Question 4

Throughout the construction of my three products, the initial media technology that I used was a HD video camera set; this includes a tripod, video camera, second camera and a microphone. These components were all crucial for recording our interviews, vox pops and cutaways. This kit enabled us to produce the highest quality footage for my product. The video camera was the most significant in production as it recorded all the footage needed for our documentary and necessary shots for a high definition effect, achieving a professional standardised outlook. The tripod was highly useful for the interviews, as it helped maintain a steady position of each interview sequence, as well as the cutaways we filmed giving us a steady pan. We acknowledged the microphone to be an essential technology piece in picking up the interviewees’ voice, helping the audience hear clearly without any unnecessary interruptions. The DSLR camera was used to take images for our print advert, this allowed us to take a variety of shots during the photo shoot and to get a clear depiction of our topic as we had a ‘witch’ with candles in her hands. Moreover, this camera was used for another reason as it took shots of us recording our footage as evidence of our work progression on our project.

Additionally, to obtain images as a record of filming, we used a digital camera. This was very straightforward to use as after pressing the button to turn it on, all that was required of us was the press another button to take the photographs. Once we had taken the photographs, we then removed the SD card and put it into the computer and easily transferred the images into our files.

We recorded our voiceover in the schools radio station, using a recording microphone to document our voiceover. This was a more advanced recording device, it gave the voiceover a professional tone, as you could hear how clear and consistent she was in her speech which was in Standard English.

Within post production, the editing process for our documentary we used adobe premiere pro to create a sequence. I had prior experience with this software from AS, I was slightly familiar, leading me to acknowledge this as the ideal format for my product, as it was manageable to create an end sequence. From previous experience I have basic knowledge of cutting and inserting graphics. However, I had to watch some YouTube videos specifically tutorials in order to enhance my skill usage. For example the warp stabiliser tool and morphe cut, which allowed me to reach a high standard to mimic a professional element to my documentary. In addition to creating my documentary, my knowledge of this software expanded, as by the time we created our ancillary product: radio trailer, we were confident in constructing the sequence together by using basic techniques such as audio transitions and cutting specific parts with the razor tool.

Another software programme we used was adobe Photoshop to create our print advert. As prior experience with this software in AS I was very confident on carrying with basic tasks such as using the magnetic lasso tool to cut my image out. Yet with production of the print advert we had to construct this in a more sophisticated manner, by learning new techniques to add an overlay of embers and different layouts in order to create an effect to the image, this expanded my knowledge and skills regarding this software. I found that Photoshop was very suitable for producing my print advert in the way I wanted. For example, it was easy to position the text and logo by using to drag tool in order to place it correctly and font choice to mimic ‘channel 4’.