Question 6: What Have You Learnt About Technologies From The Process Of Constructing This Product?

Zac Sowter A/S Media Studies

Digital Cameras

Before even our preliminary, I had never properly before used a camcorder. I can now say that I have learnt how to make good handheld shots, and how to use various features of the camera – for instance zooming, knowing when appropriate to zoom, using the camera’s integrated light, and even how to rewind, fast-forward and watch the playback of what is on the tape all on the camera’s screen. The camera which we used was nice and basic to use; nothing too complex, and in partnership with it we used a tripod, which again before I had never used. Thanks to this task I now know how to assemble a tripod and use it accordingly.

Shot Types

Thanks to this project, I can now differentiate distinctly between the significance of different shot types. For example, the shot of the buyer leaving his house (upper left) is a high angle shot. This shows a possible undermining of his power and influence in our film; to indicate that he is not to be on the wrong side of.

Furthermore, the relatively menacing shot of the sniper’s fist indicates tyranny and pending disaster; as it gives all the power and authority to the sniper; as he is the one about to take action.

Editing

In terms of what I’ve learnt about editing films, I would personally say I’ve learnt a lot. The program we used on the computers was Adobe Premiere Elements, which was a very easy to use editing program. Before this task I had never edited before, except for our preliminary task. I have now learnt useful skills such as how to trim parts of a recorded clip, so as to refine the amount of a certain clip that one would want.

Another skill that I have learnt from this project is how to export and upload our finished videos. Once we had finished editing our films, we had to export them to our computers and also an external hard drive, and then upload them to YouTube. I even had to create a YouTube account and upload it myself, so I learnt from this experience on how to function a YouTube account, and how to also export videos.

Internet Resources

Without the internet, we would have had a lot harder time trying to find appropriate sounds and fonts for our film. The internet allowed us access to sites such as www.dafont.com; giving us access to fonts, and therefore refining our conventions of thriller through the font chosen. Another site which we accessed was www.freesound.com; which allowed us to use free, uncopyrighted music for our thriller film; adding the extra sense of eeriness to our film.

The internet has therefore become a very important technology for our thriller; enabling us to widen our resources of which have been essential in our film. If this task has taught me anything about the use of internet for film production, it is that there are a wide number of cyber-resources available, including fonts, sounds and images. The internet is constantly opening new sources for film makers, by including different formats in which they can use to include something in their films, for example the ability to download fonts. Another useful factor of internet sources is that they are mostly free and uncopyrighted; which benefits film makers because they can use them without having to widen their budget, and use them whenever they desire.

Narrative Structure

Throughout the editing of our thriller, I tried to keep the capturing of our recorded work fairly chronological. For example, I tried to avoid capturing a sequence from the start of the film, editing it, and then capturing another sequence towards the end of the film, and then editing that. To keep this relatively simple, I would capture our recorded work a slight bit at a time, and editing as much as I could as I went along.

Of course, once it had all been pulled together, it was necessary to edit fragments that weren’t necessarily in order. This saved time in doing so, as I could address one problem, and then move onto another without having to worry about the order of them; as I would rather have known that all the problems relevant had been addressed anyway.

In conclusion, it was important to keep the narrative structure, to increase the reliability of our film running smoothly, and therefore making sense. If, for example, we had the scene of the buyer getting ready, and then cut to the stand off between the dealer and the sniper, then the film would not have made any sense. This is why it was important to keep the narrative structure; for the events to occur in the intended order.

Conclusion

The most important new technology for film makers in the last 20 or so years would be, for me, the advancement in editing programmes, such as Adobe Premiere Elements. The advancement in these technologies adds certain precisions and refinements to a film maker’s abilities when editing a film; allowing for a more enjoyable film.

For example, years ago film makers had to attempt to shoot films as chronologically accurate as possible, to save time in the editing of it. Nowadays, films can even be shot completely in the opposite direction of the timeline of the film; because new editing programmes are allowing film makers to capture certain pieces of a recorded film, and eventually string them all together from whichever order they were in from the shooting. This can benefit a film maker because they can therefore shoot films in a non-chronological order, should they need a scene which is weather dependent, and the weather not being the way they wanted it to be.

Conclusion Extended

New technologies are becoming increasingly important for film makers because they offer a wide variety of different benefits for them, for example resources, or ways to edit or even market their films. For instance, the internet has offered film makers over recent years ever growing sources of aspects of film such as fonts and sounds.

Another new technology which benefits film makers is the advancement in recording equipment. For example, digital cameras have revolutionised the way film makers can work on their films. Digital cameras eliminate the necessity of film processing; which means less time wasted in a dark room, and more time spent on editing. Also, within a digital camera there is an internal memory card, which can potentially hold up to 20 times more film than a traditional roll of film; unless, of course, the digital camera records onto an internal cassette.

Overall, new technologies have revolutionised and benefited the ways film makers produce films, and with the ever more reliant upon technology world, will hopefully continue to improve ways in which film makers achieve a fantastic film.