Evaluation Question 4

HOW DID YOU USE NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND RESEARCH, PLANNING AND EVALUATION STAGES?

Through all aspects of making and researching our film, I used many new media technologies as well as developing skills in ones we had used in previous years. From online technology to technology we used for editing and developing our movie, I was introduced to a lot of  new and different programs.

For the construction of our final short film, we used numerous programs; even editing the film itself was done across three editing suites. The opening titles for our film were edited on Sony Movie Studio HD Pro Platinum 11, the only editing program I personally was familiar with as I had used it before. It has a range of easy to use effects and this meant I could create good looking opening titles easily, as we needed many effects and highly fast-paced editing that could only be accomplished properly through Movie Studio.

screenshot of sony movie studio whilst editing the opening titles.

close-up screenshot showing the many clips and cuts used to create the fast pace of the opening titles.

I then used a different program to create the end titles/credit sequence, which was Adobe After Effects. After Effects was a program I had little to no experience using, but I knew it was a brilliant program for creating professional looking 3D end credit sequences. We had decided we wanted a more dynamic end credit sequence and therefore After Effects was the clear choice for this. However because I had little experience, upon downloading a free 30 day trial I had to practice and experiment with the program in order to finally get used to the keys and how to work the program well.
Our end credit sequence ended up being very dynamic and 3D, which we made tie in with the artistic theme of our film by making it look like paint splattering into the text. By creating a dynamic, interesting end credit sequence it guaranteed an audience would keep watching for long enough for them to be scared by the after-credits jump-scare scene; which was a vital part of our film.
This is the full version of the end credits, which were cut down for the final film to save time & to adjust for changes in cast:

Both of these clips then had to be imported, along with all our camera footage, into the program we used to edit the complete film: Final Cut. Final Cut was a program I again had little experience with, as in AS year it had 'annoyed' me and I found it hard to understand and work with, most likely due to my experience with Movie Studio & the two being so different. This year I was determined to learn the program well and be more patient in order to get the best result. Although it meant I had to practice and learn some new techniques in order to edit our more complex final short film, I now find it easy to understand and work with and eventually managed to edit the film to a high standard (which I could not have done at the beginning of the project). 

a screenshot of our film open in final cut during editing.

But before we edited our film, we used numerous programs in the pre-production stages. One of these was Celtex, a program we used to write the script. Our script was very detailed and long, and took almost a day to write completely between two people (myself and Theresa). I had never used Celtex before and had to learn how to use it from scratch and although I found it difficult at first, once the key terms were understood it was easy to power through writing the script. 

screenshot of celtex with our script open.

 Another program we used during pre-production was simple microsoft programs, to create the shot list before we went to film. It was easy to make the shot list using a table though I only had limited knowledge of how to work it, but as a group we managed to make a long and detailed shot list in short time.

All of the pre-production and post-production work was done using an Apple Macintosh, a computer I was not familiar with before as I use a PC. It took a while at the start of the project to learn how to do basic things on the computer, and throughout the project I was still learning new keys and things to use on the Mac. 

To do actual filming, however, we used many different pieces of equipment due to the varied and complicated shots in our film. We used a Sony HDV 1000e camera to film the most of our shots, as well as a tripod to support it. I personally had not used this camera before and it took a while to learn how to work it, even the basic things such as opening the tape compartment or zooming were difficult at first. Although eventually we found this camera & tripod easy to use once they were up and running, we did hit a few snags throughout the filming process due to problems with them. For example, we had to change the tripod many times because it would not open, or stay upright; and we also had issues with using tapes (we lost many of them throughout the project) or simply not remembering how to do certain things on the camera. All these things set filming back and frustrated the group, but we worked through them and overall using the camera was easy.

However, we did not just use this camera. In order to film the numerous tracking shots we had planned in our film, we used a GoPro (and occasionally an iPhone) with a Steadicam Smoothee. This works as a handheld dolly and meant we could create smooth tracking shots by holding the camera and running. Although this proved vital to us for filming tracking shots that were not shaky and had a professional look, we did have some issues with it. The GoPro meant we could not see the footage we were filming, which meant we did not know if it was any good until the next day when we transferred it to a computer. As well as this, the GoPro battery life was short and this meant we had to use that and an iPhone, meaning a difference in quality between the different camera types.

Throughout our initial research as well as the ongoing research throughout the project, the internet proved vital. I used many different sites throughout that helped in both research on existing films through to finding music and sound effect resources for the short film. The main site I used was Blogger, to update and store & share all the work we did and keep a track of progress and analyse the work we had already done. We also used Google and Youtube to research existing psychological thriller/horror films, and this proved invaluable for helping us follow codes and conventions of these movies. We could also use the internet to share our work with our peers and family to gather results for questionnaires we shared on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, were we could collaborate ideas in order to make a film that our target audience would want to watch. We used websites such as the BBFC, IMDb, and Putlocker to research certificates, existing movies, and to watch films of our genre to gain inspiration from filmmakers we liked. 

In creating our ancillary texts (poster and radio trailer) I also used technology I had little to no previous experience with. In creating the posters, we used Adobe Photoshop, a program I had never used before, and this meant again I had to learn how to use it from scratch. However for our final poster we used Sumo Paint, an online paint/photo editing program, and I had used this before so was able to use all my existing skills to help create a professional and detailed poster. I also used websites such as DaFont to find text that fit with our genre and theme.

our poster, made on sumo paint.

For the radio trailer, we worked together on iMovie to edit together the audio from the film, as well as record a voiceover. We also used Garageband to create a backing music track that fit well with the theme & mood of the trailer. I had not used iMovie or Garageband before and although we worked as a group we all had to learn the new skills needed to make our trailer, and eventually we understood how to work it and managed to make the radio trailer that matched with our poster & promoted our film well.

Overall, new media technology I had not used before was a big part of all aspects of this project, and I learnt many new skills on programs that I would not have used if not for the project. Technology had its flaws and complications, and although learning how to use each program or equipment meant we had less time to actually create things,  eventually technology meant we could easily create the film as well as use the internet to take primary research and inspiration from existing filmmakers as well as quickly and efficiently gather vital audience feedback on our film.