Evaluation-Technology

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

A wide range of different technologies were used throughout the planning, researching, filming and editing stages in the making of my thriller opening sequence.

Blogging:

The first piece of new technology I was introduced to was the blog in which I would log all of the progress regarding my thriller. I had no previous experience using this type of blog so I had to gain understanding of the controls that the blog use during the construction and publishing of posts. The main challenges I faced when learning how to use this piece of technology was the adding in pictures, videos and embedding links as I have no previous experience in doing this so I had to learn all of these. When adding in these elements to my blog I had to use multiple different types of media such as YouTube, Prezi (www.prezi.com), Soundcloud and www.freesounds.org. I was also unconfident when using some of these alternative websites as I have not previously used them. However, I have enjoyed using blogger as it allows me to access my work wherever I require without having to carry around large, heavy folders and reduces the chances of my work becoming lost or damaged. 



Camera and Filming Equipment:

To film our thriller footage we used a Canon 700D, I have not used this type of camera to shoot moving images before so it took me a while to get to grips with how to create images that stayed in focus when I changed the position of shots. However, once I found out how to do this, the other functions of the camera were easy to use. Also the preliminary project that I previously completed gave me the experience and practice I needed. This type of camera created very clear, sharp images and allowed us to play back our footage so we were able to see if the clips met the desired effect we hoped for. 

During the filming stage we used a tripod to create more stable shots, this greatly aided the quality of our product as the standard of filming increased greatly. This piece of equipment was straight forward to use, so I had no trouble with setting it up. We also used the tripod to shoot the travelling shots as this created a more steady shot than when we completed the handheld shots. 





Editing:
To edit our previously filmed footage, we used Adobe Premiere Pro. Other than the preliminary project, I had no previous experience with using this software. Due to my lack of experience with the program I learnt a variety of skills. Some of these being; how to trim pieces of footage, transitions such as fade and changing the saturation of clips. Alongside the use of Adobe Premiere Pro, we were required to use Adobe After Effects to create our titles. I again, have never used this software so I had to learn all of the required skills linked with this program. I have gained some useful skills using this program, such as how to create a title, how to change the colour of the font and how to distort its appearance. To add non-diegetic and diegetic sounds to my opening sequence, I had to use a number of different websites, such as soundcloud.com and freesounds.org. Once I had found the sounds I deemed suitable, I had to import them in to Adobe Premiere Pro, this was at times time consuming as it took some time to crop them down to ensure the sounds fitted with the right part of footage and did not overshadow any other important sounds, occasionally this proved difficult as I found it rather challenging to match the sounds of footsteps to the footage of the footsteps of the male antagonist. However, once I overcame this hurdle, I found the rest of the sound editing reasonably easy.

Internet:

During the research and planning stage I regularly used the internet to gather videos and images to help with my research. The main websites I used were YouTube, to find clips to analyse, Weebly, to find past students work to analyse and regular search engines such as Google Images, to find snapshots of titles and ideas for costumes/props. Another use of the internet was for the marking of my blog at various stages; my teachers are able to view my online blog and use Google Classroom to provide me with feedback on my work to aid me with improvements. The internet was also used a great deal when I was searching for sounds during the editing stage. Also, I used YouTube to upload my final product on to before embedding it in my blog as it was the most reliable and safe way to make my thriller viewable for my teachers.