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

Wordpress This was used as a way to present my research into the mainstream media, as well as planning the three media products, the progress in their construction, and their final evaluation. The skills needed in using this programme involved quickly learning to adapt to an alternative blogging website. Another skill that were developed was the knowledge of all the different forms of media, and discovering new ways of presenting information in an interesting way. Wordpress.com is a free website, used for blogging purposes. It enables users to upload text, pictures, and links in individual posts.

Prezi is a website which can be described as online presentation software. This was a programme used in the research, planning and evaluation of the film, article and poster. When researching the cohesion of these three media products in relation to the film ‘Avatar’, Prezi was used as a more creative way of presenting the findings. Similarly, when researching the target audience in order to begin planning the film, Prezi was an ideal way of displaying the results. As well as this, the programme was also helpful for being used in answering the evaluation questions in a sophisticated manner.

Powerpoint Powerpoint is a slide-based presentation programme, used on Microsoft powered computers. This was used in the research and evaluation stages of making the three media products. When researching, this was an ideal way of presenting findings in a simple but effective programme. The file could be easily uploaded onto Wordpress, and posted with a short explanation of what the Powerpoint entailed. When evaluating, the programme was useful in helping the layout of answers. For example, Powerpoint files can be easily transferred into Prezi, and so this made using that website a lot easier. The use of this programme further developed skills in using different types of media. Slides on a Powerpoint can include text, graphics, sound, or film, and this reinforced my knowledge of their uses.

Microsoft Excel Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet programme used on Microsoft Windows. This was used in the research stage of producing the media products. After receiving the results of an audience questionnaire, Excel was an excellent programme to use in order to produce graphs and charts. This allowed the results to be presented in a clear and professional manner, which could then be easily posted onto the Wordpress blog.

The construction of the film was carried out entirely on iMovie. The editing was a significant aspect of producing the finished version, and the programme. iMovie iMovie is a video editing programme, developed by Apple. This was used in the planning and construction of the short film. When choosing which audio to use for the opening scene, alternative videos were produced to assist with the decision making. This helped the group plan which music to use in the final version of the film. programme was used to put the shots in order, cut them to create continuity editing or jump cuts, as well as to add audio and slow-motion. Text could also be added on the programme, and so a title page reading ‘Cracked’ was incorporated, plus credits, and shots explaining to the audience the sequence of events.

Adobe Photoshop Adobe Photoshop is a graphics editing programme, created by the company Adobe Systems. The programme is mostly commonly used for editing images and photographs. Photoshop was used in the construction of the poster and article ancillary tasks. The tools the programme features for manipulating images was perfect for the poster, as a fisheye effect was added to the screenshot from the film. Text could also be added, and the eye-drop tool made creating colour cohesion simple. Similarly, with the article, text could be added to a plain white background, and the programme had a wide-range of effects to produce a professional look and make the media product aesthetically pleasing. Skills for using a new programme were developed quickly, as well as learning how to alter images to produce an effect media product.

Youtube is a website used to upload, share and view videos. This was used in the planning and construction stages of making the film. When planning the montage and choosing which songs to feature in the opening scene, experimental videos were uploaded onto a channel. Rough edits, with the shots left uncut, were added as well, which helped with planning the final edit of the film. The search feature was also helpful in planning which audio to use in the film, as the unlimited videos available to watch made choosing songs and music much easier. The different stages of the construction of the film were also uploaded. These could then be embedded into posts on Wordpress with added evaluations, displaying skills in a wide-range of media texts.

iTunes iTunes is a media player and library, used to play and organise audio on computers. This was used in the planning and construction stages of producing the final film. By having a library with all music and songs displayed, the searching process for the audio of ‘Cracked’ was made much simpler. Playlists could also be made, which kept all chosen songs together in one place. With construction, songs could be dragged from this programme onto iMovie, where they could be cut to fit the scene. This made adding the final audio to the film reasonably easier.

Google is described as a ‘multinational corporation specialising in Internet- related services and products’. The search aspect of Google was the main feature used during this process. When researching examples of film, posters and articles in the mainstream media, Google was a useful website in searching for published pieces. Other websites specialising in these products could be found from the search engine, as well as directly suggesting examples in the ‘Images’ section.