Whathaveyoulearntabouttechnologies

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE PROCESS OF CONSTRUCTING THIS PRODUCT?By Daniel Mallen

MACThis hardware was critical to every process of the production of my project. It was very useful and also included exclusive features inbuilt that would not normally feature on a windows pc, for example it included the program ‘PhotoBooth’ which allowed me to film myself or other people talking about specific things. For example, I used this feature to record audience feedback on my initial research. Another program it included was ‘Garageband’ which allowed me to create music of which could be used in my final product. Prior to creating my product, I had little experience using a MAC, as I was more familiar with Windows PC’s, therefore throughout the process of constructing my product I was required to learn how to operate the MAC’s to a similar standard, that of I have when using Windows PC’s.

To film my project, I used a canon 550D DSLR camera with an 18-50mm EF lens . This piece of hardware was vital to the production of my film opening . When operating the camera, I learned how to work with ISO; f-stops; exposure; shutter speeds etc. so that the overall quality of the shot would be maximised in relation to the lighting and other elements within the aesthetics of the shot. On the downside, the particular lens I used (which is the preset lens for the camera) has a tendency to struggle to produce a clean shot unless used in good, bright lighting. Therefore, I had to manually light some of my indoor shots to minimise the risk of this happening, though on the outdoor ‘woods’ scene this was not an issue. The lens did have an inbuilt stabiliser, which proved useful on the scenes which required more camera movement, this helped minimise extreme motion blur on the shot.

CAMERA

CAMERA STABILISERThis accessory was extremely useful regarding minimising camera shake and generating clean tracking or flycam shots. I learned how to operate this object, most specifically in which how to weight it correctly so that the camera would be at the correct angle when I held the handle of the device freehand. This often took a lengthy amount of time to perfect, though one done so it significantly improved the quality of my shots, most specifically the flycam shot of which was influenced by the 1980’s film ‘The Evil Dead’- this was noted in my initial research.

TRIPOD

When filming, the use of a tripod is key element in the production of a film. It is used to hold a camera steady or creating a variety of different panning shots. During the production process of my film opening, firstly I learned how to assemble the tripod and attach a camera to it. I also learned how I could manipulate my shot through the various features on the tripod, such as by making the shot higher or lower whilst I was also able to see if the shot was flat by using the ‘level’ fitted to the tripod.

LIGHTINGThe correct lighting of a film is extremely important, as it can make or break a film. I learned how I can manipulate my lighting so that it suited my shot and genre. During the outdoor woods scene, I purposely chose to make use of natural lighting, though my opening was a horror film, therefore bright sunlight may not help represent the genre in my shots. As a result of this, I decided to shoot this scene on a cloudy day, with a grey sky as this style of lighting was dark, dingy and representative of the genre (note: The Evil Dead used similar lighting). For the scene in the bedroom, I used a small desk lamp to create the little lighting that was required, as my opening was a horror and set in a dark room, the only light I needed to create was one that made it so the viewer could just see everything in shot- similar to what it would be like going into a dark room in real life. Though this scene was shot during the daytime and colour graded to look make it appear that it was nighttime. As my camera lens had a tendency to fail unless in good very good light or a very high ISO (which made the shot unbearably grainy), therefore I focused the lighting from my desk lamp usually onto the face of the character or any other important location.

During the post-production (editing) of my film opening I gained some new skills when using the program ‘Adobe After Effects’- as I already had previous experience with the program, I previously knew the basics. I gained new skills regarding the ‘touching-up’ of shots, to make them appear more professional, for example, I learned how to use the ‘Camera Stabiliser’ option, which reduced the amount of motion blur in a shot and was especially useful on the tracking shots by helping establish a steady shot that appeared to be shot using a camera dolly (which it wasn’t). I also learned some new skills of colour grading and how I could manipulate my shot to look like that of one of my chosen professional products or an entirely original horror look. I gained skills at shot manipulation, for example during the final scene the antagonist lets out a horrific scream, to create this I followed a tutorial I found on the internet in which took me through the process of which to do this effect. I chose this effect because it was very similar to that of an effect I discovered during a sequence in the film ‘Grave Encounters’.

Adobe After Effects

SCANNERDuring the research and prelim process of my project, I was required to use the scanner during multiple instances. For example, I had to use these into my blog: storyboard; print prelim; flat plans; research findings; model release form; call sheet; shot list; recce; risk assessment and audience feedback. During the process of producing my product, I not only learned how to operate the scanner, but I learned how I can use a scanner to add an entirely new element to my research into my project.

INTERNETThe internet was easily one of the most important elements regarding the research and production of my project. I used ‘blogger’ to compile my whole project and the internet to carry out a large amount of my research and gather information. I learned how to operate blogger (as I hadn’t used it previous to starting my project) and also customise it to make it appear more aesthetically pleasing. I used slideshare, which allowed me to upload my powerpoint projects to and embed them into my blog. I also used to website ‘prezi’ to create a series of interactive presentations which could be embedded into my blog, this of which also increase the diverse range of technologies I used.

YOUTUBE

I used Youtube to upload my project to, as well as other video files that needed to be embedded into my project. This website would allow me (if I wanted to) to share my project with the world. During my research I learnt that if I wanted to have my film produced by a large institution, then using Youtube could be an effective form of advertisement for my product.