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

We used a range of technologies to plan, shoot and edit our film opening sequence. I became more familiar with and confident in using these technologies during pre-production, production and post-production as they were essential for producing a sequence of a high standard.

The slideshow below explains what I learned from the technology used during production, and some of the advantages and disadvantages of this technology.

Technologies used for filming consequences from latymermedia

We used two main types of technology in post-production: editing software, and the internet

To edit our sequence we use Adobe Premiere Pro. I had only used this program once before but knew the basics of how to work it, and over the course of editing the sequence I added to my skills and confidence in using this editing software.

The timeline we used for the final edit

The main things I learned about Adobe Premiere Pro in the process of this project were how to grade, fade titles in and out, and mix sound .

• Grading
• We used a three-way colour corrector within Premiere Pro to adjust the colours of the shots 
  
• As well as this we used ProcAmp to adjust brightness, saturation and contrast in each shot 
  

• Before and after grading:

Although I wasn't as confident with the grading at first, as it was new to me, after practising and experimenting with it I became more comfortable with my decisions made for the grading of our shots.

• Our plans for the titles were not too complex, but we still wanted them to look professional. As the title making program that Premiere Pro offered was very basic, we used additional programs to create our titles: 
• LiveType was used to make the more basic titles, which faded in over the shots and out again. The fading was done using Premiere Pro, by changing the opacity at the beginning, middle and end of the title.

• I felt that this was a very important skill to learn in terms of editing, as although it is basic it can be very effective for the look and style of the credits.
• Adobe After Effects was used to create these more complex titles:

 

We did this by masking the title frame by frame in After Effects, and the transferring the clip to Premiere Pro to replace the original. 

• Some of the sound mixing, especially for the music, was done using Premiere Pro. However, we used an additional program called Adobe Audition to lower the volume of background noise (for example, the whirring of the camera that was picked up by the microphone) and to make the transition from dialogue to silence smoother. PICTURE

After Effects and Audition were both new software that I wasn't familiar with, but I think that by using them for our opening sequence I have greatly improved my technical skills, and learned the importance of having these technical skills for the success of a sequence.


After completing our film opening sequence, we used the internet to get audience feedback. We created a survey on Survey Monkey and shared it on Facebook, asking people to watch our sequence and respond to the questions

Throughout the entire project we used Facebook for planning and organising. This social media was very useful for several reasons:

• We were able to send messages between the whole group with a group chat called 'GEMM'
• Everyone in our group is familiar with how to use Facebook
• It's free
• It's accessible at any time of day via computer or phone

From doing this, I learnt the importance of technology in communicating with an audience and receiving feedback. It's much easier than printing and handing out surveys and getting a large group of people to watch and rate the film at one time. It can also be done any time e.g. from home or school, or anywhere with internet access.