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.

Over the last two years of my coursework productions I used a range of digital technologies which helped with my creativity. My AS brief was to create a two minute film opening sequence including titles for which I picked the genre horror. My A2 brief was to create a promo package including music video, digipak and advert for which I chosen the genre pop. Throughout the two years my development within technology improved and I became more inventive, creative and skilful into representing my work.

The coursework was displayed on Blogger which is an example of Web 2.0 media and which was used both years in order to display my research, planning and final products. In AS my blog was fairly limited as I was new to the technology with a minimum of 22 posts and plain black background the blog could of related much more to the genre in a creative way. Within A2 my progression in the use of Blogger improved massively and I furthered the skills through creative ways such as changing themes to fit the genre, use of the different features by adding the logo and photoshoot photos and having a much larger amount of posts at 65. All of these things as well as the blog having bright colourful backgrounds to fit in with the genre gave it a professional look much more superior to my AS blog. The tasks available also improved to fit the genre by us creating extra posts such as flyers, kimtags, QR codes and promotional packs in A2 using blogger and making the promo package much more realistic. Research into the genre was also displayed in a much greater depth within A2.

All my work within my AS was completed on a low grade of Imac and as I progressed to A2 began to complete my work it was on the Imac’s of a much higher spec so that the prosess of rendering and editing was much faster and much more work in the time period giving creating a much better video in A2 compared to AS.

In AS the storyboard lay out was done using the flash mic to record the narrative of the open sequence and shown on Imovie. Photos were taken by a stills camera and installed onto Imovie which they were put into order to show the events of the movie sequence planned. Though this shows creative media skills the use of Imovie for my storyboard at A2 showed much more advanced skills through having the track of the song chosen "Its all about tonight" downloaded and installed on Itunes to be put onto Imovie and a much larger amount of photos cut to the beat of the music showing quicker editing. My skills on Imovie were fairly basic at AS it taking a while to learn how to upload the photos where as at A2 I already knew how to upload them efficiently and so could spend my time getting the shots in the exact right order with the right pace ready to film and give myself an idea of the type of footage needed.

During the production of my coursework filming at AS involved a Sony digital Handycam 60x optical zoom 80gb camera for which we filmed the footage within a day. At A2 the production involved a varied amount of technologies and a much longer process in order to receive the large amount of footage needed. A Sony digital Handycam 60x optical zoom 80gb camera was used on a schedueled 5 days, during the production the technology of a smart phone was used to play the song in order to get the lip sync just correct and give the video the maximum professional look. Photoshoots were also done at A2 which were not at AS using a Fuji S3300 camera which were in theme with the genre and were used to give professional looking final products of a digipak and advert. With a range of different technologies during the production of the A2 production used it helped give a varied amount of products helping with the creativity of my coursework.

Post production helped me use a variety of different technologies within both AS and A2. To help with the horror film sequence in AS Final Cut was used to edit the footage and garage band was used to create a horror soundtrack to fit the footage and the genre of the clip. Within Final cut I became familiar with the razor tool and transitions to move from each clip. The razor tool helped me get rid of certain bits of footage which I felt was not appopriate or right for the genre as during filming not everything went to plan as hoped. Transitions included fading in and out at the correct moments to create a horror type feel. Showing the titles was also an important part of the sequence for which Final cut gave me access to the different texts and transitions with them available. In A2 Final Cut was also used to create the pop music video. This was a much more intense task given in which the razor tool was used but much more frequently showing a much larger amount of clips within a short space of time to fit with the fast paced beat of the song. The in and out markers were also used at A2 to get the lip sync exactly correct and a much wider range of transitions were given including bright coloured texts which came in to the beat of the music, black and white clips during the work scenes, and jump cuts or transitions placed in the correct place to fit with the music. Photoshop was also a key element into digital technology for both AS and A2 in the progression of my creativity. Within AS I designed a logo and title screen for my horror sequence which both fit the genre and showed horror type text and photos. Though I did try and relate these to the genre they were fairly basic with a minimal ammount of layers, detail or a professional look. Within A2 I used Photoshop much more frequently creating a logo, digipak, advert and flyer on it developing my skills masively in how to use the software though it may seem difficult. My digipak and advert were highly detailed showing all the information needed such as logo, songs available and release date and real primary photos were used on each to make them look professional. The logo showed my unique production of smoking hot records showing creativity as it was shown on each of the tasks given.