My Media Evaluation Question 4

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

2. Research
In order to find out various information throughout the start of the
year, I used Google, IMDB, Youtube and other networks found
online in order to help me find out the information I needed about
the horror genre and existing horror films. From using google I could
find out any piece of information I needed and this helped lead me
to the IMDB page which helped me find out information about
existing films and actors. I also used Youtube to help me find
existing horror trailer which helped me into seeing the codes and
conventions they use within trailers. I was even able to research
other students trailers which had previously been created in order to
help with ideas and to find out what ways/techniques were the most
effective. I was able research into whether the plot I was going with
was worth while and if it would be effective enough to be a
successful horror film.

3. Research
I wanted to look into existing horror trailers as this would really help
me to see what makes an effective horror film. The IMDB page and
rotten tomatoes helped me to find suitable horror trailers/films which
have been successful and this then helped me to narrow it down to
two films. I chose to look at ‘The Cabin in the Woods’ and ‘The
Ring’. I wanted to look into these two particular as I felt they
followed a similar path as to what I wanted to do with my trailer and
allowed me to see which shots worked the best. To help with my
research, I needed to ask my target audience what they would like
and to do this I created a questionnaire on survey Monkey. This is a
software which allows you to create an electronic interactive
questionnaire and when results have been given, you can use the
site to find the answers. This was an effective and quick way for my
to do audience research.

4. Present
To help me display and show my work, I used different platforms online
which enabled me to show them in a more visual way instead of writing a
document and placing it onto my blog. I used the blogging website to
upload all my work for this course but within this I also created Prezi’s
and slide shares to display my work on different platforms. This enabled
me to show all my work creatively and produce tables and charts which
would help me overall with the research I was doing. The prezi’s and
slide shares which I used are different softwares which allow you to
create interactive power points. They allow you to include all your work
from photos to even videos which also allowed me to provide easy
access to my trailer when I was receiving feedback from it. With regards
to my trailer and choosing a rating for it, I did research on the BBFC
website which allowed me to see the age ratings and what the
restrictions were within these, I was then able to choose a suitable age
rating for mine which was a 15. From all the research conducted using
various search engines, I was able to find the right information I needed.

5. Technologies used
To film my trailer I needed to use a camera which would provide me with the right
quality to obtain good quality shots worthy enough to be used in a trailer. For this I
was able to use a DSLR camera which provided me with a clear shot and a large
zoom on it to make shots even better. This enabled me to take a lot more close up
shots as they were clear and the camera could zoom into a long range with the
quality still be good. The quality of the camera is very important but it was also very
important that I made sure the quality of filming was too therefor when shooting my
shots, I used a tripod to stop the shakiness which would effect the overall filming. By
doing this the shots taken could be uploaded to final cut pro and edited to make a
good effect, if they were too shaky, the footage would not of been able to be used as
it would ruin the trailer quality overall. When shooting close up shots, I had to use the
camera focus setting in order for the quality to stay the same and for it to not become
a blur. As a lot of my trailer was filmed outside, I had to use the natural lighting to light
my shots which worked well as they were still presented clear and later on in the
editing stages I was able to make each shot the same brightness for continuity.
However, the few scenes which I did inside such as the blood scene, I was able to
use both the natural lighting and the lighting which was in the room, the light in the
room was more white than yellow so it didn't dis colour the footage and also with this
later on I edited the clip to make it more darker as it was a lot lighter when first filmed.

6. Production
The camera which I used enabled me to take good quality clips however
when uploaded, the atmosphere for most of the shots didn't connote
danger or any sort of scariness. By using the software Final Cut Pro, I
was able to edit these to make them more gloomy and atmospheric, this
created a greater sense of fear and allowed my trailer to become a horror
genre one. With the clips, the quality was there I just had to make them
look more effective, to do this I changed the brightness for some clips
which were fi,med on brighter days or inside and I also brightened up
any clips which were too dull and lost colour. To help with the colour as
some shots were more vivid and fast paced, I added effects on to them
which changed the colours which worked well with the timings. As I
added in my jump scares I made sure these scenes were darkened to
create even more terror and other scenes I mad lighter in order for you to
see what was going on properly and clearly.

