Digital Technology

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Media technology was a big part in the research and planning of our production. This was because when researching, we used YouTube to research the different things that we could add into our film. For example we found really good special effects make up tutorials that we were thinking of putting into our film but then changed our mind as they didn't fit in with our opening two minutes and it wasn't what we needed. When planning the film, we made a storyboard which was made by using an iPhone for the pictures and then being transferred onto the computer which was then put together by Adobe, this helped majorly for our storyboard to be very successful and look professional.

What software was used?

To edit our film we used the software that is called 'Adobe Premiere Elements 10'. This was extremely useful throughout the whole editing process and it was the software that put our film all together in one piece. When the first opened up the software, none of our group had any idea on how to use it but as we used it more and more we all got used to it eventually and now we are aware of all the different types of things that the software can do. On the software we used a vary of different things, these were such as the cutting and snipping tools, adding music over the top, using different types of transitions and experimenting in what looks the best in our film. Another thing that we also used Adobe for was our storyboard, this was by adding the photos onto the software and then editing them together to make the final piece. Our group thought that this was the best way to do the storyboard and it came looking exactly how we wanted it too.

What equipment was used?

When filming our film and taking photos of the surroundings we used a lot of different equipment. Our group used an IPhone 6s to take the videos along with a selfie stick and tripod. Also we used an IPhone 5s to take the photos of the setting and of Chloe in action taking the videos of Kieran. The selfie stick was very useful when filming our scenes in the bedroom, this was because of Charlottes arm wasn't long enough to get to the bit where we needed to film from to not be too close up so we needed to think of an alternative and a selfie stick has many different lengths which meant that we could make it to whichever length we needed at the time. The tripod was also very effective because it meant that we got a very still scene when we needed it to be instead of having hands shaking and then it looking very unprofessional, this also meant that we could film from whichever height we needed to because the tripod adjusts very high and very low. This made it easier for us to judge where we needed it. The final bit of equipment that we had to purchase for making our film was different size camera lenses, however we didn't use them al in the end as they didn't work how we wanted them to but we had different ideas, such as a fishbowl type, we were going to make this look like it was from charlottes eye and her point of view but when we came round to doing it we thought that it looked better without them and just the same the whole way through therefore we only used one of the camera lenses that we purchased, which was just one of the normal lenses as it was much more clearer quality than just keeping the original one.

What were the technical pro's and cons of the software and hardware?

There were many pros when using the software. This was because it made our film look extremely effective with using all the transitions that were involved and all the different tools that we were able to use to make the film all in one piece, for example we were using different transitions to have the directors and who was starring names to fade in and out very quickly and using this software we were able to do this without any trouble. One of the positive things that I found using an iPhone 6s when filming was that the quality was extremely good as they have similar quality to high tech cameras that is used in everyday life.

Although there was many positives to the software and hardware, there was also many negatives. To start of with the software that we used, adobe would have moments that it was really slow and kept freezing, this was extremely hard at some points as when  we kept tying to watch the film throughout to see what we could make and change although it was hard to noticed, therefore it took a lot more time than it was meant to. The hardware that we used also had a negative, it wasn't a big negative because it was easy to change but the storage would get full very quickly and we would have to spend time trying to delete some photos, videos and apps and then make sure we have enough storage to film the different types of scenes. We thought that we might of needed to change phones and use other people but that wasn't the case because we knew it would be different quality and it would mess up the whole film therefore we sorted it all on one device.




In which ways did technology to create the production?
Technology was the most important part to create our film. This was because we used an iPhone to film the production and then we used a computer to edit it and add in the final touches. Therefore we wouldn't be able to do the whole film and we would struggle majorly without these two items. There would be alternatives that we could used such as a normal camera but we decided that an iPhone camera would be best as it is amazing quality and most people know how to use it.




In what ways did the technology constrain or enable the production to be developed?
Using an IPhone to film the production was good and bad. There were a lot of things that we had to think about before going out to film, for example storage and battery. Before we left we had to make sure that we had enough storage incase we had to keep re-taking scenes and then enough battery to last us as we didn't want to switch onto a different phone as the camera setting may be a little bit different and therefore the film wont look as professional as we would make it. However, there was also many things that enabled our production to be developed by using technology and this was the camera being such good quality on an IPhone. This really helped us out in the case of that it looked very professional and was easier for us because we knew how to work an IPhone and all the little bits that comes with it because we are very familiar with the whole concept. This really benefited us when developing the production.


There were also good and bad things by using the computer to edit. The computer enabled us to use many different tools and transitions on the Adobe software. This meant that we could add in many different things to our film to make it look professional and was easy to do. Although, because the computer has so much storage and things on it, when using the software it would freeze every now and then which made it hard for us to edit as we had to keep waiting for it to stop freezing and this meant that sometimes we would forget what we were doing or have to start all over again and make more changes. This made it very challenging but in the end we finished it successfully.