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

During the process of making an opening sequence to a film, I have made use of a wide range of technologies - some of which are new to me, while others have allowed me to develop my skills, and some have enabled me to present my information in a creative way;

- Blogger: A new technology for me that has been useful to me as it has enabled me to present all my research, planning etc, in a visual, creative way. As this project has progessed, I've become more confident with Blogger - learning how to insert photos, videos, gifs, and much more onto my blog.
Video showing me make use of Blogger; it shows me creating a new post, inserting text and uploading images to my blog:

-LiveType: This was also a new technology for me because, during GCSE Media we used iMovie for our titles, but as we wanted more unique and creative styles, LiveType was better suited. This technology has also been useful as it has allowed me to try and create different styles of fonts with particular colours/effects. LiveType will allow me to produce and include a suitable font/transition onto my opening sequence that will be appropriate to my genre.

Screen-shot showing use of LiveType, when we were experimenting with different titles:

- Prezi/Slideshare/Bubbl/Lino-it: These pieces of technology have let me present parts of my project in an effective/visual way, and have allowed me to portray my research in an interesting manner. As each are different from the rest: Prezi = A zooming presentation, Slideshare = Interactive presentation, Bubbl = An online mind-map, and Lino-it = Online sticky notes on a canvas, it allows the blog to appear interesting and unique - therefore I've learnt how to present my ideas in a different way, as these pieces of technologies have helped me to portray my ideas in an imaginative way.

Links to these websites, and pictures as evidence to show I have made use of them:

Prezi:
http://prezi.com/

Slideshare:
http://www.slideshare.net/
Link to where I have used it within my blog:
http://brontewalker.blogspot.com/2011/10/brick-johnson-2005-us.html
Screen-shot showing my presentation uploads on my Slideshare account:

Bubbl:
https://bubbl.us/

Lino-it:

http://en.linoit.com/
Link to where I used it on my blog:
http://brontewalker.blogspot.com/2011/10/brief.html
Screen-shot showing a presentation that I have created using this technology:

- iMovie:

Although I have used iMovie before, this time I learnt more about the result of particular transitions, for example: the fade-out and fade-in effects works well in our opening sequence; they help to indicate that the sequence has moved to a different point in time. iMovie has been useful as it has enabled me to produce something creative, as this is the technology used to piece together and edit my opening sequence.
Screen-shot showing our sequence displayed on iMovie:

-Jing/Screen-o-matic: These pieces of software enables me to capture whatever is going on on the computer screen, and also allows us to record a voiceover whilst filming this. As I have never used Jing or Screen-o-matic before, I learnt how to demonstrate something both visually and by explaining it also. As well as this, I learnt how to save, and then eventually upload it to my blog.

Link to this technologies website: http://www.techsmith.com/jing.html 
A Jing video I have made previously:

Screen-shot displaying me use Screen-o-matic, http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/:

- Dafont.com: This website has allowed me to download particular fonts that I believe to be suitable to the genre of my opening sequence. By using this website, I learnt how to download a specific font, and then work on it in LiveType - allowing me to be prepared for the final cut of our opening sequence. Link to its website: http://www.dafont.com/ 
Screenshot of a blog post on my blog displaying use of this website:

- Freesound.org: The use of this website has been useful because it has let me find suitable clips of sound that could fit in well with my opening sequence. From this, I learnt how to embed sound onto my blog straight from this website.
Link to a blog post where I have made us of this website: http://brontewalker.blogspot.com/2011/12/sound.html
A video showing me make use of the website; the video shows that I am able to experiment with sound, and then embed an extract onto my blog:



- HD Camera: The core feature myself and my group learnt from using this piece of equipment was the effect of pull-focus. We all learnt how to do it, with the outcome resulting in an effective shot which works well with our genre - a pull-focus can help with a 'Thriller' genre as it can produce an element of confusion/mystery; it shifts the focus from one thing to another.

Photograph which shows our group using the camera: 
           

- Tripod/Figrig: These pieces of equipment have been useful as both of them have allowed us to film steady, still shots. The tripod being a piece that could be set on the floor, holding the camera in a tight, locked grip. Whilst the figrig is a round piece of hand-held equipment used to follow something moving: in our opening sequence, we used a figrig to follow one of our characters walking - although we are moving, the figrig holds the camera in a steady way. Both these pieces of equipment helped myself and my group to film steady shots for our opening sequence. Also, both these pieces of equipment were used when our group decided to go and re-shoot particular shots of our opening sequence.
Picture showing our group making use of a tripod:

- YouTube: Although I have used YouTube before (www.youtube.com), I had never used it to upload and embed videos - this being a new experience for me, and I have developed my skills in this technology. Here, I learnt how to embed the videos straight onto my blog, and also how to add annotations to particular videos, such as: my analysis on 'Memento' and 'Bridget Jones' Diary'. YouTube has been useful because it has helped me to add my own view/response to shots - therefore, generating a more visual and creative annotation presentation to embed onto my blog.
Link to a blog post where I have used YouTube annotations: http://brontewalker.blogspot.com/2011/11/bridget-jones-clip.html
Video of the product being used; it shows me uploading a video to the website, and then embedding it onto my blog: