Evaluation question 6 - What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Evaluation question 6 - What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing this product? 

For our group to create an authentic opening sequence we had to use a number of different softwares and technologies consisting of list below:

• Final cut express
• Livetype
• Digital cameras
• Youtube
• Blogger
• Prezi
• Powerpoint presentation
• Edmodo

Final cut express was a very key element in the process of creating our opening sequence as this software abled us to edit the clips that we filmed. This software was used to put all of our videos in the right order, this included the the sound, credits, titles. We used two different soundtracks for our opening sequence which consisted of a mysterious, suspenseful opening track to make the audience feel uneasy and high and low pitch to build tension, also at the end whispers are included to create a surprising feel to the audience. The tools on final cut also allowed us to get rid of the video sound by deleting it and make it able for us to add our own track and make our own choices for our final product. The credits were simply dragged onto the top of the clips so that the would sit on top of the clip in the final piece.

When i first started on final cut i found it very hard to get to grips with so many different editing techniques within the software, however as my first few days of editing went by i started to find editing much more easier and understood new techniques everyday such as in and out clip cuts, getting rid of sound, desaturating colours, colour corrector, rendering clips. Desaturating colours deemed to be one of the most useful tools for us as it meant that we could enhance are colour options to make the opening sequence much more suitable to view for example we desaturated the clips with the killer to a darkish grey and enhanced the blood colour to a dark but shiny red to create a more realistic representation of blood, this then also gave the video an edge as both opposites were shown to connote split worlds.

To produce our titles and credits for our opening sequence we used the software 'Livetype'. As i had not used this software before, i was lucky to notice that one of my group members did know how to use it and was able to guide me in what i needed to do and what was what. Once i had been able to do the basics there were not many problems, i made the title for our production company by my self 'Flame Productions' and added it on top of the opening clip to make the title appear. The same was done to the the credits which were throughout the opening sequence by choosing the font, how i wanted it to appear on screen, saved it to my desktop and imported it on to final cut.

As i wanted to try and achieve a highest possible mark that i can, i knew that it was essential that i had use different types of technology such as Blogger and Prezi in particular. When using Blogger, i found it relatively easy as many things were straight forward such as writing and publishing, adding images and adding videos which were slightly harder due to the process of uploading to youtube first, however it became very easy to use in the end. I also found that blogger was much easier than using for example a paper coursework folder as there was no hassle sorting out pieces of paper or losing work as i had it all stored on blogger where i could easily access it when and wherever i wanted to.

With Prezi i found it quite a complicated device to use as there was always something new to learn on there such as adding boxes to your prezi and adding pictures which was quite easy in the end as i could search them from prezi and add them straight away.

Also, i thought that prezi created really good presentations and hopefully made my work stand out, it is quite similar to powerpoint however prezi lets you create and pick many different styles and ways of presenting work and orders the presentation in a very exciting and inventive way, whereas powerpoint just gives you the same set of applications you can use which can get quite old and boring sometimes and things that a lot of people have seen before.

Edmodo was also a very key element for the production of my coursework as unlike a book it provided me with posts that updated me on my coursework and let me interact with others so that i can get feedback telling me what i can do to enhance my work wherever i am, there was also a lot less to do in terms of writing as it provided quick and easy information that i could just read and then type up which is much more efficient.

Our group also had a go at using the camera equipment and camera so that everyone could understand how to use it. Each of us took the camera at some point and tested it ourselves to learn camera techniques and movements so that we could be familiar with it for the actual filming which helped a lot as it meant we could get right on to filming.

Overall, i think that over time i have grown in knowledge on the softwares and technologies used and have shown a considerable amount of improvement which i am happy with. I now understand why such technologies and softwares are so important in everyday film production and i feel that whenever i see a movie or TV i can relate and understand why certain aspects have been used.