The document discusses the various media technologies and software used by the author at different stages of creating a short horror film project. For research, the author used Netflix, Now TV, YouTube, Google, SlideShare and Prezi to analyze horror film conventions. A Panasonic camera was used to film scenes for the short film. Adobe Premiere was used for editing but caused issues. A horror film poster was created using Photoshop and evaluated using PowerPoint. For the review, Google, Prezi and Adobe InDesign were used to create an interactive double-page spread, with InDesign being the most difficult software to learn. Overall, the author felt their media skills improved over the course of the project.

1. H O W D I D Y O U U S E M E D I A
T E C H N O L O G I E S I N T H E C O N S T R U C T I O N
A N D R E S E A R C H , P L A N N I N G A N D
E V A L U A T I O N S T A G E S ?
B Y E R I N H U N T E R

2. RESEARCH
When it came to researching my film I used lots of different types of media in order to
find conventions and analyse them in order to apply them to my products. I used Netflix
and Now TV to watch existing horror films, I also used YouTube to find videos of how to
film, and to find short horror films. I used YouTube as a guide to help me learn the skills I
needed to be able to film well. Google was also a very reliable source and it lead me to
slide share and prezzi which let me read existing presentations by media students both
this year and from years before. I put my research into slide share slides into word and
PowerPoint documents and straight onto blogger to help me to present my findings.

3. SHORT HORROR FILM
For the film I was in charge of filming the scenes and used a Panasonic HC-B7100 camera to do so. This wasn’t the best camera
to use as the quality left the scenes pixelated however this was the best quality camera that the school had so this was our only
option. It took a while to get the hang of how to use the camera. Unfortunately it was too late before I realised that you could
but effects on the film scenes using the camera and so we had to try and do that when editing. The camera was placed on a
tripod for me to film. Sometimes when filming, I would press the button and it wouldn’t record so I only caught the ends of the
scenes or missed them completely. This could have been because the cameras were old and of poor quality, it was frustrating
because it would mean we would have to film the scene again and we ended up filming for longer than we should have done
and needing to use artificial lighting as it was winter and it got dark very quickly. I cannot really discuss how the film was edited
or the editing process as that job was designated to someone else in the group. However I do remember that the Adobe
Premiere software was difficult to use as different versions of the programme meant that if work was done on an old software
at home we were unable to open the work at school Also I do believe that it was hard to add transitions such as fades in and
out to the film as none seem to be present in my horror film. Conclusively, the camera was of satisfactory standards. If the
camera had been a better quality more professional camera the picture would have been clearer and it would have been easier
to get better shots. I do not think that using Adobe premiere software was successful as my group member struggled to use it
effectively. I think the editing was the most difficult part of the film and that maybe Movie Maker would have been more
successful.

4. POSTER
When researching how to create a horror film poster I looked at existing horror film posters on google images.
This helped me to successfully compare posters and draw similarities and differences and comment on
conventions in order for me to apply it to my own product. I used Microsoft PowerPoint and slide share to
present my ideas on my blog. To create my poster I used Adobe Photoshop CS6. I applied the findings from
my research to my poster in order to make a successful product. Adobe Photoshop was easy to use as I had
used it already last year in order to create my final magazine front cover and double page spread. Although this
year I used different aspects of the programme. I used the magic want tool a bit and the lasso tool more this
year as I needed to erase the background on my main image before I added it to my poster. I also changed the
saturation, contrast and brightness of my image this year in order to create a spooky effect and to enable me to
different effect to the layers on my poster in order for it to look sinister and horrific. I do think that my
knowledge of how to use Photoshop has improved greatly in comparison to the beginning of the course and
what I would have once found difficult is now easier as I have developed the skills to be able to use the
software- I’m a pro by no means. To evaluate my poster I used PowerPoint and Slide share. The evaluation was
about me understanding where I went wrong with my product and about how I could of made changes
effectively, what I could have done better. I used these two programmes as they were easy for me to use and
simple which is what I needed to be able to evaluate my work.

5. REVIEW
When researching my review I used google to find existing horror film
posters and presented them in prezzi. By presenting my research
findings in prezzi I found that my work was more interactive and this
helped me to use more skills to display my work. I looked at 1 double
page spread and 2 horror film double page spread reviews. From doing
this I was able to evaluate and analyse conventions and specifically
horror review conventions successfully. To create my double page
spread I used Adobe InDesign. Adobe in design allowed me to insert
columns and margins into my work which meant that I could present my
work professionally in the style of an existing double page spread.
InDesign was the most difficult of the technologies for me to use. The
layout of in design isn’t that simple and in order to add features such as
drop caps I needed to talk to my teacher and other peers. When editing
my Review I stayed with InDesign as my work was formatted for that
programme. Once I had created my first draft it was pretty simple to
make the changes that I needed and by this stage I was already more
competent at using the software. I placed images (originally from
google) from my documents and added them to my double page
spread. I think although I found using InDesign challenging it was the
best software that I had used as it forced me to not over complicate my
ideas so I produced my best product. When evaluating my review I used
power point again. Reflecting back perhaps using a different software
would have shown off my media skills more. However overall I think the
software allowed me to evaluate my work successfully.