The student learned several important things from creating their thriller opening project: 1) They learned how essential a tripod, high quality DSLR camera, and lighting equipment were for achieving professional quality video. 2) Through using iMovie and GarageBand, they gained skills in video editing, adding music/effects, and recording audio. 3) Blogger, YouTube, SlideShare, and IMDb helped with presenting their work online, sharing videos, and researching popular thriller films. 4) Different types of cameras like the Canon DSLR, Flip camera, and DV camera were suited to different purposes based on factors like image quality, size, and storage.

1. What have you learnt about
technologies from the process
of constructing this product?

2. Tripod
I have learnt that the tripod was essential in
ensuring our thriller opening looked as professional
as possible. It allowed the footage to be steady at all
times, we didn’t have to worry about holding the
camera.
The tripod allowed us to place the camera at
different heights so we had a variety of shots.
However, the tripods we received were quite small
so in the future it would be better to have a tripod
with longer legs.

3. Canon E0S 650D DSLR
I learnt that this camera was vital for our thriller opening as this camera had 18.0 megapixels
which provided a clear and crisp image making our thriller opening look very professional in
contrast to our preliminary task where we used the flip camera which had much less
megapixels.
The use of the lens ensured we could use the ‘zoom’ feature and establish a variety of shots
such as extreme close ups of my eye at the end of our thriller opening.
Although the Canon camera had far better quality, all of its data was stored on a very small SD
card so we have to be careful we didn’t lose it as all our footage would have gone. Initially, we
had a problem with the camera as it struggled to focus and took time to focus which meant
the picture looked fuzzy but we managed to get rid of this as we turned on the stabilizer.
Overall, I learnt how to take videos and photo’s on the Canon camera and ultimately learnt
how important camera’s are as they determine what your thriller opening looks like and
exactly what the quality is like.

4. Flip Camera
From using the flip camera in our preliminary
task I learnt that It’s extremely lightweight and
easy to use as there are only a few buttons on
the device which include a ‘record’ ‘play’ and
‘delete’. This camera is not bad at all
considering it’s hundreds of pounds cheaper
than the Canon DSLR camera.
The camera stores its data in a built in USB
which means there is no chance we can lose
our footage, this is not the case however for
the Canon camera as the SD card is removable.
On the other hand the quality doesn’t match to
the 18 megapixels from the Canon camera and
the screen is only 1.5 inches and doesn’t have a
touch screen feature like the Canon camera
does.
Overall, I learnt that this camera
is very easy to use and you can
plug it in a USB port to view your
footage but it’s not a suitable
camera for our thriller opening
as from research I have found
that most flip camera’s have less
than 10 megapixels.

5. Camera Lights
• I realized how important lighting really is as it can
help to create an atmosphere and depict moods in
scenes of a film. Lighting can also be used to
highlight the importance of a character.
• For example, you could use a back light only for a
mysterious character so the lighting is not too bright
and doesn’t make his face very clear to an audience

6. DV Camera
This camera helped to learn exactly how to
record with a handheld camera and how
to insert and remove DV tapes
I also learnt how to upload footage from
DV camera’s onto computers so we can
edit the footage.
The DV had a useful advantage which was
that the screen could be tilted all the way
round so the person being recorded can
see themselves, this can come in handy for
different types of shots.
Although this camera wasn’t as advanced
as the Canon DSLR, the quality of video
and sound from the DV camera was still
very good.

7. iMac
I have learnt so much from using the iMac’s during
media lessons. I have become almost professional
in using programs such as iMovie, Gargeband and
Blogger.
I also noticed how advanced these computers
were in comparison to the standard windows
computers in the school. They take less time to
boot up and are faster in opening programs such
as iMovie. Safari on the Macs was definitely a
faster web browser than Internet Explorer on the
Windows computers.
Overall, I have learnt how crucial a computer is in
creating your thriller opening as it determines what
software you can access and how quickly you can
make your media product.

8. iMovie
• I used iMovie in the editing process for our thriller opening.
• I have learnt how to…
- Import and export a video
- How to trim clips and adjust the speed of a clip (slow
motion)
- Insert music, text and transitions into a video clip
Positives?
- It was a very reliable programme as it saved my work
automatically, I didn’t have to worry about saving my work
every few minutes.
Negatives?
- When editing on iMovie, I had to use the same iMac as it only
saved on the one iMac you were using. This meant I couldn’t
edit if someone else was using that particular iMac.

9. GarageBand
• From using GarageBand, I learnt how to
record and save a podcast. I made a podcast
for evaluation question and thriller plot ideas
as I could speak straight to the Mac because
of the in-built microphone.
• I also learnt that Garage Band could be used
to create music for a thriller opening with
different effects.

10. Blogger
• I used Blogger to upload posts. I learnt how to create an account for
Blogger and how publish or draft posts. I learnt how to add images,
videos, links and presentations such as PowerPoint and Prezi using
SlideShare. I also learnt how to change the font style, size and
whether to add colour or highlight text.
• I also used Blogger to look at older blogs so I could see how they
presented information and gain incentive from that.
• This program helped me to display all my media coursework in a
visually appealing way as I was able to post power points courtesy of
slide share and insert images and videos from YouTube. The different
fonts and colours provided variety.
• Overall, Blogger helped us to present the making of our thriller
opening in a more appealing way rather than reading blocks of text.
It was also easily accessible via Google.

11. Art of the title
• I used Art of the title to watch a variety of title
sequences to see the opening 2 minutes of a
selection of films.
• This taught me how different films contain
different titles, audio and visuals relevant to
their genre.

12. YouTube
• As soon as we started our media
coursework, I created a YouTube account
and I learnt how to upload videos such as
our preliminary task, lighting task and final
thriller opening. Youtube allowed me to
edit videos also with the annotation tool.

13. SlideShare & IMDb
SlideShare allowed me to upload a PowerPoint file
online so it could be accessed on my blog. I did this by
copying the embed link and pasting it onto Blogger.
I used IMDb to learn more information about
specific thriller films such as the cast, box office
figures and film ratings.
I learnt what thriller films are most popular and what
makes them successful or even a failure.