Skills Development Essay

Over the course of my AS year, studying media, I can see that my skills and approaches have significantly changed and improved.
For my AS Foundation Portfolio I had a preliminary task of creating a college magazine cover and the main task of producing a music magazine (cover, contents page and double page spread). This required me to use digital technology including computers and the use of Photoshop on the Macs. Before I began studying Media, I had very little Photoshop skills and a lack of knowledge regarding the skills needed to use it and produce a high quality piece of work. Doing the preliminary task allowed me to practice techniques within Photoshop to edit the main photo. For example, I enhanced the lighting by using the 'Vibrance' tool to make the photo brighter. However, I didn't use a various amount tools to complete the cover for the task. Therefore more experimentation were done in my main task. As I progressed through the main task, I became more comfortable and confident with using Photoshop and learned how to use the Spot Healing Brush to make the complexion of the model more clearer, which the followed conventions of real magazines. In addition, I learned how to change the opacity of objects via the use of the opacity tool. Another form of digital technology I used, in both tasks, was photography in which I used my Pentax K-500 DSLR camera. In my preliminary task I had little knowledge how the different uses of camera angles and shots could be related to my target audience. Therefore when more planning and researching was done in my main task I was able to apply my knowledge and understanding of mise-en-scene and cinematography to the genre of my music magazine. Since my usual theme of photos is based around nature, I had to learn how to use the soft lights to make the photographs for the magazine conventional (for example making sure the model can be clearly seen with the equal amount of light on either side of her). In doing this, my photography skills have improved as I have been able to gain a broader knowledge of taking photos in different settings and circumstances, for example using the Green Room as a photo shoot location.
Throughout the process of the media course my creativity skills have greatly improved and advanced. I have learned to put together magazines with different target audiences, requiring me to present them in different ways. This meant I had to research each audience, looking at how the mise-en-scene (costume, props, and location) and cinematography (camera shots and angles) represent the audience. From the preliminary task to the main task, I looked at much more varied styles of magazines analysing the layouts and linking areas such as costume, colours and cover lines much more thoroughly. I had little experience of doing this before starting the course, therefore the preliminary task acted as a guide and practice in analysing media texts. Towards the end of the first year on the course I had gained wider knowledge on analysing products and being able to do this comfortably. An example of how I used this knowledge, to produce my music magazine, is the overall layout of the front cover as I followed many more conventions such as using a barcode, plug, matching the colour of the header to the colour of the model's hair/costume and incorporating more photos. I was also able to take many more photos and experiment with different types of shots, such as close ups, mid shots and high and low angles. With this I had to experiment with the lighting as the photo shoot took place in the Green Room rather than outside in natural lighting. Much more planning was also needed to get the costume correct in order for my model to represent my chosen genre. For the college magazine, not a lot of planning had to be done as the target audience of college students was much broader and simpler to convey. Through producing my music magazine, I learned how to plan such things by creating mood boards and producing questionnaires to ask my target audience. I also had to plan each page within the music magazine which I did by hand and could then use as guides when producing my actual product. This then helped me present my research and planning on my blog in an improved manner by using different ways of presenting it.
The post production of the both tasks involved taking original photographs and improving original drafts I had made. Before I could produce and post my final magazine I had to create another questionnaire asking about what improvements could made, this was part of my audience feedback. My post production skills had improved by the end of the year because I took into account the fact I needed audience feedback in order to make changes my target audience thought would help represent them better.
In conclusion, the skills I have developed have ranged from using digital technology in various ways to gaining knowledge of existing products, helping me efficiently produce a similar product in which I could represent my chosen genre. This was also helped through my improved skills of using research (questionnaires and analyses) to understand codes, conventions and what I should incorporate into my product.