What have you learnt about

technologies from the process of

constructing this product?

Evaluation Question 6

Throughout this process I have used a variety of technologies that I had and had not used before. I have used software, hardware and websites that have all helped me to complete my film as well as updating my blog successfully. I have used most of these technologies with ease and developed my skills while using them more.

Technologies

The three main pieces of software that i used for the first time were Final Cut Express, LiveType and Photoshop.

Final Cut Express - This was the editing software that we used on the Macs that allowed us to import our shots following which we could cut, paste, import sound, add filters, add special effects, add transitions etc. This did not take me long to get the hang of to use as it was pretty straight forward as to how to do basic things e.g import video and sound, cut video. However, as a group we struggled to do other complex things like adding filters and adding effects such as slow motion. We would therefore look at tutorials on YouTube that would instruct us on how to do these actions correctly.

Software

LiveType - This software allowed me to create titles for our film to then import into Final Cut Express. This was also an easy piece of software to use and again if I had any trouble with it, would look for tutorials on how to carry out specific actions. LiveType consisted of creating titles with or without effects in different fonts, sizes, colours, textures, shadowing etc. The flaw that I found with LiveType was that it was only a title creating software which didn’t allow you to preview the titles once you had created them onto the video that you wanted. This therefore made the task of creating effective titles longer than it should have been as sometimes the aligning of the text was not right once we had imported it into the shot on Final Cut Express and then we had to go back to LiveType and realign it until it was right.

Software

Photoshop - This software allowed me to create a collage of frames from my film that I then used in my first evaluation post. I found photoshop the most difficult to use as it was a lot more complicated than the other software that I had used for example, with importing images I had to make them all the same size as well as making the canvas the right size to fit the images on. I did understand it more as I used it more and the end result was great but I did not enjoy using it as much as the other softwares.

Software

Throughout this process I have used a variety of hardware that has enabled me to produce my product. I have used iMacs, Macbooks and an SD card. iMac and Macbook - I had never used an iMac or Macbook before and so this was a new experience for me. I found them easy to use although very different to a Windows operated computer. These devices allowed me to use Final Cut Express, Photoshop and LiveType which was the main software that was needed to produce our product. Because of this, it was vital that the iMacs were available to use as they were the only means of which to access this software. My group therefore had to manage our time carefully and efficiently with regards to editing our film.

Hardware

HardwareSD Card - I used this to store my videos safely before then transferring these videos onto the iMac. We also made sure that we saved the videos onto a memory stick also (Wilhelmina’s) to ensure that we would not lose any files. Memory Stick - I have used this many times before and so knew how to use them. This was used to save our edited files onto and then upload these files onto our blog at home as YouTube would not work properly on the iMacs at school. One problem we faced with memory sticks was that due to the edited film file being so big, we could not save the file onto our memory sticks as they did not have enough space. However, my memory stick had 8GB and so we put our edited file onto this to have as a back up and to upload onto our blogs if we needed to.

Websites such as YouTube, Blogger, Slideshare, SoundCloud and Prezi were an important part of the presentation of our product and the stages that I took to complete it. YouTube - YouTube is a very popular site that allows you to directly watch and upload videos. I have used this site many times before and so I knew how to navigate around. However, I had never had my own YouTube channel which allows you to upload videos and so this was a new skill I developed. I could annotate videos that I uploaded and this was very straightforward to do. Slideshare - This allowed me to upload my powerpoint presentations onto a public site where it could be viewed and shared. This was the first time using this and so i had to create an account. This is an effective site that i will definately use in the future to resent my work to other people.

Websites

Blogger - Being a blogger, i was very familiar with the way in which Blogger worked. Although i use a different blogging site (Wordpress) they are both similar and easy to use. I had to create a Blogger account (a google account as Blogger is linked with Google) and straightaway was able to begin creating posts. Within my posts I could insert/embed images, video, audio and links. With regards to embedding media, I had not done this before and so i had to use the guide that was given on the VLE for me to follow each step. This was very easy and allowed me to embed my presentations from Slideshare and sound from SoundCloud.

SoundCloud - This site was very similar to Slideshare but was an area to upload and share sound as opposed to powerpoint presentations. This was a site that i had not used previously so i had to again create an account. This site was vital in embedding sound onto my blog for example, the incidental music that we used in our film.

Websites

Incompetech - This was a website that my group used to search for royalty free music for our film opening. This was a very clear website that was easy to use as we could simply search for sounds and look up sounds under titles/tags such as ‘eerie’, ‘mystery’. Prezi - I have not used this site before but having used it I will definately use it more as it is a very good site that allows me to create presentations in a different, more engaging way. This was also very easy to use and I could embed the presentation into my blog.

Websites

The equipment that we used in constructing our film was especially vital in producing our film. The two main pieces of equipment were the tripod and the Panasonic HD Camera. Tripod - I had never used a tripod before and so filming was different to how i had previously filmed. The tripod enabled us to produce stable footage as opposed to shaky handheld footage. I could use the tripod well but found it difficult sometimes to lock the camera onto the tripod as well as tilting the camera. In the production of our film, we decided to use Katy’s tripod as hers was bigger and easier to use with regards to tilting and panning.

Equipment

Panasonic HD Camera - My group decided to use the Panasonic HD Camera as this was the camera that produced high quality video which is what our group wanted for our film opening. I don’t use camera’s often at all but I found this camera easy to use and my group helped me to use it at times when i didn’t know what to do exactly. In the production of our film opening, I was able to develop skills that i hadn’t before. I learnt how to zoom in, pan and tilt the camera to create the shots that we wanted in our opening.

Equipment

To conclude, all of these technologies that I have used in the process of constructing my product have been very useful and effective in helping to increase the success of my final product and the presentation of my progress throughout.

Conclusion