Evaluation Question 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the 

process of constructing this product?

      Throughout the production of my media product, I used various pieces of technology, many, if not the majority of which I had not used before. Firstly I used the Apple Mac in order to put together, edit and upload all pieces of work for this task, which was beyond a new world to me! I have to say, the reverse psychology of scrolling up and the screen going down really blew my mind, and the lack of a right click is just beyond silly! At first I found them to be somewhat confusing, but now they are a little friendlier. However I did come across the generic problems of a dodgy mouse and slow connection/freezing, especially when having to export or upload work. We used the Macs in our media production a great deal due to the fantastic variety of programmes they have. 

      For the editing side of our work we used the fantastic Final Cut Pro. This programme stores all original footage, allowing you to edit, work, re-word, add things in, take things out an change practically everything right up until the moment you are happy with the outcome. It also offers a wide selection of titles, effects, transitions and modifications, generators and sound effects. 

When we first started this course, I'd just about heard of this programme, but had no idea of how to use it. Thankfully after a few short tasks we were set in class I was able to have a play around, learning what does what and how. I was able to really enhance or final cut of the title sequence after learning all new techniques which gave my media product a great 'real' look. Again with the comment of always being able to go back to make any last minute changes, this was really helpful after receiving feedback from a group critique we did which allowed us to make the changes that were mentioned in making sure the final cut was perfect. 

When shooting all scenes for our  title sequence we used a flip-camera (Panasonic HDC-SD60 FULL HD) which again I was fairly new to. However I am also a Photography student at this College, so I have a certain way with cameras. I understand how they work easily which came in handy. I also have a good eye for a shot, experimenting with angles and perspective, understanding how the viewers will see this and respond to it. I was complimented by a few people by our opening scene of the low angle and our Protagonist walking away which I am quite pleased with. 

When recording the sound for the voice over and the high-pitch scratch (which we decided not to use) we used a zoom recorder. The quality we got from this was very good, as long as we weren't in too much of a noisy area so that it could not pick up background noise. 

"There's a million digital recorders out there on the market, but the H2 Handy Recorder by Zoom is trying to capture the disposable income of those that need to record sounds coming from a variety of directions. Unlike other recorders, the H2 has three microphones, one in the center and two on either side, allowing for stereo imaging of the sound. You can also record from the front, or the rear of the H2 at 90' or 120' or in full 360', depending on what format you like your file to be. (WAV, MP3 or Surround 5.1) 

(http://www.slipperybrick.com/category/voice-recorders/)   

However, some of the technology that we had used came in handy, and with the mixed views and ideas that working in a pair benefitted us with, we were able to understand at least some of these programmes. Bex was on hand for the music and so found a track on YoutTube called 'Kiddie Land' by Prelude to a Nightmare (Creepy Lullaby) and mixed this with a short piece she created on her samsung tablet that we added to our final cut. For this, we had to use the 'Youtube to mp3 converter' and the tablet to convert and combine the two pieces to make the soundtrack that would be played in our Final Cut of 'The Remaining'.

We also used Youtube to upload our rough cuts and other videos such as indents which we later added to our blog :) Also, another primary form of technology was the site Blogger in itself. I don't know about Bex, but I had never used blogger before, yet thanks to the simple layout of the site it was really easy to understand and use, and before I knew it I was just casually 'blogging away'. Other sites such as Prezi were also new to me, but enabled us to create interesting and different blogs to present our work each time. 

"Prezi is a cloud-based presentation application and storytelling tool that uses a single canvas instead of traditional slides." (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prezi)  

The animated movement, variation of fonts and ease to follow it makes an interesting watch, yet again which wasn't hard to use or grasp.

Overall it isn't about how much you know about technology, it's about how much you're willing to learn. Bex and I for sure wanted to make this title sequence a success and where we could, we were learning new techniques all the time, always aiming to enhance our media product. Nothing in particular makes you any more or any less creative, as long as you have a good snoop around the internet for tips and a play on final cut to see what's what, you're fine! :)