Question 6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of contructing the product?

The following sections feature the technologies that we utilised and how they helped us generate Vendetta:

HARDWARE

• Canon 550D camera
  This allowed us to shoot in HD and use a manual focus to create a sharp or blurred effect easily. It also allowed us to shoot in 50fps, useful since we could later slow down several of our shots without losing quality as you might with the standard 25fps
• Canon Legria DV-30 camera
  Although we practised with this camera on our test shoot, we decided that the image quality was far superior on the 550D so despite the need to manually focus we used the 550D
• tripod
  It is important to always screw the camera on tightly so it does not slip whilst framing shots or fall off
• Arri Redhead 650 lights

  

  We always wore gloves to avoid burns

  We chose these over the 750 because they were less bright, creating a more realistic set-up. We used a fan when no dialogue was being filmed to cool down the room
• PAG light
  We used this to for the POV scene as it allowed us to highlight what Eve was looking at without losing quality of the strobe
• Strobe light
  This created the party atmosphere. We increased the flashing speed so that when shots were slowed down, the strobe still appeared to be real time which added to the POV effect

 SOFTWARE

• Adobe Premiere Pro CS5
  
  

  
  
  

  This video demonstrates the most important features we utilised in the program

  
  
• Adobe After Effects CS5
  

  
  
  

  This video shows how we used After Effects to remove grain from our shots
  
• Livetype
  We used this to create our titles. To make the background we used a preset background of water, desaturated it, reduced the brightness and increased the contrast to make the smoky effect. Then we picked a font using www.dafont.com to use for the titles. We used an effect called "ghost" to make the titles fade off, however this effect had preset motion, so we had to rewrite some html to change the direction some titles faded off to. 
  
  

  

  How we changed the direction the title ghosts off to

  
  
• Adobe Audition CS5
  We used this to record some voiceover to add to the panicked sound effects and to record voiceover for walk-throughs, audience feedback and the director's commentary.

NEW MEDIA

• Facebook
  We used facebook for several things: to coordinate work at home, making plans and organising actors. We had a special group for the project and a message forum for all the actors to ask questions and find out details. The 'like' features also allowed us to research the interests of real members of our audience.
• Youtube
  This was incredibly useful for researching clips and trailers. We found our music on youtube and comment and message features allowed us to ascertain whether the user would let us use the song. We also exhibited the opening on Youtube.