Evaluation question 4- Technology in media

Research-

• YouTube
• Magazines
• Horror films

Planning-

• Prezi
• Wikipedia
• Drawing
• Powerpoint
• Word
• Google Drive

Production-

• Adobe Photoshop
• Adobe Premiere
• Movie Maker
• Canva
• Cyberlink
• Drawing
• Word
• Android microphone
• Android music app

Evaluation-

• Movie Maker
• Prezi
• Youtube
• Blogger
• Google
• Word

Research
During the research process a large form of technology I used was YouTube; I used this to research SFX (special effects- makeup) and began to teach myself how to do simple things with this makeup until I progressed enough to where I had the ability to make prosthetic wounds and a well fitting mask from scratch. I also used YouTube to research trailers; I began with trailers of films I knew I liked such as The Conjuring which I analysed in a huge amount of detail and films of this specific sub-genre such as Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Friday the 13th; this allowed me to begin identifying common themes and factors at play in horror.

Whilst researching I also used magazines such as a specific horror magazine focused on special effects makeup and how it is used in horror; this inspired me even more and helped me to design exactly what kind of design I wanted which worked in synergy with my YouTube research as I could then look for the specific techniques that I could use to make the products.

Planning
When planning, I have used PowerPoint and Prezis to plan conventions, theories and character development. I have in detail planned and researched many different aspects of film and provided examples on a variety of topics such as the Smurfette Principal which I provided  three film examples where a first film had one female amongst a group of males and for the second film a second female was added; similarly, when I looked into the conventions I went into a lot of detail especially when it came to the themes, sound and lighting in which I invested a lot of time and energy into the planning of this project. I also used documents such as Word and Google Drive Documents to plan different aspects of the filming day, using online technology to work out when and how to meet everybody, this was mostly done through social media due to this being an easy way for all of us to get in contact; this meant everyone was aware of any and all decisions that I or others wanted to make, an example of this is how Chloe who was the normal makeup artist and prop helper, was able to make it known to me that she would be bringing a large amount of supplies and would need help carrying and transporting her belongings.

Production
I originally started to edit my trailer on Adobe Premiere which as I have explained in detail about the technical difficulties faced by using a programme which caused a lot of problems and technical difficulties as explained in my software and changes document. Movie Maker is what I ended up using because it could be run on the equipment I had as well as it being an easy software to use and one I am used to using.

I also used editing software such as Photoshop and online editing software such as Canva to edit images for the trailer and ancillary tasks. Something unique I did that no one else in my media class has done is create my own music for the horror trailer by using Android app software and making lyrics with a simple piano, violin and cello four chord backing track and a separate two chord cello and violin music to continuously play over the entire trailer. As Movie Maker is a more simplified software, to add the continuous repeated two chord layer I needed to use a piece of editing software by Cyberlink which allowed me to overlay the music on top of the trailer.

Evaluation
For evaluating the entire project I debated what to use before deciding on using Blogger, Movie Maker and Prezi documents to explain all aspects of my project. The Feedback was something I decided to write about in a video format with screenshot images of all the questions in the target audience research survey I performed asking their view about my horror trailer. The two Prezis I created both used themes which were different from each other after being planned on paper and then written up in a creative and entertaining way which I believed would still make the topics interesting to the audience. Prezi is an interesting site which is very easy to use after you get used to it, a Prezi Presentation is a site easily accessible from anywhere and this was just one of the reasons as to why it was to easy to use.