Question 6- what have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
1. Question 6- What have you learnt about
technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
By Anthony, Leanne and Grzegorz
2. Blogs and online presentation sites
• When starting this Media course we were
introduced to our new blogs which were on
the website www.wordpress.com. None of us
in the group have ever used Word Press
before so it took us sometime to get used to
how to post, edit text etc.
• After getting used to the online software we
began to like it as it gave us our own
individuality to create our media project,
and it also provided us the opportunity to
easily work together by posting work and
commenting on each others improvements
etc. which could all be done from our own
homes. We also began to see how this was
relevant to the industry as web 2.0 is
improving rapidly and allows information to
be presented to the world and edited easily.
3. Blogs and online presentation sites
• We also discovered that we could embed links to the blog which
allowed us to post video tutorials on variety of subjects on the
website www.youtube.com, which gave us the opportunity to
present the video we looked and made it easier to reference too.
We also wanted to present our work in an appealing format so
to do this we looked into online presentation websites. We
found a number of websites that allowed us to display our
content in a number of different ways. One website I looked at
was www.prezi.com, our first experience of this software was
that it was difficult to use such as getting the transitions right
between each ‘slide’. But after spending sometime with the
software we discovered that is was very useful in creating a
visually pleasing presentation that wasn’t just a block of text
and gives our blog posts a more creative aspect to them which
we all liked. Another website we used for our blog was
www.slideshare.com, this website allowed us to post our
Microsoft PowerPoint presentation which helped to strengthen
our multimedia on our blogs as you are able to post pictures,
videos, links, audio etc. all on the one software which we all
liked.
4. Filming
• The camera that we used to film our
opening sequence was Panasonic HD
Camera (HC – V720). We have used
cameras before in the past but this camera
had different as it had a external audio
port. This was a large advantage for us as it
meant that we could connect an external
microphone and have better quality sound
for our opening sequence. The camera
allowed us (alongside with the tripod) to
have may different shots in our film which
played a major part in the different media
language for our characters such as making
the antagonist more dominant with a low
angle shot etc. as well as giving it a
professional feel with the high quality
picture.
5. Filming
• Another piece of equipment that we used to shot our
film was the LEDGO CN-600SC. We had never used
professional lights for a filming before but after being
instructed by our media teacher and looking through
a number of tutorials online we began to understand
the different positions and techniques we could use to
set the scene. These lights also came with different
colour filters which really projected the scene for
example if we used a orange filter it gave off a warm
emotion etc. For our opening sequence we decided to
not use any filters as this type of light gave a very
clinical feel to the scene which is what we wanted to
give across to the audience. We also used these lights
as part of the props in the murder scene and really
added to the surgery themed room.
6. Editing Software
• To edit our film we decided to use the Apple software iMovie and Logic
Pro. We had used iMovie before but it has been updated since we last
saw it so it took some time to get used to how everything worked again.
This editing software was great to use, it made cutting, adding credits,
changing the audio etc. very simplistic to do and allowed use to create a
professional looking opening sequence. What we also liked about this
software was when we were doing our research tasks it allowed us to do
a method called picture-in-picture which meant we could play one
video, while simultaneously playing another one in a smaller screen,
this allowed us to show off tutorial videos or even comment over our
opening sequence. We also used Logic Pro which is a audio editing
software. This program allowed us to change that different aspect of the
sound that we imported into the film, such as fading in and out of each
scene and making sure the sound was its highest quality which again
added to the professionalism of the opening sequence.
7. Research
• YouTube played a major part in our research task.
When it came to tutorials or looking at different
camera shots we could use, its difficult to visualise
that from just word of mouth or text; so YouTube
gave us a visual tutorial that gave us a better
understanding on camera work, special effects
make up, editing techniques, lighting techniques
etc. Even when it came to analysing different
extracts from existing films it gave us an easy
access to each film which we could then embed it
into our blogs and so you exactly what we have
been analysing which we all really liked. YouTube
has really helped on this project and has helped us
developed our skills alongside with what we have
been taught in lesson.
8. Research
• We also used the website www.IMDB.com
to help with our research into the
different crime thrillers that have been
created. This website is very helpful in
finding specific genres of film and even
gave us an in detailed list of every film
that is out there. But we also wanted a
film that matched our story of a
psychopathic killer that kills innocent
victims, and IMDB helped with that
because as we found the film The
Stepfather (which matched our storyline)
it recommended other films that were
similar to this which gave us a multitude
of options to choose from.
