'Describe how you developed your skills in the use of digital technology for media production and evaluate how these contributed to your creative decision making'
Throughout the duration of producing both my AS foundation portfolio, a Music Magazine, front cover, contents page and Double page spread, and my A2 Advanced Portfolio, a Documentary Film Trailer. The use of Digital Technology was very Important, my knowledge developed immensely from my first year of media to my second, as The type of equipment I used differed, as my primary task was print therefore my skills were highlighted through my ability to capture still images which successfully conveyed the genre of music i was attempting to capture, where as my Advanced Portfolio "The Model Industry" was shown through video format, therefore the content that i captured i had to make sure was framed well, and i used the correct shot types etc.
During the research and planning stages of both portfolios, it was essential for me to take advantage of digital technology, the most evident use of this is the internet. Through many differing styles of sites, i was able to gather information on my chosen topic, research further into my specific genre of both magazine and film, through exploring already established media platforms and companies, magazines such as NME, POP, LOVE as well as film institutions such as the BFI as well as viewing similar films online such as 'The September Issue' and 'Page One: The Times'. Online sites to enabled me to present my findings neatly and organized on an online site called Blogger. Once my tasks where completed I was able to publish them through the means of the internet, this is mostly true for my trailer which i published on a site called Youtube, an easy and free way of displaying my product, as an established website, my work was abled to be viewed by many, which too reinforced the predominant reasonings of my expository documentary, an attempt to advice and inform about the truth behind the glamour and make up of the model industry. Social networking sites to assisted in the development of both my products, once I had made a Questionnaire on Google Docs I was able to publish it on sites such as Facebook and Twitter where many where then able to answer the questions enabling my results to be accurate and diverse.
Although I used a camera during both portfolios, in advanced, to include still images during my final trailer. I learnt to use a camera predominantly during the stages of creating and producing my Music Magazine Tune. When capturing the images, I tried to incorporate props, an oversized teacup, which would enable the overall visual image to appear surreal and artistic, relating to my chosen genre of pop. The photos i had taken where to to become the focal images of my piece, therefore had to be unique and distinct in order to have a selling point in the present competitive market of magazine industry.
All though I believed my images to be good, I did not see believe them to be as striking as they had the potential to be. Therefore once I had simply edited my images
on Photoshop C3 in an effort to remove any flaws, such as making the skin of my talent, appear flawless and smooth therefore appearing professional and skilled. I downloaded my images onto an iPad where I was able to expertly change the colour of my images, using a specific photography and art app. After a series of experimenting with differing colours I decided that my images appeared more striking in the style of Pop Art, this style of imagery, enabled my image to appear bold, bright and stand out against the many magazine which fill the shelves. Furthermore through incorporating the concept of art as well as music I was able to make my magazine TUNE, a niche product. During my Advanced Portfolio I too took advantage of an iPad, by creating the fonts and logo of my Documentary Film Trailer,by writing the title myself however using the 'digital pen' which gave the option of several types of pen and fonts such as 'Billboard' this therefore enabled me to create a font which I believed to be different to any other logo, however still appear bold, legible and professional. As i had already used the online editing software in my foundation portfolio, when creating my trailer, these skills where transferable to my next project.
However dissimilar to my first task, my second was to create a video formated piece of work therefore unlike previously when i predominately used a camera, I now had to change to a camcorder, earlier on in the process of researching and planning, we filmed a short sketch 'the phone call' where we filmed and then edited on iMovie, I tried various cameras and set them up with a tripod etc in order to gain knowledge that was necessary or me to know when it came to filming in order to make my trailer as best as possible. This is too true for iMovie, where I attempted to incorporate many editing techniques in order to acquire experience with this software. When it came to actual process of filming the content of my trailer, i did not believe the first camcorder I used to produce clear and defined footage, appearing blurry and jumpy, therefore I chose to re-film in hope of obtaining more defined footage, which would assist in making my final piece appear like a professional trailer.
Finally, in an attempt present my blog posts in varied ways, I used other online programs, an example of this slide-share, which enabled me to make interactive power-points, where I was able to highlight information i believed to be important such as codes and conventions of both forms of work. An alternate online program is PREZI, despite it allowing my research to appear organized and easy to read through its ability to zoom etc I found this software complex and hard to use therefor the use of this site was limited due to my lack of knowledge. Furthermore during the Evaluation stages of both tasks I used Photo Booth where I filmed my audience feedback ,and later used youtube annotation to add titles and words to highlight the opinions views and any criticism from my target demographic.
