Q6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?
- 1. Q6 – WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE PROCESS OF CONSTRUCTING THE PRODUCT? Research: The creation of computers, laptop and tablet such as iPads enabled me to watch and research various sport genre films wherever time and place I want and therefore I was able to research and identify the codes and conventions of sport genre more effectively. Due to technology advancement in Web 2.0 many useful websites were created, especially YouTube which is a video sharing website that enabled me to watch past media students AS film opening that had similar sport genre and helped me to have a few ideas of what I need to include in my film opening. Furthermore, I was able to research on the BBFC website on my laptop the appropriate age classification for my film opening that I had and I was able to find out what age rating some of the similar sport genre films to my narrative was, and this helped me to identify what age rating I should use in my film opening. Moreover, I used the Web 2.0 and YouTube to research and watch idents of independent film production companies that have produced a sport genre film, and what I find out from my research allowed me to create an ident that was appropriate for my sport film. Planning: On my computer using the Microsoft Word 2013 software, I was able to create a mindmap of my initials ideas for my film opening, create a moodboard of what could or would be included in my netball film which is the sport that I have chosen to base my sport film upon after researching and sorting out my ideas for my film opening. I was able to present the my questionnaire results on what my target audience wanted to see in my sport genre film in bar and graph charts using the Microsoft Excel 2013 software which I created on my iPad 3. In addition, technology has vastly quicken the production stage in planning and arranging the film shooting by allowing me to create the room layouts, production schedule, call sheet and model release form at a quicker speed as I was able to create them quickly on the Microsoft Word 2013 software. As it had a simple and easy to use interface and features that enabled me to create a clear and simple production documents.
- 2. Filming: For our filming, we used a professional digital camera known as ‘Nikon D3300 DSLR Camera’ and this was very lightweight, easy to carry and was able to store large video files as my film opening had a lot scenes ranging from a short to a long scene. These features allowed me to capture and use a wider range or camera shots and angles such as a low angle shot of Nushy’s shoes walking down the corridor. Also, once I recorded our scenes I was able to watch the video and review it on the spot, and this made it easier to tell if we needed to redo a part or making any improvements rather than finding out our mistakes later if we have used analogue cameras. I could also delete any scenes that I didn’t want on the camera rather than cutting a large chunk of film. In our first draft of the film opening, we encountered a huge problem as the digital camera was entirely out of focus throughout the video recording of all our scenes and so I and my team mates were not satisfied and decided to do a redraft and this time ensure that the digital camera was working properly and in focus. I also used my smartphone, a Samsung Galaxy S3 mini to take some pictures to include in my testing so that I write up my location recce, room layout, lighting test, sound test and costume and prop test more quickly by having an easier access to it by having it on my smartphone. Using email, I was able to send any images, video and audio files to my laptop for me to do my written work more efficiently and quickly. Editing: The technology of emailing images, videos and audios across another user’s devices such as from an iMac to a Windows 7 laptop should have enabled us to edit various parts of the video more quickly. However, because I and my team mates used different video editing softwares such as iMovie, Windows Movie Maker, Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe Premiere Elements 14. We encountered a lot of difficulties as some file output format was incompatible for the other’s devices. To resolve this problem, I searched on Web 2.0 for online converter to convert the files into appropriate files that I could use to edit for my film opening. I used the video editing software ‘Adobe Premiere Pro’ to create a zoom in effect at the end of the film opening and I was able to create and be inspired to use this special effect was by watching a tutorial video on YouTube. So whilst I was watching the simple tutorial I was able to create the effect rather easily and in a short amount of time. This was the editing I was most proud of because it was my first time using it and it helped to build up the climax in my film opening.
- 3. Additionally, I was able to download copyright free background music from Web 2.0 and free sound effects from YouTube (as long as I gave the creator, a credit in my film opening) and I could easily add it into my editing of my film opening. To create our independent production company ident I was able to create it using ‘Adobe Flash Professional CS6’ animation software and this was one of my best creation in the making of our film opening as I was able to create a simple yet effective ident quite quickly despite it being my first time using the software. Improvements&limitationstomycreativity The area of improvement for me is editing, I will ensure next time that I will edit the whole opening using only one device and one or two software to prevent any problems such as having an incompatible file which I will not be able to use in my film opening. The limitation to my creativity was that I was not able to create a more professional looking ident and titles for the key cast and crew names because the school did not have the software ‘Adobe After Effect’. Overall, technology plays quite a significant role in the process of creating a film opening as it enabled me to research and plan more effectively and quickly and this extra time allowed me and my team mates the time to film and edit the redraft of my film opening and create a better looking one which I am very proud of.