Evaluation Questions: Question 6; What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

The equipment our group was assigned to aid our shooting was; a Sony HD mini DV camera, PAGLight C6, Shotgun microphone camera attachment and a standard Jessops’ tripod.

Personally, I found working with the Sony camera really easy as it was light weight and user friendly. All important buttons were highlighted and labelled well. The camera had an auto focus setting, but had a focus assist wheel which allowed us to get either a sharper focus on a shot. The camera was simple to set up with a fully automated cassette cage and LCD screen display with a clear settings menu.

We also used a PAGLight C6 system. However, we didn't connect it up to the camera as the shotgun mic was attached. We were able to achieve the lighting we wanted well with this lighting equipment.

The shotgun microphone was ideal for the sound we needed to capture. As our piece had no in depth dialogue, using the boom mic would have seemed unnecessary. The shotgun mic had settings for different environments, but we used ours on stereo1 the duration. The mic was easily connected to the camera itself, by sliding in the chip and screwing down the wheel to lock it into place.

If I were able to go back and change what we shot, I would only find myself shooting one or two shots. This is because, we, as a group, had many re-shoots so we gained the benefits of hindsight before our final shoot, and were able to counter problems before they arose.

If I had to pass on advice about using the equipment practically, it would be to make sure you know the capabilities of all the equipment you are using before it comes to the shoot. Then you can plan around any problems you would have otherwise encountered.

From using the equipment on several shooting days, the main thing I have gained is the knowledge that high quality cameras and general media equipment is readily available for a small proportion of the price I would have expected. Going into the shoots I was worried that the equipment would not suffice to the needs/wants of the group. But I now have faith in equipment that we can buy on an everyday consumer market.

This same insight can be said for the editing software we used.

The main piece of software used was Adobe Premiere Pro, this piece of software used non-linear editing technologies, allowing us to create several tracks of both audio and video with separate captured clips on them. In total, our group used; 3 video and 5 audio tracks. The use of multiple tracks allowed us to cross dissolve shots and have audio clips playing over each other to create an eerie/echo-y effect.

The adobe software also allowed us to alter the speed of a shot, and whether it was playing forwards or backwards.
Seen in our video.

2:14 to 2:26

We were also lucky enough to have the AppleMac facility in school. The Mac has many editing tools and sound effect programmes on it which could all be exported into premier pro. However, the programme I used on it was LiveType, a programme that allowed us to create movement within titles, and have specific backgrounds and font textures to create the perfect match for our sequence.  We were given a quick tutorial by Ryan Deans, the media technician, on how to use the software, and then were set free to have a fiddle with it ourselves.

If there was anything I could change about our editing and software, it would have been to have spent more time on perfecting the titles; they are interesting but fairly standard. However, they did fit well with the end product.

 

The only advice I can offer to prospective media students is that editing is a long a dragged out process, but if you spend the time working at it, you can create an amazing piece of film, and have some fun along the way. So just work at it, and you WILL be satisfied with the end result.