What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Throughout the making of my
thriller opening title sequence I have learnt many different skills including
how to use different pieces of equipment, filming and editing. When filming I
learnt how to use a camera and tripod, however when I filmed my thriller the
second time I did not use a camera or tripod as the camera wasn’t very good
quality instead I used an IPhone to film and therefore I did not need a tripod
as I wasn’t using a camera. As we were not using a tripod I needed to make sure
that all the shots I filmed were steady therefore I had to make sure that
before starting to film I made sure that I could keep a steady hand and then I
pressed record. I have also learnt that having a storyboard of your thriller
helps you to know what shots to film and in which part of the house. The
storyboard for my thriller helped me lot when filming as I checked the
storyboard to make sure that I filmed all the shots and if I shot the correct
shot types.
When I filmed the shot below the
first time it wasn’t as steady and the character didn’t look like she was at
home and she didn’t look like she was comfortable in her surroundings, however
the second time I filmed this shot it was successful as she looked like she was
at home reading a magazine like a normal teenage girl.
I also learnt that we
needed to have lots of light when filming in order to make sure all shots were
light and you could see what was going on in each shot. Therefore when I filmed
my thriller I made sure that there was a lot of light and all the lights were
on in the places we were filming in the house. We filmed this shot in the
conservatory as it had the most light in the house; we decided that this was
the best room to film in as the living room was quite dark even with the main
light on. This shot was successful as there was plenty of light as we filmed in
the day when it was light, this was also the first shot that we filmed as we
knew that if we didn’t film this shot first it would start getting dark and we
wouldn’t have had as much light to film in. Although I put a filter on all of
the shots, the filter did not make the shots darker, this shot was very
successful as even with the filter on it was still light and this was the best
shot in terms of lighting that I filmed. The first time I filmed this scene at the other location, it wasn't a successful shot as the camera wasn't steady and it was a really long shot, I have improved this shot the second time I filmed.
I learnt that when you are filming
you have to stick to the 180 degree rule; this rule is when you are filming you
have to stick to one side of the character either left or right in every shot.
The first time I filmed using the camera and tripod it was hard to stick to
this rule as we didn’t have much space in the first location that I filmed at.
However the second time I filmed using an iPhone, I filmed in a different
location and this second location was much easy to film in and I did stick to
the 180 degree rule. I found it easy to film each time at the same side as I
knew which side I needed to be filming from each time.
I also learnt that I
had to consider composition and framing when filming, this is where you do a
shot that either includes or excludes certain parts of the person, object,
surrounding etc. an example from my thriller is: the shot below is from my
thriller showing the teenage girl walking up the stairs, I filmed from the top
of the stairs and held the camera on the floor of the top step and allowed the
actress to walk over the camera and my hand, I did this to create an effective
and abstract shot. I framed this shot to only include the bottom half of the
actress’s body and the stairs so that you could clearly see the actress walking
up the stairs. By positioning the camera at floor level on the top step of the
stairs and pointing the camera down, the bottom half of the actress’s body was
only in the shot. I did this to create an interesting and abstract type of
shot, it also created tension and suspense as she was getting closer to where
the noises were coming from. This shot also follows the rule of thirds with the
character in the middle of the shot, this shows that she is the important thing in this shot.
I have also learnt about framing
including the rule of thirds and the golden mean. The golden mean is where you
draw a diagonal line through any shot and along that line are the main points
of interest. The rule of thirds is when you draw a three by three grid over any
shot and the main points of interest are where the lines cross.
The shot above is from my thriller
and it shows that the rule of thirds has been used; the main points of interest
in this shot are the magazine (prop), the character and her facial expression and
the background. This prop suggests that this character likes reading magazines
and that she is a typical teenage girl. We can tell from the characters facial
expression that she hasn’t heard the noises yet as she does not look scared.
Above is an example of the rule of thirds layout. The rule
of thirds is a three by three grid which is drawn over the shot. The table
represents this and the circles represent where the main points of interest are
in this layout.
I have learnt many new skills when editing my thriller opening title sequence. I have learnt how to use iMovie and how to make footage look effective using this editing software. The screenshot below shows how to import footage from a camera onto iMovie, however sometimes you have to upload the footage to iPhoto and then import them to iMovie. I have learnt how to import footage from a camera onto the mac and then edited using the software.
After importing the footage from
the camera to iMovie, all the footage will appear at the bottom of the screen.
When it’s at the bottom like in the screenshot above, you then create a new
project and then you drag the footage you want up to the top of the page. The
screenshot above shows how to import the footage from a camera. I have obtained
this skill and now know how to import footage from a camera.
The
screenshot below shows how to edit the soundtrack. Double click on the sound,
which is shown underneath the footage and is green, then a menu will come onto
the screen, click on audio and you can make sound louder or quieter. Once you
have edited the sound you then click done. The screenshot below shows that I
have obtained this skill and I now know how to edit the volume of the
soundtrack, it also shows that I have learnt how to use the mac and the editing
software iMovie.
The
screenshot below shows how to put a filter onto the footage you have edited. I
have learnt how to put a filter on the footage you filmed after you have edited
it on the mac using iMovie, double click on the clip that you want to put a
filter on and then it comes up with a menu on the screen at the bottom of this
menu it says filter, click on this and then it comes up with all the filters it
has click on the one you want then click done. If you want all the footage to
have the same filter, you have to do this each time for each clip. To check
that you have put a filter on play the video and you will see if there is a
filter on or not.
This
screenshot show how to export the final completed project. First you click on
share at the top of the page, and then click on export movie making sure that
you have a memory stick plugged into the mac. All the footage then gets copied
over onto your memory stick. Once you have exported from iMovie, then you can
upload your video to YouTube.
The screenshot above shows that I
know how to export completed projects from the mac, it also shows that I have
obtained this skill and that I know how to use the mac.
I edited the soundtrack from my
thriller using Garage Band, I looked on YouTube to see if I could find a piece
of music that wasn’t in any real films and that also suited my thriller well. I
found a piece of music that was called “creepy music box” I thought that this
soundtrack suited my thriller really well and I think that it also reflected
the genre and theme of my thriller. I then started editing the soundtrack on
Garage Band; I made the start of the soundtrack quieter I did this by cutting
the end of the music which was the quieter part then moving this to the start. I
wanted the soundtrack to build the tension in my thriller so by making the
sound quieter at the start and louder at the end, it made my thriller
I have also used other technologies
throughout my work, these technologies are; YouTube, Prezi, Scribd and Moovly.
These technologies have impacted my work as they have allowed me to use a
different form of presentation software other than PowerPoint. I used YouTube
to upload my thriller, vox pop and preliminary to blogger, to get these three
videos that I edited on the mac onto blogger I had to first upload them to
YouTube. I used Prezi instead of PowerPoint when making a presentation or
analysing a clip of a thriller opening. I used Scribd to upload my PowerPoint
and to make my PowerPoint look neat. I also used Moovly, this site allowed me
to make a video/ moving presentation when analysing the opening of the thriller
Inception.
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