EVALUATION 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

The preliminary task was the first time I had used a camera and tripod properly, in order to produce a realistic piece of media. I was unsure of the delicacy of the instrument, and on reflection some of the shots are a little shakey and poorly framed. On our 'Thriller' we were sure to rectify these issues so that we could produce a realistic and professional-looking opening sequence.

Upon filming we thoroughly looked at the tripod, as our setting (an uneven forest floor) made it highly difficult to set up a perfectly straight shot. The tripod allowed us to do this much easier as we could adjust the legs to the correct height and use the spirit level to make sure the shot was horizontal. Further to this, we used the Flycam, a piece of weighted equipment which acts as a steadycam, but without the harness, for the hand held shots, which helped gain a smoothness to the shot. Although proving difficult to set up and use correctly, (the weights were extremely temperamental), I believe that it immediately gave our amateur piece a professionalism and gravitas shown in 'real' films. On the camera, we also noticed the night vision setting, which we used in a small number of shots to create suspense and an interesting juxtaposition between these and the point of view shots from the killer's perspective.


We were fortunate that the forest allowed us to use different trees as they looked so similar, and no matter where we filmed the shots, it did not disrupt the continuity.  However, when we redid the shot/ reverse shot on the second day of filming, we made a conscious decision to film it in the same spot, so that we could intertwine some of the previously successful shots already filmed.

This was also the first time I had used an online blog, Blogger, and I'm actually really enjoying the format. I think that for a school project, it was perfect for setting down and compiling our thoughts. We could import images and videos which added extra dimensions, and aided the reader's understanding of our 'post'. However, as the system at school disregards and blocks websites such as Youtube and Facebook, we had to search harder to find videos and gain feedback using websites such as Vimeo.

 

 

 The biggest piece of technology we used, and the one I personally had to understand the most, was Pinnacle Studio 15 HD, which was the software we used to edit our thriller opening. Although I used it to produce my Preliminary Task, I hadn't actually realised  how little of the effects available I had used. This time we also used Pinnacle to create our studio name. We imported an image of 'Rust' then applied the font over it, and introduced a rounded spotlight passing over the image, and in its entirety, it looks extremely authentic.

During editing, we realised that we had major, fundamental issues with the lighting. It was different from shot to shot. We used the colour and contrast effect lighting function on Pinnacle to alter the lighting, so that it was darker and more consistant, and made it so that it got gradually darker throughout the piece to create tension, and link it to the night vision at the end.

Pinnacle allowed us to create more effective and stylised shots through its wide variety of simple, editing tools.  In particular, we made use of the 'speed tool', which we used in the 360 degree rotating shot, which increased tension and embodied my disorientation and confused mindset. 

Furthermore, we could cut and edit specific shots in minute detail, which helped us especially when dealing with continuity and matching up movements from shot to shot.  Its simple layout allowed us to freely position our filmed shots in the correct order.   Pinnacle was also particularly valuable when we re-watched our production to see if it made sense, as it allowed us to test our ideas achieved by trial and error.

It was extremely easy to create our motion titles through Pinnacle.  The flexibility in the 'movie grow' tool available, enabled us to produce professional, moving titles.  This then created a sense of realism and would persuade the audience to focus on the production.