AS Media
G321
Foundation
Portfolio
Monday 6th April
Question 6; What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I feel I've learnt a lot about new technology during media, I used new technology, familiar technology and extended my knowledge on technology I previously didn't know as much about.
The use of Cameras
A key part of our coursework was the filming process where we had to film everything we needed. We filmed each scene more than once to ensure we had enough good footage for the entire opening. During the filming process we used three different cameras, we used different cameras because we needed certain levels of sophistication were needed for particular scenes or sequences.
I think did more of the hands on filming than my team members because I wasn't in any of the sequences in the opening whereas they were. Though of course all angles, shots and movement was checked and watched through by all team members so we could make sure it was to the satisfaction of the whole group. For our first scene in the school we used one of the school cameras, we did this mostly out of convenience because neither me nor Jemma had brought in our own cameras. I'd used these cameras in my preliminiary task so there wasn't much that I didn't know how to do with the cameras when we were filming.
We used my camera to shoot the majority of the other scenes, we did this because we thought the images were of better quality and we had a better zoom. I obviously knew how to work my own camera so it was fairly easy for me to navigate using my own. We used Jemma's camera to film Steph's scene, we used Jemma's camera because it was more sophisticated than mine and because we'd be able to manually focus pull using her camera which we couldn't do on mine. I was unfamiliar with Jemma's camera because it was new technology to me. During the filming process I became more familiar with her camera, learning how to take stills, use the video function and how to use a manual zoom. I feel a learnt quite a lot about using the different kinds of camera and what each camera is best used for. If I were to redo the task I'd like to learn how to change the lens cap on a camera and what each lens is best for in filming.
During the filming I also used a tripod, I knew how to attach a camera to the tripod from my preliminiary task however I didn't learn how to open it up or extend the legs since Jemma was the one who put up the tripod during our preliminiary task. I learned how to put one up and successfully extend the legs of one without hitting anybody with the tripod (took a few tries). I also learnt that there was a smaller variation of the tripod as we used it during the filming of the living room scene, Jemma had a smaller tripod with flexible legs which was how we did our canted angle shot. After doing the main task I feel a lot more confident in using a camera and the camera equipment, I'd like to look at hand-held movement next year since I didn't film that this year.
Editing our footage
Post-filming we had to edit, I wasn't overly confident in the area of editing since we didn't do a lot of complex editing in our preliminiary. However I knew we wanted to use a lot more complex editing techniques the idea of which was a little intimidating. Before this year I'd never used the editing software 'Sony Vegas Pro' so I wasn' t very experienced at using it. I was hestitant at doing some of the editing because I was worried I'd mess something up for the group, because of this I didn't do a lot of the hands on editing. I did smaller parts that required less technical skill and experience with the programme. However I was witness to all of the editing and frequently verbally contributed to the process with ideas and constructive criticism.
I feel that although I didn't do a lot of the practical editing I still learnt quite a lot about the program. Specific things I've learnt how to do during the main task are; splitting and deleting footage or sections of, layering text onto a black screen and images, fading an image into/out of black and how to put filters into the footage. Despite not doing much practical editing I still learnt a lot about the software and using it by watching and also because I was the one who would look up tutorials on YouTube to find out how to do specfici things. For example in our audience research we were told the black border around the video messed with the immerision, whilst Jemma was adding the chosen sound effects I looked up how to get rid of the black border. In the process we also found out how to get a much higher quality image and as a result can watch our opening in HD.
I feel the main task has extended my knowledge of our editing software a significant amount from our preliminiary task and that I've learnt quite a lot about how to use it. Next year I'd like to do more of the practical editing and help to build our skills with the programme as a group by supporting and helping each other with our different levels of skill.
Sound in our opening
Sound was an area I wasn't very familiar with in terms of film because it wasn't something we made extensive use of in our prelim, I actually think sound was our weakest area in our prelim. In the main task I learnt a lot more about backing tracks and the use of sound effects and voice-overs since we used them in our opening. One of the main things I learned was where you can get sound effects and backing tracks. We used multiple sites to find our sound effects and track, during this I also learnt about the different kinds of licenses you need to use others sound clips. Jemma being a music student was tasked with finding suitable sound clips, we knew what we wanted in terms of sounds and so she knew what she was looking for.
Although I wasn't actively searching through the sites I learnt of the sites, the different kinds of lisences and also how to navigate them. I was the one who sent the messages to composers of clips we used (or did not use). I think I've learnt a lot about sound and the use of it in our opening, I'd like to extend my knowledge next year by learning how to download the sound clips from the websites we used and also learning how to effectively add them in and line them up with the footage in the editing stage of the task.
Overall I think I've learned a lot about the use of technology in the construction of our thriller opening. I learnt how to use newer sophisticated camera functions, editing techniques in software I wasn't previously familiar with before this year and also the various websites where we can upload or download sound clips for us to use freely.