Evaluation Question 6

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

Since the beginning of our product, i feel that i have learnt various things about the technology that will be of great benefit to me. Previous to filming my footage, i had very little experience with the cameras and camera equipment. Therefore i feel i have learnt a lot about the cameras and how to use them to achieve my desired intention. After experimenting with a Dolly to track the male in my piece, i found that it produced shots that were too shaky so i held the camera myself when tracking. Learning how to use the cameras and equipment was very time consuming at the start but it has enabled me to use them to achieve the maximum effect that i set out to achieve. I have learnt to record and manage my work on Blogger which has helped me to understand the hard work and time that goes into the production of a film. As i was filming the re sit on my own i have learned how to make use of the cameras more effiecently by having two cameras rolling at all times to capture more footage, this has helped me to place my camera in the 180 degree rule so that my audience do not get confused, i have also been enabled to use different camera angles with the help of extended or shortening the tripods which my cameras were placed on and this has helped me to use angles specifically to bring the audience into the action.

During the production of my film and my previous AS film, i encountered many problems with the editing software Adobe Premiere Elements and found it very difficult and time consuming to finish our previous film. However, we did find the program to be very useful and i have enjoyed watching our film progress from each stage. Using Adobe Premiere Elements enabled me to be precise in working from our shot list and also how to frame each shot to achieve optimum mise-en-scene. I have also learnt to video merge still images with videos to create a distorted effect that we aimed to achieve in the first scene of our film. I learned how to record sound effects and insert them into our film, this has helped us to adapt the sound effects to fit with our previous film and the heartbeat along with the collaboration of the still images has enabled us to achieve a fast paced distorted effect to create suspense and fear in our audience. Looking back on my previous film compared to my new film, i can see the difference in editing with Final Cut Express which was very fast and less time consuming compared to Adobe. I was able to create my film quickly and efficiently by overlapping music i downloaded from a royalty free website and sound effects that i found on the same website. I was unable to do this on Adobe and therefore the sound quality on our previous film was poor compared to the sound quality on my re sit film. When filming my re-sit it was very windy and i would like to have turned the sound down on one of the audio tracks to eliminate the wind, unfortunately the wind was on both audio tracks so i had to delete this sound altogether and instead overlay it with my sound effects.

Again looking back on my previous film, i really notice the jump cuts we used really make the editing jumpy and lacking in a continuous manner. This year for my re sit, i have aimed for perfect continuity and have therefore not used any jump cuts in my editing because this reduces the quality.

I found that presenting my work on Blogger has enabled me to display it in a chronological fashion to show my audience how my film has progressed from being just a small idea in my initial ideas to title sequence. I have also found that by exhibiting my film on Youtube and Facebook i was able to receive lots of feedback on my rough cut so that i could tweak it into being a much better final cut, i have used what the audience want when improving my final cut and this has helped me to develop a film opening that my target audience will definitely watch.

After analysing 4 title sequences, i have decided that if i was given more time i would like to learn to use the Adobe Flash program to create an animated title sequence as i found these to be quirky and unique, my particular favourite is the Juno (2007) cartoon title sequence.

On the whole, i have enjoyed the experience i have gained when producing both films. Despite the problems i encountered with last years film, i have learnt a lot about the technologies and equipment used in the film industry and this has been very beneficial to me because it has enabled me to experiment in my filming and editing and learn which programs are better for editing. Everything i have learnt will be practical for when i get the opportunity to film another product and it has prepared me for all the preparation work i have had to do on Blogger in order to create my film successfully. I particularly have enjoyed working with the cast who i found to be very talented actors.