Question 1: Section A: Digital technology (practice essay)

Digital Technology – how your skills have progressed and how they helped you in your productions

Digital technologies have a had a massive influence on media production over the last few years and since I started in Year 12 I have learned a massive amount about how to use them and what the benefits are of using them.  They in turn have had a massive impact on the quality of my finished products.

At AS we used Premiere Pro to edit our film opening. This helped us significantly as we were able to gather all of our footage in one place and cut appropriate videos so that eventually we had a collection of videos in a sequence for a successful film opening. During this experience, we also learned skills to add effective transitions, audio or video. This would be transitions such as dissolve, fade or dip to black. We could also play around with volumes or add text and change the colour or font to make an effective title sequence.

At A2 we used Premiere Pro in a different way because we had a more advanced task. We used Premiere Pro to edit our music video. Similar to AS, we were able to gather all of the shots we had in one place and filter out the ones that were appropriate and the ones we did not need. We had skills from AS such as how to crop, edit and add transitions and effects which was helpful to not have to pick up from scratch again. However, we also added to these skills with more knowledge of Premiere Pro, for example being able to add filters that we had found on the internet over the top of shots to give it a vintage feel, or finding out how to get rid of the grid look on the swimming pool shots. Overall, combining AS and A2 skills for Premiere Pro produced a successful music video for us.

At A2 we needed to use social networking sites to promote our music video for multiple reasons. Firstly, so we could receive appropriate and helpful criticisms to improve. Also, so we could create the illusion of a ‘fan base’ and post pictures or statements on Instagram and Twitter to keep our fans up to date on what our band was doing. This proved to be an effective way of gaining evidence that our band was being promoted, with screen shots of posts on both social networking sites. Using Twitter and Instagram was also a way of keeping up with the ‘modern times’ and added a sense of realism. Most artists in this current day will use social networking sites such as Twitter and Instagram to gain viewers of their new music videos by promoting them through ‘countdowns’ or giving away small clues – so this is what we tried to do and it was successful.

At AS we used YouTube to add all relevant videos we had made, for example our storyboard or our audience evaluation question. We also uploaded drafts along the editing process of ‘Hacker’ and were able to receive appropriate feedback for our film opening so we could continuously improve it before the final draft was due. Our final film opening was also uploaded to YouTube which is a helpful site for AS students as it is popular in modern times and you can see how many views you have or comments of what people thought.

At A2 we used You Tube in a similar way because we also uploaded all relevant videos we had made. For example the lip syncing task, all three band members interviews with relevant channels, the storyboard, a teaser trailer, tour promotion, release promotion and all drafts during the editing process. Much like AS, we were able to receive appropriate feedback for our music video so we could continuously improve it before the final draft was due. The other videos were all helpful to our task as they all helped to promote the music video and give our fans ‘teasers’ and little snippets of what was to come. Alike AS again, our final music video was also uploaded to YouTube which helped us out once more as we could see how many views we had or comments of what people thought which aided our evaluation.

At AS we used Digital Cameras to film all of our shots that we needed to include for the final sequence. We stuck closely to the storyboard and it was a helpful piece of technology as it had a flip camera so the actors on the other side could see what the camera people were filming and therefore give a good performance and as it was also HD the quality of our film opening was decent.

At A2 we used Digital Cameras in a similar way because we also used this piece of technology to film all of our shots that we needed to include for the final music video. We did not stick as close to the storyboard because it sometimes looked better when it was more spontaneous and did not need such a close story line as it was a music video and not a film opening. The flip camera also helped the performers give a good performance and as it was also HD the quality of our music video was decent. In addition, we used a GoPro camera which proved to be extremely effect in the creation of our music video. The features of this camera enabled us to film under water and get clear, beautiful shots. Although we could not see what we were filming at the time, when watching it back this proved no problem as we were able to crop or edit the specific parts of the video that we needed and had a decent amount of water shots.

At AS we used Fireworks/Photoshop to create a film poster to promote our film opening. This was a difficult programme to use as no group members felt confident with Fireworks or Photoshop. After taking time to learn and play around with the programme, we were able to produce a really great film poster.

At A2 we used Fireworks/Photoshop in a similar way but did not struggle as much because we had picked up the skills for Photoshop in AS level. We made the whole digipak on Photoshop, this included six individual panels in black and white, with text and images. Picking up the skills at AS really helped us save time at A2 level for the music video digipak as we had so many other things to be doing – wasting time on learning Photoshop would have set us back.

Digital Technology has enabled me (a consumer of media) to become a producer that can not only make a higher quality media product, but edit it and distribute it to a wide audience.