1. WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT
TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE PROCESS OF
CONSTRUCTING THIS PRODUCT?
A variety of technological aspects were used throughout the
pre-production, production and post-production phases of my AS Media
Coursework. Some proved to be extremely useful and reliable whilst others
turned out to be more difficult to
get the hang of. In this evaluation I shall
analyse the effectiveness of each piece
of technology used throughout the project.
2. APPLE MACS
STAGE
RELIABLE?
Pre-production & Post-Production
USE AND CHALLENGES
Internet – Constant, quick access to the
internet was a necessity with the variety of
online services used, such as Blogger.
File Storing – Although these computers
contain a fairly large amount of HDD space, it
showed problems with storing towards the end
of the project. This was due to the amount of
work on there from previous year groups.
Software – These devices are known as some
of the best for video editing and rendering due
to their speed and power. However, due to the
amount of use they have experienced, they
held up editing at times by being rather slow at
opening the software and rendering the
footage, especially after colour correction.
YES
NO
SORT OF
3. FINAL CUT PRO X
STAGE
RELIABLE?
Post-Production
USE AND CHALLENGES
Editing – The software provides a quick and
efficient way to edit that is very user friendly
and has helped me to edit the footage with
speed and precision.
Colour Correction – For the majority of
shots, due to lack of time after a second
shoot, I used simple colour filters to create a
more cinematic effect. However some of these
shots I further developed with colour correction
whilst other shots were purely transformed
using colour correction.
Sound – I found cutting and layering sound to
be fairly simple and easy which helped with the
lack of time. But I did not think that it was as
precise and efficient as other software such as
Sony Vegas Pro 11.
VERY
YES
SORT OF
4. CANON EOS 700D
STAGE
RELIABLE?
Production
USE AND CHALLENGES
Quality – Image quality is shown to be of a
good standard. Due to the lighting of both
locations, ISO was not a problem as I mostly
kept a wide aperture to brighten the image and
create a more cinematic effect with a shallow
depth of field.
Firmware – The Canon EOS firmware is very
reliable and user friendly. As I have had this
camera for a few months I have had the time to
get to know it. I did originally plan on installing
Magic Lantern firmware for better features such
as sound control but decided not to as I knew
Canon was reliable.
Ergonomics – This camera is light and solid so
was easy for handheld shots, especially the
long take of Character B running.
VERY
YES
YES
5. RODE VIDEOMIC PRO
STAGE
RELIABLE?
Production
USE AND CHALLENGES
Quality – The majority of sound was recorded postshoot as this allowed better quality audio capture. This
microphone allowed me to capture good audio for the
hyper-real diegetic sounds and the ambient
background noise. I found that I could capture even
better audio by using an external sound recorder
rather than the camera.
Ergonomics – This microphone is small, light and
easily attachable to the Canon 700D. It was something
I could carry everywhere just in case it needed to be
used and this was very helpful as I did use it at
unexpected moments.
Common Sense – When recording the background
noise at the exterior location, after waiting in silence
for 5 minutes I realised I had forgotten to press the
record button. This meant we had to do it again but
this worked out better anyway as there was the sound
of a passing plane in the first attempt to record.
VERY
VERY
NO
6. LIGHTING
STAGE
RELIABLE?
Production
USE AND CHALLENGES
INT Key Light – For this I used a bright, white light
attached to the roof. It made the scene bright
enough to shoot with a low ISO to avoid grain.
INT Fill Light – For this I used a small, soft white
lamplight that provided low level light to soften
shadows or fill them in.
INT Kicker – This helped in terms of separating
the subjects from the background and to enhance
the brightness of the location so it can be made
darker in post production rather than shooting dark
and making it brighter, causing grain.
EXT Lighting - It was midday and the weather
was overcast so a constant white, bright light with
no direct sunlight was present. The lighting was
bright enough to allow a low ISO and it stayed at a
constant light level due to the time of day.
YES
YES
YES
VERY
7. LOGGER
STAGE
RELIABLE?
Pre-Production, Production & PostProduction
USE AND CHALLENGES
Blog – This online blog website was used to
post the entire process of my opening
sequence for a thriller film. It has a strong user
interface for organising blogs however it does
have issues with creating posts.
Posts – Unfortunately, this website doesn’t
contain the number of features that Microsoft
Office programs do such as Word and
Publisher. Instead, it is very basic and often
causes problems with positioning of images
and text.
Presentation – I believe that the presentation
of the blog is very appealing and simple to
view. I found it easy to adapt my blogs layout
and make it more suited to the thriller genre.
SORT OF
NO
YES
8. STAGE
RELIABLE?
Pre-production & Post-production
USE AND CHALLENGES
Presenting – This creative, glorified
PowerPoint method of presentation proved
very useful in creating visually interesting
formats of showing my work.
User Friendliness – The templates were
easy, go-to methods to create my presentations
but I found it much more open to start from
scratch and that way I could modify the content
and layout to my liking. It took me a while to get
to grips with it, but eventually it was a huge
benefit to my media blog.
Look – To me this is a great, free way of
presenting information. It’s full of animation and
opportunities for visual prompts that keep the
reader much more interested than a simple
block of text.
VERY
YES
VERY