Evaluation Question 6.

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

Technologies we have used....

Software

Divshare

Scribd

Youtube

One of the most important softwares we used was IMovie HD - without it we couldn't have edited and produced are opening film...

This software was found on the school mac computers, this meant that we only had access to it within school hours. This was a big restricting factor, but it meant we had to work fast and practically to complete the film for the deadline.

To learn how to use this software we were shown by our technician - John Cockshaw, but if we were ever in doubt a key website we used to help us was the IMovie online tutorial. This runs you through using the programme and was very useful for us.

The software was easy to use and we were able to create what we had hoped for. However we had a lot of difficulties with uploading our footage onto the software - we're still unsure what the issue was, it was either our tape, the camera or the software. However this meant that we had to spend extra hours re-shooting our footage and spending more time uploading than expected. 

A useful site we relied on a lot for researching important information on the film industry was IMDB

This website allowed us access to a mass archive of past, recent and upcoming films. It informs you of all the key information needed to know about a film. You can find the actors, plot, directors even the films budget. This website is a reliable source of information to rely upon for our coursework.

Its simplistic layout means its easy to find out all the neccessary information and makes it easy for anyone to use.

The most important website we have relied upon to present our coursework has been blogger. The website you are accessing right now....

We have had no difficulties with this website what so ever. The dashboard seen to the right allows you access to your own blog, your followers and blogs you are following. You have access to edit posts and your profile to your personal liking. When creating a post you are able to include, links, pictures, films and edit it to your liking - whether its font, colour or size your able to personalise as seen below.

Once completed your post you can press publish post and see your creation on your blog. Your blog can be edited to appear more personal and colourful.

This website has been great and easy for us to use, its reliablilty and freedom has been perfect for our coursework.

To film our footage we were allowed access to the school video cameras and tripods. We were taught how to use these cameras within the first lessons of media. The cameras were shared between other students so a problem we had to overcome was making sure we had booked the cameras in advance to filming and taken them. It wasn't the situation where we could film when ever we wished, we had to plan around the access to the technology.

The cameras were easy to use and created the finish product we hoped. If we had the money we would have liked to have used better quailty cameras, and invested in equipment which could allow us to create smoother movements, such as panning and zooming. Whereas with our cameras when zooming we found the footage to become bad quailty.

In conclusion the cameras were useful and without them we wouldnt have had an opening. However better quailty equipment would have allowed us a more professional looking finnished piece.

To create our idents we used a programme called LiveType this programme allowed us to create a moving image which we could use. To learn how to use this programme the technician John, ran us through the neccessary information for us use it successfully. If we were unsure we could ask for his help or if not we could follow this tutorial to guide us through any problems. 

Our first ident, 'Tribal Productions' was created on the fonts and backgrounds available on the programme. We were able to searc through a wide range of fonts and movements till we find the one we felt was most appropiate. There is also a wide range of sound clips available to choose to play aside your ident.

Our second ident, 'Banana Drama' was created by footage we took ourselves which we uploaded onto the software and then edited in the name 'Banana Drama' by using the livefonts available. 

Garage Band was another important software used towards our final piece, however we asked John our technician to create a soundtrack for us, as he was more experienced in the software. It was similar to us asking someone to play the guitar for us however he created a piece which fitted our opening perfectlty. Without the soundtrack as seen in our first drafts the opening wasnt infact that scary.  The soundtrack enabled us to signify our genre to the audience better.

We used a wide range of technology to create our coursework. There were new softwares we had to learn to use to complete our coursework - livetype, IMovie, Scribd etc... and there were some which we use everyday - mobiles, email, USB sticks etc. 

Overall we have been very lucky with the software avaiblable to us, and it is surprising what you can create with such a low budget. With all software there is always a chance of there being problems, we were very fortunate in only sufferring several issues.