How did you use Media Technologies in the construction, rese

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As of writing evaluation, I have currently accumulated 37 of the 85 public posts. I feel as though I took pride in my work and documented relevant information towards the construction of my products.

Strengths

Weaknesses

WEAKNESSES

As we have grown up in a digitalised world, the internet, and formatting has come accustomed to us. Blogging and interaction on platforms such a Blogger is something I have personally been surrounded by for a while now. Having previously owned a Blogger account before the course, I had a basic understanding on how to format a blog post and could navigate around the website with ease. This came as a great positive in later stages.

As we expected, we faced a lot of issues when producing our blog posts. As a collaborative group, we have faced issues such as: lost images, unsaved work, not being able to publish work, and work completely disappearing. This is currently unresolvable to our standards, but something I am interested in looking into.

If we were to re-film or create any more short films like this, it may be a smart idea to invest in more than one camera. We made the mistake of trying to film with one camera, which made dialogue hard to film - especially the scene outside the house when the characters are locked out.

Blogger

STRENGTHS

Digital Camera

Our strengths with the cameras came from previous experience. In terms of handling, the cameras are very easy to set up, film and review. The importance of white balance has also been made apparent over the last six months, so we ensured to keep our clarity to the best of our ability as well

STRENGTHS

Much like the cameras, as we have prior experience with sound recorders because of our other film projects. We all went into filming with a clear idea on how to set up the recorder, playback to audio and import the audio when it came to the pre-production stages.

We used a Sony HD Camera to record the majority of our film. We also used a Underwater Sony Camera for the title sequence. These were obtained through the college, and were loaned out over three separate days of filming. We had previously used these cameras to vlog our filming experience, but then realised the ease of video phones instead.

Audience Feedback

Proof of Filming

We were also able to create a documented discussion when using our iPhones. By having the iPhone on record while they critique and analysis our film, we can document an authentic reaction. We can also build a transcript, and have a valid reference when referring back to audience feedback in evaluative situations.

Strengths

We were able to capture 'behind the scenes' footage while filming through our iPhones. We also had the capability of editing and uploading said footage on to a public domain on the same day. This is very helpful to us as it saves us times, and shows that we have other methods of presenting footage, rather than uploading it straight onto Blogger's domain.

(One of

the actors)

(Isobel's

Mum)

Voice Recorders

As we are teenagers in part of the digital age, we utilized our advantage by using our iPhones in multiple stages of creating our products.

(Home Owner)

Communication

A vital part of creating this short was having good communication between actors, the owner of the location, production team, and in this case, an actors mum! To do this, we used our iPhone's iMessage/Texting service to check up on available dates/times for filming. Here some examples of the messages that were sent out to various people:

How did you use Media Technologies in the construction, research & planning/evaluation stages?

iPhones/Smartphones

WEAKNESSES

Transferring Data

We attempted to use a boom mic this year and it proved to be a challenge as it ruined a lot of our audio clips due to a poor set up. There was a lot of rattling sounds when we were reviewing the clips. To refrain from doing this, we could have used headphones when filming, and ensured that the audio was hooked up correctly.

Weakness in Communication

In the creative and evaluative stages of this course, we found that a lot of pictures and videos had to be transferred on to the Mac computers at inconvenient times. We learnt about a Mac program called 'File Transfer' which locates media on your iPhone and makes it easy and safe to transfer it onto a network.

We did have some issues with communication on when we were going to commence with the final day of filming, meaning that we were down one member of the group due to prior commitments. Although it didn't affect our filming, it would have made the overall process easier if we were all present.

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Mac/Computers

Audacity

This year, we maintained a tiny sequence and FCP project by organising our files, images and audio into Bins (files). This helped us, and meant that we were editing our product quicker as we had easier access.

Our only criticism would be to save our work more regularly, and transfer our individual files onto the network in case we were in a situation that meant we were denied access to a Mac.

Although Audacity was only used to fix a minor error during sound construction, that process is still important to document.

When we were importing our footage, we found there was an issue with all of our sound files. Everything was coming out of the left ear, and the right ear was silent. After debating on whether we should try and edit with or without the sound, I attempted to recreate the right channel through Audacity with one of the sound files.

Final Cut Pro

InDesign

This tweet was created when we were in our initial struggle on which plot we should devise and create. This eventually helped to inform an idea of what was in demand.

We were introduced to Final Cut Pro at the beginning of the college year, last year, so had a basic grasp of the program. This was the year to test our skills, and develop new ones. A lot of the success this year came down to confidence in the editing suite, and not relying on tech support for minor things (such as finding the clip tool or wondering where the preview had gone).

This issue was later resolved as it was a setting within Final Cut Pro that had been tampered with. Our sound files had been altered because of it, however, the issue was resolved without the help of Audacity.

I instantly turned to Audacity due to my outside knowledge of the program, and the easy interface.

If we had not found the fault within Final Cut Pro, Audacity would have been our final option. By exporting the entire project as a sound file, then doubling up the sound files in both ears to create a near replica.

Photoshop

Social Media

Media A2 Evaluation - Question 4

All of our group use social media on a day-to-day basis, so this technology was nothing to us. Instead, we used it to our advantage; mainly in the marketing and to gain audience feedback.

Twitter

Instagram

Twitter was our main platform for advertising our short film. Each of us posted Tweets related to our media product. Here is an example of what I had tweeted...

I also decided to post to Instagram a picture from our 'behind the scenes'/poster photoshoot. Instagram is a growing platform, and its current audience targets those aged 15-25, so hits our own target audience perfectly.

The aim of the post was to build added attention towards our short film, and to create a personal/selfish post for the time I created a short film.

InDesign is a new program to me this year. Going in with experience in Photoshop made my experience undoubtedly easier, but the whole thing was still a challenge.

We used InDesign to create our film Review. As well as creating our own review, we had to follow a very specific template.

I would say that this was my least favourite part of the entire course, simply because it was a skill I could not perfect. Here is a screenshot of our half-completed review...

Facebook

Much like Twitter, we used Facebook to gain a general opinion from the public. The only restriction with Facebook is that the audience is very personalised, therefore biased opinions may be created. Regardless of this, we felt that it was important to reach out to everyone to receive a mix of reactions...

Photoshop had always been the most exciting aspect of the course since I sign up to do A2 Media.

Having used Photoshop for the past five years now,

I have only progressed in my knowledge of Photoshop. I have also used my skills to help others in my group work round the program. Photoshop has also been a major part of my other subjects, so it's no surprise that I was eager to get onto the poster aspect of the course.

Here are the different poster drafts I created on Photoshop. The fourth draft was my final submission.