Evaluation - How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? What particuar camerawork techniques and editing tools were used and to what effect?

I have used multiple different media technologies in the research and planning, production, and evaluation stages of my coursework. These technologies have enabled my coursework, but some software proved problematic to use.

I used Blogger, a dedicated blog publishing tool, in all stages of my coursework. It enabled me to post all of my coursework onto one blog, allowing for it to be viewed as one and ordered logically. Had I not been working with computer based technologies in order to do this, I would have had to have a written portfolio, which would have been very large and difficult to transport, and could be easily lost or damaged. By putting everything onto the internet by using Blogger, these possible dilemmas have not occurred.

I used Microsoft Word, a word processing software, to write up much of what I posted to Blogger, making use of this software in all stages of my coursework. Writing up these posts on a computer before putting them on the internet allowed me to save my work, meaning it could not be lost. While posts can be saved as drafts on Blogger, editing posts requires access to the internet; had I lost access to the internet whilst editing a post on Blogger I would have lost everything I did since the last time I had saved it, explaining why I used Word, rather than Blogger's inbuilt word processing.

I used Microsoft PowerPoint, a slideshow presentation program, to display research in the research and planning stage of my coursework, and to display an evaluation of audience in the evaluation stage. By using this software, I could collate large amounts of information and present it in an ordered, colourful format to engage its viewer. By presenting information slide-by-slide, I could easily divide my evaluation and research into smaller subheadings, rather than in a blog post, which would contain a large amount of relatively undivided text, which is a less effective way of presenting information.

To upload and display the slideshows I created in PowerPoint on my blog, I used SlideShare, a Web 2.0 based slide hosting service. This technology allowed me to upload and embed slideshows into blog posts without changing the format of my presentation. Without it, I would not have been able to use slideshows in research and planning and evaluation tasks, limiting how effectively I could present information. SlideShare was not without its faults, as it does not support certain file types (e.g. .xls, which Excel spreadsheets save as) I also needed to upload to the internet in order to display them on blogger.

In lieu of SlideShare, I had to use Scribd, an online reading and publishing platform, to upload call sheets created with Microsoft Excel in the production stage of my coursework, and upload scripts created with Celtx in the planning and research stage. It had much the same advantages and disadvantages as SlideShare, in that I could upload and display files on my blog with the correct formatting but it did not allow me to upload certain file types.

I used Excel, a spreadsheet application developed by Windows, to create call sheets in production of my coursework, and put data gained through primary research into graphs for the research and planning and evaluation stages of my coursework. Putting information into tables and graphs was often useful, as it made the information easier to understand and more eye catching.

I used Celtx, a dedicated media pre-production software, to create professional looking scripts in the research and planning stage of my coursework. This software allowed me to create scripts which conformed to industry conventions. Had I used Microsoft Word or Blogger's inbuilt word processing, my scripts would have looked less professional and would not be up to industry standard. However, if our film were really being made, we would probably not use Celtx, opting instead for a professional screenwriting software like Final Draft.

I used YouTube and Vimeo, both video-sharing websites, to upload videos created in all stages of my coursework (the location recce in the research and planning stage, evaluation task one, and the rough and final trailers my group produced). Both these sites allowed the upload of high quality videos onto the internet, to be embedded into my coursework blog. As YouTube, and to a lesser extent Vimeo, became popular, it became standard practice in the film industry to upload trailers to these sites to advertise films.

To edit the trailer in the production stage of my coursework, and add audio commentary to it in the evaluation stage, I used Pinnacle Studio 10, a video editing program. Pinnacle allowed my group to edit our trailer and other videos together, and add transitions, sound effects and other features. Additionally, we used it to correct the colour balance in some of our shots, and to put some of our shots in 80% monochrome. Whilst this software did enough for use in a student production, it did take a lot of time when rendering HD footage, and froze occasionally, meaning we lost unsaved work; this was not too detrimental as we saved our work frequently. If we were creating a real production, we would probably use more advanced software like Adobe Premiere or Sony Vegas, instead of Pinnacle, as these programs have more features and are industry standard. This does not mean that Pinnacle did not create an effective, professional trailer, as it offered enough functionality for us to edit according to trailer conventions, and add music, sound, and titles. Camerawork techniques like frequent use of handheld shots, and close ups at particularly scary points in the trailer allowed us to conform to horror trailer conventions, enhancing the effectiveness of the production.

In order to record a voiceover, a common feature of trailers, and edit sound and music for our production, and to record a commentary for my first evaluation task, we used Audacity, a digital audio editor. The audio editing options were much more advanced in Audacity than in Pinnacle, as Audacity is dedicated audio software, meaning that we were able to alter sounds together and create a cohesive score for our trailer which would, through use of dissonant chords and irregular sound, scare viewers.

To create a poster in the production stage of our coursework, we used Adobe Photoshop, a dedicated graphics editor. We used this software, as it allows users to add transparency, blur images, alter colours, and insert text, all of which was necessary in the creation of our poster. Photoshop is very advanced software, so learning to use it was difficult, but did not prove too problematic as the other members of my group had used Photoshop before.

To create a website in the production stage of our coursework, we used Wix, a cloud-based web development tool. Wix allows users to create websites and host them free of charge, and does not require knowledge of website coding using HTML. The process of creating a website is greatly simplified as drag-and-drop tools are used to make sites. One disadvantage of Wix is that our finished website has a bar on the bottom of the webpage advertising Wix, making our site look less professional.

This use of technology, editing, and camerawork allowed us to create an effective promotional package for a film, with minimal issues. The problems we had only impacted us a little and we were able to get around many of them. Our trailer and ancillary tasks look professional and conform to industry conventions, which would not have been possible without the above technologies.