Evaluation Activity 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of

construction this product? Shekarie James 6088

Technologies/Equipment used in

production:• Microphone• Cannon DSLR 65D EOS• Camera lens • Lighting (key fill and back)

Microphone Strengths Weaknesses

• The microphone helped to enhance the quality of the sound and blocked out most of the ambient sound.

• Overall the microphone made our better for example in dialogue between the main characters which was clear because the microphone got rid of the ambient sound.

• The microphone could not block out all sound so we had to get rid of the sounds that the microphone was not able to block out the post production stage by editing the sound out.

• We had to make sure that the micro phone was attached.

Cannon DSLR 65D EOS

Strengths Weaknesses• The size and weight of the camera

was convenient so it enabled us to change locations easily.

• On the camera we were able to manually set the focus as a result of this we were able to acquire a better quality. We were also able to adjust the white balance and exposure to adhere to out thriller opening.

• The camera was very straight forward and easy to us which made it easier for us to adjust the setting so we could get a better quality overall with less work.

• The battery life of this camera restricted our filming as the battery life only lasts 2-3 hours. So we had to work around this time frame, this added pressure for us to make sure that certain scenes are shot before the camera dies.

Camera lens Strengths Weaknesses

• The camera lens made its easier to have a sharp focus on certain shots for example the montage were there was multiple close ups which are clearly seem because of the sharp focus.

• The lens is a compact and a lightweight.

• However, for some scenes despite continuously trying to focus the lens some of the shots were still a bit blurry.

Lighting (key, fill and back)

Strengths Weaknesses • Through the use of key lighting

we were able to make the subject and our actors to stand out.

• The lighting also emphasised our antagonist as the use of the key lighting created shadow that made our antagonist look more mysterious and dangerous.

• The smaller light were used for the back light because they were not too bright but were just right to separate the subject from the background.

• A room gets very hot due to the lamp used as the key lighting.

• Because the lighting bought out the shadows its made the editing process challenging.

Challenges faced in the production process and how we overcame these

problems :• We faced a number of challenges one of which is;

• The key lighting was really bright so in the post production process we had to dim the light so that the characters could be seen and so that the shadow looked more faint.

• Another problem we faced is that because the camera on the tripod prevented us to get and extreme close up. Therefore we had to use a hand help camera to get the close up shot we needed.

What we learnt about the technologies when

filming:• When filming we leaned many things about media technologies. One of these

is the camera and how advanced it is when shooting but mostly the setting in the camera for example when shooting we wanted to get the main character in the centre. And we then had to go into the camera settings and set the grids on so we could centre the characters face and it would be right in the middle. This added more professionalism to our full product and highlighted the character more.

• Another setting on the camera that we were able to utilise is the lighting in order to enhance the natural colours of our scene we had to set the white balance manually to improve our quality which also enhanced the quality our full product.

• The microphone is another technology that really made a difference to or full product we learnt that it can make a huge difference in terms of the sound quality and clarity. Furthermore, the fact the it can block out some ambient sound.

• We also learned the way to zoom in and get extreme close ups through the camera lens when adjusting the lens by twisting it we learnt you could zoom and focus to get a more detailed shot.

iMacStrengths Weaknesses

• The iMac software is easy to use and this allowed us to produce work on time.

• IMacs have auto save therefore when our computer crashed all our work was not lost we were still able to access the work when we restarted the computer.

• The iMac has multiple programmes and software's allowing us to edit our opening and access the internet , YouTube plus our blogs.

• The iMacs would often crash which meant that we were at a risk of all our work being lost.

Final Cut ProStrength Weaknesses

• It allowed us to easily to adjust an fix the challenges we faced with the colour and lighting so the brightness and saturation can be changed.

• It offers a variety of transitions like fades and dissolves between each cut this made our thriller opening flow better. For example, the transition of the title for our opening which fades.

• Final Cut Pro has a lot of editing features in comparison to iMovie. However, this made it more difficult for the us to use as it was a bit to complex at first.

• Final Cut Pro at one point corrupted our file and crashed which then lead to all of our work becoming frozen and malfunctioning. And to save our work, we had to save our file every 5 minutes, just to make sure that our work didn’t get corrupt again.

How we overcame editing challenges

• Our first opening sequence came from Final Cut Pro which we edited and made ours through adjusting the saturation and the pace. However it was a found image so we could not use it so, we had to create a new one using Fire work and Dreamweaver the challenge of this is that we had to use another editing source to create our opening now. We had to learn how to use Firework properly.

• When filming some of our shots they were unstable which meant that we had to stabilise certain shots on Final Cut Pro.

• We ensured that our work was backed up so in case anything was to happen we wouldn’t have to start from the top luckily, because this came in handy when our iMac deleted some of our footage we used the back up to regain the footage.

• We edited out all ambient sounds through Final Cut Pro.

What we learnt about editing:

• We learned that the editing process is where you can fix any problems which have gone wrong in the production stage. For instance the ambient sound which can be edited out. We also noticed that the post- production stage is one of the most vital stages because we were able to turn raw footage into the product it is now. Without the editing process the opening would just be plain and unshaped. This process also taught us the affect of certain audios and or soundtrack and the influence this can have on a shot. In terms of the atmosphere which this creates mystery , tension , build up and climax especially if the audio matches the action going on in the opening.

Documenting tools:

Blogger Strengths Weaknesses

• Easy to use when sharing picture and videos.

• Personal source of sharing your work.

• Its free• Theme is easy to change • Easy to embed power

points, prezis and slide share.

• Blog ownership remains with blogger

• Blogs can crash deleting all of the work which is scaring if you work is not backed up we went through this twice.

YouTube Strengths Weaknesses

• It is a free• Easy to share your videos

on other sites(embedding)• It allow you to give our

opinion in the comment section

• It allows you to get feedback from people who watch your videos

• You can personally brand yourself

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• Videos take a long time to upload depending on the quantity.

• Limited editing control• There are limits for

new accounts • YouTube severs can

crash and leave some videos inaccessible.

Prezi Strengths Weaknesses

• A free unique way of presenting information.

• Prezi allows creators to link text and images to movement.

• It saves backup online and can be embedded anywhere

• It allows you to zoom in and out of the information which is unique.

• Prezi is a very easy program to use and you learn fast how to use it.

• Prezi can be time consuming

• Limited printing options • Web based so the• can be lost if its not

saved properly before it crashes.

• Can cause dizziness and audio is hard to upload.

Mindmeister Strengths Weaknesses

• Easy to embed and share everywhere.

• It’s a online website so its accessible

• Engaging and flexible • Its available in the app

store- so you can create mind maps on the go.

•

• Web based so error can occur with the connection taking up time instead of getting work done.

• Formatting• Editing can be

dangerous as you can shift everything when trying to edit your mi map.

What we learned about documenting technologies:

• We learned a variety of new way to document our research and planning on different platforms. We learned how to edit and improve our blogs by learning to label our posts and tags our selves making our blogs more efficent. Furthermore we learned how to edit the time and date of our posts so that we can have all our posts organised and looking presentable.

• We learned different way to present our work for example prezi, slide share and YouTube. And these enabled us to uniquely make our work different but also interesting.