RA: [QUESTION 6] What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Online

• Blogger

At the very beginning of the course, we set up this account on blogger to document our progress throughout the project. We uploaded blog posts, photos, videos, links, and formatted these with highlighting and embedding. We were also able to comment on the posts, which allowed us to give feedback on each others' work and develop our ideas.

• Surveymonkey

We used the website Survey Monkey to create our audience research questionnaires. This was very useful as the website allows you to create different types of question, and can then display the results graphically and calculate percentages. Our first Survey Monkey questionnaire can be found here, and the second here.

• YouTube

We used YouTube to upload videos we made throughout the process of making our opening, including our preliminary task, Wilderness Woods footage, animatic and final piece. We also used it for watching opening sequences during the planning stage. Another website I used for this purpose was Art of the Title. Youtube was also used to research and locate our soundtrack.

• Slideshare & Prezzi powerpoints for our initial pitch and other work.

• Dafont to research and download appropriate fonts for our titles.

Camera

For our opening we used a Canon IXUS 115 HS and a Panasonic HDC SD-80, as well as a Sony Bloggie which was used for the characters' personal handicam shots. By using both of these cameras, we achieved good quality footage in HD, as well as the audio recordings. It also allowed us to film the handicam POV shots and regular shots simultaneously, which helped create continuity when editing.

For many of the shots, we used a tripod to create smooth and professional looking shots. However, we also felt it was appropriate to use handicam as it fitted with the frantic feel of the chase scene, as well as creating verisimilitude during parts where the characters are filming themselves as part of the plot.




Editing
We used the software Adobe Premiere Elements 9.0 to edit our opening. The process of editing 'Gutted' involved:

1. Uploading all of the footage we want to use onto the Data Disk of our editing computer. From here we imported the footage into Premiere Elements. We then pulled the footage onto the timeline in chronological order. For many parts we had multiple takes or different angles, so it was here that we chose which footage worked best for each part of the opening.
2. Next, we cut and trimmed our clips to create continuity, a clear narrative, and the appropriate pace for our opening. We wanted the piece to begin slowly, with longer length of takes, and to gain speed throughout opening until the title.
3. After this, we adapted colouring, speed, zoom and other alterations you can make to the clips in post production where we saw appropriate.
4. We then added soundtrack that we had sourced online. The soundtrack consisted of one piece of music, which we cut into three different parts to fit the feel and pace of different parts of the opening. We also added the sound effect of birdsong during the establishing outdoor scene to create an audio bridge between shots, but we slowed the audio down slightly to create a slightly more sinister sound.
5. When adding non-diagetic sound, we also had to edit the existing sound. In some places, we quietened or muted the sound all-together, such as during the chase scene, whereas in other parts we amplified the sound to heighten the effect, notably the final scream as the title is shown. Other sound we added was the dialogue "Run!" which we recorded separately to add a transition between the two locations; the house and the cemetery.
6. Lastly we added titles. This took more than one attempt to perfect. From the start we knew we wanted to use the font gogozombie, so we placed the titles throughout in this font. However, we found that including titles once the zombie chase had started distracted from the action. So we removed some titles and moved others to earlier in the piece while the tension was building. We also had to conform the titles by keeping them in similar places on the screen and making them roughly the same length.

Effects we added in post-production:

• For the outside footage at the beginning we wanted to drain the colour. We did this using the brightness and contrast, saturation, and lightness tools.
• To make Alexis' handicam monologue look realistic as being filmed on a camcorder, we applied the 'old film' filter and adjusted the gamma settings to make the footage look grainy and damaged.
• To increase the pace of the opening, we sped some of the footage up using the 'compress time' tool.
• We used keyframes to fade the titles in and out to create a smoother look.

We created the effect on the final title, “GUTTED” using a number of steps:

• Firstly, we used the Black & White and Colour Pass tools to show only the red colours in the footage. 
• Then, using Adobe Photoshop, we created a stencil of the word 'GUTTED' in our desired font, Skin & Bones. 
• We then imported it into Premiere Elements and added it to the timeline as another layer of video above the last clip. We added the zooming effect to this layer.
• Lastly, we added a final video layer of a blood-red colour, and used keyframes and the fading tools to create the fade from the footage into the solid colour.