Evaluation Question 4 script

4) How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
 
Technology played a key role in the development of our main task and our ancillary tasks. We made use of a vast number of different technologies, which included and are not limited to; Adobe Photoshop, Blogger, Sony Vegas 8, After Effects, Windows Live Movie Maker and many more.

The first piece of software we had to make use of is Blogger. Blogger is a free online software which allows us to make a blog. The blog in question is where all our work was posted and allowed us some pretty neat tools, such as being able to group our posts under labels and being able to embed images and Youtube clips in to break up our mountains of text. Blogger is a effective tool as it allows us to make use of far more technology than a simple print process, thanks to a simple interface, and an easy to use software. The only downside is that it can be difficult to edit the layout of your blog once it has been set up.

Bubbl.us was a piece of software we used relatively often and early on in our work to help us plan what we intended to do during the course. Whilst we may not have always stuck to these plans, we often made use of them as it helped us to see exactly what ideas we had and what needed to be done. The way in which we could colour code our Bubbls also allowed us to prioritize certain aspects of our work, or make certain areas stand out to us.

Another piece of vital software to our  work was Sony Vegas. Sony Vegas was the main software used to edit together our masterpiece of a film trailer after it had been recorded. Sony Vegas was by far one of the most effective way to edit together our work when compared to other software such as Windows Live Movie Maker. The main advantages to using Vegas over WLMM include; Chroma Key capability, Better rendering times, A far more easily navigable interface, A far more detailed audio layering feature, A far faster loading time and A far greater range of editing ad-ons. This, along with the plethora of features I haven't mentioned make Sony Vegas the ideal choice to edit our masterpiece together.

Photoshop can be seen as an equally vital piece of software during the creation of our ancillary tasks as Sony Vegas was for our main task. Photoshop is an image editing software which allows us to edit images in a wide variety of ways. The ways in which an image can be edited include, and are certainly not limited to; Cropping, Colour correction, Precise cutting, Feathering images, Layering, A wide variety of text editing software, Countless fonts, Countless colours with which to design things, Precise image altering tools AND The ability to apply effects to images. Aside from this multitude of features, the ability to be able to layer images rather than have one single image makes them far easier to edit once they have been set up. This means it was the ideal program to design and make our ancillary tasks.

After effects was a program we made regular use of during the editing of our cut. After effects is a program which allows you to add visual effects to your existing video. Examples of where these have been used can be mainly found during the scenes involving blood, as we didn't have fake blood to hand and didn't want to actually injure our actors. After effects has a fairly vast list of features and such allows for a great deal of video editing. Although you often have to source effects yourself, or work out how to edit footage yourself, there are a number of good tutorials online, such as those done by video co-pilot, whose tutorial for a 'Demon Face' at the end of the trailer was incredibly effective. After effects was also essential for one shot which required three of the same person to be in one scene. This was done by using After effects to overlay the three clips into one.

We also made use of two main pieces of equipment for filming; a camera and a tripod. The camera we used as a Nikon DSLR Camera, which had a number of features, including a setting which allowed us to change how much light would be taken through the lens during the filming. This was an essential feature, as we constantly shifted between light and dark rooms due to the nature of our trailer. The Camera was also able to record in high definition, which is essential for making our trailer look as professional as possible. The other piece of equipment which tied in nicely to this camera was a tripod. The tripod we used was a fairly simple one, which allowed us to tilt, pan and angle the camera, as well as raise and lower it should the shot warrant it. Though simple technology; it allowed us to shoot a number of different angles, such as the masked shot involving three of the same person.

The other substantial piece of technology we had to make frequent use of would be a computer to run all the various software to edit our trailer. For the ancillary tasks, I made use of a Apple Mac computer, which already had programs such as Photoshop and Final Cut loaded onto it. For the actual editing side of the work, we made use of several other computers, such as the Presario CQ56 laptop. A contrast in machinery allowed us to make use of the different features of each. This is because some programs found on a Windows PC cannot be used on an Apple Mac and vice versa.