The document discusses the various new media technologies used during the construction, research, planning, and evaluation stages of a film project. Mahara was used to create a blog to document the research and progress. Final Cut Pro X was used to edit the teaser trailer and add lighting/sound effects. An Apple Mac, Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and a Canon DSLR camera were used to create magazine covers and film shots for the trailer. Prezi, YouTube, Garageband, and Emaze were used to present work and collect feedback. Fonts were found using Dafont and OneDrive/PowerPoint were used to create presentations.

1. Q4. HOW DID YOU USE NEW
MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES IN THE
CONSTRUCTION AND
RESEARCH, PLANNING AND
EVALUATION STAGES?
JAMIE DONEGAN

2. MAHARA
• The first and the most crucial media technologies that we used during making our teaser trailer and
other ancillary texts was a site entitled Mahara. This site let us form a blog where we could show what
progress we had been making over the course of the film campaign, to show anyone how we got to the
stages that we got to.
• Through blog posts we presented all of the research that we conducted to go forth in our campaign.
This method of blog posting enabled to show the most important parts of the campaign and most
importantly show how we got there. This simplicity of the website helped organisation and made
nothing too complicated whilst completing the blog posts.
• By going onto the blog that I have created you will be able to see the journey that I have been through
up until now the final point, pictured below is some research posts on my journal, show the sort of
thing I have been posting.

3. FINAL CUT PRO X
• Whilst editing the teaser trailer we used a programme on the Mac called Final Cut Pro X, this is an advanced editing software
which allows space for creativity, and if used correctly gives the overall outlook of the teaser trailer a professional one. Not
only did we used Final Cut Pro X for the teaser trailer but we also used it to create the ident which was featured in our teaser
trailer, titled, ’Storm Productions’.
• A lot of the lighting editing that we layered over the video clips enabled us to really intrigue the audience in what they were
seeing, at the same time allowing them not to lose focus due to the suspense that it brought with it. During the storm, and
one of the clips of Annie, we attempted to create a lighting flash, and by this we used a split second of a negative effect to
give this a good look whilst watching, along with sound effects which were added later.
• Despite the programme being very complex and have endless editing tools, we were able to not go too far into the very
difficult editing and still allow our teaser trailer to be filled with suspense, and also to look good whilst watching.
• I am very impressed with how the teaser trailer turned out, as we had a few troubles when filming the shots but we
definitely made up for it in the editing process, the montage part of the trailer really shows the unorganized effect that we
wished for right from the start of the film campaign. I feel like the genre we aimed the film to be in fits it perfectly.

4. APPLE MAC COMPUTER
• Despite all the other new media technologies we used during this film campaign, we wouldn't’t have
been able to do any of it without the Mac’s. For me the mac was extremely easy to use and get along
with as I have a MacBook Pro at home, this made things flow a lot smoother than it would with a PC.
• With that being said, I have ALSO learned many new skills such as using, Adobe Illustrator and
Photoshop now. These program's were a struggle at first but after a few hours of persistence they came
almost naturally to me speeding up the overall process for both me and my group.

5. ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR AND PHOTOSHOP
• These two program’s were a massive part of editing during making the ancillary texts, as we had to learn man
new skills in a short amount of time in order to get both of the tasks done. We were able to use Photoshop to
edit the images to enhance them and make them look more effective, and used the illustrator programme to
layer the images together to create a good effect to make the magazine and poster covers to seem like an
everyday one you’d see.
• One problem that occurred when using Photoshop, was when we went to use the lasso tool to cut around the
character and get rid of the background, there was white line that remained around our character which we
had some troubled trying to find a way to get rid of this without ruining the whole picture, which some effort
and constant concentration we were able to find a way round this, we had to go back around the character
that we have cut out and remove the white edge very carefully.
• By solving this problem we were able to get the magazine cover done a lot quicker as we had found the way to
get rid of this white line before. These program's were difficult to use but by keeping it simple we were able to
create two great looking covers, I am very pleased with how the came out.

