1. Question Six: WHAT
HAVE YOU LEARNT
ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES
FROM THE PROCESS OF
CONSTRUCTING THIS
PRODUCT?
2. Throughout the process of creating my
title and sequence I have learnt to use
lots of technologies; these include;
•Serif Movie Plus (editing software)
•Adobe Fireworks
•Weebly
•Cameras- Handheld recorders
•YouTube
•Google forms
•Slideshare
3. The most important piece of technology I have learnt to use in this process is
Serif Movie Plus. This is a simple but effective piece of editing software that
we used to edit our full title and opening sequence. From this I have learnt
every simple aspect of editing, such as how to edit the scenes together
smoothly so it looks professional, these include features like: cropping clips
to how short/long I want them to be and cut out unwanted sections so I can
actually make my title and opening sequence, being able to fade clips and
text together which looks professional and smooth, put sounds over the
clips where I like which helped sync music to the correct scenes to create the
tension and show professionalism and pan and zoom clips to show parts of
that shot in more detail. Basically I secured a good understanding of the
basics and some of the more complex features of this software; this will help
me for the future because I know how to actually use it now, whereas before
I didn’t. I made text in animation and incorporated them in my movie
because it looks much more professional than just typing text and editing it.
I also added text on top of my sequence which I was able to do with this
piece of software, the reason I did this was for the titles and it is reflective of
real movies which in turn looks professional for me. Finally another effect I
added on to my title and opening sequence was making one scene black and
white in the clip; this was simple to do and I did it because I wanted to give
the clip a flashback feel which I feel worked well.
4. Another main piece of technology I’ve learnt to use is camera.
Firstly with the camera I have learnt to actually use it because
without being able I would be obsolete, record clips for my title and
opening sequence. Secondly I’ve learnt more in depth about the
different camera angles and how they differ in terms of
effectiveness. For example, close ups are used to express emotion
so when I wanted to show emotion I would use a close up. This is
the opposite for what I would use a wide shot for, which would to
be to show the whole scene so the viewers can get an
understanding of what’s going on. Attention to framing also plays a
role into camera angles. So when using the camera to film I ensure
the camera angles and the framing was perfect because otherwise it
wouldn’t look good whatsoever. I had some issues with shaking
when filming for my establishing shot, which would have ruined my
title and opening sequence, to overcome this I got a tripod and
recorded the shot multiple times until it was complete and looked
professional. During using the camera also I learnt to use its
stabilizer feature that’s build in with combination with a tripod
means the shots will be still and look professional.
5. I’ve learnt about how lighting affects the scenes that I record on the
camera, lighting can make a scene certainly in a thriller with the
gloomy scenes. I also ensured that my shadow wasn’t in the shot
because it shows unprofessionalism and completely ruin everything,
although it was challenging at times I ensured it was done.
Throughout this process I have also learned about how cameras
differ in terms of quality, the camera I used was standard 720p HD,
which for the most part looks good and is good enough to make a
title and opening sequence. But I have learnt there is more
expensive cameras that can film in 4K and even 8K which is over
1440p, double the resolution. I have learnt about sound and the
microphone on the cameras, how you need to be close enough and
in the right environment (for example if it was extremely windy it
wouldn’t be able to pick up audio properly) for the camera to be
able to pick up the audio, regardless whether or not it is diegetic or
non-diegetic; diegetic means sound you can see where it comes
from and non-diegetic being sound where you cannot see where it
comes from.
6. Another piece of important software I have learnt to use is Adobe
Fireworks, which I used to create the titles for my title and opening
sequence and my production company logo. This piece of software is
very simple to use once you master it (it means putting in text and then
modifying it to the extent that you want) putting effects on like glow,
shadow and blur. I used all of these features when creating different
titles because I was being experimental to see which one I liked the
most. It also can change the size of the text, the width and height. All
these features allowed me to create 3 different titles using all the
features. This also helped me be decisive because I had more than one
choice when it came to the titles, making me feel more in control. The
same goes for the production company logo, I was able to make 2 very
different production company logos which meant again I was able to
pick and choose. Because of the limitless customisation, I was able to
make my titles and production company logo correlate with my genre
(thriller) and appeal to my target audience of older teens and younger
adults. I did this by making the production company more professional
and bold. The title was similar but had edginess to keep to the thriller
theme. I formatted the text in one of the default texts that is in fireworks
in which I then modified it to the extent that I did.
7. During this process I learnt to use websites Weebly, YouTube and Google
Forms. Weebly I only learnt about during this year in Media. It is a website
where you can create your own blog and put your own things on. Most of
my media work throughout the year has been put on this website. Whilst
this programme is straight forward to use, I feel I have benefitted from it
because it has taught me to make page look and feel professional which is
a skill I will be able to take forward with me in the future. YouTube is
another page that I have learnt new skills on; whilst I am already an active
viewer of YouTube I have never actually uploaded a video before. But in
order to make my title and sequence viewable I had to put in on YouTube,
this process was very straight forward, but I had to ensure the thumbnail
was good and the titles weren’t misleading, because it is strict policy on
YouTube stating titles must be true to the video. With the uploaded videos
on YouTube I was then able to put them on Weebly through the use of the
embed code that is easily accessible once the video is on YouTube, the
embed codes allows the video to be watched on other websites such as
Weebly.
8. This shows me even more professionalism that I can take into the future.
The final website I have learnt to use during this process is Google Forms;
this website is very straight forward to use, users of this website gets free
professional documents templates, which I used for the questionnaire
section. We needed this questionnaire as part as our research on the
target audience of movies. After making it I was able to share it to my
Facebook which then got about 50 participants to take this questionnaire,
this was massively beneficial for me because having participants means I
had answers to research and explain in my target audience analysis; once
the questionnaire was made the results were automatically saved and
structured in graphs and pie charts that was very easy to understand and
then analyse because it could show me exact percentages and a visual
representation instead of just a number. This was beneficial for me
because the website was super effective and efficient in what I wanted to
achieve, It did something which would have otherwise taken lots of time
to do individually. Another website I used was Slideshare, this website
allows Powerpoint Slideshows to be placed online. This website was
straight forward to use and it helped me because once again it allowed
me to place my slideshows of Props, Costumes, Locations and Actors on
my Weebly through the use of the embed code