1. Question 4
How did you use media technologies in the construction, research, planning and
evaluation stages?
In this evaluation question, I will be explaining how I have used different technological
mediums in the different stages of my A2 media course. For my course, I was required to
create three different pieces of work… I main product (my short film) and two ancillary tasks
(A filmmagazine article and a filmposter). When speaking about the different technology I
used to create them, I will separate the evaluation into the different sections mentioned in
the title of the evaluation.
The use of different technology and software throughout the duration of my A2 media
course has helped me to develop my arsenal of skills, as well as sharpen up. For example, I
have had experience with Adobe InDesign in years 12, 11 and 10. However, at the start of
the year I felt I was rusty. By the time I had finished my magazine and poster, I felt that my
skills were back to their full potential, and I even felt more educated with the software.
However, a lot of this year has been a learning curve, in terms of new software and learning
how to use it when producing work.
Research:
At the research stage of my A2 coursework, I didn’t need to use that many different
technological mediums that would help me to produce the work. For example, I didn’t need
to practice using Adobe Premiere when I was researching other films and their conventions.
The main piece of media technology that I needed to use when researching was the
Internet, in particular Youtube and Google. Google as a search engine is fantastic, as it
helped me to access a lot of information about short film theory and the conventions of
short filmthat we are subject to every day. Google allowed me to access a number of
different sites such as Wikipedia and Slideshare. Youtube was also extremely helpful – as I
was able to access multiple documentaries based on the world of short film and cinema.
Away from the use of the internet, the use of Windows media player was also beneficial to
the success of my work. Windows media player is a brilliant piece of software that allowed
me to watch high quality videos easily without any hassle.
Research was vitally important to the success of my A2 coursework – because it allowed me
to learn about the ways that short films are made and marketed. This information could all
be applied to my work at a later date.
Planning:
When planning my short film, “The unfortunate life of James Flint”, I needed to make sure
that I was using software that could really demonstrate my ideas. One piece of software
that I used when planning my film was Microsoft PowerPoint. We were set a task in which
2. we each had to pitch our ideas to the other members of our media class. We used the Smart
whiteboard projector and PowerPoint to demonstrate our ideas to each other. Both of
these technologies went hand in hand, as the projector allowed me to show all of my ideas
clearly and easily on the whiteboard.
When planning, I also began to storyboard – so I knew exactly what I wanted to create. For
this, I used www.storyboardthat.com to create some brief storyboards that would later
come into effect at some point on the construction of the film.
I also used the Google owned site, Blogger to produce a few diaries on the ideas that I had
come up with when planning my film. Blogger was also used during the construction stage
of my film.
When planning some of the shooting arrangements for my short film, for example locations,
times and props used – Microsoft word came into effect, as it allowed me to create easy to
read, simply laid out documents that highlighted my plans for that particular day when
filming. I was able to easily print these off on my Canon printer at home and use them
whenever.
Construction:
Construction was a lengthy process, but a lot of the technology I used was extremely helpful
with reducing some of the time at least. Adobe Premiere was a piece of software that I had
never used before, and I did originally find it difficult to use and come accustom to.
However, after maybe three or four days of using it, I became comfortable with it and was
able to then use it freely. A lot of the features such as “Colour swatch” and “Cut” came into
use when editing certain clips in my film. Without these features on the software, the whole
process would be a lot more stressful.
To shoot my short film, I used a Canon DSLR camera and a SONY cybershot bridge camera.
Both of these cameras offered spectacular quality of image and also made shooting easier,
as they could easily be placed on a tripod. Furthermore, “dead cat” microphones could also
be attached to the camera. These microphones are lightweight, easy to carry and quite
strong for their weight. This meant that they could be used without hassle, as the wires are
shot and are usually ended with a small pin, meaning that there is no need for long wire.
Perhaps one of the most common and most important pieces of media technology I used
when constructing my film was the USB stick. The USB stick saved me on multiple occasions
when I thought I had lost work. The memory space available to me meant I could then store
all real and raw footage that I wanted to use for my actual film and separate blog posts.
Adobe After effects came into use on one occasion when I experimented with different
tones and effects that I could put on my clips when editing… however, I did not like the
effects and the way that they looked – so I decided to go without.
When producing my filmarticle and filmposter, I used Adobe InDesign to create the layout
of both ancillary tasks that I was set to do as work. One feature that I particularly loved
about Adobe InDesign was the guidelines feature. By simply clicking “W”, the user is able to
3. see the guidelines so that they can stay within them. The guidelines are there for the
purpose of making the document look professional. By using the guidelines, I feel that my
coursework was far more effective at meeting it’s purpose.
Adobe Photoshop was another piece of software that I used when creating my magazine
and poster. The pictures needed to be of a specific tone, so that they could fit in with the
house style that I had created (which was dark green/black). This was an eerie tone/shade
that really added some atmosphere to my film and other work.
Evaluations:
When creating my evaluations, I used different media technologies to make my blog
interesting. Microsoft word is the software that I used for this evaluation, as it is easy to
count how many words I have used… which is personally a very important thing for me.
Word documents are easy to read and upload, so they are not stressful when being used at
all.
Microsoft PowerPoint also came in handy for question one of my evaluations. I was not too
keen to use PowerPoint, and I had originally planned to use Prezi – but technical difficulties
stopped me from doing so.
My SONY Cybershot Bridge camera and Youtube both came into effect for the last two of
my evaluations. I wanted to mix it up and have different formats. The camera and the power
of Youtube allowed me to do so, with great ease.
