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

Panasonic HD video camera - Perhaps the most important piece of technology used was the Panasonic HD video camera - we accessed this camera through the school by booking it out, it meant we could film all the clips we wanted in many different locations, whilst also being able to take the camera home and get any extra shots. As there was a lot of transportation with this camera from different locations it helped that this video camera was lightweight and easy to set up. The HD element to this video camera was immensely useful as it meant we could create still and clear shots that added to the realism our trailer, this was important as we wanted to make our trailer as professional as possible. The HD video camera also came with many useful features, it was extremely simple to navigate so we could easily view our footage and delete clips that were not needed. The zoom feature was another useful tool, it allowed us to zoom in and out on specific detail or objects we wanted to draw extra attention to, we had a lot of fun with this feature and experimenting how it could make a simple shot more interesting and also add suspense which is the most important feature to a thriller film. The video camera also came with a tripod, this helped with the steadiness of the shots which again adds to the professionalism of our trailer, as we could adjust the height of the tripod it meant we could create high or low angled shots to display emotion like vulnerability through a high angle shot. However we did not always use a tripod, there was also hand held shots included, these type of shots created the illusion of an unsteady and chaotic environment, an important hand held clip in our trailer was when we created a shot from a wooded area looking at our main characters, by having an unsteady shot it gave the impression we was looking from the antagonist's eyes.

Canon camera - Throughout our production we used a digital camera for a range of uses - once again we accessed this through the school. One use of the camera was to take pictures of characters, locations and props to use as evidence on our blogs. The camera created still, professional pictures that was used for the images on my poster and magazine front cover.

Adobe premiere pro- All of the editing for our trailer was carried out on adobe premiere pro, we had some previous experience with this software when creating our year 12 opening sequence, however we wanted to develop these skills for our trailer to create a professional trailer. The clips and audio could be easily imported to the software where we began watching the many clips and began editing them. We played around with the different effects that premiere pro had to offer, we used features such as fade to black, reversing clips to create an unusual effect, this helped create one of my favorite clips of reversing the direction of the train. An effect we used on almost every clip was the Luma Key - this effect darkened the lighting of the clip, this was a very useful tool as it gave an average clip an edge that built on the storyline for our trailer.

Blogger - We used blogger to create blogs recording and detailing all stages of creating our trailer, blogger was easy to navigate and gave the flexibility to make our blogs how we wanted. One of the most useful aspects of blogger was that it could be accessed on numerous devices, my laptop from home, the school computers and even through my iPhone on an app, I found this extremely useful as I could upload something quickly. 

Blogger was easy to set up as the website is run through google, it meant signing up was quick and simple by using my existing Gmail account. Blogger also allows you to save work as a draft, this means I can save a post if it was unfinished or needed touching up.

Voice Recorder - As there was some non-diegetic voiceovers throughout the trailer we used a voice recorder to record and them embed in our trailer. Throughout the trailer there is a countdown from our main character and voiceovers from numerous individuals, by using the voice recorder we created the illusion that the voiceovers were inside the main character's head.

Adobe Photoshop - Photoshop was crucial for a few tasks, I used Photoshop to create my poster and magazine front cover for my trailer, I had a basic understanding of Photoshop and how to use it from making a poster and a magazine front cover for my year 12 coursework, however this was basic and my skills needed expanding to improve on my work from last year.

Using Photoshop I was able to manipulate images, I played with the brightness and contrast to darken or sharpen up images. I used the smudge effect to blend my image around the edges and used a colour tool to make the actress' eyes whiter to contrast with the black background. The software allowed me to layer different images to achieve my desired outcome. As we were trying to make our trailer as realistic as possible we attempted to create synergy throughout our products for this trailer, we done this by using the font 'chiller' across all products to build recognition, however Photoshop offers a variety of fonts that I could use for other texts on my products.

PowerPoint - Powerpoint was essential throughout planning our trailer, we used it to create powerpoints with our idea's on that helped us build towards our final outcome, the main use of Powerpoint was to create a presentation of our idea to pitch to the rest of the class, Powerpoint allowed us to create a separate page for each topic to present our idea easily.

IPhone 7- Another important piece of technology I used was my IPhone, my IPhone allowed me to download apps that helped me communicate with my group, such as facebook messenger to plan filming dates and discussing idea's and also meant I could download the blogger app for easy access Other apps such as youtube and my IPhone allowing me to access the internet at any point helped during research by viewing other trailers and searching for music.

I also used my IPhone a lot to take pictures of different locations, filming, constructing scenes, this created evidence for my blog posts and I could upload them straight from my phone.

Social Media- Facebook and Twitter are social networking sites, we used Facebook Messenger to create multiple group chats with everyone involved to arrange filming dates, share idea's, research and send links.  Facebook and Twitter were used as platforms to promote our production and gain feedback from multiple sources, social media is a free platform for promotion and many film productions have both a facebook and twitter page to post interesting information and keep people interested and create awareness. Social media was also a great way to communicate with our target audience, as mainly teenagers and young adults use social networking it meant we could reach them.

YouTube - YouTube is a platform for individuals to share videos, comment, share and communicate. I used YouTube mainly for research, I viewed other trailers with the same genre to get ideas for my own trailer, YouTube also allowed us to post our final product.