Evaluation Question 6

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

In the process of making our opening scene, I have learnt a great deal about different technologies, and mainly on how to use the Cannon XF 300 to for the filming of our final media product. Having never actually used such a complex camera before, as even for our preliminary task we used a handheld camera who's main function was the zoom feature. However in this Cannon XF 300, not only does it have zoom ring wise and button wise but also features like depth in field, filters, focus levels and channels switches for the sound.

Depth in field, was a feature which really interested me, however unfortunately when we filmed it, the outcome wasn't as greatly shot as we wanted it to be, therefore we didn't use it in our final product.

Lighting, another key feature which I have learned through the construction process. We constantly had to make sure t
hat there wasn't too much key lighting, either on the actresses face or anywhere in the background so it wouldn't attract the audience attention, away from our character. There were also moments when too much light from outside (sunshine) would disturb us, therefore we had to find a way to stop it which was getting a large surface, like cardboard paper and hold it up against the windows which helped block the light then.

Once everything was filmed, the editing process came into the picture. This is where we would take all our footage and bind it together, also along with the music track which a group member had constructed already and the voice-over which we had recorded. We had decided that we would play both music and dialogue throughout the opening scene as when we had carried out our survey, this was what the audience preferred. Whilst editing I found it hard and difficult to operate on Final Cut Pro, as I have never really used a Mac before, and it had different techniques to the ones I have learnt. Due to that, my group members put together the footage, and then he audio was added and faded in through Sony Vegas, which is the software I am quite familiar with.

Overall, I have learnt that technologies are not exactly easy to use, as they are developing constantly and more and more new and complicated features are being added onto them so that the outcome is greater than ever.