Evaluation Post 6 - Technology

Hardware:

The computer was the main piece of technology we used, as we had to upload the videos onto there and all the editing software we needed was on the computer. If we used any other device to upload and edit, such as a phone/tablet, it would have taken much longer and the end product would look less polished. From this, I learned how to upload files onto a computer and import them into the editing software.

We used a HD camcorder to record our footage. Using a camcorder meant that the video footage is smooth and the video quality is clear. A tri-pod was also used to make the shots completely steady and made the footage look more professional. The camcorder was also compact, meaning that is was easily storable, and ready to use for the next day. However, this also meant that the battery life was not great and we had to manage our time effectively.

Software:

The editing software we used was Adobe Premier Pro. It was relatively easy to use and allowed us to implement everything we wanted in our opening sequence, such as titles, freeze frames, zooms etc. As a group, if we wanted to change how something looked, or the order of the clips, we could easily do so. If they didn't work, it was easy to put back. From using Adobe Premier Pro, I learned how to use freeze frames and how to effectively put in transitions where needed. These transitions included cross fades and fade to blacks, to show passing of time. I also learned the process of slowing/speeding up the video.

For our production logo, we used Microsoft PowerPoint. It was very simple to use and the effects that we needed were there for us to use, such as having a slight glow around the lighting and having the areas around it darker. An alternative we could have used would have been Adobe Photoshop CS5 but as a group, we had little knowledge on how to use it the way we needed to (glow and vignette) so we used PowerPoint because it was easier. We also used PowerPoint to present our ideas of our film opening to the class before we started filming, this was to highlight any faults in things such as our plot, or to see what was good and what to use in our opening sequence.

I thought that our school emails on Outlook were very useful because we were easily able to exchange files such as music ideas, storyboards, screenshots etc. over to other people in our group. Because of this, we were able to share posts on our blogs without any hassle. Facebook played a key part in the communication side of things as we were able to exchange ideas when we were out of school or during the school holidays.

YouTube also played a key part in research and in uploading the files in order for them to be on our blog. I used YouTube to research, Superbad, Easy A and 17 Again openings. Superbad and 17 Again had male lead roles and we used the idea of having a male lead role from these films. We got our football idea from a scene in the Inbetweeners, which we also used YouTube for.