How are you using media technologies in the construction and

research, planning and evaluation stages?

• I used a range of media technologies throughout my process from the planning stage to the post production stage. I began by taking my research from many different sources. I used Google to research my genre,

• For example I researched the genre conventions on Google which led me to a lot of external sites where I gained different views on different conventions. I used Google to research because it is one of the best search engines in the world. Therefore the internet was a resource that I used to check my some of my research. I also took a trip to my local library and college library to find out more about horror films and films in general. I found a book in where I was able to find out different shot sizes and movements which corresponded with the genre of my film or which could be used to make my trailer more successful.

• I used my blackberry note pad to write down a list of shots, angles or movements which could be incorporated into my film trailer and as I could only keep the book for a period of time I was able to save it on my phone to refer back to for future references. I also used my blackberry device as a channel to research on the internet finding out more information about my genre as I was on the go.

• To research more practical examples I went onto YouTube.com where I discovered a range of film trailers but it was better for me to research those of the genre I was making my film on. This allowed me to see more conventions of my film genre in particularly with a range from film to film so I made sure I noted down the common conventions as well as the unique conventions in each film. I continuously watched the film trailers so I was able to tell the exact effect that the trailers had on me so it got to a point where I was on my phone and IPod touch watching film trailers so I even started to watch film trailers other than from my genre.

• Whilst researching this I saw that there must be a narrative structure in each of these films or trailers, so I started researching the internet for more information on the narrative theorists that I had heard about. I had researched into the theorists of the like of Todorov, Petrov and Levi-Strauss. My main interest was with Todorov’s structure as he decided films can be often seen with the following structure.

• I watched a video which describes the structure and a screen grab from the video is on the left. This breaks a film down into different sections and I thought my film should adapt to this structure even though it would be quite difficult to import into a film trailer. Taking my storyline and adapting it to this structure would go like this; Everybody is calm going about their daily business so my character Tobi is a gangster doing his day job of drug dealing which will be my equilibrium, then a disruption is caused which will be the murder of Tobi unexpectedly as it will come out from nowhere. Between the disruption stage and the resolution stage it will probably be the longest to transfer. So my resolution would be Tobi’s dad going after the killer and getting rid of him – either arresting him or killing him. Then the restored order is the killer being out of the way and a new equilibrium would be everything back to normal including his dad grieving. A film trailer often only shows the 1st equilibrium and the disruption rather than showing the resolution as that would be giving the film away.

• I used Microsoft word to create a brief questionnaire which I gave to a sample of my target audience. I had arranged these in number bullet points so it was easy for them to follow and think about the question. Here is a list of the questions I asked.

Who would you like to see as a main killer; male or female?What usually frightens you in horror?What colours have the most effect on you?What type of killer would you like to see?What do you think makes a horror film?

•I used PowerPoint to process this information and then transferred it to a slide share video which would make my information more interactive.

•I used the blogger website to post my blog work. I have had experience using this in my AS work so nothing was really difficult for me to grasp.

• My research and planning for my magazine cover didn’t take on a lot of research due to the fact that I took it on in my AS production work along with a contents page and double page spread which was all on last years blog. This meant that I was already aware of the conventions and codes of a magazine cover. However what I had to do in the pre preproduction was to do more research on magazines featured in the same genre as well as being able to represent my target audience. I looked at well known magazine institutions that have produced magazines featuring films from the same genre as mine. Also having a sub genre meant that I will have to do more research on my audience. I looked at my AS production magazine and tried to follow the same or similar codes in my A2, however I had to step it up another level in order for me to get the grade that I want which would mean more images etc.

• Creating a film poster is a job I have never taken on before so researching the conventions of one were new to me, however seeing them on a day to day basis I was able to have an idea of what it contains of. I tried to research film posters of the particular genre I was doing as well as my sub genre and I looked at the colours that they use as well as the mise en scene they use to create effect.