Q6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Throughout this whole filming and editing process we have used solely digital technolgy which is where the future of film making is going. For filming purposes we used digital camera that had a tape in it but was digitally transferred to the computer using a fire wire. For editing we used the Apple Macs and Garageband and finally we used an internet blogging website to document everything that was happening with our media product.

Constructing this opening sequence has helped me learn new technological skills, for example I can now use Macs properly because I had never used one before as I have a Windows computer at home and have only used them. Whilst on these Apple Macs I learnt how to edit my footage on iMovie and because we’ve spent so much time editing and screen grabbing I can now do this without asking for as much help as I did at the start of the process. These parts of equipment are vital because without them the editing wouldn't have been possible and throughout our whole process of editing and filming, we only used digital technology.

Filming with cameras has made me realise that there’s nothing to be scared of whilst filming, it’s just a camera! It’s also made me realise that actually using a video camera is quite simple and that it's not as complicated as it looks. 

Whilst using a camera, to get a steady shot a tripod is needed. Using these tripods was awkward in times, for example we had to put one on a chair in order to get the right height and angle and it fell off a few times. Before this I had only ever used a tripod once and that was for taking pictures with an ordinary photo camera so it was static. When we were using it for our filming however, I learnt how to manipulate it in order to get it to do what we wanted and also I learnt how not to break it because being able to know how to work a tripod properly is one of the key skills I have learnt during this whole process.

But with all positives comes a negative and with our filming, there comes a few. One of these negatives is that we actually filmed over some flashback and stalking footage which was extremely irritating because we had literally just finished filming a couple of days before. This caused our whole group anguish and slight panic and this prevented our creative flow because in the watch flashback which we filmed over, there was a clock on the wall of the office which said 10.30 which was supposedly half an hour before our main character was murdered. Unfortunately we forgot about this clock feature and just wanted to get it over and done with  because we had already spent so much time filming and our teacher was fed up of being filmed. Also, we filmed over the main ‘dead’ scenes when our character is lying on the floor so we re-filmed these but forgot to put the clock in saying 11 o’clock. This took away some of the significance of the clock but this was entirely our fault as we were dreading filming again and we just wanted to be able to edit. This has made me learn to check before each time we film that the tape is fast forwarded on so that it doesn’t record over anything and especially so that it doesn’t record over someone else’s work.

Blogger is an internet blogging site that allows individuals to have a personal blog for free. It enables them to write about whatever they want and for exam boards to check the process of coursework.

I had never used Blogger before this coursework and I found it easy to use. It allowed me to upload pictures, videos and links to anything that I had used or needed. I would definitely use Blogger again and it is so easy to use that I don't see why anyone wouldn't use it.