Question 6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? Unfinished
Camera
For our thriller, we filmed using a HF R206 HD camcorder which, as a groups, we have never come across before so it was very new to us. Although it took a while to get the hang of and work out how to do the basics such as record, paus stop and playback. We got the chance to experiment with these canon camcorders when completing our preliminary task that can be found on our blogs.
Blogging
Before starting media studies at A-Level I had never heard of Blogger nor have I had any experience of it so it was completely new to me. Blogger is used to keep a a blog and update anything on from articles, discussing views, giving advice or just updating friends and family like a social networking site. However, for media studies we use Blogger as a simple blog to update our research for TV Dramas, Film industry, Thriller research and planning, Preliminary task and camera training. By putting all of this onto our blog, it puts into perspective all the work and research that I have done to complete my final Thriller opening. After using it regularly I finally got the hang of it and found it easy to upload imgages, videos and researched that I had completed instead of writing eveyrthing up and putting into a folder. It's also handy as my teachers can comment feedback and give me ideas on how to improve certain posts to give me a better grade overall. Also, I can save posts into drafts instead of publishing them straight onto my blog which is handy as I can go back to them and make changes to improve my post before letting anyone else see it. Blogger is very easy and simple to use and can be made in three simple steps; create an account, name your blog, and then choose a template. After this, the blog is available to be your own personal website and I can upload whatever I want in my spare time or during lesson.
Youtube
One website that I used a lot of the time is YouTube. YouTube is a video-sharing website which shows millions of videos including TV clips, movie clips, music videos, video blogging, short original video and educationla videos. Anyone can access it, make na account and upload their own videos for everyone to see, globally. It allows you to share videos onto other websites, email directly to friends and it also gives you acces to embedd these videos onto your blog and gives you space to write about them. Before starting media studies I was unsure about how to embed and share YouTube videos onto other websites (including Blogger) but now I find it very easy and quick to complete.
Mobile Phones
Screenshot from thriller opening of text
The mobile phone we used
My iPhone 4
When creating our thriller opening scene, we used mobile phones quite a few times. At 0:42 there is a shot of a text being sent out on an ALCATEL mobile phone. As I have a touchscreen phone I wasn't used to this type of mobile and so by exploring it and sending this text out I was able to learn the basics. Also, on my blog I took several still images of potential location ideas that we may use. I took the still images on my iPhone 4. By taking the photos I was able to become a lot more familiar with my phone's camera. I also invested into a 'blogger' app for my iPhone which enabled me to upload still images onto my blog straight from my mobile phone. By being able to have a 'blogger' app on my mobile phone I was able to check for comments on my posts from my teachers as well as view other people's blogs to compare and check to see what I have or haven't completed.
Researching
A website that was very useful when researching thriller films and audience was IMDB. IMDB stands for Internet Movie Database which is a website that contains movie information, trailers, actors/actresses, film history, articles and more information related to films. I became very familiar with the website after using it to research thriller films and was able to find things very quickly to share onto my blog.
Editing
Adobe Premiere is the software that we used to edit together our thriller opening. I had never used this programme before our thriller project so I completely new to it and had no experience whatsoever. After a couple of lessons from Mr Seal he was able to help me with understanding the basics of how to use the programme and during the creation of our preliminary task I was able to get to grips with the basics. Whilst creating the thriller opening there were many things that I wanted to do during the editing, such as editing certain audio sounds out and replacing them with other audios or editing the audio to give it an effect. With the help of both my teachers I was able to find the right tools to do this. After learning these complicated techniques I was able to share my knowledge with other people in the class.
Soundtrack
For our soundtrack I managed to download music from Soundcloud. Soundcloud is website for, either signed or unsigned, music. Anybody can upload their own material and allow others to download it or pay for it. I chose to download free music from unsigned users that had created their music on their own equipment. I had never used this website before so after spending a couple of hours searching for music that was suitable for out thriller opening I got the hang of it and was able to search tags, genres and popular downloads. After working with SoundCloud I now have the confidence to use it again at other times.
Clearly organised but too generalised. You need to reference specific examples of how you used these technoglogies.
1) Research - YouTube: Upload a clip from a film or films you researched. Also you opening is posted on YouTube.
2) Sound cloud - upload the music or upload the home page.
3) Premier Pro for editing, upload images of the time line, include images of tools you used for specific effects when editing. Also include a screen shot from your film explaining the transition you used, i.e. dissolve, or speeding up time etc.
Keep up the good work but without specific examples from your practice you will not get the marks that reflect your ability.
Before starting media studies at A-Level I had never heard of Blogger nor have I had any experience of it so it was completely new to me. Blogger is used to keep a a blog and update anything on from articles, discussing views, giving advice or just updating friends and family like a social networking site. However, for media studies we use Blogger as a simple blog to update our research for TV Dramas, Film industry, Thriller research and planning, Preliminary task and camera training. By putting all of this onto our blog, it puts into perspective all the work and research that I have done to complete my final Thriller opening. After using it regularly I finally got the hang of it and found it easy to upload imgages, videos and researched that I had completed instead of writing eveyrthing up and putting into a folder. It's also handy as my teachers can comment feedback and give me ideas on how to improve certain posts to give me a better grade overall. Also, I can save posts into drafts instead of publishing them straight onto my blog which is handy as I can go back to them and make changes to improve my post before letting anyone else see it. Blogger is very easy and simple to use and can be made in three simple steps; create an account, name your blog, and then choose a template. After this, the blog is available to be your own personal website and I can upload whatever I want in my spare time or during lesson.
One website that I used a lot of the time is YouTube. YouTube is a video-sharing website which shows millions of videos including TV clips, movie clips, music videos, video blogging, short original video and educationla videos. Anyone can access it, make na account and upload their own videos for everyone to see, globally. It allows you to share videos onto other websites, email directly to friends and it also gives you acces to embedd these videos onto your blog and gives you space to write about them. Before starting media studies I was unsure about how to embed and share YouTube videos onto other websites (including Blogger) but now I find it very easy and quick to complete. 
Adobe Premiere is the software that we used to edit together our thriller opening. I had never used this programme before our thriller project so I completely new to it and had no experience whatsoever. After a couple of lessons from Mr Seal he was able to help me with understanding the basics of how to use the programme and during the creation of our preliminary task I was able to get to grips with the basics. Whilst creating the thriller opening there were many things that I wanted to do during the editing, such as editing certain audio sounds out and replacing them with other audios or editing the audio to give it an effect. With the help of both my teachers I was able to find the right tools to do this. After learning these complicated techniques I was able to share my knowledge with other people in the class. 
For our soundtrack I managed to download music from Soundcloud. Soundcloud is website for, either signed or unsigned, music. Anybody can upload their own material and allow others to download it or pay for it. I chose to download free music from unsigned users that had created their music on their own equipment. I had never used this website before so after spending a couple of hours searching for music that was suitable for out thriller opening I got the hang of it and was able to search tags, genres and popular downloads. After working with SoundCloud I now have the confidence to use it again at other times. 
Clearly organised but too generalised. You need to reference specific examples of how you used these technoglogies.
ReplyDelete1) Research - YouTube: Upload a clip from a film or films you researched. Also you opening is posted on YouTube.
2) Sound cloud - upload the music or upload the home page.
3) Premier Pro for editing, upload images of the time line, include images of tools you used for specific effects when editing. Also include a screen shot from your film explaining the transition you used, i.e. dissolve, or speeding up time etc.
Keep up the good work but without specific examples from your practice you will not get the marks that reflect your ability.