How did you use Media Technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages?
(Question 4 by Thomas Brown)
•Blogger- planning and research
•Internet- research and construction
•Camera- construction and evaluation
•Adobe Premier Elements- construction
•Adobe Photoshop/Paint- construction
•Microsoft Office- research and evaluation
•Microsoft Office- research and evaluation
Blogger
•As a group we created a Blogger account in order to record our research
and work from our A2 Soap Opera Project.
•Blogger was especially important in the research and planning stages of
the project.
•Blogger provided us with a safe and easily accessible place to store
our research about the conventions of a soap opera, character studies and case
studies. We could also see the work completed by the rest of the group,
allowing us to gain lots of information about soap operas. We could easily look
back on our findings which was
especially important when it came to planning our soap opera. Our research
allowed us to create a soap opera that would be exciting and intriguing but
significantly in keeping with the conventions and themes of a soap opera.
•Blogger also had its disadvantages however. It was sometimes difficult
to upload our research and our own work to the Blog especially if there was an
issue with the internet connection. Most of the time this was not an issue
though and was safe and easy place to store information.
Blogger Logo
Internet
•The internet was a vital tool for our project.
•The internet was our main source of information on soap operas. It
provided us with vital information that we could use to build up our research
and knowledge on the genre of soap operas.
•This research was extremely important when it came to creating our own
soap operas. The information we gained from the internet helped us to create a
soap that was in keeping with the conventions of a soap opera and had themes
that were appropriate for the task.
•The internet was important in the construction of our trailer. We were
able to have access to millions of songs and soundtracks which helped us to
select the most effective and appropriate music for our soap opera. We
extracted the music piece ‘Toxic’ from YouTube which provided the soundtrack to
our trailer.
•In order to have the BBC One HD I dent at the end of our trailer we
extracted it from YouTube. This allowed us to add vital information to our
trailer about the channel the show was on and it made the trailer appear
official.
Our soundtrack for our trailer, 'Toxic' by Yael Naim
Camera
•The digital camera was one of the most important pieces of technology
that we used and was vital for the construction and evaluation stages of our
project. The camera we used was the Canon FS100.
•The Canon FS100 allowed us to construct the piece. It was used to
film the various scenes in our trailer. The camera was easy to carry as it was
a handheld device and we could delete and re-record scenes at the site of
filming and so we did not have to keep returning to re-film different scenes.
The camera was a HD camera and so our film was in high quality which improved
the overall outcome of the piece and made it appear professional.
•The camera was used to film various camera angles/shots to create different effects on our piece. We used close-up shots on characters and props and used worm's eye view angles in order to create mystery and suspense around our soap. This utilised Barthes' Enigma Code as it provoked questions from the audience and made them want to watch on to find answers to their questions.
•The camera was used to film various camera angles/shots to create different effects on our piece. We used close-up shots on characters and props and used worm's eye view angles in order to create mystery and suspense around our soap. This utilised Barthes' Enigma Code as it provoked questions from the audience and made them want to watch on to find answers to their questions.
•There were limited issues with the camera. The only problems were that
the camera needed to be charged before we filmed which was time consuming, and
uploading the videos to a computer was also time consuming. However, this did
not have a negative impact on the overall outcome of our piece.
•The Canon FS100 was also used in the evaluation stages. We filmed an
audience that were watching our trailer to see their reactions and we also
filmed three interviews about what the audience thought of our trailer. This
allowed us to have in-depth feedback that we used to alter and improve our
piece.
An Interview with fellow students about our trailer
Adobe Premier Elements
•Adobe Premier Elements was another important programme that we used.
This technology was mainly used in the construction stage of our project.
•Adobe allowed us to edit our different video scenes, piece the scenes
together, add music/sound and add various lighting and sound effects. This
allowed us to construct our individual scenes into one trailer. An example of
an effect that we used was editing lighting in the flashback scenes so that the
colour was grey and black which connoted the danger and negativity in these
scenes.
•We also used different effects to highlight Strauss' Binary Opposites. In the first flashback scene the black and white served to emphasise the white coat of the secretary, which connoted purity and innocence, and the black shirt of the abusive boss, which suggested a dark and evil side to him. In all of our flashbacks we coloured picked the red iconic props that the characters had, e.g. a red ribbon. In this scene the boss wore a red tie and by colour picking this it suggested that he was a danger to the secretary. The effects used here served to emphasise the divide between the characters that represented 'good' and 'evil'. The way we highlighted the Binary Opposites in our piece reinforced Propp's stock characters to the audience, for example, in this scene the boss is the villain. Another example of a stock character is Eva Banks who is the underdog. During the scene in which she discovers that her husband has been having an affair, the soundtrack is synchronised so that the lyrics "you're toxic" are clearly heard, which mirror the feelings of Eva Banks and this gains sympathy from the audience.
