Critical evaluation 4

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

New media technologies and have been essential to the construction of our media text. Without them, the vision that we had for our short film could not have been fulfilled. New media technologies have been extensively used throughout the planning, filming and evaluation of our media text. This essay will consider the new media technologies we used, what we used them for and why.

Google blogger has been our most used new media technology to aid the construction of our media text. We have used blogger to document our research into genre and similar films. The similar films included are the feature length films: 'Fight Club', 'Office Space', 'Shaun of the Dead' and 'American Psycho', the short film 'Life's a Bitch' and the television series 'Fargo'. As a group we are all fans of the sub genres dark and black comedy. However, we understood the importance of extensive research to ensure a media product of a good standard.

The short film 'Life's A Bitch' from the website shortoftheweek.com. This film contributed to the inspiration for our short film.

It is important that blogger is compatible with the other media technologies that we have used during pre production, such as celtx, google, vimeo and youtube. This has allowed us to use these technologies and store them on one central technology.  It can therefore be argued that blogger has been a crucial technology as it has given direction and focus to the production of our media text. Moreover, blogger uses labels. This allowed us to share our work with others and distinguish between the work that we had done as a group and individually.

The use of blogger.

 The evidence of our research into film influences features the link to a youtube video, as seen below. This is a video by the channel 'Every frame a painting', of whose videos we often referred to during research and watch for personal enjoyment. We found elements of visual comedy within this video and used them in our film, for example introducing objects into a scene in a humourous manner.

During the planning stage we used the scripting software Celtx. This allowed us to present our final idea in a professional and interpretable manner. Using Celtx allowed us to document our film in a concise and descriptive manner that was easy to follow.

 An example of the screen play done on Celtx and uploaded google docs that is compatible with blogger.

After writing the script on Celtx we got some feedback from fellow students in the college. The students read the script and then in a video questionnaire we asked for their reaction to the script and asked additional questions, such as 'Would you pay money to see this film?' and 'What kind of music do you think this film will have in it?'. 

Feedback to a question from our film.

Link to our video questionnaire of initial audience feedback

After formalising our ideas into a screenplay on Celtx and receiving feedback we attempted to discern what age rating our film would be. In order to do this we researched the BBFC website. After researching the contents of each individual film rating we concluded that our film was a 15.

We used various technologies during the construction of our media product. We did not use photoshop in the first year, however, we used it in our second year construction and it allowed us to creatively market our film. This was an important digital technology that made our overall production look more professional.

Midway through the editing process of the poster on photoshop.

 

The completed poster on photoshop.

We used the digital media technology premiere pro to edit our film. This was difficult to use in the first year as it is a complex editing software. We have noticeably improved in our use of premiere pro from the first year to the second. As a result, our media construction this year has been a more professional and creatively striking text. Premiere pro has been an integral and crucial digital media technology and our media product and radio trailer could not have been constructed without it. 

The editing process on the digital media technology premiere pro.

To film our media product we used the Canon legria hf g25. This was a pivotal digital media technology in the construction of our media product. Moreover, the quality of the camcorder in A2 is superior to the ones used in AS which enhanced the professionalism of our film. Also, in the first year we did not make a radio trailer whereas in the second year we did using the H1 ZOOM recorder. This too aided the professionalism of our film.  We decided to use the voice recorder for other elements of our film too as it has a clearer sound than what the audio on the camcorder can pick up.

The Canon LEGRIA HF G25 camcorder.

The H1 ZOOM voice recorder.

We used freemusicarchive.org to soundtrack our film. In order to make our film more professional we would have liked to have use the music of our choice. However, it was copyrighted. Nevertheless, we still found music that enhanced our media product. We used the song 'It ain't right' whilst the attempted suicides were taking place. This added a relief to what would otherwise be a serious scene. For this reason it can be argued that free music archive was an important digital media technology in the construction of our media product.

We used the song 'It ain't right' from the free music archive during the suicide scenes.

I used prezi to present some elements of the evaluation of our media product. Prezi is a free presentation software that allowed me to creatively display my evaluation incorporating audio, videos and images in a concise and clear manner. 

The use of Prezi.

New media technologies have been integral to the construction of our media text throughout the research, construction and evaluation process. Google blogger was the most useful new media technology during the planning process of our media text as it allowed us to store our research on a central technology and provide focus to the media text. A less crucial but still useful media tehnology was celtx as the script could have been written on Microsoft Word. Premiere pro and the Canon Legria HF G25 were the most important new media technologies used during the construction of our film as they were both a good quality and allowed us to create and present our media text. A less crucial but nevertheless useful new media technology was H1 ZOOM voice recorder. It enhanced certain elements of the audio during the film, however, the audio on the camcorder was sufficient.