The document discusses the use of new media technologies throughout the stages of planning, researching, producing, and evaluating a short film project. Key technologies used included: - Blogger for initial research posting and tagging - YouTube for additional research, hosting rough cuts and the final film - Celtx to create a professional script - Premier Pro for editing, adding effects, titles, and sound - Photoshop to design the film poster and logo - Google Forms to create and analyze audience questionnaires - Facebook Messenger for group communication - PowerPoint, Prezi and blog posts for final evaluations

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

2. RESEARCH
• ONE OF THE FIRST THINGS WE DID IN ORDER TO PLAN OUR SHORT FILM, WAS USE
BLOGGER TO POST RESEARCH INTO A VARIETY OF DIFFERENT THINGS, SUCH AS TITLE
SEQUENCES, FILM GENRE, AND CODES AND CONVENTIONS OF GENRES. BLOGGER IS A
GOOGLE APPLICATION WHICH ALLOWED US TO POST INDIVIDUAL BLOG POSTS AND
TAG OTHER PEOPLE WITHIN THE GROUP. ANOTHER GOOD THING ABOUT USING
BLOGGER WAS THE FACT THAT IT COUNTED THE AMOUNT OF POST WE HAD, WHICH
ALLOWED US TO KEEP UP WITH THE TARGET OF BLOG POSTS SET BY OUR TEACHER.
• WE USED DIFFERENT SEARCH ENGINES SUCH AS GOOGLE AND YOUTUBE TO HELP US
WITH OUR OTHER RESEARCH. USING THE OTHER SEARCH ENGINES ALLOWED US TO
HAVE ACCESS TO A WIDER RANGE OF RESEARCH AND INFORMATION.
• THE DOWNSIDE TO USING BLOGGER, WAS AT THE START OF OUR AS YEAR IT WAS
QUITE DIFFICULT TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO ADD LINKS, AND ADD
POWERPOINTS/PREZI’S. ALSO WHEN I TRIED TO ANNOTATE A POST, TRYING TO ALIGN
AN IMAGE IN A SPECIFIC WAY IT WAS HARD TO ALIGN THEM SPECIFICALLY.

3. RESEARCH
• USING YOUTUBE ALLOWED US TO ANALYSE A SHORT FILM, THROUGH YOUTUBE WE WERE ABLE TO FIND MULTIPLE
DIFFERENT SHORT FILMS TO ANALYSE, THIS GAVE US A RANGE OF DIFFERENT GENRES. ANALYSING A SHORT FILM
ALLOWED US TO HAVE A MORE IN-DEPTH IDEA OF WHAT IS INCLUDED IN A SHORT FILM, IN RELATION TO CAMERA SHOTS
AND ANGLES.
• WE ALSO USED YOUTUBE AS OUR HOSTING SITE, WHICH WE USED TO POST OUR ROUGH CUTS AND OUR FINAL FILM, DUE
TO THE GOOD RESOLUTION OF THE FILMS, IT ALLOWED US TO KEEP OUR FILM TO THE BEST QUALITY ONCE WE UPLOADED
IT.
• A DOWNSIDE TO USING YOUTUBE TO DO RESEARCH, IS THAT YOU CAN HAVE LIMITED RESOURCES DEPENDING ON WHAT
YOU ARE WANTING TO RESEARCH. I HAD THIS PROBLEM WHEN I WANTED TO FIND A SHORT FILM, OF A SPECIFIC GENRE, IT
MEANT HAVING TO CHANGE IDEA AND FINDING DIFFERENT GENRES TO ANALYSE.

4. PRE-PRODUCTION
• TO CREATE OUR SCRIPT, WE USED THE SOFTWARE CELTX THIS
ALLOWED US TO CREATE A PROFESSIONAL LOOKING SCRIPT
FOR OUR SHORT FILM. THROUGH USING CELTX WE WERE
ABLE TO ADD ACTIONS, DIALOGUE, PARENTHESIS AND SCENE
HEADINGS.
• THE FORMATTING OF THE PROGRAM ALLOWED US TO MAKE
A PROFESSIONAL AND READABLE SCRIPT SUITABLE TO
PRESENT TO ACTORS AND DIRECTORS.
• THE DOWNSIDE TO USING CELTX WAS THAT IT IS SLIGHTLY
FIDDLY TO USE, WHICH MEANT THAT I HAD TO BE VERY
VIGILANT TO MAKE SURE THINGS WERE PLACED IN THE
PROPER AREAS.

