"Digital technology turns media consumers into media producers.."

I have only been studying Media for a year, for my A Levels. For my AS coursework we had to create a short 2 minutes opening to a thriller movie. Of which we had to plan, film and edit within a group of 4 people. As it was my first year, I had to learn how to use all the equipment such as the camera, laptop and edirol. To make our film opening to the best of it's ability we had to learn different filming techniques that we could have included in our coursework. We learnt that it is important to keep the camera steady, although we want the shaky effect we got a bit carried away and was a bit messy. We also had to film on two separate days due to not enough film and therefore the lighting was different. We also realised that it is really important to use the same camera throughout the production of our introduction as the settings are different and we had to change a short piece of film from HD to normal setting during the editing stage.

The Nintendo 3DS..

A technology that has become popular this year is the ability to make what would originally be a 2D image, a 3D one. Although the fondness for the technology has been shown mostly through movies and DVDs this year, there is also the upcoming gaming audience to be taken over. Next year Nintendo are due to release The Nintendo 3DS, which is yet another edition to what was originally the Nintendo DS which is portable game console. Currently there are 4 takes on the DS model - Original DS, DS Lite, DSi and DSi XL. Although we have seen recent models of mobile phones and laptops become smaller and in other cases, bigger.. The 3DS is not the biggest or smallest model to be manufactured from Nintendo but it is the one with the most features, including a D-pad, slide pad, touch screen, microphone, motion sensor, a gyroscope, 3 cameras, a 3D slider and wireless communication. Like the DSi, the 3DS can also take pictures but using the 3D technology, it can capture pictures and videos in 3D. All the 3D effects can be seen without the need for any special glasses, unlike when you're at the cinema you have to wear special glasses that make you look stupid, this is through a process called autostereoscopy. The 3DS is set to be released by March 31, 2011. The portable device will exceed the Nintendo DS series of handhelds, which also shares the market with Sony's PSP.


In my opinion I think it will be rather fascinating to see Mario running around in 3D, also that they have discovered the ability for their audience to play the console without having to wear specially adapted glasses. On the other hand for people who like to keep updated with the latest technology, it has become an expensive hobby with each of the consoles being created within a year of each other and having to buy new games to suit the compatibility to each of them. I would have liked it to include the Game Boy Advance game slot like the Original DS because I for one still enjoy the old school games, but I don't feel like I can complain when it has exceeded my expectations in every other way possible. I think that this console will be the one to beat in the long run, as before there were always bigger and better things to be created, we all saw the creation of '3D without glasses' invention coming, and now it's here it makes you wonder what possibly could come next?