In this post I will be discussing the many different types of technology that I have used in terms of hardware and software throughout the AS year.
I decided to make a short vodcast for this evaluation question.
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I made an interview talk show for this question also:
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Also, I made a prezi presentation to describe all the technologies that I have used:
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Throughout this entire year, I have used many different kinds of software and hardware.
The software is all the programs that I used to create my film whereas the hardware is the actual computers, cameras, hard drives and technology.
Hardware
Sony A58 Camera
Throughout the entire year, I used the Sony A58 Camera. Before this year I had never used this camera before, let alone any camera except my smartphone. It took a while to learn what all the buttons on it did and how to use it. I did have a few problems with focus a few times but I learnt that you can adjust the focus manually.
SD Card
Throughout the filming process I had many problems with SD cards; Sometimes the SD card was full when I needed to film or when I was in the middle of a shoot with cast there. Or when I needed to film audience feedback, the camera said the SD card was locked. What I learnt from these problems was that I should bring more than one SD card (perhaps) if I have more than one just in case one of the SD card storage gets filled up, but if I don't have another one I should just make sure the SD card is cleared or has enough storage on it before filming, ESPECIALLY with cast.
Tripod
Amazon Tripod - Pan Handle
Amazon Tripod - Pistol Grip head
Manfrotto Tripod - with Ball head
I used tripods throughout the filming process for some practice exercises and the film opening itself. The tripod allows the shots taken, to be steady and still rather than shaky (from handheld) throughout. For some of the practice exercises (Tyrannosaur and some of the Microdrama), Richard and I used a Manfrotto tripod and the Pan Handle Amazon tripod. I found that the Manfrotto tripod is a lot lighter, and is easier to carry around to places, also I found it easer to move the camera side to side or up and down (making panning shots), it was looser. Both the Amazon tripods are very heavy and a hassle to take around with, but one advantage was, they reached a very tall height, so if you needed high angles and a shot high enough to make an over the shoulder shot, these were the tripods to use. My favourite tripod to use, though, was the Amazon Pistol Grip headed tripod. I found it so nice to make panning shots with and to just generally use. In the Microdrama that Richard and I made, we had issues with attaching the camera to the actual tripod, we had no idea how to do it so instead we just sat the camera on chairs and things like that until the end of the filming process of the Microdrama where we finally learnt how to do it.
GorrillaPod
I had never used something like this before this year. I used this for some of the shots in the rape chase scene. I thought it was a very strange, but clever piece of technology, it had three legs and it wrapped them around anything you wanted. I used this in a tree (legs wrapped around a branch) to make lots of high angled shots making the victim look weak and vulnerable, and I also wrapped around some branches/logs on the ground. I also used it as a tripod (standing up on three legs on the ground). I mainly used this for low angle shots and shots that were showing just feet.
GoPro 4I used the GoPro 4 only for my film opening, not for any of the practice exercises. In my film opening, I used the GoPro mainly only for shots in the rape chase scene. I used it for some shots while the victim was running and being pushed down by the rapists (and bag being put over her head) to show her view and make it act as if the GoPro was her eyes (therefore making point of view shots), and for shots while the rapists were running too, from their perspective (the GoPro being their eyes too).
MacBook Pro
Near the end of the editing process, I got the free 30 day trial of Final Cut Pro X on my laptop so that I didn't have to keep staying in after school or during school to go on one of the iMacs in the media room which had Final Cut Pro X on it, because it was getting urgent to finish the film opening, meaning I needed to be able to work on it at home. But, for a lot of the blogging I have done, I have done it on my MacBook Pro. I have also made a lot of the non-diegetic music on GarageBand on my laptop. 
Software/websites
Final Cut Pro X
I used this software throughout the entire year. I thought it was very good and I liked using this software. I learnt many skills on Final Cut Pro X such as: key framing, cutting videos, layering, making a greenscreen background turn into a different background, changing colour of things.
