The document discusses the process of creating a documentary on knife crime. In the planning stages, the group created mind maps of possible topics and chose knife crime due to available information sources. They storyboarded shots including camera angles. In research, they used news websites and articles to find statistics and researched similar documentaries. They filmed based on storyboards using equipment like cameras, microphones, and tripods. They edited footage in Final Cut Express, adding titles, transitions, and effects. They created additional materials like a radio trailer and magazine article to promote the documentary.

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

2. Research and Planning
The research and planning for our documentary was
essential and helped in many ways towards the
production. A lot of planning we did wasn’t done
using media technologies but more by hand. As a
group we first created a mind map of the various
topics we could base our documentary on. For
example, we thought we could have based it on
smoking, binge drinking or social networking.
In the end we decided to choose the topic on
knife crime mainly because it was talked about a lot
in the media. Furthermore there were many
sources which allowed us to get all the information
we needed and we knew people who had already
been a victim of a stabbing. Once we had our ideas,
we had storyboard sheets so we could start
planning the opening shots of the documentary
including camera angles, lighting, mise-en-scene,
and sound. We hand drew all the drawing and
wrote out the text.

3. In the research stage of our documentary, we used many
new sites and various newspaper articles to find out
more information such as up to date statistics about
the amount of people who have been stabbed. We
researched on the BBC News website and the West
Midlands Police site to get the most recent figures.
By using resource’s such as books, internet and
newspaper articles we were able to make sure our
research was very accurate to avoid false
information. The channel research included looking
at websites such as BBC one, BBC three, ITV 1, ITV 2
and Channel $. Research was then conducted to
look into similar documentaries to ensure we got
the right channel. For this we looked at online
programs such as iPlayer and 4oD. YouTube was
another website which enabled us to look at
documentaries which were no longer on the channel
websites. We then looked into the type of audience
they appealed to the most and came to the decision
to air the documentary on Channel 4 as they have
similar types of programmes such as Dispatches.
All the research we constructed in this stage was
uploaded on our group blog, blogger.com which
showed the progress we were making each lesson
with regards to this task.

4. Filming
After doing our research and planning, the main part of the task started which was
filming the footage based on our storyboards. By using professional, high quality
cameras we were able to carry out shots that consisted of focused and out of
focused shot. The zoom tool also was available, to allow us to zoom in and out of
different shots. By changing the white balance on the camera, it gave us a much
more natural lighting and looked a lot better when we uploaded it to a Mac. We
had equipment such as the tripod and microphone where we were able to
comfortably travel to get the shots we needed. As the camera was very light and
easy to hold onto, it enabled us to do handheld camera shots however for
professional shots we used the tripod. The tripod helped keep the shot stable
and to keep the rule of thirds in mind along with the mise-en-scene, Zoom shots
and steady pan shots were much easier and looked at a high quality because of
the tripod.
To record the sound of our footage, including the voiceover we used a directional
microphone. To check sound levels, we plugged in headphones to make sure
that no background noise was being picked up. We tried to use a quiet room
which was available and arranged interviews before hand to avoid time waiting,
We planned the questions as a group in order to get whatever answers we felt
would help contribute to the documentary.

5. The technologies we used throughout
this process
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Garage band
Final cut express
YouTube
Microsoft Word
Microsoft PowerPoint
Photoshop
InDesign
Slideshare
Scribd

6. Internet
The internet played a big part in part of helping
us produce our documentary on knife crime.
By using YouTube and other online services
such as 4oD, it allowed us to see programmes
such as Dispatches and Panorama so we could
get extra information on how to create Left
Wounded. It also helped us understand the
code and conventions of documentaries.

7. The equipment we utilised
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Printer
Scanner
Mobile phones
Apple Mac computer
Computer
Headphones
Tripod
Microphone
Camera
Video camera

8. The Canon HG20 allowed us to capture high quality video clips along with still images which helped us
when planning what shots we wanted to use.
The microphone port was essential to be able to record both diegetic and non diegetic sound. The
polarity pattern on the microphone allowed us to point the microphone in a certain direction
picking up sound from a specific point which would give us better sound clarity.
The headphones used were Beat Studios by Dr Dre. These high quality headphones allow you to hear
every sound happening therefore we were able to see whether certain locations had too much
background noise. It also allowed us to adjust the mic to get the best quality sound.
The voiceover was recorded using a voice recorded in a quiet room which gave us high quality sound
levels.

9. Blogger
Blogger was the main site to use to organise all of
our work in a chronological order. This allowed
each member of the group do participate in part
of the research and planning. It also avoided us
repeating work and to fill in missing pieces when
needed.
Websites such as Scirbd and Slideshare allowed us
to upload pieces of research to Blogger. Prezi was
also used to show information in a more creative
way.

10. Editing
When all our filming was finished, we uploaded
all of them from our camera onto the Apple
Mac. It was simple and easy as all we had to
do was copy the files over to the media drive.
We opened up the editing program Final Cut
Express to start the editing. The first stage was
to log and transfer all the clips we wanted. All
of our clips were labelled once they were
transferred so we could easily pick and chose
where to place each video.

