Zaynah Syed-Thriller Evaluation 6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

We learnt a lot about and from these technologies while constructing our media product. It was very difficult at first, working with a video camera and learning to take various shots such as a shot/reverse shot or the 180 degree angle, etc.

While getting to grips with handling the equipement, other technologies that we came across, during the pre-production process, were using the internet for research using excel for our audience research, scanning the storyboard, using the blog, keeping it up to date. We also came across a fun and innovative software called 'Prezi'. This software allows us to make presentations, it is also known as a 'storytelling tool'. I enjoyed using Prezi since it made presentations more attractive and enjoyable.

During the production we used a canon handheld camera, it was a challenge getting used to, we used the camera itself to record many of our shots such as the close-ups to capture real emotions of the characters, high angle shot of Elizabeth locked in the toilet, making her look small, banging on the door seeing that she is not able to set free. We also used a tripod which was a very useful tool in keeping the camera steady for shots like panning in a mid shot, recording a conversation at a leveled angle. We used the tripod for most of our shots because this enabled us to record everything in a steady position. We also used the tracks for one of our main shots, this helped as we were able to broaden out the variety of different shots and angles we used. Using the tracks allowed us to record a conversation while walking in a slow but steady pace making it more real the audience so they can feel part of the scene.

In the post-production we used a software called Imovie, it was brilliant tool to help us in editing, mixing music in our opening and allowing us to overlap shots with other shots, in particuar when we took the panning shot of the cast in a group and merging it with a shot of the newpaper article about Columbine.