4.

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

New media technologies has aided in the construction, research, planning and
evaluation of my documentary.

The main tool used throughout the process is the internet. I was able to find out
Figure 23 more about the topic chosen for the documentary ‘Is University worth It?’ I
searched on many sites to found out in more detail, what the tuition fees were
introduced for in the first place, why there should be rise in fees, the effect etc.
The best websites that helped for the planning stages of my documentary were
online news sites. I also searched for documentaries to analyse. Figure 22, 23.

Figure 22

Figure 23
 Figure 24 Figure 25

I also used the internet to contact possible interviewees for the documentary
such as MPs, connexions, bank managers etc. It quite simple to find contacts of
Figure 24
the various speakers as all I had to do was search. After finding contacts I
emailed, phoned them and visited their offices. In fact that people reply emails
compare to visitation. Figure 24, 25

The blog was great media technology to use; it was easy to work as last year it
was used for my thriller coursework. Essentially I had to post pre, production
and post production stages on the blog. I had to outline everything I was
supposed to do in this coursework. I had to include updates, the blog acted like a
diary of what I had done each few weeks. It was vital for the process of the
documentary. Figure 26

Figure 26

Scribd was a new programme I used to display documents relating to the process
of the documentary. I also linked to it the some of the posts created on the blog.
It was easy to use and effective; however was a bit of a let down as sometimes
the document uploaded badly. Figure 27
Figure 27

I cut out newspaper headlines and articles that were associated with debate of
the documentary. I used them as research on the topic. An example is Figure 28

Figure28

During the actual filming of the interview, much vital equipment was used. Some
of them I am familiar with due to last coursework. They include PD 170, tripod,
batteries, xlr cable, tie clip microphone, head phones, extension wire, tape,
PMD660 etc. It was crucial that camera and sound equipments were set up
properly and working very well, if not the footage would come terrible. The main
problem that occurred during an interview with the Mayor of Newham was the
sound. The wire was connected to the camera. Consequently, when capturing
the footage on final cut pro and pinnacle studios, there was no sound, just
filming. This resulted into not using the interview. In the Noel Otley interview the
tie clip microphone was not set up well so the sound was poor quality. The
camera and tripod was not stable during some of the cutaways, I feel this
affected the documentary. Throughout the voice over for trailer, the sound was
not clear, this clashed with the music at some points. This shows it is important
to use the PMD660 correctly. I learned that equipment needs to be set up
accurately. Figure 29, 30, 31, 32

Figure 30
Figure 29
 Figure 31
Figure 32

I chose to use Pinnacle studios to edit the documentary and produce the radio
trailer and used it to make the documentary DVD. At first I captured the footage
on final cut pro. I was struggling to understand how it works and felt there must
be an easier option. I found pinnacle studios much simpler to use, the only issue
I had with the programme was going through all the footage that I captured, to
find a particular shot to put on the timeline. In final cut pro, each shot is captured
at a time. As editing process was new to me, it took quite a while familiarity. The
advantage of editing is learning a new skill. This was an extra key, new media
technology used in the construction of the coursework. I considered choosing the
score and selecting transitions were the best out of all the editing development.
Figure 33, 34

Figure 33

Figure 34
A digital camera was needed to take the image for the poster. I had loads of
difficulty dealing with settings. I had to get rid of the flash to make the image a
better quality. Eventually I learned how to do it, which was very straightforward
in the end. I needed to take the pictures on a white background. However every
time I took the photos, it came out grey on the computer, brightening the photo
did not help at all. Finally I used the tools on GIMP to remove the background, so
the images were left on a white background.

GIMP was image manipulating software I used for the newspaper advert. After
watching many tutorials on YouTube regarding GIMP, I learned how to use it. I
enjoyed playing with the different tools to enhance the poster. I needed the
poster to appeal to the audience and GIMP helped in doing that. The main
problem that arose was merging the images together to make composition of the
picture. I still don’t know how to successfully fit the two images together,
however will keeping on trying, as it is bothersome. Figure 35, 36

Figure 35 Figure 36

Sound cloud is another type application linking to new media technology used for
the documentary. I needed to find a site that will allow me upload audio onto the
blog. Sound cloud was the best site for the radio trailer. It was unproblematic and
did not take long to upload trailer. Figure 37

Figure 37

YouTube and TV help a lot in the production of the documentary. I used YouTube
to search for many tutorials on applications that were required in for the
documentary. I looked example trailers. I had to upload the final documentary to
site twice, as there were alterations to the film. I watch many documentaries on
TV, I wanted to find out more abut the codes and conventions in documentaries.
I listened to the radio example radio trailers and noted what they consist of. This
helped in producing the radio trailer script.

I used hyperlinks to other research websites and screen grabs for the evaluation.

New media technology had a great impact on this coursework.