Media Main Task Evaluation - Question 6

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

When actually filming our film we were able to use one of our media department’s brand new cameras and a new tripod. We felt more confident in the filming quality by having new equipment because when we filmed our preliminary task the tripod didn’t move around smoothly, and the camera quality was a bit grainy. So the new equipment boosted our hopes for having a well filmed and good quality piece of film. When using the new camera and tripod we could instantly tell the difference, as the new camera was giving us a clearer quality of film, and the tripod was quite steady and it wasn’t as stiff as the old tripod. As a result of this, we were more confident in terms of whether the film was going to look more professional.
We also used another form of technology when it came to editing our footage, as we used both the new and old version of iMovie on the iMac. We used the old version of iMovie for one shot in our Director’s cut of the film, but this shot was too long to put into our final cut. We wanted to put a piece of the action in slow motion, and we could only do that if we transferred the chosen shot into the old version of iMovie. The shot was the shot of Babs tossing her hair around seductively, and we wanted this in slow motion to give a more comedic effect. We also used iMovie for a shot that we did have in our final cut, which was the shot after Babs has just thrown her glasses out of the window, which is a point of view shot of her scanning the room, trying to find Paolo. We wanted this shot of have a blurry effect, so the audience get to see how Babs see’s everything without her glasses. We had to put this shot into the old iMovie and find an effect, which most resembled what we had in mind. We all agreed that we preferred using the newer version of the program because it was a lot easier to navigate around and get used to. The older version of the program seemed very limited and basic.
We benefitted from using the new camera and tripod because It made us able to produce a better piece of film, and it also made the filming experience run a lot smoother, because then we wasn’t worrying about whether the film was going to be bad quality and amateurish. The new tripod was very beneficial for us because there were 3 shots, one after the other, where we wanted the camera to be at a precise angle, and we wanted it to be very steady. These were the three shots that happen when Babs is reading out her reply, and the new tripod helped us produce 3 clean-cut shots that looked professional. The new camera quality we also benefitted from when we were filming the tracking shot up the stairs, because if the film quality was poor then the shot would have looked awful, but also we filmed it as steadily and as cleanly as we could.
The benefits we received from using the new and old iMovie program was that it helped us in showing that we are capable of not just cutting and putting shots in order, but we were able to use the technologies to its fullest. The older version of iMovie benefitted us as it provided us with another way to make the film funnier, and it also helped us to show a wide variety of shots in our film. As a result of using the iMovie program we were able to produce a great, professional-looking film, using a program that was easy to navigate around and helped us to edit and create our film easily and without complications.
The benefits of using the iMacs for editing and creating our film was that we were able to use software that is effective and easy to use. Because the iMacs are specialised computers, it is a lot easier to use the program you need to use, and also this software is modern so we are using the best software we can use for our sort of filmmaking. The iMovie software enabled us to enhance the quality of our film, and helped us turn it from a series of shots, into a 2-minute piece of film. It enabled us to put all of the shots in a chronological order, trim and cut the shots if they were too long, add credits and music/sound, and we were also able to add in transitions. For example, the tracking shot up the stairs was originally just one long piece of footage, but then when we had to start cutting down the time of our film, we decided to break that footage up by putting in fading transitions in-between. This made the shot seem a lot smoother, and less like an untidy, long shot. The software allowed us to create a good, professional looking film and enabled us to easily edit our footage, avoiding any sort of complications.
The limitations that came with using the camera and tripod were that the camera’s battery power only lasted around an hour before we had to put it on charge. This meant that we had to work quickly and efficiently, and had to get as many shots as we could get done before the battery died. Our limitations with the tripod were that, at times, it would be quite stiff and difficult to move. It only enabled us to move the camera so far before it stopped and the actors went out of shot. For example, during the shot of Babs approaching Paolo at the door, we wanted the camera to follow Babs as she walked over to him. We wanted to move the camera slowly to the left, we were able to do it-but we had to spend time trying to loosen up the free movement of the tripod, and even after that it was still stiff and made noise when moving it. Also, the tripod didn’t enable us to move the camera very high and it couldn’t move too far without it making a noise. Luckily enough the highest shot we needed was when we were filming the glasses flying out of the window, and that was the highest the tripod could go. This was beneficial for us because then the shot was sturdy, and it prevented us from having to do the shot handheld.
There weren’t many limitations involving the iMacs or the iMovie program, because they are both modern pieces of technology, and we didn’t run into any complications or problems that we couldn’t sort of straight away. We only had to use the old versions of iMovie-we did use the Garage Band program, when trying to create a piece of music that we couldn’t find. In the end we found the program a bit complicated and pretty time consuming, so we decided to stick with the music we had originally chosen.
Other technologies that we could have benefitted from would probably be things like maybe some extra lighting equipment, due to the fact that the lighting isn’t consistent throughout our film. Some shots appear darker than others, which makes our film look quite amateur. We could have also benefitted from some form of tracks along the floor to make our opening dolly shot a lot smoother, and make it look a bit less like someone is walking with the camera. Also, if we were able to access more music then we probably would have been able to find the music we had in mind for our seduction scene, but we didn’t mind using the music we used in the end, because it still created the same effect.