What have you learnt about technologies from the process of

construction this product? Shekarie James 6088

Equipment used in production:

• Microphone• Tripod • Cannon DSLR 65D EOS• Camera lens • Lighting (key fill and back)

Microphone Strengths Weaknesses

• The microphone helped to enhance the quality of the sound and blocked out most of the ambient sound.

• Overall the microphone made our better for example in dialogue between the main characters which was clear because the microphone got rid of the ambient sound.

• The microphone could not block out all sound so we had to get rid of the sounds that the microphone was not able to block out the post production stage by editing the sound out.

• We had to make sure that the micro phone was attached.

TripodStrengths Weaknesses

• The fast release cap enabled us to move locations easier

• The tripods extended height enables us to get the great mid shots.

• The tripod helped us to create professional low and high angle shots

• The tripod clamp allowed us to release the camera quickly while keeping it secure whilst we were using it. This prevented us from struggling to fit the camera directly onto the tripod. The Clamp on the tripod removed the frustration of this process by enabling us to fit the camera in one position, take it off, and then fit it onto another position moments later.

• The tripod takes long to set up.• They can be awkward to carry around,

hitting people and objects and just getting in the way.

• We could not film certain angles with the tripod so we had to use a handheld camera for certain scenes.

• The tripod took up a lot of space when it was extended which affected our scene as the bathroom was small and the use of the tripod made certain shot seem closer than they were.

• The tripod also prevented us from acquiring a close zoom which meant that we could not film certain scenes with the tripod

Cannon DSLR 65D EOS

Strengths Weaknesses• The size and weight of the camera

was convenient so it enabled us to change locations easily.

• On the camera we were able to manually set the focus as a result of this we were able to acquire a better quality. We were also able to adjust the white balance and exposure to adhere to out thriller opening.

• The camera was very straight forward and easy to us which made it easier for us to adjust the setting so we could get a better quality overall with less work.

• The battery life of this camera restricted our filming as the battery life only lasts 2-3 hours. So we had to work around this time frame, this added pressure for us to make sure that certain scenes are shot before the camera dies.

Camera lens Strengths Weaknesses

• The camera lens made its easier to have a sharp focus on certain shots for example the montage were there was multiple close ups which are clearly seem because of the sharp focus.

• The lens is a compact and a lightweight.

• However, for some scenes despite continuously trying to focus the lens some of the shots were still a bit blurry.

Lighting (key, fill and back)

Strengths Weaknesses • Through the use of key lighting

we were able to make the subject and our actors to stand out.

• The lighting also emphasised our antagonist as the use of the key lighting created shadow that made our antagonist look more mysterious and dangerous.

• The smaller light were used for the back light because they were not too bright but were just right to separate the subject from the background.

• A room gets very hot due to the lamp used as the key lighting.

• Because the lighting bought out the shadows its made the editing process challenging.

Challenges faced in the production process and how we overcame these

problems :• We faced a number of challenges one of which is;

• The key lighting was really bright so in the post production process we had to dim the light so that the characters could be seen and so that the shadow looked more faint.

• Another problem we faced is that because the camera on the tripod prevented us to get and extreme close up. Therefore we had to use a hand help camera to get the close up shot we needed.

iMacStrengths Weaknesses

• The iMac software is easy to use and this allowed us to produce work on time.

• IMacs have auto save therefore when our computer crashed all our work was not lost we were still able to access the work when we restarted the computer.

• The iMac has multiple programmes and software's allowing us to edit our opening and access the internet , YouTube plus our blogs.

• The iMacs would often crash which meant that we were at a risk of all our work being lost.

Final Cut ProStrength Weaknesses

• It allowed us to easily to adjust an fix the challenges we faced with the colour and lighting so the brightness and saturation can be changed.

• It offers a variety of transitions like fades and dissolves between each cut this made our thriller opening flow better. For example, the transition of the title for our opening which fades.

• Final Cut Pro has a lot of editing features in comparison to iMovie. However, this made it more difficult for the us to use as it was a bit to complex at first.

• Final Cut Pro at one point corrupted our file and crashed which then lead to all of our work becoming frozen and malfunctioning. And to save our work, we had to save our file every 5 minutes, just to make sure that our work didn’t get corrupt again.

How we overcame editing challenges

• Our first opening sequence came from Final Cut Pro which we edited and made ours through adjusting the saturation and the pace. However it was a found image so we could not use it so, we had to create a new one using Fire work and Dreamweaver the challenge of this is that we had to use another editing source to create our opening now. We had to learn how to use Firework properly.

• When filming some of our shots they were unstable which meant that we had to stabilise certain shots on Final Cut Pro.

• We ensured that our work was backed up so in case anything was to happen we wouldn’t have to start from the top luckily, because this came in handy when our iMac deleted some of our footage we used the back up to regain the footage.

• We edited out all ambient sounds through Final Cut Pro.

What we learnt about editing:

• We learned that the editing process is where you can fix any problems which have gone wrong in the production stage. For instance the ambient sound which can be edited out. We also noticed that the post- production stage is one of the most vital stages because we were able to turn raw footage into the product it is now. Without the editing process the opening would just be plain and unshaped. This process also taught us the affect of certain audios and or soundtrack and the influence this can have on a shot. In terms of the atmosphere which this creates mystery , tension , build up and climax especially if the audio matches the action going on in the opening.