What have you learnt about technologies from

the process of constructing the product?

evaluation question six:

Researching• My main source of technology when researching was the internet.

• I mostly used Google as it is a reliable and fast search engine that I know how to use well.

• This offered me a wide variety of information from lots of different websites.

• Using a search engine meant I could find out huge amounts of information about particular films, genre’s and social groups this led to my more specific research about films such as It’s Kind of a Funny Story.

• I wanted to find out more information about particular films, from recently researching films I knew that IMDb is a really good website for finding out everything there is to know about individual films. I therefore used this to research to my study film of It’s Kind of a Funny Story.

• I typed my film into IMDb’s search bar which then brought up lot’s of information about my study film. It told me the cast, storyline, distributor’s and certificate rating as well as much more. This information became very useful later on when I was deciding on a certificate rating and which distributor to choose for my own film.

• I avoided websites such as Wikipedia as it is known as an unreliable website as people can add any information they like onto it.

Researching• I wanted to know what sort of conventions should be followed in my opening sequence.

• I therefore researched what was included in films or TV series with a similar genre to mine.

• I used websites such as Art of the Title as this had lots of different opening sequences with many different genres that I could watch and gain idea’s from.

• I am also a huge fan of the TV series of My Mad, Fat Diary so I also looked out for conventions the producers had followed knowing that their target audience would be mostly teenage girls. This was really helpful for me to understand what things I should include in my opening sequence.

• I also watched the DVD’s Girl, Interrupted and It’s Kind of a Funny Story to understand the genre of the films better and to pick up different camera angles that are used to show emotion such as extreme close up’s and high angled shots.

Researching• Music is really important in all films, as it can decide on the mood of the film but can also change the emotions of the audience as

well.

• It was therefore extremely important that I chose the right music for my media piece.

• I wanted to try and be original as I could when choosing my music - as I am completely incapable of playing an sort of musical instrument, I asked my friend Katie using social media website Facebook for her help as I know she is extremely musically talented.

• Luckily she was very happy to help, so I gave her brief idea of what sort of music I wanted eg soft, sad sounding as my story line was quite upsetting. I let her decide on what instruments she wanted to use and how she would go about producing the music.

• As I wanted my media piece to still relate to my target audience I decided to only have Katie’s music playing in my title sequence then I would pick a current song that teenagers would know.

• My actress was actually playing a the song I ended up using completely innocently but it actually fitted the mood I wanted to create perfectly, I therefore decided to use Paramore - Last Hope for my second piece of music.

• In order to get the music onto Final Cut Pro I had to converge lots of different technologies: I firstly found the music I wanted to use on YouTube I then copied the URL onto YouTube Converter which then converted the music into an MP3 file from there the file downloaded onto my iTunes account which then allowed me to add this music into Final Cut Pro.

• This process was very quick and hassle free, which meant I could focus on other parts of my media product, rather than having to worry about trying to get access to the music I wanted.

Planning• I wanted to ensure that all my footage was the of the best quality that it possibly could be with the equipment I had

access to.

• To do the majority of my filming I used a HD Panasonic camcorder and although this only had 3.0 megapixels the filming quality was actually quite impressive.

• This camera also had a little flash light right next to the filming lens meaning that if I wanted to film in the dark I could do this with no problems.

• I also used a tripod wherever I possibly could in my filming process as this would make sure that none of my filming was shaky or unsteady.

• An iPhone 4s was also used in one section of my media piece (the first shot after the title sequence of all the pictures on the walls) - this was due to the fact that in my editing process I realised that I had a gap that none of my existing clips could fit into.

• I therefore text my actress, Abby, and asked her if she could film her wall that is filled with lots of pictures of her growing up and ‘happy memories’ I asked her to do this filming horizontally as I wanted to make sure I didn’t have any continuity issues within my piece.

• Luckily she did this straight away and the footage from the camcorder and the iPhone both worked well together and you couldn't tell in my final product that I had converged two different technologies to create my opening sequence.

