4. IMDb – we used this in our research stage as it is a very useful website which provides
necessary information about any film such as ratings, the genre and reviews. It also
allowed us to research trailers in our subgenre in order to pick out any conventions we
wanted in our own trailer. This site provides all of the necessary information in one
place so it was efficient as we did not have to switch between different websites.
SurveyMonkey – we used SurveyMonkey in the research stage of our construction as a
way of finding out audience expectations surrounding trailers and the comedy horror
subgenre. We created surveys asking for their thoughts and opinions on particular
questions and asked members of our target audience to respond. This was very
beneficial as we could collect large quantities of data easily.
BBFC – we used the BBFC website in order to research ratings for films. We discovered
what the requirements were, such as how much swearing or violence would be allowed
for a particular rating. We were also able to find out the ratings of other comedy horror
films. This was extremely useful when it came to deciding what BBFC rating we wished
to give our own trailer. In the end we decided on it being a 15 due to the focus on gore,
violence and swearing.
5. Panasonic DMC G7 – we used this
camera in our research stage (as well
as the construction stage which we
will come to later…)
We experimented with the different
settings including timers and filters,
to find out what each one did to an
image, in preparation for the photo-
shoot we would have to do for our
ancillaries (of a poster and a
magazine cover).
We also tried a variety of
compositions and experimented with
the panorama effect.
We also explored and learned how to
record in 4K as we had never done
this before. We practiced ‘zombie
walks’ up and down a path and
recorded it, figuring out how to use
the camera properly and getting to
grips with its autofocus.
Examples of photos from our experimental
photoshoot:
6. Example of some research taken from Emma’s
blog which was learned from the BBFC website.
Example of some
questions asked on
SurveyMonkey.
Screenshot of the IMDb page for Shaun of the
Dead which we used a lot as this was one of our
main inspirational movies.
8. Calendar (app) – we used this app in the
planning process in order to keep track of
deadlines and to help organise when we
were all free to film for our trailer. It was very
useful as the app on our iPads synced with
the app on our phones meaning we could
access the plans in place whenever we
wanted.
iMessage – we used this technology as our
main means of communication with each
other outside of our lesson time. It was
especially useful if there were any last minute
changes to be made to our schedule or if any
of us had any questions. We also used
iMessage to send evidence photos to each
other and this was very good as again, it
syncs with both our iPads (in school) with our
phones (at home).
Screenshots from the calendar app
showing some brief filming details.
9. PowerPoint – Microsoft PowerPoint is
a very easy-to-use technology which
allows you to present work in a clear
and structured way. During the
planning process, a lot of our work
was completed on PowerPoint (for
example, the shot lists and shooting
schedules). We found this the best
way to lay out our plans as it is easily
accessible across many devices, can
easily be embedded onto our blogs
through ‘Slideshare’ and is also a very
familiar software to all of us.
An example from Laurel’s blog and Emma’s blog of PowerPoints being
used for planning.
An
example
of one of
the pages
of our
script,
made on
Scriptly.
Scriptly - as well as presenting a lot of our planning on
PowerPoint presentations, we used the ‘Scriptly’ app
on our iPads to create the script for our trailer. We
used this technology in order to make sure our script
was made in the correct format, was professional and
used the right fonts and font size. Without this app,
the script writing process would have been a lot more
complicated and probably would not have been
successful.
11. Final Cut Pro X – we used Final Cut Pro X for the
editing stage of construction for both drafts. Final
Cut, unlike iMovie and some other editing
software, allows us to edit to the millisecond. It
also has many transitions, fonts, titles and effects
available too. It has been incredibly useful for the
editing process. A new thing all four of us learnt to
do effectively this year was how to use a green-
screen on Final Cut.
Evidence photos of us using Final Cut Pro X for editing
our construction.
Photoshop – we used Photoshop to construct both of
our ancillary tasks of a poster and a magazine cover. It
was a really useful piece of software to use to edit and
manipulate the main image and add text. Photoshop
lets us resize our images, add effects while also
changing the colour of the background and more.