•We also used different effects to highlight Strauss' Binary Opposites. In the first flashback scene the black and white served to emphasise the white coat of the secretary, which connoted purity and innocence, and the black shirt of the abusive boss, which suggested a dark and evil side to him. In all of our flashbacks we coloured picked the red iconic props that the characters had, e.g. a red ribbon. In this scene the boss wore a red tie and by colour picking this it suggested that he was a danger to the secretary. The effects used here served to emphasise the divide between the characters that represented 'good' and 'evil'. The way we highlighted the Binary Opposites in our piece reinforced Propp's stock characters to the audience, for example, in this scene the boss is the villain. Another example of a stock character is Eva Banks who is the underdog. During the scene in which she discovers that her husband has been having an affair, the soundtrack is synchronised so that the lyrics "you're toxic" are clearly heard, which mirror the feelings of Eva Banks and this gains sympathy from the audience.
•Adobe allowed us to improve certain scenes and edit any mistakes.
•However, the programme was very complex and so it was sometimes
difficult to add certain effects. One problem we had was inserting the BBC One
I dent to our piece. We added the clip from YouTube which slowed the programme
as it it had
more to process. Because we added this clip we had to alter the soundtrack so
that the music was in time but we originally forgot to mute the sound from the
YouTube clip and so the sound clashed. We wanted to put a clip in reverse and
to do this we had to use the internet to research how to do this.
•Despite its issues however, the programme was extremely helpful when
constructing our trailer.
Adobe Photoshop
•Adobe Photoshop was important in constructing the poster and the T.V. listings magazine.
•Adobe was used to edit the picture that we took of bloody hands. We were able to select certain fonts for the text and insert them into the poster as well as add other pictures such as logos. For the poster we used the font ‘Roughwork’ as its strange and grotesque nature mirrors that of the asylum; this has a greater effect than using a default font. We added the BBC One logo and BBC IPlayer logo which made the poster look official.
•Adobe was also used successfully in the construction of the T.V. listings cover. The programme allowed us to add captions, titles and other pictures to our original image, making it appear like a T.V. listings magazine and in keeping with the conventions of this genre of magazine. For example, we collected pictures from other soaps and dramas and inserted them around the image with captions and information about the shows.
•We found Adobe Photoshop easy to use and we did not encounter any problems with the programme.
Screenshot of the ending of our trailer on Adobe Premier Elements
•Adobe Photoshop was important in constructing the poster and the T.V. listings magazine.
•Adobe was used to edit the picture that we took of bloody hands. We were able to select certain fonts for the text and insert them into the poster as well as add other pictures such as logos. For the poster we used the font ‘Roughwork’ as its strange and grotesque nature mirrors that of the asylum; this has a greater effect than using a default font. We added the BBC One logo and BBC IPlayer logo which made the poster look official.
•Adobe was also used successfully in the construction of the T.V. listings cover. The programme allowed us to add captions, titles and other pictures to our original image, making it appear like a T.V. listings magazine and in keeping with the conventions of this genre of magazine. For example, we collected pictures from other soaps and dramas and inserted them around the image with captions and information about the shows.
•We found Adobe Photoshop easy to use and we did not encounter any problems with the programme.
Final Poster constructed on Adobe Photoshop
Microsoft Office 2010
•Microsoft Office was used in the research and evaluation stages of our
soap opera project.
•Word, PowerPoint and Excel were used in the research stage. Word and PowerPoint were used when researching about the soap opera genre, to record important information and then to upload onto Blogger, allowing to store this information safely, with easy access.
•Excel was used in the evaluation process. Information from our audience feedback questionnaires were analysed in Excel and put into different graphs. This allowed us to analyse this information in-depth. This information was then used to help to make any alterations to our trailer in areas that the audience felt could be improved, improving the overall outcome of our trailer.
•Word, PowerPoint and Excel were used in the research stage. Word and PowerPoint were used when researching about the soap opera genre, to record important information and then to upload onto Blogger, allowing to store this information safely, with easy access.
•Excel was used in the evaluation process. Information from our audience feedback questionnaires were analysed in Excel and put into different graphs. This allowed us to analyse this information in-depth. This information was then used to help to make any alterations to our trailer in areas that the audience felt could be improved, improving the overall outcome of our trailer.
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