media emily

1. Evaluation 4:
How did you use media technologies in the
construction and research, planning and evaluation
stages?

2. Research and Planning
The research and planning of our documentary 'Social Stereotypes' was vital in
the production and creation of it. In order to do successful planning, we used a
range of technologies and non technological methods.
Towards the start of the course, we watched ‘Supersize Me’ as a class.
M This allowed us to gain a perspective of which codes and conventions
m we should use in our documentary.
Although Technology contributed to a vast amount
in the process of the documentary being created, we did also
use non technological methods. During the planning stages of
the documentary we created a story board and a visual draft.
This allowed us to sketch out our ideas so that we could apply
them to the screen later.

3. In the brief, we were to get into groups and create a 5 minute documentary
introduction , on a topic of our choosing, a magazine double page spread
listings page and a radio trailer. Due to the fact we were working in groups,
we used technology to our benefit by using the power of social network as a
way of contacting each other outside of college hours in order to make
decisions based on the coursework and arrange times to meet. The tree
main social medias we used were Watsapp, Facebook and Skype. These all
played a role in the planning of the documentary. Both Watsapp and
Facebook gave us a direct link to each other's mobile phones in order to
contact everyone in the group at the same time whenever we needed to.
This became very useful in the production and planning part of the
documentary. Towards the beginning of the planning, we would send links to
articles and images to support what ideas we had based on the topic of the
documentary. Skype allowed use to have video chats. In these video calls, we
would talk about our planning schedules and talk about what stages we were
at with the uploads onto the blog. Using these technologies not only kept the
group organised throughout the creations of the documentary, magazine and
radio, but also enabled to make decisions as a team.
RESEARCH AND PLANNING

4. In the research stage of our documentary, we used
various websites for the research in to the topic of
stereotypical social stereotypes. As a part of our
documentary looked at the medias impact on the
labels associated with social groups, we looks at
news sites for the latest and most shocking stories
on this topic. To do this, we googled websites such
as the BBC and The Guardian. From doing this, we were able to find
facts and statistic that we could use in our documentary. To create a
more dramatic effect in our documentary, we decided to get a
camera and film the computer screen with the newspaper articles
on. This became a great segway into the media's influence section
of our documentary. In addition, the channel research included
looking at the websites of BBC, iTV, Channel 4 and Channel 5. By
looking at their website, and Wikipedia pages, it gave an insight into
the types of documentaries they air and the types of audience they
appealed to the most. Doing this, allowed us to come to the
decision on Channel 4.
RESEARCH AND PLANNING

5. YouTube played an important role in the planning and research of
the documentary. Youtube allowed us to publish videos of our
practice run of a interview and also it provided us with a great tool
for research. We filmed footage from YouTube of films and archive
footage that would provide evidence in our documentary. Also, we
used it a way of researching the codes and conventions of
documentaries. This allowed us to identify what was needed to be
done in order to create and effective and authentic documentary.
RESEARCH AND PLANNING

6. FILMING
We used a canon HD camera to film all of our footage. The
camera was easy to use and paired with the tripod meant we
could get some great footage. The zoom in and out tool at the
top of the camera, meant we could achieve some effective close
up shots, but also long shots. For our expert interviews, vox
pops and establishing shots we used a tripod, but for some of
the clips we used handheld. The effect of this was it made the
footage a little edger and upbeat. This fit in with the 'teenage'
image of being quite fast pace and edgy themselves. Handheld
camera footage tends to go against the main conventions of a
documentary, as another documentary we looked at,
'one born every minute' used the same
shot positions, however zoomed in if
necessary. However, an exception of this
which we decided to mirror, was 'supersize
me'. In this the personal video diaries and car scene of him
being sick, would use handheld. Thus making it more person
and authentic for the audience. We used a clip on microphone
for the interviews in order to have the highest sound quality.
We made sure to use the same microphone so that all sound
levels are equal. However, sometime the person being
interviewed would accidently knock the wire causing it to make
a rustling sound. Luckily, we were able to fix this when editing.

