3. Before starting the Media AS course, I had used
Blogger to look at blogs in my spare time so I was
familiar with the concept of the website. However
I was clueless about producing a blog of my own.
During pre-production our group created Google
account and subsequently a blog to upload and
share research and film ideas.
Although Blogger was new to me, I found it
incredibly easy to use. Also, it allows you to go
back to previous work and edit out any mistakes
and having a shared group blog allowed me (as
well as Natalie, Emily and Cameron) to look at
each other’s work if there was anything that was
confusing to give us inspiration. It is furthermore
easy to distinguish each person’s personal work
despite having a shared blog because each person
can label their own work and view it.
BLOGGER
5. We used a Sony HD 100 camera to film both the
preliminary exercise and main task. Another
piece of equipment used for filming we used was
a tripod. The Sony HD 100 was relatively simple
to use and it was easy to create shots such as
close ups and pans with the two pieces of
equipment. All of our group were amateurs in
using filming apparatus so we concluded that it
would a better decision for us to use a camera
which was easy to use to that we could throw
ourselves fully into filming our clip instead of
wasting valuable recording time trying to figure
out how to get it working.
Also it is a relatively expensive product and
therefore of good quality. The shots taken from
the camera are of high definition picture and
sound. These made the finished product look
more or less a quality which replicates that of a
real motion picture.
FILMING EQUIPMENT
6. We used the program, Final Cut Express, to edit
our film together. Even though I used the
program for the preliminary exercise, I was still
learning how to use it when editing the main
task.
At first, the software was quite confusing but it
was easy to pick up after the first try. As well as
being able to just simply cut clips together,
Final Cut allowed me to add cutting techniques
such as sound bridges and cross fades on top of
filters to distort or improve the picture. It even
made it easier to cover up little mistakes we
made in our film such as allowing us to
wireframe the image.
Once the film was created, Final Cut also gave
the option to add text and credits to to
accompany the final picture. The typography
further contributed to making the film appear
close to a real thriller motion picture.
FINAL CUT EXPRESS
7. To add sound effects and music to our
film, we had to look on other sites.
Without extra sound our film would have
not have looked like an effective
convention of media products. Even
small details like the vibrate of a phone
could not be picked up on camera so we
had to exaggerate it with the use of a
separate sound effect and music. Sites
we used included Freesound and
Danosongs. These royalty free sites
ensured that we could simply for no
money without infringing any copyright.
SOUND
9. The easiest way to get feedback from potential
audiences was to create a questionnaire instead
of other techniques such as interviews because it
was done in the minimal amount of time for
people answering the questionnaires. Google
Docs includes an option that makes it really easy
to create questionnaires by allowing you to add
multiple choice questions as well as single answer
questions. The form was easy to edit if any
mistakes we made. It was then shared to peers
and a summary of all responses were available to
view on Google. Google Docs also created graphs
of responses automatically so it consequently
saved us time. This feedback was later used in
evaluations.
Google Docs is very similar to programs such as
Microsoft Office which I am familiar with.
Subsequently, it was relatively quick for me to
pick up.
GOOGLE DOCS
QUESTIONNAIRES
10. The only social networking site that was vital
over the course of creating and releasing Vodka
and Coke was the video sharing site YouTube.
This enabled us to easily share the film as well
as our preliminary exercise and to easily use
examples from the videos in our evaluations.
We used Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook to share
Google feedback questionnaires. This was not a
necessity but sharing this through social
networking sites allowed us to get more
members of a potential audience to get
involved than we would through just asking
people we knew to get involved. As people that
were not just close peers, we could get fully
honest and non-biased opinions for feedback. I
enjoyed using social media for media work
because networking sites are constantly used by
me as well as other people my age so there I
could easily apply my own knowledge to
contribute to my project.
SOCIAL NETWORKING
