WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT

TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE PROCESS OF

CONSTRUCTING THIS PRODUCT?

AS MEDIA EVALUATION

MOLLY BEECHAM & JESS HUNT

WHAT EQUIPMENT &

TECHNOLOGIES DID WE USE?To film our opening, we used a Canon 600D camera. We found this fairly easy to use as we already had some knowledge of the camera and how it works.

To edit our film opening we used Adobe Premier on an Apple Mac computer. This did take some getting used to. We had to learn how to use it as neither of us had used it before. It was difficult at first but we soon got the hang of it.

When we had problems with the sound recorded on the actual footage, we used a voice recorder to record just the dialog and dub it onto the footage.

To film our opening, we also used a tripod, to guarantee a still, hopefully high quality shot. This was obviously an easy piece of equipment to use.

As part of our AS project, we had to record everything we did on our own blog. To do this we used a program called ‘blogger’. This was a nice and easy program to use.

Later on in our project, we used Prezi to answer some of the questions for our evaluation.

EQUIPMENT &

TECHNOLOGIES: CONTINUED

We also used Slide Share to answer some of the other questions for our evaluation. This was very easy to use as you just uploaded a PowerPoint, like this one.

We wouldn’t have been able to do anything other that film without a computer. We used an Apple Mac computer to do everything else in this project.

THE CANON 600D

We had used a Canon 600D before filming our film opening. I (Molly) had use the camera before and knew quite a lot already about it and how to use it. This, I think gave us an advantage as we didn’t have to learn how to use it and hopefully would be able to use the camera to our advantage. The camera had clear and simple functions and I found it easy to films. All that was needed was for the setting to be switched onto film (by means of turning a dial), and to record you had to press the or ‘switch to screen’ button. As we already knew this, we could get straight on and start filming, not having to work it our first. Because we used a DSLR camera (which films in HD) as opposed to a less powerful camera, we thought that it would be a good camera to use, as we could film high definition footage which would hopefully make the end product that little bit better.

THE TRIPOD & SOUND RECORDERWe had used a tripod before. The tripod was obviously an easy piece of equipment to use as it was just the attachment for the camera. Because we had used the camera before, we were also comfortable using the tripod as well.

We had not used a voice recorder before filming our opening. However, because we didn’t use a microphone, attached to the camera when filming, the dialog was barely heard. Therefore we had to use a sound recorder (the one in the picture above) to re-record the dialog. To make it sound authentic, like it was said outside in our location, we also had to re-record the dialog outside. Near a building but outside would give it that slight echo that might have actually occurred if it was said in the footage. This proved fairly easy to use. We had to save our sounds into a folder on the recorder, which at times was difficult to find because there were so many. We were able to dub the dialog over the footage in premier which worked well. We also did this for the flute tune near the end of the opening; we recorded and were able to insert it into premier.

However, due to some difficulties later on, we had the again record the dialog on a different platform; Soundcloud. This was easy to record, getting it onto the computer was the difficult part. (We had to download the sounds onto our computer, where we then had to put them onto a memory stick to take to premier. Once that was done, it was easy to dub the sound over the footage.

USING PREMIER

We had not used Adobe Premier before filming our opening. Premier was new to us both, as neither of us had used it before. This meant that we had to learn how to use the general program and how to alter and add any special effects we wished to add. We started to learn when we made our preliminary although we only used very basic functions. From the preliminary, we learnt something vital; the fact that we need to create a new project as a HDV rather than a DV. We initially created a DV project but we found that because we had filmed in HD, the footage was zoomed in. The problem involved the pixel size and that fact that there was a lack of it when we created a DV project. Because we had filmed in HD, we needed to create a HDV project.

Once we got on to creating are final project, the basic functions were easy to work out; how to insert footage ect and how to crop and cut. We then had to work out for ourselves other features that weren’t so obvious; like how to insert a blank screen (Title screens had to be inserted but they could be blank as well). Once we had worked that out, we could start to structure our film in the way we had planned (have a jump cut scene as they walk up to the farm). In these blank screens we could also insert the credits, which was useful and worked well, we think.

USING PREMIER CONTINUED We also quickly came to realise that the credits could overlay with the footage, however we kept it on the blank screen. We also realised that the different layers of video and audio allowed for different footage to be on top and after and so on. This was useful when making the jump cut scene near the beginning.

The next main issue we had was with the audio. This has been a big issue for us throughout, as we had to re-record our dialog twice and dub over (which was difficult to make sound authentic. Even once we had inserted the sounds into the work area on premier, we then found it difficult to adjust the volume and effects as the functions were quite complicated. It took us a while to learn how to easily change the volume and adjust it to fit in with the footage. From this we did learn how to change the volume however if we put something else together on premier another time, I don’t know if we would be able to do it as easily. We may have to revisit the audio section to be clear on how it all works.

Special effects were easy it add. A drop down menu on the left hand side allowed you to pick and then ‘drag and drop’ them onto the footage in the work area. That was a fairly easy process.

Finally, rendering our film after each editing session was also easy. We found it quite easily and so were able to render it each time.

BLOGGER & PREZI

We had not used Blogger before creating ours for our project. At the beginning of the project, we were able to set up a blogger account with google. That was an easy process as it usually is when setting up an account with any website. From there we were able customize and start posting on our blog. We didn’t find this difficult and quite enjoyed being able to publish our progress on our blog.

From this, we have obviously learnt about how to use blogger and if we wished to use it in the future, we would be able to get the most out of it.

We had not used Prezi either before starting our project. When it came to our evaluation, we were told we could use several different formats to make the presentation as interesting as possible. One of the formats we could use was Prezi. We enjoyed using prezi as we could make fun, interactive presentations whilst being able to answer the questions in detail.

All that was needed was for us to make an account, then we could link all of our Prezi’s onto our blogs. Even though they sometimes took a while to complete they were fun to make. The only problem we encountered, was being able to insert images on to the Prezi's from the mac computers. It, for some reason would not let us put on a picture even though it was in the right format. However, we overcame this problem by putting the images onto the Prezi’s via a PC.

SLIDE SHARE & USING MAC’S

We had used Apple Mac computers before we started this project. Obviously, Apple products are used on a daily basis by millions of people form almost every country. So we, unsurprisingly had a good knowledge of the computer and how to work to functions that we needed; safari, premier, iTunes ect. Obviously we had to learn how to use Premier but apart from that we could easily got on with our project using the Mac’s. The problems we did encounter included saving our work in the right place. We were all to save our work on 1 massive hardrive. This proved difficult sometimes and had to ask for assistance to help us save our work in the right place. Once we knew for sure where our work would be safe, we found it easier to get work on and off the computer. There were some thing that we found difficult to do on the Mac, and so had to do on a PC instead. Things like, downloading sounds from Soundcloud.

We had not used Slideshare before starting our project. Like Prezi, it was easy to use; all that was needed was to make an account and then we could link the PowerPoint to our blog. It was also very easy to use so we found it useful when completing the questions for our evaluation.