Media evaluation

1. What have you learnt
about technologies from
the process of
construction this
product?
Shekarie James 6088

2. Equipment used in
production:
• Microphone
• Tripod
• Cannon DSLR 65D EOS
• Camera lens
• Lighting (key fill and back)

3. Microphone
Strengths Weaknesses
• The microphone helped to
enhance the quality of the
sound and blocked out most
of the ambient sound.
• Overall the microphone
made our better for
example in dialogue
between the main
characters which was clear
because the microphone
got rid of the ambient
sound.
• The microphone could not
block out all sound so we
had to get rid of the sounds
that the microphone was not
able to block out the post
production stage by editing
the sound out.
• We had to make sure that
the micro phone was
attached.

4. Tripod
Strengths Weaknesses
• The fast release cap enabled us to move
locations easier
• The tripods extended height enables us
to get the great mid shots.
• The tripod helped us to create
professional low and high angle shots
• The tripod clamp allowed us to release
the camera quickly while keeping it
secure whilst we were using it. This
prevented us from struggling to fit the
camera directly onto the tripod. The
Clamp on the tripod removed the
frustration of this process by enabling us
to fit the camera in one position, take it
off, and then fit it onto another position
moments later.
• The tripod takes long to set up.
• They can be awkward to carry around,
hitting people and objects and just getting
in the way.
• We could not film certain angles with the
tripod so we had to use a handheld
camera for certain scenes.
• The tripod took up a lot of space when it
was extended which affected our scene
as the bathroom was small and the use
of the tripod made certain shot seem
closer than they were.
• The tripod also prevented us from
acquiring a close zoom which meant that
we could not film certain scenes with the
tripod

5. Cannon DSLR 65D EOS
Strengths Weaknesses
• The size and weight of the camera
was convenient so it enabled us to
change locations easily.
• On the camera we were able to
manually set the focus as a result of
this we were able to acquire a
better quality. We were also able to
adjust the white balance and
exposure to adhere to out thriller
opening.
• The camera was very straight
forward and easy to us which made
it easier for us to adjust the setting
so we could get a better quality
overall with less work.
• The battery life of this camera
restricted our filming as the battery
life only lasts 2-3 hours. So we had
to work around this time frame, this
added pressure for us to make sure
that certain scenes are shot before
the camera dies.

6. Camera lens
Strengths Weaknesses
• The camera lens made its
easier to have a sharp
focus on certain shots for
example the montage
were there was multiple
close ups which are
clearly seem because of
the sharp focus.
• The lens is a compact
and a lightweight.
• However, for some
scenes despite
continuously trying to
focus the lens some of
the shots were still a bit
blurry.

7. Lighting (key, fill and
back)
Strengths Weaknesses
• Through the use of key lighting
we were able to make the
subject and our actors to stand
out.
• The lighting also emphasised
our antagonist as the use of the
key lighting created shadow that
made our antagonist look more
mysterious and dangerous.
• The smaller light were used for
the back light because they
were not too bright but were just
right to separate the subject
from the background.
• A room gets very hot due to the
lamp used as the key lighting.
• Because the lighting bought out
the shadows its made the
editing process challenging.

8. Challenges faced in the production process
and how we overcame these problems :
• We faced a number of challenges one of which is;
• The key lighting was really bright so in the post
production process we had to dim the light so that the
characters could be seen and so that the shadow looked
more faint.
• Another problem we faced is that because the camera
on the tripod prevented us to get and extreme close up.
Therefore we had to use a hand help camera to get the
close up shot we needed.

9. iMac
Strengths Weaknesses
• The iMac software is easy to
use and this allowed us to
produce work on time.
• IMacs have auto save therefore
when our computer crashed all
our work was not lost we were
still able to access the work
when we restarted the computer.
• The iMac has multiple
programmes and software's
allowing us to edit our opening
and access the internet ,
YouTube plus our blogs.
• The iMacs would often crash
which meant that we were at a
risk of all our work being lost.

10. Final Cut Pro
Strength Weaknesses
• It allowed us to easily to adjust
an fix the challenges we faced
with the colour and lighting so
the brightness and saturation
can be changed.
• It offers a variety of transitions
like fades and dissolves
between each cut this made
our thriller opening flow better.
For example, the transition of
the title for our opening which
fades.
• Final Cut Pro has a lot of editing
features in comparison to
iMovie. However, this made it
more difficult for the us to use as
it was a bit to complex at first.
• Final Cut Pro at one point
corrupted our file and crashed
which then lead to all of our
work becoming frozen and
malfunctioning. And to save our
work, we had to save our file
every 5 minutes, just to make
sure that our work didn’t get
corrupt again.

11. How we overcame editing
challenges
• Our first opening sequence came from Final Cut Pro which we
edited and made ours through adjusting the saturation and the pace.
However it was a found image so we could not use it so, we had to
create a new one using Fire work and Dreamweaver the challenge
of this is that we had to use another editing source to create our
opening now. We had to learn how to use Firework properly.
• When filming some of our shots they were unstable which meant
that we had to stabilise certain shots on Final Cut Pro.
• We ensured that our work was backed up so in case anything was
to happen we wouldn’t have to start from the top luckily, because
this came in handy when our iMac deleted some of our footage we
used the back up to regain the footage.
• We edited out all ambient sounds through Final Cut Pro.

12. What we learnt about
editing:
• We learned that the editing process is where you can fix any
problems which have gone wrong in the production stage. For
instance the ambient sound which can be edited out. We also
noticed that the post- production stage is one of the most vital
stages because we were able to turn raw footage into the
product it is now. Without the editing process the opening
would just be plain and unshaped. This process also taught
us the affect of certain audios and or soundtrack and the
influence this can have on a shot. In terms of the atmosphere
which this creates mystery , tension , build up and climax
especially if the audio matches the action going on in the
opening.