Explain how your skills in the use of digital technology have developed over time. Refer to a rage of examples from your media productions in your answer (25 marks)
My skills in using digital technology have developed over the last two years when creating two media products - a film sequence in year 12 and a music video, digipak and website in year 13. Also through creating other media products to learn more about digital technology.
The use of the camera Nikon D3300-DSLR was vital over both years, but used much more professionally in year 13. In year 12 the requirements for filming the film sequence were very basic limiting my group to filming still, long shots that fitted with our narrative teen drama. Whereas in year 13 the demands to make an good music video were much greater. The camera was used to create a variety of complex shots, for example moving shots was a new approach we took to filming in year 13 to make our music video more dynamic.The progress of my camera skills from year 12 to year 13 using the Nikon D3300- DSLR improved immensely considering i had little knowledge as to how to use a camera when i first started media in year 12 and now i am able to use a camera to take photo as well as videos. This really impacted my work (productions) as if my camera skills hadn't of improved my production wouldn't be as good.
Another form of digital technology i used was an editing software Adobe Premiere - this enabled me to edit videos by cutting them and adding effects to them. In year 12 we learnt basic editing through the dancing bears practise - this involved multiple different clips of bears dancing or playing basketball for example and then using the various different effects on Adobe Premiere to learn about editing. This enabled me to learn about more effects and incorporate these into my final productions. For example i learnt how to add titles to the video, which was vital for the making of my G321 film sequence when it came to the titles at the beginning and credits at the end. Another example is that i learnt how to apply the black and white effect on Adobe Premiere to the dancing bears clips which i also used in my G321 drama film sequence. In year 12 i also replicated a scene from Juno to enhance my editing skills - this helped me to learn how to film shots using the Nikon D3300- DSLR which i hadn't used before and edit shots to exactly how i want them to be through excellent planning. So when it came to my G321 drama film sequence i had more practice in creating what i wanted to.
Similarly in year 13 i used the banana phone task to enhance my editing skills- this involved a variety of shots of my group with a banana singing to the song banana phone in different backgrounds doing various different activities. This was useful as it gave me the opportunity to experiment in more depth with a number of effects. I also created a Stealomatic this was a collation of ideas from other music videos that my production group used to develop ideas for our video. The stealomatic consisted of videos all put together roughly matching how i wanted my music video to be like - taking ideas from each clip. This was a creative style of editing using the digital technology of adobe premiere. This taught me how technology can be used to create a variety of atmospheres.
I used the technology Photoshop to create a film poster in year 12, at first Photoshop was very difficult to understand but my skills developed through practice and trial and error. Also by the use of YouTube videos which described how to use the software. In year 13 i used Photoshop to edit images of our artist to put on a magazine poster as well as on the digipak. We used more complex effects on Photoshop in year 13 such as ...... , which in turn developed my skills using the software. We used an effect to create multiple images of our artist in one image this involved the effect layering. Overall at the beginning of year 12 i had no idea what Photoshop was but by the end of year 13 i knew how to edit to a relatively complex standard due to the media productions created and practice. The impact of this was that my technological skills developed and i am now able to edit images using Photoshop for future productions.
I also used online technology softwares such as Blogger, my skills developed immensely over the two years of using blogger. In year 12 blogger was a basic template for logging our media work. I learnt the fundamentals to using blogger such as how to change the design and layout of the blog, how to post blogposts, how to post images and how to embed other presentation software such as Emaze presentations. But in year 13 blogger was more about individuality and independence, i learnt how to do more advance things on blogger such as how too embed videos and more complicated presentational softwares. In year 13 double the amount of blogposts were needed in comparison to year 12. In year 13 i also had a much better layout of my blog as i had researched other blogs and worked out what the best way to lay it all out was. I developed my skills i using blogger other the last two years through practice and now i am easily able to use it.
Another presentational tool i used was Slideshare - this was a basic software which i learnt in depth in year 12. I learnt how to embed powerpoints onto blogger using Slideshare. In year 13 i researched more creative presentation softwares and used them when presenting my work - shows creativity. This shows my development over the two years when using digital technology presentation softwares. For example i learnt how to create Emazes and Prezi's in year 13 in more depth, exploring the creative ways in which the software can be used - this improve the quality of my blog as it made it more unique and interesting. Me and my group created a production diary and showed this information on Prezi. During year 13 i found more presentation tools such as Powtoon and Canva. These tools impacted my work as they showed more creativity and how much i had developed over the two years as i became more independent by learning about new presentational tools on my own.