6. DSLR CAMERA
• We used an advanced DSLR Canon 550D Camera when filming our shots for our teaser trailer to get the
best quality shots, opposed to the camera we used in the previous year. We were able to use a shallow
focus along with other features which we included in the teaser trailer to maximum effect, this helped
the variety of different shots in the trailer to make the whole thing more intense and attention
grabbing. We used the grid on the camera to precisely film our shots to make them seem as
professional as we possibly could.
• The use of the shallow focus was done by focusing the camera on the tree, to keep the them of the
woods being close to the characters in the teaser to then focus onto the character climbing out of the
tent. This showed our camera skills and also helped the teaser trailer flow a lot smoother.
• The fact that the camera films in full 1080p HD video allowed us to have the camera quality as a film
might have, making it more real than it would be than a camera with a lower resolution.

7. PREZI
• I have used Prezi in the past before for other pieces of work, I have not fully explored the depths of the
things you can do on it but what I can do I have managed to present my work in a simple, but effective
way throughout media this year.
• You can make Prezi presentations very eye-catching to grab the readers attention whilst reading the text
I have provided. This prevents the reader losing attention which would then make the presentation
boring.
• Another useful feature with Prezi is that you can include a variety of videos, pictures, symbols and
shapes on each slide, emphasizing the good looking presentation to sustain the audiences attention.

8. YOUTUBE
• I used YouTube to present the rough copy as well as the final copy of the teaser trailer me and my group
contributed too. We are able to embed these videos which I have uploaded to my blog on Mahara as
well as on Prezi's and PowerPoints. We used YouTube as a class feedback zone where we could
comment on each of our classmates final cuts of their own teaser trailer to let them know what we
found was interesting or what could be improved to make the teaser trailer more effective.
• The feedback was easy to find as it was under our own video so we wouldn't’t have to go through so
much just to find our classes feedback on our teaser trailer. As well as posting feedback, YouTube made
it easy as there is clearly a comment section and posting a comment is very simple to do.

9. GARAGE BAND
• I have had experience within Logic Pro X, as I have it on my Mac at home, so I took on the task of creating the
two soundtracks you are able to hear in the teaser trailer. The first of them being a fast tempo but the sound
track sounding slow, having the tempo and the overall speed of the track opposing each other really
emphasized the woods about how nothing appears to be what it is, it also shows the confusion of the group
as well.
• I used the pitch bend of an organ to create a monster-like sound which I featured in both soundtrack to keep
the continuance throughout the whole teaser trailer giving it a very eerie feel and could also suggest to the
audience that something is watching the group in the woods, along with loud drums in the second track to
create suspense, binding with the variety of orchestral instruments I have incorporated within the sound track
also.
• Click on the left sound picture to hear the first track, and the right hand one to hear the second.
• I bend the pitch down on the pulsating waves sound effect whilst the the organ was being bent upwards to
oppose each other to create an eerie effect, and it worked very well. I am very pleased with both of the
soundtrack that are on the teaser trailer as they make it very interesting to watch both visually and auditory.

10. EMAZE
• I used Emaze to present on the of the evaluation tasks, prior to using this online presentation sit I had
never used this programme before, I quickly adapted to it and managed to use it to create the best
presentation possible for the question I chose to do it on.
• Emaze, being similar to Prezi allows you to put YouTube videos, pictures, shapes and symbols into your
presentation to make it more eye appealing for the audience when they are reading my presentation.
Emaze has integrated transitions to make the presentation seem more professional when it is playing
through. This made the presentation a lot easier to watch and makes it seem like it has been done with
a lot more care and effort, I am very happy with how the Emaze presentation I made came out.

11. DAFONT
• We used dafont to get the text for our ancillary texts, this made the poster and the magazine seem
more real, we used the scream magazine and we found a similar font to the one the actual magazine
use. This helped our magazine cover seem a lot more interesting and like it was done professionally,
allot with all the other texts around it and the reviews which we included to make it seem as if it was an
actual magazine cover which had been produced professionally.
• We also used dafont.com to replicate, or get a font as similar to our inspiration of the teaser trailer The
Blair Witch Project, we did this by extensively going through all of the fonts until we found the one
which we felt was best suited for our teaser trailer.

12. ONEDRIVE/POWERPOINT
• I used PowerPoint through one drive to make my presentation for the first question of the evaluation
tasks. I have had experience within power point for a fair few years now so I found it rather simple to
great a good looking PowerPoint.
• I used OneDrive through Mahara to get pictures embed code to be able to post them within my blog
posts to show what progress I have been making throughout the film marketing campaign.
• I used both of these tools to help me get through the process of making the teaser trailer with ease and
I am happy with how I have used.