During the research stage, the author utilized websites like YouTube and Wikipedia to research short films in their genre and the history of horror film techniques. Wikipedia provided condensed information from multiple sources to research a 1980s found footage film. The author used websites showing pictures of derelict places in Britain to plan filming locations, which inspired ideas. During filming, a steady cam was used to keep shots steady during fast scenes. Editing in iMovie allowed adjusting tone by changing colors and brightness. To evaluate their work, the author kept a blog tracking progress, which motivated working harder, and writing a self-review pointed out faults and areas for improvement.

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

2. During the research stage of
development for my short film I
utilised websites such as
YouTube, which provided examples of
short films within the same genre as
the one I wished to create and
Wikipedia which was a great resource
for researching the context behind the
way short films had progressed over
time.
Research into the presentation of
horror films led me back to the 80’s
to a film which was the first to use
the style of found footage. Without
Wikipedia the search for
information on the movie in
question would have proved a lot
harder as the condensed
information presented on Wikipedia
is the combination of knowledge
obtained from different sources
that I would have had to search for
myself if Wikipedia had not been
available.

3. To plan where I was going to film the short I surfed
around websites on the internet that dedicate themselves
to pictures and stories of derelict places around Britain.
Reading stories and seeing pictures of the perfect place
gave me further inclination to visit the place and take
some pictures of my own, this then inspired ideas and
helped to push forward work on the short.

4. During the construction phase of the piece, I used many
new media technologies. The most useful piece of
equipment I used during the filming stage was a steady
cam, for the found footage scenes it was especially useful
as all of the shots were handheld and the steady cam kept
the shots steady and watchable to the viewer during fast
scenes.
Editing the piece on iMovie allowed me to
change the tone of the piece by changing
the colours and brightness. Before I
brightened the colours, the visuals felt
bland and boring but with extra care taken
to find the right levels of colour and light I
feel that the piece greater communicates
the genre.

5. To evaluate my own work after it had been
done I enjoyed keeping a blog which kept
track of everything that had been worked
on. The blog made the project feel as if it
was more of my own thing and gave me
more of an inclination to work harder on it.
Writing the review of my own short film gave me
the inclination to point out my own faults and parts
where I could have tried harder to properly re-
create my vision.