My Technology Film

For my current module I had to introduce technology and a chosen technology that I use in my work setting, and will continue to use for the module. For my patch I decided to create a film. I recently had an INSET at school and we had some basic audio training. Although I have created a small film for a module before it was only words and pictures. This time I decided to follow a completely different procedure, all for the first time so it was a massive learning curve.

· First I created a PowerPoint presentation. I decided to use post it notes, so I used a clip art, and to make it more authentic I downloaded a handwriting font to use on them. PowerPoint was used in the main as sort of a planning tool. I designed my film on it. In fact what became to close of my film was originally smack bang in the middle. I added notes to each slide. Once the presentation was complete I saved the files as GIF files, so every single slide was saved a s a separate picture.

· Next I imported the pictures into movie maker and arranged them in the correct order, still using the presentation as my plan. I added a few more pictures to fill in a few gaps and to add some impact to certain areas, and to break up the boredom of looking at one picture for any length of time.

· I then recorded the notes I had made on each slide as a voiceover, using audacity audio software. I recorded each slide as a separate file, saving them with the title of the slide number, i.e slide 1. I then exported each recording as a WAV file, so I had the audacity project files and the WAV files all together.

· Once each slide voiceover was recorded, I began to put the recordings together with music as a background, in a separate recording. This took ages as I had to picture in my mind how the film was going to look as this helped me with the timing. I had trouble to begin with as although it was easy to work out how to amplify my voice recordings, I could not find how to quieten down the music backgrounds. Once I had finished I then saved the file as a new project file, and then exported it as a WAV file also.

The audio part of the film was the real learning curve for me during this patch. By the end of the film I had managed to work out how to soften the music, how to add various effects, and how to cut out mistakes made during the recording. I had even spent approximately two hours repeating a small section of audio (music) within its actual wave form, to lengthen a piece a music so that it fit with the end of the film.

I used royalty free music to ensure that I was covered in terms of licensing. The PowerPoint was my own design even though I used a clip art within it. When I listen to the film, I can still hear mistakes and areas that I would want to correct, all things that I would not have been able to do before making the film, but now through the informal learning that I have gained following the process, I could improve on. I now know how to soften music backgrounds, add effects, amplify sound and repeat sections of audio. This has been a fantastic learning opportunity, and one I hope to expand on.