Question 4 part 2 Construction

Once all of our research and planning was completed it was time to move onto the construction. Throughout the construction of our coursework we used a range of different media technologies, all helping us to produce a creative, well made documentary opening, double page spread and radio trail

Filming

To film the footage we desired we had to use a digital camera, tripod, microphone , headphones and a recorder for the voice over.

Hg20 Canon camera-These cameras were easy to use and was of sufficient quality. Before we set out filming we made sure to check that the camera we had was working and had full battery. This was to save us from encountering any mishaps when filming our footage. There were as range of different aspects in which you could change when recording such as the focus, the zoom level and the contrast/brightness which we found very creative and useful.

Tripod-The tripod was an essential piece of equipment when filming as we needed it to create steady camera work that was easy on the eye. Some times we opted out of using the tripod because we wanted to create the hand held effect. We did encounter some problems with the tripods as some had been broken, but despite this we were still able to film decent footage.

Using a microphone during an interview and vox pop was crucial as the cameras microphone wasn’t of great quality and also picked up a lot of back ground noise. These were easy to use but not so easy to keep out of shot!

Along with the microphone came the headphones which were also just as important because then we could make sure that what we were recording was clear and concise meaning we didn’t have to film footage twice or more.

Editing

Final Cut Express

When it came to editing Final Cut Express was the only software we used. It was a simple programme to use once you had gotten used to how to use it. As a group we all took it in turns to work using the programme but always edited taking each others opinions and ideas into account. Editing was a long process because each time we had used the camera we had to upload and file and transfer all of our footage onto the programme. Once we had all of our footage though it became quite fun as we could then start being creative and producing our documentary.

File - Log and Transfer

You also have complete control and manipulation over the sound. This means you can adjust the sound levels of your footage and music, something which we found we had to do. This was also very crucial wen creating our radio trail.

This creativity was reinforced by all of the different tools you could choose to manipulate your footage. An example of this is the given ability to turn footage into a still image and go on to add filters, change the contrast/ levels, blur it and add type over the text. We took advantage of these tools and manipulated parts of our footage using different transitions and slowing down and speeding up certain parts.

Here is an example of how we used the different tools and manipulated our footage. We created a still image, blurred it out so it had a soft focus and then places text over the top.

Double Page Spread

To create the double page spread we used Microsoft Word and Photoshop. I wrote the article using the office programme whilst Tom and Austen designed and created the layout and main image in Photoshop. I feel this was very effective and created a very creative spread.

Evaluation

Throughout the evaluation of my work I have used a range of media. I have used a phone camera to record myself answering part of a question and then uploaded that to YouTube, using the link to navigate the examiner straight to the video so there is no confusion. I have used all of the software mentioned previously (scribd, prezi etc) in order to create a interesting evaluation. I found it hard to find other programmes in which I could use to make my evaluation more interesting, however I feel that the media technologies that I have used has helped create my evaluation to a decent standard.