Thursday, 7 May 2015

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

I feel that I have improved massively on my knowledge of how to edit the product. Before starting to movie opening I had previous experience with the Sony Vegas editing software and so was already aware of how to cut and split clips, add titles, effects and import music to be included in the background. Although Sony Vegas and Premiere Pro are not the same tools to use to edit videos, it was very helpful because I didn't mean I had to start from scratch. I aimed to capture the tone of the product through the effects, transitions and music used during the editing process as if it was done wrong then it may have set off the wrong tone that the movie was initially set up to portray. This resulted in a lot of trial and error stages of testing which transition worked where and what it could tell about the shot, but prior to this level of thinking I had perhaps picked a transition based on what was easier to do and what would take the least amount of time. The trial and error stages helped to teach me that everything in the editing stage is crucial to create the product I wanted to create and to ensure it didn't become something that I wasn't proud of. Leading up to the final product, there were several different versions of the opening all of which told varying stories and would give off different tones to the viewer. Having the option of choosing different tones surrounding the product was very beneficial as it would allow me to have more options when looking at other production surrounding the movie; Promotion, storyboard, distribution and exhibition. It was also very difficult to learn how to use an Apple Mac computer as although they are in some ways similar to any ordinary PC, it is a very difficult change to make from one to another. This slowed down production a lot as it was very frustrating trying to find where all the programs where and the keyboard commands, however after 2-3 weeks of using it almost every day I become well- adjusted to the Mac and it’s specifically designed software such as Premiere Pro and Photoshop.


My knowledge of camera has certainly improved since starting this project. Having to learn as we go along has really helped with being actively involved in the creation of the project, making sure everything is how it should be shown on the storyboard, making sure continuity flows through each cut and as simply as making sure everything is in frame and is focused correctly. A small problem I had found when filming was the simple fact that I could be recording for 2-3 hours and would only have 30 seconds of footage, which was a result of sometimes not entirely sticking to the storyboard and also spending a lot of time setting up the shot, making sure everything looks good before actually filming and often re-shooting a lot of cuts. However the self-scrutiny and that from the teachers really helped to make sure the best looking shots were in the opening and there wasn't a clip that redundant or technically wrong (out of focus, low lighting etc.) The internet also helped majorly in receiving criticisms from not only peers but from friends too that I decided could point out things for me to improve on that I couldn't. An example of this would have been in its earlier stages, the product looked very cheap and cheesy and didn't look like a serious horror movie at all. Under much consideration, I resorted to a darker and solemn tone with darker effects over the clips to hopefully convey a much darker mood than the previous showing and upon re-showing my friends the new product they said it had improved a lot. This also prepared me for rendering and uploading the opening onto sites such as YouTube and Blogger, which both showed on much simpler scale how the process of distribution works in the wider film industry and gave me a better understanding of how a movie is produced and distributed, going as far as some movie producers releasing their movies onto social media sites and not in the cinema, a trend that has recently an up rise in the last 2-3 years.

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