6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Technologies we have used helped me construct an idea of how important they are for a media shoot. Aside the basics such as camera and editing software to enhance our work, technology such as lighting was extremely important. All these technologies needed to be versatile and easy to use so we could achieve what we wanted, and I feel like we did.

Pre-production

Our DSLR was important as it allowed us to take stills for an animatic we would create on Premiere Pro. This allowed us to roughly create a sequence and see where we could potentially have titles and sounds, but overall showed us if our narrative worked with our setting. 

Production

Canon HV30 was a video camera that was very easy to use. The depth blur allowed us to physically change blur from foreground to vice-versa which we used in some shots of our opening sequence, for example when Violet looks at the clock. 

The tripod allowed us to pan and also keep the camera still for master shots necessary for continuity.  

The lighting kit enabled us to shoot in low-key locations. It meant we could reduce the grain from the camera and although we didn't manage to remove all of it, it was seriously less than if we hadn't used artificial lights. Also, the filters allowed for our artistic style at the beginning of the opening sequence with the blue-lit drawings.

Post-production

We used Adobe After Effects to reduce the grain and make some shots smoother.

Before

After

We used Adobe Photoshop to create a PNG. of a vignette, which meant we could layer it over our opening sequence and have it gradually come in, as PNGs don't have backgrounds. This meant the vignette was soft and not too dominating, and created the effect we had hoped for.

As sound was important in our opening sequence, we needed a microphone for me and Raagavi to talk into for the opening conversation. As the microphone we used was professional and with it we used Adobe Audition, we were able to reduce the gain on the recording to smoothly introduce it into the sequence and at the same time making it sound realistic.

Overall, technology helped us make our opening sequence clear and easy to understand. The use of focus for example really allowed us to portray to the audience exactly what we wanted.