Evaluation Question 6 (Elrad)

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

Canon DSL 650 D with 18 - 55mm lens:

Strengths:

• Clear shots as it has 18 megapixels allowing high quality.
• Can easily be maneuvered when handheld.
• Used beforehand so with filming the thriller we know what to press, best way to use it and tips given to us in terms of white balance which were easy to follow.
• The lens allowed us to change focal points between the range of 18 - 55mm meaning that we didn't have to move to get a clear shot of something close or far.
• The lens has image stabilization controls to make video smoother while recording.
• The camera was touch screen making the user interface easier to use and allowing the user to change certain aspects easily such as ISO change, aperture, shutter speed and white balance.

Weaknesses:

• The battery life was an issue as at one point we had to rush through filming to get it in and we continuously had to put the camera on/off to preserve battery life. The battery can only last 2hrs 10m while continually recording.
• The camera had an inbuilt mic that was very poor and would pick up unwanted sounds but luckily we were supplied with a Rode Mic.

Conc - By using this camera i have been introduced into the technical world of filming, learnt how to properly hold it with/without the tripod. Its been interesting to use as i have never filmed something properly using proper equipment. 

iMac:

Strengths:

• Enough memory to hold all of our footage (which included up to three takes of each scene)  even including all the bloopers and behind the scenes, research and planning, etc.
• The iMac would auto save our work incase anything went wrong for example if it crashed/freezed.
• The iMac monitors had ultra HD retina display meaning we could view/edit our work with precision and accuracy.
• The mics on the iMac could pick up sound excellently which we used for some of our research posts.

Weaknesses:

• The only weakness would be that the iMacs would often freeze or crash probably due to having little RAM or a slow processor meaning that we couldn't multi-task that much.
• At times the keyboard would be confusing as if you scrolled the mouse up your screen would go down and then with screenshotting a page you had to press three keys, while normal keyboards have one button.

Conc- The iMac was very important as it was the base for all of our footage and editing, which also made it dangerous as all of our work could have been lost. I learnt and used/experimented many new softwares such as Final Cut Pro and Photoshop. 

Microphone:

Strengths:

• When using enhanced mode the mic focused on sound very nearby and specifically the sounds of the character and their dialogue.
• Blocked out most of the background noise.
• The adapter it had underneath it allowed us to connect it and stabilise it on top of the camera. You would usually have someone holding the mic on a long stick but in this case we didn't need one.

Weaknesses:

• It was so good at picking up sound that sometimes it would pick up sound we didn't really want meaning we would have to film again.

Conc -  Very easy to use and to connect to the camera. 

Flipcam:

Strengths:

• Very easy to use.
• Buttons are easily differentiated. 
• Portable.
• USB part of the device. 

Weaknesses:

• Quality could be a bit better.

Final Cut Pro:

Strengths:

• Auto saved everything/anything you worked on.
• Easy shortcuts to change what you wanted to do with the keyboard e.g. B - blade T - trim.
• Can easily cut and edit a single footage.
• it worked well on the Macs
• Contained many different examples of transitions, credits and sound effects which we could use. 

Weaknesses:

• Takes quite a long time for the edited video to render.
• If too much footage was added it would end up freezing making the editing process longer.
• When watching your progress of the edited video it wouldn't be the same as it would look if it were finished so you can't tell properly how it would look when finished properly.
• Sometimes when uploading to YouTube wouldn't let you choose HD quality.

Conc - Personally, i have experience with editing, although it was on a different program, Final Cut Pro made this transition smooth due to its easy shortcuts and visible choices. 

Blogger:

Strengths:

• Very easy to blog on and use.
• Can easily add videos and photos, especially videos straight from Youtube.
• Able to alter the time and date of what you post allowing your posts to be in the order you want it to be and your posts easily accessed and viewed by your viewers.
• Able to embed things from many other websites such as Prezi and Slideshare by using the HTML option.
• Posts can easily show who done/posted it using the labels.

Weaknesses:

• Sometimes the pictures wouldn't go in the exact space you wanted it to go, so you would have to work around it.
• Sometimes when creating a post your font and size of some of the text would look different after it had been published.

Conc - As i have never blogged before in my life, this was a new experience for me and i loved every bit of it. I really enjoyed blogging and experiencing all these different ways of doing so.

Prezi:

Strengths:

• Loads of different templates you can choose from.
• Can easily embed the presentations you made into your blog.
• Prezi can be easily used as i got used to it quite fast.
• Can easily insert images and videos from Youtube or computer into your presentations

Weaknesses:

• To be honest i would say Prezi has no weakness.

Conc - Loved using Prezi to make my presentation, it was easy, staright forward and fun to use and i will never forget about it from now on.