Technology question evaluation
- 1. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? EVALUATION
- 2. iMac and MacBook By constructing this product I have learnt about how to use the iMac and how the different buttons each can be used as shortcuts which can be used on IMovie and Final Cut Pro. We also used the search engines on the MacBook to find images when doing our research.
- 3. Nikon Camera My skills since the start of the course have evidently improved from the start of the course as I have explored a variety of different shots which I would have not been confident filming at the beginning of the year. Whilst using the camera we also used a tripod when filming to ensure that the camera was not shaky. We also used the Nikon to take still pictures to try and make a montage for our titles. However, we rejected this idea as it was too time consuming and also a fairly difficult task to proceed. By using this camera we learnt about how to use the focus and also the different options you can use when filming. It was really fun using this camera as it allowed us to experiment different types of shots and angles. For example, we were able to do a extreme close up of Britany’s face when we were in the bathroom, which had artificial lighting. This proves that this camera was a good camera to use for a close up, as it was still in focus. Additionally, we were also able to use a long shot, which stayed in focus and provided a good quality take.
- 4. Final Cut Pro We used Final Cut Pro, version 10.2.3 to edit our opening sequence. This was my first time using this editing software. Also by using Final Cut Pro allowed us to use the different text types for the titles to choose what text suited our genre and which text type looked best. We decided to use the font ‘Allstar’ which we found on the website DaFont. We used this type of text as we asked our audience what text suited a teen film the most, and from our feedback we found that this text was the most suited. This was interesting to use as it allowed us to be creative and use different transition types for the titles. It was very useful for doing the text on top of the video but also adding the voice over and the soundtrack on top. We used the blade tool to cut down the music and used the fades to make sure that the music did not cut out straight away but instead it faded out at the correct time. . Considering this was my first time using final cut pro to edit, as other times I have used iMovie, I think that my skills have improved and I have used many different transitions, titles, and copyright free music which I would not have actually used previously. An example of a transition which we used was a fade to black when we faded into the directors credit.
- 5. Mobile Phones (iPhone) We also used the convergent device of a IPhone, this was helpful for us in many ways. The use of the mobile phone also helped us when we were recording our voice over. We recorded the voice over as a voice memo on our phone, and then used Bluetooth to air drop the voice memo onto the iMac which we later on went on to edit. When organising our film we used our phone and Whatsapp to stay in contact with each other and organize what we will need on the days we were filming, but also this gave us the opportunity to share our ideas. We also used a mobile phone in our actual film to show the text message.
- 6. Social Media (Blogger, Youtube, Survey Monkey and Twitter) Social Media was a important part in making and researching our opening sequence. Twitter and Survey Monkey were used to get audience feedback. This was useful to us as we wanted to get a wide range of audience feedback from different people, and places. By using social media allowed us to interact with people of all ages, and all around the world which allowed our findings to be generalisable and reliable. YouTube was also used to find other teen films and to find a good soundtrack. YouTube We used Blogger mainly to upload and keep all of our research, planning and evaluation together. This was important to do as it made it easy to look back on our previous work and be organised. As you can see here, this is where I recorded all my opinions and kept this blog up to date with what was happening and what we had filmed. We also used Blogger to organise the locations of where our film will take place. To save time, Hollie took a photo of her bedroom, where we filmed, and posted a photo on her blog. This meant that the other members of the group could go onto Hollies blog and look at the location, instead of going to her house.