The document discusses what the author learned about various technologies through creating a media production project. The author discusses using an SLR camera and tripod for filming, and describes challenges with uneven ground and keeping focus. Editing was done on Apple Macs using Final Cut Pro, which the author found easy to use but struggled with filters. Flash was attempted for titles but failed to work properly. Overall the author learned skills for using the software and hardware, as well as lessons about managing time and backing up files.

1. What have I learnt about
technologies from the
process of constructing the
product?
BY ALEXANDRA GREGORY

2. Introduction
Throughout the course of filming, editing and creating my media product I have learnt various
things about the technologies I have used ranging from the cameras when filming, to the mac
and the software I used to edit and create my finished media product.
I came across various problems throughout creating my media product, which I will explain
within the different headings explaining the technologies I have used for various different parts
of my film.
The main pieces of equipment and technologies that I will be talking about are;
- Cameras and the skills I learnt
- The apple macs and the problems that I faced
- Final Cut which is the main piece of software I used to create and edit my media product
- Flash
- Photoshop
- Skills I learnt.

3. Cameras
When filming my media product I used an SLR camera on a tripod to allow me to pan evenly,
also to get a range of different heights for the different places, in which I chose to film.
I found using the SLR camera when on flat ground inside when I filmed the piano scenes as it
was easier to handle and use.
It was more difficult when I was filming outside on the farm ad fields as the ground was uneven
and I found that my film is at a slight angle, which now I have learnt after filming that if I used a
different tripod I could alter each one to enable myself to get a flat and straight picture.
I also found it difficult to keep the focus in one place as it kept going in and out of focus at
different points of me filming. However I did manage to keep the main scenes in a good focus.
I enjoyed doing different camera movements, although I kept it fairly simple as I wanted it to
look professional, so I used pan the majority of the time.

4. Apple Macs
I used the Apple Mac to create my media production as it had the software on that I needed,
such as Final Cut, Flash and Photoshop.
I found using the Apple Mac easier to use rather than a normal computer or laptop as it had a
larger screen and processed a lot faster than a normal computer does.
I did face a few problems when using the apple mac however such as programmes not loading
and pieces of work becoming lost, which meant that I had to re-film pieces of work, which was
not great as it meant I had to spend longer on my editing rather than doing other pieces of blog
work and my evaluation.
The apple mac allowed me to connect my phone, which has the music and sounds on, it also
allowed me to connect all the memory cards easier to transfer over the work.
I learnt how to use the apple macs, to a certain extent that I didn’t have to ask questions about
where things are etc. which allowed me to get on with my work.

5. Final Cut
I used final cut to edit and put together my media production as it is required to be used.
I found final cut relatively easy to use as it is fairly straight forward, however I did struggle with
one or two aspects of it, such as the filters.
I struggled to use the filters because the farm scene is dark and although it needs to have lower
lighting than the other scenes, I waned to brighten parts of it, which I struggled with because
when I added various filters it made the picture grainy, which made the film look unfinished and
unprofessional.
I also struggled to get the quality of them the same, so it looks slightly jumpy which I am
unhappy about and if I was to do it again, I would research into how to do various filters and
watch tutorials on how to use final cut professionally etc.

6. Flash
I attempted to use flash for my title “Heidi & Clyde” to make it a handwriting effect when it
appears on the screen, which I succeeded in, however it failed to allow me to add a transparent
background and it also failed to load after I had made it, so I could not attempt to make it go
onto my media production.
I found flash easy to work with after I watched a tutorial video on how to make the effect that I
was looking for.
I wouldn’t use flash again as it is very time consuming and even after spending a lot of hours on
one piece of work it didn’t appear to be a great quality at the end of it.

7. Conclusion
I learnt various skills over the course of creating my media production, which allowed me to be
prepared if I ever had to use the software and hardware again.
I learnt many things such as how to use final cut effectively, how to use the cameras and so on.
I learnt that I would have to be more aware of the time that I have as I found most of the editing
tasks on the apple macs using the software was very time consuming, especially when rendering
my videos on final cut.
I also found that I would have to always ensure that I backup all of my files as it is easy to lose
pieces of work and video files, which causes me to get behind in my work and have to re-film
pieces.