1. What have you learnt about technology from the process of constructing this product?
2. I used technology in a number of different forms throughout the duration of my project, some I had used before and some I had not, but I learned about them all as I had never used them in this situation. Examples of the technology I used throughout and the way I used them are as follows :
3. YOUTUBE.COM Youtube.com – I mainly used youtube in the research phase to find products similar to our own, we also used youtube as a class to watch a few tutorials on camera techniques, etc.
4. MICROSOFT WORD & EMAIL I mainly used Word for the documentation of our steps and for brief note form descriptions of shoots. Email was mainly used to link one another to our blogs and share information with one another. I had used both of the aforementioned technologies before, though I had never used them in this setting, exactly. It was interesting to use Word for something more note based, as opposed to formal prose.
5. BLOGGER I created a Blogspot account on which to record our progress through the project as a group, through doing so I learned to imbed objects (images, videos, etc), place links and format text. Within the group we also “followed” each other’s accounts to share information easily.
6. PREZI Prezi is a presentation platform, it was originally used in a class presentation, and we then learned to use it in our own work to develop interactive presentations. I learned to place and format fonts, form pathways between items and imbed images and videos.
7. POWERPOINT I had used Powerpoint before in a way similarly to the way I had used Prezi here. I also used Powerpoint to create interactive presentations but this time in a media environment.
8. CAMERA I learned to use the camera to capture the footage for our product, I learned the basics in a group environment (on, zoom, lens cap, etc.) and then the preliminary provided me with some practical experience. We then used our obtained knowledge for shot techniques (shot reverse shot, 180 degree rule, match on action, etc.) practically. We also experimented with zooms and night mode.
9. MINI-DV TAPES Mini DV tapes are cassette tapes used within the camera, DV being a format for recording and playing back digital video. All DV tapes use tape that is ¼ inch wide. We learned how to appropriately load and ready the tape for recording. All DV tapes use tape that is ¼ inch wide.
10. FIREWIRE Fire Wire is the wire used for isochronous real0time data transfer. We learned to use Fire Wire to transfer the footage from our miniDV tapes to our computers.
11. ADOBE PREMIERE PRO We used Premiere Pro to capture the raw footage and then sort it into “bins” so that it may be edited easily. We then used it for the editing itself: cutting and arranging footage. We also used Premiere Pro to implement the effects (blurs, dissolves, etc.) and the addition of the titles. We also used Premiere Pro for the audio for our product, we inserted the samples and cut them to fit into a loop which we fitted throughout.
12. INTERNET DOWNLOADS We used the internet to find a number of copyright free downloads. We downloaded a number of fonts from online suppliers such as www.cooltext.com, though decided against using them in the final product. We also downloaded the music in samples from various sites.