I also used many different special effects on Final Cut Pro X. You can see here on the left the special effect called Cool Tones. This effect made the shots look cold, dark, creepy and gloomy. I used this effect on the shots in the green screen abduction scene with the electric noises, of Alex being tied up in the lair. I also used this effect on all the shots in the lair scene, to make the lair scene seem more scary and creepy by being in the dark.
This special effect on the right is called Crisp Contrast. This effect made all the shots very sharp, crisp and harsh. I thought this effect worked best on the shots in the green screen abduction scene with the electric diegetic sound/ noises, of Alex being tied up in the lair scene.
Layering on FCPX:
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Cutting Videos on FCPX:
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Key Framing on FCPX:
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Putting a background on a Green Screen shot:
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Uploading a Video to Youtube from FCPX:
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Logic Pro 8
I used Logic Pro for making the killing non-diegetic music at the end of the film opening, in the lair scene. This killing music is my own version of the music from the shower killing scene in the film Psycho. I was influenced by this music, so I recreated my own version of that music.
GarageBand
I used GarageBand quite a lot to make the scary, horrific, mysterious sounds in my film opening for all the scenes. I found it quite difficult to make the soundtrack for my film opening because it meant me having to learn how to write music too. I also used GarageBand to create the non-diegetic music for my idents. Here on the left, you can see the different free loops I used together to create the non-diegetic music for my first ident, 'Ethereal Entertainment'.QuickTimePlayer
I used this a lot for watching many horror slasher film openings and watching documentaries about the horror slasher genre (the rise and fall of it over the years etc...). I also used QuickTime Player to record screen recordings for tech tips such as layering on FCPX or uploading a video from FCPX to YouTube.
YouTube
I used YouTube for posting all the/my practice exercises, idents, sample scenes/shoots, screen recordings, rough cuts and final cut. I did this to show the journey of how I got to a final cut. I also used tagging, wrote titles and descriptions on my videos.
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Gmail
I used Gmail to send non-diegetic music that I made on Logic Pro on an iMac at school to my own laptop.
BoxOfficeMojo
I used this frequently during the blogging process, this is where I got all my information from when analysing different films. On this website I found box office numbers, film budgets, domestic box office, UK Box Office and sometimes age rating.
IMDb
On the right is an example of something I searched for on IMDb website. This is the film Scream. You can see the MPAA rating is given, the genre, the director, the stars, the release date, the ratings out of 10.
Wikipedia
For information on film companies and films themselves, I looked on this website.
MPAA
I used this a lot to find out the American age ratings of the films I have analysed.
Slideshare
I only used this for writing the first pitch I made for my film opening. I had to present this pitch to the class so I made a powerpoint presentation of my pitch. On the left here is a screenshot of the pitch 1 on slideshare.Rotten Tomatoes
I didn't use this website very much but when I did I used this website to find the ratings of certain films with the 'tomatometer' and audience ratings of a film.
Online Tone Generator
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Soundcloud
I used Soundcloud to create my podcasts for 'Production Schedule Updates'. It was very easy to record and upload a podcast, since Soundcloud has a function where you can record on their website. Below, you can see a screen recording of how to upload something you have posted to soundcloud onto your own blog. I also used soundcloud to record a radio show on audience with Richard, my classmate, for Evaluation Question 2a: Audience and for recording podcasts on Self-Distribution, Types of distribution and introduction posts. On the left is a screenshot of my soundcloud profile.Blogger
Page view icon on my blog:
How to add a link list
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Here is the link to this post that describes exactly the process of how to add a link list.
How to upload a SoundCloud file onto blogger - get the embed code
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dafont.com
I got various fonts from this website for my film opening such as the main font for all my titles and main title. The font I used for the titles of my film opening was called 'Face Your Fears'. I also got many fonts from this website for my idents. For the 'Lilac City Productions' ident I used the font called 'Eddie DGL'.
