Equipment we'll be using during our production

Due to many ground breaking advances in technology, it is now much simpler to get your hands on ‘top of the range’ equipment, in the use of filming, than it was say 5-10 years ago.

This is why our group has composed a list of the technology, which we’ll be using in production, and this post will just give you a quick run down on what the equipments called, what its used for and where it’ll be of use in our production.

First of, one of the main things we’ll be using in our production is camera’s (to take pictures or/and film shots) and so the camera we’ve been using to great effect has been the ‘EOS Canon 550D’. As well as having a class-leading resolution boost of 18 megapixels, it also has HD capture of 30 fps, for its movie mode and has full manual control and the option to use an external stereo microphone, so if our group feels we need to record any sound (dialog) we can do that. It also sports a widescreen of (3:2) LCD panel, has improved button design and offers the ability to customize the Auto ISO function to our liking. This type of camera is very practical, as it holds incredible features and comes at a very reasonable price. To give you just a quick run down, I’ll list all the features within the EOS Canon 550D. Features;

• 18 MP APS-C CMOS sensor
• DIGIC 4
• ISO 100-6400, H:12800
• Up to 3.7fps shooting
• Full HD movies
• 7.7cm (3.0”) 3:2 Clear View LCD with 1,040k dots
• iFCL metering
• Quick Control screen
• Ext. Mic socket
• Movie crop

Any filming or pictures we’ve taken need to be put up somewhere, so our teachers can see our work or progression. This is why we’ve chosen the website named ‘Blogger’ to host our work. Blogger is a blog-publishing service that allows private or multi-user blogs with time-stamped entries. It was created by Pyra Labs. Blogger is of a great use to us, one because it is free, two it is easy to access and use and finally it’ll enable us to upload any work we seem fit for our coursework as it allows everything even from ‘embedding’ of videos from websites such as YouTube. Blogger will also allow our group to come across in a professional manner and display any work we’ve collected, worked on and developed.

Once we’ve collected our work, we then need to have the use of a computer to place our work on. This is where ‘iMac’ comes into play. iMacs (created by Apple) are a great deal handy to our group, as this is where we’ll be able to edit all our work, collect it and put it on Blogger. Now iMacs come in two sizes (either 21.5 inches or 27inches) but the size we’ll be using in College is 27inches. The 27-inch Mac boasts resolution of 2560-by 1440, giving you more pixels, which mean that images look crisp and true to life, the 1000:1 contrast ratio gives you more vibrant colours and blacker blacks and the 16:9 aspect ratio gives off the same ratio as a HDTV.

Now whilst the iMac itself is a great piece of equipment, it still needs other programs aid to get the best out of it. This is where Photoshop comes into the picture. Photoshop, made by Adobe, is a graphics-editing program. This means that it will enable us to be able to edit, manipulate any images we deem necessary for our group’s poster or film magazine. It’ll also help us to design our ‘Slasher Inc’ logo. Althought Photoshop 5 is the latest one on the market we’ll be using ‘PS3’ due to the fact that this is what they have at our college.

Another program, of use to us, is ‘Final Cut Pro’. Final Cut Pro breaks free from the restrictions of old-fashioned time line tracks. A new, dynamic editing interface let’s you experiment freely while working with extraordinary speed and precision. We will be using this program to edit our teaser trailer, to the best of our ability, using such tools as trimming tools, to cut the videos we shoot, and also be using the rubber band tool to make clips fade in out to make the trailer run smoothly in the time line. 

Last, but most certainly not least, is the technology we’ll be using as a group to stay in touch to talk about our work. Due to advances in technology to due with Phones, we now have mobiles that allow us to have instant messaging services a click of a button away. The mobile being mentioned is a ‘Blackberry’. Ironically every member of our group owns and uses a Blackberry and due to it’s instant messaging service ‘Blackberry Messenger’ it is easy for us all to stay in touch. On ‘BBM’ we made a group called ‘Slasher Inc’, that has all us four members on it, so if we ever feel we need to chat a quick conversation or throw ideas at each other we can just message all of our members together on a group chat.