5. PRODUCTION
• TO FILM OUR SHORT FILM WE USED A CANON HFG25 CAMERA, THIS ALLOWED US TO ATTACH IT TO A TRIPOD TO THE
CAMERA ENSURING WE GOT SMOOTH AND LEVEL SHOTS.
• THE GOOD THING ABOUT THE CAMERA WAS THAT IT HAD A VIEWING SCREEN, WHICH ENABLED US TO PLAY BACK THE
FOOTAGE WE HAD JUST FILMED, MEANING WE COULD RESHOOT IF NECESSARY. IT ALSO ALLOWED QUICK AND EASY
UPLOADING TO THE COMPUTER, MEANING WE COULD EDIT STRAIGHT AFTER FILMING. ANOTHER GOOD THING WITH THE
CAMERA WAS IT ALLOWED US TO PULL FOCUS AND ACCURATELY FOCUS SHOTS EASILY TO KEEP OUR FILMING MOVING
SWIFTLY.
• THE CAMERA WAS HARD TO FIGURE OUT AT THE BEGINNING AS THERE ARE LOTS OF NIMBLE LITTLE BUTTONS MEANING
YOU COULD EASILY PRESS THE WRONG ONE. ALSO THE CAMERA HAS A LIMITED BATTERY LIFE WHICH CAN BECOME A
PROBLEM WHEN FILMING FOR A LONG PERIOD OF TIME.

6. POST PRODUCTION
• TO EDIT OUT FILM TOGETHER, WE USED THE PROGRAM, PREMIER PRO, THIS ALLOWED US TO DO MANY DIFFERENT THINGS
TO THE FILM, SUCH AS ADDING EFFECTS, TRANSITIONS, COLOUR CORRECTION, COMPLEX EFFECTS, KEY FRAMES AND ALSO
ALLOWED US TO RESIZE CLIPS TO TAKE AWAY AND DEEP SPACE AROUND SHOT THAT WAS NOT NEEDED. PREMIER PRO
ALLOWED US TO SHORTEN AND LENGTHEN CLIPS TO FIT WITH EACH OTHER AND ALLOW CONTINUITY THROUGHOUT THE
FILM. IT ALSO ALLOWED US TO ADD SOUND TRACKS AND CLIPS OVER THE TOP OF OUR OWN FOOTAGE. I WASN’T
CONFIDENT USING THE PROGRAM AS I DIDN’T DO MUCH OF THE EDITING ON THE FILM , ONLY THE JOURNEY SEQUENCES
AT THE START OF THE YEAR.
• USING PREMIER PRO ALLOWED US TO ADD TITLE SEQUENCES AND END CREDITS TO OUR FILM, THIS ALLOWED OUR FINAL
FILM TO LOOK MORE PROFESSIONAL AND CLEANER CUT.
• THE DIFFICULT THING ABOUT USING PREMIER PRO, WAS THE FACT THAT IT WAS HARD TO FIND WHERE TO ADD DIFFERENT
EFFECTS AND TRANSITIONS. I ALSO FOUND IT TRICKY TO CORRECTLY LINE UP SHOTS TO FIT IN THE RIGHT PLACE.

