This document summarizes what the student learned about technologies from constructing their film project. They used iMovie to edit clips and learned cutting techniques from older students. The fit tool in iMovie allowed them to zoom in on a pivotal scene. They found a soundtrack on YouTube and used Audacity and iMovie to edit it into the film. Fade tools helped smooth transitions. Research was conducted online using search engines and film analysis. A Panasonic camera with image stabilization was used for filming, along with a tripod to create steady shots, though it was awkward for POV shots.

1. Evaluation – Question 6
J.J.W.H

2. What Have you Learnt About
Technologies from the Process of
Constructing your Film?

3. iMovie

4. The Editors
After a brief lesson on iMovie we decided that
Will and Howard would edit our clips as they
were the best in our group at editing and
enjoyed using technology such as the Apple
Macbooks.

5. Cutting
iMovie uses an easy to use system for cutting
and arranging clips. Will and Howard learn to
use this technique from year 13 media students.
To cut you must double click the clip, then adjust
the yellow bars to select which part to crop out.

6. Fit Tool
The fit tool was really
effective in our film.
The scene where
someone runs past
the window is a
pivotal moment in
our film which was
the foundation of
building tension. The
fit tool allowed us to
zoom in on the
window to
emphasise this
event.

7. Adding a Soundtrack

8. Choosing the Soundtrack
Will sort after the perfect soundtrack to add the desired
suspense/thriller effect. He used the internet phenomenon
‘YouTube’ to find a video with a soundtrack that met the criteria.
He messaged the video poster to ask if he could use it for a
media project; the user agreed.

9. Converting and Cutting
Once given permission Will used the website
www.youtube-mp3.org to convert the audio
from the video into a mp3 soundtrack. He then
used the programme ‘Audacity’ to cut the
soundtrack to the correct length for the film.

10. Applying to the Film
Being the soundtrack and effects editor Will then
applied the soundtrack to the video by clicking and
dragging the clip into iMovie and moving it to the
right places to create a thriller ambience.

11. Audio Editing
iMovie has a tool called ‘fade’ which allows the
editor to fade in or out audio. This was
particularly useful when Jamie was leaving the
TV room to answer the door. We had the camera
placed next to the TV which picked up the
adverts being played clearly and didn’t fit the
acting on screen because it cut out suddenly as
we transitioned to the next panning shot. ‘Fade’
allowed us to slowly mute the TV which
improved smoothness and continuity.

12. Fade Tool

13. Sound Enhancements
In order to create an ambience of a thriller we
decided to incorporate sound enhancements or
selective sounding to increase dramatic effect.
Examples of this are the scream as Jamie enters
the loft, the door slamming when Jamie answers
the door and the breathing in the POV shot
when Jamie approaches the loft.

14. Research
We equally shared our responsibilities of finding
research and then discussed how we could use
what we found into our project. We used a two
main varieties of technologies to comprehend
this information. Firstly, we used websites such
as Wikipedia, Google and YouTube from the
internet. Secondly, we watched film extracts and
analysed them.

15. Internet Research
We used a variety of search engines, media
websites and statistical information sites to obtain
our research. We all had previous experience of
using these sites which made it easier to find
accurate information. Search engines such as
Google allowed us to find famous thriller films so
we knew what films to watch and analyse. Media
websites such as YouTube allowed us to view some
film extracts and also find sound effects. Statistical
information websites such as Wikipedia allowed us
to find well known thriller directors and their
prominant techniques.

16. Film Research
We watched a variety of renowned thriller
openings in class as a group. We analysed what
techniques were being used and respectable
mise-en-scene. Using film research was
advantageous to our group as it allowed us to
then search reviews of the openings on the
internet. This gave us an superior overview on
what to incorporate into our project and what
not to.

17. Camera
We used a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ18 to film our
project. With relatively no previous experiences
with cameras and filming we decided to choose
Jackson as our cameraman. Jackson quickly took to
the aspect of filming and created very steady
panning shots with help from the cameras
intelligent auto mode with power O.I.S.(Optical
Image Stabilizer). Despite the steady shots we did
feel the 30 fps (frames per second) we got when
recording seemed unfocussed and produced slight
lag. Another downside to the camera used was the
poor image quality.

18. Tripod
We used a tripod that Jackson already owned to
produce steady and level shots. Jackson hadn’t
used a tripod before but once fixing the camera
on found it easy to use. The tripod was valuable
to our filming as it allowed us to create steady
shots with minimal camera twitch. The
downsides to using the tripod was the
awkwardness of size and the impractically of
detaching and reattaching of the camera
whenever we used a POV shot.