Another element of digital technology i used was the software Wix. In year 12 i didn't need to create a website therefore did not know how to use Wix. However in year 13 i created a whole website for my music artist. I did a lot of research into current music artists websites and incorporated the fundamental features of a website eg - about, shop, tour dates, music, news, homepage, photo gallery to make my website to a professional standard. When i first started using Wix i had no idea how to use Wix to all of its benefits and features, but after practise and learning how to use each tool to it's full benefit i managed to create a website of high standard.
In conclusion, a great strength of the use of digital technology is that it allowed me to create many products to a professional standard and it enabled me to create products that were realistic. Although a limitation of using digital technology is that it took time to learn how to use each software and the tools within that software. My digital technology skills have developed over time because of the time and effort i have put in to learning more about digital technology. Also because i knew it was vital for my skills to be good in this area for me to create professional looking productions. Over the past two years digital technology has had a major influence on both media productions from creating a drama film sequence in year 12 and creating a cross-media package (digipak, website, music video) in year 13.
Wednesday, 29 March 2017
Tuesday, 28 March 2017
Post-production essay - improved
In your experience now have your post-production skills developed through creating your productions (25 marks)
My post-production skills have developed through creating a film opening called 'Impact' at AS level and a cross-media package; music video 'Hypnotic', website and digipak at A2 level. Post-production is everything I did after the filming process. The post-production stage of production is crucial to the final outcome of a text. If any element, such as transitions, titles or sound seem wrong or misplaced, the entire text could decrease in quality.
In year 12 my first task was to edit dancing bears on Adobe premiere this involved multiple different clips of bears dancing or playing basketball for example and then using the various different effects on Adobe Premiere to learn about editing. This enabled me to learn about more effects and incorporate these into my final productions. For example i learnt how to add titles to the video, which was vital for the making of my G321 film sequence when it came to the titles at the beginning and credits at the end. Another example is that i learnt how to apply the black and white effect on Adobe Premiere to the dancing bears clips which i also used in my G321 drama film sequence. In year 12 i also replicated a scene from Juno to enhance my editing skills - this helped me to learn how to film shots and edit shots to exactly how i want them to be through excellent planning. So when it came to my G321 drama film sequence i had more practice in creating what i wanted to.
Similarly in year 13 i created a Stealomatic this was a collation of ideas from other music videos that my production group used to develop ideas for our video. The stealomatic consisted of videos all put together roughly matching how i wanted my music video to be like - taking ideas from each clip. My production group and i did this to research more into our genre and come up with more ideas of what we wanted our video to look like. This was a very useful task to do as it widden our creativity when it came to creating our final production.
In year 12 i also completed a preliminary task which was to - create a minute of a film sequence with the genre action. I had not done any research into my chosen film genre; action,therefore my product looked unfinished. I used Adobe Premiere to edit this production. The transitions i used between shots (cross-fade) did not look to a professional standard as i didn't have much practice in learning where to use them for them to be effective. The main element of my film sequence in the preliminary task was a chase scene which lacked meaning where as for my actual film sequence i created meaning through the mise en scene. I learnt through my mistakes in this task before working on my G321 film sequence. I placed a lot of emphasis on researching my genre, i found that slow cuts are key elements used in drama films from looking at existing products such as 'The theory of everything'. My use of only simple slow cuts created a more professional and realistic ,looking production. My use of titles also developed from my preliminary task because i had carried out research into my chosen genre and also practised using Adobe premiere and it's many features. For example, i knew that black was a dark, negative colour so i chose to use the colour black in my titles to show the sadness/depression within the main character of my film sequence. When looking at existing drama film products i noticed that fonts also tended to be dark colours as well. I created these titles of Adobe premiere and incorporated them into my film opening 'Impact'.
