6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Nadia Khatun

Video Camera

For my film opening and preliminary task, I had filmed using a video camera. This is a professional piece of equipment that allowed me and my group members to record our footage to then upload later onto the iMacs for us to edit. The video camera was the most essential piece of technology we were using as it was capturing our project. As I had little experience in filming that too with the specific video camera I had, I was unsure at first on how to use it. Gradually, I started getting the hang of it and I realised how easy it was to use as I kept using it and finding out what each button actually did. Mentally, I knew what the camera shots, camera movements, and camera angles were. However, using a video camera to film had made me physically aware of the camera shots, camera movements, and camera angles and I am now confident in using these different camera shots/movements/angles in certain situations.

Tripod

My film opening required a tripod in order for the footage to be stable and when using the different types of camera movements, for example, tilt, the tripod enables the camcorder to tilt smoothly and it will also help with the picture quality making the footage look more professional. Even though it was used a few times for my film opening, it has still helped with the shots that couldn’t be stable when filmed freehandedly. One of the shots that could be referred to is the first shot of my film opening where the camera tilts down from the sky to the bandstand. If this shot would have been done without a tripod, it would have been difficult as the camera would be shaky and therefore affecting the footage making it look bad. The tripod was also useful when I had to use it for eye level angle shots as it was kept still on ground level. I have learned that a tripod is very useful as it could prevent things such as shaky and unsteady footage which may be difficult to improve later on when editing. In addition, tripods have three legs that can differ in height and be adjusted depending on what type of shot you want which again makes them very useful when video recording.

iMac

Throughout constructing my film opening, I have worked on the iMacs as they were a professional piece of equipment that had lots of different tools which I used for a variety of my tasks. These tasks include: writing up my planning on Microsoft word and Microsoft PowerPoint, using the internet (Safari) to access different online tools, and editing my film opening on iMovie. At first when I used an iMac, I had found it quite difficult as it was completely different from my computer at home and the other computers around my school. Slowly, I had become used to it and the way it worked. I had learned the different features that it offered, e.g. microphone and built in stereo speakers (which we thought we may need to use) and why it was good for editing purposes. Also, there were a lot of useful things installed on it which my group members played about with to see if it would be of any use to us. An example would be that there is a program called Garage Band which allows you to make music (one of its purposes) and one of my group members had made music for our film opening (which we did not end up using). Overall, I had learnt that the iMacs were a good piece of equipment and I don’t think my work would have been any better using it on another type of PC.

SD card

An SD card was used to store all of my footage on it so I could later transfer it onto the iMac to edit. It provided me with storage so that all of my footage could be saved on it without losing it and having to re-shoot the scenes again. So, the SD card had allowed me to film extra shots which could have been needed to be put in my film opening just in case. I had learnt that an SD card was reliable as well as useful as there was a sufficient amount of memory provided, and this enabled me to film the amount of footage (and more) I wanted.

iMovie

iMovie was the software I had used to edit my footage for my film opening and to edit my preliminary video. iMovie provides you with the basic tools to edit, cut, and add effects to create a professional finish. After using it once, I had learnt that it is quite easy to use and that it had lots of different editing tools such as slow motion which I used in my film opening. By learning to use the different things that iMovie had offered, it has made me more confident when editing on iMovie as I am aware of what different features it offers and what I can use to make my media project more engaging.

Adobe Illustrator

I had decided to create my production company logo on Adobe Illustrator as I was familiar with the features and I haven’t ever properly used Photoshop. Adobe illustrator allowed me to add on a feature that lightens the colour the further you go and I had used this effect on the arrow of my logo. When I used the program to edit I wasn’t as familiar as I had thought I’d be but after playing around I had learnt about the different effects available on it.

Microsoft

For a vast majority of my tasks, I have used Microsoft software for most of them such as Word and PowerPoint. On Microsoft word I had saved some of my work which then I uploaded later onto Blogger such as the nine frame analysis, audience expectations example, the production company logo, the script of the preliminary task, the prop list, the costume list, the location list, and the script to my film opening. The tasks I had completed on PowerPoint include microelements, history of the genre, certificate ratings, initial ideas, and my mood board. It was beneficial to me by using Microsoft word because it saved me time as it was faster than writing it by hand, and then taking a picture of it, and then uploading it onto Blogger. Also, I could personalise my documents making them look more engaging by changing the colours, fonts, and adding images.

Google

The Google search engine was extremely useful when I was planning, researching and creating my project. I had found a lot of relevant information through Google which had helped me a lot when constructing my film opening. Also, whenever I had a problem with any of the software or hardware I typed the problem into Google and it came up with solutions on how to help me, which again was useful. Google had also widened my knowledge on some of the online tools as there were more in depth knowledge about them. I had used Google images several times whenever I needed to put in pictures to make my presentations look more engaging. I had also used Google maps for the location of the areas I would be filming in. Overall, Google had helped me understand the complications that come with the different software and hardware and I know how to use Google more effectively.

Blogger

Blogger is where I uploaded all of the tasks of my media project consisting of all my planning and research for my film opening. Blogger is where I saved all of my work that I did whilst at home and in class. It has has been essential in the sense that it enables me to organise my blogs and it was a useful tool as it was able to hold multiple platforms of different media so I was easily able to store all of my work in the same place, making it easy to access and to locate. Whilst using blogger I learnt how to upload the tasks, how to personalise a blog, and how to remove and add blogs, it had also in some way developed my organisational skills.

Art of the Title

For some of my tasks such as the timeline for an opening, and my nine frame analysis, Art of the titles is the website I viewed. This helped me gain an insight of what shot I should include in my own film opening and it was useful as it gave me an understanding of characters, diegetic sounds, locations, mise-en-scene, and the type of lighting used depending on the genre.

Slide Share

After creating my PowerPoints, I upload them on Slide Share and then used the embedded code to upload it on Blogger. Without Slide Share my PowerPoints wouldn’t have been easy to access through my blog. In a way, Slide Share made my PowerPoints look more appealing and interactive as the information was shown in a different way. From using Slide Share I learnt various things such as how to upload my PowerPoints onto Blogger by embedding the PowerPoint. I think that Slide Share is more effective than making a video as it allows the individuals to go through the slides at their own pace.

Dafont

To create my company production logo, I needed to find an appropriate type of writing to go with the drama genre and I had found the font on dafont.com. By using this website, I had learnt how to download the font and then by moving the font files to the system, it had enabled me to use the font in Adobe illustrator and other programs.

YouTube

I uploaded all my videos on my blog via YouTube. The videos include my preliminary video, audience expectations, certificate ratings, and my film opening. All of these videos would have been in one place on my account so this was useful and the uploading was quite simple. When I was planning for my film, I had used YouTube to find other similar film openings just so I completely understood the generic conventions of a drama film so I could incorporate it into my own film opening. I have learnt how to embed the videos onto my blogger through YouTube. Furthermore, I learnt how to upload videos to YouTube which was a skill I was unable to do before starting this project so, this will now help me in the future. Overall, this software has been extremely beneficial and influential.