The document discusses the various media technologies used at each stage of creating a documentary project, including: - Using mind maps, Safari, Internet Explorer for initial research and planning. - Using Word, PowerPoint, Premiere to write scripts, questionnaires and edit footage. - Using a video camera, microphone, tripod for filming interviews and b-roll footage. - Using Premiere and Audition to edit videos, adjust sound and color, and add transitions and titles. - Using Photoshop, InDesign and Word to create a TV listing page layout for the documentary.

1. BenColeman
How did you use media technology in the construction and research,
planning and evaluation stages?
Research and Planning
Mediatechnologieswere veryuseful forthe researchandplanningstages,whenwe were first
comingup withthe ideaforour topicwe didn’tuse muchtechnologyandjustused mindmaps to
write downourideasand thoughts.Whenwe thengotour ideawe then hadto researchinto the
topic,to do thiswe usedApple’swebbrowsersafari andMicrosoft’sinternetexplorer,thiswasvery
useful aswe were able tonavigate andsearchfor similarproducts,alongwithfindingfactsand
statisticsaboutour chosentopics.Some of websiteswe usedtofindoutthisinformationwasnews
sitessuchas the Guardian andBBC news,we alsousedYouTube tofindsome similardocumentaries
on the same topic. We alsousedwikipediatofindoutstatisitcsof some popularvideogamesandto
getsome definitions,suchasthe words“violent”and“videogame,”sowe coulduse theminour
documentary.
Anotherwayinwhichwe usedthe internetwastolookon channel websitessuchasBBC iPlayerand
4oD tofindout whattype of documentariestheyshow oneachchannel andto see whattimesthe
type of documentarywe wantto make wouldbe on we didthisas well tofindoutwhichchannel
wouldbestfitourdocumentary.

2. BenColeman
Duringthe whole advancedportfoliowe hadtokeepan updatedblogonthe website bloggerto
showour processesthrougheverything
we did,thiswasalso usedtokeeptrack
of all of our researchand planningthat
we have done so we can easilysee if we
have missedanythingandtomake sure
we have coveredall partsof our topicin
detail bydoingthisithelpedtokeepourworkorganisedbyputtingitinchronological order.
We hadto uploadour office documents,thatwe haddone for research, towebsitessuchasSlide
Share Scrib’dand OneDrive sothattheywere onthe internetwiththese we were abletoembedour
workintothe blog.
To do thiswe had to presentourworkon a verityof software,one piece of
software we usedalot wasMicrosoftWord, we usedthisto write out
thinglike questionnairessowe couldcustomisethemthe waywe wanted
to so itwas easyfor ourtarget audience tofill out.We alsouseditto write
out our findings whenresearchingintothe topic.
Anotherpiece of software we usedwas
presentationsoftware like Microsoft
PowerPointandPrezi we usedthisto
mostlypresentourfeedback fromour
questionnaires andfindingsintothe
documentariessuchasall the different
codesand conventionswe foundinreal
mediaproductsas well asthe differentdocumentarymodes byBill Nichols.
For the planningstagesforourdocumentarywe didn’tuse muchmediatechnologyandinsteaddid
thison papersuch as doingthe storyboardingandthenscannedthemintothe computertoput
themontothe blog.Howeverforthe scriptingforthe voice overwe againusedwordprocessing
software like Apple’spagestowrite thisoutas well asMicrosoftwordto do riskassessmentsof the
locationswe wantedtofilm.We alsousedbloggertowrite outgeneral listsaboutanyideaswe had
for the documentary.

3. BenColeman
Filming
Afterwe completedthe researchandplanningstageswe thenmovedontofilmingourdocumentary,
for thiswe had to use a range of differenthardware
and equipmentsuchdigital videocamerastocapture all
of ourfootage includingbackground andarchival
footage as well asourvox-popsandexpertinterviews.
To capture soundfromour
interviewswe used ashotgun
microphone sothatwe could
minimise the amountof
backgroundnoise thatwe
couldhear inthe footage.We alsohad a
pair of headphonessothatthe person
holdingthe microphone couldmake
sure that the soundsoundedcorrectand couldtell if the person
we were interviewingwasspeakingloudenough,forexample.
To helpkeepourshotssteadywe useda tripodonwhichwe put
our videocamera.This allowed ustodovariousdifferentshots
such as panningandtiltingwithoutitlookingshaky and
unprofessional.
We alsouseda soundrecorderso that we couldcapture our voice
overfor our documentary.
To capture ourarchival footage we usedYouTube tofindthe clipswe wantedtouse in our
documentarysuchas newsreportsandvideogame footage.
Duringthe filmingstageswe alsousedsome propstomake
our documentarylookmore realistic suchas the use of the
Xbox 360. We usedthisformany shotsinour documentary
for example the factscreenwe didthistomake itlookmore
interestingtothe audience andrelate backto the topicof
the documentary.
Aftereachsessionof filmingwe hadtouploadthe
footage we hadgot to an Apple Mac so it wouldbe
readyfor loggingandeditingafterwe finishedthe
filmingprocess.

