How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and

evaluation stages?

Technologies used in ConstructionDuring the construction of my products I used a digital Panasonic video camera torecord the trailer. After my first time shooting I uploaded my shotsonto imovie which is film editing software on an imac computer.This allowed me to create rushes which I then showed to my mediastudies class to gain some feedback. This let me know what peoplethought of my shots and if they thought they worked well together. I felt this gave mea detailed understanding of what was done well and what could be changed. Usingimovie also allowed me to edit my clips and play around with the colour and gradientof the shots. I used this throughout my trailer and particularly in the shots where thecharacter ‘Gretel’ was in. You can also see I used this in both my ancillary texts which Ithink helped link all 3 of the products together.

Construction continued…As well as my film trailer I also had to create a magazine cover and film poster relating to thehorror genre. I made a draft of both my magazine cover and film poster and uploaded them tomy blog so that I could show my progress when developing them.

For the first draft of both ancillary texts I found an image on ‘Google’ and used that for the mainimage, but when I developed the products I realised it was important to have an original imagethat I had taken myself. I used a digital camera to take pictures of the main character ‘Gretel’. Ithen uploaded these photos to iphoto on the imac computer which allowed me to edit them. Forthe magazine cover I edited the photo to fit in with the clips of Gretel in the trailer making it greyand a grainy looking texture. I felt that this would make the audience associate Gretel as being adark and grey character. I constructed my magazine cover using a Word document which allowedme to get the correct layout that I wanted and that is typical of a magazine cover.

For the film poster I exaggerated the brightness of thephoto by again editing it using photo editor on the imac.I was also able to crop the image and make it a close upimage which I think worked very well for my final horrorposter product.

Technologies used in ResearchDuring my research I used a variety of web 2.0 sites. In order to find out the typical codes and conventions of the horror genre I researched horror films on IMDB and Wikipedia which allowedme to have a greater understanding of what is typical of this genre. For example a deserted houseand vulnerable female character. I also watched trailers of popular horror films on Youtube. Thisgave me an Idea of what is given away to the audience in a horror trailer and how clips areshown in a non linear order.

When I had a clear understanding of what horror films entail I was then able to carry out myaudience research. I did this by creating questionnaires and posting them on social networkingsites such as ‘Facebook’ and ‘Twitter’ This allowed me to get a mass number andvariety of people to see and complete my questionnaire in a short space of time. When I hadfinished gathering information I presented the results in an excell spreadsheet and then used thatto make a pie chart which is shown on my blog.

I also used ‘Google’ to view images of media products such as horror film posters and magazinecovers. This helped me establish how professionals use layout, images and text to create enigmasin their products.

Technologies used in PlanningAn important part of my planning was health and safety. To make sure the locations I planned onusing to film in were safe I made a location recce. To do this I went to the location of filming andtook pictures of any potential hazards or things that I thought may interfere with filming. Thisallowed me to prepare better for filming and be ready to deal with any problems that may havearisen. I put the pictures into a ‘Powerpoint’ presentation and analysed them. I then posted thison my blog so that I could refer back to them in the future. They were also on ‘Slideshare’ whichis another type of social networking site which allowed me to share my work with people all overthe world.

I created a storyboard which had a picture of what would be in each camera shot, what type of angleshot it would be and how long each shot would last for. This gave me a structure to follow in order to create my film trailer. I took photos of my storyboard and uploaded them to my blog and kept theoriginal copy with me when going to film.

Planning continued…To make sure I used my time effectively I created a shooting schedule and planned in advancewhat days I would film, the cast and props I would need and costume that would need to be wornby the cast. I uploaded this onto ‘Blogger’ so that the cast could look at it with ease and knowwhen they would be needed and therefore would come to the location prepared.

I used ‘Youtube’ to listen to different types of music that would be suitable for the trailer. Ifavoured songs with stringed instruments as I felt this built a feeling of tension and the highpitched notes were harsh to listen to and emphasised the pleasures of viewing. This helped tocreate a more emotive product. However, a problem with this was that the music was not anoriginal piece and I would be using someone else's work which was something I wanted to avoid.

Technologies used in EvaluationIn my evaluation I have used a variety of media technologies to display my work, this makes itmore enjoyable and less tedious to read or listen to.

For example for this question I have used Power Point to present my work.This allows me to add pictures and colours to my work making it moreinteresting rather than putting my work in essay form which can be longand boring for people to read.

I also used