Evaluation

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

One of the most vital technologies I used was the internet, I found researching the
documentary genre that we chose on Google gave us a lot of accurate background
information about binge drinking so that I could include this in the documentary and
inform the audience efficiently.

Google allowed me to get links to other websites that have important information about
binge drinking. The cutaways of newspaper articles were all extracted from the links that I
got from the search engine. Google was very helpful in relating different stories of binge
drinking to me and this was very helpful to build up a basic knowledge of what I was
looking for when addressing the audience about the binge drinking problems in the UK.
Google was also very helpful in my quest to find people to interview about the subject of
binge drinking as the links I got from Google gave me contact details of some possible
interviewees which allowed me to then contact them to book an interview with them. I also
found a lot of facts and figures from sites that were suggested by Google about the suicide
rates from people that had been out binge drinking and other facts that were helpful for the
voiceover and the radio trailer.
Another internet site that was useful was Youtube as they have documentary’s on there on
the same subject matter that I decided to do the documentary about. I was able to look
through some of the documentary’s on Youtube and look at the codes and conventions that
they used to complete a good and informative documentary. Youtube was also used to
upload the video so we could gain audience feedback.

I also used Blogger.com is a website form the internet that allowed me to store work on a
personal and a group blog. All the pre production work was displayed on the blog such as
brainstorm, the documentary proposal and the script top help our group keep track of the
work that we had done. We stored all of this on the blog to ensure that we prepared
efficiently before we began filming for our documentary. The blog was updated most weeks
by one group member stating the progress that we had made during that certain week. Our
personal blogs consumed of a documentary analysis as well as our group role and our two
ancillary tasks which were a newspaper advertisement and a radio trailer for our
documentary. The evaluation will also be posted on the personal blog once its completed.

As all of our work that we done as a group was posted on to the group blog it allowed us to
view any parts that were missing to be completed before the deadline. It also allowed us to
check on completed work that might still have room for improvement. I believe that after
using blogger in AS level and in A2 level it has enabled me to conduct tasks on the internet
much quicker than I used to which helps me complete my work to a high standard.
For the ancillary tasks a Apple Mac computer was used throughout as this already had the
software that I needed, Photoshop and Final Cut Pro.

Once I had captured the image for my newspaper advertisement I used PhotoShop to edit
the image to add the title, the date and time of airing and to import the logo of the channel
that it will be aired on. I was also able to change the effect of the image to improve the
overall appearance of the image. If I wasn’t able to use PhotoShop then completing the final
newspaper advertisement would have been a much more time consuming and stressful
task.

Another two important programmes that I used were Final Cut Pro and SoundTrack
Pro.Final Cut Pro was essential as this programme allowed me to take quotes from the
documentary and edit them into my radio trailer. I had some experience of using this
programme from AS level but I had to get to grips with it again as it’s a very complicated
programme if your not really used to it. I was able to gain an understanding of the functions
and was then able to navigate confidently through the tools to edit the trailer to a high
standard. Without Final Cut Pro then editing the radio trailer would have been an almost
impossible task as it allowed me edit the trailer to how I wanted it.