Evaluation Question 6

6. What have you learnt about technology from the process of constructing this product?

During the process of constructing our sequence, we used a variety of different technologies, and needless to say, there were numerous opportunities for me to learn and develop new skills.

PRODUCTION - 'Hardware' skills

• Used a Canon HD Mini-DV camcorder to record all footage - previously used in the preliminary exercise so I was familiar with.
  

• Previous experience made me aware that the placing of the Paglights had a great impact on the shot quality and mood we were trying to achieve. Bearing this in mind, we strategically used natural light or implemented the use of house lighting in the sequence whilst retaining the atmosphere (e.g. when the killer walks into the kitchen and turns on the light).

• Recording the phone dialogue on the camera using an external camera microphone came out very muffled when we captured it on Adobe Premiere Pro. So we used a tie-clip microphone on the last shoot and re-recorded the conversation. This worked very well; the dialogue was a lot clearer.

• Being the director gave me the opportunity to improve my camera skills; allowing me the freedom to be more creative and experiment with different shot types and camera movements. E.g. when shooting the nightmare sequence; capturing footage from both close-up [for emphasis on his reaction] and further away [to establish the setting]; thus giving us a diverse collection of footage to choose from when it came to editing. [Examples below]
  

With hindsight, I would have:
-Experimented with the camera functions more i.e. turned the auto-focus off and tried to develop the skill of using manual focus.
-Liked to use the studio lighting kit to see if it made any visible difference in shot quality.
-Asked some of the other members of the group to help return the equipment after shoots - IT IS TOO HEAVY TO CARRY IT ALL BY MYSELF!


POST-PRODUCTION - 'Software' skills

Because I hadn't had much experience with editing beforehand, I feel this is where I learnt the most. Here is a list of the most important things I learnt about the editing process:

• Using Adobe After Effects Photoshop and Fireworks to create the newspaper articles and production logo
  

• Developing my skills in Adobe Premiere Pro; learning about key frames, additive and cross dissolves, capturing the footage and altering the speed/duration of a shot. [Which we used in this particular shot where the killer opens the drawer - we thought a slower shot would be more dramatic]

The software was easy to use and very flexible therefore there was a lot of scope for us to be as creative as we wished. The only limitation was our depth of knowledge of the programmes, which would develop over time after using the programmes more.By the end, I had a pretty good grasp of the CS3 programmes, and I now feel more confident to use them in future projects. The recent advancement in digital equipment definitely benefited us. We were able to use state-of-the-art equipment to make sure our product was as close to perfection as possible. However, we were using HD cameras, but did not shoot in HD; if we were to do this project again, I would like to shoot in HD and compare the difference in image quality.