The document discusses the various media technologies used during the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages of a student documentary project. During construction, the group used a DV camera, digital camera, tripod and microphone to film interviews and footage. They edited using Adobe Premiere Pro, adding transitions, speed/duration alterations. For research, they collected primary sources like articles and conducted secondary research online. Planning included storyboards, scripts and audience feedback questionnaires. Evaluation involved recording audience feedback, creating presentations and mind maps using various software, and posting the documentary online to broaden feedback.

1. Question 4 How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? We have used a variety of media technologies throughout our production.

2. Construction During the construction of our documentary there has been a variety of technology used. This includes using a DV Camera, a Digital Camera, a tripod and a microphone to film the material for our documentary, for example: for interviews, the VoxPop and stockfootage. Emily Ord - A2 Media Coursework

3. Emily Ord - A2 Media Coursework When filming for our five minute documentary there were times where we had to re-film. An example of this is for our VoxPop. The framing was not correct as the people kept moving to the centre of the screen even after instruction from us; they tended to look at the person behind the camera instead of the interviewer. We realised that we had to be more strict with the instruction so that the positioning was correct, however even with our re-filmed version several people still leaned in. Construction We manipulated camera shots to make them unique and interesting with tilts and different angled shots. We also used still cameras to show the group working together. Our audience feedback commented on the interesting camera angles. In the editing process we used a variety of features on Adobe Premiere Pro, such as the change of audio gain, cross dissolves, audio transitions, and alterations to the speed and duration. We also used the basic cutting tool to easily cut between each video. We used videos from our mobile phones to film us editing and using this software, we also print screened and took still images of our work to show the development of our project. All this evidence has been uploaded to our multi-media blog on blogger.com

4. We have also used a variety of software to produce our all three products from Adobe Premiere Pro, Audition and Photo Shop to Microsoft Word, Mobile recordings and using the recording studio desk. Construction 5 Minute Documentary: We used Adobe Premiere Pro which was easy to control and use as we have already had previous experience with this software. We could simply capture our recordings by connecting the video camera to the computer using a fire-wire and then they would automatically import into Adobe. Print Advert: We used Adobe Photo Shop and produced an advert that followed conventions of ITV1’s adverts. We used a digital camera to get a suitable image. Radio Trailer: In order to record our advert we learned how to use the radio desk and control the levels of the microphone. We recorded onto Adobe Audition but then converted the format to an Adobe Premiere file; we found that by altering the format, it was easy to simply insert clips from our documentary in between the radio voiceover. As evidence we took stills to show us working with our voiceover artist. In Adobe Premiere, we copied and pasted sections onto another sequence to create the radio trailer; the video would have to be unlinked and deleted and the sound levels had to be evened out. Emily Ord - A2 Media Coursework

5. Emily Ord - A2 Media Coursework In terms of completing research, as a group we collected a lot of primary research including newspaper articles, leaflets, driving school business cards, licences, print screens of emails sent to a RAF officer and print screens of asking music producers whether we could use tracks. Research & Planning YouTube provided us with examples that we could identify conventions to help us with our own media product. We also collected secondary research such as car accident statistics and YouTube links. We were able to collect this data using the Internet and capture them using either a stills camera or a video camera that was steady on a tripod. We looked and analysed extracts of documentaries , print adverts and radio trailers, which can be seen on my blog. We listed their conventions and so we based our product on these, examples are : ‘The Devil Made Me Do It’, ‘BBC trailers’ and ‘Channel 4 print adverts’. The conventions influenced the positioning and mise-en-scene of our interviews for example.

6. Emily Ord - A2 Media Coursework In terms of completing planning, we used a variety of media when using the internet for research of statistics and downloading songs. Research & Planning Our main area of planning would be our questionnaires. The audience feedback that we gathered, influenced are choices for the construction of our product, as we can be certain that our target audience will appreciate and find an interest in our product. When planning, we had to make critical decisions, drafts and storyboards. These can be found in the posts Primary Research on my blog. It was good to see our storyboards in action, however we altered the opening sequence slightly so that the topic was made more prominent. We changed the montage of car signs to a montage of learner cars and chose to make a montage of car parts and videos later on. We scripted our interview questions, baring in mind the answers that we wished to collect and picturing the editing process. For example on the 3-way interview we used the same questions so that we could cross cut the answers to make sense on their own. The graphics in the production follow conventions of being bold and a white, sans serif font. Instead of relating to our primary research questionnaire results. We found they were clearer and easier to identify when white. For example, in our opening 5 minutes the title is blue as our results show that was the most popular colour.

7. Emily Ord - A2 Media Coursework All our evidence is uploaded and recorded onto our individual multi-media blogs. Evaluation Stage When presenting my evaluation I have used different software and media technologies to answer each question thoroughly. I have looked at using basic media such as using images and print screen images modified into Jpeg files using Paint to show work in progress, research and planning. However when answering the questions I have presented them using prezi.com, slideshare.net, Windows Movie Maker, Mobile Phone Videos, Microsoft Word and PowerPoint. We used Dictaphones to record the audience feedback, and have uploaded them to our blogs using Windows Movie Maker and creating a short video. Here are two screenshots of uploading videos and importing a link onto my blog.

8. Emily Ord - A2 Media Coursework Evaluation Stage Here are several print screens of creating an interactive mind map for question 3. I have never used this programme before but after learning how to use it, it was easy to use and manipulate . You can edit the theme, font, text, angle, images, and the path of the text.

9. Emily Ord - A2 Media Coursework To broaden the use of technologies, as a group we individually posted our documentary onto a variety of websites including YouTube and Facebook. Evaluation Stage Also, to widen our audience research, I saved our documentary to my laptop and asked students in my sixth form for their opinions of the documentary; I asked them to comment on Facebook or YouTube their opinions.