Evaluation Questions 6-7

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

When in the process of constructing our media product, we had to use a wide range of technologies in order to achieve the finished film. These technologies varied from the internet to the media software used to edit our film; each allowing us to make the progress needed to complete the film.

The internet was a huge help when researching certain elements needed to produce our film. Initially we had to thouroughly research the horror genre; including repertoir of elements, audience etc... The internet enabled us to do this as from a range of resources we collected the needed information needed in order to complete blog work. The internet also helped in researching similar films through trailers on YouTube and other related video sites. This gave us ideas which contributed towards our own film. The internet, in some cases would distract relevant work when some sites and sources became unreliable, therefore we would not be able to take information from them.

The Camera, obviously proved significantly important in the process of contructing our media product. We used a Canon XM2 16mm to record footage that was put into our film. We learnt how to use the camera and how to capture a wide arrange of different shots. As it was a professional camera, it produced high quality footage which is the look we wanted, something of a high standard. However technology does have its downfall, as unfortunately, when going to review our footage from the shooting day, the time code on the camera malfunctioned and basically ment that instead of the camera recording the footage it just played the tape when on record. Over half our footage was lost. This ment we had to storyboard a whole new plot as the props we used for our first idea were unavailable. The camera also came in handy when taking still shots which were used for location scouting.

The Editing software we used was called Canipus Edius. The editing software was simple to use a vastly helped in the process of contructing our media product as it was the way we cut and manipulated the footage which would give the overal effect of the film. The use of SFX and soundtrack along side the actual footage, edited together was which brought our film together.

Looking back at your Preliminary Task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?


During the preliminary task, we had only just been taught basic camera work and how to use the editing software, plus we had a set task to achieve; so when we came to producing a final film and having more freedom, we became more experimental with ideas and camera shots. We learnt new skills in how to vary the focal lense and used more handheld shots as opposed to static shots to give the film an uncertain feel. The use of SFX in post production unabled us to manipulate the footage in order to give it a different look as to when it was un-edited. We used various different effects, ranging from motion blur, anti flicker, old film filter, mono tone. We aslo used colour balance to tone down the colour and contrast to give the film a darker feel. The motion blur effect was to create the supernatural element of our film. The anti flicker and old film effect gave the film a rough edge making the picture distorded and more obscure as we contrasted "Reality" shots with "Imagination" shots. As always with technology, somethings did not go according to plan. With the prelimnary task, it was a one day, quick shoot and edit job; with the final piece, there was thorough planning and executing. As our tape malfunctioned we lost our footage and could not re-film the scenes we did. We did not make time in our planning for any errors that might occur; this is one thing that i have learnt from the process of pre-production to post. Also we did not take into account the weather conditions on the day of our exterior shoot; this left us to film in the freezing cold and rain, putting the actors and crew in very uncomfortable circumstances.

I feel from our preliminary task to our film we excelled in the way we came together as a group, producing the film we saw on paper to the film we put to the screen. I feel we are all very happy with the finished product.