Question 6:Testing your understanding of technology

What have you learnt about the technology you have used in your construction?

Camera• In our construction we used a digital SLR canon

camera. With this camera we were able to change the ISO, which was a very important tool as it helped make our film look more professional due to many of our locations being set in dark areas to add to the enigma thriller look to the film opening. I learnt that the higher the ISO the more exposed the picture was and the lower the ISO speed the lower response it had to light, as a result of our dark locations we had the ISO at a lower speed as we wanted the picture to be dark to add to the thriller effect to the film.

• With the Camera we were able to zoom in and out with the camera lens which helped vary our shot types from the distance of the camera and also help to adjust the focal point to decide what we wanted to be the clear focus in the shot.

Tripod and Dolly

The tripod was also an exceptional handy piece of equipment as it ensured that the picture was clear and steady to give the finished film a clean cut. Moreover, with the tripod we were able to tilt the camera to also give an elegant steady track up and down movement to the camera and also helped to vary our camera angles to illustrate power and weakness to the characters. With the tripod we were able to adjust the height of the camera level to also vary the angles of the character to demeanour the power of the character.

When filming our construction we used the media equipment of a dolly to help the camera travel in a tracking or arc movement as graceful as possible to give a professional appearance to the film. We found that this tool was very useful when filming these types of shots as it gave the film steady fluidity within the film opening.

The software• When we were editing our final film opening piece we used the Adobe

Premiere software. With this piece of software we were able to adjust the length of the shots to fit in better with the fluidity of the film; which we could change the length of the clip by cutting it to be quick and fast of prolong the clip to create a slow and dreary pace to the film to interpret how we wanted our characters to be seen by the audience.

• We further could add effects between the footage to add to the feelings being expressed through the scene. For instance we used a ghost like filter on the clip where Robson has been drugged, the effect of this adds a dizzy expression to effect the audience into how the character is feeling at this point of the film. This idea came from a similar convention used in the crime thriller Se7en with the titles.

Furthermore we continuously used a dissolve to black filter on our femme fatale clips which added to the dark thriller effect. We could also create a flash bulb cut between the clips using the dissolve to white transition which also gave our film a better flow and professional look to our final construction.

Lighting• Due to our film being set in dark locations we had to bring in

very little light in order for the audience to be able to see the actors. We also wanted to use the lights as a spotlight effect on the desk scenes as the lamp did not work. With the lights we were able to adjust the amount of light that was being released this also helped to bring a harsh or a soft lighting look.

• Due to the lights being light we were able to hold up the lights above the scene which allowed the lights to be adjustable at just the right level of our choice.

• The lights also come with a long stick which can connect together so we can hold the light from a distance depending on how bright or dark we wanted the scene to expose.

• The lights also connect on to the camera if we wanted the light to hit directly on to the scene. This was handy that we had these lights as it helped to expose little lighting in order to change the image of each character in the film.