1. 6. What have you learnt about
technologies from the process
of constructing this product?
By Owen Maers
2. Research and Planning
• I used YouTube a lot for my research and planning, it allowed me to share vlogs
that I had done but also analyse other opening title sequences. I already had a lot
of previous experience with YouTube so I have not really learnt a lot more about
it during this project but I think I used it well and appropriately.
However, at the start of the research
and planning phase I was reluctant to
use it as I was shy to speak in front of
the camera all the time and much
preferred typing. I now understand
that watching a video is much more
entertaining than reading.
3. Slideshare
• Slideshare was completely new to me at the start of the course, I had never heard
of it but my teacher told me about it and I used it a lot over the duration of my
research and planning. It allows you to upload PowerPoints, you can then use the
url to embed into your blog. I even ended up using it for history revision.
4. Canva
• Canva is a website allowing you to make really quick and simple graphics which
can be downloaded as .png to display on your blog. I hadn’t heard about it before
the course and I definitely became more efficient at using the software over time.
At first I struggled with making the graphics but towards the end I was very good
at it even making my own billboard.
5. Pie charts and Mind Maps
I used the website
https://imgflip.com/piemaker to create my pie
charts which were used to summarise my
questionnaire results. The software was easy
to use and I had no difficulties
For mind maps I used the website
https://www.mindmeister.com/ it was
very easy to use and a creative way of
summarising all of ideas into one image.
6. Word
• I used Microsoft word if I wanted to jot down any quick ideas I had for my blog or
planning the film. I also originally wrote the script on there before uploading that
to Celltx which transfers words into a script simply and then uploading that to
Scribd. This was all really easy and I had not problems.
Not my screenshot,
just one I found on
google images.
7. Facebook
• Our group used Facebook to attempt to find actors for our film, which worked as Owen Jones
convinced his brother and his girlfriend to act in our film. We tried to hire other actors but they
either weren’t interested or dropped out at the last minute. As a group, we communicated and
organised things over Facebook, for example filming dates and permissions. Here are some
examples of this.
8. Filming – Cameras
• With previous experiences in Photography, filming was not an issue for me and I knew the
camera (Canon 700D) pretty well, being the owner of the similar 1100D myself. I had filmed
bits and pieces previously but not taken it as seriously as a proper media film. However, I feel I
did a pretty good idea of directing the film and filming it, I have certainly learnt a lot about
filming through creating the film as in what makes a good shot but I also had a lot of fun doing
it. It was certainly a step up from the Prelim where we used a basic flip up camera, which was
obviously very simple and I had no issues using.
Prelim
camera
Final film
camera
9. Tripod
Tripods are used to steady a shot, I had no problem using a
tripod as I had previous experience in photography with tripods.
Below is a picture showing the difference between using a tripod
and no tripod. It makes the camera stiller so it is able to focus on
minute details making a crisper image.
Tripod No Tripod No tripod
10. Post Production – After effects
• I used Adobe After Effects to create the titles for our film opening. At first I
struggled with the software as I had never used it before. I began grasping how to
make titles starting off with basic text before delving into animations. This took a
while to get the hang of but I overcame this barrier by watching YouTube tutorials
and asking for help from other students. I also had problems exporting titles
which I spoke about in a video here -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmgbpjGIo_Y – titles feedback
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmCT7GKaDak – general titles talk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HQ31UBg7m0 – showing how to export
• Anyway after overcoming these problems I think I ended up producing some
quality titles and was proud of what I had created, reflecting upon how I used
After Effects I would say that I became better as I spent more time on the
software and becoming more familiar with it, this in the end made me very
efficient and I could make a good set of titles fairly quickly.
11. Premiere Pro
• To edit the film together we used Adobe Premiere Pro, I picked up how to use the
software really quickly but there were some things I couldn’t do. I could easily do
the basic such as cut the video up (mark in and mark out) and get the timing
correct between scenes. Continuing to use the software meant I became better
at it and could edit faster and more efficiently.
Garageband
• Honestly, I didn’t use garageband too much as the other two people in my group
made the music in our film so I can’t comment on my experience with
garageband.
