tech

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

2. Camera
I didn’t have any experience of using a camera and other
equipment before filming my opening. After being shown
how to use the camera I had no problems with using it and I
feel like the filming of my opening was successful.
I used a Canon 600 D on a standard lens of 18mm – 55mm
lens I mainly used the camera focus on automatic to get
good exposures. I feel like it was a successful process using
this because I didn’t have to get the camera in and out of
focus and the lighting looked good in the shots.
In contrast to this, i did also use the camera focus in a manual setting. I did this because I filmed
3 focus pulls for my opening. One was on the first close up of Tony’s face to introduce his
character. The next one was after the scene of when Tony got shot. It begins with an extreme
close up of Tony’s “dead” eyes out of focus and as the camera goes in to focus it also tracks out
to his “lifeless” face. I feel that it worked well because it created a lot of tension and it looks
professional. The last focus pull I did was when Tony was lighting a cigarette. The camera was
out of focus when he was lighting it and then came into focus on the lit cigarette. Again, its
interesting for the audience to see some quick and easy effects that will make the small frames
with interesting detail to them look better and more professional. My experience of using this skill
has had a positive affect on my film and my audience. In upcoming tasks I will definitely use this.

3. Tripod
During the first stages of my filming process I
was using the schools tripod.
However, due to the access of it I decided to
use my Mums photography tripod. It worked
well for me because I was able to use it a lot
and during my construction process I had to
do a lot of re-filming. It was easy to put the
camera onto the tripod which saved a lot of
time. Adjusting the height and panning the
camera was smooth and easy to use.
I didn’t have any problems with this piece of
equipment which helped me a lot to get level,
clear shots. I used the camera to pan up and
down on Tony in the flashback during my
opening and it was a success.

4. Audio
At first, |attempted to record Tony’s
voiceover through the canon 600 D
camera alone. I realised that it wouldn’t
be good enough because you couldn’t
hear his voice clearly. I then borrowed a
Rode microphone from the school that
easily attached to the camera. The voice
over sounded clear and his words had a
tense affect to the audience which was
what I was aiming for.
Due to the fact I attached the
microphone to the camera I uploaded it
onto Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 as a video
clip. I had to then detach the sound with
the footage and delete the video clip.
This was easy to do after my teacher
explained it to me. I had to do this to
most of my clips in my opening as I was
using loud music and there was no
dialogue from the characters apart from
Tony’s voiceover in the beginning.

5. Editing
I used the programe Adobe Premier Pro CS5 to construct my
footage into my final piece.
Before studying media studies this year in sixth-form this year I
had never used this programme before and I found it difficult
at first. However, I looked at online tutorials and my teacher
showed me how to use the tools. I had to do a lot of editing
on my footage. For example, I edited in jump cuts on some of
the footage by using the razor tool to separate it and deleting
every other clip. Also, I easily changed the speed duration to
a higher and slower speed in some of the scenes.
I found this programme useful because it was easy to upload
the footage onto it. Once I knew how to use the programe it
was easy to use. It has helped me with many things – lighting,
colour, speed, putting footage in reverse, sound and
cropping different clips if needed.
I also used After Effects CS5 to put an after effect of a shatter
to the title of my film ‘Blow’. I found a tutorial online and after
following the instructions I was able to successfully do it and it
looks good. I then had to save it and transfer it to Adobe
Premiere Pro CS5 and I edited it into the middle of the
opening.

6. I Learnt:
• I learnt how to use the camera that I will
have to use throughout sixth-form. I learnt
how to control the exposure and use the
focus.
• I gained experience of using a tripod and
had to use it carefully to frame a good
shot.
• I learnt how to use the Adobe Premier Pro
editing programmes and it will help me in
future tasks. I now know a lot about how
to edit different effects in my work.