Similarly, in year 12 i completed a preliminary task which was to - recreate a minute of a current music video. My production group and i chose the song 'One call away' and used various locations to recreate this music video. Little research was put into this in comparison to my G324 cross-media promotional package. However the preliminary task was helpful in the sense that it helped me to work out what was essential in a music video ie what the fundamental elements are. This was vital when it came to creating a new music video as i had to incorporate a typical structure of a music video in with my ideas.
I learnt more and improved further when doing my G324 cross media promotional package for a music artist in year 13. My skills when using digital technology in post-production developed and improved for this production as i had had more practice so i knew hot to use the editing software Adobe premiere easier. This enabled me to quickly apply the necessities such as making sure each clip is the same frame size and of the same colour (brightness and contrast) to my music video 'Hypnotic'. So then i could look for new, unusual exciting effects to match the psychotic, abnormal and crazy style of my music video. This ensured my video remained creative and was appealing, intriguing for my audience. As well as the vast amount of edits my production group and i created within the music video to increase the intensity,pace and madness. The music video has about 100 shots, in comparison to my G321 film sequence that had a small number of long shots - this shows the development of my skills and how able i am now when editing. Thus my skills have developed further over time through my experience of post-production.
My production group and i also used the blurred effect on our performer to create confusion within the video and to emphasis the uniqueness. Adobe premiere helped me to make a professional standard production as i had a variety of new industry standard techniques that i could develop my work with.
Further evidence to show my development in post production comes from the fact that in year 12 Adobe premiere was the only software i used when it came to post-production but in year 13 i used Wix, Adobe Premiere and Photoshop. Especially when it came to ancillary tasks.
For example when creating a digipak i used the professional quality editing software Photoshop CS6. This editing software enabled me to create a digipak and edit other images to go our artists magazine cover and gallery on her website. Enabling me to create these products matching my music video which resulted in synergy between all three media products forming the cross media promotional package. The photographs used were colour corrected to match each other, edited in size to fit onto the digipak and edited in the orientation of them to match the style of the digipak. Some were highly edited, for example one photo on my digipak includes two images of the music artist 'Stellato' (performer in music video 'Hypnotic'), this was achieved through using Photoshop CS6. Using this editing software made my digipak look to a professional standard.
I also used the software Wix to create a website for my artist 'Stellato', using the tools lightbox, music player, store creator and many more. Learning how to use these tools improved my post production skills from the first year of media when i only had to create the film opening. The tools helped to engage the music videos audience,for example lightbox is like an advertisement to find out more within the website, it pops up as you enter the page to get the viewers attention. Store creator was used to make merchandise.
Also as part of post-production i informed my social media followers on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook that my music video had been released on Youtube to increase my audience. These were linked to my website and my website linked to them.
I completed many tasks over the two years on editing practice. The examples stated above helped me to improve and develop my skills in post-production. In conclusion my abilities in post-production have improved significantly throughout all four of my productions- film sequence, website, digipak and music video. Practise really helped me to further improve my post-production skills.
My post-production skills have developed through creating a film opening called 'Impact' at AS level and a cross-media package; music video 'Hypnotic', website and digipak at A2 level. Post-production is everything I did after the filming process. The post-production stage of production is crucial to the final outcome of a text. If any element, such as transitions, titles or sound seem wrong or misplaced, the entire text could decrease in quality.
In year 12 my first task was to edit dancing bears on Adobe premiere this involved multiple different clips of bears dancing or playing basketball for example and then using the various different effects on Adobe Premiere to learn about editing. This enabled me to learn about more effects and incorporate these into my final productions. For example i learnt how to add titles to the video, which was vital for the making of my G321 film sequence when it came to the titles at the beginning and credits at the end. Another example is that i learnt how to apply the black and white effect on Adobe Premiere to the dancing bears clips which i also used in my G321 drama film sequence. In year 12 i also replicated a scene from Juno to enhance my editing skills - this helped me to learn how to film shots and edit shots to exactly how i want them to be through excellent planning. So when it came to my G321 drama film sequence i had more practice in creating what i wanted to.
Similarly in year 13 i created a Stealomatic this was a collation of ideas from other music videos that my production group used to develop ideas for our video. The stealomatic consisted of videos all put together roughly matching how i wanted my music video to be like - taking ideas from each clip. My production group and i did this to research more into our genre and come up with more ideas of what we wanted our video to look like. This was a very useful task to do as it widden our creativity when it came to creating our final production.