Construction• I edited all of my software using Final Cut Pro as this was a reliable software to use but also had many

professional edits I could use to improve my opening sequence.

• As I didn’t want to be restricted to editing all my software on the school macs. I decided to download the 30 day free trial for Final Cut Pro this gave me access to all of the features of Final Cut Pro but meant I didn’t have to pay to use it. As I only needed the software for a short time it suited me very well as it gave me the freedom to edit my opening sequence whenever I liked.

• As I had never used Final Cut Pro I relied on tutorials from websites such as YouTube and Apple to teach me how to work certain effects to a high standard. These tutorials were very helpful and meant I could use Final Cut Pro to it’s full capacity.

• Most of my footage had actually come out quite well so luckily I didn’t need to try and edit it too much expect for trimming and cropping the parts that I didn’t want to be included.

• I did however, have to alter the lighting of one of my clips as it had been filmed later in the day to other clips that I wanted it to follow in my opening sequence. Using the colour match tool on Final Cut Pro I could put the clips side by side and Final Cut Pro would match the lighting without damaging the clarity of the footage.

• Final Cut Pro really helped in making my opening sequence look professional and meant I could add or alter any parts of the footage I wanted to without any hassle.

Construction • In the post production process I looked at different transitions for most of the clips I didn’t add any

transitions but just let the clips flow from one to another.

• I did use a dissolve transition in the clip linking the title sequence to the opening sequence, as I wanted to make it look like the girl was thinking back to the day she had just had after being released.

• I tried out many transitions before deciding on using the dissolve transition including the dream transition but decided against this as I felt it looked too comical and I didn’t want this to be a feature of my opening sequence.

• I then added non diegetic sound into my opening sequence - I added in the narration that Abby had previously recorded for me using her iPhone as she sent me the file on my phone, I had to email myself the MP3 file so I could then get access to it on my laptop.

• I then uploaded the file into GarageBand and played around with adding music over the top of the narration, I also changed the decibel count on GarageBand as I didn’t want the music to cover up Abby’s narration.

• Once I was happy with the non dietetic sound, I uploaded it onto Final Cut Pro and linked into my footage and played around with where I wanted the narration to be in relation to the footage.

Construction• The final stage of the constructing process was adding titles it was important that I choose the right

title as this implies the genre of film.

• I decided I would use Final Cut Pro’s preloaded titles as this meant it was easier for me to put them side by side with my opening sequence and decide which one would fit best.

• After playing around with titles I decided to use a title that writes in capital letters only as this pragmatically implies the urgent situation the girl is in. It also meant the title would be clear for the audience to see.

• I used a dissolve effect on the title as this added a softness to my piece I picked a light blue colour to have the title dissolve into as this colour has connotations of being peaceful and dreamy, this fitted my ideology of my opening sequence.

• After I had decided on the title and colour to have it dissolve into I put this title on a white background as this again has connotations of hospitals but also innocence and vulnerability these two words represent my character so this fits well with my theme.

• The final step was then to add it at the end of my opening sequence as this is something a lot of films do rather than having it right at the beginning.

Construction • Throughout the construction process I collected lots of audience feedback as it was important

for me to gather responses to my media product in order to improve aspects of the opening sequence.

• I used Pages created by Apple to produce questionnaires and create pie charts, this helped me understand what parts of a teen drama my target audience like the best and what factors should be involved in my film.

• I familiar with Apple Software as I have a Macbook Air and this therefore meant that I could easily create questionnaires and pie charts and present my feedback in a professional manner.

Evaluation • Overall, I have used a variety of technology processes throughout the research, planning,

construction and evaluation stages of my media product.

• I learnt lots of skills whilst using Final Cut Pro which made my media product look professional, I have been able to compare this editing software to iMovie which I used to edit my preliminary task the difference in software has made a huge difference to professional quality of my opening sequence.

• Using Final Cut Pro has also meant that if I want to continue using this software I now have the basic knowledge to advance my skills even further.