Evaluation Question 4 video

Evaluation Question 4

How did you use new media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages? A new media technology is for example the internet, this is new media as it allows for interaction other than the before more linear type of media for example a newspaper. We used many new technologies throughout the whole project ranging from digital camera’s to the world wide web. In the construction stages we used more new media software, the main piece of software that we used was Adobe Premiere Pro, this allowed us after the video footage had being captured onto the computer using another new media technology of a USB cable, we could then edit it. During the editing process we were able to ‘cut’ out bits we didn’t need, replace the sound and also add our own music, I.e the theme tune. We had to make sure that we created Sergei Eisenstein’s theory of a vertical montage. We did this very effectively with the sound FX, especially when the scenes cut we had an effect, for example a bang that would sound in tune with the cut. We also had a very good montage in the title sequence with the beat of the theme working very well with the footage behind it. Also in constructing our ancillary tasks new technologies played a massive role as we used software’s such as Photoshop elements 5.0 for our poster allowing for the image coloration to be changed to make the desired image look of a more stereotypically scary design, for example black and white or green. We also used QuarkXpress 7 for our double page spread. We used more linear media technologies however for the research of this but we also looked on the internet for ideas of what to include in our article. Quark allows big chunks of text called the body text to be placed on around a set border and images making any project look professional. For the research stages we relied very heavily on the use of new media technologies especially the internet. We used very mainstream ways of researching for our ideas including Youtube and Sky+. We used Youtube a lot for looking at clips of the documentary we wanted to base ours upon ‘Most Haunted’. Using this new media allowed us to look at comments under the video of what people thought to it and so therefore these could perhaps help us with our ideas, we were able to pause the clip and discuss what we could use thought worked and what we needed to film for our own documentary. We also used television features such as Sky+, this is a fairly new media technology and is hugely popular as it allows for live television to be paused, rewound and recorded all at the push of a button. This was a very useful resource during our research process as we were able to record all ‘ghostly’ documentaries that we saw and thought we be appropriate, record them and then watch them with the ability to pause and again discuss the ideas we had. New media technologies allow for a lot more audience feedback apposed to the conventional medias of newspapers and radio. For our planning we used lots of Web 2.0 technologies, (O’Reilly said that Web 2.0 means the technology is no longer linear but more interactive, 2004) for example a website called Blogger, where we stored all our ideas in a quick and easy assessable manner. In doing this allowed us again for more audience feedback and we could communicate and share ideas internally within the group when we weren’t actually together, before new media technologies were developed we would have found this more difficult to do. To create videos that we could also put onto our blogs that contained our ideas we used Windows Movie Maker, this is a simpler movie editor compared to Adobe Premiere and allows for basic transitions to be done and also cuts, this was ideal to contain lots of information in a quick and easy way to create that was interactive and interesting for the audience viewing it. After we created the videos we could upload them onto our blog or other Web 2.0 type sites such as Youtube. For our evaluation we wanted to get as much outside audience feedback as possible and so posted the video onto social networking sites such as Facebook for our friends to see and comment on and then again for a wider audience range I posted it on Youtube where the world would be able to comment and rate our video and possibly give us some constructive feedback which would help us evaluate and discuss if we were to do it again what we would do differently. Also we used software such as Microsoft word to write up our evaluation quickly and again making it very easy to change, we also recorded some with microphones making it more interactive for the audience. New media technologies made it easier for us to complete the project, make the audience more engaged in the final projects as they have the ability to suggest their own ideas and improvements, new media technologies are more interactive than linear media products and so find themselves growing in popularity everyday and making the products that companies etc come up with bigger and better than before simply because there is more communication.

Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation Question 2

How effective is the combination of your main product & ancillary tasks?

The combination of our ancillary tasks as well as our final video I feel is very effective, they work together to create the stereotypical view of a paranormal documentary. They share similar codes and conventions of a media product with the same colour schemes, for example the green and the same texts. They all share the same ideology and create a 'young' theme. It creates a young theme altogether as the documentary doesn't follow the normal conventions of a documentary and so therefore is not as boring as the more typical documentaries, it features young people and is aimed at a pretty young audience. The poster we create involved the main presenter looking into the camera with a torch, he looks pretty scared and the facial expressions he shows connote adventure and so therefore youth. The double page spread article is aimed at almost a pretty young audience also as the language used is quite 'stylish' and would speak to a younger generation more so than that of an older audience, and the idea that Fiona and Craig are celebrities also connotes youth as these are seen to have an 'obsession' with celebrity culture and would simply watch a program due to a certain character. All the ancillary tasks work together to create a certain stereotypical view and they all connote the genre of the documentary via the mise-en-scene. Generally they are very effective and in the real media world would increase audience views etc as the products would be in the public eye; catching attention and making people wonder what the whole program is about. I think that if we were to do the ancillary tasks again we could perhaps on the double page spread include a picture of the whole team or just Fiona & Craig as these are the main characters within the clip. Using these two on the magazine would also talk better to the audience like in more of an conversational type narrative as they would perhaps feel like they know who they are talking to, and just incase they didn’t know who the celebrities were by name or face. The final video would eventually be more promoted by the ancillary tasks if they were to be posted in the required destinations.

Click this link to hear an audio/video commentary: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzEqJA_O6QM

Evaluation Question 1

This is our final ancillary task of the poster, the poster is comprised of a main image of Craig the presenter on the ground in a position in which he appears to be dead or posessed. This gives the viewer connotations of evil, paranormal activity. The green, night-vision effect also helps to create our preferred representation of the paranormal. We made the advert on Photoshop, and conforming to all the rules and generic conventions of a newspaper advertisement for a documentary. The 'Ghost Nutters' logo is in a very gothic font style which is stereotypica of old haunted areas and other paranormal things. It is in white so that it stands out from the other writing and it is also larger so that it is the firstthing to grab the readers attention. The most important parts are the parts which tell the reader which channel the program will be on, what date and what time.

Here is our final ancillary task, Craig Wassell created the text, I extracted the image from our actual footage filmed by Thomas Jessop and the title 'New Kids On The Shock' connotes that the program is new, about kids getting a shock and is a play on words from the commonly used phrase new kids on the block. We copied the layout of a James May article featured in a TV listings magazine.