Q6

1. Question 6:
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE
PROCESS OF CONSTRUCTING THIS PRODUCT?

2. Canon 600D camera
 A problem experienced during the shoot was that it was raining lightly near the beginning and was fairly heavy
towards the end. This meant that the lens of the camera was wet for much of the shoot. However, this actually gave
some of the shots a slightly unsaturated dreamlike quality. Such an effect is difficult to create artificially. However, it
did also mean that occasionally I would have to clean the lens because the shot was too blurry, making the shoot less
efficient.
 During shooting, focus was a feature of the camera that I struggled with a little, particularly in the zoom shot on Andy’s
face when the killer says his first line. This was because I had to stay the same distance away from Andy in order to
keep the focus on his face, but I also had to move around the phone box whilst also zooming the camera. The
logistical problem with getting this shot may have been due to not having a separate focus puller, which would be the
industry standard solution to a problem like this. To make it slightly easier for me, as is the case with most
photography or filming that I do, I kept the camera on manual focus, since auto-focus may have confused the camera
slightly.
 Having the flip-out screen on the camera allowed for me to position some shots more precisely than I would normally
have been able to. In certain cases, without a flip-out screen, I would not have been able to see what the camera saw
and so would not have had a rounded view of the shots. For example, there is one shot (pictured right) which was
taken from a low angle in the corner of the phone box. It was impossible for me to position the camera and frame the
shot properly until I brought out the flip-screen. This allowed me to have a view to the shot that allowed for more
precision in the framing and the focus.

3. Adobe Premiere Pro
 A huge part of the opening’s style focuses on the sound, which is used throughout to determine the precise mood of the
scene. Near the start, the heavy rock song playing out of the car radio suggest normality, whereas later on the sound collage
of the tinnitus effect and the laboured breathing make everything much more surreal and unsettling. This was only made
possible by the multiple audio tracks available on Premiere’s editing software. Being able to overlay the tracks on top of each
other and use fade-ins and fade-outs to create more professional soundscape was useful, essential even, to evoking the
correct mood. Similarly, the ambient diegetic sound of the cars going past outside was important to creating a more realistic
setting and allowing the film to flow much more. This would not have been possible to do without having other audio tracks.
 Something which I had a problem with was the aspect ratio of the video, which ended up coming out as a box in the middle of
the screen. As I found out later on, this was because when videos are imported into premiere, you must choose to start a
new sequence from the clip, allowing it to adjust the video to the right size. On the right, you can see what the video looks
like when exported thusly. If I were to try and improve the film from the start, this would have been my first action when
editing the opening. As it stands, this is unfortunately not possible without completely undoing all the editing I have done up
to this point.
 The black and white effects on hand in the program allowed me to stylize the film as I saw fit and also had a great amount of
editing opportunity with how far monochrome the film is taken. However, although the option was there, I did not change the
brightness of the scene, as I intended for it to be flat lit by the light in the scene. Looking back, it may have given some extra
punch to the lighting to change the contrast but as it stands I think having it flat lit definitely worked to heighten the realism of
the opening.