Through creating a horror film opening, the student learned to use various technologies. They used a camcorder, tripod, and IMovie to film and edit scenes. Research was done using YouTube for filming tips, IMBD to analyze successful horror films, and blogger to share work. Specific skills developed included using camera angles, shots, movements, and editing techniques in Adobe Premiere and IMovie like color changes, fades, and sound effects. This allowed the student to effectively plan, shoot and edit their opening to the best of their ability.

1. Media Horror Opening –
Question 6
What we have learnt from various technologies

2. What have you learnt about
technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
 When learning something new or creating a product
you always learn new skills along the way, through
this task we have learnt various techniques in media.
We have learnt how to deal with specific camera
shots, angles and movements through using a
technical camera and new ways of presenting i.e.
blogger, prezi, scribd. When editing and putting
together findings from research we learnt how to use
I movie when putting all of out information together.
Whilst learning how to edit our horror opening we
used Youtube to receive further tips and information
to guide us, further using IMDB (internet movie
database). Through these techniques and the
knowledge gained we were able to create a final
product to the best of our ability.

3. How have specific
technologies helped you to
research and plan, shoot
and edit your film?
 Camcorders and Tripods –
 The camcorder we used was the Toshiba H30 which is a
fairly simple recorder but does the job well. To begin with
we had a little play around to get used to the technology of
it i.e. we investigated how to use the zoom lense, how to
change colour of the recordings and to use slow motion.
We wanted to think about stability and therefore worked
out how to use the tripod. The camcorder which we used
we found very helpful and easy to control however the
battery was not very sufficient therefore we had to keep
charging it up which slowed the shooting. Something I feel
the camcorder was very helpful with was that you can view
what you have just shot instantly therefore you can record
it again if needed.

4.  Blogger- This website is a very efficient use of technology
for us to put all of our work onto so others can view it and
comment immediately. Through posting something onto
your personal blog you can use various media types i.e.
pictures, videos, essay’s, notes etc. This internet resource
is a very competent way of receiving help from tutors,
assistance and advice. It allows you to be independent but
in a position where you can get help if needed.
 You are also able to personalise your profile which makes it
your own, using it in both a professional and fun way.
Through personalising your work it makes it unique so that
you’re using media in a different way to everyone else.

5.  Camera Angles – Through learning how to use a camcorder we have
developed skills on how to use various angles, shots and movements
in effective ways.
The main shots we used were:
 Close up – adding tension to the opening and allowing the audience to
feel more involved.
 Long shot – allowing the audience to see the setting and receive more
information about the shot i.e. the park, tree’s, playground.
 Over the shoulder – alike a close-up where the audience can see
clearly the characters expression and emotion. Also demonstrating
the relationships between the characters.
 Medium shot – mixing the close-up shot and long shot to get both a
establishing view and character view.
 Extreme close up – a more intense version of a close-up
demonstrating further tension and adding suspense.
 Establish Shot – a shot used to set the scene at the beginning
allowing the audience to receive the bulk of the information.
 Perspective shot – this shot we used so that the characters reactions
and characteristics were enhanced at the right moments.

6.  Camera Movement - As well as camera shots you need to
understand how to move the camera in an effective way to get
the best result. Some of the various movements we used are ones
which we researched and experimented with.
 The main movements we included were:
 Panning – this is an easy way to move from place to place without
leaving out any detail. Panning allows the audience to view the
entire scene in one shot. We used various panning shots to
enhance the suspense and build to the climax of the scene.
 Zoom –this allowed us to add the suspense in certain scenes
especially when we wanted to focus on one character or one
aspect of the scene.
 Handheld – this use of movement is very effective as it brings the
audience into a very real life like situation, creating a sense of
tension and horror. The handheld was used when we shot running
scenes and scenes of panic.

7.  YouTube – Youtube is a very helpful way of receiving
information on guidance with using certain websites,
technology, programs and more. We typed into the
search bar what we needed help with and various
amounts of videos came up which offered guidance
and specific information. We also used this internet
page to research into various horror films. From using
the internet as a research method we found that the
costume used for the little girl in The Ring was a big
inspiration for our villain in our opening. In addition
the green light used helped us to think about making
a murky and eerie effect in our scenes. Youtube
further enabled us to find examples of music/sounds
we could use in our opening to create the best effect.
From using Youtube it deffinatly allowed us to learn
further skills about technology.

8.  IMBD – This website can be used by anyone to gather
information about any type of genre and any film. We
specifically used the horror genre and researched about 5
various films. You can receive information about the target
audience, ratings, reviews etc. From analysing the ratings
and reviews we were able to work out what would work
best for our opening and what would help to create the
strongest outcome product.
 One film we researched and analysed was Paranormal
Activity which had a rating of 6.5 and a gross earning of
$193,355,800 worldwide. The budget of the film was
$15,000 demonstrating this film was of a big success
financially showing it was a well viewed film. We found out
that the outcome was very strong and was well received by
the public.

9. How we used Adobe
Premiere Elements
 This program was the main starting point for our editing, it is
what we used at the beginning of our editing process. It allowed
us to use things like; fading between the scenes, colour changes,
sound effects, clip trimmers and various other technical edits.
However due to the program not being strong enough to hold our
opening and allowing us to use the editing techniques we needed
we had to transfer to using a Apple Mac Book with the editing
program installed. This program was a lot like Adobe Premiere
however it allowed us to edit each individual scene with precise
detail. We started off by making a list of the key elements we
needed to edit and worked our way from that. With this program
we were able to create a final product through high technology
and a very effective use of editing software. Certain editing
techniques we used were changing the entire colour of the
opening into a more dull exterior, using fades and snap shot from
one scene to another, editing in music and sound effect changing
the volume, pitch and tone etc.

10. Other technology
we have used
 I movie – This was the program
on the Mac which we had to
adjust to. From this we learnt how to use special
effects, fades, cuts and many more techniques.
We learn how to change the colour of each
shot/scene, how to import sound files, fonts for
our title making it unique to our opening. The
purpose of learning techniques helps us to have
an overall strong horror and frightening effect
towards the audience such as the lighting being
abnormal, odd sound effects and chilling images.
By use of these effects we were able to create a
finished horror opening which was completed to
the best of out ability.

11.  Prezi – This internet website is a very technical and media
efficient way of producing work on a new level, it is
recognised as a powerpoint/slide show. Once it was created
then imported the embedded code onto blogger so others
could view our work.
 Scribd – This internet program was a lot like Prezi as it
allowed us to explore different media and more interesting
way of presenting our work, instead of putting it onto blog
as a word document. One by one you place it onto a scribd
document and then put the embedded code onto blogger.