Throughout the process of creating my film opening, I’ve had the privilege to develop my knowledge about technologies associated with the fabrication of my product.
Initially, the concept of Web 2.0 tools was alien to me. I had no idea what they were, or what they were used for. Fast forward to now however, I’ve used over 10 different types to represent ideas and developments on my blog, including GoConqr, Emaze, Prezi, Padlet and PowToon.
PowToon I found especially tricky to use – perhaps as it was a combination of using a small screen (I had to use my laptop as the desktop computers didn't have the latest flash player to support it), and intricate detail, along with the active timeline in order to animate it.
I found that with tools such as Prezi and Emaze, because they were simple to use yet looked brilliant, I tended to use them, rather than experiment fully with others - for example, I hardly used tools such as Visme or Padlet in comparison (I used these once each, whereas I used Emaze and Prezi at least five times each). If I had the chance to, this is something I would change.
I used Web 2.0 tools in order to make my blog interactive and exciting. A lot of research and planning had to go into making my film, and displaying all of this as text would have otherwise, been a chore to read through. Web 2.0 tools have helped develop my creativity, as I have turned essays into reciprocal animations that combine images and movement and sound altogether, which in my opinion, takes the essay to another level.
When editing our film, my group and I decided to use Final Cut Pro. My main role within the group was editing, and having only little experience with video editing previous to this coursework, I really believe I've come leaps and bounds since the beginning of the year.
Initially, it was tricky to get to grips with. We edited our preliminary task using this software, and I'd say that that piece shows how much I knew of editing at that time - the absolute basics: splitting a clip and cropping a clip. I didn't know how to add text, transitions or sound effects, nor did I know how to transform clips so that there wasn't as much of a problem with the shots in different dimensions. Not only do I now know how to add and solve all of those things, but I also know more! Using YouTube to teach myself, I learnt how to isolate a certain colour, and alter the colour gradient. I also added effects in order for my clip to appear glitched. I also learnt how to add sound effects, and manipulate tracks to flow into one when featuring non-diegetic background music. I also taught myself how to control the speed of a clip - how to make it appear in slow motion or make a scene more dramatic by making it a little faster. In order to become more experienced with the software, I made sure to edit vlogs, production diaries, auditions and location spots (etc.) on Final Cut Pro. The videos obviously weren't quite in the same context and mood as the thriller film opening, but it made me more familiar with what was available on the software nonetheless.
Sometimes progress was slow, and it's very easy to get caught up trying to make things perfect when editing - but overall, I'm proud of our product and I'm proud of myself for the contributions I made helping it achieve the standard it has achieved. I admit, I wish I hadn't wasted so much time trying to teach myself certain things, but simultaneously, I'm glad I dedicated so much time to figuring out the tips and tricks of the software. I think I should have started looking at tutorials a little earlier and practising a little sooner than I did. By the time I was trying to teach myself, I was working towards deadlines and it made me more stressed than it should have.
Additional technology in the production phase would be what we used to film with. The entire team were comfortable with using the cameras, and I had some experience of being behind the camera. Nonetheless, we managed to stumble across a couple of problems. Winn and I both brought our own cameras to shoot with, and we only realised when we started to edit the footage that Winn's camera's dimensions were of a different setting to mine. We didn't have time to refilm Winn's footage, so we couldn't fix the solution on the camera directly. Instead, I had to manipulate our film's dimensions within the settings of Final Cut Pro (leaving me extremely chuffed with myself after).
Throughout my coursework, I have used different areas of the internet to teach myself different strands of media. As previously stated, I used YouTube to help myself with editing. I also used Web 2.0 tools to not only represent theories and planning on my blog, but I also used them to research the aspects of media I had yet to learn. As I hadn't taken media as a subject before AS level, I came to the lesson knowing pretty much nothing in terms of theory work - having so many Web 2.0 tools to use as resources online really helped me become familiar with my subject.
Initially, Blogger was another hurdle I had to overcome, as it seemed that unless you knew what you were doing, your blog would appear pretty basic and boring. As a perfectionist and high achiever, this extremely frustrated me as I had no idea what I was doing. However, having used it for several months now, I've learnt how to embed and add different types of media to my blog posts. One of my favourite things that I've taught myself is manipulating the post's HTML to add a thumbnail image, without it being shown in the post itself. There are some things that I occasionally still struggle with, such as editing the blog's layout in HTML, but these problems occur far less frequently than they did in the first couple of months of this course.
Sometimes progress was slow, and it's very easy to get caught up trying to make things perfect when editing - but overall, I'm proud of our product and I'm proud of myself for the contributions I made helping it achieve the standard it has achieved. I admit, I wish I hadn't wasted so much time trying to teach myself certain things, but simultaneously, I'm glad I dedicated so much time to figuring out the tips and tricks of the software. I think I should have started looking at tutorials a little earlier and practising a little sooner than I did. By the time I was trying to teach myself, I was working towards deadlines and it made me more stressed than it should have.
Additional technology in the production phase would be what we used to film with. The entire team were comfortable with using the cameras, and I had some experience of being behind the camera. Nonetheless, we managed to stumble across a couple of problems. Winn and I both brought our own cameras to shoot with, and we only realised when we started to edit the footage that Winn's camera's dimensions were of a different setting to mine. We didn't have time to refilm Winn's footage, so we couldn't fix the solution on the camera directly. Instead, I had to manipulate our film's dimensions within the settings of Final Cut Pro (leaving me extremely chuffed with myself after).
Throughout my coursework, I have used different areas of the internet to teach myself different strands of media. As previously stated, I used YouTube to help myself with editing. I also used Web 2.0 tools to not only represent theories and planning on my blog, but I also used them to research the aspects of media I had yet to learn. As I hadn't taken media as a subject before AS level, I came to the lesson knowing pretty much nothing in terms of theory work - having so many Web 2.0 tools to use as resources online really helped me become familiar with my subject.
Initially, Blogger was another hurdle I had to overcome, as it seemed that unless you knew what you were doing, your blog would appear pretty basic and boring. As a perfectionist and high achiever, this extremely frustrated me as I had no idea what I was doing. However, having used it for several months now, I've learnt how to embed and add different types of media to my blog posts. One of my favourite things that I've taught myself is manipulating the post's HTML to add a thumbnail image, without it being shown in the post itself. There are some things that I occasionally still struggle with, such as editing the blog's layout in HTML, but these problems occur far less frequently than they did in the first couple of months of this course.
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