Overview of stages.

Detail how your post production skills developed throughout your AS and A2 coursework

At AS, my post production consisted of editing photos that I had taken using Photoshop, adding text, experimenting with layout and adding common magazine conventions such as barcodes, mastheads, text, images. Editing of the photos included changing the brightness, contrast, size, cropping and adding effects. For the post production stage I mainly used Photoshop to edit my magazine as it provided me with the tools I needed. The formatting tools were suitable for making changes from the draft to the final version to make it look more like a conventional magazine. I also used websites on the internet to research font types and images such as Cover Junkie, Google, Da Font and many more. I used as many tools as I could provided in the software to challenge my skills. Some examples include using filters, the magnetic lasso tool, adding text, the magic wand tool, the eraser tool, the red eye removal tool, the brush tool, the move tool, the paint bucket tool and the enhance tools which edit the images automatically. The software was very suitable for the task as it allows you to edit images and text quickly and easily and use and challenge the conventions of an actual music magazine. The editing tools are very user friendly so therefore allowed my skills to develop throughout the post production stage. One advantage of using Photoshop is that you can create draft versions to experiment with tools and try out things before using them on the final version. A disadvantage of the software is that some tools are harder to use than other such as the magnetic lasso tool. This tool requires a large amount of skill to crop out an image accurately. The software is generally quite difficult to use if you have no experience with it so experimenting and practicing with the tools is crucial for the final product to be successful. Other disadvantages are that images are not always great quality, the editing process is very time consuming and the software and tools can be quite unpredictable. My main strength of using Photoshop was my editing skills with images. Over time I found the tools easier to use and I decided to challenge my skills by altering the images manually and automatically using filters to suit the rock genre of the magazine. My main weakness was choosing an appropriate font to suit the photographs taken. The quality of the images chosen were not always of the best quality so I had to take more photos using a different device which made the post production process more time consuming because there were no images to work on.

For the post-production stage at A2, it consisted of editing the music video such as adding effects, changing lighting, matching frames to sound, using transitions and using Adobe Premiere. For the ancillary texts I used Photoshop to edit photos that I had taken and drawn, develop the layout, add font and colour and use templates. Editing the music video required a lot of skill and time. It consisted of cropping shots to fit to the soundtrack and story board, altering image quality such as brightness and contrast and choosing the correct frames to use and putting them in order. Post-production was the hardest stage of the music video because we had no previous experience with Premiere and there was also problems with the software which took a while to fix which also affected our schedule. Once we were able to start editing, the process moved along quite rapidly and we were able to upload all of the shots we had filmed during production and then crop them. The final music developed a lot from the draft version. We decided to remove the narrative aspect and focus solely on band performance. We also decided not to use coloured lighting and adding coloured filters to the video. The software was good for cropping frames accurately and using effects although it can be quite unpredictable as it crashed regularly while in use. My strengths with using the software were mainly cropping the frames accurately to meet the soundtrack and also putting them in the correct order to fit with the storyboard we created. I’d say a weakness of mine would be adding suitable effects.

I found it quite difficult to set the appropriate brightness and contrast on each shot so that each looked similar. For the ancillary texts I used Photoshop to edit. I mainly used it for the template, adding text, adding conventions, editing images I had taken and drawn and changing the layout. My skills with Photoshop dramatically improved from AS to A2 because I felt more confident with using the more advanced tools and wanted to challenge myself more to aim for more difficult things to achieve.

Overall, my skills developed immensely since post production at AS compared to A2. In AS I had very little knowledge of how to use software such as Photoshop and Premiere so in my spare time I made use of the software by practicing and training myself to use more complex tools. It is clear that my skills developed because my preliminary products were very simple but by the time I edited my magazine and video, editing was at a higher standard due to me using tools that I didn’t use previously.

Digital Technology

At AS I used technologies such as Photoshop, MS Office Package, Slideshare, Animoto, Samsung digital camera, HP memory stick,  CD-ROM, Blackberry, Internet, Paint, Laptop and Facebook. These technologies were essential for me to develop my skills. From the start of AS I had little knowledge or experience with any of these technologies but over time my skills developed and I was able to produce and edit the music magazine. I learnt how to use the tools on Photoshop which then allowed me to add and edit common music magazine conventions to my magazine.  The main advantage of Photoshop was that it was suitable for the task although it took time for me to get use to it as I found it quite hard to use at first and some of the tools were quite complex. It could also be quite unpredictable and crash. This sometimes got in the way of production and editing. Slideshare, Animoto and Scribd also helped develop my skills as I learnt that I could present my ideas in more than one way to gain more audience feedback. This also included Blogger as I could post my progress and ideas at any stage. My phone allowed me to conduct my own research whenever I had an initial idea and find out more by going on the internet.

At A2 my work was reliant on Premiere for producing and editing our music video, Once again I had no previous experience with the software, just like Photoshop at AS, but I enjoyed exploring the tools it’s provided and identifying which ones will be suitable for our video. The software was very suitable for the task because it allowed us to crop clips accurately although just like Photoshop, the software could be quite unpredictable and crash at any time which affected our progress during editing. The difficulties that we did encounter enabled our skills to develop as we learnt how to overcome them and fix the problem. I used all of the same technologies that I did at AS but also used Twitter, Disc Wizards, video camera, email and Windows Movie Maker. I felt a lot more confident at A2 when producing the ancillary texts because by this time I knew how to use more complex tools and which conventions worked well for the type of products I was creating. I had more knowledge of layout, text, image choice, article writing and colour schemes. My skills at editing and cutting out photos that I had taken improved dramatically as I practised with the magnetic lasso tool and how to alter brightness, contrast and hue as well as add filters. All of my AS digital technology skills helped aid construction of my ancillary texts at A2 because I felt a lot more confident with the tools on Photoshop and challenged myself to aim higher and use things that I didn’t use for my magazine at AS.

