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 documentaries on
there on the same subject matter that I decided to do the documentary about. I was
able to look through some of the documentaries 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, who stated 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 that were
a newspaper advertisement and a radio trailer for our documentary. The evaluation
will also be posted on the personal blog once it’s 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 an 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 programme’s 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 you’re 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.

Sound Cloud was another Internet site which was used to upload the radio trailer to
the blog.

All of these technologies made it easier for me to complete my work and provided
me with very good research used to capture our footage for the documentary.

Another new media technology that I engaged with was Final Cut Pro. I used this
software to edit my radio trailer. Once I had recorded the voiceover for the radio
trailer I then edited it so that it included the title, broadcasting information and the
production details. I decided to use the music that we used for the documentary, as I
believe that this will give the audience a familiarity with the documentary.