Learning new technologies through product construction
1. What have you learnt about
technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
2. In order to create our product, we had to learn to use three new
technologies; the camera, the editing software and the logo
creating software.
For filming, we used a Sony CMOS HDV 1080i camera, provided
by our school, as well as a tripod, monopod and a lamp. When
learning to use the camera, we learnt how to adjust the ring set,
white balance and exposure, as well as learning how to mount
the camera onto the tripod and monopod in order to collect a
wide range of shot types. This was sometimes difficult, as the
white balance and exposure had to be adjusted for every shot in
order to maintain the same lighting throughout the production.
3. At first, we had some difficulties importing the footage from the
tape we recorded on into the editing software so that we could
edit it. We fixed this by using a firewire cable to connect the
camera to the computer whilst the tape was still inside, which
allowed us to import the footage. Whilst editing the production
in Final Cut Pro, we had to learn to use the Cut tool, as well as
how to layer sound and clips together and add in transitions.
This sometimes proved challenging, as it was difficult to keep
track of which layers contained which clips, and to cut them
short enough to flow smoothly.
4. In order to create our production company logo, we used
Adobe Illustrator to create a rough guide of the shape
and colours we wanted, before creating the moving
image version using Final Cut Pro. This was challenging,
as mastering the shape tools in Illustrator took practice,
and transferring the files from one program to another
was difficult.
