1. What have you learnt about
technologies from the
process of constructing your
product?

2. Online Programmes
During the post production process of our thriller opening, we used
many different forms of technologies. I learnt a lot that I didn’t know
before ranging from cameras and equipment to computer software's
and editing processes.
The one main form of technology that I enjoyed using and didn’t know
of before is Blogger. I have enjoyed using it as it is a different way of
presenting my work and it has tracked my journey since the
beginning. It allowed me to post videos, images and write about my
work and findings which is like a log of my work. I also used online
programmes such as Prezi to make visual and interactive
presentations rather than having a huge chunk of writing.

3. Camera Equipment
Me and my partner George used a Sony HD camera for our thriller opening as
well as a dolly and tripod. We didn’t use the dolly for the scenes in Piccadilly
Circus because the camera would have been really shaky due to the uneven
floor. Not having a dolly did make filming difficult because we had to try and
track each other as steadily as possible. Even though we were going for a
shaky look from our inspirations, we wanted to keep it at an even level
where it was shaky yet visible. It took us a long time to try and get the
tracking shots at an even level but, we resolved it by placing the camera on
the tripod and holding it against our chest to keep it steady in comparison to
holding it by hand. The tripod came to great use with pans, tilts and keeping
the camera still which we learnt prom our preliminary task.
In addition to this, while we were filming,
there were a few shots that were
insufficient and had factors such
as camera reflections in the watches
and the tripod/other equipment being
seen in some of the shots
( Blooper-equipment in the shot )
Preliminary
This alarmed us to be more careful about our shots and check if it was a good
shot and what was actually in it before we carried on recording. We also
began watching the shots over after recording and deleting any that were
not useable/unneeded to keep our data more organised.

4. Some images of
us during
shooting indoors

5. When we filmed the start indoors, we used a dolly
to track towards the male character. The
camera was steadier than without a dolly but
was still shaky because of the carpet.
However, we used it as an opportunity to use
our inspirations from ‘The Enemy of State’
by making it look as though he was being
watched. This would also suggest more
about the role of the character which
became a strength. While we were shooting
in the room, we wanted to get it as dark as
possible with a small amount of light on the
character.
However, we couldn’t get the room dark enough and without the light, it was harder
to see the footage since our character was wearing black too and had a black
watch. We then tried to make the room as light as possible so we could later on
edit it on after effects or final cut. Despite this idea, we still found it really difficult
to edit the clips so the room is dark and so that the character can still be seen.
I tried to edit this one shot to see if changing the colours to the darkest shade
possible worked effectively. I feel as though it gave the shot a creepy and
mysterious feel but I would have to apply to all the indoor shots which initially
wouldn't end up matching the outdoor wintery atmosphere we were going for, so
I had to leave the shots how they were with a very slight use of colour correction.
We planned on using a flood light to enhance the characters both inside and out but
decided not to as it made no significant difference and the outdoor shots looked
natural which wasn’t a problem.

6. Editing
For the editing part of the production process, I used final cut express. I had never used it or heard of
it before my preliminary task and Juno recreation which gave me the basic knowledge, skills and
confidence to use it. My preliminary task taught me rules and techniques that I had to know while
putting them into practice which really helped me remember simple factors. For example,
character placements, shot angles and 180 degrees rule. Some of our shots were badly framed so
I had to fix them using the wireframe to change the scale and reposition it.
My journey from the beginning to the end constantly allowed me to find new effects/ways of editing
on final cut such as filters, generators, effects and action commands. I found the pen tool
really useful when trying to create atmosphere with the sound track and fade in and out of
shots. I also found CMD+J useful when speeding up shots and when I made the characters rewind
quickly after the brief case exchanged. I thought the mise en scene was interesting at this point
because we, as the audience are only shown a mid shot
of them but it shows a closer view of what was done
slyly. It involves the characters crossing over in front
of the tree with the prop (brief case). We didn’t place
anything in a specific third of the shot for this part
as we wanted toshow huge significance and importance
to the switch. The lighting and colour of the shots in
Piccadilly were kept natural looking to show a dull
wintery atmosphere. Our shots were already quite blue
but I used the colour corrector to enhance the blue
slightly to create an interesting mise en scene of colour
and lighting.

7. In addition to this, I used AfterEffects to create my titles. My Juno recreation helped me
with my titles and learn more about the order in which they go. I used live type on
the Apple Macs for the titles of it but was not comfortable using it and felt limited to
my choices which could also be because I didn’t know a lot about the software.
For my thriller opening, me and George experimented with getting a
style of text that was similar to the style of Cargo and Seven. I preferred using after effect
because it allowed more
creativity and allowed me to do many different things, not just create text.
It was a challenge to use but I still carried on to get my tiles. It was a lot more simple once I
had the main font and effect. I also used after effect to create the camera shots of the male
character right at the beginning.
I found this the most challenging part of the task because I had to create two black rectangles
that open and shut by timing it along with a flash. I had to keep playing around with it to
get the timings for the camera shots precise and then take those sections and import them
into my final cut sequence. I used Youtube to search for tutorials on how to do certain things
and where to find certain tools which really helped me overcome issues.
To create my soundtrack, I used garage band and played around with different loops to make
one sound completely different yet with a thriller feel. I started off making one with lots of
loops to make it sound different. However, I relaised that it sounded overpowering and
didn’t reflect what inspired my originally. I changed the sound track by keeping some of the
loops and keeping it really simple with that constant pulse I wanted.

8. Here is a
screen grab of
my garage
band. Below
shows where I
imported the
sound into
Soundbooth
to convert it
I also used
it to create
diegetic
sounds
such as the
police car
and barking
dogs.