1. +
How did you use digital
technology in your
production work?

2. +
FINAL CUT PRO

3. Final Cut Pro was the program used to edit all of our film. The program was
+ completely new to me when we started editing, so I learnt along the way, and by
the end I even knew shortcuts along will all the aspects of Final Cut. We faced
many problems whilst working with this program. The biggest problem was the
issue of our files ‘going offline,’ and not being able to reconnect them. Meaning
we had to upload the lost files off the camera, and repeat the process. This
meant wasting precious time that we could have used for editing or making our
soundtrack. Some of the clips had a problem with the sound volume of certain
actor’s voices, which couldn’t be resolved by heightening the noise bar. This
could have been resolved if we’d used a microphone whilst filming, but one was
not available to us. Final Cut Pro has a large amount of effects and transitions
that can deeply improve your film if choosing the correct one, this meant we had
a lot of choice as to which one suited a certain part of the film better. As we
chose to have a black and white film, Final Cut Pro made it very easy in which to
create this, the effect was called ‘desaturate.’ For the one flashback scene we
have used the effect ‘sepia,’ to represent a change in time period, so it’s obvious
it is indeed a flashback. The transitions we used for the clips were called the
‘fade in and fade out dissolve’ and the ‘cross dissolve.’ These were subtle
transitions that worked well as we didn’t want really obvious ones. For our
flashback scene we made the duration of that transition much longer as we
wanted it to be perfectly clear the scene was changing to a flash back. We used a
‘cross fade’ for the music, so there was a subtle ending to the music to start the
next scene. As we re-filmed certain scenes, the lighting differed from the rest of
the filming we’d done in that scene. This was adjusted by toning down the clips
that appeared too bright next to the new clip.

4. +
GARAGEBAND

5. + We used GarageBand to create all of our sound effects and music in the film.
It was simple and easy to use as I was already familiar with the program,
from using it previously in college and at home, mostly as a recording device.
It offers a wide range of different effects and sounds, from screams to a
creaking door noise effect. The music and sounds were not difficult to find,
as we knew the type of sound we wanted, and looked for that directly. We
repeated a soundtrack that we made in GarageBand for several different
scenes, which is something done in professional film production. We also
used it to record the two soliloquies in our film. To make a GarageBand
recording or track into an mp3 file was a quick and easy task, done by just
exporting the file into an mp3 file, then it can be crossed over and used in
Final Cut Pro. The version of GarageBand used to edit our film is the latest
version. I used an older version of the program to produce my radio trailer
for the film. I thought this was going to be an issue, but it wasn’t as it still
offered enough sounds and effects that were required. I recorded my voice
using a voice project, then saved it as an mp3 file, which was then added to
the soundtrack of my radio trailer. I added the ‘radio effect’ to my voice,
which was a huge help with wanting it to sound as realistic as possible.

6. +
PHOTOSHOP

7. +
This was how the
image looked before I
edited it using
Photoshop. I began
by adjusting the
contrast of the
picture, but that
wasn’t quite the
effect I wanted. I then
started to adjust the
colour altogether, I
began with black and
white, and then sepia.
I preferred the black
and white effect. As
the film is about
murder and betrayal, I
wanted the film
poster to represent
this by the choice of
colour.

8. I looked at many film
posters, and I decided It was difficult deciding
+
I definitely wanted to what colour I should
choose for my captions
include captions from
well known media text, as I didn’t want it
producers, such as to clash or be too tonally
‘The Gazette’ and similar to the background.
‘Empire’ magazine.
Including ratings on
your poster makes it I used a simple square
seem more realistic, as shape over the centre
most film posters do of my poster, this was
include this aspect. so the writing was clear
The title of the film as the background
‘Stake Out’ needed to I’ve used is a busy
be the biggest aspect image. I made the image
of the poster, so I transparent, so you
centered it, and used could still see the
the signature font, background image.
‘cracked,’ so it was
recognisable to our I didn’t have
film. The tagline to edit any of
represents the these using
character who is the Photoshop, as they
killer in the film. Which were already the
immediately makes it correct size and
obvious of the genre colour etc.
and theme of the film.

9. +
PowerPoint has been a crucial part of my blog work, as it offers a
simple and effective way to present a lot of information, in the
form of images or text. Slideshare is the website where you can
share your PowerPoint presentations, and embed them onto your
blog. Soundcloud was the website used to upload my radio
trailer, and then embed onto my blog.