Evaluation: Question 6 (Pt. 2)

Mac – I had never used a Mac before I started working on this media project, but I found it relatively easy to use and get used to as they are very similar to normal computers, apart from the fact that they lack certain programs that can come in handy (such as Paint).

Pros of Macs:

Easy to use, as they are very similar to normal computers

They contain programs such as iMovie, which are very useful for video-making projects such as this, as they provide a simple way to edit creations

Cons of Macs:

Lacks useful programs, like Paint and Word

iMovie – I had never used this prior to the project, but I learnt that this is an incredibly useful and easy program to use when editing videos. It allows you to easily cut down clips, add titles/sound/music and place effects/transitions, which really enhance the final product

Pros of iMovie:

Easy way to create professional looking videos through the tools provided

Cons of iMovie:

Often crashes when overloaded with information/actions

It is sometimes complex and annoying to add titles and change clips (for instance, when trying to revert clip back to original, you have to go back through all of the changes you have made to it)

Computer – I use computers all the time for school work and for personal use, so I did not have to get used to using this whatsoever.

Pros of computers:

They make life a lot easier (instead of writing out work, we can type it up in Word, we can download music, send emails to keep in touch with friends, etc)

Very easy to use

Provide entertainment (games, music, programmes and films)

Cons of computers:

Sometimes crash

Viruses

Can sometimes go slow/need updating often

USB Microphone: I use this for my own personal use so I am rather used to it, and didn’t have to learn much about it. We used this to dub over my voice in our film.

Pros of USB Microphone:

Easy and simple way to record voice/music/sound

Can create audio tracks to add to videos, which is helpful when doing a project such as this, as we needed to record a few sounds again that weren’t picked up very well in the actual film. Also means that I was able to create the distribution video.

Cons of USB Microphone:

Have to get distance from microphone right, or the sound can crack/go fuzzy

Scanner – I don’t use scanners very often, but I do know how to work them, so again, I didn’t need to learn an awful lot about this piece of equipment. However, on the scanner we were using, we needed to take a memory card from the scanner and then connect that to the computer so that we were able to get the images onto our blogs, which I had to be shown how to do.

Pros of scanner:

Quick and easy way of getting images/photos onto computer

Once the image is on the computer, you can enhance it by adding text/colour/images to it

Cons of scanner:

Images sometimes do not come out in the best quality/dark areas on images