For the editing process we used a software called Adobe Premiere Pro. This software is commonly used in the professional industry so we thought that it was a suitable software to use for our film. It has exceptional colour grading tools, which are very useful in ensuring the film has a professional look to it. It also has very efficient tools for editing titles, which helped greatly and allowed the titles to look as good as possible. I think that one of the key successes to our film was the editing and it was down to this piece of software that we were able to edit successfully. Unfortunately, the computer that we were using with this software was very slow, so editing took a long time. To combat this, we selected all the clips that we intended on using and saved them in an MP4 format to make editing easier, however this did result in a loss of quality so for the key shots - where visual impact was imperative - we reinserted the original format of the files to retain the high quality to the shots. Editing was a very time consuming process.
We used the Panasonic SD90 to film our trailer. I have discussed this in a previous post, which should cover the basics of this camera. The main reasons for using it were that it filmed in HD and had a very good look to it. Admittedly, some of the footage was overexposed and obviously the footage was colour graded, but it did a decent job otherwise. Another fault that we found with this camera was that didn't give the user control over the focus, which prevented us from experimenting with different depths of field. I have learnt how to use the camera to it's highest potential and to avoid trying to do anything that highlights these negative points. We also used two other filming devices for shooting when the camera was out of power or the other side of the world. These were two Samsung Galaxy devices, chosen for their relative ease, though there was less quality to the footage - though only a select few of these shots were used.
The only software used for the design of our posters and magazine covers was the free program Paint.NET. The program was selected for its lack of cost, its accessibility and range of functions as well as several years worth of experience with using it. The program allows the user to do just about all the functions of high end photo editing softwares such as photoshop, but is easier to operate and free.
Blogger was used to record the filmmaking process. This was a helpful tool, as we were easily able to go back and have a look at all our research and planning. It is easy to access as you can get to it anywhere with internet connection, however this did mean we couldn't get hold of it in locations where there was no internet, such as Waverly Abbey and Highgate Cemetery. Blogger allowed us to share links to videos and music files, and was a very useful place to collect and share information.
Other than these pieces of technology we didn't really use anything. We opted out of using a tripod for a few reasons. Firstly, the look that we were going for worked better without a tripod, as it makes the audience feel like they are involved in the action. If it were filmed on a tripod then it would look too static and the audience would feel like they're observing the action, rather than getting into it. The second reason was that it was impractical to set up a tripod in many of the locations as we may have been told to stop filming as we were in public.