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Over the process of constructing my film opening, I gained significant practice using certain technologies which will benefit me during future projects.
The first piece of technology I learned to use effectively was a DSLR Camera. Although I had in-depth experience in using DSLR cameras prior to this project, I had only used them for still photography as opposed to videography. I had limited knowledge in videography and cinematography as the only times I had used a DSLR to film was during my practice projects earlier on in the year, so I had to learn fast. Becoming familiar with the camera when filming was straight forward because there was little difference between shooting a photograph and shooting a video. However, as I wasn't experienced in this area I wasn't aware as to what settings I should have the camera on in order to achieve the best footage. As an avid photographer, I am very against leaving the camera on 'auto' setting, so I had to dedicate some filming time to experimenting with different settings to achieve flat footage with lots of potential for colour grading during the post-production stage. After playing around with all of the settings in manual mode, I quickly learnt what the best settings were to use in both the well-lit areas as well as the dimly-lit areas and can transfer this knowledge into future projects to make the process far easier.
The second piece of equipment that I learnt to use effectively was a microphone. Although I wasn't using a microphone per se, I was using my phone to record the narration and sound effects after principal photography was complete because I refused to use the sound from the camera's microphone as it was too noisy and the sounds I would have wanted to use were not concentrated and were therefore overshadowed by background sounds and the noise. Using my phone was straightforward, but it took me a little while to work out positioning it effectively to reduce as much background sounds as possible.
Another technology I learnt to use was professional editing software. For my final coursework, I used Adobe Premiere Pro to edit my footage. I had never used Adobe Premiere Pro prior to editing my coursework and had minimal knowledge in editing footage as, during my preliminary task and practice projects, another group member assumed the role of editor. As I was working alone this time, I had nobody else to rely on when it came to editing, so I had to learn to use Premiere Pro myself. The first difficulty I had to overcome was getting to grips with the interface as it looked very complicated and intimidating. I soon realised that it was far easier than I thought and had familiarised myself with the roles of each button etc. and had even gotten used to using it swiftly by employing keyboard shortcuts to make the editing process simpler and faster. A tool I found particularly useful was the snapping tool. Snapping tool helps you to put the footage into sequence quickly, as it places it where it thinks you most likely want it, i.e beside a clip or at a key frame. Turning the snapping tool off was really helpful when I wanted to be more precise when applying my clips to the sequence, it allowed me to accurately align clips and sync audio accordingly because it allowed free movement and allows you to place the clips exactly where you want. Learning this tool was extremely helpful and I believe that it will really benefit me during future projects.
Another thing I learnt to do on Premiere Pro was to add effects. Although I wanted my footage to be very natural, I added several effects. One effect I added was camera movement. As I wanted my footage to remain very open in post-production, I didn't add much movement during the production stage. An effect I added on premiere pro was zooming, which I created using key-frames. Learning to add false camera movement in the post-production stage will be extremely useful in the future if I cannot afford stabilising equipment such as a Steadicam or a dolly. Another effect I added was to the audio, which helped reduce noise and make the audio better quality. I also learnt how to increase the volume of one piece of audio and so on.
The last thing I learnt to do on Premiere Pro was colour correct and colour grade. By using the Lumetri Colour tool in the effect, I was given a range of colour correction tools so that I could make my footage all the same colour, before beginning to colour grade it for effect. Learning to colour grade is very important in order to emphasise a mood or create an artistic effect, or even just increase the professionalism. So, learning this tool really benefitted my project. I messed around with the temperature, white balance and overall hue of the footage to create a final effect.
The last technology I learned to use was an audio editing software. I used Audacity to cut down the score for my opening sequence, as it was originally 3 minutes long and I didn't want the music to abruptly cut at the end of the sequence or for the fluctuations in volume and tempo to not fit in the desired places. It was fairly straightforward to use, but I had to practice in order to create a seamless effect. Learning to use this technology will benefit me in future projects when I need to edit the score or soundtrack for a particular video.
Overall, I learnt a huge deal about different technologies during my construction stage. I went from having little to no experience in using all of these technologies, so learning to use these effectively will really benefit me in the future when creating more video projects.
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