Research & Planning Construction Evaluation

Research & Planning: Wordpress Blogs

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The Wordpress.com blogs were very useful in organising and showcasing my Research and Planning, primarily because it allowed me to keep my research on the computer and was open to editing. It also allowed for easier access from both home and school, which was very useful when doing work outside of school. The online nature of the blogs also allowed me to make instant updates and tweaks that were needed at any point in my research, construction and evaluation.

Although there were some occasional issues in accessing at school due to technical problems, the blogs were a more organised and efficient method of gathering my research as none of my work was forgotten or lost.

Throughout my planning stages Wordpress.com allowed me to have a clear vision of when and where each part of my would be filmed. I used the website as a sort of diary to make sure my filming met deadlines and fitted all together at the end without missing out any vital clips.

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Research & Planning: The Internet

While researching my trailer, magazine cover and poster, I found commonplace internet tools such as YouTube.com and Google.co.uk to be valuable. They allowed me to access a broad range of examples, including from other countries. While this was very useful when researching posters and magazine covers, it was even more useful when researching trailers and music. YouTube.com allowed me easy access to a wide range of material, which I could then embed on the blog and analyse. It also hosted a lot of unconventional music that would not be sold in typical high street shops, and may have required a specialist shop to find.

I was also able to find suggestions for hip hop instrumental type tracks to research, which I would have had difficulty finding another way. The open access to the internet , Youtube.com and music sharing websites such as Soundcloud.com made my research much easier, as I could focus on analysing tracks that I would listen to myself and include in my final film.

Youtube.com had also given me inspiration when deciding on the genre and mood of my film. It allowed an open access to hundreds of different film clips and trailers from a variety of different sources including big Hollywood blockbusters to short independent films.

Research & Planning Construction Evaluation

Construction: Camera

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To take the pictures that appeared on my double page spread and poster, I had to use a high quality camera. For this I used a Canon 1100d, which had 24x zoom and 12 mega pixels, which as you can see below, makes the photographs I took clear and of a very good quality (right).

For actually filming my final film I used a Panasonic HC-X920, a 1080p HD camera. The camera had a number of different features in which allowed my film to look as professional as possible. These include steady shot, wide angle lens and manual focus. These features prevented my clips from looking shaking and amateurish whilst also allowing me to add my own flair to how they were filmed.

I also used a fisheye lens in order to achieve some abnormal shots that were not possible without it as it allows for a wider angle, more distorted shot.

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Construction: Editing

In comparison to my AS Product, I had not needed to incorporate music before. This time round, however, I needed to take music from video and music sharing websites such as Youtube and Soundcloud. For this I had used a program that converts these videos or music clips into MP3 files therefore allowing me to put them in my editing software.

Photo shop was one of the main software's that I used when developing my ancillary tasks. I used to create different formats and layers to my print products, but also to make them original. To the right you can see some of the process involved in creating my poster. For my editing of my final film I had used Adobe Premier Pro. Personally I was new to this editing software and had not used it before for any other media products. The software was initially difficult to get used to but was easy when I got the hang of it and had looked for further help on the internet. One problem I had with using Premier Pro as my editing software was management of my music and timing it with the film. I had to firstly make sure that my music was uploaded in he same place as my project or it would not show up in my film. I then had to manage the volume of the music up against dialogue and diegetic sounds within the film to make sure it was clear and loud enough to here. Using key frame placements allowed my music to fade in and out when I wanted to. This was difficult as when I moved any clips or music in my film, the music would still fade in and out where I had originally instructed it to do, not where I wanted it. This can be seen on the screenshot at the bottom.

Research & Planning Construction Evaluation

Evaluation: Presentation

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For my evaluation I used a variety of different presentation techniques. One of which was Microsoft PowerPoint. I favoured PowerPoint over other programs as it allowed me to separate each features of my evaluation into each sections. For example, for the first evaluation question the different slides divided up my scenes allowing me to annotate and compare them to other scenes in the presentation. Wordpress.com was also used in presenting my evaluation questions. Instead of making a link from my blog to a PowerPoint presentation or another website, answering the question directly on the blog made the aesthetics of my blog better as it looked more full and text heavy. Wordpress not only allowed me to put text on the blog but also allowed me to incorporate pictures and videos into it to support my answer.

I also used presentation website Prezi.com to evaluate my audience feedback. Prezi is an online tool that allows you to make professional looking presentations and save them within the website. They also allow you to copy links of these presentations and share them anywhere you please. This deemed very useful as they needed to be shared on my Wordpress blog and linked to other people for feedback.