Evaluation – Question 6

J.J.W.H

What Have you Learnt About Technologies from the Process of

Constructing your Film?

iMovie

The Editors

After a brief lesson on iMovie we decided that Will and Howard would edit our clips as they were the best in our group at editing and enjoyed using technology such as the Apple Macbooks.

Cutting

iMovie uses an easy to use system for cutting and arranging clips. Will and Howard learn to use this technique from year 13 media students. To cut you must double click the clip, then adjust the yellow bars to select which part to crop out.

Fit Tool

The fit tool was really effective in our film. The scene where someone runs past the window is a pivotal moment in our film which was the foundation of building tension. The fit tool allowed us to zoom in on the window to emphasise this event.

Adding a Soundtrack

Choosing the Soundtrack

Will sort after the perfect soundtrack to add the desired suspense/thriller effect. He used the internet phenomenon ‘YouTube’ to find a video with a soundtrack that met the criteria. He messaged the video poster to ask if he could use it for a media project; the user agreed.

Converting and Cutting

Once given permission Will used the website www.youtube-mp3.org to convert the audio from the video into a mp3 soundtrack. He then used the programme ‘Audacity’ to cut the soundtrack to the correct length for the film.

Applying to the Film

Being the soundtrack and effects editor Will then applied the soundtrack to the video by clicking and dragging the clip into iMovie and moving it to the right places to create a thriller ambience.

Audio Editing

iMovie has a tool called ‘fade’ which allows the editor to fade in or out audio. This was particularly useful when Jamie was leaving the TV room to answer the door. We had the camera placed next to the TV which picked up the adverts being played clearly and didn’t fit the acting on screen because it cut out suddenly as we transitioned to the next panning shot. ‘Fade’ allowed us to slowly mute the TV which improved smoothness and continuity.

Fade Tool

Sound Enhancements

In order to create an ambience of a thriller we decided to incorporate sound enhancements or selective sounding to increase dramatic effect. Examples of this are the scream as Jamie enters the loft, the door slamming when Jamie answers the door and the breathing in the POV shot when Jamie approaches the loft.

Research

We equally shared our responsibilities of finding research and then discussed how we could use what we found into our project. We used a two main varieties of technologies to comprehend this information. Firstly, we used websites such as Wikipedia, Google and YouTube from the internet. Secondly, we watched film extracts and analysed them.

Internet Research

We used a variety of search engines, media websites and statistical information sites to obtain our research. We all had previous experience of using these sites which made it easier to find accurate information. Search engines such as Google allowed us to find famous thriller films so we knew what films to watch and analyse. Media websites such as YouTube allowed us to view some film extracts and also find sound effects. Statistical information websites such as Wikipedia allowed us to find well known thriller directors and their prominant techniques.

Film Research

We watched a variety of renowned thriller openings in class as a group. We analysed what techniques were being used and respectable mise-en-scene. Using film research was advantageous to our group as it allowed us to then search reviews of the openings on the internet. This gave us an superior overview on what to incorporate into our project and what not to.

Camera

We used a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ18 to film our project. With relatively no previous experiences with cameras and filming we decided to choose Jackson as our cameraman. Jackson quickly took to the aspect of filming and created very steady panning shots with help from the cameras intelligent auto mode with power O.I.S.(Optical Image Stabilizer). Despite the steady shots we did feel the 30 fps (frames per second) we got when recording seemed unfocussed and produced slight lag. Another downside to the camera used was the poor image quality.

Tripod

We used a tripod that Jackson already owned to produce steady and level shots. Jackson hadn’t used a tripod before but once fixing the camera on found it easy to use. The tripod was valuable to our filming as it allowed us to create steady shots with minimal camera twitch. The downsides to using the tripod was the awkwardness of size and the impractically of detaching and reattaching of the camera whenever we used a POV shot.