Evaluation Essay 07

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

As the group's editor, I have had to learn how to use Final Cut Pro. Whilst I had experience using some editing programs, I am not used to the Mac interface. When we was making the continuity sequence, I struggled to understand the interface of Final Cut Pro; I felt like everything was hidden and it was difficult to navigate. However, once I got over the first hurdle of getting used to Final Cut Pro I found it quick and accessible, making editing fast. Final Cut Pro made it fast to put text, effects, music and to cut down the footage together and simple. It was also easy to replace and remove, and make our film work.

I was first introduced to Final Cut Pro when editing the preliminary sequence. Looking back on the footage now, it was not hard to edit - there were simple cuts the whole way through, with a blackout scene at the end, there was only one track used for the music and one sound effect at the end. However, since I was new to Final Cut Pro, it took a long time. Getting things into sequence were not hard, but adding effects were. I remember being frustrated at how unclear Final cut felt to me, with no guidance being given at all. I however got over it very quickly, and googled how to add sound effects, video effects and cutting worked, leading to the preliminary sequence to become what it is today. The media technician also did a workshop on how to use Final Cut Pro, which helped.

We used DSLRs to film our footage for the title sequence. Whilst they aren’t cameras designed for filming, they worked well with their portability and their ability to be handheld. Whilst we did face some difficulties with the aperture of the camera and lack of stability if we wanted some close up shots, we did learn that the camera had a lot of potential to film in awkward positions. We used the DSLRs for both our continuity sequence and our final title sequence, and they worked well. The footage was also easy to put onto a computer, which allowed us to work fast. With the tripod attached to the DSLR, we could get the desired height in many of our shots, making many of our shots clean and crisp.

For the white screen shots, we used a variety of technology to help us. These include softbox lights and a white screen. The softbox lights provided us a clean look, and helped the contrast of the black and white in editing, with the softbox lights washing out any stains that might be on the white screen. The white screen scenes help build a story, and I think if we had shot those scenes on a coloured or patterned wall the narrative wouldn’t be as strong, and the focus on the female lead wouldn’t be as strong. In our continuity sequence, we used phone lights to light up the dark scene in the staffroom. This did work well, because we wanted the scene to be dark to portray the horror genre. But since for the title sequence we were following the same high-key lighting seen in American Psycho, we needed the softbox lights to help us keep with that theme. We also didn’t have to use the white screen in our continuity sequence as it didn’t fit in with our narrative.

To conclude, whilst all the equipment we used may have appeared intimidating at first, it was actually easy, and didn’t take long to learn at all. Everything was easy to setup and use how we wanted, which resulted in filming and editing being swift and rather simple. I certainly have learnt a lot since our continuity sequence with the introduction of new technology and equipment, but nothing was overly challenging or so hard that we had to scrap using it. I am satisfied with the progress we have made since our continuity sequence.

Evaluation 06: Use of technologies

 

These soundcloud recordings were made as a group. We all collectively met over the break and recorded it using audacity with a headset microphone surrounding us. We all worked on the script together, collaborating on the parts that they spoke. It was also relatively easy to edit, with the automated voice speaking the question at the start and amplifying our speech slightly.

Evaluation 04: Audience of our media product

These soundcloud recordings were made as a group. We all collectively met over the break and recorded it using audacity with a headset microphone surrounding us. We all worked on the script together, collaborating on the parts that they spoke. It was also relatively easy to edit, with the automated voice speaking the question at the start and amplifying our speech slightly.

Evaluation 03: What sort of institution would distribute your media product

Women's Bane Distribution PowerPoint from Madison Brownlow

These powerpoints were created as a group, with all of us actively discussing whilst the powerpoint was being produced. We had one person writing (Maddie B for one powerpoint and Niamh for the other) Whilst everyone else was feeding ideas to the group. This was a good way to work because of how quickly ideas could get down on paper, and how the best ones and ways of explaining the question were chosen to be in the powerpoint.

Evaluation 02: How does your media product represent social groups

How does your media product represent particular social from Niamh Mchugh

These powerpoints were created as a group, with all of us actively discussing whilst the powerpoint was being produced. We had one person writing (Maddie B for one powerpoint and Niamh for the other) Whilst everyone else was feeding ideas to the group. This was a good way to work because of how quickly ideas could get down on paper, and how the best ones and ways of explaining the question were chosen to be in the powerpoint.

Evaluation Greenscreen 01 & 05

For the green screen segment, a script was wrote and collaborated on by all of us. We all wrote the parts that we were going to speak, with small improvements as we found necessary. We thought it was important to maintain eye contact with the camera as we were talking to make it feel genuine, and to make it a lot less boring that staring at a piece of paper the entire time. This was very easy and quick to edit, with minimal effort required since I was pretty used to using Final Cut Pro at this point.

Group work: positives and negatives

Working in a group has taught us many things about cooperation, and teamwork to get our project done. However, there have been positives and negatives about working in a team.

Something positive is that with four of us being in the group, it decreased the workload that all of us had to have to take on. This made the whole process of working over these three months a lot easier on all of us and less stressful. Also, since we allocated each other roles in our strongest points, the work that all of us had to do was more enjoyable.

A negative in working in a team is finding time for all of us to work together. Since we all have different schedules, we found it hard to all be together. However, since some of us didn’t have to be present at all times, most of the things were filmed or edited in twos. Everyone had an equal amount of responsibilities, and so we all got to work together regularly.

Another negative may be disagreements with what to change. Everyone in our group has very strong creative idea, so therefore sometime there were some conflicts in what should be changed and what would look good. However, having all these ideas floating around was a positive because we never ran short of ways to change it, therefore development was always frequent and rather quick to do.