What have I learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?BY ALEXANDRA GREGORY

IntroductionThroughout the course of filming, editing and creating my media product I have learnt various things about the technologies I have used ranging from the cameras when filming, to the mac and the software I used to edit and create my finished media product.

I came across various problems throughout creating my media product, which I will explain within the different headings explaining the technologies I have used for various different parts of my film.

The main pieces of equipment and technologies that I will be talking about are; - Cameras and the skills I learnt- The apple macs and the problems that I faced- Final Cut which is the main piece of software I used to create and edit my media product- Flash- Photoshop- Skills I learnt.

CamerasWhen filming my media product I used an SLR camera on a tripod to allow me to pan evenly, also to get a range of different heights for the different places, in which I chose to film.

I found using the SLR camera when on flat ground inside when I filmed the piano scenes as it was easier to handle and use.It was more difficult when I was filming outside on the farm ad fields as the ground was uneven and I found that my film is at a slight angle, which now I have learnt after filming that if I used a different tripod I could alter each one to enable myself to get a flat and straight picture.

I also found it difficult to keep the focus in one place as it kept going in and out of focus at different points of me filming. However I did manage to keep the main scenes in a good focus.

I enjoyed doing different camera movements, although I kept it fairly simple as I wanted it to look professional, so I used pan the majority of the time.

Apple MacsI used the Apple Mac to create my media production as it had the software on that I needed, such as Final Cut, Flash and Photoshop.

I found using the Apple Mac easier to use rather than a normal computer or laptop as it had a larger screen and processed a lot faster than a normal computer does.

I did face a few problems when using the apple mac however such as programmes not loading and pieces of work becoming lost, which meant that I had to re-film pieces of work, which was not great as it meant I had to spend longer on my editing rather than doing other pieces of blog work and my evaluation.The apple mac allowed me to connect my phone, which has the music and sounds on, it also allowed me to connect all the memory cards easier to transfer over the work.

I learnt how to use the apple macs, to a certain extent that I didn’t have to ask questions about where things are etc. which allowed me to get on with my work.

Final CutI used final cut to edit and put together my media production as it is required to be used.

I found final cut relatively easy to use as it is fairly straight forward, however I did struggle with one or two aspects of it, such as the filters.I struggled to use the filters because the farm scene is dark and although it needs to have lower lighting than the other scenes, I waned to brighten parts of it, which I struggled with because when I added various filters it made the picture grainy, which made the film look unfinished and unprofessional. I also struggled to get the quality of them the same, so it looks slightly jumpy which I am unhappy about and if I was to do it again, I would research into how to do various filters and watch tutorials on how to use final cut professionally etc.

FlashI attempted to use flash for my title “Heidi & Clyde” to make it a handwriting effect when it appears on the screen, which I succeeded in, however it failed to allow me to add a transparent background and it also failed to load after I had made it, so I could not attempt to make it go onto my media production.

I found flash easy to work with after I watched a tutorial video on how to make the effect that I was looking for.

I wouldn’t use flash again as it is very time consuming and even after spending a lot of hours on one piece of work it didn’t appear to be a great quality at the end of it.

ConclusionI learnt various skills over the course of creating my media production, which allowed me to be prepared if I ever had to use the software and hardware again.I learnt many things such as how to use final cut effectively, how to use the cameras and so on.

I learnt that I would have to be more aware of the time that I have as I found most of the editing tasks on the apple macs using the software was very time consuming, especially when rendering my videos on final cut.

I also found that I would have to always ensure that I backup all of my files as it is easy to lose pieces of work and video files, which causes me to get behind in my work and have to re-film pieces.