Evaluation Question 6

Question 6-

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

Because we were making an extremely low budget film we didn't have anything fancy to film and use for our final project. Throughout our planning, filming and post production we used everyday equipment that we didn't have to buy especially for the film and we used equipment that we already had and didn't have to rent. the products we used were; 

• Iphone
• Imac
• editing softwares

This is a very short list compare to most film makers as we were only students we could get any extravagant equipment that was out of our range. There were many strengths to this meaning that we didn't have to spend any extra money, we didn't have to borrow anyone else equipment, we had all our equipment ready to go and we didn't have to wait for any camera or anything to be free to use them. This was defiantly one of the best perks meaning that we could get the whole filming process over and done with very easily. Another strength was filming using our iPhones, this was one of the easiest and quickest way to film as smart phones these days have the same camera quality as a normal camera and they also have been designed so well and they are so advanced it enabled us to be able to edit on our phones straight away if we needed to. However there were some weaknesses with our filming equipment and because we filmed all of our film on iPhone, it meant that the quality of the footage wasn't the best it could possibly be. By us using our phones it also meant that the camera angles and ‘shakiness’  where a problem. This is one of the things that has let down is that our film looks like it is a student film and not a high production budget film that has been produced by one of the big six. this is one of the only down sides to our final project. Another weakness is no having the knowledge or the equipment to make a perfect institutional logo. If we had the right equipment and knowledge then i think we could have created one of the most amazing institutional logos, but we didn't which meant that we weren't able to create one. 

The filming process- 

In my opinion i think that the filming process of making our film went very smoothly and worked out perfectly. I don't think we came across many complication when filming but most (if any) problems we faced would have been in post production. We came across some editing complication but nothing that we couldn't fix straight away or in a short amount of time. I think this was down to how we planned and how me proceeded to make our vision possible. This was one of the best things about our group is that we all worked together to make sure that out vision was replicated onto the screen. We didn't really get to use any type of equipment that would have enhanced our film and this was one of the weakness of our film, is that we didn't choose to shot the generic film that would have used all of these enhancing equipments. Unfortunately we didn’t need to use a piece of equipment for example a dolly for a tracking shot because our film was shot using technology that everyone uses for example the laptops and the phones. To edit our film we diced to use an advanced software like final cut pro. We did this as we believe that this would give us the perfect image and this would be the perfect type of software that would make our film a ‘film’. This was a very good choice to use final cut pro as this is one of the best most advanced softwares for film making and for us to use this, meant that we were having a shot at making the best product for ourselves. We considered using iMovie but we thought that we would have a shot at using final cut pro as this meant that there were better editing tools and this also meant that we had more of an option when editing because final cut is such a good editing software. There is nothing that we couldn't have done using final cut than we would have received using iMovie, we just felt that Final Cut Pro was more suited for us. By using Final Cut we have learnt lots of constructive things as we had never used Final Cut before so then enabled us to have a bit of a play around with it and it mean that we were able to learn as we went. We found editing with final cut for the low key lighting moments in the piece as this meant the we were able to edit the type of lighting, so that it gave us a softer and lower glow to the picture. This then helped us with the portrayal of mine-en-scene throughout the piece. 

As any new film maker would, we encountered problems and issues that net time we will know to avoid for example; the use of the equipment. Next time i think we would definitely have better camera gear to enable us to create a perfect picture for the audience to enjoy. However, factors stoped us from enabling us to do so this time. I feel next time we will know to film a lot more of a variety of shot in different locations, settings and characters. This was one of the only problems that we encountered as a group throughout the whole filming process, not that we didn't film enough scene it was just the variety that we were lacking this time. However, there were some things that we would also defiantly do again for example; using the editing software that we used this time around, Final Cut Pro. Final Cut Pro worked very well for us and the purpose that we needed it for. Final Cut was very good for all of the complex things that we needed to do for our final project and this was good a we found a software that could handle the complexity of what we needed to do and this was perfect. I think as a group we worked well as we all contributed a fair amount. This was a very big project and this meant hat there was lots and lots of worked to be done in such a small amount of time. This also meant that we had to double up work for example; editing and blogging at the same time. This helped as we would all have a go at doing lots of different things which helped us create a great piece of work and also helped with the experience and the gain in knowledge. I think as a group we worked well at documenting our progress and what stages of our filming making we had reached. Blogger really helped with this as it made it much easier for us to document our process and for us to document the successes and failures of our piece. Blogger made it really easy for us to just log on and type.  

  

We used a Mac Desktop Computer and we also used a MacBook Pro Laptop. This meant that we were able to use the best technology for the making of our final film. By using these technologies it meant that we had the best start and we were very lucky because these already had the editing software on them. Because we were using the best it meant that we had the best start. By using the Mac's it also meant that edition, uploading, downloading and transferring information was much easier. By having equipment like them enabled us to edit our final piece quickly and in the best way possible.