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

2. Research and Planning From the very beginning of our project we have engaged with new media technologies. Immediately, we began researching teaser trailers to gain an understanding of what was expected from us for the project and to look for inspiration for our teaser trailer (and later our ancillary texts). This would not have been possible without the use of a computer to allow us to access website such as YouTube, traileraddict, imdb, Google images and the official empire magazine website. Having a convergent device such as a computer was what allowed us to do this so easily and quickly. Without one we would have had to have relied on things such as trips to the cinema to gather research on teaser trailers and film posters, and buying lots of different types of film magazines to gather inspiration for our magazine cover.

3. Continued… Using a computer also helped us to organise and present our research and planning. Using blogger to upload our work onto meant that it was all in one place and we could constantly refer to it and edit it. It also meant that we could experiment with how we presented our research and planning. Examples of this are using slideshare to upload PowerPoint presentations and experimenting with prezi. This gave us more freedom and choice in how we carried out tasks and organised our ideas. Using a convergent device like a computer also allowed us to scan in parts of our work. For example any hand written notes, drawing and diagrams such as initial ideas, storyboards and filming schedules. We also used a digital camera to take photographs of our cast and the locations we used, which we were then able to upload onto the computer and then onto blogger.

4. Construction Trailer We used a digital camera to film our trailer. We then uploaded the footage onto the Mac computer. Using IMovie HD on the computer we were then able to edit the trailer. We were able to easily and efficiently experiment with the lengths and order of different shots to find the most effective combination. The convergence of the computer was again extremely beneficial in the construction of our trailer as it meant that when editing we could experiment with sound. We could use the internet to search for copyright free music and also upload any music we had made ourselves. For our trailer we used music and sound effects from IMovie HD and also ones which we downloaded from www.freesound.org.

5. Construction Continued… Trailer We used the newer version of IMovie to create the titles for our trailer. Using this newer version of IMovie meant that we could make more professional and effective looking titles as the software had been upgraded. We were able to experiment with different backgrounds, effects, fonts and colours to create titles that were the best fit for our trailer. However, we knew how to efficiently use IMovie HD and so had used this to edit the rest of the trailer. Using two different versions of the software was not a problem however, as we were able to just transfer the completed titles from the newer IMovie into the old one.

6. Construction Continued… Film Poster and Magazine Cover For both of these we took pictures using a digital camera and then uploaded them onto the Mac computer. We were then able to edit and manipulate these images using Photoshop. We used a variety of different tools in Photoshop to create our ancillary texts. For example, we used the selection tool to select parts of different images and was then able to edit them all together onto our film poster using the smudge tool. Using the different layers in Photoshop allowed us to do things such as bring certain images to the front of the poster while blurring others into the background. Using Photoshop also allowed us to improve the images which we had uploaded. For example we were able to lighten and refine the image of our protagonist used for the magazine cover. This improved the image and the contrast between the colours, making it more attention grabbing and professional looking, which was our aim. Our text could also be improved by using this program as we were able to apply effects such as shadowing to make it stand out against the background and look as professional as possible. All of these features are things which we would definitely not have been able to do if Photoshop and the Mac computers were not available to us.

7. Evaluation New media technologies also helped us in our evaluation of our project. One key way in which it did this was the different ways in which we were able to gather audience feedback to our trailer and ancillary texts. The first way in which the convergence of the computer helped us was when we had a class screening of all of our trailers. We were able to watch all of the trailers through the computer and projector screen attached to it. All of the trailers had been put onto one DVD making it easy for each group to gather and give feedback quickly and efficiently. We then used the scanner to scan this feedback into the computer, as well as the class feedback on our poster and magazine cover. Convergent media technologies meant that this didn’t have to be our only source of feedback. We also used the computer to show our trailer to our classmate Charlotte and we then used a digital camera to film her verbal response to it. We then uploaded this footage onto the Mac computer and was able to edit and then upload it onto our blogs, just like we did with the construction of our trailer. As well as uploading our trailer onto our blog we also uploaded in onto YouTube. This allowed people outside of our class to go and watch the trailer on their computers and then leave comments on it, which we then examined in our evaluation. Instead of YouTube we could have uploaded our trailer onto social networking sites such as Facebook and asked people to leave their feedback there. Without media technologies, this would not have been possible and instead we would have had to relied on other, less interesting approaches. These could have been things such as showing the trailer and interviewing people afterwards and then typing out there responses or giving them a handwritten questionnaire which would have possible restricted their feedback instead of allowing people the freedom to give their own individual and unique feedback. This would have reduced the quality of our evaluation.

8. Evaluation Continued… We also used media technologies in the other parts of our evaluation. We used the computer to create PowerPoint presentations and then upload them onto our blogs using slideshare. We also looked over our influences again using YouTube and looking back over previous posts on our blog. Doing the evaluation on the computer made it easy to upload pictures and incorporate them into our answers and examples. Using a Mac computer further improved our evaluation by making it possible for us to use other methods of presenting our answers instead of always in the written form. We took advantage of this by creating a voiceover to play over our trailer and ancillary texts. We then added images and made this into a video which we could then upload onto our blog, along with our research, planning and finished trailer, film poster and magazine cover. New media technologies has therefore affected every aspect of our project.