Eval

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

2. The process of filmmaking can be underestimated in the
amount of technological equipment that is used in all the
different stages of producing the final product. From my
main task I have been able to use a variety of different
technologies both complex and simple to create my final
product in which all had a significant role and we the
building blocks to a successful piece.

3. Research
In my research stages I used different technologies to
search for different styles of information. By doing so I was
able to accumulate written, audio and video information
that I could then transfer onto my subject blog to analyse
the information further and evaluate how this would help in
my research stages.

4. Research : Technologies
• Search Engines (Google/ Bing)- Google, Bing and any alternative search engines I
used acted as the basic platform for me to access small amounts of information. They
are very simple to use and only require key words or phrases to show millions of
linked results. This was most helpful in researching theorists and their most famous
work.
• YouTube- One of the more popular technologies I used was YouTube, a video
platform home to billions of video files and bloggers channels. This proved extremely
helpful in learning about camera technique as it shows a visual demonstration of
equipment and how to use it to its full advantage . By following channels such as
‘Film Riot’ and ‘Every Frame a Painting’ I was able to easily locate videos regarding
filmmaking and tips for shooting in certain places.
• IMDB- IMBD is a website based on films and their internal information that is often
overlooked. Locations, Box Office success and other informative details appear on
this site and were an easy way to access certain films similar to our genre and how
they were successful.
• Slideshare – Slide share not only acted as a great platform to share my research but
was convenient to search for others opinion on topics I was researching myself. The
side as it states in the name is a way of sharing presentations with the world and
therefore was brilliant in accessing deconstruction formats, and sometimes even
other peoples view on certain posters and reviews which was particularly helpful
when it came to creating my ancillary tasks as I then had more than one
interpretation of certain aspects of the texts. To take my own presentations from Slide
share the method was simple in that you simply choose from your documents the
presentation you would like to share, change the subject to ‘education’ and the title (if
appropriate). Then I would click the ‘share’ button and then highlight the ‘embed’ code
as this would be read by the blog platform (WordPress). Once the code was on my
‘New Post’ in WordPress I would have to put a space before the code and then it
would appear clearly on my blog.

5. Planning
In my opinion the planning process should always remain
quite visual. This allows your thoughts and ideas to be laid
out in a format that is easiest for yourself to refer back to
your notes without having to look through pages of
information. Therefore, for my planning stages I decided
using technologies on the computer would keep my ideas
clear and easy to navigate between.

6. Planning: Technologies
• Microsoft PowerPoint – I was already familiar with the Microsoft Office
software's as they are predominantly used in schools. This made it easy for me to
create 4-10 slide PowerPoints explaining certain ideas or concepts in other films
that I thought would work well as part of our narrative. Also even before the
stages of planning our own film it was effective to use as a way to express my
plan from research on narrative structure and how my research has effected my
planning. It has a similar function to Microsoft Word however it uses square slides
and there are features that would create group presentation material.
• WordPress Blog- I was very new to using Wordpress at the start of the A Level
course and had very little understanding on how it worked as a platform. However,
from completing my work from last years course and now the A2 work it has been
a very effective way to post work and keep an updated timeline in some ways on
how our production has unfolded. It seems quite complicated just because of its
unfamiliar nature. To add a new post there is a plus symbol at the top of the page,
to categorize your posts there is also a panel down the left hand side which help
keeps work organised. As well as this, I found this technology effective as it is
simple to add a variety of file types, like JPEG’S, PDF , Slideshare files, Goolge
Docs and YouTube videos.
• Mobile phone – Although this may not seem like a very important technology, it
was in fact how myself and Emily shared ideas for aspects of the film. This way
we could send each other links for articles that criticized certain short films for
different techniques or narratives. Furthermore, we could also communicate on
when we planned to film and what we would require for the shoots.

7. Construction
It is clear that this stage was more dependent on
technologies as we were required to use filming equipment
and editing software to create the product. We spent most
of our time whilst making the film using different
technologies that would add elements to the film and make
it a more successful and professional looking product.

8. Construction
• Cameras : The most crucial technological equipment used in the making of the film was the camera itself.
Generally, in shoots we would use 2/3 cameras and therefore we had to make sure we were able to use
them with confidence. We learned through our research process how to use the simple functions like the
power button on the left hand side and the record button on the right. Then, we looked into the more
complex features on the camera like the colour settings which we were reliant on because of the indoor
setting. Furthermore, we learned how to use a small turning wheel at the front of the camera which was to
be used for manual focus – this heightened the quality on the object of the focus.
• Lighting : Lighting was another key piece of equipment used in our construction as we had to use it
effectively to avoid a grainy image. In the house scenes we always used 2-4 artificial white lights pointed
up towards the white sailings as this would avoid an unnatural blue look in the shot. In correspondence
with the lights we used bounce boards which reflected the light with a less harsh appearance therefore
creating a calming, natural tone.
• Edius 7 : This editing software was also a key part in the creating of our film as we used it to shorten clips,
adjust the colour, change the framing of certain shots and more so combine the whole of the footage to
create the final product. Having used this software in previous years I was familiar with the basics of how
to transfer the files from camera to software by using SD cards . Emily and I also understood how to
merge clips together and how to change sound levels and basic editing techniques. To further this
understanding we used our research methods to find other effects on Edius 7 like speed manipulation and
‘Chromakey’ in which you can place a JPEG with a white background above the footage and appear
without the white surround the main image. This was needed for our text message conversation the
appearance of the Photo shopped title.
• Mobile Phones: During the filming stages communication was essential. We took down the chosen actors
mobile numbers and had myself and Emily’s contact details on the bottom of every shoot plan. Without
this communication it would have been very difficult for our actors to reach us if there was an emergency
or for us to reach them if any unexpected circumstances were to arise.

9. Evaluation
To continuously justify the decisions myself and Emily
made regarding we had to use a selection of different
technologies. The continuous evaluation of decisions or
new directions was essential as the process could
otherwise be seen as muddled or not carefully pieced
together.

10. Evaluation
• WordPress: Alike used for my other stages, word press acted as a platform for me to
display my evaluations in the form of presentations or just written posts.
• Social media : To use conventional promotion methods we decided using social media
like Twitter and Facebook would be an effective way to display dates and times for
certain events like the sneak peak footage, the actual screening and the questionnaire
results.
• Interactive whiteboard: For the actual screening of our short film and for our audience
to able to evaluate its content guided by our questionnaire questions we held a
screening on 28/04/16. This allowed us to get a live evaluation of our target audiences
reaction to the film and whether they enjoyed or disliked any aspect of the film. After
burning the film from Edius 7 onto a disc we placed in into a CD/DVD reader of the
laptop connected to an interactive whiteboard. Thus allowing the film to be shown on a
70 inch screen clearly and with good sound quality.
• Scanner : All the way through the process we used the scanner to scan in
questionnaires, storyboards, changes to storyboards and other documents that had
any evidence of evaluation into the computer. Firstly ,one must place a memory stick
into the side of the scanner or printer. Then, lift the lid and place the document
landscape for the scanner to be able to read the whole document. Once the item has
scanned, we were to remove the memory stick and then take this to our own work
station and then transfer the files. n doing so we were then able to convert this into a
file appropriate for WordPress to read. This allowed our evaluations to be a mixture of
typed and written documents.