11. Screenshots of Final Cut express
The screen shot shows how we have bent
the sound levels to keep it stable and for
documentary to flow all in one go. It
shows how we experimented the sound
levels to ensure we got the highest quality
sound. We also used fades on sounds so
that they would blend in from one clip to
another..
To cut out sounds which we didn't need,
we used the razor blade tool. This enabled
us to adjust each part separately.
This screenshot shows the
transitions which allowed the
documentary to dissolve into
another scene. The purpose of
this was to make it look as
professional as possible and to
follow the conventions of a
documentary.

12. Changing the speed of our clips was very
successful so we decided to decrease the
speed of the reconstruction to make it look
as if in slow motion. The speed was easy to
adjust as all we had to do was change the
percentage. By changing the speed, it gave
the reconstruction a dramatic effect which
is what we wanted to achieve. We also
added a blur function to the video to make
the victim of the knife stand out.
We created a logo for our documentary to
make it look more professional and
realistic as an opening title screen would
normally occur in a documentary.

13. A variety of transitions were used in
the documentary to make it look as
interesting and professional as
possible. It also allowed the audience
to take in the information and what
has happened but also to be
prepared for the next clip.
This screenshot shows how we
exported the video to YouTube to
enable people across the world to
view it. It makes it an easier access
for everyone and as YouTube has an
enormous audience, it means it will
reach out to many people.
This was the
editing
toolbar which
was used
throughout
this process.

14. This shows the list of all the clips we had filmed for the documentary including all the
interviews, fillers and vox pops which were all appropriate for our documentary. This
allowed us to decide which clips we should and shouldn't use. We had an extra amount of
video clips so we had a range of shots to choose from.

15. Placing text onto clips
We added text to the documentary to add in extra information. For example we
added text at the start of the documentary to show who created the documentary.
We also used text on the interviews to show who the speaker is. We changed the
size of the text to make it suitable for the audience to see but not too big to take
up the page. We kept the colour as a basic white for the interview names as it
would stand out on a black background.
This shows how the text
was placed onto the
interview to make it look
professional. The
backdrop is a simple black
to make the writing stand
out.
This is the opening 15 seconds of the
documentary showing the groups
names.

16. Music creation
Once we had finished adding all the
clips, transitions and effects we
needed to add the sound. The main
sound was the voiceover which we
had separated in various parts so it
was easily placed in the correct
places.
The music we used from our
documentary was from a non
copyright website which allowed
us to take the beat and sync it
with our work.

17. Radio Trailer
The music that we used for the
documentary was the same
music that we used in the back
for the radio trailer. This is
because we thought it would be
more professional if they both
linked together.
Various music genres we could
have got a beat from
This screenshot shows the music for
the radio trailer which was used from
a non copyright website where we
downloaded it and synced it with the
voiceover.
We exported the radio trailer at a high quality to ensure it was
as professional as possible.

18. This shows the full radio trailer
project and shows how it has been
put together.
The fade has been used at the end of the
radio trailer to have a smooth professional
finish instead of just cutting off.
This enables us to see the radio trailer
sound levels and the various sound
involvements.

19. Our radio trailer was completed in Final Cut Express allowing
us to use extracts from our documentary including
interviews. To show consistency and link the documentary
to the radio trailer, we used the same background music.
This was kept on look to keep it simple.
The radio trailer was an easy thing to create as it only
consisted of extracts from our documentary and a
voiceover. We chose to use a female voiceover as our
documentary was male dominated. We made sure that the
sound levels were at a high quality so you could hear the
voiceover clearly. At the end of the radio trailer we made
sure that the date and time was added so people know
when to tune in.

20. Double Page Spread
To produce our magazine article we used the program Adobe InDesign. This allowed us to create
our double page spread using a variety of skills to make it look as professional as possible. The
article was written on Microsoft Word as it was a lot easier to write it on there.
Firstly we looked at different background colours which we thought would suit the documentary.
At first we thought black would be the best but then soon changed it to white to follow the
conventions of Radio Times. We then print screened which image we wanted to use from our
documentary and thought the one from the reconstruction looked the most effective.

21. Once I had chosen the image, I
opened it on Adobe
Photoshop. I created an
effect that made the victim
of the stabbing visible whilst
keeping the rest of it blurry.
I then clicked on Auto levels
and Auto contrast which
adjusted the lighting and
colouring of the photo.
Once the image was ready on
Photoshop, we placed in into
InDesign so that it can be
resized to fit the suitable
space. To make the image
flow more with the article,
we change the gradient in
the effects.

22. In the beginning of our article we used a drop
cap to make it look lot more professional. We
changed it to a bold font to stand out and
capture the audiences attention.
We also used shapes to create stars to show a
rating of what professional TV companies
have rated the programme. This would
increase the amount of people willing to
watch the documentary.
We created small text boxes to act as captions
to each image to give extra information.

23. EVALUATION
The evaluation consisted of using programmes
such as Microsoft PowerPoint, Prezi and
Microsoft Word. By using different
programmes it allowed my evaluation to look
more creative and presentable.