Question 4: How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

What is new media technology?

New media technologies is seen to be a term that is used to describe things such as the internet but also the interplay that is between technologies, images and sound itself.  There is no specific definition for 'new media technology' since this is something that is constantly and continuously changing on a day to day basis.

BLOGGER

Over the course of me doing my coursework the way I had presented it was within a website called 'Blogger.' This website was simply a blog that allowed me to make several posts and save them onto my blog for others to see the work I had produced. I personally really enjoyed using blogger as it was both a quick and easy way to both produce and post my work. I was also able to post images and create work on other websites and embed them into blogger to show what I had produced. I also think that the website is very professional, tidy and organised. It is easy to find the posts you are wanting to view as there is a tool bar on the side of the web page with the dates and titles of every post that has been published. 

IMovie

Throughout my coursework the main piece of software I had used was IMovie. Due to me having to produce a trailer as part of my coursework this therefore meant I was going to have to learn how to use IMovie to do this. Since I do not have a Mac at home I have never been able to use IMovie before meaning I had quite a struggle coming to terms with how to use it to begin with. Before I went straight into making my overall trailer I had done a preliminary task which therefore allowed me to play around with IMovie and try out new and different things. IMovie allowed me to make my trailer look really professional due to all the editing and effects that could be used. I personally found IMovie quite challenging to use,  this could be due to me not having enough experience with the software. 

Fireworks

Fireworks was also another piece of software that was used a lot throughout my coursework. I had used fireworks to produce the intertitles within my trailer but then also my print products. Magazine, DVD Cover and Poster. The reason for me using fireworks to produce my intertitles and print products is simply because the software itself has a lot to offer to help make my work look professional. There is a range of things you can use within this software. A Variety of fonts, tools, colours and many more. 

Survey Monkey

Survey Monkey was used a lot through out the process of my coursework. This was both a quick and effective way for me to collect responses from my audience and see how they felt towards certain things. This therefore meant I could evaluate the feedback and work from it. The reason for me using Survey Monkey was it was frits of all easy and professional but was also free to use online. Another good thing about it was you could pick which sort of layout and question you would like to use therefore making the apperance of the questionnaire easy to follow.

Youtube, Soundcloud And Audacity

When it came to having to find sound effects and music for my trailer the best source I had used was Youtube as it is the most reliable source due to being a large range of media avalible. Another reason I had decided to use Youtube was because it was another way of me to present my work. I was able to post things such as my key scenes, trailer, feedback from my audience and even more. Youtube is a quick and easy way to view things based on my work. Using Youtube allowed parts of my work that were presented on there to be both visual and audiable to my audience.

Next I used Audacity, the reason being for me using Audacity is purely so that when I had found the music I had liked to use witthin my trailer due to me being unable to get the permission I wanted start away I decided to edit the track by changing both the pitch and tempo. This software was really helpful as it allowed me to edit music and soundeffects so it was first of all legal to use due to the copyright rule but then also edited so that it allowed the audio to sound how I wanted it to sound.

Another free website that I had used was Soundcloud. Soundcloud allows people to listen to different types of audio. I decided to use Soundcloud as it was quick and easy to add audio too. I had used this website to store a few interviews I had got from my audience when I had gotten feedback from them. 

Flickr and Picmonkey 

Flickr is simply a website that is free and is used to allow you to upload any images that you have taken. Flickr also allows me to create a slideshow that I was able to embed onto my blog so that the images I had taken could be viewed in a quick and easy manor. Also, the good thing about flickr was that it was easy to access on both a computer but then also on mobile devices meaning I was able to upload any images I had taken whenever I wanted too.

PicMonkey was also a free website I had used. This website had allowed me to edit the images I had in a professional manor. There were a wide variety of effects for me to pick from. This meant I was able to change things such as the brightness, hue and saturation to help  with the effect and genre my images were going for. Again, PicMonkey allowed me to use a wide variety of tools to help my images look a better quality before I went forward and used them on my print products.

Prezi, Thinglink, Slides, Emaze and Padlet 

I had decided to go a bit further into the types of free software I could find to help present my work in different types of ways and that may also be seen to be helpful to me. All of the types of media I had used presented my work in a different way each time. The reason for me wanting to do this was because when it came to looking at new pieces I had created, my reasearch and planning, questionnaires and my evaluation I didn't want them to be boring to look at. I felt as though it should be more intriguing to look at. It also gave me a lot more knowledge into using further websites and software for future refernces.