Hassan ShahidMedia Studies

Evaluation Activity 6What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

During the construction of our video I used many technologies and softwares in the pre-production and post-production to prepare for our production. I have used different software to upload my documents, pictures and music onto my blog. Some of the technologies and software was already familiar to me as I have used them at GCSE, however after using it at A-level, I have gained more in depth knowledge of the technology and equipment. I have also discovered new technologies and softwares that I have never used before, and I believe that this has benefited me a lot because I can use them for future references and work.One of the two main pieces of equipment we used to film our production were the camera and tripod. As I had already use both at GCSE, I had some knowledge in using them. At A-level, I had gained more in depth knowledge in using the camera as we used more professional cameras than the standard cameras at GCSE. Before we filmed our production, we had to complete a preliminary task. During the preliminary task I was able to learn what continuity editing and match-on-action was as we had not covered it at GCSE. The preliminary task also allowed our group to apply these rules while filming our production. The preliminary task made it easier for us and less time consuming as we didnt know how to set up the equipment because we had already dont it in the preliminary task.Blogger:One of the main programmes that we used is blogger. Blogger is a free weblog publishing tool from Google. It is used to share texts, photos and video. I decided to create a group blog to upload our coursework onto blogger. Along with the group blog we also created individual blogs and attached the link onto the group blog. Our individual blog were created to upload our evaluation, preliminary task and analysing videos. Whereas our main blog showed the process of pre-production and post-production in the making of our film. Blogger is a brilliant of way of displaying all our work. As I was in charge of the group blog, I had to ensure that members uploaded their work on time, made no spelling mistakes, and added their labels. I also had to maintain the standard and the organisation of the group as well as designing the theme.

YouTube:YouTube is one of the biggest video/film sharing websites in the world; everyone is familiar with this website and uses it around the world. I used YouTube to upload my preliminary task as well as the final product of our film. YouTube allows our target audience for our video and people from all over the world to access our channel and view our films. We have used YouTube to self-distribute our video globally, meaning we will receive a larger audience and higher ratings for the film. The audience can also comment on the video and like/dislike the video. The feedback gives us an idea on how we can improve on our work or film next time. Any good comments and likes received helped us build on our confidence and use for future references. YouTube videos can be annotated. Annotations on the video often advertise or give the viewer additional background knowledge. I used YouTube to help me annotate our film for our evaluation question number 5.

Bubbl.us:After choosing groups and starting the pre-production section of our unit. Our first task on the production schedule was to brainstorm ideas for our film. We had to brainstorm ideas such as costume, cast, music, why we picked the horror genre?, films that inspired us etcTo do this we used Bubbl.us, this is a website which allow you to create a brainstorm on an interactive software and which can then be embed onto your blog using a HTML code. It is quick and easy to make one and clear to understand.

Scribd:Scribd is one the crucial software that I used. It is a digital documents library that allows people to, discover, upload and discuss original writings. We used this software to upload our word documents onto the blog as we couldnt upload it directly. It converts our documents into a neat professional style and helps to make our group blog look aesthetically organized. This is new software for me and after discovering it I have used it to upload my coursework and any other documents outside of my media class.

SoundCloud:SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform which allows collaborations and distribution of audio recordings. We used this software to upload our Diegetic and non-Diegetic sounds. It was very quick and easy to do. We converted them into a format that is compatible with our blog and then uploaded them onto our blog for people to listen. This software helped us get opinions from our target audience and with the feedbacks we decided whether we should keep or change or keep the sound for our film.

Photo Bucket: Another software that we used throughout the coursework is Photobucket. Photobucket offers free photo sharing and video sharing. People can upload their pictures and video and share them with people all over the world. When we visited our location, we took a couple of pictures and uploaded it onto Photobucket. It was quick and easy to do however uploading big pictures can take a while. After uploading the photos we created an album for them. Where we chose the order the photos come in as well as different transition affects. Then we embed the HTML code onto our blog where people can see the pictures of our location.

Slide Share: Slideshare is a document which allows you to upload any PowerPoints or presentation onto the blog as a slide show. It is quick and easy to use and embed onto our blog. We used this to upload our equipment list and pre and post questionnaire results.

Microsoft Word:Microsoft word is one of the main software/programme that we used to write all our coursework on. I have used word document for work and school work therefore Im familiar with how it works. At home the Microsoft word was easy to use as all the editing features were clear to see however when I used it on the Apple Mac I had trouble finding all the key features of editing such as Bold format or the underline button, therefore it was more time consuming as I had to go to the help centre or finish it off at home. I used Scribd to upload all my word documents onto the blog. I have used this software throughout my coursework.

Final Cut Pro: Final Cut Pro is the software that I used to edit our footage that we filmed in the post-production stage of our film. This software allows you to create and edit videos. I am familiar with this software as I already had a little knowledge as I used for my GCSE production. I also got a chance to gain more knowledge of this technology when I had to edit the preliminary task. I was able to apply the knowledge that I experience during the editing to create our final production. On the first day of editing the footage I had trouble remembering and using the software tools to adjust or search for effects. I also had trouble adjusting the sounds however I overcame this problem by looking at tutorial guides on YouTube. After the editing finished we burned the film on to DVDs and converted it into a format suitable to upload onto YouTube. After using the software I feel more confident and will consider using it again in the future.

Camera: When filming my production, I had the opportunity to use the Sony HDV which is a very expensive/good quality video recording camera.This enabled me to challengemy skills and to learn what different buttons were used for as well as being able to develop different ideas with the use of the different options on the camera.This camera specifically, allows the qualityof the scenes to be as clear and focused as they could. This gave the opening sequence a bigger effectwhen presenting the conventions of a horror.Tripod:Another item of equipment that was used during the production was the tripod. I realised that without the tripod, the film would have not been as accurate and effective as the tripod is what the camera is placed on in order to keep the camera balanced. This was a hard job at certain times as the tripod did shake, having to re-film certain scenes again.During the preliminary task, a lesson on the tripod was given in order to understand how to use it in the correct way.Apple Mac Pro and Laptop:Most of all my coursework was completed on the Apple Mac. The first time I used the Mac I wasnt as confident as enough as I have never used them before for example I didnt know that the internet was called Safari this is because the logo was different to the normal laptops that I use every day but after using them a for a while, I found it much more easier to use. I used the Mac to complete my documented work, blog maintenance and planning. I used the Apple computer to for editing the footage, searching for different sounds and uploading the film onto YouTube. Without the Apple computer I wouldnt have been able to edit our footage.