DF - Evaluation (6)

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?


Over the course of the project I have gained experience in many different kinds of technology. Namely: blogging, camera operation and editing, primarily.


The first thing we were introduced to was blogging as we had to put up our initial research on it. This was an interesting way of presenting information - definitely a very different style to that of writing essays which I was used to. This also presented some new challenges - such as how to lay out the blog and posts in a way that was neat, attractive, informative and also consistent in style to the other members of the group. In overcoming these problems we had to take a collaborative approach in order to ensure we all kept our posts consistent and also to ensure they presented the necessary information. In creating the presentations for the pitches, I also learned to use Prezi to keep our presentations different, fresh and interesting.

Camera work was the second major thing to learn as I had never used a camera for a project similar to this before. There were many things to consider such as the 'rule of thirds' which suggests that the focus of a shot should be a third away from the edge of the frame; the white balance, hue, contrast, saturation, brightness and other image changing tools as we had to make sure our shots looked good and also consistent with the rest of the film to help continuity; how to use zoom effectively; what depth of field to use for the best effect and the 180 degree rule for which you have to ensure, for the purpose of continuity, to keep the camera within an arc of 180 degrees during a conversation.


Editing was chronologically the last main technological learning point for me as, again, I had not edited for a project similar to this previously. To edit our footage we used Adobe Premier and in editing our footage I had to learn many things such as how to add text and use text effects such as dissolve, how to edit for good continuity, special effects, editing the zoom and brightness, contrast, hue and saturation of a shot and then also how to use soundtrack effectively and how to sync it successfully. Furthermore, we used Adobe Premier to edit an animatic for which we used as a template for our footage and as a form of storyboarding to plan our project. (Click here to see our animatic).

For our soundtrack we used a copyright-free soundtrack website called Freesound.org. This has a variety of audio loops from songs to sound effects, and we used pieces such as the sound of the birds from the website.