4. BenColeman
Editing
Afterthe filmingprocesswe returnedtothe Mac roomand started
selectingourfootage thatwe wantedtouse.We didthisin Adobe
premiere andwrote downonpaperthe selectedfootage we used.
Afterthiswe startedto putour documentarytogetherinPremiere,
thispiece of software wasveryimportanttous inthe creationof our
product.
For some of the shotsthat we hadtakentheylookedabit orange so
to correct thiswe usedthe white balance tool andthe colour
correctiontool to make the shotslookmore natural and
professional.
To make our documentaryflowbetterandeasierforthe audience to
followwe addedavarietyof transitionsuchasthe “cross dissolve”and
“wipe”bydoingthisinthe documentarywe
are makingiteasierforthe audience tofollow
and slowthe pace of the documentarydown
insteadof usingstraightcuts.
We alsoeditedsome shotssothattheywere
spedup or sloweddownwe didthisaswe
thoughtthat some shotsthat we had gotten
while filmingweren’tthe rightspeedforthe time we wantedtofill,forexample the panningshotof
the college wastooslowsowe speditup soit was shorteranddidn’tgo on fortoo longas thiscould
bore the audience.Alongwiththiswe alsoreversedacouple of backgroundshotsbecause we
thoughtthe endshot of the Xbox wouldworkbetterif itzoomed inratherthan out forexample,this
thensavedtime aswe wouldn’thave tore-shootthe
shotand insteadtake a fewminuteseditingthe shot.
Premiere alsoalloweduptooverlaytextandimages
ontoour shots,thisallowedustomake our
documentarylookmore professionalwhenitcame to
the fact screenand the titlesforthe expertinterviewees.
Overlayingimagesallowedustobackup the pointswe
and our expertswere makinginourdocumentary.
Soundwas anotherthingwe hadto edit,forthiswe usedAdobe
Auditiontominimise the amountof backgroundnoise youcould
hearand alsobring upthe soundlevelsof the clipsothat it
matchedbetterwithothersoundclipswe were
using.We didthisfor all of ourvoice overand
expertinterviewstomake the documentary
soundmore professionalandrealistic.

5. BenColeman
For our backgroundmusicwe foundsome non-copyrightmusicthatfittedthe tone of the
documentarythatwe wanted.Howeverthere wassome lyricsinthe piece thatwe wantedtogetrid
of soit wasn’tdistractingtothe audience.Todo thiswe usedgarage band to remix the soundtrack
by cuttingoutthe partsthat we didn’twantso that it fittedbetterwiththe documentary.
Radio trailer
For the radio trailerwe againusedAdobe Premiere to
create our product,we usedthisas we foundit the easiest
optiontoimportour quotesandsoundclipsfromour
documentary,we alsofounditeasyreorganise the sound
clipsif we neededtodoso.
We alsousedAdobe Auditionagaintoaddan echo onthe
soundclipswe had takenfromour documentarytobuild
tensionandcuriosityforthe listenof the radiotrailer,this
alsomade the radiotrailersoundmore upbeatandexciting
to listento.
To create our musichoweverwe usedgarage band. This
was goodas it waseasyfor us to create a Capitol FMintroduction.
We alsouseditto loopa part of a soundtrackwhichcreatedthe
same tone as the documentary.We didn’tuse the same musicas the
documentaryaswe foundthat itdidn’tmake the radiotrailerflow as
well aswe wantedsowe createdour own.
We alsousedthe internettofindsome soundclipsthatwe wanted
to use that create a strongerlinkto the topicof the documentaryof
videogames.
TV Listing
For our TV listingwe screenshottedarange of imagesthat we couldpossiblyuse forthe double page
spread,to editthese imageswe usedAdobe Photoshoptomake the imagesstand
out to the audience.Todothiswe had to use a varietyof toolstomake the
imageslookprofessional.The “magicwand”tool allowedustoselectcertainparts
of the image quickly andthenwe
were able touse the “eraser”
tool to getrid of anypart of the
image we didn’twant.The “blur”tool was usedto change whatpart of the image
focusedon.We also usedthe “shape”tool to draw shapeslike arectangle forthe
backgroundof our double page spread.The texttool wasusedto write ourmastheadandphoto
credits.The move tool wasusedto getour imagesinthe place we wantediton the double page
spread.

6. BenColeman
To write our article copyforour TV listingwe usedMicrosoftWord,thisallowedustospell check
whatwe were sayingandwaseasiertoproof read ratherthan typingoutstraighton our double
page spread.
Afterwe haddone all of thiswe importedthe double page spreadinto
Adobe InDesignandthencopyandpastedour article copyon there.
InDesignwasa verygoodsoftware touse as it allowedustoline
everythingupsuchasthe columnsinourarticle and manage to space
everythingourevenly.InDesignalsoallowedustowraptextaround
otherfeatureslike pullquotesandimagestomake itlookmore
professionalandrealistic.
Other technology
We usedthe popularmessagingapp“What’sApp”to stayin contact with
each other, thisallowedustoplanourtime effectivelyandwere able to
easilyassigntaskstootherpeople inthe groupwhenwe weren’ttogether.
We usedthisas we were able tocreate a group messagingchatinsteadof
textingeveryone individually.
We alsousedApple’sCalendarapplicationtomanage ourfilmingschedule
and planour time effectivelysowe knew whatwe were doingeveryfilming
sessionthisallowedustosave time at the start of everysessionaswe knew
whatwe were doingbeforehandanddidn’thave tohave adiscussionon
whatwe needtofilm.Thisalsoallowedustofindtimeswhenwe could
interview ourexperts.
To uploadour radiotrailerontothe blogwe
used“soundcloud”aswe foundthisisa
popularmusicand soundsharingwebsite
that we thoughtwouldbe appropriate touse andembedontoour
blog.
For our audience feedbackfocusgroupswe uploadedthe edited
footage ontoYouTube as thisisthe easiestandmostappropriate
videosharingwebsite thatwe coulduse toembedourvideosontoourblog.
Overall Ibelievethatwe managedtouse mediatechnologies includingsoftware,hardware and
equipmenteffectivelythroughoutouradvancedportfolio fromthe researchandplanningthroughto
our constructionandevaluationstagestopresentandcreate ourworkand products.