Describe how you developed your skills in the use of digital technology for media production and evaluate how these skills contributed to your creative decision making. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how these skills developed over time.

Describe how you developed your skills in the use of digital technology for media production and evaluate how these skills contributed to your creative decision making. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how these skills developed over time.

In this essay i will be discussing how my digital technology skills have improved and evaluate how they contributed to my creativeness during the foundation and advance portfolio.

My foundation portfolio involved making a music magazine that featured a double page spread, front cover and contents page. I used a wide range of technologies, and most of them were new to me. However i did create a preliminary music magazine which helped me understand some of the technologies such as, photoshop. I got to grips with the basics on photoshop with the help of media staff and using the software in my spare time. For the photographing of the band that featured on the cover and inside my magazine i used a HD Panasonic camera and after doing a few test shots, i was able to use it properly and adjust the camera to the appropriate settings.  This enabled me to produce an effective and professional looking media product.

My skills in Photoshop and filming equipment were at a ‘beginners’ standard as these technologies were completely new to me. I wanted to improve on the technology skills so spent a lot of time after school to get to grips with the equipment I would use on my final music video and ancillary tasks. I learnt how to import the video clips onto the software and link the sound to the visuals. This gave me a head start as far as my skills were concerned, and after making the preliminary tasks for both the foundation portfolio and advanced portfolio, I was ready to create my final pieces of work.

Even though my technology skills had come a long way from the foundation portfolio, I still felt that using technology such as, Final Cut Pro, would still have been too advanced for me. Therefore my partner and I started off by using Imovie (a simpler software) this allowed us to do basic editing skills for our preliminary task and story board. By this time our skills had advanced and we felt confident using Final Cut for out final music video.

The importance of using Blogger also became apparent in the second portfolio. Fully planning a piece of work effectively involved blogging all my ideas, and commenting on why I’ve chosen them. Displaying all my ideas in one area was helpful when it came to evaluating and editing as I could refer back to my blog for inspiration if something wasn’t working. Blogger also allowed for peers, teachers and public to feedback on our work as it was in progress. As well as helping myself and the partner I worked with to collaborate more effectively.

I would apply the DIKW theory to both my portfolios. I already has the data needed from my preliminary task, therefore gaining better knowledge of technologies such as equipment and different software’s allowed me to apply my wisdom to be a lot more creative when it came to editing and planning my ideas. In some ways I had more freedom because i knew what was possible for me to achieve through the understanding of technologies. The preliminary task carried out acted as the data and allowed me to experiment with Imovie. I became advanced in using it for the prelim and decided to use more professional software, Final cut pro for the actual video as this would challenge my creativity with a more advanced piece of kit. It also enabled us to create a good quality piece of work..

I already gained information on the basics of photo-shop in the foundation portfolio, therefore when it came to making the digipak and advert I was able to work creatively concerning conventions and effects. The wisdom of the DIKW theory was applied by evaluating previous tasks in order to improve on the next. My skills using photoshop became a lot more advanced during the production and post-production of ancillary texts in the advanced portfolio. I used a number of effects such as, editing photo’s using colour enhancements, layering my work and adjusting transparency and making creative layouts for the digipak.

For the music video created, I set up a Facebook and twitter feed. This enabled a wide range of people to see my work and give us feedback, which was helpful after our first draft was assessed as we could make necessary improvements.

In conclusion, the advanced portfolio really showcased our development in technology skills and we created a video that was fun and stuck to its original intentions of being slightly quirky. I am very pleased with my own progression and I wouldn’t have been able to create such a professional looking media product if it wasn’t for the development in media technology and my own creative thinking.