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

As a group, our main form of communication was via Facebook Messenger, as we set up a group chat where we could have conversations purely about the film. We were able to discuss filming schedules, so that we could avoid clashes, as well as being able to talk through solutions to problems if anything went wrong and we weren't together. It was also useful as we always knew who was responsible for equipment at any time, and we could use it to share photos of locations, the storyboard, equipment and links of trailer on YouTube.

However I also used Direct Message on Twitter, to speak to the artist Charlotte Campbell, whose track we used. As she follows me on Twitter and we've had several conversations on the platform, I messaged her asking if we could use her track, and she replied, granting us permission. This was an important step as we needed to have permission from the artist in order to be able to use it in our trailer, and without social media this would have been a lot more difficult.

Blogger is an important website throughout the entire creative process. I was able to document all my research and planning in one place, so I was able to keep a track of it, as well as my teachers. I was able to receive online feedback on how to improve my blog via blogger. I could also upload my draft and final trailer, poster and magazine cover. Blogger means that my blog is easily accessible to everyone, including myself and those marking it. To a certain extent, I have been able to embed other forms of media into my blog (such as photos and videos).

Bandcamp was one of two sites we used to get music for our trailer. I bought 'If She's An Angel' by Charlotte Campbell from Bandcamp because although I had previously purchased the song elsewhere, I had no access to iTunes on the computers at school. Therefore Bandcamp seemed like the easiest way to get the track in the correct format onto the trailer.

Freeplay Music was the second site we used to get music for the trailer. Obviously it was important that we only used music without copyright or that we had permission to use, so Freeplay Music was ideal. Despite struggling to find a track on this site for a long time, we eventually found 'Pretty Parties' which we were able to download for free and use on our trailer. Freeplay Music enabled us to search for tracks in many different ways, including searching a feeling, an instrument, a style etc.

Before creating the trailer, the only editing software I had used was Final Cut Pro X, however due to a change in circumstances, we found ourselves using Premiere Pro this year. Although being slightly tricky to pick up at first, we soon got used to it as it bore similarities to Final Cut. We were able to cut down footage, re-order clips, darken shots, add fades to footage and audio and more. I was also then able to use Premiere Pro to create one of my evaluations. I took the video, removed the audio and then recorded my own voice while talking about the synergy of my texts. I then edited it onto the footage and added in my print texts.

I used YouTube both to research and to upload. I was able to search through and watch lots of horror and thriller trailers for my research in settings, trailer conventions, music, plot etc. In addition, my group and I uploaded our pitch, our draft trailer, our final trailer and evaluation tasks. This meant that not only were they easily accessible for us but also that we could embed them onto our blogs. 

Throughout the process of creating the trailer and the print texts, Photoshop was used many times. We used Photoshop to create our production company logo, institutional information and the title. 

I also used Photoshop in my research as I recreated a magazine cover.

 Lastly, I used Photoshop to create my print texts, the poster and the magazine cover. I cut out the photos I wanted to used, created the texts and chose the fonts, added glow effects etc to produce these.

 




















I used Popplet to create a semi-interactive brainstorm for my 'What is a Thriller' research. I was able to colour code different sections of the brainstorm. However, after many attempts to embed it into my blog, I discovered that Blogger would not support Popplet in the way I wanted it to. Therefore I had to take a printscreen of my brainstorm and put this onto my blog instead.