Firstly I have learnt a lot about using my blog. At first I was unsure about the idea of recording my work on a blog as it is not something I am familiar with, but I soon got used to it. As I tend to sometimes lack organization skills it has allowed me to keep all of my work together under organised labels so that it can be easily accessed. This has been a lot easier than keeping my work in folders on separate pieces of paper which could be lost, damaged or placed in the wrong order. I have found it has been very useful to record my research, planning and also audience feedback. Also, my blog allows me to easily upload photos and screenshots, which is quicker and more efficient than printing as it does not use up ink or paper. I am happy that I was introduced to this concept as it has made recording my work a lot easier.
Another area of technology I feel I have become more skilled are various websites, for example YouTube. Before starting this course I had ever uploaded a video onto YouTube before. I found it very useful as I was able to keep all of the videos I had made, which included my preliminary task, planning for my film opening, and my finished media product, all in the same area so that they were easily accessible. Uploading these onto YouTube also meant that I was able to embed the videos and post them onto my blog for audience feedback, which really helped me develop and improve. Another website that has helped me a lot during this project is surveymonkey. I have been able to make good quality surveys online and have posted the links onto my blog. Making the survey was very easy and efficient, as it doesn't require any printing and therefor doesn't use up paper or ink. The site accurately analyses the results for me which saves me a lot of time as I do not have to make calculations myself. One final site which has helped me particularity with my presentation is prezi. Before starting this course I had never heard f this site. At first I found it very difficult to get used to and did not enjoy using it, but after I had familiarized myself with it I realized how useful it was too me. It meant I did not have to hand write my mind maps which means I did not need to use and paper or ink. I was able to post my prezi's on my blog so that people could have a look at them and give audience feedback. I have eel that I have become a lot more skilled with useful websites like these, which will help me organise my work effectively in the future.
On the other hand, I have learnt a lot about different technology which I had physically used to construct my media product. Firstly I learnt a lot about Premier Pro. This is something I had barely any experience in before stating this project. One thing I had learnt to do on Premier Pro was making practice titles, and this was something I hadn't done before. At first I found it quite difficult and needed a lot of help. I struggled with maintaining the exact same position for each title, and also keeping the same amount of time between each one. When it came to making my real titles, I had made a a lot of improvement. The titles appeared in the exact same spot with the same amount of time between them, but also i had made them slowly fade in and out which matched the slow pace of the beginning of the opening. I am happy with the outcome of these titles and think they work well with the content of my media product. Something else I had learnt to do on Premier Pro was to freeze the film footage on a certain frame. This confused me at first as it required using the cut tool which I had no experience with, however I got the hang of it in the end. This technique worked really effectively on my shot types video, and although I did not use it in my film opening, I quite like the outcome and may use this in future work. When it came to the final touches of my film opening, I wanted to add a more eerie feel to the footage, and realized I could do this through colour. I learnt how to make an adjustment layer on individual clips, but also the whole video, and I explored with different effects. After adjusting a few individual clips, I edited the colour of the overall video and added some cool blue tones to make the footage look more dark and sinister. This significantly benefited the result of my media product and this technique will definitely be useful in future work. Using Premier Pro really helped me make my footage the best it could be. Without programmes like this the overall look of my finished media product would have been very poor and amateur. In my opinion the editing is very important to establish the genre as things can be altered in order to set a create a certain mood such as lighting, colour, and pace.
On the other hand, I had also learnt new techniques using the camera. I learnt how to change the exposure in order to improve the quality of the footage, which improved the overall outcome of the film. Because I wanted to make my film look dull to create a negative atmosphere, changing the exposure allowed me to do this easily which meant when it came to editing I didn't have to change a lot. Also I learnt about different techniques to use while filming, for example using an elastic band to make the camera pan and tilt smoothly, and using a dolly for smooth movement. However, whilst using the dolly I realised that it would not work for my opening. As some of it was filmed on grass, the dolly would be very bumpy so I found it would be more efficient to use hand held. When it came to filming the parts on concrete, I had planned to use the surrounding noises from the actual camera in my opening, but the dolly made a very loud sound which I would not be able to block out. Also, after watching the footage back did notice that the camera had moved around a lot due to the rough texture. Because of this I resorted to filming most of my opening by hand, but I quite like the fact it creates and the way it emphasises the action.
New technologies have made it easier for people to make films. Because of the huge variety of available technologies, prices are reduced so therefore equipment is more affordable. Before digital cameras, people had to pay about £40 per minute of film, and as they could not watch it straight back they had to keep everything they had filmed. Because digital cameras allow us to film for free, and we are able to watch back our footage straight away and delete anything we do't want, it is a lot easier for ow budget film companies or even individuals to make films. New technologies also allow film footage to be of higher quality, and features such as CGI which gives filmmakers greater control and can make things which are not real look very realistic. A film with good quality CGI might make more profit.
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