Critical Evaluation - Question 4 (Emma Gardiner)

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

Throughout our A2 project we have used many different media technologies during the construction, research, planning and evaluation of our short 5 minute film. Without this technology we would not have been able to do so. Firstly, in order to conduct the research we needed in order to plan our film we had access to Apple Mac computers where we were able to search the Internet for information on genre and similar films, as well as features such as titles. This made our research possible and a lot easier than if we were unable to access these. They also allowed us to set up a blog where all our planning and construction could take place. The internet also allowed us to receive audience feedback on our film via Youtube and Facebook.

Apple Mac 

Another media technology which we used were programmes on the Mac, the first was an editing programme called Final Cut Express which allowed us to transfer all of our footage onto the computer and put our film together, along with adding titles, music and credits. Another programme we used, which was similar to Final Cut Express, was Garageband. This programme helped us to create a radio trailer to market our film. We created the sound and voiceover using a Zoom recorder which we then transferred onto Garageband and put together, using sounds from our actual film too. Finally we used Photoshop, not only to create our production logo which was used during the titles of our film, but also to make our film poster ideas and final film poster. Without these programmes our productions would not have looked as professional and wouldn’t have been to a high standard as they ended up.

Zoom Recorder

Finally, in order to actually create the footage for our film, we had access to a HDV-1000 video camera that was of an extremely high quality meaning that so would our film. This not only provided us with excellent footage but also gave us 20% optical zoom and the best focus for filming. Overall without all these media technologies, our film would have no way been up to the standards that it is and it would have had huge effects on our final film, as well as on the research and planning we used for it, meaning that we would not have been successful in our project.

HDV-1000