In year 12 i also completed a preliminary task which was to - create a minute of a film sequence with the genre action. I had not done any research into my chosen film genre; action,therefore my product looked unfinished. I used Adobe Premiere to edit this production. The transitions i used between shots (cross-fade) did not look to a professional standard as i didn't have much practice in learning where to use them for them to be effective. The main element of my film sequence in the preliminary task was a chase scene which lacked meaning where as for my actual film sequence i created meaning through the mise en scene. I learnt through my mistakes in this task before working on my G321 film sequence. I placed a lot of emphasis on researching my genre, i found that slow cuts are key elements used in drama films from looking at existing products such as 'The theory of everything'. My use of only simple slow cuts created a more professional and realistic ,looking production. My use of titles also developed from my preliminary task because i had carried out research into my chosen genre and also practised using Adobe premiere and it's many features. For example, i knew that black was a dark, negative colour so i chose to use the colour black in my titles to show the sadness/depression within the main character of my film sequence. When looking at existing drama film products i noticed that fonts also tended to be dark colours as well. I created these titles of Adobe premiere and incorporated them into my film opening 'Impact'.
Similarly, in year 12 i completed a preliminary task which was to - recreate a minute of a current music video. My production group and i chose the song 'One call away' and used various locations to recreate this music video. Little research was put into this in comparison to my G324 cross-media promotional package. However the preliminary task was helpful in the sense that it helped me to work out what was essential in a music video ie what the fundamental elements are. This was vital when it came to creating a new music video as i had to incorporate a typical structure of a music video in with my ideas.
I learnt more and improved further when doing my G324 cross media promotional package for a music artist in year 13. My skills when using digital technology in post-production developed and improved for this production as i had had more practice so i knew hot to use the editing software Adobe premiere easier. This enabled me to quickly apply the necessities such as making sure each clip is the same frame size and of the same colour (brightness and contrast) to my music video 'Hypnotic'. So then i could look for new, unusual exciting effects to match the psychotic, abnormal and crazy style of my music video. This ensured my video remained creative and was appealing, intriguing for my audience. As well as the vast amount of edits my production group and i created within the music video to increase the intensity,pace and madness. The music video has about 100 shots, in comparison to my G321 film sequence that had a small number of long shots - this shows the development of my skills and how able i am now when editing. Thus my skills have developed further over time through my experience of post-production.
My production group and i also used the blurred effect on our performer to create confusion within the video and to emphasis the uniqueness. Adobe premiere helped me to make a professional standard production as i had a variety of new industry standard techniques that i could develop my work with.
Further evidence to show my development in post production comes from the fact that in year 12 Adobe premiere was the only software i used when it came to post-production but in year 13 i used Wix, Adobe Premiere and Photoshop. Especially when it came to ancillary tasks.
For example when creating a digipak i used the professional quality editing software Photoshop CS6. This editing software enabled me to create a digipak and edit other images to go our artists magazine cover and gallery on her website. Enabling me to create these products matching my music video which resulted in synergy between all three media products forming the cross media promotional package. The photographs used were colour corrected to match each other, edited in size to fit onto the digipak and edited in the orientation of them to match the style of the digipak. Some were highly edited, for example one photo on my digipak includes two images of the music artist 'Stellato' (performer in music video 'Hypnotic'), this was achieved through using Photoshop CS6. Using this editing software made my digipak look to a professional standard.
I also used the software Wix to create a website for my artist 'Stellato', using the tools lightbox, music player, store creator and many more. Learning how to use these tools improved my post production skills from the first year of media when i only had to create the film opening. The tools helped to engage the music videos audience,for example lightbox is like an advertisement to find out more within the website, it pops up as you enter the page to get the viewers attention. Store creator was used to make merchandise.
Also as part of post-production i informed my social media followers on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook that my music video had been released on Youtube to increase my audience. These were linked to my website and my website linked to them.
I completed many tasks over the two years on editing practice. The examples stated above helped me to improve and develop my skills in post-production. In conclusion my abilities in post-production have improved significantly throughout all four of my productions- film sequence, website, digipak and music video. Practise really helped me to further improve my post-production skills.
