Question 4 of A-Level Media Critical Evaluation

1. Critical Evaluation – Q4
How did you use new media technologies in the
construction and research, planning and
evaluation stages?
Annabelle Derham

2. Using New Media Technologies
The use of new media technologies was vital to the construction of our
film. This year we have had to learn how to use more advanced
equipment to help us create a film which was of a higher standard to the
one we did at AS.
We have carried out a lot more research mainly using the internet, I have
learnt which key words were more successful when researching specific
things such as radio adverts. Searching ‘radio spots’ brought up more
results than ‘radio adverts’ we have also used the internet to help us
create our own Blog as well as using it to research similar films to our
own, genre, narrative style and prop research along side production and
distributor research, this helped us greatly in the making of our film.

3. Research!
To create our film we needed to use the internet to research into the
making of films! We used 5 main websites to do this these being ;
1. The BBFC – We used this for guidance into classification
2. The IMDB – We used this for guidance into popular genres
3. Google – For general information on the film production and
distribution
4. Youtube – For tips and ideas we could use in creating our own
film
5. Google Docs – To create questionnaires to gather opinions
on our storylines

4. Google Blogger
Using Google Blogger we have created a place which we
can update regularly with posts about the progress of our
film and the research we have carried out to enable us top
create things such as radio trailers, film posters and
analysis of other media products often found in the film
industry. We post things in a variety of formats; From
Prezi, to essays with photographs to videos which we edit
on final cut.

5. Filming Equipment
There was a lot of equipment used in the construction of our film. We
used a Song HDV1000 camera for the filming of our film, this is a much
higher quality camera than the one we used at AS level and once we had
learnt how to use it, we managed to get some high quality close up
shots which has helped us portray important details of our film to our
audience effectively. We used a tripod which had a build in spirit level
to help us get accurate shots from a variety of angles, this was also
helped by the tripods adjustable legs.

6. Extras
For our film we needed some voice recordings we chose to do these
with a zoom recorder instead of a camera as this allowed us to alter the
sound and add the correct effects to make it fit our film, we needed to
record the other half of a telephone conversation to be played over the
top of our film along with the narrative for over the flashback sequence.
By doing this with a zoom recorder we have been able to change the
sound easily and effectively.

7. Creating Our Film Poster
To help the advertisement of our film we created a film poster, we
carried our research using the internet into other film posters which we
thought were appealing to the eye. We favoured film posters with
characters from the film on, so we decided that we would try and
recreate the ‘Just My Luck’ film poster but using the back ground and
characters form our own film …
A professional film poster Our Film Poster

8. Film Poster
To create our film poster we carried out a photo shoot on a black back
ground to get pictures which would be suitable for our film but have a
background we could easily remove in PhotoShop. We used PhotoShop
to construct our film poster as it allowed us to easily construct a
professional looking poster editing fine details which helped us create a
final product we were satisfied would promote our film and catch the
attention of potential viewers. The use of the DSLR camera and
PhotoShop were vital to the making and creating of our film poster.
Here is a link to our photo shoot
http://youtu.be/fy86UFoUOHA

9. Final Cut Express
Final Cut Express has been the most vital programme we have used
within the construction of our film, this is the editing software we have
used throughout the creation of the film. We have use a selection of
edits, and features of the programme such as cross dissolves and black
and white as well as layering sound to give our film depth. The use of
this product has given our film a professional style and allowed us to be
flexible and create the film exactly how we want it. This software is
known for being used to create professional short films such as Shifty
which gave us the confidence to use it and create a film of high quality
with smooth and effective edits!

10. Conclusion
The use of new media technologies has been vital in the research,
production and distribution stages of our film. All of the technology we
have used has plaid a vital role in our film from the editing software
Final Cut Express to the tripod used to balance the camera for tricky
shots, I feel we have learnt how to use these media devices to our own
advantage and this has helped us create a final product we are proud of,
we have made some small errors but the advanced technology we have
been able to access has helped us correct these along the way and create
a professional looking and sounding film with all the research to back
up why we have done the things we did to create it.