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

A web 2 site is a site that involves interaction between site users. For example, social networking sites such as facebook, video sharing sites such as youtube or blog sites such as blogger and photo sharing sites such as flickr. It means that we can combine all three. For example, I have uploaded videos onto my blog from youtube, and photos from flickr. Websites combine together to promote other websites which the site user could be interested in. I have used this in my own work a lot. It means that I have been able to present the information I needed in different ways. I also used the website 'slideshare' which meant that I could use a powerpoint presentation I created and share that onto my blog. Other students can also get involved with my blog, for example the members of my group have been granted access to be able to comment on any work I've done, and we can get ideas from each other. Some issues with web 2 would be that although privacy settings can be edited, it's quite complicated so therefore most blogs would be public. This means that people could copy or take work and claim it as their own when in fact it's not. However, often somebody would notice this. Other problems could include internet or computer's not working properly. I've been lucky in that I haven't had many of these problems whilst working on my blog.

At the top of this post there is a montage including most of the programs which I used during the process of making our trailer, movie poster and magazine cover. To start with, I used the search engine Google, and the video sharing website Youtube, to help with my research into horror and trailers. This meant that I could take a look at existing products to help me to decide on an idea for my own, and what works and what doesn't etc. I then began using Flickr - a photo sharing website, to upload photos of movie posters or magazine covers related to new movies, and I annotated these to see what they included. This helped me when I began to make my own. I then began to use Blogger to start up my blog and post my flickr analysis'. I also then began to analyse youtube videos, which I could also put onto my blog because web 2 means that I can link two websites together and work with both. This meant that Blogger, Youtube, Google and Flickr were all linked so I could post anything I wanted onto my blog. To create our trailer we used video cameras and a Mac with programs called Final Cut Pro and Garage Band. Final Cut Pro was to edit our essay, putting clips together, changing speeds, adding texting, lighting, transitions etc. Garage Band was used to create our sounds to go with the trailer. We were able to put our video onto Garage Band so that we could make our music in time with the trailer. Using most of these programs/websites was fairly simple and very beneficial. We came across a few problems such as internet connections going wrong or programs crashing. But other than that everything has been pretty straight forward and easy to get to grips with.

Overall, these websites and programs helped to develop our skills in modern technology. Before creating this teaser trailer I hadn't got much experience on a Mac. Final Cut Pro was a little difficult to get used to as well. We made sure that each group member was given a chance to take a look at this program and have a play about to get used to it. Last year we developed our skills on Photoshop and Blogger and this year we developed them even further. I'm now finding photoshop much easier to use. It's been essential for creating my ancillary texts. I think that since last year I have come quite a long way with my creativity on photoshop. Last year I found it very challenging to come up with ideas and to find ways of overcoming obstacles on my own, I needed a lot of assistance. This year I have been discovering more and more and finding ways to improve my skills on my own.