How did you use the new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
In the research and planning of our short film, there was a wide range of new technologies used. Laptops and computers were used in order to access the software’s in which we would be able to carry out the research or plan our short film.
The internet was used in order to
research into the background of existing sort film products, and gave us access to a full range of particular short films that would be good to analyse and influence us. As the makers of short films would not have enough money, the short films they produce are not distributed via mainstream means like through the cinema (VUE, Odean etc) or TV.
That is why the internet is vital, as it allows the distribution of short films, through sites like Youtube, the BBC film network, giving access to a variety of short films. You tube was used in out research and planning to embed videos which would be used as evidence for the several analysis’ we carried out. Youtube was quick and efficient during the process, helping our research and planning to move on at a faster pace. Email; which is accessed through the internet, was used in order to contact the different members of the group, quickly and easily. Other sources from the internet were used to gain a further insight into Short Films. 
The main site that was used from the internet was: blogspot.com which easily documented and organised our research & planning. At the start of the process it was quite tedious and impractical when trying to set up the blog, but when we continued with it, it saved a lot of time as we could insert text pictures and embed videos quickly.
The site scribd.com, was used to upload our storyboard (which was made up of several pages) as just one file onto our blog. If it wasn’t for this site we would have to upload the several pages of our storyboard one by one, so this site was very helpful in getting this part of the planning done quickly.
Another technology device that was used in the planning process was the mobile phone (blackberry) which each member of our group owned. It is converged technology, meaning it could be used for SMS, calling, the camera/video recorder, email and the internet. The fact that we all had a converged technology device made it easier to contact each other (through the use of IM: BBM, or the internet, SMS, calling). A time when the converged technology device was especially useful was when we needed to plan out locations. With the blackberry mobile device we were able to take pictures of all locations and instantly upload them via the internet to our blog, which saved us a lot of time and hassle. 
During the production of our short film, the main technology used was the Digital video (DV) cameras which filmed out media product. The fact that they are small, handheld cameras made them easier and more practical to use. As ‘Independent film makers’ with a low budget the fact that these cameras are affordable would be very helpful. Though as they are cheap to buy, what they produce isn’t a glossy effect that would match our genre, instead it produced a grainy effect. DV cameras do not use film which Hollywood movies and the Soap of Hollyoaks use in order to five a glamorous look. The fact that the DV cameras produced a grainy look meant we couldn’t complete the short film the way we wanted as films of that genre (Romcom) normally have a glossy effect to match the genre. Though the grainy effect worked well with the location of a school, which would weird if it looked glamorous or glossy. The grainy/finish feel could convey the underlying theme of luck: representing the unluckiness that Adam receives. 
Another impracticality of the DV cameras is the sound issues. The quality of sound produced by the cameras are poor but we were able to overcome this, during post production and the fact that we were producing a short film meant we were less affected. A convention of a short film is to have little-no dialogue or use voice over. So the fact that the DV cameras had poor sound quality wasn’t that much of a problem as we needed to focus more on the score anyway in order to give insight into narrative and suggest the mood instead of dialogue. The converged technology was again able to come into the process, in production, this time to use the video camera which had a light source and was used as lighting for the after credits footage. Filmed in the evening, and located outside, the DV camera wasn’t able to capture anything, so to enable to see, we used the mobile lighting which overcame our problem.
As another part of production we used a digital camera in order to take pictures for our poster. The digital camera was very simple and quick to use. It also gave us instant access to viewing the pictures taken, meaning we could make decisions on which pictures were right instantly, and take more if weren’t happy with the ones we had. 
A lot of media technologies were used in the post-production process. The non-linear software: Imovie was used, it was easy and efficient to use. Being a non-linear software meant we could edit out of sequence and re-do different decisions resulting in out crosscutting to be a success. This meant that the software was non-destructive, meaning we were easily able to edit out any unwanted footage and add new materials. I-movie allowed titles, transitions, volume, length of scores & clips to be played with, meaning we could develop ideas to create the intended effects such as humour: through the crosscutting. The non-linear, non-destructive, editing software of I-movie was important in reacting to audience feedback as we could make changes, easily in response to the feedback given. I-movie is free which a Mac computer meaning it has mass access to it, which is helpful for ‘independent directors’ like ourselves who have a low budget. The fact that I-movie is a consumer target software means that it is easy to use because it isn’t a professional software that only specialist people would be able to understand to use. Though there are limitations to using I-movie as it has limited functions in comparison to other editing software’s. 
For example in order to show the contrast between the two characters, and how different the same daily routine was, we would have ideally liked to use split screen but that was not available, so we had to use crosscutting. Influenced by the short film: Sign Language, we also would have liked to have credits on the left, with a video clip running on the right at the same time to convey the time that had passed and the relationship that had developed between the male and female character. Though I-movie didn’t have credits that could achieve this, so we just put credits over a running clip that conveyed this was happening as a result of the encounter that the male and female had.
The software: Photoshop was also used in the production process. This was industry standard software which was difficult to learn. Though it made it easier to develop more advanced poster ideas when we did eventually learn how to use it. One good use of Photoshop, especially was the image manipulation that could be used. This gave us the inventive idea of using the motif £10 note as part of the billing block so that there wasn’t too much white space, and to put emphasis on a main theme that the £10 represented - Luck. 
The internet came into great use in the process of post-production, through the site: freeplaymusic.com which allowed us to get free copy right tracks. The fact that it was copy right free, meant we didn’t have to go and ask for permission for any tracks or resort to having to produce tracks of our own to make the scores. The internet meant we could get free ‘stock’ images for our magazine. The music software: Itunes was used in order to test out the downloaded music we chose, skipping to the desired part of the track that we would use for our score. 
In our evaluation we were able to use the internet as a means of distributing our media product via Youtube, Facebook. This allowed us to gain easy feedback from different types of people from our audience, who would especially use the internet. Blogspot.com has allowed our evaluation to be displayed in an interesting and simple manner, I-movie has been used in order to easily create the evaluation pod cast. The whole construction of our media products has been greatly helped by new media technologies, creating products that just wouldn’t be of that standard if produced around 20 years ago. The new media technologies allowed the construction to be quick and easy, unlike many years ago which would have a lot of tedious steps until the end product.
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