7. Adobe Premier:
During the process of the filming, to prepare for editing, we uploaded all
footage onto an iMac. We saved all clips and files will appropriate names so
that when it came to editing we knew where everything was. After uploading
footage from the cannon, we made a log and watched all the clip gathered
taking note which ones we were going to use and why. This enabled us to
check the quality and quantity of our footage so that we knew whether we had
to re film or just go out and get more footage.
The software we used to edit our documentary was adobe premier. This
merged all of the clips which we then cut and edited. It allowed us to change
the sound levels, add music and narration and also special effects. Adobe
Premier was quite easy to use considering it was my first time using this
software. It was easy to cut and change the sequence of clips. However, the
down side was that it took a long time to sort our sound level, and it was easy
to miss place clips.
EDITING

8. In our documentary, we wanted to do a before and after shot.
By using Adobe Premier, we used the ‘Cut’ tool, in order to
gain two parts of the ‘Beth makeup clip’. First we ‘Cut’ a shot
from the very beginning and then ‘cut’ a part from the end.
We put the clips on top of each other in the sequence. We
could then change the percentage of how much each clip took
of the screen. However, the only problem we then had, was
the fact that the right side of the clips back ground was very
yellow. In order to fix this I was able to use a ‘Video effect’
where I changed the colour of the clip. I used the colour wheel
to choose a colour which contrast with the yellow in order to
correct it. Although it isn't perfect, it still look a lot better than
it originally did, showing how much technology has helped in
the creation of the documentary.
EDITING
‘Razor’ tool. This
allowed me to cut
the clips.
This is the colour
wheel. It helps to
balance the colour
using opposite
colour
On video one sequence line, the
left clip is showing. On top, on
video line 2, is the clip on the
right.

9. In our documentary, we wanted to follow the
conventions of a documentary, by having captions on
the screen. To do this, I created a default still which
then brought up an image which we could then create
an overlay of text for. For the caption, we decided to
have an opaque white box with black serif font. The
caption has been created large and bold so that the
audience can clearly see that this is an expert talking
and his/her opinion is very important.
EDITING
Here we have purposely put
Nick Waring in a much larger
font so that it is the first thing
you see. Underneath in a
slightly smaller font is his job
description.
Here is where you can make a
change in the font size, colour
and style.

10. In our documentary, we used quite a lot of archive footage. In
order to get that footage, we had to film, using the cannon,
the computer screen. However, the consequence of this, was
that everything filmed had an orange/ red tinge to the colour
scheme. In order to fix this I was able to use a ‘Video effect’
where I changed the colour of the clip. I used the colour wheel
to choose a greenish blue colour , as it was the opposite of the
orange tinge in the colour wheel, which stabilised the colour
of the clips giving it a more white balance look. Although it
isn't perfect, it still look a lot better than it originally did,
showing how much technology has helped in the creation of
the documentary.
EDITING
This is the colour
wheel. It helps to
balance the
colour using
opposite colour
Before
After

11. EDITING
In our documentary, we used a range of
transitions. Towards the beginning and
end we clips one after another to increase
the pace. We felt that by doing this, it
would suit and appeal more to our target
audience. Also, we adopted the use of the
'Fade to black' transition frequently in our
documentary. By using this, it made the
transition from one clip to another much
smoother. However, we did challenge the
conventions of transitions as we used the
cube transition when going from a vox pop
to archive footage. We really liked the
effect of this, it was something a bit
different for our documentary.
To add these effects, we would
open up the ‘Video Transition’
drop down, to select which
transition we wanted. Then we
dragged the transition to the
timeline and placed it in-
between the clips we wanted it
to transfer from and to.
This is how it would appear in
the documentary.

12. EDITING
Due to the fact that we filmed in different setting, meant that
our sound levels differ. In order to make the sound levels
equal, we were able to select specific clips and increase or
lower the decibels. This took the longest to perfect. It was
important that we used the same headphones throughout the
editing process. This is because sometimes different
headphones may alter the sound levels. As a lot of the clips
tended to be on the quieter side, we had to make sure the
background music was at an appropriate volume. Loud
enough so you could hear it, but not too loud so that it wasn’t
too over powering. With some of the transitions, especially
the ones from archive footage, we use an audio transition
‘expositional fade’ this made the music playing in the mean
girls fade slowly into the voice over. By doing this, meant that
sound was smooth and equal and didn’t jump.
Background music (green)
yellow line that runs through
the audio clip shows the
decibels. Dragging the line up,
increased the volume, dragging
it down lowered the volume.

