Evaluation Activity 6

When in comes to the technical side of things, we had to film all of our footage a certain way, requiring certain types of equipment, to achieve an effective film with high resolution displays on the film. We only used one camera when filming, we used a Nikon D3000. The D3000 is primarily aimed at anyone who wants to take photos or videos without having to worry about what the camera is doing. The Nikon D3000 also features a 10.2 megapixel sensor, expeed processing system, 3-inch LCD screen, 3 fps continuous shooting and 11-point autofocus system. All these features made filming easier and more understandable for all of us to use. We felt that using a camera which was simple, was very important during filming, as It meant that we weren't standing around trying to work our particular camera functions. However, three of us, myself included, take photography as a subject, so we could get the correct camera settings and angles quickly and precisely, without many problems. By turning the camera's lens left to right, we were able to focus a character/object in the camera frame, this meant that our images on our film had a high resolution, making our shots look more professional.  The camera also had a function of allowing a 9x9 grid to appear on the screen. We felt that this was extremely effective, as it meant we could incorporate "The Rule Of Thirds" in our production. This means getting a characters face into 3 of the boxes on the grid. This is used in many current films today, thus making our production look more professional. It also made the shots look more focused and effective. Changing the aperture value or more commonly known as "f number" on the camera, meant that we could control the amount of light coming into and out of the camera's lens. As it was winter when we were filming, the lighting was naturally quite dark, so we needed the correct amount of light needed to make our shots look effective, but also not too overexposed. We felt that using the NikonD3000, was a very easy, simplistic and effective piece of equipment to use. It allowed us to film quickly and easily, with certain settings that helped to our advantage also.

We also used an IPhone 6 in our production. However, we didn't use it for filming actual footage for our film, but rather for video diaries and behind the scenes footage, which we felt was an effective marketing campaign. This is because it allows our audience to get an insight into what we get up to behind the camera, and get to know us on a more personal level. It also allowed our audience to get an insight into our film, without giving too much away-following the basic rule of suspense, thus it keeps the audience engaged and want to see our film. The IPhone is a common piece of technology used by millions globally, this meant that it would be more relatable to our audience. The IPhone 6 also has pixel specs of 1334 x 750 and 1920 x 1080 meaning that it too, like the camera has a high resolution, making our video diaries effective as well. This is effective, as it will make our audience think that because our behind the scenes footage is of a good quality, our production will also.

We used a various amount of software in our production, to make our film more accessible and easy to transfer. One example is YouTube. YouTube is an online site and app, that allows you to watch video clips, share and watch videos. This was extremely helpful in the making of our film, as it allowed us to upload footage from YouTube, to our blogs such as storyboards and video diaries. Another advantage of using YouTube, was that it allowed the general public to use the "comment" system, whereby they can comment on our videos. This meant that we could get constructive feedback on how to improve our production, which we felt was extremely helpful. As touched upon, you can share via YouTube. which would make our film engage a much wide range of people, increasing the popularity of the film; which is a good marketing campaign as it create an echo chamber effect. Another form of software that we used was blogger. Blogger allowed us to post blogs about what we are doing regarding filming. It meant that we could share our journey, from an ambiguous, sketched storyboard, to our final end product.  It meant that we could evaluate what we had done, and be able to share to an audience how our film had all come together. Blogger was a quick and easy way to do this, and it was also accessible on our phones, which made the hole process even more simplistic. Another piece of software used, was identifiably, Adobe Premier Elements. This was the software used to actually put our film together. Adobe Premiere Elements 10 allows you to have a big and clear timeline, this means that you can see your clips/pictures much more clearly so that you can see what's happening in your film without having to play the video each time. We found it easy to use, and operate without needing too much help. We felt that Adobe Premier Elements 10 was much more advanced than Movie Maker, as it had more transitions and effects. It also had a wider screen enabling the individual to switch from the timeline to the scene line, meaning we could see all of our shots clearly. Finally, we used a simple font generator called - "Spooky text generator". This enabled us to make our own font, adjusting the colour scheme, size and style. We felt it was easy to use and still maintained that professional nature that we wanted to sustain in our title.