Q6 of the AS Media Studies Evaluation

1. By Aminatta Sylva 12H

2. *As part of our research and planning and the construction of our
media product we have used various types of technologies such
as;
*The Blog
*Final Cut Pro 7 & X
*Garage band
*Motion
*Livetype
*Prezi & Slideshare
*Mobile phone
*HD Camera

3. * During the research and planning stage of our media product, my group and I used a blog (haverstockmedia), in order
to be able to upload our coursework on to. I found this blog very useful because I could look at other people’s blog to
see if I need to do more research or not, this was also a useful way to share work with my group. For example, If I had
typed up the script that we did together in lesson, I could then post the entry onto my partners’ blogs. The blog also
allows us to embed videos into a blogs such as YouTube videos, Slideshares and prezis. We could also upload pictures
onto our blog. However the disadvantage of the blog, was that you couldn’t see all of the content at school due to slow
internet connection. Therefore, I could only upload work from home. An advantage of the blog being private was that
people that did not have an account could not see your content. The blog also allowed us to create tags and categories,
which made our blog look organized and made work easy to find. The blog also worked as a place to put down
reminders of work to be done, for example I could save drafts of work partially completed or task to be undertaken for
homework etc.

4. *We used this editing software to edit our final
media product. As a group we kind of struggled
at first when it came to finding out what tools
and effects we could add to our footage to
make it look professional. But as went by we
became more confident with using this editing
software.

5. This is the tool box section on the final cut pro 7
software, which allows us to do effects to our
footage. For example the pen-tool was used to
create fade ins and outs for our footage and audio.
The blade tool was used to cut our footage into
smaller chunks, taking out the unnecessary parts.
The volume tool right beside it helped me
maintain the volume, by limiting how loud it could
be, this stopped the volume from being too loud,
as we film near a busy road.
The viewer allowed us to create subclibs from
footage taken. Then we could organize our
footage by creating bins to put them in. We also
used the viewer to change the colour of the
footage, create matt colour blocks so that we
don’t have a black screen.
We created sequences in order to be able to use
the timeline and save it properly. The timeline
was where everything was put together,
including the titles, music, sound effects and
footage in the form of subclips (so that the
original clip has not been permanently modified)

6. On the timeline this is our sequence, and as you can see
there are many little clips everywhere and audio files as
well. I also found out that I could have up to about ten
audio layers, during the construction of my media
product.
During the lonely night in section
of our film, I made the eating
scene a lot faster than it originally
was, I changed the speed from
100 to about 200. I also used a
cutting trick in which the objects
decrease over time by the use of
cuts.
We were able to change the
brightness/darkness of our
footage by the use of the effect
Colour-corrector. I ensured that
most of the footage was of the
same brightness.
These tools above
allowed us to increase
the size of the clips onto
the sequence, to use the
pen-tool, mute an audio
track.

7. I only used this editing software to do work at
home, for example my evaluation videos. I find this
software a lot easier to use than FCP7, mainly
because you don’t need additional software in order
to be able to do effects and transitions. It took me
about 3 hours to completely get used to.

8. Viewer and
canvas
Project
manager
Timeline
Effects
Video
editor
FCPX allowed to add effects and titles to my evaluation videos without having
to use another software. It also made my evaluation videos look very
professional. I think I might find this software easy to use, due to the fact that
I don’t have to use other software and have import things to and from other
others. Finally, there are a lot of YouTube tutorials on how to use FCPX which
helped me learn how to use the software properly.

9. Creating titles on FCPX
I had to click on the ‘T’ button which lead to different types of
titles that I could include in my video. After I had selected the type
of title I want, I was then able to move the title around the screen
via the canvas/viewer.
When I double clicked on the title, I was able to change the font,
size and colour. I was not able to do this on FCP7, I believe that if I
had used this software to create my final media product then we
would’ve had more time to do other things.
The tools and effects box allowed me to add colour motion to my
evaluation video, I just had to drag it over the video and decrease the
opacity of the video that is speaking. This made my video look
professional and for the generators and titles to be visible.

