Evaluation - Q5
How did research and planning inform your production?
Media technology played a pivotal part in my A2 Media Studies coursework. Applying knowledge and skills from AS, I was able to construct a blog, short film, two ancillary tasks as well as completing my evaluation using 4 areas of media.
When researching Social Realism films, YouTube played a fundamental part in finding 60s British films which then allowed me to compare to contemporary films. This helped when analysing these films in detail, in regards to camera shots, mise-en-scene, editing and sound. Moreover, when trying to learn skills for iMovie, YouTube was useful in showing me different techniques to implement in my media products.
In order to upload all my work, Blogger was extremely reliable especially having used this platform for AS - I knew very well how to set up pages and to customise my blog to my own preference. This also was effective in managing my time because I already knew how to use Blogger. I was able to download templates for my blog in order for it to look appealing, however, this required a lot of HTML coding in order to personalise the title of my blog, including tabs.
Furthermore, when creating ‘Robbed’ iMovie on Macs was essential for editing and constructing the main project. Although having never used iMovie, it took time for me to get used to the tools and the software. However, watching YouTube videos to learn new skills was useful to implement in my media product. When shooting, we used a DSLR camera so the footage can be captured in high quality. This was useful because stills were easily screenshotted and taken out of the clips due to the quality of the movie. However, this was only required if the stills were taken for the ancillary tasks where blurry.
When constructing the film poster for ‘Robbed’, Adobe Photoshop CC 2015 was useful due to having developed my skills from AS. Photoshop allowed me to create a film poster by following the conventions by using tools such as the magic wand, which selects pixels and removes the background, for example when using images of black stars (for ratings) from Google images, it helped in cutting out the background. I was able to desaturate the brightness of my main image by playing with the hue in order to fit the convention of Social Realism so it presents verisimilitude. In comparison to AS, my skills have fundamentally improved having learnt new skills on my own and from peers.
Additionally, when constructing my film review for ‘Robbed’ Microsoft Publisher was useful. Having not used publisher previously, it was interesting to learn new formatting skills. Yet, having used Microsoft software I was used to some of the techniques and the format. This software enabled me to make a review similar of the Sight & Sound review by following their house style. I was able to experiment with different fonts and layouts of my review by adjusting columns, text and image.
In answering my evaluation questions I have used various software's to convey what I have learnt and the skills used to develop my media products. The media technologies I have used are Smore, Prezi, Powtoon, Emaze and Slideshare. Having gone through this evaluation process in AS I have tried to use different technologies such as Smore and Emaze in order for me to enhance my awareness of these types of websites.
Overall, media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation were significant. Having used all these software made my media products look professional and presentable. Moreover, having the advantage of using most of this software for AS, I was able to develop these skills for future use. Additionally, having a deadline on each product was crucial that I was organised and able to use this different software appropriately.