New media technologies were used extensively throughout all stages of the project. During research, the internet provided access to an enormous library of information and short films to draw inspiration from. Social media sites helped spread awareness of the project and receive feedback. Film editing software allowed for high levels of creativity during production. Technologies like viral marketing and online publishing platforms have changed how films are distributed and discovered. In summary, modern digital tools were essential to the successful planning, production, and sharing of the project.

1. Question 4: How did you use new
media technologies in the construction
and research, planning and evaluation
stages
Evaluation:

2. New technology has changed the film industry and
the way films are produced, marketed and
distributed through the use of social networking
sites, viral advertising and the way films are filmed
and edited.
Firstly new technology such as viral advertising and
social networking sites has made marketing a lot
easier and cheaper in order to reach out to and
target mass audiences as well as to receive feedback
such as forums, questionnaires and so on.

3. Furthermore new technology such
as CGI has made it easier to produce
films as well as to edit the films and
again is cheaper to produce and
allows you to be more creative than
previous technology.

4. In addition new technology has changed the
magazine industry as magazines and
newspapers are widely available online now
and also have their own websites such as
‘Empire, Total Film and Little White Lies’.

5. Technology has been present at all stages throughout my
project, starting at the research and planning for my film. The
research I did was almost all done through the use of the
internet. Not only is it the best place to research anything and
everything about films but it’s also the most common form of
distribution to independent film makers, who make short
films. This is because short films are not often picked up by
distributers they are both produced and distributed by
conglomerate companies such as Disney Pixar, or they are
discovered through film festivals. The only other way for these
film makers to get their short films seen is by uploading them
to the internet. There are many web sites designed for
publishing films, such as ‘YouTube’ and ‘Vimeo’.

6. Google also played a fundamental role in my research, search engines
are often essential as you have encyclopaedic knowledge of everything
at your finger tips. When I began to research full length films to
influence my own film, IMDB was very helpful. Not only is it a data base
of films which you can go to, should you need information on
something, but it also has a number of viewer created lists which I
found particularly useful when looking for drama films that use
stereotypes.

7. Social media sites can also be used as a way to get your work seen, whatever
format it is in; ‘Tumblr’ is a popular blogging source for artists and film makers to
present their work. Should your film then become popular then you have a
chance that it will get noticed by websites like ‘Short of the Week’ who cater for
a niche audience of short film fans. Because of all of these opportunities I had
access to a extensive library of short films, my main source was ‘Short of the
week’ which selects some of the best short films from suggestions made by
anyone. So it has a mix of shorts made by companies with big budgets and from
independent groups of film makers. ‘Short of the week’ not only let me view
thousands of short films but it also gave me a feel for the industry, I found
through this website the conventions of short films and what makes a short film
successful as every film had a review like article attached. I found most of my
inspiration from short films on this website including Plastic Bag, Blinky, Sight
and various others however there were some shorts on YouTube which caught
my eye, such as Zombie in a Penguin Suit.

8. The subsidiary texts went a lot more smoothly in
terms of technology compared to the editing of
the film. For my film poster I used Photoshop
Elements 9, which is a program I am not that
familiar with so I had to spend some time getting
my head around the interface and tools but I got
their in the end.
Without photo editing software like Photoshop I would
not have been able to make a convincing looking film
poster. From touching up the photo I took, to putting the
text into place, there are specific techniques used along
the way which could not be done in cheaper alternatives
such as Paint.

9. It would be acceptable
to say that the use of
new media technologies
in this project has been
extensive. Without
modern, digital
technology much of
what I have produced in
this project would not
have been possible.
From the actual filming
and editing to the
blogging of my work,
technology has played a
significant role
throughout.
BY:SIAN
WILLIAMS