Evaluation 4:

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

Research and Planning

The research and planning of our documentary 'Social Stereotypes' was vital in the production and creation of it. In order to do successful planning, we used a range of technologies and non technological methods.

In the brief, we were to get into groups and create a 5 minute documentary introduction , on a topic of our choosing, a magazine double page spread listings page and a radio trailer. Due to the fact we were working in groups, we used technology to our benefit by using the power of social network as a way of contacting each other outside of college hours in order to make decisions based on the coursework and arrange times to meet. The tree main social medias we used were Watsapp, Facebook and Skype. These all played a role in the planning of the documentary. Both Watsapp and Facebook gave us a direct link to each other's mobile phones in order to contact everyone in the group at the same time whenever we needed to. This became very useful in the production and planning part of the documentary. Towards the beginning of the planning, we would send links to articles and images to support what ideas we had based on the topic of the documentary. Skype allowed use to have video chats. In these video calls, we would talk about our planning schedules and talk about what stages we were at with the uploads onto the blog. Using these technologies not only kept the group organised throughout the creations of the documentary, magazine and radio, but also enabled to make decisions as a team.

RESEARCH AND PLANNING

In the research stage of our documentary, we used various websites for the research in to the topic of stereotypical social stereotypes. As a part of our documentary looked at the medias impact on the labels associated with social groups, we looks at news sites for the latest and most shocking stories on this topic. To do this, we googled websites such as the BBC and The Guardian. From doing this, we were able to find facts and statistic that we could use in our documentary. To create a more dramatic effect in our documentary, we decided to get a camera and film the computer screen with the newspaper articles on. This became a great segway into the media's influence section of our documentary. In addition, the channel research included looking at the websites of BBC, iTV, Channel 4 and Channel 5. By looking at their website, and Wikipedia pages, it gave an insight into the types of documentaries they air and the types of audience they appealed to the most. Doing this, allowed us to come to the decision on Channel 4.

RESEARCH AND PLANNING

YouTube played an important role in the planning and research of the documentary. Youtube allowed us to publish videos of our practice run of a interview and also it provided us with a great tool for research. We filmed footage from YouTube of films and archive footage that would provide evidence in our documentary. Also, we used it a way of researching the codes and conventions of documentaries. This allowed us to identify what was needed to be done in order to create and effective and authentic documentary.

RESEARCH AND PLANNING

FILMING We used a canon HD camera to film all of our footage. The camera was easy to use and paired with the tripod meant we could get some great footage. The zoom in and out tool at the top of the camera, meant we could achieve some effective close up shots, but also long shots. For our expert interviews, vox pops and establishing shots we used a tripod, but for some of the clips we used handheld. The effect of this was it made the footage a little edger and upbeat. This fit in with the 'teenage' image of being quite fast pace and edgy themselves. Handheld camera footage tends to go against the main conventions of a documentary, as another documentary we looked at, 'one born every minute' used the same shot positions, however zoomed in if necessary. However, an exception of this which we decided to mirror, was 'supersize me'. In this the personal video diaries and car scene of him being sick, would use handheld. Thus making it more person and authentic for the audience.

In our documentary, we wanted to do a before and after shot. By using Adobe Premier, we used the ‘Cut’ tool, in order to gain two parts of the ‘Beth makeup clip’. First we ‘Cut’ a shot from the very beginning and then ‘cut’ a part from the end. We put the clips on top of each other in the sequence. We could then change the percentage of how much each clip took of the screen. However, the only problem we then had, was the fact that the right side of the clips back ground was very yellow. In order to fix this I was able to use a ‘Video effect’ where I changed the colour of the clip. I used the colour wheel to choose a colour which contrast with the yellow in order to correct it. Although it isn't perfect, it still look a lot better than it originally did, showing how much technology has helped in the creation of the documentary.

EDITING

‘Razor’ tool. This allowed me to cut the clips.

This is the colour wheel. It helps to balance the colour using opposite colour

On video one sequence line, the left clip is showing. On top, on video line 2, is the clip on the right.

In our documentary, we wanted to follow the conventions of a documentary, by having captions on the screen. To do this, I created a default still which then brought up an image which we could then create an overlay of text for. For the caption, we decided to have an opaque white box with black serif font. The caption has been created large and bold so that the audience can clearly see that this is an expert talking and his/her opinion is very important.

EDITING

Here we have purposely put Nick Waring in a much larger font so that it is the first thing you see. Underneath in a slightly smaller font is his job description.

Here is where you can make a change in the font size, colour and style.

In our documentary, we used quite a lot of archive footage. In order to get that footage, we had to film, using the cannon, the computer screen. However, the consequence of this, was that everything filmed had an orange/ red tinge to the colour scheme. In order to fix this I was able to use a ‘Video effect’ where I changed the colour of the clip. I used the colour wheel to choose a greenish blue colour , as it was the opposite of the orange tinge in the colour wheel, which stabilised the colour of the clips giving it a more white balance look. Although it isn't perfect, it still look a lot better than it originally did, showing how much technology has helped in the creation of the documentary.

EDITING

This is the colour wheel. It helps to balance the colour using opposite colour

Before After

In our documentary, we wanted to do a before and after shot. By using Adobe Premier, we used the ‘Cut’ tool, in order to gain two parts of the ‘Beth makeup clip’. First we ‘Cut’ a shot from the very beginning and then ‘cut’ a part from the end. We put the clips on top of each other in the sequence. We could then change the percentage of how much each clip took of the screen. However, the only problem we then had, was the fact that the right side of the clips back ground was very yellow. In order to fix this I was able to use a ‘Video effect’ where I changed the colour of the clip. I used the colour wheel to choose a colour which contrast with the yellow in order to correct it. Although it isn't perfect, it still look a lot better than it originally did, showing how much technology has helped in the creation of the documentary.

EDITING

‘Razor’ tool. This allowed me to cut the clips.

This is the colour wheel. It helps to balance the colour using opposite colour

On video one sequence line, the left clip is showing. On top, on video line 2, is the clip on the right.

Throughout our documentary process, all research and planning has been uploaded to a website called ‘Blogger’. This has enabled us to access the blog anywhere, but also to effectively work well together as a group since we could all work on the blog at the same time.

BLOGGER