Evaluation Question 6 - Vicky

6) What have you learnt about technology from the process of constructing your media product?

Apple Macs 


Throughout the production of my media product, I used Apple iMac computers in order to complete various stages of the process. This was my first in-depth experience of iMac computers, as I had previously been using different variations of the Microsoft operating system both at home, and in my educational studies. At first, I found the use of Macs to be somewhat counter intuitive, but after using them for a while I started to find them somewhat user friendly. I did come across problems with freezing, working not been stored in the right place, and being compatibility issues with work done on other computers, but after much patience and use of online resources for help, I was able to easily overcome these issues.

We used the iMacs in our media production due to the great creative capability associated with the product, which is evident in the wide variety of programmes made for Macs and media production. These products are similar to those used by professionals, which is why the use of them was chosen. Below I have detailed some of the products on Macs, as well as other general equipment used.

Final Cut Pro

We used final cut pro in order to edit and construct our final media product. This programme is a non destructive editing technique, that stores all the orginal footage allowing you to not only edit, but also work backwards and try different things until you are completely happy with the final product. This programme is similar to those used in the industry, although does have it's downfalls and limitations when compared to the top professional products used in film construction.

This programme offers a wide range of effects, titles, transitions, modifications, and general editing abilities. I had little previous experience of the programme, and when using it for a previous task, had not thoroughly explored its capabilities. However, with the use of online tutorials I was able to learn new techniques that would enhance my product. At times this was a struggle, but the benefit to the overall look really outweighed any cons. One example of how I used Final Cut Pro, combined with green screen, was chroma key. This allowed me to change the background of a scene to a news room. This gave our product a sense of realism, and a much more convincing look than what we would have achieved without this editing software. The product also allowed us to go back and make big changes after receiving feedback from the rough cut, and without doing this, our product would have been very poor.

Soundtrack Pro

We used Soundtrack Pro to make the score that would run alongside the visuals in our film. In order to add atmosphere to our product, we had to create and insert music that would be overlaid. We did this using the existing effects and uncopyrighted music and tying different sound clips together. This was made possible with the different tools on the programme, such as cut and stitch. We used a similar technique to make the audio for the news broadcast ident also, which made it seem much more professional. We used this programme as an alternative to the traditional Foley art, and it allowed us to get a quality much more like real media products. Prior to this project, I had little knowledge of Sound Track Pro, and I feel I have learnt a reasonable amount about it, as demonstrated by the above. Admittedly, I did have not used the programme to it's full capabilities, but this is entirely due to the fact that a lot of our audio was diagetic, so we had less need for the programme than if the situation was otherwise.

SLR Camera and Tripod

In order to shoot the footage for our film opening, we used an SLR camera. We decided to use this due to its superior quality over the other cameras that were available to us, as it would produce and much clearer and subsequently more professional looking picture. In order to record, we used an 8gb memory card. This allowed us to shoot a large amount of footage, and meant that if we had to record new footage or rerecord existing video, we would not have to transfer all footage already done onto the computer before hand, or overwrite what we had previously produced. This method of recording is much simpler to the previous method of using physical tapes and reels, and the development of better equipment has been a great positive in the media industry, making tasks easier. Before doing this project I had experience with basic cam-corders, but not SLRs. However, my partner explained the use of the equipment to me, as well as setting up the tri-pod so that it was securely attacked, enabling me to create smooth panning effects. I soon got to grips with the different techniques, eg. Focussing, and the basic functions such as recording were very intuitive.

Sound recorder

We used a sound recorder alongside the video camera, to record all the audio. We did this as back up, just in case the camera was unable to pick up a sufficient level of sound. As well as this, we also recorded our actors making extra zombie sounds, as we had predicted that we would need these in order to overlay them on the footage and elevate the levels of roaring, making it more dramatic and intense. I had no prior use of this equipment, but its usage was incredibly simplistic a button was pressed to both start and stop the recording, and when it came to importing, we simply inserted the SD card into the Mac. I felt using this equipment was a good decision, as we encountered the predicted problems, and the availability of our pre recorded clips allowed us to solve them effectively.

Scribd

I used scribd in order to create my treatment as well as other lengthly posts. I decided to use this tool, as I felt it made the presentation of the blog much neater and easier to read. When using it for the treatment, I felt it gave a more professional look, as well as making the layout cleaner and therefore simpler to comprehend. This benefited us when giving the treatment to our actors as a script, as they were quickly able to scan through and find their parts, meaning everything flowed better. Prior to A/S media, I had not used this programme, but it was incredibly easy to get to grips with and made everything much more efficient and aesthetically pleasing.

Youtube

After we had finished out product, we needed a platform where we were able to publish the film so that it was viewable to our target audience, and we could get feedback. We decided to use Youtube for this, as it was free of charge and had the luxury of options such as being able to embed the video onto our blog. Previous to this project, I had experience of using a youtube account, although this was many years ago. Due to its ever growing popularity and usage, tools available had change, and I found myself having trouble navigation the 'My Account' page. However, it took little time to figure out how to upload and change settings, and I soon had the video available for people to view.

Blogger

I used blogger as a way to record the different steps and stages I went through whilst creating this media product, from the formation of the idea, to this evaluation. By suing this website it helped make the progress of my journey clear, and also helped me to organise all the different things I needed to do in order to succeed. We chose to use blogger as the different features allow you to embed video, sound and image, as well as edit existing post, and change the order of what you've done. I had no experience of this website prior to this, but I found it to be incredibly easy to use and tried all the features.


One thing that I have learnt during this process is that technologies do not necessarily make you more creative and, in fact, can be a hindrance. During planning I can up with a number of ideas that I would have liked to have put into the final product, but when it came to it, was unable to do so. This was either completely, or not to the standard I had hoped for. An example of this would be the titles; I had originally wanted the titles being squashed and spurting blood, as seen in the titles of 'Dawn of The Dead', but I found I was unable to reproduce this with the available editing software. Instead I tried to make the font look as blood like as possible, by shading it with different reds and adding blood splatters - this was done in photoshop. I am pleased with the final effect, but it is not what I had originally hoped for.