Friday, 17 March 2017
Media language essay
For my A2 coursework my production group created a cross media promotional package; a Website, Digipak and Music video. My production group created cross media branding through the synergy of images, colours, themes between each product.The codes and conventions create meaning through camera shots, editing, mise en scene and sound.
Meaning is created through the camera shots of the music video. For example at the beginning there is a medium shot of the stairs in Ripley's believe it or not museum in London with our artist 'Stellato' walking down, this is quite a mysterious shot as the audience doesn't actually see Stellato until further on in the video. This shot shows the crazy nature of my music video. Meaning is also created through the close up blurred shots of Stellato singing- they highlight her make up/costume which symbolizes darkness/evil. There is also a zoomed out camera shot of Stellato in a multi-coloured background showing her madness. These kind of shots we hope hypnotise the audience and create confusion. Another shot creates confusion, this is two images of Stellato laying down blurred like overlapping each other- this emphasises the mysterious nature of our artist. As well as the birds eye view shot of Stellato sitting down at the beginning of the second verse. This shot shows our artists vulnerability as the shot is overpowering her.
Mise en scene also creates media in my music video because the colour red plays a huge role. The mirror maze in Ripley's museum is the main setting for the video, the lights in the mirror maze are red they create triangles on the floor - reflected by the mirrors. Red symbolises evil and so does black. Black is another colour heavily featured in the music video - as part of a paint splattered background and the colour of Stellato's outfits. In the video Stellato has dark make up to further emphasize the madness of her and wears black costumes to create a mysterious vibe and single herself out. Her black outfits also contrast with the unusual mirror maze setting.
Thought beats have been created by the editing matching the sound of the video - shots change per clicking sound in the music. This makes the actions of Stellato match the music. Another example of this would be the arm movements Stellato makes when she is performing in various locations which makes the video creative. Stellato also makes movements that symbolise the lyrics, such as on the lyrics 'top hat' she makes hand movements towards her head. When editing i used the dip to black editing tool to contrast the different locations we used to film 'Hypnotic', such as - the mirror maze and the outside of Chelmsford town centre. The editing is also face pace. There was about 200 shots overall this shows the excessive editing in the music video. This creates the feeling of hypnotising in the video which makes the title of the song 'Hypnotic' relevant. A significant shot is the mirror shot of 2 images of Stellato sliding into each other using the blurred editing tool. This shot creates madness within the video as it confuses the audience.
The face pace editing matches the sound of the song, for example the pace of editing is faster when it comes to the chorus of the song which is faster than the verses. There is also juxtaposition with the lyrics and actions of Stellato in the video. For example Stellato sings 'I don't want to touch the ground' at the same time she touches the ground of the mirror maze. This creates meaning....
Meaning is created through the camera shots of the music video. For example at the beginning there is a medium shot of the stairs in Ripley's believe it or not museum in London with our artist 'Stellato' walking down, this is quite a mysterious shot as the audience doesn't actually see Stellato until further on in the video. This shot shows the crazy nature of my music video. Meaning is also created through the close up blurred shots of Stellato singing- they highlight her make up/costume which symbolizes darkness/evil. There is also a zoomed out camera shot of Stellato in a multi-coloured background showing her madness. These kind of shots we hope hypnotise the audience and create confusion. Another shot creates confusion, this is two images of Stellato laying down blurred like overlapping each other- this emphasises the mysterious nature of our artist. As well as the birds eye view shot of Stellato sitting down at the beginning of the second verse. This shot shows our artists vulnerability as the shot is overpowering her.
Mise en scene also creates media in my music video because the colour red plays a huge role. The mirror maze in Ripley's museum is the main setting for the video, the lights in the mirror maze are red they create triangles on the floor - reflected by the mirrors. Red symbolises evil and so does black. Black is another colour heavily featured in the music video - as part of a paint splattered background and the colour of Stellato's outfits. In the video Stellato has dark make up to further emphasize the madness of her and wears black costumes to create a mysterious vibe and single herself out. Her black outfits also contrast with the unusual mirror maze setting.
