Evaluation - Question 4

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

Sabrina's Q.4

The different types of research methods that we used are going to be explained below as these are what allowed use to make our final products. There are many different ways in which my team used the different media technologies to produce our A2 media coursework. The different types of technology that we used for our project was the internet, Microsoft office, digital cameras, logic (a music production software), Photoshop, voice recording equipment which allowed us to add diegetic sound adding to the sound effects which all allowed use to complete our coursework.

The internet was a big part of our research process because it allowed use to access a wide range of tools that we needed to start up our project that we otherwise would not have been able to access with as much ease if we did not use the internet. When we were researching we went on the internet and used Google to gain different posters, magazine covers and teaser trailers that we could analyses so we would have an idea of what we needed to produce in our own ancillary text and teaser trailer. This was very beneficial because it allowed use to plan the layout of our magazine front cover as well as ways in which the direction of our poster could go.

 

Other ways that we used the internet was by using survey monkey to research on our target audience and ask them questions on what gender they are, how old they are as most horror films are rated 15 and above we had to make sure that we were asking the right people 16-24 year olds as they were who we were targeting our teaser trailer to. We also asked the questions like what they prefer the contrast to be allowing them to pick from colour black and white or both. This gave use vital information that we needed to move on with the development of our preparation for our production. The use of survey monkey was quite easy because they gave use a vast range of answers from a variety of people and made the graphs for use already which saved use time in gathering the feedback. However since survey monkey only allows 10 questions to be asked at a time and we needed to ask more we felt it right that we used excel as well to produce more graphs as it would look better on our blog if all the graphs from our research look the same. Excel allowed use to use the graphs not only to gather information but to also see the trends that where occurring throughout our target audience which was that they were very interested in the horror genre.

The main sub-genre that they like the most was thriller second comedy and third romance which gave use more insight into what we needed to carry out.

We then went on YouTube to research the different ways that we could begin to bring our plans to life so we looked up ways to make fake make up which allowed use to apply it to the actors that were putting it on prosthetic make up which allowed us to learn more about applying prosthetics and making it look realistic. This allowed us to make sure that we were able to do it our self for our own teaser trailer.

We also used Facebook and Hotmail to communicate with each other from home which made it easier for use because sometime when we did not see each other we could send emails to each other’s to outlying what we needed to do as well as sending attachments of our poster and magazines front cover to make sure that we had a copy. Using was also good because if were forgot to do something we could check our email and it was there to remind use rather than having to write down things down or continuously having to print out copy’s as it waste paper. I also went on the internet and also watched some DVD’s that I already had for example the Exorcist, saw 2 and 3 as well as paranormal activity which allowed me to gain more inspiration for what we wanted to within our production.

 

When looking for a setting that we wanted to use for our teaser trailer we felt that as we wanted to have a priest as the main character that we should use a confessionary and since we had a chaplaincy in our college we could use this as it would provide use with the type of location that we were looking for. We used digital cameras to take pictures of the settings which allowed use to see if what it would look as it would allow use to see what it looked like on camera. For the magazine it was drawn out but scanned into Photoshop to work on contrast, the scans are clearer this way. The same thing was done to the storyboard. We looked at other examples of previous students work so see how we could achieve the same effects or better in our own trailer. This proved useful when choosing our setting, even though we has to stay on the college ground, watching other peoples examples gave us a good idea on where the best places in college are to film.

                                                                                                                      

Leyla's Q.4

When planning, we made a storyboard that we had to completely stick to throughout production.We all watched different Youtube videos to learn different special effect makeup techniques. We considered techniques that ranged from making s omeone look like their throat was slit to making them look like zombies until we opted for a fake wound as it would work best with the storyline. We found out about the best techniques to apply fake wounds and how to apply fake blood so it would look more realistic.

Monique's Q.4

In the production stages we used several media technologies that made our overall media products (trailer, film poster and film magazine)Our main use of media technology was a

Canon Eos 7d Camera that was used to both video record the footage for our trailer and take photographs for our poster and magazine. We as a group had a general understanding of use for the camera, in addition to that if you had any difficulties to turned towards our teacher that would offer the help that was needed. As we used this camera to take images for our film poster and magazine front cover we used the auto focus on that places a red light through the camera lens to the area which you wish to have the attention on. The canon Eos 7D has a through-the-lens (TFL) optical sensors, with a separate sensor providing light metering which made it easier for us to aim for the type of image that was produced quicker and having better precision then using a manual viewfinder which could be found on older digital still cameras.

Coloured gels for the lighting were a success because it enabled us to get our setting (confessionary booth) to look convincing, we had a chose of whether we wanted the colour to be deep red or orange and chose this because there needed to be a collective use of different colours in our media products, using red we thought would have overpowered the scene which was already going to contain gore and bloody shots. At first when we was creating this cardboard window we were just going to film it solo with the actors and the use of white lights to create more of a shadow filled scene however we decided that wouldn't be best and took our chances with putting these two together creating a good use of technology.
Above is a Image of members of our group (Leyla and Jide) Arranging the lighting for one of our first locations.When changing locations it took us some time but we were able to use a suitable white balance by using the Auto white balance on the camera however that was not out main issue, we came to the realization that when filming with our model walking away from the camera alot of light was lost and as we had a track shot to produce in our college's chapel, we had to take several attempts in getting the right movement to follow the subject as they moved along with the camera being aware of unnecessary shadows and bright light that we didn't want into our trailer that would affect our conventions for horror or what we wanted to achieve across to our demographic audience.

