Question 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

We have used a variety of technologies through the planning and production of the film opening.

During the planning and research of the film we watched a number of different film openings of a variety of genres to see what most film openings consist of. We then watched crime and action film DVD’s and also full films and film openings on YouTube to see what our chosen genre film openings includes so that we could do something the same. Examples of some of the films we analysed are ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’ and ‘The Football Factory’. We presented what we had discovered about film opening in PowerPoints that have been uploaded onto our blogs.

Through the construction of the film we used both hardware and software. The camera that we used for filming was a Panasonic NV-GS500. These are good cameras

because they have a decent picture on them and are small so if we wish to have done a handheld shot then we would be able to do so as it’s easy to handle. When finishing filming and we wished to edit our work then we could transfer our work from the tape to the computer quickly and hassle free. Both members of our group found this piece of equipment easy to use.

Another piece of equipment we used was the tripod. We also found this easy to use and quickly learnt how to work it when we did the preliminary task. It was simple to adjust and mount the camera onto and off it.

To edit our film opening we use the software ‘Sony Vegas’ to complete this. We used a few of the many tools available on this to try and make it look as good as we could by editing out parts that we didn’t want. Adding music and titles to it and also adding effects to shots such as cross cutting the shots and also speeding up and slowing them down so it’s not just basic and to make it look more professional. When we first started using this software be both found it difficult to use but we got used to it as we went on and learnt a lot of different things about it on the way. It did get rather frustrating to use when we couldn’t edit things just how we wanted them but in the end we managed to get it how we wanted it.

For evaluating the whole process I used Microsoft Word to write my evaluations up as I find it easy to use and it also helps keeping the work clear and is better for producing a more formal piece of work. After writing the evaluations up on Microsoft Word I then uploaded my work onto SlideShare which is a website that gives you the embed code to then be able to upload the work onto Blogger, the website with our blogs. This is where all of our work through the course has been uploaded to and viewed.

I had used digital cameras many times before so I found them very easy to use so I didn’t really need to adjust to using them so we could work with them straight away with no problems. However, I had never used Blogger before and at first it was confusing to use but after going on it after a couple of times I knew how to use it and could work it properly to upload my work and embed codes to put files from my documents up on my posts.

Each piece of hardware and software I used I picked up how to use it/them quickly. Luckily I can pick these types of things up easier than I can other things.