Evaluation Question 4

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

When researching and planning before our production stages we used various different types of new media technologies. I used ‘YouTube’ when researching into different films and clips. Such as looking at clips of ‘Ray’ and ‘Blindness’. It helped us when looking at different codes and conventions of films similar to ours. I also used search engines such as ‘Google’. When using the internet I looked for various articles which where about blindness and stories where people overcame minor blindness and regained their sight. Also sites such as IMDb (a movie database) when looking into films and their cast. For example, I looked at the film ‘Ray’ on IMDb and the actors who where involved in the film. This helped us when producing our character profiles and the various traits some of our characters would need.

When we needed our main case member (the blind person) we did originally have someone in mind. However we thought it would be more original if we used a site called ‘Star Now’ to search for our cast member. So we put out an advertisement on the website stating what we were looking for. We put the age range, location of our filming, and the role we wanted our actor for. This proved very successful as we got about 10 responses. We went through every applicants profile and looked at their videos from previous work they’d done. Eventually, we narrowed it down to three people of which we only needed one. We spoke to each of them by messaging via the website and came to an agreement on one specific actor named Nathan Hector. We then exchanged contact details and spoke to him to keep him updated on our filming, the location and time he needed to be there. We agreed a time to meet him beforehand and we ran through the storyboard, script and treatment with him just to make sure he knew what we wanted him to do. We then ran through challenging parts of the script to make sure he would act the way he needed to on set.

Another media technology we used was using scanners. This helped us when we were uploading various things to our blog. For example the story board. We cut out each shot individually and scanned them into the computer. This was a great help as if we didn’t have scanners the only way we’d be able to upload our story board to the blog would be to take pictures of each shot and upload them as a JPEG. If we did this they wouldn’t be clear enough to analyse properly. Also, when producing our photo story board we had to use digital still cameras to take pictures of the actor in every shot. So we used a SAMSUNG ___ to do this. This was again very helpful as if we didn’t use the camera we would have to use things like our phones to take pictures. If we did this the resolution wouldn’t be clear and the pictures wouldn’t come out as good as we needed them to. When producing our photo story board we used the video camera on an iPhone 4 to record various moments of us directing the actor and taking pictures. After recording this we looked over it and we were able to see what we did well and what we needed to work on. We noticed that there were various ways we were directing the actor which weren’t exactly sufficient enough for him to do what we wanted. So we made sure that on the day of filming we corrected those directions so all was understood clearly.

When on construction stages of our film we used a Cannon x5 video camera to shoot everything. When we were filming we had to make sure that every time the camera was moved on the tripod the spirit level was set to the middle to make sure the shots would be balanced. We had to make sure that we had the camera set to the correct setting each time we were filming, for example manual or automatic. When we were using the zoom in and out keys we had to make sure the camera was set to manual so we could adapt the zoom settings. If in the case that we wanted the camera to zoom in and out itself, we needed to set it to automatic and put a time set on the zoom so that when it left ‘place A’ after 30 seconds it was zoomed out to ‘place B’. We had to make sure the white balance was set every time the camera was moved to a different location. If we had the camera on the street the lighting is different to that of the one in the house. Therefore we had to adapt the white balance every time the camera was in a different location to make sure everything looked natural and not as if it was edited.

When editing our film we used the software programme Adobe Photoshop Premier.

Initially we had to transfer all of our data onto Lacie drives. Then from Photoshop we had to ‘capture’ all our shots onto the software programme and ‘digitise’ them. This was the process of uploading all of our data onto the programme so we could then put it together and edit it. We then sorted all our scenes into separate categories so we were organised. After this was the process of putting each shot together. We had to ‘mark’ out a start point and a finish point of how much of each shot we wanted to be in the final film. These were called ‘marking points’. We then used tools such as ‘ghosting’ when presenting the flashbacks. This gave the effect of two images blended together. It made the flashbacks stand out to the audience, and made them more recognisable as flashbacks rather than part of the film. Another tool we used was ‘fades’. We used these when we needed a transition other than a quick cut to go from one shot to the next. It faded out the old shot into the new one. It gave the film a bit more excitement rather than just using quick cuts throughout the entire film. We also used ‘text graphics’ when producing the title ‘Light Through Darkness’. With the graphics we were able to fade in each letter of the title individually, almost as if light were coming through the screen so it would be well related to our film title. After all of the imagery was done we had to edit the sound. So we checked all sound levels and made sure they were clear, loud enough and of course correct. There were points where we had to cut out sound entirely due to the ambience not being right but on Photoshop we were able to cut out clear ambience from other places and place it into the empty slots to keep continuity flowing. After all sound was complete and all our music was in place we had to ‘mix’ the sound down to finalise it and improve its quality. Lastly, we had to ‘render’ each part of the film. This made sure that the quality and clarity of the shots were clear and not fuzzy or distorted. It finalised the film for us.

When producing our ancillary tasks we used Adobe Photoshop CS4. On this software programme we produced two poster ads and one billboard ad, as well as a magazine review. When I first began making the posters and billboard I had to make sure each of mine where the same size as real ones. So I changed the canvas size to make them a replica. After that I imported different pictures to see which ones I wanted to use for each individual poster. When producing the posters there were many things I had to take into consideration. There were so many different tools on the programme and they proved very handy upon post production. When editing the appearance of the images I changed the levels of ‘hue’ and ‘saturation’. Each gave the picture a different effect, it made them either brighter, or made certain elements stand out against others. It made the images appear differently and more exciting rather than to what they originally looked like. I had to add a ‘layer’ every time I added something new or changed something on my poster. This made it easy when I needed to delete a layer as it meant that I wouldn’t lose the entire work just that element that I had placed on it. I added text to each poster via a new layer when putting in all the important information – release date, producer, actors etc. Also, when I put in the ‘12’ rating I had to open the image in another document and use the ‘magic lasso’ tool to cut all around the circle shaped rating. I then ‘duplicated’ it three times so it could be used on every poster. When I was finished with each poster I had to ‘flatten’ the image which meant that every single element of the poster was merged together and they were all ‘stuck to each other; so nothing could be changed again. I then had to turn each one into a JPEG file so they could be uploaded to my blog and so they appeared as real images.

When evaluating my work over all I used further media technologies. I used Windows Media Player to watch and present our final film on and get feedback from the class and what they thought of it. I also used my Blog to post my posters and review up so that my peers could leave me comments to read. These comments told me about their opinions and what they had thought about how successful/unsuccessful I was.