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FINAL CUT EXPRESS

Firstly, I used Final Cut Express to edit my rough cut and final product, as it is easy to use

after familiarization with the software, and it is used in the Media Industry professionally.

The video editing software enables the user to trim raw footage, colour correct (using the

RGB balance tool), add titles, add movement to media elements- and most significantly,

add music tracks and sound effects to the project- making it extremely useful in making

the product. I have also used the product in my Research and Planning for editing my

Preliminary film and the Skills and Development “Juno” opening, of which I learned how to

efficiently use the software before the editing stage of my rough and final cuts of “The

Network”.

CAMERA / TRIPOD

The hardware pieces I used to film my product with were a Tripod with adjustable height settings (useful for low/high angle shots) and a 1080p HD JVC pocket camera, with 4GB SD card memory and the capacity of 41 minutes of HD footage. They were both useful in filming the entirety of my project, and were also readily available for reshoots and shots I needed to add for the Final Product.

AVS VIDEO EDITOR

AVS Video Editor is an editor I have access to at home, and I used this for correcting

some grainy shots, and colour correcting special effect shots prior to being processed

in Adobe After Effects, as it’s colour correct window is easy to use. It is also very easy

to export footage into many different formats, which is useful for multiple program use

between Mac and PC devices.

ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS

I used Adobe After Effects for all of my Special Effect shots, as it is an extremely

versatile tool which is often used for Visual Effects in the Professional Industry. The

software layout is easy to use, and you can add and edit effect, mask, or null object

layers individually, while adding effects to each to increase realism. The most

frequent effect I created with it was the “electrical” effect which I created by key

framing a strike graphic between the actor’s fingers, then masking his hand over (with

a feather) to create the illusion of the lightning being generated by his hand. Blurred

out duplicated layers of said lightning created the illusion that his hand is a light

source. I also used the null object layer to track the “firewall” actor’s face so the

screen graphics could be attached to it (the parent element) and would move with his

face.

BLOGGER I have used Blogger since the start of the project as a way of displaying multimedia

elements in one place to show the progression of my product research, production and then to display my evaluation. Youtube videos, Prezis, Powerpoints and various image types can be embedded into a post, along with explanatory text- which makes it an incredibly useful platform for displaying the various methods I used in creating the elements of the product, and explaining conventions in Professional product research.

YOUTUBE

Youtube is also extremely useful as I was able to quickly find videos of professional

products of which I could analyse and take inspiration from. It also allows you to

upload your own video products which makes it easier to display shot tests and the

final product on Blogger, as well as Evaluation questions in Video format.

PREZI.COM

Prezi is an online presentation software (in some aspects, similar to PowerPoint)

which I have used to display analysis of professional products and other means of

presenting analyses or pieces of text in an interesting way. In addition, background

music can also be added to presentations, further engaging the reader. The

presentation is set out in a virtual space in which the presentation moves through, so

movement paths can be set- guiding the reader through the subject in discussion.

POWERPOINT

PowerPoint is a Microsoft Office tool which enables the user to create professional looking presentations easily, through a sequence of slides which Videos, audio, images and text can be added to, aiding the discussion piece in hand.

It has been especially helpful in my textual analysis as I was able to easily and quickly add screen shots of the professional products and narrate the mise-en-scene, cinematography and other elements with the text box tool, making the inclusion of images and text easy. A “Master slide” feature can also be used to establish a consistent colour, graphic and layout for the PowerPoint- making the presentation look more professional (as seen in this PowerPoint).

FREESFX.COM

“www.freeSFX.com” was really useful for collecting copyright free sound effects I could use in my final product. Examples of these sounds include the phone “buzz” near the start and the electric glove sounds (three were used overall to convey increasing power and intensity), and it was an easy source to download material from in a format which is compatible with most editing software (particularly Final Cut Express, which is the software I used to edit my Final Product).

GOOGLE DOCS

Google Docs has been incredibly useful in conducting surveys which is a direct way of addressing my target audience. I used this in my fifth evaluation question, and a page can be set up which displays the results visually (text responses and graphs for age, gender and activity of the survey).