Question 6

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

Throughout creating my film opening, I have learnt many skills while making it, making a film involves very creative skills and as a young student taking Media helped me learn skills which could help me in the future.

I enjoyed the range of programmes we used, to create a film it takes a lot of different technologies and I got the experience of learning with some that they do in the world of media as it gives me great experience and skills.

Blogger

Using blogger has been a great way to submit our work as we are able to add lots of posts with all our ideas. I have never used blogger before so this was a new experience for me. At first I found it difficult when trying to add pictures and importing objects but I soon picked it up by learning that there is specific buttons to use. I learnt how to post different posts of my work which would then go onto my own page and become my own blog. Having my own blog was fascinating so I made sure I learnt how to present it in the best way.

Camera equipment

We first used the camera equipment when we done a small exercise when we first took the course, we done this exercise by copying a small clip of Life on Mars to familiarize ourselves with the cameras. I learnt a lot in the task as this was the first time I used this camera. We used the cameras from our school media room and then took the camera around school to film it. I learnt how to set up the tripod – this involved opening the clips and setting them in place, the height was also adjustable so depending on what shot I needed to use whether a low or high shot I was able to film it. A tripod was very good at making the camera still which is a must when shooting a film. To use the camera we had to enter the memory card and put in the battery. The camera was easy to use, I used the zoom buttons on the camera to get good shots. I also used a recorder to create my own Foley sounds, this was also very easy to use as there was a record button and a pause button. I learnt how to use all of these technologies they was all fairly simple to pick up as I’ve used cameras and recorders before.

Final cutWe used final cut pro to compete our final film opening, I used this programme before this task when making the continuity task and ‘life on mars’ which was another short task we done. Final cut is a programme on apple computers that allows you to edit clips of film. Although I used this programme before I still learnt many new skills from each step that I done. I entered the clips and shortened some of them using the ‘cut’ button, I then added in my titles by using the video generators and adding them onto the shot that I wanted too, I could change the titles and where I wanted to place them. I used the opacity setting to change how long they are on the screen for and when they fade out and in, this button was useful to use as it made the titles look very professional, it took me an average time to learn this part as I took some time changing and experimenting with it before. I then added the music which I got from audio network and the Foley sounds I created, I had to import the music after downloading it onto the computer. Another tool I learnt was how to heighten the music, this allowed me to choose a part of the song where I would want it be louder or quieter, this button was a great aspect as I could heighten the sound when a dramatic and tense bit of my film was coming up. To finalise my film I learnt how to add transitions onto some shots, this made the shots look professional and perfect. Putting in transitions took me a short time once I learnt how to do it. Using final cut was a interesting experience for me as I was very excited to learn how to use it and learn all the special aspects I could of added to my film.

All of my imported videos

Titles, with opacity to fade in and out

Clips which have been cut down to correct length, with transitions added.

Diegetic music added, I heightened the sound at specific points of where I believed it would create tension

I kept some non-diegetic music, to keep the natural sound of some shots I also created my own Foley sounds which I have added in.

Audio networkWhen planning my film I had an idea to ask my friend to play the piano but after I wasn’t too sure that I knew exactly what music would suit my opening, so I decided to research some which would work better. I went onto a website called audio network which allowed me to get free copyright music, I searched this website and found a few songs which I thought would be good, the songs I found were under the categories of ‘piano’ and ‘tension’, I asked some people in my class to give me there opinions of which songs of the few I found sounded best with my film and finally choose the best one. I learnt how to use this website with some complications as I didn’t know how to download the songs but after my friends helped me it became an ease. I enjoyed using this website as it was interesting to look through so many songs and pick which one I thought was best.

We searched for music with different genres

My results I found