The student used various media technologies at different stages of their project, including: 1) Safari and Internet Explorer for online research on Macs and PCs. 2) Wikipedia, YouTube, and Blogger for research and sharing work. 3) Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Publisher for writing scripts, evaluations, and storyboards. 4) PicMonkey and Final Cut Pro for editing photos and creating video effects. Hardware included Macs, a PC, laptop, video camera, and tripod. The student found many of the technologies easy to use with experience but learning new software like Final Cut Pro took time.

1. Evaluation Question 4:
How did you use media
technologies in the construction
and research, planning and
evaluation stages

2. Software

3. Safari
Whilst using the school
Macs the web browser I
used was Safari. This
enabled me to access
websites to research
my projects. I find safari
relatively easy to
navigate my way round
and do not find it
particularly difficult to
use.

4. Internet Explorer
Whilst using my laptop and
computer Internet Explorer
was the web browser used
for the same purpose as
Safari – researching.
Similarly to safari I do not
find Internet Explorer hard
to use at all. The reason for
the two web browsers is
simply because one
computer was a Mac (which
runs safari) and the other
computers both run Internet
Explorer.

5. Wikipedia
Wikipedia was a website
that I used for some of
the research. I am aware
that this website has
been known for its
inaccuracies however I
found it to be very
informative and ultimately
correct. I particularly
found how easy and
quick it is to find the
desired information on
this website with the
simple search bar feature
very helpful.

6. YouTube
YouTube was another
website that I found
extremely helpful, this
website was mainly used
during the research stage
as I could access many
real trailers for films in
order to establish
conventions, do
deconstructions and gain
inspiration. However,
YouTube was also used
as a way to upload my
first and second drafts as
well as the final version of
my trailer.

7. Blogger
Blogger has been used as a
place to store and collect
all of my research,
planning and also as a
means to display my final
products. I found blogger
easy and helpful during
this process – but this
was mainly due to the
fact that I have been
using Blogger for about a
year and have already
gained experience with
this software.

8. Facebook
Facebook has played a key
role in my coursework.
Initially, it was used as a
means to contact my
talent and arrange
meeting times and places
but later on it was used to
link my final trailer in
order gain audience
feedback. This software
was easy for me to use
as I have been a
Facebook user for a few
years now.

9. Microsoft Word
Microsoft word was used
to write up my script
and details of
movements and shots
that I would be filming.
Again, I find this
software easy to use as
I have been using it for
some time now. As it is
a very simple to
operate I found it to be
helpful.

10. Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft PowerPoint was
used during the
evaluation stage. I think
that on the whole
PowerPoint is good
software to use.
However, I do find it
quite time consuming to
get all of the slides to
look professional i.e.
Background and
picking the right layout.
So this software did
hinder me slightly.

11. Microsoft Publisher
Publisher was used to
create the storyboard,
mood board and both
of the ancillary tasks. I
find this piece of
software very helpful
and it has been
important to my
coursework. Again with
this, I also have
previous experience in
using it and can use it
with ease.

12. PicMonkey
The website was used to
edit the pictures that I
used for my poster and
magazine front cover. I
was unsure of what effect
I wished to create when I
started using the software
so I combed through all of
the many effects
available and chose a
selection that I liked.
Overall I found this
website very easy to use
and ultimately very
useful.

13. Final Cut Pro
The film trailer I have created
is the first time I have ever
used Final Cut Pro, so it did
take a bit of getting used to
start off with. After a while I
did grasp an understanding
of this software – however
as it is much more
complicated than anything I
have used previously I felt
that my inexperience
hindered me at times, but,
without this software I
wouldn't have been able to
create some of the effects
that I included, so where I
was hindered at times I also
found this software helpful
too.

14. Hardware

15. Mac
The piece of hardware on
which I made my film
trailer was one of my
school’s Apple Macs. I
have been using an
Apple Mac for media
school work for a few
years now and find them
helpful for searching the
internet, blogging and
using Final Cut Pro. I do
however feel that they are
not the easiest to use and
think that they are quite
complicated.

16. Computer
This computer, the HP
Pavilion a671uk, was
used to research,
blog and create both
of my ancillary tasks.
This is the family
computer that I have
been using for a few
years now and so I
can use it with ease.

17. Laptop
This is the Packard Bell
EasyNote TE. This
equipment was used to
research, blog and
adjust my ancillary
tasks. This laptop is a
piece of hardware that I
have not been using for
very long, however I
have gotten used to it
quickly and find it useful
and easy to use.

18. Video Camera
This is the Sony handycam hdr-
cx190e. This is my own video
camera and this project was the
first time I have used it. After a few
test shots I felt comfortable in
using this piece of equipment. I
think that not only was this camera
easy to use it was also the right
camera for the conditions that I
wanted to shoot in – quite low
light, as this camera specialises in
low light conditions. As well as
this, the camera also has
SteadyShot Active Mode which is
an image stabiliser for more stable
images and also this camera does
HD recording all of which was very
helpful to me and helped my
create the best quality clips that I
could.

19. Tripod
The final piece of software I used
to create my trailer is the
Camlink CL-tp1700. This
particular piece of hardware
actually had to be returned as
it was broken the first time I
tried to use it – the legs
wouldn't adjust and the tripod
did not pan with ease, instead
it was juddery. However once it
had been replaced the second
tripod was much easier to use
and ultimately the pan was
much smoother. Overall, this
piece of software may have
hindered me to start with but in
the end I found it very useful
for the creation of my film
trailer.