Section 1a - Digital Technology

Section 1A - Digital Technology
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. 25 marks

Throughout the 2 years of media studies coursework I have used a range of different digital technologies which has influenced my work and creativity within the course in many ways. In AS I created a 2 minute film opening sequence, made to look within the Film Noir genre. Whereas in A2 we were asked to create a music promo package; including Music Video, Digipak and Advert. Throughout this essay question I will explain in depth about what digital technologies I used throughout my AS year of this course and then back that up with how I have developed my skills into my A2 year.I have developed my skills in the digital technology area such as the use of camera’s, additional software such as Final Cut, I and E mac’s, internet connected software such as Blogger and also Video camera’s. In my pre production area of work in AS level I used www.blogger.com to organise my planning materials, this is a web 2.0 technology and this means its an interactive and can post and edit the blog, also links to the idea of 2-way communication. In A2 I also used www.blogger.com but I had more knowledge on the website and was able to design it to look more professional and also allowed me to have a lot more posts in second year so I had to organize my posts a lot more, so my development of this digital technology has improved a lot. In AS I also used a stills camera (Nikon D80) this was used for my storyboard of my 2-minute sequence, also I used a Flash Mic, which I used a USB cable to import straight into IMovie, which was needed for the sequence. In A2 I used the same stills camera the Nikon D80 but had a more knowledge of how to use the camera and the picture were more crisp and fluent. I didn’t use the flash mic in A2 as I imported the song which we were creating a music video for to go into the background into IMovie this was easy as my knowledge has developed, I done this by importing the sound from a ITunes account. Production in Both AS and A2 required Final Cut this was used to created the videos of both coursework’s, in AS in only used a drag tool which shortened the sequence to 2-minutes which wasn’t very accurate, in A2 I used the razor tool to cut my video bit by bit to gain more accuracy and more fluency, this is still a basic tool but my development show me that this was needed for the development of my video which showed I have gained skills and confidence in this area. Additional software such as Photoshop was also used to make my logo for our company for, AS this wasn’t very difficult as it was very basic with a few colours and text. In A2 I have used Photoshop on the I mac instead of the Emac, which is faster and easier to work with. But also I have created my company logo, digipak and also my advert in Adobe Photoshop at A2 this required a lot more images and text using such as the magic wand or the lasso tool to get everything to fit and look more professional, this shows big improvements in my developments of digital technologies such as additional software. AS production required a video camera (Sony) to record my film opening, but was only needed for like 10 shots at most but in A2 I had to record more than 50 or even 60 this shows I have more confidence in using this camera and my digital technology of this has improved. Post production is needed to create the final product of the course in both AS and A2. In AS I used Final cut but just in a simple way dragging and importing the film and piecing it together, but in A2 I had several layers of video which needed to be in sync all using the razor tool which was quicker and more efficient. When it came to editing my AS film opening, I attached my Sony handycam camera to the Emac computer via a USB cable to import my footage into Final Cut. Final cut enabled me to edit and cop footage and piece it together. Also in AS I used Photoshop for the post-production process of my company logo. Tools included the lasso and paint tools. In A2 my understanding of Final cut and Photoshop improved greatly as in Final cut I used more layers and quick time conversation as this was the more convenient and effective method and also in Photoshop I used more tools such as the magic wand tool and such to create a more detailed digipak and advert.