Evaluation Question 6: What Have You Learnt About Technologies From The Process of Constructing This Product?
Evaluation Question 6: What Have You Learnt About Technologies From The Process of Constructing This Product?
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE PROCESS OF CONSTRUCTING THIS PRODUCT?
INTRODUCTION
While producing my film, I have become aware of many new types of technology, including mainly websites and downloadable programmes.
FILMING DAY 1
On the first day of filming, Nicole and I split the filming equally. One of my favourite shots from this day was the backwards tracking shot of the Brownie Leader walking towards the campsite. This was a long shot that in its final seconds became a close up.
FILMING DAY 1
I also loved capturing the two scenes of the girls running towards their tent and then the silhouette shot from the other side and the same of the Leader entering the tent later. These match on action shots required a significant amount of patience, an awareness of even the smallest details, and an ability to self-critique. These enabled me to ensure that the tracking shot taken from behind the girls flowed sinuously into the silhouette shot and that the handheld shot from behind the Leader, starting at a close up and becoming a long shot, fitted perfectly alongside the following shot. This was slightly more difficult to engineer as clear hand actions were being used and therefore more attention to detail was required. The second frame in this scene was of a medium shot, which again required a meticulous amount of patience when using match on action to create fluidity from one shot to the next.
FILMING DAY 2
On the second night of filming, I was significantly more active than Nicole in this area.
My favourite scene to film overall was that of the girls sleeping. The panning shot that introduces the audience to a new setting and complication in my film. This high angled medium shot required a steady hand, as this was fundamental to the atmosphere of the scene, to indicate vulnerability and innocence in conjunction with the music.
FILMING DAY 2
I captured this shot from both a steady perspective and with purposeful jitters, meant to heighten the tension and increase the eeriness within the film, as fitting with the music. Initially I had planned to use only one of the two shots; however, they both had a place in our film, the steady shot coming first, and then the shaky shot to raise tensions.
I then filmed high angled close ups of the Brownies faces as each was taken by the chloroform. I used really tight frames as the Leaders hand came down each time, focusing on the significance of her actions.
FILMING: SUMMARY
Filming together and in approximately equal amounts allowed Nicole and I to share ideas continually and to combine our abilities to produce the best possible results. We also benefitted from learning how to use the camera in a master class we attended before we even started shooting; small and yet significant details, including the importance and effect of white balancing, changing exposures and apertures and others, such as manipulating the focus, may not have been taken into consideration when filming if not for this lesson. Post filming, we captured our film onto a USB stick, then imported the footage onto the editing programme we would be using, Adobe Premiere Pro.
Sharing the role of editor equally meant Nicole and I were communicating regularly and combining our skills to produce the best effects. We worked really well as a team, completing our tasks long in advance of all our deadlines.
SOCIAL NETWORKS
I have learned and refined my knowledge on communicating through social networks over the course of the process of creating my film. Be it promoting my film screening on Twitter, or communicating with those whod volunteered to help prepare for filming, via posting on a Facebook group of my making or a Skype conference call; technology was key in my communication. My usual means of communication would be through emails, phone calls and texting, and these were practical too, but I did enjoy experiencing these social networks Id never used until now.
MARKET RESEARCH
In order to discover and adhere to my audiences requirements, I created polls and surveys on both the websites Kwiksurveys and Surveymonkey.
On Kwiksurveys, I created polls. This was a really simple, selfexplanatory, free-to-use website and it provided me a link that I could copy onto facebook and other such social networks to send to family and friends of the age of my target audience to receive as many responses as possible.
Surveymonkey provided a very similar service, and I used this website to create a pre-production survey. Again, I copied the given URL onto various social media in order to generate as many responses as possible.
MARKET RESEARCH
All the research I have taken has been left open to the internets public on websites in order that the decisions I make are based on valid research taken not only from friends and family in my close community, but from a wide range of responses, also in other places, worldwide. Both websites taught me the importance of wording a question clearly so that they cannot be misguiding. The open, closed and probe questions lead to the audience giving different kinds of answers and so I spent a long time wording each question appropriately to garner the best results. These research websites helped me learn the importance of indentifying a target audience long in advance in order that the results are relevant to my film intentions and so in the final production, I can adhere to and satisfy the expectations and demands of them.
After exploring this programme, I sent a link of it to Nicole. Then, at her house, we constructed two final copies of our logo. We attempted to download them, but came across an issue whereby a large watermark appeared across the screen on every format we downloaded it onto.
REELCLEVER
When searching for a website or programme that would enable me to create and present my post production storyboard, I found several potential devices, including Storybird and Storyboard that. I considered the many options available to me and after, experimenting with a couple, I settled on Reelclever . This user friendly software provided a free way to present all the information, including photos, as well as minor details such as shot type and number. I also had space to add notes, which was a bonus that not all software provided.
DOCSTOC
In order to upload documents and PDF files to my blog, I created an account with this website. Docstoc enabled me to share my files on the internet, and with HTML codes, copy them onto my blog. This was not as easy a website to familiarise myself with in comparison with Slideshare, but after taking the time to learn the terminology of the website, I found it much easier to use.
KIZOA
Kizoa provided me with a way to create and present my work online, in an uncomplicated innovative system. This creative outlet enabled me to chose any photo as a background, write a certain amount of text to each slide; editing the colour, highlighting, font and position on screen, add transitions, music and other effects to present my work in the most exciting technique possible.
PREZI
Unlike other presentational devices I had used until discovering Prezi, here my work did not present in a slideshow format. Instead I was provided with a blank virtual canvas, with the option of a template, to which I could add different textboxes, pictures, etc. and then present these in any order I chose. This was my favourite presentational device as it allowed me to fully experiment with my creativity and develop my presentational skills.
SPICYNODES
This website enabled me to create a spider diagram online; it provided very little choice creatively, but imparted the information I wanted to communicate clearly and directly. However, I only found I could use this website for a specific purpose and therefore did not use it more than once, considering how I didnt really have the need to create many spider diagrams later on down the line.
MUSIC
I had the opportunity to manipulate the music I had recorded, adding different effects to produce different results on my school equipment, e.g. adding echoes to create another dimension of the music. Of course this was much more difficult a software to use, the tools and subject of editing, utterly unfamiliar to me. Moreover, this experience gave me the basic lesson on how to manipulate sound in a studio, using the many different functions to edit the sound as it was being produced. Although, I could not have done this is if not for the fact that I was aided by an experienced musician.
BLOGGER
Of all the presentational devices, websites, and programmes that I have experienced, Blogger is by far the most important, as without a firm understanding of this website, I would not have been able to present any of these. In order to keep my blog up to date regarding the process of producing my film, I was required to upload and embed many different presentations, pictures, etc. In order to upload all the research and planning I had created in preparation for my final product, I had to learn my way around this website in great detail.
BLOGGER
Having never created a blog on Blogger previously, as a quick learner, I have now become fully versed and confident in this modern website. I downloaded the Blogger application to my mobile phone in order that I could access my work when away from my computer; this was more complicated to learn to use, but I rose to the challenge nonetheless. I havent experienced any issues with this website for the duration of the time that I have uploaded various documents, clips and files on it as well as the time I have spent writing posts directly into the Blogger text box and posting text directly.
CONCLUSION
All in all, I found that producing my film has led me to gain experience in many different technologies that I otherwise would know nothing about. Not only have I improved my technological terminology and abilities, but these programmes and websites allowed me to let my creative juices flow. My ability to create exciting and appealing presentations has progressed over this time period, ranging from the way I presented my research clearly, to the way I presented the continual development of my presentation of ideas, to the high level of film I managed to create as a final product.