For the print at AS, I used the horizontal type tool and the colour fill tool to match my fonts to act as part of the mode of address and fit the genre of the magazine. I used picture boxes and shape tools to present a consistent layout on the front cover, contents page and the double page spread. I manipulated the images that I had taken by altering the brightness, contrast, hue, colour and opacity. Using layers enabled me to make my layout more complex by overlapping conventions and making the magazine look more full and professional. For the DPS, I used borders and backgrounds and took ideas of conventions from other rock magazines. This includes mastheads, columns, headers, page numbers, images, plugs and layering. To ensure that the layout of the whole magazine stayed consistent, I looked at contrasting fonts and conventions on each page. I looked at other pages for inspiration on what types of conventions to use and challenge such as images and font.

For the music video at A2, I edited it using Premiere. To edit each individual clip I used a timeline which enhanced my knowledge of layering various clips and the soundtrack. This was very time consuming but allowed each clip to be very precise and accurate according to the storyboard. This was important so that each frame met the same time on the song itself. Whilst editing the video we used a range of cutaways, cross cuts, jump cuts and parallel editing. We ensured that our editing was precise by referring to the storyboard that we produced in the planning stage. We met the timings up so that each frame was at the right point on the song. We ensured that the audio matched the footage by rewinding it and making sure the shot number was as accurate as possible. Additional editing included us altering the brightness and contrast of the shots and slowing down and speeding up clips to meet the correct point of the song.

I feel that there were a lot of pros and cons to my skill development over the last 2 years, most being positive as I have learnt a lot in such a short space of time. The only disadvantage to the skill development from AS to A2 is that it was such a big step from using Photoshop to using Premiere and creating a video. I found making the video a challenge because the software was very complex. A big advantage for me at A2 was producing the ancillary texts because I felt a lot more confident with my skills that had developed over AS from making the magazine. The range of technologies that I have used over the last 2 years have enabled me to produce a simple magazine from the beginning of AS to me creating a very complex music video by A2. Each software had it advantages and disadvantages whether it was software failure, hardware failure and lack of skills but overall they helped me accomplish a lot shown by how my work had progressed and increased in quality from start to finish.

Using Conventions from real media texts

Throughout AS and A2 it was important to explore and use the conventions of real media texts so that my products looked similar to other magazines and videos. I used micro elements such as mise en scene, camera work, editing and sound to communicate to my target audience over the last 2 years. For the music magazine at AS I used a very simple mise en scene and decided to photograph the artist against a brick wall to meet the genre of rock. For A2 we decided to shoot our artists in the drama studio so that it looked more professional and looked like any other band performance music videos. At AS I used a range of midshots, close ups and long shots when taking test shots to experiment what worked well and what didn’t look so effective. Midshots were a key convention used in rock magazines so I decided to use more of this, especially on the front cover and contents page. I did the same at A2 when filming the music video but we used more shots and a wider range. This is because our video was based solely on band performance so we had to keep it interesting by using long and short shots and from different angles. For the editing at AS I sued the tools on Photoshop to add colour, insert shapes, add text, edit images, experiment with layout and add images such as barcodes. This is so that it would appeal to the target audience because the conventions were very similar to the ones on other rock magazines. For A2 we cropped each individual shot to fit the time on the storyboard we produced and edited the brightness and contrast. I did this so that each shot was quirky and came in at the exact right time to keep to audience interested. The purpose of my magazine at AS was to create a rock magazine that was similar to other current magazine but still use conventions that met my target audience. This was similar for my music video at A2 but the genre was completely different as it targeted an indie/alternative audience. At AS my target audience was individuals aged between 16-24 who have a strong interest in rock music. The age range was similar at A2 although the audience would have to be interested in indie alternative music.

At AS I used pastiche as I took conventions from current magazines to meet the genre of my rock magazine. These included text, image choice, layout, columns, mastheads and barcodes. These conventions created a bricolage effect as it allowed me to borrow them and adapt them into something new. I used the same process at A2 as I took common indie elements from music videos such as mise en scene, costume and lighting. Parody could also be recognised in the video as the artists personalities were strongly enhanced in the band performance by their acting. This could be seen in other indie videos such as Two Door Cinema Clubs’s What You Know. For both the magazine and the video there were many intertextual references included from the background research that I did before producing the texts. I used many generic conventions over the last 2 years for all of the work that I have produced because without them the products would not look like any other magazines or videos. I researched a range of magazine and videos before producing them and identified which ones I could use and which I could challenge to fit into the rock or indie category. It was hard to challenge the conventions and be original because there are so many similar conventions out there.

 By taking conventions it allowed me to be creative but I found it a challenge to think of completely original. I also agree with the second quotation because creativity roots from knowledge of generic conventions so these act like templates which allow you to be more imaginative and adapt them. Over both AS and A2 I tool elements from rock magazines and indie alternative videos to recontextualise the conventions and create something new so that my products stood out. I found it easier to use the conventions and change them slightly, rather than challenge them.