7. Production
With final cut pro, I was able to edit the clips as much as I wanted. I used
various techniques to make my shots the best they could be. For certain
shots there were features which I didn't want to be included therefore
thee were cropped out of the shot. I added effects to change the colours
within the shots and also altered the brightness. I also cut the shots in
order to create a gap between them which could then be made in a jump
scare shot, the shot would suddenly appear from a sequence which
would be tense for the audience to watch. I also added in transition to
the sequences. This helped the overall clips to flow together and allowed
them to carry on from one another without any sudden changes when
you don't need them, this helped to create the right balance between the
jump scares and normal transitions. If the trailer was just full of jump
scares and didn't transition int o different shots, the jump scares would
be less effective and wouldn't be scary anymore.

8. Production
The different effects which could be added to a clip changed the way
they looked and how they were presented to the audience. i added one
effect which was called ‘Lights’ and this enabled the clip to flash while it
was playing which created a tense and fast paced scene. It added more
of an effect to the sequence and appeared to make the scene a lot more
scarier and effective. Another effect which was added was a distorted
light scene on the end clip. I added an end clip right after the title to
make an impact. This scene wouldn't of made as bigger impact without
this effect added on. It changed the colours on the clip making it pop up
and quick fade away which could be saw as a jump scare. The effects
enabled me to create a tense and frightful atmosphere throughout my
trailer which is what I was aiming to do, by just having the clips and not
editing them, i feel my trailer would have been confused with being other
genres but the editing makes it a lot more scarier therefor the audience
know the genre for the trailer must be a horror.

9. Production
When creating my poster and magazine front cover, I had to use different
softwares to what I had been using for everything else. In total I used three
different softwares to create my products, these were Photo Shop, Pixlr and
Pages. I used the software pages for the overall designing of the products and
bringing everything together to make them look presentable. Photoshop and Pixlr
were both used for photo editing and text editing. On Pixlr, I focused more on
changing the saturation and brightness to the pictures in order to make them look
scarier and darker to give a greater impact. On photoshop, I chose to overlap two
images to make it look distorted and also edited my text for the titles on it.
Photoshop helped me to overlap the images as this couldn't be done on Pixlr or
Pages, I got the desired effect I wanted from the image and could edit each
individual layer and edit it as a whole too. Using pages to create the overall
design/layout of both my poster and magazine was effective as I could easily
move objects quickly and could line all the titles and pictures up evenly with the
guidelines it provided. Pages enabled me to space out all the features I had and I
could make changed very easily. Once I had used Photoshop and Pixlr to edit my
images, it was easy to convert them into JPEGS and then insert them into pages
to be able to place them in a suitable position I wanted them.

10. Evaluation Questions
When creating my evaluation questions, I created all four on different platforms.
For question 1 I created a video using iMovie which allowed me to add in clips,
pictures and sound. I chose to add in a voice over of myself speaking through the
steps and on the screen having various parts of my trailer showing which related
to what was being said and other pictures and screenshots which also related,
this allowed me to review all my work in a way which I had never done before and
was a fun way to communicate my work. As well as using iMovie, I also created a
Prezi for one of my questions which is an interactive Powerpoint and also used the
program Emaze to create another Interactive Powerpoint. Both softwares allowed
me to convey all my work in a visual way and helped me to include all the
necessary information that I needed to. It was easy to create the video on iMovie
as the software is very similar to Final Cut Pro. It allowed me to quickly insert voice
clips and images and cut them down if needed. I could show the images in
different ways and could also add in a variety of headings to introduce my
evaluation question. With Prezi, I was able to add in all the information I needed
and was able to annotate any pictures of my magazine, poster or trailer that I
decided to add in.