1. Question 4.
In what ways did you use digital technologies in the
creation of your media products?

2. Why are digital
technologies important?
 Throughout the course of research, planning and
construction across my teaser trailer, movie poster
and movie magazine, I utilized a number of digital
technologies that I had never before encountered.
 Keeping up with modern day technologies and
software is extremely important in reaching target
audiences with optimum effects, especially if that
target audience is within a young demographic, as
they will be the most up to date with the newest
social networking sites, digital technologies and
soft-wares.

3.  I used a lot of technologies I was already familiar with. Social
networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are now
available in App form so the user can interact with the sites on the
go; with their tablets and phones as well as computers. These
technologies were already familiar to me and thus naturally easy to
use when conducting my work.
The technology giant ‘Apple’, in particular, have released these apps
through the ‘AppStore’, which allows users to choose from a huge array
of Apps and download them straight onto their phone. This has
advanced the world of digital technology massively and made
audiences more technologically literate, being exposed to new apps
and social networking materials frequently.

4. Apple Selfie!

5. Last year, I used Microsoft PCs to conduct a lot of
my work. This was the hardware which I had
been used to all my life. Changing to an Apple
Mac was extremely frustrating at times. There was
no controls to ‘PrintScreen’ like there was on a
Microsoft PC, and the ‘cmd’ key did most of the
work that the ‘ctrl’ button would have, meaning I
was continuously hitting the ‘ctrl’ key cluelessly
wondering why it wouldn’t do what I wanted it
to! It took a while to break this habit but it
happened eventually.

6. Using WordPress
 Primarily, each member of our Media Studies class created a blog
on WordPress.com and had to create a number of pages regarding
our coursework in order to make for easier navigation. Here, we
would upload work we had completed on a weekly basis and
create a short introduction for each piece. The blog was extremely
helpful in allowing our class to leave feedback on each other’s
work. I arranged my blog to show different headings on the sidebar
alongside the homepage; Teaser Trailer Research; Teaser Trailer
Planning; Teaser Trailer Construction.

7.  In my research into the movie industry, I used the site IMDB.com in
order to gather information about certain films which had been
successful. Their ‘Top 250’ list aided me in gaining knowledge as
to which film genres have been the most successful amongst
audiences in the past, thus helping me in deciding which genre I
would choose for my own teaser trailer.

11. YouTube
 YouTube was the first online social networking site that I used when
conducting my research. I have been using this site for years so it was
naturally easy for me to use. I looked up a lot of trailers on this as they
were easily accessible – YouTube is the general site for uploading videos,
so almost every video on the internet features on it. YouTube is simple
and easy to navigate. I used it to upload my initial drafts of teaser trailers
and was able to embed it into my blog and on my Facebook page in
order to receive feedback.

16.  To present some of my ideas for my teaser trailer I used the online presenting software
‘Prezi.’ This allowed me to create an attractive mind map using shapes such as arrows
and circles. I could alternate the font and colour scheme of the presentation in order
to further the appeal. Changing the size of shapes or sections to make the project
look impressive was very timely. However, the finishing products I made are extremely
appealing to the eye. I used Prezi to present my research on the codes and
conventions of a teaser trailer and to show the rest of my class my own ideas for my
media product. I focused on different aspects on the trailer such as genre, costumes,
setting, actors and sound. Once finished, Prezi allowed me to view my presentation
professionally and I could zoom up on each section to focus on each one individually.
The whole process was very efficient and saved me a lot of time in the long run.

18.  Another technology I came across during my teaser trailer planning
was ANIMOTO, a video making software which combines multiple
images and sound clips to make a short video. I employed a simple,
vintage, projector-like theme in order to promote my teaser trailer
and make others aware of its nature. I included a variety of pictures
which I felt accurately reflected themes of my storyline such as
friendship (a picture of two girls holding hands). This would be
important in my ultimate trailer’s effectiveness as they would
immediately gain a sense of what is to come.

20.  I used Microsoft Excel in order to create graphs
when analysing the results of my questionnaire.
This enabled me to create an efficient view of
my audience feedback, giving me great help
when it came to filming my teaser trailer.

21.  After filming my footage I uploaded them to our school’s
MacBooks and proceeded to clip and edit the footage using the
software ‘Final Cut Pro X’. This software was completely new to
me. Even the Mac was difficult to get used to as I am so used to
the PC! Eventually with practice I became accustomed to the
many tools and features that this software had to offer and I
made full use of it which paid off extremely well!

