4.

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

Technology is everywhere in today’s society thus has a huge impact on many people through the use of
mobile phones, computers etc. Technology is very important in the production of new media products
and has a huge role in creating a piece of work at high standard. With technology growing at a rapid
speed, it enables people to construct products of high quality due to the range and flexibility of current
technologies. Developments have allowed individuals to depart from using original footage or
photographs and has gave them the opportunity to make vast alterations.

The most important technology I used was the internet. I used various websites to gather information
for specific pieces of work. I had to carry out documentary research for our documentary like the codes
and conventions of documentaries for example where I could gain knowledge on what aspects make a
documentary good. Accessing the internet made this efficient. To be enabled to do this I used a
Microsoft Windows computer so I could browse the internet.

These are views of our group blog and my personal blog.

Whilst producing my A2 coursework I used a website called Blogger. Throughout the weeks of
constructing our work we used this software to display documents e.g. script, videos and music for
example to keep people updated on what stage of our work we were currently at. The group blog was
updated weekly to show followers the progress we had made during that particular week. Our personal
blogs contained documentary analysis’, our role, and also our ancillary tasks; newspaper advertisement
and radio trailer. When completed, the evaluations will be posted on our own blogs. Fortunately I was
already familiar with Blogger as I had previously used the website at the AS level of my course. This
website was very useful as we were able to save work as drafts for completion at a later time. We could
also edit pieces of work if they needed alterations. Having our own website also allowed us to promote
our documentary by extending our ability to target the potential audience.

This is a view of my Scribd page which contains my documents.

When posting documents we thought it necessary to use Scribd beforehand. Using this website to
upload saved documents made me able to present work on our blog in a more professional way. This
method displayed our work neatly and clearly.
 This is an example of a Scribd document on my personal blog.

As the sound person of the group, I was expected to use the website Soundcloud. This enabled me to
upload and post the possible music relating to our documentary on our blog so viewers could listen to
the tracks. I uploaded my edited radio trailer onto my account and then presented it on my personal
blog.

I was already aware of how to upload music tracks to soundcloud because I had responsibility of this
task last year.
 This shows examples of how using this specific software presents our work in a professional manner.

When creating my ancillary tasks I used Apple Mac computers equipped with Photoshop and Final Cut
Pro. These machines are very different to the Microsoft personal computers. I gained more knowledge
of how to work with Mac computers and have become familiarized with them.

During the production of my first ancillary task I felt it was mandatory to use Photoshop. My initial
picture taken to be included in my newspaper advertisement was greatly improved by using the
photoshop application on the Mac computers. When challenged with using photoshop for improving my
poster I was uncertain as I was unsure on how to use it. I didn’t have prior knowledge of experimenting
with it at AS level. However I managed to alter my poster design and learn techniques accessible with
the application to create more pieces of work that are more attractive to the audience. By adding the
documentary information like the title and airing time and date using techniques, this made it possible.

This is a typical view of what the editing application looks like.

When making my other ancillary task, my radio trailer, I was required to use Final Cut Pro. This
application is used to edit a piece of work to make it the highest standard thus makes it more effective.
This was a vital piece of software for both our documentary and radio trailer. We could edit the
documentary effectively and I could include the documentary’s quotes and music into my radio trailer as
well as selecting the better sections I had recorded and deleting the parts that I didn’t need anymore. As
I was camera person last year and sound person this year, I was unfamiliar with Final Cut Pro as I never
had the role of director. I observed the editors using the software but never had actual experience. By
studying at A2 level I have become aware of the various tools functions.
 The YouTube website.

We finally used the website YouTube to upload our documentary. YouTube made different
documentaries accessible. Therefore I could view various programmes and discover what makes them
appealing, what techniques do they use. This linked to the codes and conventions research to see what
makes a documentary fall into that specific category. This website also enabled us to promote our work
and allow people to view our documentary and leave feedback.

Similar to AS level, we required camera equipment but also needed sound technology. This included a
tie clip microphone, vx cable to connect the microphone to the camera, and headphones. These were a
neccessity during interviewing to obtain the best possible sound.