Media Evaluation Q6

3. Most of my social realism film research was done
on google to find popular films from the history of
the genre. Google lead me to YouTube where I
found a range of clips of films like ‘Fish Tank’ that I
could analyse.
My analysis gave me a better understanding of the
codes and conventions used in social realism,
which can be incorporated into my film. For
example the mise-en-scene, use of camera angle
and shot types, editing and sound manipulation.

4. The main film was shot using a Nikon HD pro camera
which made the quality of the film high and enhanced
the fluidity. I also used a tri-pod for steady mid angle
shots but majority of the shooting was done freehand.
To edit the film we used iMovie, an Apple software
built into Apple macs. This software has many tools
helpful for film editing, it allows you to fine cut clips
and put them together fluently so that it looks like they
were all shot at the same time, it also has features
that allow you to add text and sound. There is an
editing tool that allows you to add different effects on
clips but this was not used as it does not meet the
genre conventions of social realism.

5. For my preliminary task during my AS media coursework, I created
a film based on the poem Medusa by Carol Anne Duffy. U shot this
film myself with the same Nikon HD pro camera and a Panasonic
HD cam recorder. The use of camera shots and angles were limited
in this project because my research was not as detailed as it is for
this A2 project but it gave me a range of techniques that I have
been able to develop. For example the use of stock footage which
means to take enough footage so that you have a wide range to
choose from instead of having a limited amount and having to
force the clips to go together. I also edited this film on Apple iMovie
software which gave me prior knowledge on how to use it for my A2
task, I learned how to import and export files, download different
types of typography to use in the film and how to input sound
effects to make the film more interesting. This film can be found
under the ‘Preliminary Task’ tab.

6. To record the voice overs in my preliminary task I
used a dynamic microphone which was connected
to the camera and held just under the actresses
chin. The main task did not have any voice overs
as it was recorded live using a boom mic
connected to the camera. This allowed us to have
diegetic sound from the setting which was
conventional for social realism. Examples of some
sounds heard are cars passing, doors shutting
and small conversation in the distance during
outdoor scenes.

7. Creating my film poster a fairly difficult task because It was done on
Adobe Photoshop, this is a software I am not 100% comfortable
with but with the development of the task increased the
development of my knowledge. During my AS project I had a basic
knowledge of the software but the products I produced were at an
amateur level and looked un realistic. But using YouTube tutorials
and forums to educate myself gave me the skills to create me
poster to a higher standard. My cropping skills have improved
giving the image used on my poster a professional look whereas
last years images looked very pixelated and rough around the
edges. I gained some knowledge on how to change the saturation
of an image which allowed me to edit the image and make it look
better in quality. The use of layers allowed me to edit parts of the
poster separately so for example the text and the stars could be
edited with a gradient effect without affecting the rest of the poster.

8. I also used Adobe Photoshop to create my film review, this
was done after the poster so I had a good idea how to
navigate around the software and apply different effects to it.
The film review was I slightly trickier task because I was
required to write in the style of sight and sound magazine,
using technical terms that relate to the genre and it also had
to be in the same house style as sight and sound magazine
which was the hardest task out of all. To ensure that my
review fit the guideline I had to create columns that were
exactly equal and make sure all the font was equally spaced
out. I also had to write a synopsis section and a space for an
image, still ensuring the content is symmetrical. Although this
seems like a simple task it was hard to complete because of
how fidgety Photoshop can be.

9. I used to blogger to create a blog which held
my hold project together. This is a good way of
showcase my work because it can be
accessed online, it provides templates allowing
you to make the blog your own style and tabs
to organise your work.

10. My Evaluation was done on a range of different technologies to present
them in different ways, this makes reading my evaluations more fun and
interesting.
The software I used were Powtoon, Prezi, Emaze, Visme, Micro Word and
Micro PowerPoint. I used slideshare to upload the Microsoft files to my
blog, this puts them in a slide format similar to Prezi. Prezi is a software
that creates a PowerPoint into an animated slideshow, it provides a range
of templates and has customizing tools allowing you to make it your own.
Emaze is similar to this just with a smoother more professional animation,
the editing options are more detailed giving you more choice in when
editing. Visme is a simple presentation software that contains its own
images fonts that makes your presentation more colourful and exciting.
Powtoon is an animating software that has its own characters and
animated gifs that you can add to your animation. You can add music to
your animation and manipulate the time on each slide.