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

http://mma2ehymus.blogspot.co.uk/p/evaluation.html

More Advanced Software for Planning Tasks

• A range of online apps allowed me to embed features onto my blog for it to become visually pleasing and interactive. It is important to make sure my blog shows different ways of conveying information in appropriate ways.

• Prezi has been a useful online app as it has allowed me to create visual mind-mapping to display my ideas and present tasks, it includes a template where I can add and take out information when needed. After it is complete the app will guide you through the information you have added, ready to embed onto a website.

• Powtoons was a personal favourite app which allowed me to research and present tasks in an visually pleasing way. I was able to create an animated presentation including animated characters and catchy music. This video could then be imported to YouTube and embedded onto my blog.

• Slideshare is one of the most basic apps to embed onto a blog. It allows you to create powerpoints on a desktop where they can be uploaded online and embedded straight onto a blog. Powerpoints allow you to change fonts, colours and add images therefore my blog becomes more engaging.

Camera Techniques

• I understood the camera and how to use it more professionally compared to my AS production. This meant my camera shots were more diverse (using sophisticated camera shots such as tracking shots, establishing shots, focus pulls etc). Understanding the functions on the camera made it easier to figure out how to use it in order to achieve a professional outcome.

• Before my A2 studies I had not yet needed any professional sound recording equipment. Using equipment such as the boom microphone helped to improve the overall quality of the production as sound was very clear. One disadvantage of the using this was the problem of having to make sure the mic did not appear in any shots. It was discovered that this large piece of equipment featured many times in filming therefore multiple shots needed to be taken or the mic had to be cropped out of shot afterwards.

Lighting for Ancillary Tasks

• I understood ways of using lighting in order for my photographs during my ancillary shoots to look professional. To create a warm and flawless photo I needed filler lights as well as key lighting in my photo shoot when taking pictures of my female protagonist. This meant that the lighting was clear and allowed shadows to occur in places that required shadowing. For example I needed her body to be visible but shadows to occur around her facial features in order for her to look mysterious and ‘sassy’ – appealing to the male target audience.

Combining Professional Programs for Production Task

• I used a combination of professional programs in order to achieve a professional finish for both my teaser trailer, my film poster and my magazine cover. Firstly I used After Effects for the titles of my trailer where I was able to import them onto a program called Adobe Premiere. I used a website called ‘Video Co-Pilot’ where I was able to watch tutorials to create professional titles ready to import to my trailer. This allowed me to go through a step by step video where I was able to become familiar with the program and be able to create unique titles which suited my production.

• I used Adobe Premiere last year during my AS studies therefore I was familiar with this program. This software allowed me to change the colours of shots to add to the continuity of my overall trailer. I was also able to add conventional trailer transitions such as fade to white and fade to black. All of these elements helped me to achieve a professional product.

Combining Professional Programs for my Ancillary Tasks

• Photo manipulation was a major part of achieving professional ancillary tasks. Both programs I used for my ancillary task I was completely new to therefore had to watch online YouTube tutorials for effects such as airbrushing skin and manipulating certain colours to stand out (in my case the colour red). I used Photoshop to brighten images and darken other elements of my photos for them to become clearer and brighter. I was able to crop photos to the size I wanted ready to import them to the next program InDesign.

• InDesign was a program which allowed me to create and finalise my two ancillary tasks. Here I was able to choose fonts and place elements of each print task appropriately and effectively. This program also made it easier for me to change my products after gaining audience feedback, For example it was suggested that my two characters on my film poster should be more prominent on the poster. This meant that I could go back and edit the key image closer.

Survey Monkey for Audience Feedback

• Survey Monkey was an essential part of the development of my production. It is an online questionnaire tool which allowed me to create questionnaires in order to gain quick audience feedback responses in order to improve each of my tasks. After initial suggested improvements were made using Survey Monkey, I was then able to conduct more in-depth audience feedback in order to get some final feedback from my target audience e.g. focus groups and questionnaires.