Coursework- Evaluation Stage 4

How did you integrate technologies--Software,Hardware and online--In this project?

During the course of the entire filming/editing project, I've utilized many resources to help me achieve with the completion of the film. I have used a combination of online services, hardware and software. 

For starters, I've used Premier Pro and After Effects to help me with my work. I have decided to use Premier Pro because it is easy to use and learn. It is an effective video editor than un-skilled people can easily work on. I have used premier in all of my editing and post-production stages, with things such as editing, sound effects, video editing etc. I have also utilized after effects, which helped me to create an effect where the screen of the phone would pop onto the screen. AE and PP works really well together because it is made by the same people, so it is easy to export files from PP to edit on AE. I also used premier pro to create fonts and place them in the film such as the "PRESENTS" font.

Other than premier and after effects, I've used different websites to find suitable sound effects and visual effects. I've ended up finding a good royalty free effect website called www.footagecrate.com . Other than this, I have used youtube to find simple sound effects such as traffic ambience or "Whooshes" since it is easy to find videos like this on youtube. Since the videos are on youtube, I also used a website called youtube-mp3converter.com which allows me to convert youtube videos into MP3 files to be used in the film. I would then open the MP3 file on premier then start to edit it. For music, I've used youtube to find the most suitable music. I didn't use music to add onto the film's intro because I think that it would take away the intensity and anxiety of the intro. Movies that use this as an example would be Heat. In the planning stage of the film, I also used google doc to store my information and obviously blogger to post my progress.

To convert files I found on youtube to MP3, I would use this website. This allows me combine things I find online, with the software I used to edit my coursework.

For hardware, I utilized a Canon DSLR 600 D camera, which allowed me to take both photos and video. The camera also has a built-in microphone of decent quality, allowing me to record sound effects and voices. The camera has an auto-focus and auto-stabilizer which helped me to get clean and next shots in the intro. The downside of the camera is that sometimes it doesn't get the lighting correctly and it also makes the video a bit fuzzy. However the SD card allows us to film as much as we want, which gives us freedom to experiment with new techniques such as new camera shots.

For editing, I've a MacBook Pro provided by the school's media department. This MacBook Pro is quite old and sluggish and times but it gets the job done. It has a lot of advantages such as being easy to transport/easy to use but Adobe Premier drains a lot of the battery, so it requires a constant supply of battery. I've use this MacBook to take the footage from the SD Card of the camera, then import the files into Premier to be used. Footage I've edited, especially the CCTV scenes, I've exported it to After Effects to put special effects in. Then I transferred it back to Premier to be placed in the intro to be complete.