A2 Media Studies PowerPoint EvaluationBrad Hampson

Question 4:

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

USING MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF OUR DOCUMENTARY

During the process of creating my music documentary, I used a variety of different hardware in order to help create the documentary. For example, we used the Sony HXR_MC2000E camera when recording footage for our documentary. This was a really great camera to use in terms of producing the documentary, because the picture quality was amazing, and it was able to balance out any slight shaking. The majority of our footage was taken around Warrington town centre, Priestley College, and even Manchester.

We also used a Manfrotto tripod when recording our B-roll footage. This was a really well supported tripod, which was really handy when we were interviewing subjects for our documentary as I could imply the rule of thirds without quirkiness.

In order to transfer any footage taken with this camera, I needed to be able to use the Sony’s USB cable. This cable plugs into the college’s media studies computers. The computers we have at our college are the DELL XPS Pc’s. These contain 16 G Ram Hard Drives, which allow us to store a lot of footage and other pieces of work for our blog accounts also.

Hardware – Camera’s and Pc’s

Other Hardware's UsedIn order to import and export files from hard drives and

pen sticks, I was able to connect them with the use of USB ports. By doing this, I was able to import data from the cameras when recording, and upload them onto a personal file. I am currently using an 8GB SanDisk Cruzer Blade pen drive, which has been really beneficial when storing lots of work.

In order to get top quality sound when I and my group were interviewing, we used the Sony camera’s clip microphones. These were attached to the interviewee, but we made sure that you couldn’t see them when recording. We also used a microphone in Priestley College’s radio room. We hooked it up to a software programme called Audacity. We were able to do some editing with this software as well as just recording, which was really useful to use!

Software – Adobe CS5 After only a few weeks in the production of making a

documentary, I have learnt how to use Adobe Premier CS5, in a way where I can produce a music magazine, from editing clips with a cut tool to adding in sound beds for my music documentary. After finally finishing the documentary in a few months, I feel confident on how to produce my own documentary with this software, as it is easy to use and it’s very “up-to-date” in terms of the technology used to make this software.

Like in my first year of Media Studies, I also got the opportunity to use the Adobe Photoshop CS5 software. I predominantly used this software when I edited a small title for each of the interviewee’s. I found this software really easy to use, because I know how to use certain tools better. For example, I was able to use paste several vinyl records into one title box, and change the hue and saturation, as well as the colour of each vinyl in order to give them a different colour in the centre.

Software – Microsoft Office

During the process of making my documentary, I used some of the Microsoft Office programmes, which allowed me to copy what I had saved on their onto my blogger account. For instance, I had used Microsoft Word to paste parts of work onto my blog. This software was really easy to use, because it’s a basic day-to-day programme which I tend to use regularly.

I also found that Microsoft PowerPoint was a programme which I felt was very much needed, as pie charts were created for audience feedback about the generalisation of our documentary, and whether or not it would be appealing to the members of the public.

Software - Internet ProgrammesIn order to import archive footage for the music

documentary, I was able to download plug-ins on websites such as YouTube. These plug-ins enabled my to download footage which would relate to our media project into a file on our college computer, and then copy the link into Adobe Premier CS5. I was then able to edit the footage(s) with the cutting tool into certain places throughout the documentary.

Another programme I have used is Prezzie / slide share. Here, I and my group were able to upload pie charts of an audience feedback from a questionnaire we handed out to the members of the public. Once this was uploaded, I could then copy the link and upload it to another piece of software known as Blogger.

USING RESEARCH IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF OUR DOCUMENTARY

Microsoft WordIn order to get the public’s opinion on what the

music documentary should be themed about, we created a questionnaire which we gave out to the members of the public. I personally thought that this was the best way to get the public’s views on what music is more popular than others, and whether or not our documentary would suit a vast majority of people. We then collated the results back onto another Word document. Pie charts were created through the use of “Illustrations”. We were able to split the charts off into sections, which normally consisted of a couple of answers, and how many people ticked one specific answer from one of the answers available.

YouTubeWe used this internet programme in

order to research songs which were in the charts. We picked specific songs to use as a sound bed for our documentary. This sound bed ran throughout the narration at the start of our documentary, as well as through interviews. Each song which was selected was cut into Premier CS5 and we reviewed each song as to whether it fits well with the clips.

USING PLANNING IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF OUR DOCUMENTARY

Television Broadcasting - Channel 4For our documentary, there were a few

different channels which we thought of using for our documentary. We researched from each channel what types of documentaries are documented on each one. For example, what documentaries does each channel specialise in, and what are their target audiences in terms of age brackets etc.

In the end, the conclusion was that Channel 4 would be the best channel to use for the broadcasting of the documentary.

Social Networking WebsitesI and my group used social networking

websites rather a lot in order to keep in touch with each other after college hours. For example, we used sites such as Twitter and Facebook to arrange deadlines for certain pieces of work for our blog accounts.

I think that we have worked really well as a team in terms of communication, as we have managed to arrange schedules for pieces of work, from uploading sketch designs for interviews, to finishing recoding footage and editing everything.