Evaluation-Part 6

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

Camera
We used a Cannon camcorder as well as a Cannon camera this is because the camera was used for practising different shot prior to doing any actual filming. I found this very useful because it helped me to decide on which shots to use and which to not use in the thriller opening. The Cannon camcorder was used for the filming of the thriller opening. The camcorder was really good at capturing the shot and picking up different colours which is always important when creating a thriller opening. It was also really easy to use which meant everyone got a go at least once at filming for the thriller opening. There were two main difficulties I encountered with this camcorder, the first being that it took a long time to adjust to a change in depth of the shot with the camcorder taking a few seconds to regain focus. This meant that we had to redo this shot many times for to eventually work, also the footage taken needed to be converted on the computer which seemed to take up a long time and there was nothing we could do about it.

The camera being used
with the tripod

Tripod
The tripod was very useful for the thriller opening as it gave us steady shots by holding the camera still. This  was specifically helpful with the panning shot of the room because by using the rubber band trick it gave us the smooth pan that we were looking for. The ability to adapt the hight of the tripod was useful because of the variety of shots we used needed the tripod at different heights and angles.

Light
The light we borrowed was used for many of the shots including the opening two of the main characters face as she opens her eyes. It was used most effectively in the shot of the purple dress hanging in the wardrobe as it brings it the audiences attention. The main problem we faced with this is that the hook attached to it was not very strong and this meant it kept on falling and had to be put back into place and lead to some takes being ruined by it.

Websites

The websites I used

I used a variety of websites while creating the thriller opening including Youtube, Google, Blogger and Prezi. I used Google mainly for the research behind the thriller opening such as inspiration for the setting as well as information on previous well known film noirs which effected how we chose what the opening should feel and look like. Youtube was greatly helpful as a place for use to put out roughly edited versions and is where we got the inspiration for the music to the thriller opening. I used Blogger to document everything about the thriller opening as I was going through it and was a good place to get feedback on it. The one bad thing about Blogger was that  it sometimes froze when trying to add an image or a video and once I had to start a post again because it was not responding at all. Finally I used Prezi because it is a good way to present information and was used when presenting the original ideas of our thriller opening. However I found Prezi a bit confusing to begin with put after not that long I got the hang of it and it worked well.

Software
In terms of software I mainly used Final cut but Garage band, Paint and Live type were also used in the creation of the opening. I mainly used Final cut because that is where I did the editing of the footage and where I put the opening together. The strengths of Final cut is that it is easy to use and has a lot of different ways to edit the footage. It was good that Final cut was easy to use because this was my first time editing a video and it would of taken a lot more time and that might of meant that I could not of edited the way I wanted too. The large variety of ways you are able to edit the footage in Final cut was a big bonus because it gave me more control over how it would turn out. However I did have a few problems when the footage on Final cut has been disconnected with what is stored on the computer and then refused to play at all. Garage band was used to great an extra part to the music so that the music was longer and would go better with the footage. The main strength would be that it was quick to use and ended with a good end product. Live type was used for the opening titles and was used before I started on the opening in Final cut. Live type was simple to use and had a wide variety of choice for how to change the text and how it moves around the screen. This was important because it meant that we could have the titles work with what we had planned for the opening and I believe it goes well with the footage and the feel of the opening. The main problem I had was trying to work out what length each title should be because it could not see how it would look when it would be in the thriller opening. This meant that I had to go back a couple of times to Live type after I had the footage to adjust the length of each of the titles. I used Paint because it is an easy and efficient way to change images and convert two images into one. The main problem I incurred was when adding two images to a paint document at the same time they would not be next to each other but one would not be seen behind the other.