The document discusses how media technologies were used at various stages of creating documentary products. Software like Photoshop, InDesign, Final Cut Pro and Prezi were used in the planning, construction, and research stages. Social media platforms like Facebook and blogs were also utilized for planning and sharing work. Hardware such as cameras, microphones and computers were necessary. YouTube and Excel helped with evaluation by uploading focus groups and displaying survey results in graphs.

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

2. Technologies
All the technologies we used no matter how
sophisticated were extremely important in the
construction of all of our products.
We used both software and hardware to create
our products.

3. Hardware
The hardware that we used throughout all of
our products included; cameras, headphones,
microphones and computers. Without this
equipment we wouldn’t have been able to even
start creating any products.

4. Software
The software we used included a variety of
different programs.
These included photoshop, indesign, final cut
pro, paint, powerpoint, blogger, and social
media.

5. Planning our Documentary using SOCIAL MEDIA
We thought that lessons were not enough time
for us to plan and research our documentary
therefore we took it upon ourselves to use social
media sites in a productive way in order to
achieve the best grade possible we made a
group Facebook chat. This was especially useful
as we all have smart phones so we could keep in
constant contact and if we had any questions
one of us could answer instantly.

6. Planning our Documentary using BLOGGER
Another way we planned our documentary was
through the use of Blogger where we could
upload all our work. This was especially useful as
it meant things were always backed up on our
group blog which everyone had access to
constantly. The constant access meant that we
were able to upload work as we went along and
all members of the group were able to access it,
learn from it and also improve and expand on it.
Blogger was extremely helpful as none of our
work got lost. We also uploaded a calendar on the
blog which meant that everyone knew what we
were doing and when, it also allowed us to set
ourselves and each other deadlines.
All the work was
easily accessible all
you had to do was
click a link

7. Planning our Documentary using PREZI
As a group we planned out
our documentary using
programmes such as prezi
which allowed us to take
previous hand drawn mind
maps and make them
electronic and accessible
to everyone. This was also
a creative way of
displaying out ideas.

8. Construction
The construction of our products required an
abundance of different programmes designed to tackle
different ideas and goals we had decided upon.
These different programs were used to edit our
documentary, radio trailer and magazine article.

9. Construction using FINAL CUT PRO
We added captions by choosing where on the timeline we wanted it to be. In the screen shot below you can see where on the timeline we wanted a
caption through the thin line.
We then went
on to open
the text menu
by left
clicking. Then
we proceeded
to select text
and from text
we were to
pick what
kind of text
we wanted.
We decided from this text we
would pick the option saying
‘lower third’ this is the
conventional text for
interviewees names in
.
documentaries

10. Construction using FINAL CUT PRO
Following the previous steps we were then able to edit features such as font, colour
and alignment.
We changed the font to
Lucida Grande, and
decided on the effects
and size on the font
face.
From just under ‘style’
there was a small
circular colour icon
which enabled us to
change the colour of the
background of the font
face. We chose to fill the
background with ‘orchid’
as it was purple which is
the college colour, it is
also bright and eye
catching.

11. Construction using FINAL CUT PRO
Finally we inputted the text to read the interviewees
name and underneath job title. We aligned it to the
left and chose the colour white to stand out against
the purple back drop. We also added a transition. The
transition we chose was called ‘Band Wipe’ and it
ensured the caption appeared and disappeared
smoothly.

12. Construction using PHOTOSHOP
We used Photoshop in order to edit the main image for our magazine. The image we chose was pulled
directly from a scene in our documentary.
Once we’d uploaded the picture to Photoshop we selected the ‘polygon lasso’ tool found on the toolbar.
Using this tool we carefully selected around the edges of the main image
we wanted to use for the main image for the article.

13. Construction using PHOTOSHOP
Once the
previous steps
were complete
the whole image
was highlighted.
We then
right clicked
the image
and selected
‘select
inverse’.
Then right clicking a
second time we
selected ‘layer via
cut’ which made our
cut image into a
layer.
Then from the action
bar we selected ‘delete
layer’ and once
confirming it left us
with a cut image of just
Jake, the contents of
the polygon lasso.

14. Construction using PHOTOSHOP
The image we are left with is cut so its just an image of Jake. This was
an image but we wanted to flip it so we went to the menu image then
rotate canvas then flip canvas horizontal.
The final image in the magazine article

15. Construction using INDESIGN
This tool is the ‘text tool’ it
allowed us to add text
boxes to our InDesign page
of different sizes.
This is the
InDesign toolbar.
This tool allowed us to create
boxes that we could fill with
blocks of colour this was
particularly useful for when we
used the red page breakers
before and after pull quotes
and pictures.
The eye dropper tool was a
valuable asset as it meant
that we could keep the
house style consistent
throughout the magazine
article as we could pick a
colour we had previously
used and use it again some
where else.
This tool allowed us to
import pictures into specific
areas, we used this when
inserting the drop box and
the other pictures.

16. Evaluation using YOUTUBE
To evaluate our work we used YouTube to display our focus groups. After
gathering the footage we then uploaded it via youtube. To do this we just
signed into an account and clicked the top right hand button saying ‘upload’.

17. Evaluation using YOUTUBE
We then selected the
files to upload
And after we’d selected the
file, we waited for tit to
upload and then published
the video, linking it to our
blog.

18. Evaluation using EXCEL
Microsoft Excel allowed us to input quantative
data we gathered from questionnaires and
display it through graphs and charts.