3. Search engines are
websites that have
indexed millions of
web pages together
into one place.
There are many
popular search
engines used, these
include: Google,
Yahoo and Bing.
Search Engines
Search engines were
one of the main
tools that helped us
during our planning
and researching
stage. Search
engines make it
super easy to find
the information
your looking for by
simply searching the
key words related to
what your looking
for.
4. What are the benefits of search engines?
Search Engines
Offers a wide variety and quantity of information which can be very useful when
researching a specific topic.
Search engines help to keep the internet organized and recognizable to the viewer.
Search engines provide more precise results compared to searching on the world wide
web (WWW).
5. There are many websites that were particularly resourceful when it came down to
research and planning for our opening sequence. This is because they gather a
great deal of information about the same topic in one place. Some websites that
we found very helpful include:
Web Pages
6. What is YouTube?
YouTube is a video sharing website that
allows users to upload, share and comment
on videos.
Was YouTube helpful?
YouTube was one of the best websites to use
during are researching process. We were able
use YouTube to view scenes and opening
sequences from specific films that were
relevant to our genre. This made targeting our
research and restricting our searches to more
relevant material easy and convenient.
7. What is IMDB?
IMDB is an online database which holds database from various movies, T.V shows
and games worldwide.
Shows actors, director, genre and rating.
Has over 2 million movies.
Pros:
• Easy to identify our genre
movies.
• Has a wide range of movies
to pick from.
• Easy to use.
Cons:
• Anyone can sign in
and edit page.
8. Wikipedia
Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia and this has a lot of information about films and the
movie industry on it.
We could easily search for our
genre in search bar.
Shortcut links so quick and easy to
use.
Anyone can log in and edit the
page, this is both an advantage
(lots of collaborative sharing) and
a drawback (info might not be
accurate) to this website.
We could easily identify what we
wanted and gave us good
information.
9. A main part of our research
was watching opening
sequences from DVDs.
Watched various DVDs to
get different ideas.
Put our research into Blogger.
We were able to take
screenshots to illustrate our
ideas about camera angles etc.
DVD
Was quite time-consuming and awkward to find the
different DVDs and stop and start them – not the
most convenient digital technology compared with
inline hosting sites.
10. Summary – Research and
Digital Technology
• Blogger was a useful site for hosting our
research – it meant we had easy access to it
at all times.
• Being able to use the internet to carry out
research was massively useful – it would be
so difficult and expensive to source the
number of film openings we watched in any
other way.
12. One of the main tools we used
during our planning stages was
the website Blogger. Blogger
allowed us all to upload our
plans to one site where
everyone in our group could
see it. It is one of our most
important uses of digital
technology.
Blogger
One example of a plan we uploaded to blogger
was our storyboard. This was a collection of
post-its that arranged the shots/techniques
that we were going to use in order. This was
very helpful when it came to filming our piece
as we could access Blogger on our phones and
check over our plans.
13. Blogger
Planned what location to
use for interrogation scene
and church scene.
Planned layout of news
report scene.
Planned credits and title.
Planned what various of
shot we could use in
different locations.
Blogger
The massive advantage of this kind of
digital hosting site is being able to access
the planning of the whole group
anywhere at any time.
14. Presentations
Put our storyboard plan into a
video via YouTube so then we
could show our planned ideas.
Then we were filmed presenting
our plans to the class and
explaining our plot outline and
how we planned to start our film.
Then we added this to the blog so
we could get feedback and
progress with our planning what
to change – we were able to
comment on our own
performances.
Presentations
15. Final Cut Express
Final Cut Express was a very
helpful software to use
when it came to planning.
We used it in our prelim
task to get used to using it
as an editing tool.
We also used it to edit
together some practise
filming so we could film
with the edit in mind.
16. Summary – Planning and
Digital Technology
• Digital Technology certainly helped us
organise our planning and the blog gave us a
good location to keep all our work and to be
able to access work across the group easily.
• We did find that we still tended to do a lot of
planning on paper as this is how we felt most
comfortable and worked most efficiently.
18. The main camera we used for recording our
piece was a Canon camera. This camera was
very basic and easy to use, this made it
helpful when it came to recording our
sequence.
Filming Equipment
A tripod was also used for filming our sequence.
In my opinion this was one of the most important
piece of equipment that we used as it allowed us
to make sure that the camera was steady when
we were filming. However, it is not digital – this
shows that not everything that worked well for us
is a product of digital technology.
19. Final Cut Express
Final Cut Express is a digital editing package and was the most important tool
we used in the construction of our opening sequence as it allows for the
manipulation and editing of our footage in professional ways.
20. Final Cut Express
We were able to order our initial footage in the browser and delete any clips we knew
we would not use after an initial edit. We could open individual clips and make the
viewer larger so that we could really see what we were editing. We were also able to
play the edited version in the canvas on the timeline. This kind of ability to see many
views as you edit is one of the main advantages of digital editing programmes.