Thought beats have been created by the editing matching the sound of the video - shots change per clicking sound in the music. This makes the actions of Stellato match the music. Another example of this would be the arm movements Stellato makes when she is performing in various locations which makes the video creative. Stellato also makes movements that symbolise the lyrics, such as on the lyrics 'top hat' she makes hand movements towards her head. When editing i used the dip to black editing tool to contrast the different locations we used to film 'Hypnotic', such as - the mirror maze and the outside of Chelmsford town centre. The editing is also face pace. There was about 200 shots overall this shows the excessive editing in the music video. This creates the feeling of hypnotising in the video which makes the title of the song 'Hypnotic' relevant. A significant shot is the mirror shot of 2 images of Stellato sliding into each other using the blurred editing tool. This shot creates madness within the video as it confuses the audience.
The face pace editing matches the sound of the song, for example the pace of editing is faster when it comes to the chorus of the song which is faster than the verses. There is also juxtaposition with the lyrics and actions of Stellato in the video. For example Stellato sings 'I don't want to touch the ground' at the same time she touches the ground of the mirror maze. This creates meaning....
Thursday, 2 March 2017
Audience essay - improved
It is essential to consider audience when creating media products. My production group created a drama film opening called 'Impact' centred around a teenage girl struggling with her mental health. Our target audience was mainly female teenagers between the ages 13-18, however we were aware it could be aimed at males as well.
Due to the age of our audience, we have a fairly passive audience. Passive audiences can be viewed in the sense that they believe everything they see and accept it, rather than questioning it. So, viewers watching my film opening believe our messages about depression as it is all that is given to them. However, we wanted to empower our audience so we gave them opportunities to become an active audience.
I wanted to communicate the difficulties of mental health and how teenagers should be kind to one another as no one knows what each other is going through. We would hope this has an instant affect on our target audience as stated by the hypodermic and effects model. The effects model displays this view in the example of the Bobo doll experiment by Bandura. In relation to my film opening 'Impact' there is a section in which text messages are used to bully the main character Sophia such as 'No one likes you'. This sends a message to the teenagers watching that bullying is a immoral thing to do and causes harm to the victims. As in a different setting teens may not see the effect of their actions on others.
Another theory called cultivation theory is similar to the hypodermic/effects model but argues that over time the audience is gradually controlled to accept what they see as either good or bad. An example of this would be that we tried to convey the message that teenage life is tough and they should be supporting each other. So my film opening gives the audience greater insight into the lives of their peers, and an opportunity to identify with the characters feelings gradually as they watch the film or as they think about and discuss it with others.
From my film opening 'Impact' my target audience will get a greater insight into teenage struggles, they can choose to openly find out more things that the film opening doesn't teach them (what they don't passively know). They can use my film opening to learn more about depression and be more sympathetic to those suffering from the condition. In relation to the uses and gratifications theory which states 'we openly find things out ourselves, we don't know passively know', viewers can personally identify with the characters. For example teenage girls might watch 'Impact' and identify with Sophia, thinking it's okay to feel sad because Sophia does. Another factor of the theory is that viewers watch films to get information, for educational purposes, so from my film opening they would be educated about mental health. Active audiences watch films for entertainment to try and relate. Another element of the uses and gratification model is social interaction, audiences watch films to be able to discuss it with their peers or friends. For example my film opening gives the target audience of teenagers an opportunity to discuss their issues with their family/ friends as they have someone to relate to. They also have a safe space to feel sad and emotional about their problems. Teenagers would therefore buy my film opening to be able discuss it with each other. Another way in which i have enabled people to be apart of my film is by using typical conventions of a drama film i.e. wearing casual clothes - that can be easily related to by my target audience.
Maslow's hierarchy of needs can be applied to my film opening as it provides belonging to the audience of teenagers and provide their parents with mechanisms through which they can gain insight into the feelings and lives of their children. Also to provide teenagers with greater opportunities for support as their parents will understand them further. Due to the topic of depression being relatable for many people, and it helping people to talk about the topic and learn more. My film opening will help parents to be more helpful and supportive towards their children.
I think my production was successful in attracting our audience of teenagers, mainly females as the film opening is relatable to the lives of teenagers. Due to the typical school setting and the situations that may occur at school. My production group created a film poster and many other media texts to attract our audience.
I still don't think i have enough examples - but am struggling to think of any more!! Also i can't find anything on Schadenfreude ??
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