the images they
upload. Due to this feature, I used
Flickr in my research stage in
order to present my findings
about the conventions of
magazine covers and film posters,
as I could easily upload examples
and add notes the them, making
my research more accessible and
specific to the various conventions
that can be seen on the images.

6.  PowerPoint is software that
allows users to create an easily
accessible presentation of
information. I used PowerPoint to
present my findings on the
conventions of film noir, and later
to present my answer to one of
the evaluation questions (as seen
here).This is because of the
simplicity of the program, and
the accessibility of presentations
created using this software.

7.  SlideShare is a website
which allows users to
upload presentations
created using PowerPoint
to the internet, in order to
easily share them with
others. Naturally, I used
this website, coupled with
Microsoft PowerPoint, to
create and share
presentations of my work
with ease.

8.  Windows Live Movie Maker is an
easy to use but extremely basic
video editing software. I used this
while creating a practice
storyboard for a proposed trailer
for ‘The Machinist’.While the
software was handy and simple, I
realised while using it that many of
the features would be too basic for
me to effectively edit my finished
trailer, so I decided to only use it
for minor tasks such as the practice
storyboard and editing a video
created to answer an evaluation
question.

9.  Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 is a
photo editing software that I used
during the planning and
construction of my ancillary task
to create a poster and magazine
cover. I used it to create mock-ups
for the magazine cover and
poster, as well as the finished
projects. Photoshop was simple
to use on a basic level, but also
gave me enough freedom to
effectively edit my final products
and make them as appealing as
possible.

10.  SamsungGalaxy SII is a Smartphone with
an 8 megapixel camera installed into it. I
used this as my main camera for capturing
the raw footage required for my trailer, as
well as taking the necessary photos for my
poster and magazine cover.The reason I
chose to use the SII over other cameras
provided was due to my existing
familiarity with the settings in order to
give my products the necessary look to
maintain the noir genre, as well as the
high quality of the camera itself.
Furthermore, I benefitted from the
easiness of accessing the photos and
videos at home or in college in order to
edit them for the final project.