In terms of my foundation portfolio (AS) I had to create an opening title sequence for a thriller movie which I named vindicate. It focused on 2 male protagonists who were on a look out for an assassin in an abandoned house, in order to prepare for the opening title sequence I was also required to complete a preliminary tasks which taught me the basics about maintaining continuity and familiarising myself with the editing software. My advanced portfolio (A2) production focused on a music video for the indie band 'Bastille' and their song 'Pompeii', we decided to hybridise the type of the video and created a performance based music video with a narrative based twist, the advanced portfolio was also accompanied by a magazine poster and a digipak (CD cover) which was part of the ancillary tasks.
One
piece of technology that was used throughout my coursework was
blogger, this platform has made me more confident in my progression
from AS media to A2 media. Having spent almost 2 years on it, it made
me work more quickly and efficiently. Blogger allowed me to embed
insightful YouTube videos, write up my own essays and also embed
soundcloud audio files by using a HTML code.
The
use of camera equipment had also progressed from my foundation
portfolio to my advanced portfolio. For example, to film the opening
title sequence (OTS) I used a Canon Legria HD camcorder, this piece
of tool was satisfactory because although it had remarkable quality
and battery life some of the functions were rather limited for
example you couldn’t change lens meaning that you could only zoom
in 32x with optical zoom. However, for my advanced portfolio I used a
Canon 700D DSLR camera which has additional features which the
camcorder lacked such as AF Focus, high speed shooting and a ISO
feature to shoot in dark conditions.
I
also used digital technology to help inform and construct my project,
during AS media had a skype interview with Mike Harrowes; an industry
professional editor who gave me key hints and tips on how to edit a
media product. In A2 media I progressed in the sense that I had two
separate industry professional to help inform me, for example Ryan
Mackfall (music director) helped me with my pre-production roles such
as tips on a treatment, whereas Ian Haughton (branding designer)
helped me on my ancillary tasks (post production). Having a skype
interview with these industry professionals helped me think about
pertinent questions to ask in order to get valuable feedback for the
products that I was making.
The
use of digital technology was also beneficial in my evaluation. In
order to portray my information in a more amusing way I used web
tools such as Piktochart and Issuu (advanced portfolio), this made my
more aesthetically pleasing but also easy to interpret for my
teacher. During AS media I used tools such as PowerPoint and
Slideshare, whereas In A2 media I used more advanced web tools such
as PowToon and Piktochart (these were great alternatives to
PowerPoint). In A2 I was more selective of using web tools in the
sense that in A2 media I used tools that were most appropriate
according to the task that was set for example I used Issuu for my
‘digital technology pre-production’ post because it is a digital
magazine web tool which links into the theme of modern technology.
Photoshop
was also significantly used in my throughout my foundation and
advanced portfolios. I used Photoshop to created 3D text for my
opening title sequence, the reason why I used another software for
the text is because Final Cut Pro has very basic text which doesn’t
allow you to have 3D text, however using Photoshop meant that I could
import 3D texts. In terms of my music promo I used PhotoShop in
multiple ways such as my bands logo, the digipak and the text bubble
from the iPhone. This meant that I became more confident in PhotoShop
but also helped me construct a more competent piece of work.
Photoshop was also widely used in my ancillary task whilst creating the magazine poster and digipak, having had previous experience in Photoshop it meant that I could creative a product that was aesthetically pleasing but also implement further new tools such as the use of the gradient tool, the slice tool and the spot healing brush tool. Using photoshop frequently meant that I could also learn keyboard shortcuts that I wasn't familiar with during AS media. for example CTRL + C meant that I could copy images from my photoshoot and CTRL + V meant that I could paste these images onto my Photoshop document; this ultimately saved me significant amount of time which had also developed my time maintenance and organisation skills.
Photoshop was also widely used in my ancillary task whilst creating the magazine poster and digipak, having had previous experience in Photoshop it meant that I could creative a product that was aesthetically pleasing but also implement further new tools such as the use of the gradient tool, the slice tool and the spot healing brush tool. Using photoshop frequently meant that I could also learn keyboard shortcuts that I wasn't familiar with during AS media. for example CTRL + C meant that I could copy images from my photoshoot and CTRL + V meant that I could paste these images onto my Photoshop document; this ultimately saved me significant amount of time which had also developed my time maintenance and organisation skills.
In
order to edit my opening title sequence (foundation portfolio) I used
Adobe Premiere Pro; this helped me enhance the visual imagery of my
project as it has extensive features such as colour corrections,
transitions and a wide range of fonts. However, there were some
issues with Premiere Pro which slowed down the process of meeting the
deadline. For example, we had issues with rendering out the project
as the footage became green and the audio was missing. In order to
eradicate this issue, for my advanced portfolio, I decided to edit
using Final Cut Pro. This is a more sophisticated software which is
used by industry professionals, this software made rendering a lot
easier because it has rendering templates which you can set prior to
editing; enabling the template meant that there was no issue with
rendering my final pop promo.
In
conclusion, when making my A2 music promo I pushed my boundaries in
the sense that I combined different media platforms in order to
produce the final outcome, an example of this using Photoshop, not
only did integrate Photoshop I also incorporated Apple iPhones by
displaying a text bubble using iOS8 (iPhone operating system). This
was a lot more advanced than my OTS; because my AS project was all
about a strong narrative and creating enigma whereas the music promo
was more about editing skills in order to maintain audience interest
and gain multiple viewings.
- I used an internal mic in AS which meant it was quite hard to hear dialogue but in my A2 project I used an external mic meaning that I didn’t have to create my own Foley which was time consuming.
- In conclusion, I believe that digital technology was very helpful in producing to effective pieces of media over the 2 years. As my skills further improved it enabled me to be a more comptent student but also use digital technology effectively in order to produce a high quality product.
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