Exam Question

Describe how you developed your skills in the use of digital technology for media production and evaluate how these 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 past two years I have used a wide variety of digital technology, which I have used for media production. At AS I created a 2-minute opening film sequence including titles, and at A2 I created a music promo package which included a music video, digipak and advert. I will discuss how I have used digital technology in the past two years during pre production, production and post production.

During the pre production stage at AS I used digital technology which included IMovie, which I used to edit our opening film sequence. Whilst using IMovie I used different effects and transitions, which were simple and easy to use. I also used an EMac throughout the pre production stage of my opening film sequence, which again was easy to use but was also slow. As well as this during the pre production stage at AS I also used Web 2.0 technologies, one of which was blogger. I used this to post the different stages of pre production, such as the planning and research.

I then moved on at A2 during the pre production stages, where I changed from using IMovie to final cut, which allowed me to edit my music video more accurately than I could my previous project, and it also allowed me to use more complex and sophisticated effects and transitions. Whilst I was using final cut I also used the razor tool, and it also allowed me to edit my music video in a non linear fashion. I again used blogger at A2, but this time I learned how to change the themes and layout of my page, and I also posted a lot more posts than I did on my previous project. During my second year I used an IMac, something which was a lot faster and better to use, which also meant that clips would render faster on final cut.

During the production stage at AS I used a Sony digital handicam, something which was easy to use, and small and compact. I also used a still camera to take images during the production stages. I also used an EMac, which we transferred our video to, ready to be edited.

At A2 I then moved on to using a tricaster in the studio, something that was a lot harder to use than a normal handheld camera, but was more flexible and it allowed me to film from different angles. I also used a green screen for my A2 music video, something which allowed us to change the background, although the first time we used this it didn’t go as planned as there were green lines around the main actress, but the second time around it was more effective and it worked well. To film my outside scenes I used a Nikon D80, which was still easy to use, but still worked well for the scenes I needed it for.

Finally, during the pre production stage at AS I again used IMovie, to edit the opening film sequence, which was very easy to use but it had a limited number of transitions and effects that I could use, although these were the effects that I intended on using. For instance I used the cartoon effect near the beginning of the sequence. To create the logo I used photoshop, which enabled me to create a simple logo that was effective. As well as this I used garageband to create the sound effects which was really easy to use and again it enabled me to crate something effective.

Finally at A2 I moved on to using final cut to edit my music video which enabled me to use more effects and edit in a non linear fashion.