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

The camera we used was a Full HD Panasonic HDC-TM55 Digital Camera (1920x1080). The reason why we used this camera was because this was the camera which gave us the best quality picture in terms of movement and lighting etc. Picture of camera is posted below:

Although this was an HD camera, a process we had to go through with our raw footage was to convert it down because our editing software was not compatible with HD footage. Our editing software was 'Adobe Premiere Elements Version 1.0'.

The camera made our edit rather easy in terms of file managing because each shot would be automatically saved as a separate file meaning that we were able to add the single shot we wanted into the final edit if we needed, without having to capture and then cut down masses of raw footage.

At the start of the year we had a preliminary task and our aim was to practise using different shots to imply different things e.g. high angle shot showing vulnerabililty, low angle shot to demonstrate power and authority. This opened my eyes and films became much more interesting to watch because I was able to look through the basic footage and see the deeper meanings and techniques used by the director and lead cinematographer.

In terms of editing I personally learnt a lot about the effect which a simple transition can have between shots. The two transitions we use the most in our thriller is 'dip to black' and 'cross dissolve'. 'Dip to black' is used to add fluidity to the end of shots and beginning of the next. It is used to bridge the gap between shots. In our case it is also used to build suspense because of the constant cutting from the boy, to the mother, to the enigmatic figure, back to the boy etc. 'Cross-dissolve' is when two shots are seen 'through each other' i.e. it is one shot layered on top of the other. We used this to the extent of creating a feeling of 'voyuerism'.

An example taken from From The Dark is seen below. The clearest part of the first shot being cross faded over is circled in red. The second shot being cross faded into is of the enigmatic figure looking through the window circled in green. This is the second shot being cross faded into. This transition in particular is seen at 1:25 through From The Dark. Below are three screen shots to show our cross fading in this transition in particular.

An example of the second main transition used within From The Dark is dip to black. Again example screen shots taken from From The Dark are posted below:

At the start of the year when learning to use a blog I realised it was a very efficient method of displaying work compared to having a paper folder. Having to showcase your work on a blog definitely has advantages. One of these advantages is that you can go back and alter/edit any previous work.

Blogger is useful for uploading different types of documents too and this helps to add variety to your work. These programmes/documents are things like prezi's, clips from films and screen shots. A picture says a thousand words. Other technologies which have helped a massive amount with areas like G321 Thriller Research are YouTube.com and IMDb.com. I am in the knowledge that mobile phones with built in cameras are very useful to have because you can take pictures of things like location 'on-the-go'. Unfortunately I personally did not make use of this technology in particular because it was inside a house mostly. This said I did take a couple of pictures as examples of how the house can be shot to fit thriller conventions e.g. shadows. These pictures were originally taken for G321 Thriller Planning. They are posted below.

I had never used a blog before this year so this was a new experience for me however I have really enjoyed the new dimension to coursework instead of just writing etc.

The other technology that I have enjoyed learning to use is 'Prezi'. 'Prezi' is an interactive style powerpoint allowing you to take your audience on a journey through your information etc. I have found this method of showcasing work to be very rewarding and interesting.