How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

What software was used?

Adobe Premiere elements- During our AS production we used Adobe Premiere elements because it was the most easily adaptable software, it was very significant in our film to have a software which was easy to use and whom anyone can figure out, this was especially prevalent when we had to add all of our shots into the software in order to edit it efficiently to conform to the stereotypes of the genre

Fireworks- The main reason we used Adobe fireworks was for the credits we aimed to use, this was the names as well as the production company logos which eventually were put in our film, we used Fireworks because it is a software I am very familiar with and I can use it quite well in order to create a top class result.

Photoshop- Photoshop was used for the same reason as Fireworks, it is relatively easy to use software and any of us could uses after a few hours practise, the main reason we used Photoshop was because of the magic wand tool as this was very helpful in getting rid of the white background present when trying to save the image as a picture.

What equipment was used?

Tripod- Another piece of equipment that I have is a Miranda 500 tripod. Its legs extend twice and the total height of the tripod with the camera on top is about 5 foot off the ground. The tripod allows the camera to capture smooth and steady shots which you can do for taking images and also video. It is not hard to understand how to use the tripod so it wasn't hard for the others to understand.

Camera- Canon E0S 500D was a good camera for our film, it was small enough that we could take it anywhere with ease, it was also efficient as the strap meant we could just hang it around our necks to allow for us to carry the tripod. The camera also had large memory storage and It allowed us to capture all of our film on one memory card.

What were the technical pros and cons of the software and hardware?

Pros- easy to use, large memory space on the camera, adjustable tripod meant we could film in all conditions whether that is outside or on a staircase etc. All Adobe software is relatively easy to use and are too a decent standard.

Cons- The camera’s battery didn’t last very long so for the final scene we had to film with an IPhone, Premiere elements was a bit too basic when it came to us editing specific parts, for example sound effects or special effects were hard to add to a professional standard and so we stuck with what we had filmed and the costumes we had assembled. Lighting was an issue, we filmed after school in the winter and so we had a very narrow window if we wanted to film outside, it also caused problems for us filming inside especially if there is a window in the shot, we found that in our final film there is a point where the light had to be on in order to film that scene despite it not being on in the scene before.

In what ways was technology used to create the production?

Editing- The main way we used technology to create my AS production was our editing, Adobe Premiere elements was essential in helping us create a quality production, the easily adaptable software meant we could quite simply change the way of our production half way through production if we needed to add an essential bit of the story. For example our match on action shot used on the door handle could have been filmed later and then added in with relative ease if needed to.

Blogger- Perhaps the most essential software, blogger was used predominantly as our research and planning backbone, it was essential both to the production and development of our film as it allowed us to write down any ideas we had as well as helping us to display any of our AS production credits and targets. We used it especially well when it came to displaying the development of our ideas as shown through the evaluation task’s.

In what ways did the technology constrain or enable the production to be developed?

Rendering- The main way technology constrained us was the fact that every little change to the AS production needed to be rendered on Adobe Premiere elements, this was a major problem because depending on the amount of work you do between rendering determines the time it will take, sometimes we found that it would take more than half an hour to render our project, this was especially annoying with the deadline looming as we needed to use as much time as we could to make the project as good as we could.

However the editing software also made it possible to complete our work, its relatively basic layout meant that even with the problem of rendering we could focus on another aspect of our project, for example research and planning and evaluation tasks if permitted.

How have you developed these skills at A2?

Different software (Cyberlink Powerdirector) - For my A2 project we used Cyberlink Powerdirector which was a much more efficient software when it came to editing, not only was it better when it came to implementing and moulding shots into the desired length but it also was far better when it came to adding music, which seemed to be louder, clearer and easier to change the volume at parts if we deemed necessary. For us we used a narration over our trailer so it was essential for us to have full control over the music so that it didn’t take away the effectiveness of the narration. We also didn’t have the same amount of time with rendering, the software was better but at the same time doing the editing on a home computer helped as it was more powerful and so it could run the programs better especially when it came to copying or exporting files onto a memory stick so we didn’t lose any progress.

Two cameras- The fact that we had two cameras really helped with the filming aspect of the trailer, especially when it came to filming abroad, the cameras were both good quality but half way through production we had to lose one as the SD card corrupted after filming in Dubai, with a £50 price tag for a new one it was hard to justify that amount of money when the technology of today with IPhones and Samsung’s setting the market for quality cameras built in we saw no need, in the end we filmed with a Samsung in Iceland and it worked really well for what we desired. For the short time we had two it worked really well because we could record the same shot twice from different angles and then we had a choice of the two meaning when we came to editing we would have had a lot more shots to choose from of course sticking to the 180 degree rule.

More advanced understanding of software- In A2 I had a far greater understanding of the software we used, this includes Photoshop, fireworks and Cyberlink Powerdirector. My skills especially improved in Photoshop where I spent a lot of time working on the end credits of our film to make it look as professional as possible, this meant that I had to look up templates on line and change them around a bit adding in our own production and distributing companies as well as the main acclaim to those who did the most work in a specific part of our trailer. Fireworks was used less this year as opposed to last year because of my increased understanding of Photoshop, I would still feel more comfortable using fireworks as a software because I have years of experience on it but now I would be comfortable using Photoshop in order to increase the quality of the image and edit it more professionally. Cyberlink powerdirector as a software was definitely easier to understand then the Adobe alternative, it was easier to edit our final piece and we could do it in our time instead of relying on the school computers which had the software on, this meant we had greater flexibility when it came to the editing process because we only needed two or three of us around the selected persons house to edit even though three could sometimes cause problems with the ideas for the trailer as we all had different ideas of where the trailer was heading, this was especially made difficult with the amount of selection on the Cyberlink software but in the end we had to agree with the deadline looming.­­­