Evaluation part 4

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

Throughout my media project I have used a range of media technologies in order to create a professional looking film campaign. If I did not use media technologies I would be unable to complete the planning, production and evaluation stages. The media technologies that I used in order to complete the planning, production and evaluation stages are;

·        Blogger

·        Moonfruit

·        IMovie

·        PixLR

·        PowerPoint

·        Word

·        Camera

·        Tripod

When I started my project the first media technologies I used was Word and PowerPoint however I had to print screen the work I completed on these onto my blog so I then developed and started posting straight onto my blog because I felt that that looked more professional. However when I was print screening I came into difficulty in being able to see clearly and read the documents, but I feel that I did the best I could to get the posts to be clear enough to read. Also at the beginning of my project I already knew how to use Word and PowerPoint where as I was still unsure of how to use blogger, therefore it was a benefit to me to be able to use media technologies I was already able to use and then develop my skills on blogger my project developed. However the disadvantage of this was that it did not look as professional on my blog but for me first learning how to use blogger I feel it was sufficient enough to start off my project in the planning and research stages.

In completing my main project the teaser trailer I used the media technologies of IMovie however before doing my trailer I had never used IMovie before. It took me a week to understand how to use most of IMovie. This was a disadvantage because it took me longer than I realised to edit my trailer because it took me a while to get the hang of using IMovie and we could not get hold of the college MACs a week after we were supposed to have started editing. However I did not have any editing software at home so being able to use MAC’s at college was a huge benefit to me because otherwise I would have had no media technologies to edit my trailer. I did run into some difficulties on IMovie after I had learnt to use it with my sound because I could upload my sound onto my trailer fine but when I went back onto it in the next lesson it had disappeared or just wouldn’t play. However I did overcome this problem because once I had finished editing the image contrast, length and order of my clips I re- added my music and published it so that next time I went on it was still there ready to upload onto YouTube.  I used IMovie in the production stage of my project.

When filming my trailer I used a camera and tripod, I already had this equipment so I didn’t have to use any of the college equipment for this. However I feel I got carried away filming because I got way too much footage and barley used half of what I filmed, however this did allow me to pick out the best footage and make my trailer the best it could be. I did not run into any difficulties when filming because I already understood how to use my own camera and tripod, this was a huge benefit to me because I had no stresses when filming.

In creating my website I used a free online site called Moonfruit, this was quite difficult to understand at first however I feel I got the hang of it after I completed my first website and went onto my second. The website I completed first was about the sorority of the A Association, I did this in order to draw my audience into the plot of the film so they want to find out more about what happens at the sorority and lure them into wanting to watch the trailer and film. However I did have difficulties with images on this website because I inserted my images and put them where I wanted but when I went back onto my website the images were gone, so I re- added them but when I went back on they had gone again. I could not overcome this problem so now on my home page of this website I have no pictures. On my second website the one that advertises my film I knew how to use Moonfruit by then so it was a lot easier when designing this website. However I did come into difficulties when I was completing the blog part of my website because when I added new posts the old ones would disappear and could not find them again so not all my blog posts are on my website. The benefit of using Moonfruit was that it was a free online site and easy to get the hang of using. I used Moonfruit in the production stages of my website.

In completing my poster I used PixLR an internet photo editor site. This photo editor was a lot better than the photo editor Gimp that are on the school computers. This is benefit to me because it allowed me to produce a more professional looking poster and typography for my trailer and website. I did not run into any problems using PixLR and so there were no disadvantages for me using this media technology, this opinion was backed up by my audience feedback because all the people in my focus group liked my typography and thought it looked very professional. I used PixLR in the production stages of my product for my main product and both ancillary texts.

I used all the media technologies in the evaluation stage of my project because I had to use the media technologies in order to evaluate how efficient or not they were.