Discuss how you have become more skilled in the use of digital technology during the production of your Foundation and Advanced portfolios

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.