Question 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Our group used various different pieces of technology in order to plan and aid the development of our film opening.

Pre-Production:

Hardware:

• One of the most useful pieces of equipment we used was the personal flip camcorder. It was not only useful for planning our location and showing our pre-production processes but for documenting our entire production from start to finish. It enabled us to display thoughts and feedback quickly for our own reference as well as the teachers. 

Software:

In terms of software the key for us during planning was communication in order to improve our planning efficiency.

• Via Facebook messaging

        We also used facebook to promote our film screening:

• Via Skype which was a form of direct communication through instant messenger and internet and face to face calls for free (however I don't have a web-cam or microphone).

• Via Blackberry Messenger (BBM) – We were fortunate enough to all own a Blackberry mobile phone with this feature. This allowed us to not only converse but it also gave us the ability to have a group calender with notifications for dates synced between the phones. Also we could make check-lists and all updates to the group would notify the entire group. It was great being quick, easy and on the go as well as being great for organisation.

We also used experimented with some less orthodox methods for communication:

Production:

Hardware:
        

• Camera – Standard Definition- Canon HDV 30

The camcorder was great for the handled shots we wanted and was relatively easy to use. During our planning shoot however we did have some technical problems with it rejecting the tape for no apparent reason. We then therefore had to swap cameras despite getting it to work so not to run the risk on the real shoot of the problem arising. This also made us more weary and we did a thorough check on all our equipment for the real shoots.

We did have the ability with the camera to shoot in High Definition for better quality video, however this was not possible as we had a lack of knowledge when it came to post-production for editing HD footage and the software had had problems with capturing HD footage in the past.

There were options to manual focus on the camcorder which we used a lot for the enigma of our opening sequence, doing focus pulls and using slightly blurry shots. We also found we could contra-zoom using the camera but it was too difficult to pull of. If I were to do this again however I would probably try a contra-zoom on one of the hall shots as it is a good effect.          

• Tripod

The tripod was crucial for some our master shots and the conversation as we needed stable clear footage on top of the hand-held approach.In the bedroom we used it for a crane shot over the entire bedroom by holding it up.  

Sound:

• Headphones (Sennheiser)

• Shotgun Mic

The shotgun mic (placed directly on top of the camera) was good for capturing sound in general, however it was possible too good as we could hear the tape and camera functioning in all the shots in which we had used it so a boom mic was possibly a better option.

• Boom Mic

The boom mic was the best mic we had. It was great for both pinpoint and stereo sound. It is perfect for dialogue shots as all other noise is blocked out. However when using the boom mic in-front of the camera you run the risk of getting it in shot without noticing on the small camera screen and we did have this problem but sorted it in the editing stage.

•  Halogen lights

The three halogen lights gave our film a more art feel and were great from brining out colour, especially our fake blood. One problem we had was trying to fit all three of them in the bedroom and we had some problems with them flickering randomly which meant we had to separate them to different plug sockets. However using them gave our footage an eye candy look which wouldn't have been present without this lighting and I would definitely use them in future.

Post-Production:

Hardware:         

• PC 

We spent a vast majority of our post production time sat in front of the PC edit suite which contained most of the software we needed for the process.

•  iMac

The iMac made up for the areas which the edit suite didn't cover as well as being an alternative edit suite (we weren't allowed to use as there is only one in the department). It had software only available for Mac on it which came in handy for the title sequence.

Software:

• Adobe Première Pro

We captured, cut and fine cut our sequence using adobe. The programme was good at these basic jobs and gave a lot of choice in terms of possible effect and further settings on these effects. We used the effects for the planned grading and saturation as well as cross fades and fades to black. It was also good for sound editing and made sound bridges and SFX easy to do but a lot of tweaking was needed in this area which was quite tedious. There were other problems with the software such as compatibility with imported titles from LiveType, making them look pix-elated and rendering took a long time. If we had access to a mac for editing footage we would probably use Final Cut Pro which is a more professional and less glitchy editing software.    

• LiveType

LiveType is a software solely available for Mac's. It is used to create exciting and interesting titles with a huge range of effects and possibilities to make film look more professional. It is also really simple to use and great for experimenting. This was better than the Adobe title software available on the PC. 

• Web 2.0

To find the sound effects we planned for our sequence we needed to go online to search for royalty free SFX.  I was able to find the rumble drone effect we wanted after a lot of searching and after downloading a few different sound effects which could have been used. In the process we found some good websites for possible future use such as Free-Loops.com.

Exhibition:

Hardware:

• Projector/ Interactive Whiteboard

This was used for the screening and was clear for our film viewing for a large audience. We treated it like a cinema screen in some respects.

Software:            

• Youtube

We created a youtube account/channel for all our production videos 'madhousemedia 2011' for people to watch our trailer and other videos and comment on them. It was also used for reference for the evaluation: