Evaluation Question Four

4. How did you use new media technologise in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

With the increasing rate of new technology it was highly likely that we would be using new technology for each part of our coursework and not just the construction stage.
The construction part of the coursework was made up of the most technology as the construction part not only included the filming and the editing of the documnentary but both the ancillary tasks too. When filming we needed the camera equipment we used last year. Camera, battery, tripod, headphones and a tape. However as we were asked to create a documentary new camera equipment was introduced this year as we needed to film interviews and possibly at night. So equipment such as a clip microphone, a pad light, a boom and a boom pole. However most of the camera equipment was new to me as we worked more as a team this year. The camera equipment was easy to set up and to use, however what we found difficult was framing an interview correctly. It took us a few interview attempts to get the framing correct. All the equipment looks very complicated but its not once you know how.

For the voice over for oth the documentary and the radio trailer simple recording equipment was needed. Another type of microphone was used and a recording box. The recording equipment was very easy to set up. However it took a few attempts to find the right track- an empty one. Also for the ancillary task teh radio trailer. Final cut pro and sound track pro are needed. It is the first time I have used either programme and i was very lost at the start. As you start to introduce yourself to the programmes they become a lot eaiser to use. Fianl cut pro was also used for the documentary by the editor as much as i got used to final cut pro when doing my radio trailer i am still glad i was not the editor. Photoshop is used for the poster advertisment, this is also the first time i used photoshop and i found it much harder to pick up on than final cut. We had a small photoshop lesson to learn the basics of it, this helped me but i still did not find photoshop easy to use. Lastly for the construction part of the coursework a Macbook was needed for most of it. I have always found Mac computers confusing so even with the knowledge from last year I was still a little lost on these computers.

More computer based programmes were used within the research , planning and evaluation stages rather than practical equipment. Programmes such as Google, Youtube and Blogger were used last year or on a regular bases, so they were easy to use. Also programmes from last year such as Scribd and bubbl.us were used again, they are easy to use. Soundcloud and Photobucket were new proggrammes to me. Soundcloud was very easy to use it was clear and you understood what to do quickly. Photobucket took slightly more time for me to figure out but once you know what you have to do its quick to use. New websites were introduced to us this year for example Newsnight. News night is a news website that has a lot of documentries on it so this was helpfull when we were researching documentries for our coursework and final analysis.

The Evaluation stage of the coursework uses alot of the proggrammes used in the planning and research stage: Blogger, Youtube, Google and Microsoft Word. Also the evaluation stage uses equipment used in the construction part of the coursework - the camera equipment if we needed to film audience feedback. Youtube was used to upload our videos and google was used once again to research real media products. However Microsoft Excel was used to create graphs from the questionaires done on blogger that will also aid our audience feedback. A wider range of technology was used this year but once you know how to use a program they are quick and easy.