13. MAGAZINE
To create our double page spread for a tv listings magazine, we
used a combination of both Adobe InDesign and Adobe
Photoshop. It was easy to use InDesign, as I have previously
used it in my AS coursework, when creating a music magazine.
The main purpose of Photoshop was to edit the photos we
wanted to use in the magazine from the documentary. We
took screen snaps of the documentary and transferred them
into photo shop. Here we cropped and edited the images.
Again, I felt this was easy to use due to the fact I used it
frequently in AS coursework.

14. EDITING
As part of the double page spread, we created
an authentic article which was crafted by us on
the subject of social stereotypes. Once written
on Microsoft word, we created the outline on
InDesign to have three columns. Then we used
the column tool in order to split the page into
three columns, in which we filled with
placeholder text until the article was complete.
Doing this allowed us to create the magazine,
moving images where we wanted them,
knowing we can simple replace the text later.
For the main article, we decided to use black
font since it was the best and most
conventional for a magazine double page
spread. However, we chose to use accents of
colour in the drop cap, stand line and also the
pull quote. For the pull quote and images we
had to make sure they were accurately
wrapped, so the text flowed around it. For the
drop cap, we made the first letter of the article
much larger than the rest. Doing this made it
appear more professional and conventional to a
double page spread.

15. EDITING
The wrap tool became the main
focus for our magazine. It was vital
that we got this right. Due to the
fact that we used a lot of images
and placed them in and around the
text meant we had to wrap the text
around it. Firstly, we had to select
the type of wrap. We liked the look
of the square wrap tool as it gave it
a smother and sleeker edge.
Around the second images on the
right side of the page, we wrapped
texted around the image as it acted
as a caption and photo credit. For
the pull quote, we wrapped the text
quite widely around it as we wanted
this to be the main focus from the
magazine article which needs the
most attention.

16. EDITING
For the magazine, we had to use images that belonged to
us, or had used in the documentary. All of the images
used are stills from the documentary. The single images
present on the right side page needed to be edited as we
were having a picture background, so the actual
background of the images from the documentary had to
be removed. We did this on Adobe Photoshop using the
lasso tool to cut around the edge of the person in the
image. As a result, it left us with a clear, transparent
background. We then places the image into undersign so
that we could move it around and analysis whether it
looked good or not on a picture background. The image
of Georgia, we wanted to become slightly opaque. We
were able to do this in inDesign which was useful as it
allowed us to see how opaque we wanted it and what it
would look like.

17. RADIO
In order to create our radio trailer, we used a combination
Garageband and Adobe Premier. We faced some struggles with
using Garage band, and as we felt comfortable with Premier,
we decided t use it to crop and arrange the sequence for the
radio trailer then import it into Garageband. This then allowed
us to export the file as an audio file. In addition, it was easier to
use this and find the exact quotes needed from the
documentary. Due to the ability to change the decibels,
depending on which ever clip, meant that we could alter the
sound levels depending on the clip. We decided to use the
same background music as the one used in the documentary,
as we though it was upbeat and lively.

18. Throughout our documentary process, all research and planning has been uploaded to a
website called ‘Blogger’. This has enabled us to access the blog anywhere, but also to
effectively work well together as a group since we could all work on the blog at the same
time. It kept our work organised and kept it all chronological.
Within this, we used a range of websites in order to upload our work. As
I used a combination of Microsoft word and Powerpoint, I had to upload this
to another website in order to get the embed code to put onto the blog. The
main two websites we used was ‘Scribd’ and ‘Slideshare’. However, as we wanted to be
unique and show a wide range of skill’s and ability with software, we use websites such
as ‘Prezi’, ‘Emaze’ and ‘Powtoon’.
To transport files, I used a combination of both my memory stick and n m
m OneDrive. OneDrive is an online storage, created by Mircrosoft, allowing me
to access and files uploaded and stored on the website. This was extremely useful for
time when I forgot to bring my memory stick.
BLOGGER