G325: Section A: Theoretical Perspectives in Media

Question 1a)

Digital Technology
What skills you may have learned?
 Software maybe used @ AS for film posters & used @ A2 for
digipak & advert

• image manipulation
• crop tools such as Marquee (magic wand), Lassos,
• colour converters such as Red Eye Corrector, Colour Variations, Colour
Dropper, Dodge and Burn.
• combine image elements for totally personalised pictures--
• easily perform common adjustments such as colour,
lighting and contrast correction or enhancements. This task helped you
learn composition and framing skills in terms of shot
types.
• Used text tools and matched your fonts to act as part
of the mode of address.
• Used Photoshop to aid your house style through
picture boxes and other shape tools(arrows, stars etc).
• Manipulated photographs through lighting effects such as
brightness and contrast and shadow effects.
• used layers organise work.
You have made use of the master layout page
to ensure layouts (for house style) was the
same. This was to ensure your slugs, banners,
runners were in the same position on the pages.

You engaged with print conventions

– not using more than two fonts – sans
serif for titles. You looked at
contrasting fonts and juxtaposition of
elements on a page.
 Weblogs
You used www.blogger.com
• to upload, organise and share your research findings and planning
materials.
• offer audiences opportunities for interactivity

• As a medium to offer audiences a multi media experience including

film, audio, adverts and Blogger is an example of Web 2.0 technology
(O’Reilly, 2004).
• This means that the technology is interactive – audiences can post
and edit content on the blogs – it links to the idea of two-way
communication, communication is no longer linear (one way).
• You also uploaded planning materials and evaluations to
your weblog. You used iMovie or final cut pro to edit short
videos and audio files that had been recorded on the MP3
digital dictaphones or the Zoom H2 Handy
Microphones (Hardware). iMovie introduced you to
timelines, dissolve and fade transitions, and the layering
of audio over images.
 Hardware @ AS & A2

digital stills cameras (10 mega pixels) to take

photographs for your film poster, advert and digipak
but also at the stage of planning

You then uploaded the photographs using a USB

cable to the desktop computers.

You then used the software discussed to crop these

photographs. This initial task helped you learn
composition and framing skills in terms of shot
types.
To capture the digital video from a mini DV tape, a
Firewire cable (IEE1394) is used. The ability to capture
footage and audio is also achieved because the computer
has a capture card to allow for vast amounts of filmed data
to be imported to the edit suite. You did not rewind your
tape as this would have wiped the eight digit timecode.
This is important as the capture of footage is done by
minutes, seconds, frames and can be edited using the
timecode.
The other main piece of hardware
needed to capture footage was
the Canon/Samsung mini DV
cameras. The mini DV tape was
inserted into the mechanism and
was captured in Premiere Pro
CS3 in real time, but it can be
captured up to 4X speed of real
time.
The non-linear editing software allowed you to edit
footage, and the most popular edits you made were
split edits (which split the video and audio footage at
different times) and cutaways or cross cuts (which
were continuity techniques used to allow audiences to
experience parallel action of events or receive more
information in order to construct narrative).
Features of iMovie - (Some of you may have used final cut pro)
Direct trimming of video and audio clips in the timeline Snapping
sync for video and audio, audio waveforms and listening to audio
while scrubbing ･
Multiple clip selection, Adding audio tracks. ･ Sample sound
effects included, ･ Voice-over narration can be recorded from a
microphone and added to an audio track.
Titles with effects such as 3D spin, converge, bounce across and
ending credits motion. ･
Transitions, such as cross dissolve, disintegrate, twirl, scale down
and warp out. ･ Video effects, including fast motion, slow motion,
reverse fast/slow motion, brightness and contrast, electricity and
fairy dust effects. ･
Creation of still frames from video. ･ Splitting clips. ･ Extracting
audio from clips. ･ Exporting a movie or scene as a QuickTime
movie, or sharing it via email Bluetooth or .Mac HomePage, or
sending it back to a digital camera
The non-linear editing software allowed you to edit footage, and
the most popular edits you made were split edits (which split the
video and audio footage at different times) and cutaways or cross
cuts (which were continuity techniques used to allow audiences to
experience parallel action of events or receive more information in
order to construct narrative).