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

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

In this question I will talk you through the areas where I have learnt about technologies the most, both in production and post production.

From the process, I have learnt of the importance that technology plays throughout both production and post-production. 

The most important thing I have learnt I think is how the finished product relies equally on the post-production process of editing and the production itself. Our film only seemed to come to shape when we were able to put it into a timeline on Adobe Premiere Pro.  By making an animatic of our sequence and then putting it into a timeline, it gave us a clear structure of what our film would be like, and allowed us to assess the duration of our shots and when and where titles would come into place.  Here is a commentary over our animatic that both I and Francis did through the process.

Test shots and real shots

Lighting- We didn’t fully appreciate the effectiveness of lightning until we compared the footage from our test shoot to the real shoot. Our test shoot resulted in poor quality grainy shots as we were not able to use the lighting equipment.  However for our real shoot we did use the lighting equipment, which resulted in clear images and much less grain in the shots.  Also, with the help of the three point lighting technique, we were able to create a greater sense of depth in our shots and higher contrast, which proved effective when trying to create the shadow of our assassin through the glass and the shadow of the head on the door. 

Before we were able to use the lights on our shoot we had to undergo a session with our media technician Chris on how to use the lighting safely and effectively.  This included wearing gloves when handling the lights as they get hot when left on for a period of time, and also taping down the wires of the lights to ensure nobody tripped over them causing harm to themselves or the lights.

With and without colour grading

Contrast difference- Darker/lighter

Grading- I didn’t realise how effective grading was until the process was finished.  Using the colour wheel in Adobe Premier Pro, we made our shots slightly bluer, which made them look rather could, effectively representing our bad guy and also the cold blooded killing that takes place. 

With the benefit of hindsight I would have left more time for the grading process.  This is because we were only able to make the changes to the colour correction that were necessary rather than experimenting with a variety of settings. 

I would also have liked to pull off an even more prominent focus pull in the shot where the man is at the sink and the bag of drugs is in the foreground, although we did manage to improve it using a light filter which enhanced the pull.