Evaluation Question 6:

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

Technologies/hardware/software used during the process of constructing our opening sequence:
Production: Camera, tripod, microphone, headphones



Post Production: Computer Software: Adobe Premiere, Live Type, Adobe After Effects

What have I learnt during the process of making our opening sequence?
- I learnt how to use manual settings on the camera, and how to use focus pulls. This was a very effective tool on the camera, and we used it many times while shooting, for example in the scene where Ava walks in to the living room with her brother, and when Ava walks away from the staircase and into her bedroom.



- I learnt how to use more tools and gadgets on Adobe Premiere, the main being tools used for colour grading. We watched various tutorials online and asked our media technician how to use different tools and which ones were best, for example the Three Way Colour Corrector, levels, and ProcAmp.







- I also learnt how to use the software Live Type on the Mac, and we used this to make the titles used in our opening sequence. I found that it was actually really simple to use, and extremely useful, especially as it had many preset animations already.



- I learnt how to use Adobe After Effects, which we used to de-grain some of our grainier shots, to provide a smoother, clearer image.

Before:

After:


From what I’ve learnt, what would I do differently in hindsight?
- One of the main problems we had while editing was making the stairway shots look more similar to the rest of the shots in our sequence. The stairway shots were so different due to the poor lighting, making the images dark and grainy. We overcame this problem in the end via colour grading and the de-grainer, but if I was to film this shot again, I would’ve used a pag light, to reduce the time and effort needed in post-production.
- Another problem we had was the fact that we didn’t always have the right props needed on set. On our first shoot, Ava held an iPhone with a black cover, but on our second shoot, we did not have the black cover. We overcame this problem in editing by cropping the shot so you can’t see the back of the iPhone, but if I were to shoot this again, I would make sure that all props are on hand.