First and foremost, my blog is a technology which, over time, I have learnt to use. I knew very little about blogs before hand but have gained much confidence is using the blog over the past several months. As well as this, I have learnt how to embed YouTube videos to my blog, and PowerPoints and Prezzie’s.
Before taking Media as an AS Level at Sixth Form, I had very little experience with camera and how to perform specific camera shots. Throughout the filming of the preliminary task and the opening to a thriller film, I have learned how to add effects to the camera even before the editing stage, and much more. For the opening to a thriller film, we used the Cannon 600D camera, capable of recording HD video. I done most of the filming, but because the camera belonged to Austen, I had little to no idea on how to operate it. I soon gained knowledge, and throughout the filming, we used a clever feature called “rule of thirds” which allowed us to display 9 boxes on screen so that we could accurately position our characters.
I have also learnt a lot about editing. Although I have been used to editing footage on my home computer, using iMovie on Mac, we used Adobe Premier Elements in class to edit our footage which was a whole new software interface for me. I soon got the hang on it, however, and learn’t how to add some very interesting effects. From the outset, Austen and I wanted to produce our film in black and white and so this was easy for me to achieve on the software, simply by dragging the “grey scale” bar on top of the clips we wanted in black and white. Furthermore, I learnt how to embed the “dip-to-black” effect on a selected clip which would fade out that clip. This was achieved much like the “grey scale” effect simply by using a drag and drop motion.
Not so much a technology, however, I feel this needed to be added. Austen came up with a great camera shot idea called the Dolly Zoom which would dramatically reinforce the victims facial expression as he is about the get attacked, therefore increasing tension amongst the audience. Austen and I attempted the Dolly Zoom, but Austen said that I had the better shot, and so we used that one. The Dolly Zoom combined with the effects of Adobe Premier Elements would create a very impressive shot.
In terms of distributing our film, we have used one very popular site called YouTube. All of our rough shots, edits and final edit have been uploaded to this site because of its ease of use and accessibility. I have been using YouTube for a few years now but have never used the upload feature to upload videos. This is something I learnt to do when uploading my version of the opening to a thriller film edit. On YouTube, I found out how to use a feature called “unlisted video” - this basically means that the videos are not viewable to the public and just for mine and Austen’s eyes only. Moreover, I have learnt to embed my uploaded videos from YouTube on to my blog.
The Internet Movie Database (IMDB), which was shown to me by my class teacher, has helped to strengthen my research because this website is great to find information about any film. I have learnt how to navigate around IMDB and find relevant information about a film. I can view reviews, ratings, general film information, and even related films based upon my searches! IMDB really is a great site and has helped my massively over the past few months.
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