Ben ColemanHow did you use media technology in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Research and PlanningMedia technologies were very useful for the research and planning stages, when we were first coming up with the idea for our topic we didnt use much technology and just used mind maps to write down our ideas and thoughts. When we then got our idea we then had to research into the topic, to do this we used Apples web browser safari and Microsofts internet explorer, this was very useful as we were able to navigate and search for similar products, along with finding facts and statistics about our chosen topics. Some of websites we used to find out this information was news sites such as the Guardian and BBC news, we also used YouTube to find some similar documentaries on the same topic. We also used wikipedia to find out statisitcs of some popular video games and to get some definitions, such as the words violent and video game, so we could use them in our documentary.

Another way in which we used the internet was to look on channel websites such as BBC iPlayer and 4oD to find out what type of documentaries they show on each channel and to see what times the type of documentary we want to make would be on we did this as well to find out which channel would best fit our documentary.

During the whole advanced portfolio we had to keep an updated blog on the website blogger to show our processes through everything we did, this was also used to keep track of all of our research and planning that we have done so we can easily see if we have missed anything and to make sure we have covered all parts of our topic in detail by doing this it helped to keep our work organised by putting it in chronological order. We had to upload our office documents, that we had done for research, to websites such as Slide Share Scribd and OneDrive so that they were on the internet with these we were able to embed our work into the blog.

To do this we had to present our work on a verity of software, one piece of software we used a lot was Microsoft Word, we used this to write out thing like questionnaires so we could customise them the way we wanted to so it was easy for our target audience to fill out. We also used it to write out our findings when researching into the topic. Another piece of software we used was presentation software like Microsoft PowerPoint and Prezi we used this to mostly present our feedback from our questionnaires and findings into the documentaries such as all the different codes and conventions we found in real media products as well as the different documentary modes by Bill Nichols. For the planning stages for our documentary we didnt use much media technology and instead did this on paper such as doing the storyboarding and then scanned them into the computer to put them onto the blog. However for the scripting for the voice over we again used word processing software like Apples pages to write this out as well as Microsoft word to do risk assessments of the locations we wanted to film. We also used blogger to write out general lists about any ideas we had for the documentary.

FilmingAfter we completed the research and planning stages we then moved onto filming our documentary, for this we had to use a range of different hardware and equipment such digital video cameras to capture all of our footage including background and archival footage as well as our vox-pops and expert interviews. To capture sound from our interviews we used a shotgun microphone so that we could minimise the amount of background noise that we could hear in the footage. We also had a pair of headphones so that the person holding the microphone could make sure that the sound sounded correct and could tell if the person we were interviewing was speaking loud enough, for example. To help keep our shots steady we used a tripod on which we put our video camera. This allowed us to do various different shots such as panning and tilting without it looking shaky and unprofessional. We also used a sound recorder so that we could capture our voice over for our documentary.To capture our archival footage we used YouTube to find the clips we wanted to use in our documentary such as news reports and video game footage. During the filming stages we also used some props to make our documentary look more realistic such as the use of the Xbox 360. We used this for many shots in our documentary for example the fact screen we did this to make it look more interesting to the audience and relate back to the topic of the documentary. After each session of filming we had to upload the footage we had got to an Apple Mac so it would be ready for logging and editing after we finished the filming process.

Editing After the filming process we returned to the Mac room and started selecting our footage that we wanted to use. We did this in Adobe premiere and wrote down on paper the selected footage we used. After this we started to put our documentary together in Premiere, this piece of software was very important to us in the creation of our product. For some of the shots that we had taken they looked a bit orange so to correct this we used the white balance tool and the colour correction tool to make the shots look more natural and professional. To make our documentary flow better and easier for the audience to follow we added a variety of transition such as the cross dissolve and wipe by doing this in the documentary we are making it easier for the audience to follow and slow the pace of the documentary down instead of using straight cuts.We also edited some shots so that they were sped up or slowed down we did this as we thought that some shots that we had gotten while filming werent the right speed for the time we wanted to fill, for example the panning shot of the college was too slow so we sped it up so it was shorter and didnt go on for too long as this could bore the audience. Along with this we also reversed a couple of background shots because we thought the end shot of the Xbox would work better if it zoomed in rather than out for example, this then saved time as we wouldnt have to re-shoot the shot and instead take a few minutes editing the shot.Premiere also allowed up to overlay text and images onto our shots, this allowed us to make our documentary look more professional when it came to the fact screen and the titles for the expert interviewees. Overlaying images allowed us to back up the points we and our experts were making in our documentary.Sound was another thing we had to edit, for this we used Adobe Audition to minimise the amount of background noise you could hear and also bring up the sound levels of the clip so that it matched better with other sound clips we were using. We did this for all of our voice over and expert interviews to make the documentary sound more professional and realistic.

For our background music we found some non-copyright music that fitted the tone of the documentary that we wanted. However there was some lyrics in the piece that we wanted to get rid of so it wasnt distracting to the audience. To do this we used garage band to remix the soundtrack by cutting out the parts that we didnt want so that it fitted better with the documentary.

Radio trailerFor the radio trailer we again used Adobe Premiere to create our product, we used this as we found it the easiest option to import our quotes and sound clips from our documentary, we also found it easy reorganise the sound clips if we needed to do so.We also used Adobe Audition again to add an echo on the sound clips we had taken from our documentary to build tension and curiosity for the listen of the radio trailer, this also made the radio trailer sound more upbeat and exciting to listen to.To create our music however we used garage band. This was good as it was easy for us to create a Capitol FM introduction. We also used it to loop a part of a soundtrack which created the same tone as the documentary. We didnt use the same music as the documentary as we found that it didnt make the radio trailer flow as well as we wanted so we created our own. We also used the internet to find some sound clips that we wanted to use that create a stronger link to the topic of the documentary of video games.

TV ListingFor our TV listing we screenshotted a range of images that we could possibly use for the double page spread, to edit these images we used Adobe Photoshop to make the images stand out to the audience. To do this we had to use a variety of tools to make the images look professional. The magic wand tool allowed us to select certain parts of the image quickly and then we were able to use the eraser tool to get rid of any part of the image we didnt want. The blur tool was used to change what part of the image focused on. We also used the shape tool to draw shapes like a rectangle for the background of our double page spread. The text tool was used to write our masthead and photo credits. The move tool was used to get our images in the place we wanted it on the double page spread. To write our article copy for our TV listing we used Microsoft Word, this allowed us to spell check what we were saying and was easier to proof read rather than typing out straight on our double page spread. After we had done all of this we imported the double page spread into Adobe InDesign and then copy and pasted our article copy on there. InDesign was a very good software to use as it allowed us to line everything up such as the columns in our article and manage to space everything our evenly. InDesign also allowed us to wrap text around other features like pull quotes and images to make it look more professional and realistic.

Other technologyWe used the popular messaging app Whats App to stay in contact with each other, this allowed us to plan our time effectively and were able to easily assign tasks to other people in the group when we werent together. We used this as we were able to create a group messaging chat instead of texting everyone individually.

We also used Apples Calendar application to manage our filming schedule and plan our time effectively so we knew what we were doing every filming session this allowed us to save time at the start of every session as we knew what we were doing beforehand and didnt have to have a discussion on what we need to film. This also allowed us to find times when we could interview our experts.

Overall I believe that we managed to use media technologies including software, hardware and equipment effectively throughout our advanced portfolio from the research and planning through to our construction and evaluation stages to present and create our work and products.