How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Research and Planning
Primarily, we used the internet for our research and planning as this was our most accessible source of a wide range of ideas, conventions and resources. For example. websites such as horror.wikia.com came in useful when looking up conventions for our genre. Other websites we used included wikipedia and www.horrorfilmhistory.com when researching our genre.
We did a lot of blog posts on blogger in our research and planning, for example deconstructions of genre and practical tasks looking at locations, researching where would
be a good place to film. Another way we did research was by using the
online survey website survey monkey to conduct a survey into
initial ideas that we had for our film. We collected results from various
questions to help us plan our actual piece.
We did a lot of blog posts on blogger in our research and planning, for example deconstructions of genre and practical tasks looking at locations, researching where would
be a good place to film. Another way we did research was by using the
online survey website survey monkey to conduct a survey into
initial ideas that we had for our film. We collected results from various
questions to help us plan our actual piece.
We also used online sources such as YouTube a great deal, as there are lots of helpful previous a2 pieces available, tutorials and sound clips, as well as other online resources such as Incompetech, Dafont and Freesfx, for sound a font downloads.
Construction
To film our piece we used a standard video camera that one of us had at home and used a tripod from school. It was a basic video camera and so there was no difficulty in getting to grips with it's controls.
Editing
During editing, we used Final Cut Pro, which is a software used on the Macs. Originally, we began editing using iMovie and it's basic editing possibilities but due to it's slow speed and temperamental nature we chose to explore other options and were led to using Final Cut Pro. As an editing software, Final Cut allowed us to use pre-existing effects such as 'Bad TV' in order to create a fuzzy, white noise effect on our footage. We had a wide range of effects and transitions at our disposal within the construction phase of our teaser trailer.
Another part to editing is the use of typography, which we worked quite hard on. We used a font downloaded from dafont.com called 'Scream Again', which we manipulated on photoshop later. We also added effects and transitions on the text to make it seem more conventional.
Sound
For our sound we used a variety of sources, mentioned earlier. We also played around with the sound editing a lot, layering sounds, changing volumes etc. We found sound from real films e.g. the scream at the end, as well as freesfx for sounds such as heavy breathing. We also used incompetech, which is a library of free music that you can download and use in your own projects. Using our genre research and knowledge about sound, we decided on several soundtracks which we could then layer in various ways, to create eerie, tension building sounds, as seen below.
Photoshop
We used Photoshop to create our poster as well as design a lot of the typography used throughout the whole media package e.g. the 'knock knock' logo. When designing the poster and website I used Photoshop to manipulate the text further, using blood smears/splatters and my newly developed Photoshop skills to make the typography look even more professional. I found that this was more effective than just using the font on a plain background as it conformed more to the genre and gave the audience an idea of the narrative.
We also used Photoshop to create the background for our website, instead of using separate images, as we felt like this might be a simpler way to design the website. We used the same typography and fonts as previously used, to make sure that all our ancillary items matched, and made sure we included all the necessary items on our website e.g. reviews, a hashtag, the menu etc.
Wix
Wix is a cloud-based web development platform that allows users to create websites and mobile sites, through the use of their online drag and drop tools. This was a very helpful tool as we had some basic HTML knowledge, but certainly not enough to actually create a whole website from scratch. The drag and drop options were useful in that way, as the code was already written for us. Whilst designing the website, we did use some code though that was written by us, learned using online tutorials. We combined our Photoshop skills, HTML skills and our trailer to create an interesting website using media technologies. One feature of the website is the menu, which we wrote the code for. We had to use code to make the text the font 'Big Caslon', as that was what we were using throughout our promotional package. We also wanted the hovering colour to change to red, so we had to use our HTML skills learned to create the proper code, leading to results like this:
To film our piece we used a standard video camera that one of us had at home and used a tripod from school. It was a basic video camera and so there was no difficulty in getting to grips with it's controls.
Editing
Another part to editing is the use of typography, which we worked quite hard on. We used a font downloaded from dafont.com called 'Scream Again', which we manipulated on photoshop later. We also added effects and transitions on the text to make it seem more conventional.
Sound
For our sound we used a variety of sources, mentioned earlier. We also played around with the sound editing a lot, layering sounds, changing volumes etc. We found sound from real films e.g. the scream at the end, as well as freesfx for sounds such as heavy breathing. We also used incompetech, which is a library of free music that you can download and use in your own projects. Using our genre research and knowledge about sound, we decided on several soundtracks which we could then layer in various ways, to create eerie, tension building sounds, as seen below.
Photoshop
We used Photoshop to create our poster as well as design a lot of the typography used throughout the whole media package e.g. the 'knock knock' logo. When designing the poster and website I used Photoshop to manipulate the text further, using blood smears/splatters and my newly developed Photoshop skills to make the typography look even more professional. I found that this was more effective than just using the font on a plain background as it conformed more to the genre and gave the audience an idea of the narrative. We also used Photoshop to create the background for our website, instead of using separate images, as we felt like this might be a simpler way to design the website. We used the same typography and fonts as previously used, to make sure that all our ancillary items matched, and made sure we included all the necessary items on our website e.g. reviews, a hashtag, the menu etc.
Wix
Wix is a cloud-based web development platform that allows users to create websites and mobile sites, through the use of their online drag and drop tools. This was a very helpful tool as we had some basic HTML knowledge, but certainly not enough to actually create a whole website from scratch. The drag and drop options were useful in that way, as the code was already written for us. Whilst designing the website, we did use some code though that was written by us, learned using online tutorials. We combined our Photoshop skills, HTML skills and our trailer to create an interesting website using media technologies. One feature of the website is the menu, which we wrote the code for. We had to use code to make the text the font 'Big Caslon', as that was what we were using throughout our promotional package. We also wanted the hovering colour to change to red, so we had to use our HTML skills learned to create the proper code, leading to results like this:
Evaluation
We mainly used social media to get our trailer out into the public eye, as we are aware that this is what gets people talking. We also used a hashtag, #KnockKnock as part of our promotional package, as we felt this was quite a current and trendy way to spread the word. We used YouTube to upload and share the trailer. We also made use of Facebook and Twitter to share our media piece, and added share buttons on our website, as well as icons on our poster. People posted comments as part of the evaluation so we could gain some feedback and criticism as to what went well, and what could be improved.
We mainly used social media to get our trailer out into the public eye, as we are aware that this is what gets people talking. We also used a hashtag, #KnockKnock as part of our promotional package, as we felt this was quite a current and trendy way to spread the word. We used YouTube to upload and share the trailer. We also made use of Facebook and Twitter to share our media piece, and added share buttons on our website, as well as icons on our poster. People posted comments as part of the evaluation so we could gain some feedback and criticism as to what went well, and what could be improved.
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