10. These tools were used to create my
sequence on my timeline, for example I
used the position tool to drag clips and
audio files anywhere on the timeline. The
blade was used to cut the clip into parts.
The zoom was used so that I could cut out
what I need to cut out, for example on an
audio clip and you want to cut out a tiny
bit that has no sound. The hand tool was
used to drag the projects down onto the
timeline.
The themes made my video look in sequence,
for example if I started to talk about
something new, then I would cut the clip and
add a video transition so that the viewer
knows that I’m talking about something new.
They also made my video look very
professional and easy to understand.

11. We were able to create music and sound effects on this software. We
found it easy to use because it required less skill than other types of
software. This software had various types of loops available to drag
onto a timeline, which allowed you increase/decrease the volume of
the loop, place it where ever you want to on the timeline. It was also
easy to select the loop you wanted, because it was organized in
instruments/genres, so if you wanted to make something acoustic
then you use all of the loops available in the acoustic folder. We used
this software to create the sounds for our media product.

12. This is where you drag your loop onto, and
you can arrange the order in which they
appear.
The menu allows you to compose music in
various ways.
You could also type your own music, and
record as you are playing it.

13. My group and I used this software to create our titles and our
production logos. We found it a bit difficult because there’s a lot
of things to chose, but we didn’t really know how to put it
together. As time went by we became a lot more comfortable
with using it. The thing that I like about this software is that you
can create and draw your own shapes which can then animate,
and it has a lot of already created animations that looked very
professional. We chose to use the particle emitters than draw our
own because they looked more professional than a mouse drawn
version.

14. Canvas
library
timeline
project
The library gave us many options of what we
could chose from- fonts, animations, camera
movements and many more. The timeline
was where we would create the animations
by dragging the layer back to a time for
example 2 seconds and after 2 seconds
another layer will be shown.

15. These tools allowed us to be able to
drag, select and zoom into what we are
creating. For example I’d click on the
‘T’ tool to edit my text, because using
the cursor tool would not work.
The tools above allowed us add behaviours to our animation such as fade in and out,
make the screen bigger or not, open up the timeline, project or library.

16. We used this software to create our titles for our media
product. We used it because it was very easy to use and
contained many fonts and effects to add onto our titles, it
was also very easy to put it together.

17. This is where we would
select the effects, size,
font and attributes to our
titles. We would write
what we want to appear
on the box on the left, the
box on the right shows
where the title has been
placed on the screen.

18. *This is the timeline that we would add the
selected effects to. On the timeline we
could the timing of the effect and how long
we want the title to last for, and how quick
for the effect to appear.

19. *I used this during the research
and planning stage of our
production to create a
production logo picture. On this
software I know how to crop by
using the lasso tools, change
font and create layers.
However, it did not help me
construct my media product.

20. *I used my phone to ring up actors to ask them if they could film and where
we should meet up. I also used my phone to communicate with my group
members, for example if I had a new idea then I would send a text to my
group members letting them know. Another example would be what
equipment we should bring along when filming, for example if Ciaren had
the tripod at his house then I would text him to bring it. I used my phone to
email organizations, to ask them what day would be possible to film in their
building. This was a good way of communicating because it would directly
come up phone.

21. *I used this online presentation to present my work on
my research and planning and evaluation. At first it
was difficult to use, but then I got used to using it,
now I find it easy to use. I like to use this software
because it makes my presentations look more
appealing to the viewer as I can add music and videos
to it.
*I used slideshare to show my work for my research and
planning and evaluation.

22. *Without the HD cameras our footage would not look high
definition, therefore it is likely to have problems not only with
the display but also with the sound. If we did not have a HD
camera then our footage would not look professional. We did not
have to manually set up the focus, because the camera was auto
focus but you could change it if you wanted to. The HD camera
did run out of battery quickly which was a disadvantage for
when we filmed outside. The camera had to be put onto a
tripod, in order to be able to shoot a steady shot.