Evaluation Question 4

Youtube - I used youtube which is the largest online video service on the web. It is an example of web 2.0. The reason I used youtube is because of the huge range of content uploaded to it, this meant I was easily able to research previous horror trailers so that I can could an idea of what I wanted our trailer to contain and the conventions we would show. It then felt only right to upload our final product to youtube as it has such a high traffic count meaning it was the best place to "show off" our trailer. It was also easy to link to fellow classmates and friends for audience feedback.

Blogger - This is another example of user edited web 2.0 platform, blogger is a great way to show off my a2 coursework in such a way that was unavailable even just a few years ago although I think this is a great medium to display my coursework I don't agree that it is easy to use or that I enjoyed using it I found it particularly frustrating when trying to organise pictures in a location that complemented the text, also in the free way in which we were left to organise and add to our blog I found that I fell behind during the Christmas period when I had little completed of what was expected this was because I prefer to have deadlines to hand in pieces of work rather than wait until the end and find everything wasn't completed. I spoke with my teacher about this and we agreed that in the future I would prefer a closer monitored process of producing the work.

Adobe Photoshop CS5 - I used photoshop to create my ancillary texts as it is the industry standard in producing such pieces of work. As I used it extensively in my AS coursework to produce my magazine cover, contents and feature pages it was fairly easy to pick up where I'd left off since last using it and producing my content at a speed previously not attainable by myself for example to produce my front cover in my AS coursework it took 3-4 weeks to get it to a standard I was happy with whereas this time around I was able to create my film magazine and poster in less than a week at a similar standard something of which I'm proud of.

Adobe Premiere Pro/After Effects CS5 - Having previously used premiere pro in my own time for outside projects our group (including another person more experienced than I, with PP) we took the executive decision with permission from our teacher to use this program rather than learn final cut pro like the rest of our class, this allowed us to teach the other two members in our group to be taught about the program while we edited it which they soon picked up. As a result of this we were able to produce our trailer much quicker than the rest of our class as while they learnt the basics of FCP we got editing immediately this resulted in us having more time to change aspects of our trailer we weren't entirely happy with. Using after effects in sync with PP meant we were able to interchange compositions with no problems rather than having to render them out and then import meanig we saved on time and produced high quality title effects.

Royalty-Free Music Websites - We used these websites which have a wide selection of music that we could use in our trailer meaning we could get a highly professional sound without the huge costs of producing or paying to use someone else's copyrighted music.
Sony Handycam - Our group used a sony handycam which meant we could record our trailer in HD giving a professional look of production. With digital video production becoming more and more accessible to everyone due to the fact it's now a lot cheaper as film which was expensive is now obsolete and the equipment itself has dropped in price over the years meaning that anyone can now go out and produce a video of some sort which is why youtube has become so popular as it's so easy to share your creation with potentially millions of people.

iPhone 4s - This is widely considered to be the best phone on the market, I used my one to organise filming times/locations and to shoot one of the shots in our trailer (one in the tent at the end) this was because it was dark and the phone conveniently has a flash so we could illuminate our location to produce our shock moment.

Flickr - I used flickr for many things, but mostly for analysis of previous horror posters and film magazine covers, it's a particularly good way to annotate said products and allows whoever is viewing it easily relate it to the question or task.

Slideshare - Is something I'm familiar with from last years coursework and I thought to include the service again this year, slideshare is a useful way of sharing powerpoint presentations and I was able to embed my slideshow into my blog using slideshare this meant I could display my target audience research in an effective yet aesthetically pleasing way.

SurveyMonkey - This was the first time I'd used this website and was pleased with the results in which I got. It's a free service to create a questionnaire and is easily shared across many mediums, we got in total around 35 respondents to our survey due to the fact in which we shared it through our own personal social media outlets which was directly linked to what our target audience was meaning we got useful information to create a great trailer.

Social Media (Facebook & Twitter) - These services also link to what I've previously said about organising our group and also to the creation of our feedback and getting our target audience directly involved.