Evaluation - Question 4

Question 4 - How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?  

Research:

Google - This global search engine was used to research the majority of our short films, giving us greater knowledge on what kind of features and themes are seen in them. By using this, we could look at examples of short films and the people that created them, allowing us to get an idea of the plots, ideas and conventions used in many of them. We also used it to look in to the films seen in the horror genre, as well as the plots and themes seen in them. 

Short of the week - This website was very useful in researching examples of short films that we learned from for our own project. It releases new short films every day, which are broken down in to different genres and themes, which was very useful to look at both short films as a whole, as well as the horror genre within it. Through using this, we took inspiration from other films seen on the site. 

BBFC - When making researching our film ideas, and devising a plot, this website was crucial to deciding the age rating that our film would be. As this is the governing body on the censorship of film in Britain, the information and guidance found on its website was very important in choosing the right age ratting appropriate for our film. With this in mind, we decided to choose a 15 age ratting, as the dark themes and quite disturbing themes found in our horror film could be seen as inappropriate for younger audiences.            

 

Meta-Chart - This website was a key component in compiling the date from our film questionnaires, as it was used to create graphs of our results, better presenting there findings. It allowed use to input all the data from our surveys in to a customizable graph maker, which could be changed to however we wanted, allowing use to make clear and accurate charts to show the differing opinions of our audience.
     

Planning:

Blogger - As we did in our AS level, we used the website 'Blogger' to create a blog for our film, which is where we posted all our research, planning, ideas and additional work for our project. It was very useful for the group as we were able to collaborate on work together, meaning we can all contribute to the project, as well as allowing us to edit posts when ever we want, improving them when new ideas were formed, as well as adapting to new feedback. However, as useful as it was, we also found issues with the formatting and filing system Blogger uses, as it was quite inefficient, making it hard sometimes to find posts deep in to the blog. 

CeltX - This software is what we used to create the script for our film, instead if a normal word document. As this program is designed especially for creating scripts, it was very useful when creating ours, as it allowed us to easily and correctly write out our scripts, with proper directions and descriptions used. It also let us change and adapt scenes as our plot evolved with new ideas, a very useful feature. This specially designed format allowed us to professionally present our idea, so all could easily understand it.

YouTube - This website was again used previously in our AS year, but more so in this year. We used it to upload preliminary projects and rough cuts of our film, allowing examiners to see our work, as well as ourselves, which was useful when getting screen shots for later use. We also used it at points to educate us on how to use other pieces of software, such as Photoshop, as curtain techniques were difficult to us.     

Construction:

Camera - When it came to actually creating our film, we used a Canon Legria HFG25 to record our film. This camera was a improvement on the model we used in our AS level, with better quality of video and sound, as well as a wider range of adjustments available for us to use when filming our movie. With the addition of a tripod, the camera set up was able to produce interesting and almost professional shots, with a sharp contrast from last years film. In addition, we were able to create interesting scene transitions with clever camera techniques, accompanied by video editing, such as a zoom in to a characters back, going through a doorway, which would then transition to a new shot as the camera zooms back out.

Premier Pro - This software was used to edit and order our film using the scenes we created using our camera. Due to its high quality and professional appeal, it was extremely useful when creating our film, being as essential as the camera itself. With it being a professional piece of software,  used on actual Hollywood films such as Gone Girl,  we found it difficult at points to use, but soon learnt how to effectively, which allowed us to create our final film as we envisioned and to a high standard. As well as cutting and ordering our footage in to order, the software also allowed us to create different effects over it, adding to the fearful and supernatural themes seen within horror films. Some of these effects are shown bellow, such as mapping on a light source in the bedroom scene to make the effect of an open door. We also created a dream like effect through some light distortion effects that help to differentiate between reality and the dreams.         

Photoshop - We used this software to create posters for our film that would in theory be released before the film itself. Similarly to 'Premier Pro', this software was difficult to use at first, as it complex and detailed nature meant there were a lot of different component that went in to creating a usable film poster example. However, after doing some greater research in to the software, as well as some trial and error, we managed to learn how to create a professorial looking poster. While being a hindrance at first, the detailed features became a very useful part in creating the posters, as our work was of a higher quality all around.

 

 

Evaluation: 

Prezi - We found that Prezi was a very useful website for presenting much of our evaluation work in a easy and productive way. It allowed me to make presentations that included many different media aspects, including text, photos, videos and audio files, which are useful in presenting through a wide range of medias, showing understanding of them all. The software it's self was also another great use of differing media, as the moving circle concept of its presentations allowed us to show our work in a interesting and different way. 

 

 

Google slides - Similarly to Prezi, google slides was useful in presenting our work in a clear and easy way. As it works in a similar way to Microsoft PowerPoint, I already knew how to use it, as it was almost the same design and also very user friendly. By being able to present our work through multiple media form, we are able to create interesting and engaging PowerPoints showing our work, as well as our understanding of the forms of media. In addition, as it was all online, being able to work on our presentations wherever we wanted to was extremely useful, making all our work more efficient.