1. How did you use media technologies in
the construction and research, planning
and evaluation stages?

2. Research – Internet
 We used the internet to research the conventions of short films,
we did by looking over the work of the past years media
groups.
 We also used it to familiarise ourselves with the media theories
that apply to this media format such as Vladimir Propp’s
narrative theory, which we used to develop the narrative of our
film
 Through the internet we were also able to research movies
through the IMDB, this allowed us to research movies that had
the same genre as our short films, which we could draw
inspiration from.

3. Research – Books
 We used the schools library as a place of research as they had books
which were dedicated to explaining media theories and the
conventions of the different media formats
 The school also subscribed to a media magazine, which we could
access, this particularly came in handy as it provided us with first hand
experience of what the conventions of film reviews are, which we later
applied to the construction of our own film review for our ancillary task

4. Research - Youtube
 We conducted research on Youtube, by finding channels that would
offer tutorials on different film techniques
 An example of this was the channel Film Riot which we watched
tutorials about filming, for example we learned how to properly conduct
auditions, and that we shouldn’t criticise the actor and should not make
them uncomfortable, but instead we should make them as comfortable
as possible and thank them for their time
 The channel also offered tutorials on how to achieve Hollywood
standard filming on a smaller budget, which we took notice of and
applied to the filming of our own film.

5. Research – First Hand Experience
 We mainly used this research method in scouting locations for our film
 This allowed us to get first hand look of the place and first see if it was
right for the scene we had planned, then we would pick out possible
camera positions and we would plan the layout of the scene, which we
would then transfer into the format of a blocking plan which we would
then use during the filming process.
 This allowed us to be prepared for our filming sessions as we had full
confidence that we knew the location and that we had already picked
the fright camera positions to capture he best shots for our film

6. Planning – Photoshop
 Photoshop was used in the planning stages to create the storyboards
which were then turned into the animatics we showed to the actors.
 It was also used for the production of the ancillary tasks as we used
the image manipulation tools to make the film poster which we would
then develop with the other tools such as altering the contrast of the
photo to make the image look crisper and more professional.
 Photoshop was instrumental in the creation of the movie review as it
allowed us to layer text with images which we then manipulated into a
layout which fit the conventions presented by professional movie
reviews.

7. Construction – Camera
 The camera that we used for our film was the Cannon 7D, we chose
this camera over the Sony HVR A1E, as the Cannon produced the
best quality filming which we wanted for our film. We discovered this
after we had created a demo reel with each camera, and the footage
captured by the Cannon was produced at a higher quality then the
Sony
 We practised filming with this camera, so that when we came to filming
we would be proficient enough with the camera, so that we could
capture the footage efficiently

8. Construction – Microphone
 The microphone that we used was the Rode Video Mic.
 We used this microphone as it was built to focus its recording on the
audio in front of it, so it eliminates most of the background noise which
usually clutters up the audio of a film.
 It is also mounted on a cradle which will prevent it from rocking and
missing audio, this was an advantage as a couple of our camera shots
are handheld, and this helped to keep the audio to a good standard
during these situations.

9. Construction – Editing Software
 The software that we used to edit our film was Adobe Premier Pro CS4
 We got to grips with this software by using during the editing of the
behind the scenes videos that we did for our Youtube channel.
 It allowed us to cut out the specific parts of the recordings that we
wanted, we would then drop them into a timeline which we could
manipulate the clips into the order that we wanted for our short film
 The program also allowed us to import audio files which we could
manipulate aspects of it such as its sound and its length. We could
then overlay this on our clips to be included within the film.
 Premier Pro also allowed us to make post production changes such as
changing the colour contrast or the movie and adding black bars which
added a sense of professionalism to the film.

10. Evaluation – Microsoft Office
 Microsoft office was used for the initial write up of my evaluation which
I would then transfer into different formats so as to make it more
interesting.