The camera we used was a Panasonic HD AVC Cam which recorded in 720p 25 onto an SD card. This allowed us to film high quality footage and then transfer it onto the computer in a matter of minutes. The camera had variable zoom as well as focusing abilities allowing us to achieve some depth of field shots. It’s was also very simple and easy to use meaning we could film quickly and efficiently.The only problem we experienced was the fact that the camera was very good at focusing on very close things and blurring out the background, but couldn’t blur out of the foreground when the background was in focus.

The Tripod was a Velbon DV-7000. It too was very easy to use, with adjustable height, as well as pan and tilt abilities. The tripod also featured a spirit level which meant we could make sure our shot wasn’t canted which could have reduced the quality of the video.

Within the media department at college we do not have any camera stabilisers so we had to improvise. We found that the smoothest shot whilst running was achieved when we attached the camera to the tripod and splayed the legs as far as possible to better balance out the weight. Had we had a proper camera stabiliser our shots would have looked more professional, although through this we learned how to utilise the limited tools we had, as many independent film makers have to do in industry.

Radio RoomWithin college we had access to the radio room, which features sound proofed walls, professional grade microphones and a sound board connected to an Apple Mac computer. This allowed us to record high quality audio using the software Audacity, and then easily transfer the sound files onto our project.

This was very useful because when we had tried to record sound using the camera, the quality was very poor and there was a lot of background noise. Using this modern equipment we were able to get clear, audible speech which made our opening sequence sound much more professional. We learnt from this that it is much easier than it used to be to get good quality audio for a project, however, it is still very expensive for an individual because of all the equipment and software required.

The software we primarily used to edit our opening sequence was Adobe Premiere. This allowed us to easily insert and crop our videos and to then order them. We could also change the colour settings, over crank or under crank the footage and add transitions.

For audio we used Premiere to remove all of the audio from the raw footage – except the shots of David searching though and slamming the drawer – and then inserted the music and separately recorded voiceovers.

We also used Premiere to add titles to the opening sequence, with industry accreditations and the title – Rogue, at the end.

Adobe Premiere was very efficient to use and allowed us to edit to a very detailed and high quality standard. It gave us the chance to learn about how films are edited in industry and to appreciate how easy it is now compared to analogue editing techniques.

Screen shot of Adobe Premiere.

Going to Title > New Title allowed us to choose different title types, and once we had chosen the text, font and position, you once again dragged and dropped the title onto the clip you wanted to superimpose it onto.

Using File > Import we could insert both clips and audio we had recorded previously. Then you simply drag and dropped items into the place you wanted them in the film.

Adobe After Effects was a program we had never worked with before but was relatively easy to pick up. We used it to add in special effects to our composition, including the gun shot flares and CCTV shots. We had some issues with it to begin with before realising that we had moved some files around and the After Effects editing was still trying to source the clip from the original placement. We used a few tutorials on YouTube to help us to achieve the specific effects that we wanted. This allowed us to make a much more technologically advanced and entertaining opening sequence that would be more interesting and engaging for the audience.

WixWe used Wix to create our website which included our blog. It was a little difficult to grasp at first but after watching a few of the website builder’s help videos we quickly got the hand of it and were able to make a good looking website quite quickly.

FacebookWe used Facebook to communicate out of the classroom, and it allowed us to make decisions such as the font for the title because we were able to send pictures to one another instantly.

YouTubeWe posted our videos on YouTube so as that we could then link them to our blog. YouTube also allowed us to annotate our video for use on evaluation question 5.

Sound CloudSound Cloud is a music sharing website which we used to obtain our chase music. It features millions of songs, many of which are free to download.

DaFontWe used the website DaFont to find the font for our title: Rogue. This featured thousands of different fonts and allowed us to find the one that we thought matched our film the best.

New media technologies have allowed us to quite easily make a professional media product. Several years ago it would not have been possible for us to achieve such a high standard, as we would certainly not have been able to utilise the internet and social and sharing websites as much as we did. Moreover, the editing software is now very advanced, whereas back in the days of analog editing, it was very difficult and time consuming to put everything together, and extremely difficult to add special effects.

These advances in technology mean people have easier and cheaper access to professional production equipment and software. This gives independent film makers a better chance of creating a successful film which is viewed by a larger audience. YouTube, along with social media sites like Facebook mean that the video we have created can be viewed by people worldwide, an opportunity that wouldn’t have been possible 15 years ago.