How Did You Use New Media Technologies in the Construction and Research, Planning and Evaluation Stages?

The Internet An obvious example of new media

technologies I have used is the internet. Firstly, as a team we visited multiple advertisements and trailers for both soap operas, and other E4 products. We found excellent example studies from EastEnders which introduce new characters to the storyline – perfect for our brief of introducing a new soap opera.

Also, we explored a Skins advert, which we found to be a great aid as their target audience is very similar to our own (16-24) and therefore we were able to research and explore the key themes and techniques we could replicate in our own product, in order to make it appropriate for our demographic.

The Internet An obvious example of new media

technologies I have used is the internet. Firstly, as a team we visited multiple advertisements and trailers for both soap operas, and other E4 products. We found excellent example studies from EastEnders which introduce new characters to the storyline – perfect for our brief of introducing a new soap opera.

Also, we explored a Skins advert, which we found to be a great aid as their target audience is very similar to our own (16-24) and therefore we were able to research and explore the key themes and techniques we could replicate in our own product, in order to make it appropriate for our demographic.

The Internet I also used the internet for my print work.

In order to have my poster fit the standard sizing guides of a magazine, I researched the NME Magazine page sizes. I chose the NME as they share a similar target demographic to my own, of middle to upper classed 17-24 year olds. I learned that the page sizing for full page advertisements in the magazine is W 215mm H 280mm, so I applied this to my own poster.

Also, I visited the What’s On TV website in order to establish what kind of content they put both in their magazines and on their website, in order for me to replicate this kind of material in my own magazine cover. I felt it appropriate to explore the website of What’s On TV as this is majorly where my target demographic would find this information – they are less likely to buy and read a magazine. As a result of this, the content for my magazine cover will be even more appropriate and accurate for my target audience to read.

The Internet I also used the internet for my print work.

In order to have my poster fit the standard sizing guides of a magazine, I researched the NME Magazine page sizes. I chose the NME as they share a similar target demographic to my own, of middle to upper classed 17-24 year olds. I learned that the page sizing for full page advertisements in the magazine is W 215mm H 280mm, so I applied this to my own poster.

Also, I visited the What’s On TV website in order to establish what kind of content they put both in their magazines and on their website, in order for me to replicate this kind of material in my own magazine cover. I felt it appropriate to explore the website of What’s On TV as this is majorly where my target demographic would find this information – they are less likely to buy and read a magazine. As a result of this, the content for my magazine cover will be even more appropriate and accurate for my target audience to read.

The InternetAnother aspect regarding

the internet was the advertising and market researching for the programme. We did a large amount of research online through questionnaires – using the free service Survey Monkey - Facebook messages and Q&A group chats on Whatsapp where we learnt the majority of our feedback.

Filming The filming process remained

fairly similar to other shoots I have experienced before, however we did use new technologies such as the Steadicam. This device allowed our more ambitious shots to become smoother and more professional, as the weights on the device counterbalance the weight of the camera, allowing an equilibrium where the camera is balanced. I believe this made the more ambitious shots in the shoot much more effective.

EditingI used Adobe Premiere Pro this year instead of

Premiere Elements which we used last year. The softwear itself is very similar, but offers more opportunity to perfect and refine your footage. For example, it was very easy to add a filter and darken the scenes featuring Lee, as his scenes are set in a dark, dusky, messy room. By adding a filter over the shots, it gave the impression that it was a dark early morning with very little light, despite it being filmed on a sunny day at 3 o’clock in the afternoon.

These are the examples of a show from the rough cut, and then one after the feedback. Clearly, there is significant difference between the lighter, happier rough cut still, and the darker more mundane final cut still.

EditingSimilarly, it was not a challenge

in order to change the colours of shots in the party scenes. Initially, we had tried to film the scene with real disco lights behind the shot, however we felt that the shots came out too dark and that it was too grainy as a result.

Here is an example of this:

EditingTherefore, in Adobe Premiere we

were able to simply add a filter over the top of the shot. We would select a black base, then add another, brighter coloured tone over the top creating the illusion of disco lights, and thus creating a party scene filled with lots of people.

This is a still of the party scene before applying the

filters.

And this is a still of the party after the filters have

been applied.

