EV A LU ATIO N Q U ES TIO N 6:

W H AT H AV E YO U LEA R N T A B O U T TEC H N O LO G IES FR O M

TH E P R O C ESS O F C O N S TR U C TIN G TH IS P R O D U C T?

By Amy Simpson

Blogger
Blogger was one of the most important aspects of our media

production to allow us to keep track of what was happening in preproduction, production and post production, it contains my entire
portfolio by using it as a diary. It enabled us to edit what we had
done but also manage what we have missed out or whether certain
aspects need more detail such as planning. It has allowed me to
provide information in a artistic way to show what I have learnt but
also what I need to improve on in a chronological format, making it
easy to follow.
I have learnt so many different ways which I can express my

information through different formats. Most of the other

technologies that I will talk about are related to Blogger as they all
help to keep my blog running and kept up to date. This is important
so I dont lose tract on where I am or what I need to do next.
Blogger was an unknown software at the beginning of the year but
as I now understand it, it is important in my media coursework to
allow me to complete my work at a good standard.

Scribd
Scribd is an important technology to use as it

allow me to post certain posts onto Blogger. As it

is originally a website for online books, it can also
be used to convert a Power Point presentations
to an embedded code which can then be put
onto a Blog for it to be able to work properly. It
has allowed me to post updates that may not
have been easy to do on another website, is it
therefore an easy and free way to help uploads. I
have also learnt how to how to use embedded
codes but also how to share my work and see
other peoples work or examples from its library.

SerifM oviePlus x5
This is the programme that we used to create our opening sequence.
MoviePlus allows you to import videos and use a lot of different

techniques to edit the footage such as cropping, transitions, colour,

effects, writing, volumes. But also it links with YouTube as it can be
exported to YouTube once finished or for rough edits.
I have learnt how to use this software and what the different conventions
in it are and how to edit accurately. This does take a long time which we
left a long period of time for us to use MoviePlus to edit our opening
sequence. This programme was helpful as it increased our knowledge of
the different editing techniques and to see which ones are useful for
certain shots. Without this we wouldnt have been able to create our
opening sequence with a good finish.
Consequently, having MoviePlus it gave us the chance to change some of
our clips if they didnt work but also to edit other parts of the opening
sequence if something went wrong, therefore no time would be wasted. If
some camera shots or angles didnt work or were pixelated then it gave
us time to change it, but also it made sure that all of our work was it one
place.

Sounds
To be able to create the sound that we have on our opening sequence,

we had to think of ways that arent too expensive as we had a low

budget but we used websites such as SoundBible and Purple Planet but
also created our own foley sounds.
We found that sound is such an important part of a film and that it takes
a long time to do due to the sound having to match up exactly with the
image on the screen at the given time. Whilst editing the sounds I found
it difficult to match some of the sounds as some sounds work and some
dont which can also take up a lot of production time. We had to put the
sounds from these technologies onto the editing software Serif
MoviePlusx5 to allow us to put the sounds to the correct image. We
learnt that we should produce plans to allow us to follow and therefore
make the editing easier. The software allowed us to create a more
professional and accurate final piece in our opening sequence.
Most of the sounds were our own sounds that we created so the real
difficulty was matching the sounds accurately in the given time.
We learnt that this was very time consuming but sound is important to
create the correct atmosphere in the final piece and allow the audience
to be able to understand what is happening or how the character is
feeling due to the sound effects and soundtrack happening to highlight
the isolation of our characters and the mystery of the surroundings.

Editing
We had to dedicate most of our time to editing our

opening sequence. Firstly, we had to put our footage in

order to make sure that they fit correctly and that the
storyline would make sense.
We leant that the sounds was much harder to put

together than editing the clips themselves because if

the sounds werent placed correctly then it wouldnt
seem realistic and take away the effect of it being
horror away from the audience. This was also a
challenge because the Serif MoviePlus x5 software was
slow and you had to be patient with it but also we had
to take it in turns due to it only being on one computer.
Also, we had to cut, crop, edit the volume, brightness

etc to match all of the other sounds and images but

also so that other sounds could still be heard if one was
louder than the other. Due to our shots not working we
had to film it again but had to edit the colour of it to
match the others, this was a challenge as we werent

YouTube
YouTube was used on a range of occasions through the

planning process to find other examples of opening

sequences, sounds and camera shots or props to help
expand our research and how certain technologies are
used and to see what conventions worked well. It was also
used to find sounds that we wanted as we made most of
the sounds and video clips ourselves.
We watched trailers that represented the same ratings and

genre to our opening sequence to get an idea of what to

include and what not to include. We also looked at older
ratings as well to see what aspects make a higher rating
and what are more appropriate for a specific audience.
YouTube was used to keep all of our rough edits of the

opening sequence in one place to allow us to access it

easily. This was the same with other videos that we have
put on our blogs throughout the process such as our
preliminary task. YouTube was a good way to know that the
video is going to work rather than putting it straight onto

Cam era and iPad

Throughout the process of making the final piece I have

learnt it is important to use one device whilst filming

different shots and angles as they can create different
effects. A camera was more effect and more
professional than the iPad as we had some difficulties
and had to use the iPad for a couple of shots. For
example, we filmed on a phone camera for the
preliminary task which I found more difficult to work
with as it is easy to stop filming by accident and it was
more pixelated with a smaller picture that using a
normal camera. I found that a camera is more effective
and allows you to film quickly and easily, but also it is
more stable than a phone camera or an iPad because it
showed a quick play back to see whether everyone was
happy with each shot which therefore can film it again
if necessary. iPad and iPhones froze a lot and overall
had less of a professional finish.

Conclusion
From using all of these technologies I have

gained a greater knowledge of how to use the

different websites/software and what to do and
what to avoid. I have learnt how to analyse
different media products as well as my own to
understand why certain decisions are made
and how they are used. Also, what different
effects are created on the audience by using a
range of different camera shots and angles to
create a certain atmosphere and to meet the
needs of the targeted audience through these
modern technologies.