21. Editing on Final Cut Express
This was the main editing package we used and the most important use of
digital technology in our piece in many ways. We were able to store our clips
in the browser and manipulate them as we wanted on the timeline. Any
changes we did not like could easily be undone and the clips used again
without any permanent changes having been made to the original footage.
22. Sound, Image and Credits
Here you can see how our sequence is composed of sound, image and credits
together. The video clips have been trimmed and ordered into the correct
sequence at the correct times. The volume of each audio clip has also been
adjusted and credits created in LiveType and placed above the relevant clip
where they were adjusted and animated. This is the basis of editing.
23. Building Sequence
The whole sequence was built on the principle of layering – we used a series
of layers on both video and audio timelines to create the whole piece. This
was time-consuming and required a lot of precision and readjustment. We
had to constantly replay at the starts of lessons to remember where we had
got up to and what needed to be done.
24. Advantages of using Final Cut Express
• Lots of tools for editing
• Easy to learn and use
Disadvantages of using Final Cut Express
• Had to work on separate computers to get
all of the work done then merge it
• Time consuming, a lot of editing requires
time and patience
Editing on Final Cut Express
25. Ident
This was constructed using a mixture of the website
giphy, Final Cut Express, LiveType and
freesound.org.
We found an animated gif on the site giphy.com and
used screen capture technology to take a section of
this to form the basis of our work. We then adjusted
the colours of this to make it dark grey and white,
which we felt better encapsulated the idea of an
oxymoron. This was then imported into FCE and we
added a name on LiveType and a jingle we found on
a copyright free website.
This ability to combine work on various packages
has developed as we have gone through the course.
26. Photoshop for News Report
We constructed a newsreport through a combination of different digital packages.
We filmed a teacher reading the report against a white screen, then added some
of our footage in a small screen and took the BBC logo from the internet. We then
created a red band on Photoshop making sure we colour matched it with the BBC
logo and added text to give the impression of breaking news.
27. LiveType was the
software we used to
create our title and
credits. LiveType
allowed us to put
transitions on our
credits which made
them look a lot
better in our
sequence. Once we
created the credits
we could easily
transfer them to
Final Cut Express.
LiveType
Had to get font, font colour and size right and also
timings of the length of the credits and the effects with
which they appeared / disappeared..
Not all digital technology is easy to use – one of the
disadvantages is that it is time consuming to learn.
28. It was a good
software to
use because it
offered
different fonts
and
animations.
We used LiveType in order to
make our credits
Using LiveType offered us
the chance to see our
credits before they were
on the opening sequence
LiveType as a
software was
simple to use,
the most
effective part
was using the
animations and
seeing how
they would
effect our piece
LiveType
29. Summary – Construction and
Digital Technology
• It is hard to imagine constructing this project
without the benefit of digital technology. We do
not have the skills to use cameras that are not
digital, and although the editing packages may
have taken some time to learn, it is certainly
easier to edit this way than in the old style with
film. Probably the main benefit has been being
able to work on different versions of the same
work and being able to constantly undo and start
again if needed.
31. Blogger
Blogger allowed us to present our
evaluation work in a variety of formats
and to keep it all together in one
accessible place.
32. Blogger helped us to organise our
evaluations - posts listed by title –
organized and appear in chronological order
View and comments system – useful
for ideas and improvements
Blogger
33. Linking Research and Evaluation
Blogger helped us to link our research with our evaluation. For example, we did
a substantial amount of research into target audiences early on. When we came
to evaluate this concept, we were able to link the two posts together as shown
above so that the two could be read together and the work could be seen as a
whole.
34. Comments and Feedback
One of the greatest advantages of digital technology like Blogger is that
we can share our work with others very easily and there is easy
interaction. We received feedback on a rough cut from a school in Leeds
which proved very useful.
35. Variety of Formats
We were able to vary the presentation of our
work as Blogger allows us to post work in
almost any media. This meant we could chose
appropriate formats for each task. For example,
We used a collage of images (contact sheet) to
prompt a discussion on use of genre
conventions because the montage showed our
common themes and ideas.
And here a Photoshop
poster was used to
evaluate target audience as
it helped structure the
comments.
36. Variety of Formats
Thinking through our ideas on our uses of
technologies as individuals was useful as it
enabled us to think about a range of issues
and come up with our own answers and
examples before trying to make some kind
of analysis of the ideas of the group.
Group presentations were a
more lively and interesting
way of presenting ideas
and allowed for some kind
of debate on the issues
where there are no right
and wrong answers.
37. Advantages of using Blogger:
• Can view the work of others to get
ideas
• Easily organize work
• Comments give possible
improvements
Disadvantages of using Blogger
• Lack of editing tools compared to
the interface of programs such as
‘Word’
• Accidental unsaved work, loss of
internet
Blogger
38. Summary – Evaluation and
Digital Technology
• Overall, digital technology was extremely
helpful for us with our evaluation. In fact,
this was the only stage of the course
where we did not find ourselves turning to
old media from time to time, but used
digital media virtually throughout. It has
helped us share our ideas and produce a
series of evaluations that are linked.