Here are our
final drafts of
our ancillary
tasks (picture
one – poster.
Picture 2 –
magazine)
which we
created on
Photoshop.
Bensound.com – we got the music for our trailer from
www.bensound.com. This website provides royalty free music for people
to use in their productions and work as long as we give credit. In our
trailer we credit Bensound in the description of the video on YouTube, as
well as mentioning multiple times on our blogs that this is where we have
taken the music from. This website provides lots of varieties of music so
we got to experiment with lots of what they had to offer before making
our final decision.
An evidence photo of
us searching for music
for the construction
stage.
12. Panasonic DMC G7 – this was the camera we used to film both drafts
of our trailer. We felt really privileged to be able to use this camera as
it shoots in 4K and this was the first time for us using a camera like
this. We also used this camera to take the photos for our ancillary
poster and magazine. We experimented with it during our research
stage as well. Due to the high quality and crisp image, our trailer has
an extra sense of professionalism. The focusing of this camera was
difficult to figure out at points, but we soon got used to it.
Rode VideoMic – This was the microphone we used to record the
dialogue in our construction of the trailer. It was very effective and
picked up the voices easily and clearly, providing us with good sound
results. The microphone was sometimes used on a boom pole (for
example: the news report scene) and at other times, slid easily onto the
top of the camera. When outdoors we used a ‘deadcat’ over the mic to
minimise extra sounds such as the wind.
A photo of the camera in action while we
are filming the news report scene.
YouTube Converter – we used YouTube converter in order to convert
the ‘Rouge Pictures’ ident into an mp4 file so we could insert it into
the beginning of our trailer. Having this in the beginning makes our
trailer seem more professional. YouTube converter is really simple and
effective to use.
This photo
shows us using
the microphone
on a boom pole.
14. Social Media (Facebook and Twitter) – we relied a lot on social
media as our evaluations of our work often stemmed from target
audience feedback, which we received mostly online. We posted
the link to our trailer onto Facebook and received lots of feedback
in the forms of messages and comments. We were able to
evaluate what went well and what could have been done better
when we got the opinions of our audience. As our target audience
are 15+, nearly all of them would be active social media users so
we thought this would be an efficient way to collect information
for evaluation.
YouTube – we also received some
comments on YouTube itself, from
members of our target audience
which again, allowed us to take into
consideration their thoughts when
evaluating what we had done.
For our evaluation questions we used different media platforms and technologies to
present our answers.
Prezi - For question one we used Prezi to display our work.
Prezi is a software which uses motion and zoom in order to make presentations exciting
and bring them to life. We find it very easy to use and makes our work look professional
and well-made. You are able to also embed videos and add photographs to a Prezi
presentation.
However, a downside we found to Prezi is that sometimes the amount of text you can have
is restricted. You have to be succinct with your writing.
YouTube link to our final draft:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPDX_B-tPKc
15. Slides - For the second evaluation question we used ‘Slides.’ This is
similar to PowerPoint in the sense that you can display information on
different slides and switch between them. ‘Slides’ is also simple to use
and is a great way of presenting work. The navigation buttons make it
easy to go back and forth between slides which was especially useful
for question 2 as it was all about the same area of work. (Our
ancillaries).
PowerPoint - Finally, the fourth evaluation question (this one!) was made using
PowerPoint. Due to the large amounts of information it made sense to lay
everything out (both writing, and pictures) clearly on slides. We have structured it
so that it is easy to find the work relating to ‘resarch,’ ‘planning,’ ‘construction’ and
‘evaluation.’ PowerPoint is an extremely familiar software to us so we can get the
best out of it when we use it.
PowToon - For evaluation question three, we used PowToon. This is
another technology which can be used for presenting. It is different
to other software as you use it to create animated videos to display
your work. It makes information (in this case, what we learned about
audience feedback) somewhat more engaging and interesting to
read.
