Evaluation Question 4

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

   Throughout the various stages of my film, from research to evaluation, I used a wide range of media technologies including digital cameras and professional standard audio and visual software such as Logic Pro X, for example. I used these various media technologies to further my skills while enhancing the final outcome of my film. Upon evaluation of the range of media technologies I have used at A2-level, it is clear to see that I have made a ginormous step up from last year when I produced a short film opening for AS-level. In this answer I will look at each of the stages of producing my final film in individual stages, and discuss, analyse and evaluate the use of media technologies in each one. 

   To begin with, before even thinking of starting to shoot my film, I needed to do a lot of research in order to know what I wanted to produce and how I would impress my target audience. I used the internet in a number of different ways when it came to my research. To begin with, I wanted to really familiarise myself with the horror genre so that I could start brainstorming my own ideas as well as laying the foundations for the key forms and conventions of short films in the horror genre. I used a range of tools that were available to me on the internet.

Horror genre documentary - 'Masters of Horror'

The first one I used was youtube, on this free video streaming site I could watch countless videos about horror conventions, from which I took notes, and also I could watch hundreds of other A2 level short films, of which most were horror films. Watching these short films made by other A2 students and watching horror convention and theory lecture videos allowed me to build a bigger understanding of the horror genre, gave me a better idea on what to put in my film in terms of conventions, and this experience also gave the idea of the standard of other A2 level student's work. Other sites I used included Vimeo, which is very similar to youtube. To get a more general feel for the horror genre, I used Netflix for a month; a movie and TV streaming service which has millions of films and TV programmes which are available whenever, or 'on-demand'.

I used this to watch a few classic horror films including Hitchcock's 'Psycho' (1960) and the 1985 Wes Craven release, 'Nightmare on Elm Street'. Both these films gave me more and more ideas that I could integrate into my short film; Psycho was particularly good because of it's pioneering use of non-diegetic sound. Finally, a really good source of professionally-made short films were on hand by accessing the 'Short of the Week' website, a streaming website which was jam-packed with thousands of short films, including some excellently made horror films including one called 'Lights Out', which particularly inspired my own short film.

       Another way in which I used the internet in terms of research was how I used it to gather ideas for my own film. I used google's advanced search function to look up many websites that I could access and read about eerie stories that would eventually give me some inspiration for my own short film.

Furthermore, I used the internet in one final other way to do research for my film. Through the use social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, I was able to contact people and ask them about what they thought of my film idea. This really did pay off as I posted about my idea in a particular Facebook group, which was made up of other Media Studies students, and I received loads of positive feedback about my idea, and points to improve on! Overall, in terms of research, a great range of media technologies were used, and they really did help me to do some valuable in-depth research that would aid me in producing my final short film.

On the subject of planning, I used a very limited range of media technologies to plan my film. I mainly used the classic combination of my pen and lots of paper to brainstorm, write down script ideas, storyboard my film and write out filming plans and timetables. In terms of media technologies, I used Microsoft Word to produce a storyboard template which I could print off and sketch my ideas on to, and I used the calendar on my iPhone to keep a track of filming dates and deadlines. 

     Moving on, I'm going to discuss the abundant use of media technologies in the construction of my film; I'm going to divide it into the shooting of the film and post-production (all the editing) stages. When it came to shooting my film, I used two key pieces of media technology; a HD digital camcorder to film the visuals and a condenser microphone to capture the audio.

I used a Canon LEGRIA HF R38 3.28 MP Camcorder which could film in 1080p to shoot the film, and the end result was excellent. This camera was spot on when it came to shooting in low-light settings, and this was just what I needed, plus the camera was extremely simple to operate. Within two minutes of getting my hands on the camera, I was an expert! When it came to capturing audio, I always set up an AKG C214 condenser microphone going through an Alesis USB mixing desk and into my Macbook which was running Logic Pro X on set. I was originally going to use a Sennheiser MKH 6080 shotgun condenser microphone to capture audio for the film, but I was unable to use it as I could not mount it on my camera rig, and I was not able to rent one out on time. Despite this, using an AKG C214 condenser microphone still gave me some good sound, and it was much better than using the built in microphone on the Canon camcorder. To conclude, using the Canon HD camcorder and the excellent AKG condenser microphone meant that producing my film was easier, more efficient, and more to the point, the end product was really good. When it came to post-production, I used two key examples of media technology: iMovie and Logic Pro. I used iMovie to edit the film and bring the final product together. iMovie was great as it was straightforward to use and as it was on my macbook, editing was made into a very flexible process; I could pretty much edit my film anytime I felt like it, regardless of where I was, as long as I had it with me of course. Looking at Logic Pro X, I used it to process sound I recorded with the AKG condenser microphone. I needed to use it as I recorded delicate sounds such as footsteps and the dog licking sound which was much needed in my film. In Logic Pro X, I took the recorded sound, gave it a simple EQ and a compression mix every time to even out the dynamic range to make sure the audio was in its best state to be used in my film. Overall, using Logic Pro X and iMovie made life a lot easier because I did not have to rely on using the software on computers only in school, plus I was already very familiar with both the pieces of software. 

Finally I am going to look at how I used media technologies in the evaluation stage of producing my short film. There are 3 key things that I used: Powerpoint, iMovie and Blogger. I used Blogger to complete this section of the evaluation of my film, and I have used it to evaluate my ancillary tasks as well. Why iMovie? Well I used iMovie in the production of my VLOG, which is part of my evaluation. iMovie is a great and easy piece of software to use, but it still gives really professional results. To finish, I have used powerpoint as well in my evaluation; this is a piece of presentation software which allows you to produce really professional looking presentations that can even include audio! 

Overall, I have used a range of media technologies to produce a quality end product, my short film, which is a real asset to all the time I have spent using different media technologies. The key media technology that I used was iMovie, the video editing suite that I used to edit my film. I was comfortable using iMovie, and it allowed me to therefore experiment with my editing skills and therefore improve my skills, bringing together a professional end product.