WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT

TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE PROCESSES OF

CONSTRUCTING THIS PRODUCT?

BETH PANNIFER

THE IMPORTANCE OF TECHNOLOGY

Throughout the process of constructing my product I have learnt to use a wide range of technologies which have been beneficial in a variety of ways. These technologies have allowed me to improve my research, planning, shooting and editing of films. Without these technologies I would not have had the helpful platforms to plan, edit and produce any of my coursework.

BLOGAt the beginning of the year I was introduce to WordPress and taught how to navigate the blog site which would form the fundamental foundation of my coursework. This provided me with the ability to create posts consisting of a variety of media, such as embedding YouTube videos for my deconstructions and my final film. It also allowed me to present my work in an appealing and organized fashion to give my blog a personal touch, supplying me with a platform to present and share my findings clearly and effectively. Although I faced some initial difficulties with certain elements of the site such as embedding images and the format of the text, with much practice and regular use I quickly overcame these setbacks.

Due to the time I have spent using the blog site for my coursework I am now extremely confident and aware of the benefits it provides and am grateful to have been introduced to it as it has made the process of completing my coursework much simpler and straightforward.

WEBSITES

On commencing our research, YouTube and IMDB were very helpful and influential. When carrying out research YouTube was very effective as it allowed use to find film openings, however, not all films were online which did cause some inconveniences and was one downfall of using YouTube. We uploaded our rough cuts and final film onto YouTube which proved very easy and straightforward but did take quite some time to upload. IMDB, Internet Movie Database, was also useful for research specifically our deconstructions.

Another new platform we were introduced to was a survey site, ‘Survey Monkey’ which we used as part of our research regarding favourite genres which formed the groundwork of our production planning and decisions regarding which film genre to produce. By sending out links to the survey on social media and through email we were able to collect over on hundred results.

PRODUCTION EQUIPMENTDuring the production of our product, we used two digital cameras which allowed us to capture each scene from different angles and perspectives, producing a significant amount of footage. With guidance, as well as trial and error, we learnt how to operate the cameras by ourselves and were able to even experiment with our filming as we felt confident in our ability to use them. As we used two cameras of the same model, Canon HF625, this ensured that settings such as colour, balance, brightness and contrast were all the same and therefore producing footage from separate cameras but with the same settings.

Along with the camera we used a voice recorder to record the voice-over for our film opening which was a new piece of equipment that we had little experience with. Again, through some direction and trial and error we were able to successfully use the equipment in order to attain the recording we needed. In production for our preliminary film sequence we did not utilize tripods mostly due to unawareness of the importance of a steady camera. Since our preliminary we have made a conscious effort to avoid repeating mistakes such as this, and so took three tripods with us to filming. With two small tripods and a 7ft jib we were able to create a range of shot angles and movement which greatly contributed to the quality of our film.

EDITING SOFTWAREFurthermore, during the editing stage we used Serif Movie x6, a software which we also used for the preliminary task. Subsequently I had a great deal of experience with the software and was able to easily navigate and utilize the several editing options it provided, it is considerably advanced, offering a great variation of effects. Some of the key settings we utilized were the speed of clips to create longer shots that complied with the conventions of our genre as period dramas use many long slow shots. We discovered new ways to enhance our film with the use transitions and text which we found interesting to experiment with.

We also had to edit the sound in our film which was a new experience for us as it proved quite challenging to alter the volume of the music and voice over whilst also making both audible and avoiding letting one dominate the other to the point that we might lose some of the audio. We sat down with a focus group consisting of young girls from the age of 16 to 18 as, from our survey results, this was the largest age percentage. They then gave us feedback, suggesting improvements. Some of these included removing shots and added other shots which we then edited using the software and proved very easy to alter.

SUMMARY

Since starting the production of my film I have learnt an incredible amount about new technologies and current media platforms, all of which have considerably benefitted the success and quality of production.