22.  I also used a hardware device to upload copyright-free music to
feature in my trailer. The music I found was so appropriate that I
was compelled to include it! I connected this device into the USB
port of the MacBook Pro and proceeded to import it into my
project for further altering.

23.  I used the software ‘Garage Band’ to record and edit the
voiceover for my teaser trailer. This software was very easy to use
and was well laid out. I selected a vocal track to record on and hit
the red button located at the bottom of the window. From here, I
asked my actor to speak her lines into the microphone. It was easy
adding effects to this as there are some template effects situated
on the right-hand-side of the screen. After I had a few takes of
each line, I exported the track to ‘Final Cut Pro X’ for further
clipping and to add more effects.

24.  The final software I used in my construction page was ‘Grab’ – a
software which helped me complete my shot-by-shot analysis of
my final teaser trailer. This application allowed me to effectively
take a ‘screengrab’ of a certain window and save it as a jpg.
Using this, I played my teaser trailer and paused the screen on
each frame, then waved the cursor over the ‘capture’ option on
the top bar and selected ‘capture window’, allowing me to take
create images of each moment in my trailer. From here, I could
begin to analyse and justify my final product for others to see.

25.  From basic editing of my own personal photographs and creating a
music magazine in the course of my AS Media, I already had some
previous experience of using Adobe Photoshop. However,
throughout the course of my movie poster and movie magazine
construction, my knowledge of the software increased enormously as
I became accustomed with many special techniques and devices
within the program. Becoming used to this program was of utmost
importance as I believe the image of a movie poster and on the front
cover of a magazines is the selling instigator for the film they regard.
As I practiced and learned more about Photoshop I became
enabled to use such processes as airbrushing and cloning. Using
these techniques to enhance my images would allow me to create
professional-looking, authentic products.

26. Magnetic Lasso
 I used the magnetic lasso too in both the creation of my movie poster
and movie magazine cover. This allowed me to select a region of any
picture by connecting points that were attached and of the same
pigment. I used this tool around the region of a photo collage on my
wall and also on my actor’s face and then proceeded paste them
both onto plain, A4 backgrounds for further editing.

27.  For the first draft of my movie poster, I duplicated this collage by
utilizing the copy and paste application like I had previously done, only
this time I filled the whole page with the photographs. I then selected
the right half of the picture and selected the ‘Blur’ filter and fixed it to a
horizontal gradient so it almost made he picture look like it was
beginning to move. This was exactly the effect I was looking for as it
suggested metaphorically the idea that the memories are leaving or
drifting away, hence the title: ‘Forget Me Not’

28.  I noticed through researching various movie posters that
they all have a very similar, very small font featured at the
bottom of the page where they mention a lot of the
production team.

29.  After ‘googling’ want this font was, I came across the website
‘www.dafont.com’ which told me it was called ‘Universal
Accreditation’. Not sure whether it was the real thing or not,
judging by its pictures I downloaded it anyway!

30.  This font ended up looking extremely authentic on my poster, and
it was something which PhotoShop didn’t offer me, meaning I had
to go out of my way and find it! It gave me great satisfaction
seeing it look so good on my drafts!

31.  The software Kizoa was extremely useful, helping me to present my
photographs on my blog. I could embed it and they would play in
a slideshow automatically, looking very professional and seamless.

32.  Facebook was another site that I had previously used as a
socially interactive 18 year old. I was familiar with all the tools
and the site already, and with the knowledge that the
majority of people within my target audience age had an
account, I decided to post drafts of my teaser trailer, movie
poster and movie magazine on it in order to receive
constructive criticism and advice.

34. Twitter, is another hugely popular social networking website
amongst my target audience demographic. I concluded that
posting drafts of my media products here would also be good for
receiving target audience feedback.

36.  From posting my media
products on so many social
networking sites, I began
receiving feedback
through text messages from
people that had my
number! This was very
exciting as I gained a sense
of the impact that my
products had on my target
audience!

37.  When it came to the evaluation stage, as well as using softwares such
as SlideShare, Prezi and Video, I came across a new software called
Powtoon, which allowed me to create an exciting, eye-catching
presentation. I used this software to create question 2 of my
evaluation. In the beginning it was extremely hard to use as I could
not get used to the aspect of 20 seconds to a slide. It took me about
3 days in total to complete this evaluation question! However, I feel it
worthy as it is extremely professional-looking and I am proud of the
outcome!

38.  Through the use of new digital technologies and
those I was already familiar with, I feel that I have
created a number of authentic, professional-
looking media products!
Thank you for watching this evaluation 