The document discusses the learning and challenges experienced by the author in creating a film opening project over the course of a class. They learned to use new technologies like the filming camera, external microphone, iMac and GarageBand. They encountered issues with sound quality during outdoor filming, limitations of equipment like a non-tilting tripod, and difficulties syncing sound and video during editing. Overall the author felt they gained significant knowledge of technologies like the iMac through completing the project.

1. At the beginning of the course technology wasn’t my strongest point. However throughout the process of creating this product and evaluating it I have felt my knowledge of technology has increased. Throughout the process I have learnt to use the filming camera, the external microphone, the IMac- which I had never used before and garage music. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to your full product?

2. Music: Part of our audience feedback was to find some ambient music to create suspense within the scene and build tension for the audience. We discovered to try to find none copyright music that was good enough and created the right atmosphere within the opening was a lot harder than first thought. We thought about creating music ourselves and using a Dictaphone to then transfer it onto the IMac. This was not possible as we couldn’t get the connection and so we decided to create our own music but using IMac tool GarageBand. The short snippets of sound created an eerie feeling and because it was in the opening created an overall impression of the mood of the film. Overall I felt as though at some point, for example at the end of the opening the music may have been a bit emotional and not as scary however it did create suspense. Yet we did manage to find some none copyright free music that suited our icons well at the beginning of the film to make the product seem more realistic.

3. Filming: At the beginning of the course I didn’t know much about the camera and how to use it correctly. I learnt how to correctly put together the camera, tracker and tripod. Whilst filming we came across certain issues such as the sound of the film outside. One of our audience feedback points was that the speech wasn’t clear outside and so although we tried to find the time to re-film using the external microphone it wasn’t feasible. We therefore used the IMac to heighten the volume so that the speech was clearer. We found that at times we were limited of what we could do with the equipment. For instance, throughout filming our tripod wouldn’t tilt our camera and so we had some shots that were awkward and not level and so we had to cut it out. We also tried to use the focus on the camera when Lilly was running through to play with the audience’s emotions however the shallow focus didn’t work and so we had a normal shot. Also we wanted to create a canted shot in the mirror which insinuated that was the “ghost” or “spirit” in the house which was why we chose to hand-hold the camera at that point. We hoped this would come across in the filming. However we did have difficulties in the woods when doing the pan shot of the trees. We had to use the tripod to pan round but keep the camera facing up without it wobbling.

4. Editing: For most of the editing of our film we used the IMac. This is Apple software and was very difficult as we couldn’t send work from the IMac to the normal computer or vice versa. The IMac programme we used to edit our film was MovieHD. This was useful as we could put in transitions between each shot, edit each shot, change the lighting or sound if we needed to, used effects or created title sequences. Our title sequences were a black screen with our shots moving behind in the name. This looked effective because it was different but also captured the audience’s attention by making them wonder what the shot was. We also put an effect on the shots in the woods which helped create a contrast between the dull present day and the past. At first we had a lot of transitions between shots; however after receiving audience feedback that some didn’t make sense, we took quite a few out and changed them. For example the Fade Out worked well in many transitions as it was a soft was to move onto the next shot. Also at one of the shots at the end, there was a dog barking in the background so we made the sound at that point inaudible so that it couldn’t be heard. Finally at the beginning of each shot when filming we held up the number of the shot- made from the storyboard- and said action so that it was easier to 1. Put the shot in order when editing 2. Know when the shot started This made the clips easier to crop and edit so it made us as a group more time efficient.

5. The lighting was also an issue that we discovered whilst filming. We had to make sure there was enough light on so that the camera could pick up certain features. Although in the end shot we wanted the room to be dark so that the TV screen would have more effect, it was too dark for the camera to pick up Lilly and her mother in the photograph- a key point for the opening. This was handled by heightening the contrast slightly on the IMac and so we could see more of the objects in the shot. Another task we had to overcome was how to create the icons and film institutions you see at the beginning of every film. Finally we created a moving image on PowerPoint Presentation and filmed it on the computer screen whilst playing the music from a different computer and then download it onto the IMac from the camera. This had to be re-done many times seeing as the computer screen would come out blurry on the IMac or the music would be out of sync with the icons.

6. Overall I feel like I have made a lot of progress learning about technologies to create this product and I feel as though I know a lot more about the IMac especially. The audience feedback from the year above (year 13’s who had previously completed a film opening) was great help as it gave us the opportunities to further our knowledge and use more of the technology available to us, for instance, the external microphone.