From the beginning of this year to the completion of this evaluation, I have been introduced to, and learnt extensively about many different technologies. The construction of both the thriller opening and the preliminary task allowed me to explore blogging, internet research, communication, use of cameras and finally editing.
What did I learn about blogging?
At the start of the year, I had very little experience with blogs, particularly in relation to academic work. I was more used to using folders and amassing massive amounts of paperwork, which although adequate enough for purpose, would have been highly impractical, especially with the heavy amount of material I have produced as part of this production. The choice to instead use blogs to log the production process was both a highly convenient and informative one, allowing easier use and the extra educational element of technology. Although I was reasonably technologically literate before, this blog has allowed me to learn more about the use of technology. I now know how to use a variety of presentation methods, such as essays, power-points shared on the website Scribd.com and Prezi's from Prezi.com. pieces of paper were scanned through and placed conveniently on the blog, for all to see. I can embed many different types of media into the blog, such as images, YouTube videos, links to other blog pieces and sites. This blog also allowed me to easily edit my essays and presentations without extra paper, share my work with fellow students and teachers and receive feedback in the form of comments.
What did I learn about internet research?
As part of my research, I completed many case studies concerning thriller films in order to gain a better understanding about the genre, build my analytical skills and provide inspiration for my own thriller production. Along with watching the films themselves, assistance from my teacher and my own knowledge, the internet was my primary resource in researching the films I was referencing and exploring in my studies. sites such as IMDB.com and Metacritic allowed me to gain and in-depth view of the films and their critical receptions, which increased my depth of analysis. I could use YouTube to find and watch either films or clips from films, in order to analyse them, and failing that, I used the internet to source and order films, either through other digital distribution means such as Netflix or MUBI or online stores such as Amazon, learning how using such sources can save both money and time. I learnt how useful the internet could be in gaining a better understanding of genre and developing my responses to a greater length. I also learnt how to ensure that my level of knowledge on any given film was at its highest level.
What did I learn about communication?
I used an array of communication methods whilst producing the text both for communication with other students and young people who were collaborating with me or aiding our production, as well as my teacher using the comments on my blog and emails. My primary communication methods were my mobile phone and a Facebook group for everyone in my group and the actors appearing in the opening. The Facebook group allowed us to easily organise shoots which was necessary as we were shooting outside of our school time, and needed to negotiate with six busy people. The use of mobile phones also helped to increase the efficiency of film production, for example when one of our members had difficulty finding our shoot location. Use of this technology was incredibly useful and allowed information to be posted to anyone who needed it quickly and easily.
What did I learn about using cameras?
Previous to this production, I had some experience with cameras and did not take the primary responsibility of using the camera during the shoot, but I still learnt a few things regarding use of cameras. Primarily I learnt about how the formatting of a camera can affect its quality as well as its transferability to the edit. For example, you could change quality of footage through the camera directly, although we chose to stay with the standard 1080p HD resolution. We could review rushes on set, using the on camera screen, which was very useful and allowed us to improve our footage on set and ensure we got the best footage we could. I integrated cameras into the planning stage of production as well, venturing out to practise shots and get pictures of locations, before uploading them onto my blog where I evaluated and commented on them.
What did I learn about editing and post-
production?
Once we had wrapped up filming, my partner and I reached the edit stage of our production, where technology was the most prominent. Along with the standard straight cuts, I used many different methods throughout my introduction. These ranged from Fades to black, slow motion, extended periods of darkness and constant power on the soundtrack. I did this to bring variety to the opening, build tension and connote the passing of time. Adobe Premier was a very good program to use to edit as it was simple enough to understand but complex enough to make an opening of high quality. When I came upon issues, such as the mis-compatibility of footage ratio with the ratio of the edit, I could easily fix them using the program and the advice of my teacher. I used this program to transfer soundtrack and edit the film side by side, having downloaded numerous soundtracks in MP3 format. Fonts were transferred easily into this program, they were downloaded from DaFont.com, installed into the computer and appeared in the program, this was important as the font used for titles was not a stock font.
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