Discuss
how you have become more skilled in the use of digital technology during the
production of your Foundation and Advanced portfolios
My skills in editing products have, since
AS level Media, improved greatly. One
key example would be that the range of programs I can use with confidence has
grown. As part of my AS Media coursework
I had to create both a Student magazine – which included a front cover and a
contents page – and a music magazine – which was made up of a front cover,
contents page and a double page spread feature of an artist of my choice. The
list of programs used was limited to but a few; these were primarily Microsoft Publisher,
Microsoft Word and Gimp. Gimp having been used to it’s minimal potential. The result of my lack of confidence with
programs other than that of Microsoft was a lack of editorial quality and
drafting of magazine products. Comparing my AS coursework performance to this
years A2 performance however, I have branched out into using more complex and
finer programs for editing. These include; Adobe Photoshop Cs5 (64 bit),
Prezzi, Microsoft PowerPoint and Final Cut express. I found I was more than able to transfer some
of the editorial skills used in ‘Gimp’ last year onto programs this year. This
resulted in higher quality end products, edits, drafts and more freedom with
the wider selection of tools available – particularly on ‘Photoshop’.
There were specific areas in which my
skills improved on Final Cut express. Last year, as part of mock preparation
for the A2 coursework, we were put into groups to create a minute-long music
video. After creating this product, it
was uploaded onto a Windows XP computer, on the Final Cut express editing
software. My skills at editing with this
almost ‘alien’ software were limited. I had little confidence in editing, most
of it was in fact done by another group member with more experience on similar
programs. In A2 we used the same
software to edit our music video which meant I was familiar with it. I had
developed my skills enough to know how to render the video amongst other
things. Adding music and video footage came with ease. It simply required
connecting the Firewire cable into the firewire port, and uploading the footage
into a separate folder on the Apple Mac – the computer used for all editing
purposes during our A2 coursework. This footage could then be placed on the
timeline and edited accordingly. I was also able to do the same with still
images, or JPEG’s. I found myself editing sound as well as footage. Locking
some sound by clicking on the lock icon, being more familiar with icons than
last year, so that sound off the video camera ( a Sony Mini DV ) could be muted
throughout the video. This then allowed me to add separate music – Sierra
planes soundtrack by George Barnett off YouTube – render it, and have that
music playing with the footage.
When developing my digipak and
advertisement for the tail-end of my A2 coursework I found I could transfer the
skills used on my AS Media music magazine development and use them again. They
are, in my view, transferable, as both products were a means of advertising or
selling something. Last year it was selling the contents of the magazine, this
year it was selling one particular artist and album. I learnt that last year
the masthead was amongst the first aspects of a magazine to be noticed by It’s
audience. Therefore, this year I went about things in a similar fashion – using
an attractive size, font and colour to attract attention. Again, I had an
encyclopedia in my head of useful sites and programs to use from last year. I
chose a website I had used the previous year – DaFont.com – to search for fonts
and various stykes of text. After drafting, I had a suitable font to use. I
used the ‘Printscreen’ function on my Apple Mac – which was as follows – ‘cmd’
‘shift’ ‘3’ – then pasted it onto the selected program. Not all features of a magazine cover featured
on my advertisement. These included bar codes, pugs and other common
features. I had learnt from last year
that a good colour scheme is important. Last years coursework was lacking in
this respect.
