Question4:

How did you use new media

technologies in the construction
and research, planning and
evaluation stages?
Short film
 Planning and Research
The majority of the research which I carried out for my short film was
done so on the internet. Using this meant that I could have a larger
scale research, enabling me to gather it on a global scale.
The websites which I used within the planning and research for my
short film are;
•Google
•Blogger
•Facebook
•Twitter
•Scribd
•Wordle
 Construction - Filming

During the filming of my short film, I used varied forms of

technology. For capturing the main pieces of the short film ,
I used a Samsung digital camera. This was borrowed from
school which meant that I had a limited amount of time to
film the contents of my film. It was relatively easy to use
and easy to upload to the imac bubble which I used to edit
the short film. Although when using this camera I found that
it cut off the beginning and end sections of what I had
filmed. This then meant that I had to reshoot, but this time
waiting 10 seconds before I started the scenes.

To ensure that the scene looked professional I used a tri pod

for all of the scenes I filmed. Even though any jolts would be
minimal on the screen on the camera, I had to take into
consideration that when they were on the Mac (and that the
screen was larger) these jolts/movements would be magnified.
The tri pod which I used as had spirit levels. This then meant
that using this I could ensure that the shots were level and
straight, thus making me short film look more professional.
 Construction – Lighting
Lighting also played an important part in within the filming of my short film.
I used it as an element of symbolism.
Within the real world scenes, I used natural lighting. This was designed to
represent the natural and real world.
However, in the protagonist’s own world, I used artificial lighting. This was
meant to suggest and reinforce the concept of it being non-naturalistic.
To create artificial lighting I had to use lamps which I directed towards my
actors within the scenes. This then highlighted their faces well and
reinforce that her own world scenes were where she was happiest. As a
result, the artificial lighting makes these scenes much more visually
appealing.
The use of the artificial lighting was also used for practical purposes. Due
to the scenes filmed within a bedroom were all shot late evening which
meant that there was limited light. Furthermore, the dim lighting meant that
the megapixel camera was unable to pick up the picture to a high quality
which I had hoped. The use of the added artificial lighting overcame this.
 Construction – Filming Photography
However, when I captured the stop motion picture scenes, I
used my own Olympus camera. This camera enabled me to
set up the focus of the lens which enabled me to experiment
with different shots.
The fact that it was my own camera meant that I could
upload the images onto my own computer at home. This
was vital as the memory card within my camera was not
able to hold all of the images at once, so in between the
images, I would have to upload them. This therefore would
not have been possible if I had to upload it at school
because then the shots would not match up due to the
prolonged period of time within each shot.
The set up of equipment
When I created these stop motion picture
scenes, I also experimented with the Camera
lighting. I varied with the use of both
natural and artificial lighting. From test Object
photos (see ‘symbolism –Flower’ on my (flower)
blog) I decided to use artificial lighting as
it gave me the most effective and Artificial lighting
professional pictures. Sources
 Post Production - Editing
For editing my short film, I used the program
Final Cut pro. Using this program, compared to
IMovie which I used last year for my film opening.
(this opening can be seen at:
http://helenthemelon24.blogspot.com/2011/04/ye
ar-12-movie-opening.html
)
Using Final Cut Pro was a much more effective method of editing. Not only was it
non destructive, but it also was more advanced, meaning that I was able to create
more, and to a greater quality, special effects on my short film. Case example
being the use of the de-saturation of the picture with the level of brightness and
contrast.

With the black and white scenes,

I altered the contrast to 100, and
the degree of contrast to varying
amounts throughout the film.
This example is to 30.
 Post Production - Editing
Additionally, the use of the double screen meant that it was easier to create
graphic matched and match on actions because you could easily see the in
and out put of each clip. As a result, making the appearance and the editing
of my short film a higher level and also making it appear more professional.
 Post Production - Editing
Using final cut pro meant that I could incorporate more special effects and
advanced editing techniques. In particular within the montage of the
protagonist’s own world, I changed the size of the shots and also their
position on screen.

Within all of the shots, the

scales of the image are to the
scale of 50. However the
positioning of each clip varied.
In this particular example, the
anchor point of the image was
-20 and -80.
The reason that I chose to use
these effects, was to give my
film variety and to make it
visually more pleasing for the
audience.
All these uses of new
technology within the
production of my short film,
meant that it looked more
professional and more
importantly that it was
more effective as a short
film, thus making it more
popular amongst
audiences.