Evaluations- Q6

Q6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

A: I learned a lot about the advent of technology and its importance to a media student like me. I learned how to handle primary media equipment like camera,  lights,etc as well as   softwares like Adobe After Effects for animations along with its various plug-ins ;And also Sony Vegas for sound editing and  Adobe Premiere for movie editing. At first I decided to play with Movie Maker a bit, to see how an  amateur software  is different from the more professional packages and also as a first step towards editing.

Sound editing in a software called Garage band, then later in Audacity:

Garage Band

As far as Adobe AfterEffects goes, after experimenting with the tools and 'Effects and Presets' I finally managed to create a proper opening title for my movie and also a proper logo for my imaginary institute Delight Studios through plug-ins like AEF Flame.

I experimented with various transformation tools in Adobe AfterEffect, using Opacity, Evolution, Anchor Point with the Scaling tool as well  while trying to create the perfect opening title for my movie. At first the result was amateur like this:

Now it looks more appropriate:

So this clearly shows that I have gotten the hang of the software to quite an extent. Also I edited and transformed my logo using AfterEffect:

Also, I managed to edit the audio for my movie using a software to make sound called 'Garage band' and 'Audacity'. And learned how to use the software effectively to combine sound effects along with soundtracks to ensure that they function together in sync. I then used the edited soundtracks and effects for my movie while editing the whole thing on Premiere.

Coming to handling equipment, I had a hard time handling my handycam. It took me a lot of time and practice to shoot scenes steadily, and ensure that the camera movement could give meaning to the shots.

for practice to enhance my camera movement and angles.

Here is the movie shot entirely in POV(this is not my final task):

Also I shot a movie practicing conventional camera angles to enhance my skills as a cameraman (This is not my final task):

I managed to become more effective in editing after practicing shooting and here is the result, my final task:

I also learnt about different types of movie formats like wmv and mpg which I then applied to my final task for good results. Since uploading a mpg file YouTube for easy posting on my Blog was impossible since it took a lot of time, I uploaded my movie in wmv format and lowered its quality a bit to make it smaller for easy uploading on YouTube. Thankfully, the quality didn't drop much.  My final opening title is originally in mpg format:

Initially the only software I was familiar with was Movie Maker, due to which my preliminary video turned out to have natural lighting (sunlight mainly) while I used artificial lighting when making my final opening title. And I didn't know much about sound editing, which I later learnt about in school during Media classes.

However, the Internet helped me a lot with my practical work. When designing my logo, I browsed tutorials on YouTube for AfterEffect animations, and did the same when figuring how to effectively animate my opening title 'Sweeping Tides'. And I was able to get responses and suggestions through Facebook, as I easily uploaded my video and responded to the suggestions the viewers gave on it. Also, I was able to discuss problems I was facing in practical work on Facebook with my media colleagues on a private group we had created for ourselves.

Also I learnt using PowerPoint to give visual and auditory presentations as I did when recording my Mohatta Palace trip while searching for ideas to be inspired by for my final opening title. I used YouTube for easy upload of my videos to then simply embed the links and quickly post on my blog.

Also whenever I wanted to compare my media work with others on YouTube, I was able to do so by editing the links' html in my posts. YouTube proved useful throughout my media course and the tutorials on AfterEffect and Premiere proved helpful too.

I also used Google Pictures to analyse concepts similar to mine, but taking a pictorial form. So, I admit that the Internet helped me progress technologically as a media student.

Therefore I learned that technology makes the life of a media student easier. With softwares to help in editing like Premiere, a media student like myself can easily learn professional editing on it along with the aid of Premiere tutorials on YouTube. Also, with the help of softwares like AfterEffect, animation is made really easy. Sound editing is also easy on softwares like Sony Vegas. So, if these softwares are used efficiently, it can really help in making effective media product