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

Tripod

I have learnt that the tripod was essential in ensuring our thriller opening looked as professional as possible. It allowed the footage to be steady at all times, we didn’t have to worry about holding the camera.

The tripod allowed us to place the camera at different heights so we had a variety of shots. However, the tripods we received were quite small so in the future it would be better to have a tripod with longer legs.

Canon E0S 650D DSLR

I learnt that this camera was vital for our thriller opening as this camera had 18.0 megapixels which provided a clear and crisp image making our thriller opening look very professional in contrast to our preliminary task where we used the flip camera which had much less megapixels.

The use of the lens ensured we could use the ‘zoom’ feature and establish a variety of shots such as extreme close ups.

Although the Canon camera had far better quality, all of its data was stored on a very small SD card so we have to be careful we didn’t lose it as all our footage would have gone. Initially, we had a problem with the camera as it struggled to focus and took time to focus which meant the picture looked fuzzy but we managed to get rid of this as we turned on the stabilizer.

Overall, I learnt how to take videos and photo’s on the Canon camera and ultimately learnt how important camera’s are as they determine what your thriller opening looks like and exactly what the quality is like.

Flip CameraFrom using the flip camera in our preliminary task I learnt that It’s extremely lightweight and easy to use as there are only a few buttons on the device which include a ‘record’ ‘play’ and ‘delete’. This camera is not bad at all considering it’s hundreds of pounds cheaper than the Canon DSLR camera.

The camera stores its data in a built in USB which means there is no chance we can lose our footage, this is not the case however for the Canon camera as the SD card is removable.

On the other hand the quality doesn’t match to the 18 megapixels from the Canon camera and the screen is only 1.5 inches and doesn’t have a touch screen feature like the Canon camera does.

Overall, I learnt that this camera is very easy to use and you can plug it in a USB port to view your footage but it’s not a suitable camera for our thriller opening as from research I have found that most flip camera’s have less than 10 megapixels.

DV Camera

This camera helped to learn exactly how to record with a handheld camera and how to insert and remove DV tapes

I also learnt how to upload footage from DV camera’s onto computers so we can edit the footage.

The DV had a useful advantage which was that the screen could be tilted all the way round so the person being recorded can see themselves, this can come in handy for different types of shots.

iMac

I have learnt so much from using the iMac’s during media lessons. I have become almost professional in using programs such as iMovie, Gargeband and Blogger.

I also noticed how advanced these computers were in comparison to the standard windows computers in the school. They take less time to boot up and are faster in opening programs as well as surfing the web.

Overall, I learnt how crucial a computer is in creating your thriller opening as it is tool for editing and has all the programs in it for you to use.

Programme’s

This was the main software we used for editing our thriller, I learnt how to insert text and music to footage as well as adding transitions to make the clip visually appealing. The program was very useful as I could share clips straight onto YouTube and it saved my work automatically. I have learnt that iMovie is a vital program in creating a successful thriller opening.

As soon as we started our media coursework, I created a YouTube account and I learnt how to upload videos such as our preliminary task, lighting task and final thriller opening. Youtube allowed me to edit videos also with the annotation tool.

After using Garage Band I learnt how to record a podcast and post it on the blog for our thriller plot ideas. I also learnt that Garage Band could be used to create music for a thriller opening with different effects.

This program helped me to display all my media coursework in a visually appealing way as I was able to post power points courtesy of slide share and insert images and videos from youtube. The different fonts and colours provided variety.

The ‘Art of the Title’ website was very useful to me, it allowed me to view opening’s of other films and see exactly how they are laid out, it also shows the 9 frames. This website helped me with my planning.