Evaluation Question 1

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

During the process of making our title sequence i have learnt about new technologies and techniques to be more efficiant during our filming and editing sessions.

The first thing i learnt during the process was during our film shoot when we noticed that it would be benifcial to shoot the same scene but from multiple different angels because when it came to the editing sessions, me being the editor had loads of choice in clips to use to create our title sequence. Filming from multiple angels meant that i could do mid action cuts so for example there was a shot where the killer (harry) is turning the page of the book he had in front of him and mid way through turning the page, the camera cuts from the right side of the book to an over the shoulder of harry. I had to make sure that the first shot ended in the same place that the second shot starts to make sure the audience knows that it is still the same scene and there has been no change in the timeline.

Another thing i have leant during the process of creating our title sequence is using different softwares to edit the sequence. During school time i would use final cut pro to edit the sequence and make sure all the clips are in order. If i decided i would then want to take the footage home and continue editing then i would put whatever i had edited on final cut on to a USB stick along with the rest of the footage that i hadn't put into the sequence yet. At home i was lucky to have my own PC setup so i was able to edit at home, i found this more convieniant and efficiant because i couldn't be distracted by anything in comparison to editing in class where i had friends around me. To edit the title sequence at home i used two programs. The first being Premier Pro to order the sequence and make sure it makes sense for our audience to watch it. Premier Pro is new to me but i found it easy to get the hang of it and learn about its different features. The second program i would use to edit our sequence was After Effects CS6, this program i used to add in the titles and text. It was possible for me to do the titles in Premier Pro but from personal experience i found after effects to be a lot quicker and easier. I have been using after effects for a few years now so i pretty much know where to find everything that i need and the shortcuts to get work done quicker.

Another Program that i experimented with during the process of editing our title sequence was Motion. Motion was recently added to the schools server so i decided that it might be worth having a look at because it could have been an interesting way of creating the titles and text in our title sequence. I did have a go at it and made our title ''4Days'' with it and i didn't think it looked that bad. However i found motion to be similar to a program that i use at home called cinema 4D. I have a lot more experience with Cinema 4D so if i was to create any interesting or animated text then i would likely choose that to create it. However even though i found both programs to be a useful source to create our text, i came to a decision that basic 2D text suited better because when i think of cool stylised titles i normally think of action sic-fi films but our film is a thriller/crime film.

Blogging was new to me when we first started it but after a few months of doing it i have found it to not be so tricky. After each lesson or filming/editing sessions i would write a blog about what we did and how it is going to help create our final sequence. I took pictures during the shoots on my phone camera of us setting up the scene. For example in our detective scene re-shoot i took pictures of the desk and one of the cinematographer (tommy) setting up the camera in a new position ready to shoot the next scene.

In conclusion i feel that i have gained multiple new skills that will benefit me during the future when i next shoot a film or some other kind of video. I now know how to use multiple different softwares so i now have a choice of programs to use when it comes to editing my work. I feel that now having those skills i will be quicker and more efficient next year when it comes to doing my coursework as i will be able to skip the learning stage of editing and blogging.