7. POST PRODUCTION
• PHOTOSHOP WAS A NEW PROGRAM THAT WE USED THIS YEAR. WE USED IT TO MAKE A FILM POSTER AND
FILM LOGO. USING PHOTOSHOP ALLOWED US TO LAYER DIFFERENT IMAGES ON TOP OF EACH OTHER AND
ADD EFFECTS PLUS TEXT ONTO OF THE IMAGES.
• WE USED DIFFERENT TOOLS, TO ADD DIFFERENT EFFECTS SUCH AS FOR OUR LOGO I ADDED A BLACK AND
WHITE EFFECT, ALSO I ADJUSTED THE CONTRAST TO MAKE THE GUN THE MAIN FOCUS POINT. I ADDED A
STROKE EFFECT AROUND THE WHITE WRITING TO ENSURE IT STOOD OUT AGAINST THE DARK
BACKGROUND.
• MAKING THE FILM POSTER I ADDED A TEXT CALLED STEEL TONGS, THIS ALLOWED ME TO GET THE PROPER
TITLES SUCH AS ‘PRODUCED BY’, ‘STARING’, ETC.
• THE PROBLEM I HAD WITH USING PREMIER PRO WAS IT IS HARD TO NAVIGATE WHEN YOU ARE NEW TO
THE PROGRAM SO I GOT QUITE CONFUSED AT THE BEGINNING, HOWEVER ONCE I GOT USED TO USING
THE PROGRAM I HAD NO PROBLEMS.

8. QUESTIONNAIRES
• WE USED GOOGLE FORMS TO CREATE TWO OF OUR AUDIENCE QUESTIONNAIRES, THIS
ALLOWED US TO EMBED OUR ROUGH CUT FOR THE AUDIENCE TO WATCH BEFORE THEY
ANSWERED THE QUESTIONNAIRE.
• USING GOOGLE FORMS ALLOWED US TO ASK A VARIETY OF DIFFERENT QUESTIONS IN
DIFFERENT FORMS, FOR EXAMPLE A WRITTEN ANSWER OR A SIMPLE SELECT ONE ANSWER.
• A POSITIVE THING ABOUT GOOGLE FORMS IS THAT IT COLLECTS ALL THE DATA FOR YOU AND
PLACES IT INTO A GRAPH, ALLOWING US TO ANALYSE IT STRAIGHT AWAY.
• I DON’T HAVE MUCH EXPERIENCE WITH USING GOOGLE FORMS, HOWEVER IT IS AN EASY
METHOD OF MAKING A QUESTIONNAIRE AND EASY TO GET THE HANG OF.

9. COMMUNICATION
• THROUGHOUT THE YEAR WE HAVE USED FACEBOOK MESSENGER AS A FORM
OF COMMUNICATION THROUGHOUT THE GROUP. IT IS A FAST AND FREE WAY
OF COMMUNICATING WITH THE GROUP TO ORGANISE FILMING DATES,
LOCATIONS AND COSTUMES.
• THE GOOD THING ABOUT FACEBOOK MESSENGER IS THAT IT ALLOWS YOU TO
SEE WHO HAS SEEN THE POST.
• IT IS ALSO AN APPLICATION THAT EVERYONE HAS USED THROUGHOUT THEIR
LIVES, MEANING THAT SENDING MUSIC, IMAGES AND VIDEOS IS EASY AND
FAST WAY TO SHARE INFORMATION BETWEEN US.

10. EVALUATIONS
• TO DO OUR FINAL EVALUATIONS I USED A RANGE OF DIFFERENT PROGRAMS SUCH AS POWERPOINT,
PREZI AND GENERAL BLOG POSTS. I DECIDED TO DO THIS AS IT ADDED A RANGE OF DIFFERENT POST
TYPES TO THE BLOG AND MADE IT LOOK MORE APPEALING TO READ.
• USING POWERPOINT WAS EASY AS IT A PROGRAM I HAVE REGULARLY USED THROUGHOUT MY LIFE. IT
ALLOWED ME TO ANNOTATE SLIDES WITH PICTURES TO EXPLAIN WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT.
• PREZI ALLOWED ME TO ANNOTATE ALSO, IT IS ANOTHER EASY PROGRAM TO USE ONCE YOU HAVE
GOT THE HANG OF HOW TO ADD TEXT BOXES AND MOVE THINGS AROUND.
• THERE WASN’T ANY DOWNSIDE TO USING ANY OF THE PROGRAMS THAT I USED FOR MY
EVALUATION, THIS IS A GOOD THING AS IT ALLOWED ME TO WORK FLUENTLY AND COMPLETE MY
EVALUATION QUESTIONS EASILY AND WITHIN TIME LIMITS.