EVALUATION question 4) How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

USE OF MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES.

• For the production, I used a Mini DV video camera to shoot my film. Along side this camera I used a tripod to ensure the shots looked professional. This gave me maximum control over what I was filming , especially during the filming of the interview, as I didn't have to control the camera. The set up for the interview was the hardest, because documentaries often have a side on shot, and the eye line had to be precise. Using the Mini DV format was especially useful as it is cheap and very easy to manage. Although I did not need to use the special features on the camera, as the conventions of the form prohibit this, I found that this type of technology was perfect for this particular type of production as it is easy to set up; easy to work with the rushes and easy to re-shoot if required.

• For my ancillary text images, I used a digital SLR camera for the best picture quality, and style of photographs. It further allowed me to adjust he lighting via the shutter speed and aperture. I also used the flash gun for the extra light due to poor lighting conditions. The large pixel count on the camera gave me the freedom to crop as required without losing any image quality in the editing process.
• As part of the preproduction research, I used the Internet (YouTube.com) to find out the conventions and styles of other documentaries for product research and uploading video extracts of other documentaries as well as extracts of my own, onto my blog. The access to a wide range of similar media texts had a major impact on my approach and influenced my choices and decisions regarding my own work in a whole range of ways. For example, Life Through The Lens (Annie Leibovitz) influenced my use of mise en scene as well as my editing decisions. The use of web 2.0 has increased the ability to share things much more easily, and it is less time consuming. In my efforts to research other documentaries I have managed to find so many which would have been near enough impossible and expensive if I was unable to watch it on YouTube, as the resources would have to be purchased and there may be limited access to them.
• The concept of postmodernism applies here as the line between the audience and the producer has been blurred and the ability of almost any 'audience' to become a 'producer', has been enabled and enhanced by the development of the internet thus we, as an 'active' audience, can produce as well as receive.

• I used the social networking site-Face Book for audience feedback. This was helpful because I could ask a wide range of people with the advantage of it not being time consuming or logistically complicated. This however may not have external validity as the participants were all aquaintances of mine, therefore they may have had a biased view.
  
  
  
• I used iMovie to edit my film. It's straight forward and easy to use editing package and though it is limited there were many tools which I could use. Because I was making a documentary my effect options during the production were limited, if I had a more professional system like Final Cut Pro then I would be able to make the editing (including effects and sound quality) much better. However, the nature of the form meant that the software and its capabilities were not really a major concern, although a few more timelines would have been good.

• To edit my photographs for the double page spread and the newspaper advert I used Adobe Photoshop CS3, and within this computer programme there were many tricks which I used to make my ancillary texts look more professional. This included using the airbrush tool, and cutting out images when required and manipulating them if necessary. Photoshop is in some ways easy to use and there are a number of processes which can be applied to ones images, but it is a very technical and time consuming programme so careful planning and image choice is required. In particular I used the dodge tool to bring light to the area's of the face which were slightly darkened. This wasn't a major issue because I controlled the camera well when I was taking the photographs.
• What helped me to use photoshop was the YouTube tutorials.

• I had to convert the I Movie format to Quicktime full qulity, so I could upload my work to YouTube. This enabled me to be able embed my clip on to blogspot without having to weight for it load or the hassle of converting the file and then downloading it straight from the computer.

• Microsoft Word was used to make questionnaires for my audience research, which helped me get the results and increase my understanding of what my audience demand.


• I used Microsoft Publisher to put the results on to graphs and converting them to JPEG images, so I could upload them on to my blog to help make it easier to read as well as visually appealing.