My answer to the question: "What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?"

1. WHAT I HAVE LEARNT
FROM THE TECHNOLOGIES
USED DURING THIS
COURSE
By Alistair Grimsell

2. From the process of constructing, I
have learnt how to use a variety of
different software and hardware. In this
presentation, I will be detailing my
experiences of the technologies that I
used the most during the process of
this course.

3. CREATION OF THE OPENING SCENE
• iMovie
From iMovie I have learnt how to piece together, edit the footage and make the
correct adjustments in order to make it look like a film. Within that, I have learnt how
to smooth out a shot that wasn't as smooth as it would be if we had access to high
budget cameras and equipment. An amazing tool that I have learnt to use in iMovie is
managing to import text to overlap the video. This was done by using an Apple App,
Pages, and creating a document with a blue background with green text on top of it. I
would then animate the text appearing on the screen to match the subject of the
opening scene. I then imported it into our opening scene and overlap it on top of the
opening scene. Using iMovie, I then managed to edit the format of the text document
to change it to Green/Blue Screen. This meant that only the text would be shown, not
the background. I was then able to manipulate how fast/slow I wanted it to go and
also the opacity of the text itself.

4. CREATION OF THE OPENING SCENE
• Camera
I have learnt that there are multiple camera angles which can all give the context of the shot a
different meaning. An example of some camera angles are medium shots, close ups, long
shots and wide shots. I have also learnt about the 180 degree rule, the shot/reverse shot and
what a match on action shot is. The 180 degree rule is the rule that during the scene, the
camera must not go beyond 180 degrees. The shot/reverse shot is when the camera switches
perspective back and forth. For example, in a conversation scene, the camera would start with
an over the shoulder shot so that the first person to speak is in view. When the other person
starts speaking, the camera will cut to the other person's shoulder. This is to keep the person
who is speaking in the shot at all times. This can be ignored, however, if the other person is
showing some sort of emotion that the audience needs to see. Match on action is a continuity
edit to keep the action in a scene going. For example, if someone were to open a door, the
first shot might show the character opening the door from behind but then cut quickly to
show him going through the door in one fluid motion. This is mostly during action scenes but
especially during close-quarters fighting scenes.

5. PRESENTING RESEARCH
• Blogger
During this project, I have managed to get to grips with Blogger. Prior to this course, I
had never used a blogging website of any sort or embedded anything into a website.
Now, however, I feel I am able to use labels effectively and embed YouTube clips with
next to no trouble.
• Prezi
Prezi is a website that is very similar to Microsoft's Powerpoint application. Although,
Prezi has a much better style and visual appeal when compared to Powerpoint.
Another feature of Prezi is any presentation that a user has created (as long as it is set
to public) can be seen by anyone. This allows other people to draw from the creator's
knowledge.

6. PRESENTING RESEARCH
• Spiderscribe
I have also learnt that Spiderscribe is a much easier way of creating mindmaps than
creating them in Microsoft's Word with shapes and textboxes. Much like Prezi,
Spiderscribe is also able to be viewed by anyone. Spiderscribe is able to include
images, text, interactive maps and events.