We were also equipped with a memory card reader to transfer many of our media products, such as our pictures, to the home drive of our user names to start processing them and making our posters and magazines. Although a lot of the time spent on the ancillary was done at home by the adobe Photoshop cs5 trail which enabled us to have 30 days of free use for this new software.
For setting up the lighting we had to ensure that all unnecessary objects were moved aside this meant all the tables and chairs so that the correct positioning could be done. When filming we was told by our teachers that it would be a good idea to do pre and post roll footage which consisted of counting down from 3. This enabled us to know where we needed to cut our footage when editing in final cut pro. Again we had to do the process of re-checking the lights and camera to make sure everything was in order, then we got on to the filming. The lighting for the teaser

trailer were as follows:

The first scene was of the actor (myself) slowing walking with another member of the group playing the light giver, following my movement, making sure that it would be captured in the right place which in this case was the bible in my hand.



The second scene was of me sitting down and reading a bible, the light was placed to my left which allowed the ray to be diagonal line which hit the side and centre of me, whilst the camera was on my right side tilting up slowly. The third scene was when we changed location and came in the media classroom that contained the blue scene, The scene helped in creating a background that could be adaptable and also coming out as a darker shade when transferred onto the computer becoming near black. Two sets of lights were positioned either side of me to brighten my body from my seated position whilst the camera remained on my right and the coloured gel on my left shining out into the background. The same was for the fourth scene and the ones after. The lighting for the photography was a automated trigger than got the flash to come on when a picture was taken. This allowed a better sense of control with the energy consumed from in the battery and possible damage.

Jide's Q.4

When it came down to making the trailer, we used a program called final cut pro which allowed me to be able to cut, link together clips and add effects. It was my first time using final cut pro so I had to get to grips with the technology as I did not quite understand what I was doing and for most of the time I was actually studying

and researching up on how to do basic things like add slide transitions, cut and fade to black. Also as we were making a teaser trailer I was careful when selecting what parts to include and to not as part of making a trailer is to keep your audience guessing and interested by not giving to little or too much information about your film which will prompt them to research more about it. When using final cut I found using the fade to black tool very useful as I used that tool for almost every if not every shot I made, I did this because if I just used the cutting tool i feel it would not look very professional, rushed and even look like an actual film.

The second application I used was motion which is what I used to make the intro of the teaser trailer. It was my first time using motion and I wanted to make sure I would be able to have all the knowledge about it as I possibly could so
what I did was look at the tutorial videos so it would help me hit the ground running as fast as possible. What I made in motion was an animated lightning striking around our company name ''Chaos Theory'', However before that was made I had to experiment with many different designs as I was trying to make a design that would support a horror film look. I mostly found designs such as bright lights which would suit a children's film but since we were making a horror film I was looking for a dark fast paced design something that will go well with the build up of our trailer. I only found two designs which were f use which was the lightning one and the other being a flock of bats swarming. I decided to use the lightning as the flock of bats will look cliche and also the lightning one appealed to our group most.

Monique, A member in our group used this software Logic Pro 8, for creating the soundtrack for our trailer. As she studies music technology we thought it best to have this role, her knowing the ways in to make an effective piece of music which we have been told many times it is allowed us to have confidence in the production and have an overall good response to what was created..

This track was used in the filming for our trailer; it was quite a handful because we were not experienced that well with the concept of keeping a steady move of the camera without it appearing shaky and unprofessional. In regards to this our teacher giving us help in showing us how it would be done, the camera person had several attempts in planning how to move with the person and to test of the speed and record to check whether it looked good enough to be placed sequenced with our other shots. We also took a look at some videos on YouTube to check over if we did accomplish the look we were going for.

We were unsure with our first take whether it was relatively to slow. There was the alterative to speeding the pace of the walk in Final Cut Pro however we'd preferred to know how to do it correctly helping us in future references , Thankfully with confirmation with this video and several others we looked at it shows a general use of tracking/dolly shot that has movement slower than the regular walking pace. We are also aware that instead of a track, they used the wheels on a tri pod; this didn't affect us as it still beneficial.

Prop and Coloured Gel for Lighting

A Sony tripod

we could keep our camera stable ensuring no camera movement was done when it wasn't necessary in shooting scenes for our teaser trailer
Zoom H2 Handy Recorder

Was used to create a scream at the ending of our trailer, which was then imported into Logic Pro for effects to be added on however that will be discussed in post production. Before we went ahead and used this technology we had to find an area that was indeed silent of any interruptions and would produce some ambience to make the sound broader with louder and fuller attributes. When using this technology we used the 'high gain' setting so that the scream wouldn't be distorted. Although using the program Logic Pro 8 it could of been manipulated by controlling the distortion however it was seen easier just to do this take before beginning the recording process.

Track

Using YouTube allowed use to stop the video and go back if we did not understand something and do it along with the video to make sure that we were doing it correctly as opposed to reading the directions on a piece of paper.