Firstly, I'd like to thank my actors, Sarah-jane, Jayson and Luke, for allowing me to film them after a lot of protesting to "find someone else"; they did an excellent job and really helped me create the film I wanted.
My teachers, Mr Mayers and Miss Cullum, have been so supportive over the past few months, and I definitely would not have the media understanding and knowledge I have now if they had not helped me to understand, and helped me through my (what felt like) hundreds of technical (and not so technical) difficulties.
My classmates, Jon and Conor, have been a huge help, helping me figure out how to use Final Cut and Live Type and I cannot thank them enough for all the support they've given me!
Thank you again to Mr Mayers, Jon and Jayson for the continuous support through my struggle to re-edit all of my work after it being deleted. It definitely would not have been finished in time for the deadline without their ongoing help and encouragement. Thank you!
The websites I used during my process include:
www.imdb.com
www.lionsgate.com
www.bbfc.co.uk
www.wikipedia.org
www.warnerbros.com
www.warnerbros.co.uk
Saturday, 7 January 2012
Question Six: What Have You Learnt About Technologies From The Process of Constructing The Product?
I used many different technologies in this unit that I had never worked with before, and some that I had. Using the iMacs to make a film was definitely a new experience, for previously I had only used it to create music. I did use it for this as well, by editing the song I used in Garage Band, but I also used Final Cut Express and Live Type to create my film.
I had never used Final Cut before and definitely struggled with it when I first started. Luckily, I had a lot of help and support from my teacher and classmates when I was really stuck with how to use it but, mostly, I tried to figure it out myself, and didn’t do too badly. I spent a lot of time fiddling with the different editing tools I could use to make my film look more professional and of a higher quality than it really was. After only a short while, it all seemed a lot easier than it had been before.
Unfortunately, I did encounter a lot of technical difficulties. Firstly, my files from my video camera would not import on Final Cut. This was easily solved though, and it appeared that they were the wrong file type. I converted them easily and imported them straight onto Final Cut without a problem. About two weeks after this, however, the first forty seconds, and last thirty seconds, of my film was deleted from my file. Still, to this day, I don’t know how it disappeared, but I opened my file to find that only the middle thirty seconds remained of my film. Some of my shots had also been deleted, and my camera was not with me to back them up. This was the day before the last day of term and due to all day lessons, I couldn’t re-edit the work until after our two-week break, giving me four free periods to re-edit my film and add titles and audio. This was my biggest and most stressful technical difficulty, and it definitely put me behind in all of my work, especially my evaluation.
Using Live Type definitely was not my favourite thing, purely because there were too many decisions for me! It was very difficult to pick titles that I liked, and with my lack of time, I rushed them and then was not pleased with them at all. However, the original titles I created made the film look very happy and cheery, and so my final titles are a lot better, as they are less “extravagant” and a lot more simple and slow.
I had a slight problem with Garage Band because my file would not import onto Final Cut, but in the end, I just created the same edits on Final Cut and I actually preferred that audio track to the one I had originally created on Garage Band!
When I first finished my film, I exported it to a disk to take home to upload on YouTube. I then got home to discover that only one minute and thirty-six seconds had been burnt to the disk. I found this out after I uploaded it, and then also discovered that YouTube had blocked my video due to copyright issues with the song I used, even though it was not the original track. I then had to wait another day to upload it onto Vimeo after exporting onto another disk. This worked well and finally I could receive some feedback on my film!
When I first finished my film, I exported it to a disk to take home to upload on YouTube. I then got home to discover that only one minute and thirty-six seconds had been burnt to the disk. I found this out after I uploaded it, and then also discovered that YouTube had blocked my video due to copyright issues with the song I used, even though it was not the original track. I then had to wait another day to upload it onto Vimeo after exporting onto another disk. This worked well and finally I could receive some feedback on my film!
I definitely did not realise how much work went into creating films! It was such a stressful and thought-provoking time, although I had a lot of fun. My perfectionist side really took over on this project, and I wasn’t happy with anything I did. I spent hours creating under ten seconds of screen time, adjusting the lighting and camera angles to make it more aesthetically pleasing. It took me such a long time to create two minutes worth of film, that I don’t know how anybody could create two hours worth! I have definitely gained a lot more respect for professional film editors since beginning this unit.
My shots of my victim walking to and into her house are definitely my favourite. Whether it was to do with my location or camera, they seemed to come out very well, and the shots look of a much higher quality than any of the other shots I created. I particularly like the shot of her walking up her garden path to her door and have had a number of compliments on it. I feel that it creates the feeling that she is being watched a lot more than any other shot in my opening, as it is at such a distance that it is entirely possible that she would not see someone watching her, whereas the other shots are a lot closer and so seem a lot less realistic when thinking about somebody following her without her realising.
To improve my film, I would definitely change the timing of the audio. Watching back my finished product, it did not start when I wanted it to and I would adjust the volume levels as the build-up to the vocals was a lot quieter than I had anticipated and so the start of the vocals is quite off-putting for the audience. I would also change my titles to make them seem more fitting for the genre, and would time them a lot better as sometimes, they interrupt a shot where it shouldn’t be interrupted.
The only limitations to my creativity were my timing issues. There were some flashback scenes I wanted to film in school, but my actor was never free when I was and when she was and we had planned for her to come into school, she did not arrive in time because of over-sleeping. This meant that I had to change everything that I wanted to film. The deletion of one scene from my computer was a real shame and also changed my whole opening as it would have made the film a lot clearer to the audience. It was a series of brief shots of my victim tied up, after being taken hostage, and they were very scary and thought-provoking scenes that would make the audience question why she is tied up and what has happened to her. Also, the deletion of seventy seconds worth of work limited my creativity because it limited my time in which to make something aesthetically pleasing, original and creative.
Question Four: Who Would Be The Audience For Your Media Product?
To answer this question, I created a website on www.webs.com, my preferred website creation site.
Click here to be transported....
Click here to be transported....
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