EditingFinally, within Adobe Premiere you are able to edit

music and sound effects. Initially we found a track which was three minutes long and featured a branding audio-track behind it, as it was free use from ‘AudioJunkie’ as long as we kept the audio-track behind it. Therefore, we used a track from www.bensound.com which was also around 3 minutes long, however the softwear we were using easily enabled me to locate the end of the musical bar, use the razor tool to split the sound, then replace the separated track with the upbeat bass sting at the end of the song. Easily we managed to edit the song down to 45 seconds for the final cut, instead of the 3 minutes it originally was.

PhotoPlus and PagePlus For the print work aspects of the coursework, I used PhotoPlus and

PagePlus. Both of the softwear were simple to use and allowed me to achieve everything I had originally designed – even if I decided to change my designs midway through the process. For example, PhotoPlus allowed me to easily add an outline and glow effect to my characters, as this was something that occurs in every What’s On TV magazine cover. Simply, by clicking effects, outlines, glow, and adjusting the opacity, colour and size of the outlined glow.

Here is an example of adding the glow to the characters.

PhotoPlus

PhotoPlus also allowed me to use a duotone effect on the images for the poster, creating a new, coloured layer on top my original image, darkening the darker part of the image, and making the lighter ones – for example with Lucy’s character – pinker. I simply selected the image, and converted it to greyscale, which the duotone then made the lighter parts of the image a colour of my choice.

This is the original image I took of Georgie – my actor for Lucy – and I had already edited the image in Bridge, adjusting the white-balance as the lighting at the shoot was not particularly good.

This is the a similar image taken at the same shoot, but after it has been edited within Bridge. By making the image greyscale, it removes all colour, then selecting duotone allowed me to leave the darkened parts of the image black, and dark, and the lighter parts were able to change to the pink you can see below.

E4 Branding When researching the E4

Branding, we were directed towards an E4 Style Guide which the company themselves had released to the internet, which can be found at http://www.channel4.com/about_c4/styleguide/e4styleguide/e4-brand-guidelines.pdf. I downloaded it as a PDF, and then opened it in PagePlus. I then found the typography section, and typed the text I wanted to use in that section. I then changed the text to curves – making it an image – and exported it as a JPEG, allowing me to import the image of the text into my poster. I repeated the step with the logo as well, which can be seen in both my poster and the final advert itself.

Examples of the typography and logo in

my final products.

Scouting LocationsMedia technologies such as email

and text message also allowed myself and the team to find the correct location for our shoot. Having a friend within Royal Holloway University, we were able to attain photographs of the scenery before even attending a recce.

Researching Media Institutions

It was important to find the correct media institutions in order to project ‘Halls’ to the correct target demographic. Through visiting websites such as the E4 website and 4Sales.com, I easily established the following facts about E4:

The following is taken from my blog at https://salesiana22016halls.wordpress.com/2015/11/04/further-audience-research-e4/

E4

E4

Team CommunicationSocial media proved very

important in the creative process along with for organizational purposes. Facebook Messenger, iMessage and WhatsApp all proved important in order to instantly communicate within the team, as well as outside, with people offering feedback.

Evaluation The evaluation gave me an

opportunity to explore new methods of presentation, and a process I have never used before was Prezi. This online device allowed me to display information in a more engaging and exciting way. I found it easy to navigate however struggled initially with the new complex functions. Overall however I believe I have successfully created an effective Prezi.

EvaluationThe most exciting aspect of the evaluation for

me was the green screen. After creating a green background with no shadows – due to the positions of the lights – we brought our script to life in front of the camera. We then took the footage we got to Adobe Premiere where we made the green background 100% transparent, and applied different stills and videos in the transparent background we had created, giving the effect of Ben and I being in different locations.

‘The Ben & George Show’ can be seen here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpaFHB3LUro

Benefits Of These Technologies

Clearly, a significant amount of this project would have been impossible to complete without these modern day technologies, such as the internet and electronic recording. We were able to record footage but not in a chronological fashion, as we were able to reshoot as many times as we liked, and adjust it in the editing process. Similarly, we were able to communicate instantaneously and process ideas very quickly. With the blogs, we were able to send our video and print work out to people without seeing them, as well as receiving feedback in a matter of moments. Clearly therefore, we used modern media technologies effectively in the process.