Doing this film has taught me a lot about various pieces of software. In particular After Effects. After never using the software before this project I had to adapt quickly and learn how to use a lot of the tools. A tool I had to use the most would be particular, this is what I used to create the comets. I learned various ways to control these particulars, such as move them, make them seem 3D, and also adjust the size of them.

At one stage of the production there is a shot where we are supposed to have an optical zoom from Andy’s house, this proved to be far to complicated., and after following a step by very step tutorial I still struggled to do something wrong. However, recently I have had a bit more practice, and am confident that if I try again I might have been able to do it. Unfortunately it is a little bit too late. If I could go back and repeat this process I would have defiantly considered practicing on After Effects well in advanced.

One thing that I did manage to overcome was getting my head around the key frames in After Effects. When I first began trying to rotate the earth in one of the shots, I found that it would be spinning wildly out of control. I went over and over trying to slow the Earth down on various different settings. Not realising that every time I was effectively adding a key frame which made the Earth accelerate. After having a little bit of guidance from my geeky friend I realised what I was doing and managed to fix the problem successfully.

I was also nominated as camera woman. At the beginning of the project I was able to do the basics, and had a very bad habit of leaving the camera running unnecessarily. However, over the course of the filming I developed camera skills and was able to do various types of shots. I also managed to get rid of that bad habit of leaving the camera on. Although it does still happen from time to time. This has defiantly made me consider practicing a lot more on the camera in readiness for next time, whenever I may need it next.

Overall this process has made me realise my

mistakes, it has shown me which tools work best where,

and also practice defiantly makes perfect. I am going

to carry practicing with various bits of software, not

just after effects, in case they may be needed in the

future.