Creativity Eassay

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.

For my AS and A2 projects I created a music magazine and a music video. I also had to create 2 preliminary pieces to gain some experience in making the selected products prior to the final piece.

At the start of the year at AS level I had some skill in the digital technologies that we planned on using for our music magazine however it was to a very basic level of understanding so in order to exceed in the task I would need to further my understanding. The preliminary task helped me improve my skills in media technologies dramatically especially in programs such as Photoshop. For the prelim task we had to create a magazine that would be aimed for a school environment and be aimed for people aged 15-18. This task was very much just an introduction to the software used so the final product was not too good however this was to be expected as I had little experience in the software. Without this task I would not have been able to producer my final magazine to as good of a standard.

For the main magazine I regularly looked back at my old magazine and looked at what ideas I came up with for that and how I could make that even better and look like a professional magazine. I looked at many different internet videos and tutorials online to further increase my knowledge and understanding in the software. Originally I wanted to try and make an original looking magazine however the more Iooked at real magazine the more I realised how difficult it is to create an original product. As a result of this I tried to implement many different elements of existing magazines to create a new looking style. I mainly combined elements of Q magazine and NME magazine.

At A2 level I created a music video together with my group. I was a lot more skilled in this area of media technology than at AS. This was because I had experience of both filming and editing video outside of school as a hobby. Because of this I was chosen to film the video and to help edit the video. Although I already had experience I did however further improve my skills during the filming as I had never filmed a live band performance before so this was a new experience for me and helped improve my camerawork a lot.

As well as the video I also had to create an album digipak and a poster. As I had experience in working in Photoshop from AS level I felt very confident going into this work. I also managed to improve my skills even further by looking at even more tutorials and looking at real posters and album covers. I feel that I finished this to a very good standard. As I had improved my Photoshop skills so much I was able to finish this mark to a very high standard which almost gave me full marks. This again boosted my confidence in using this type of media technology.

To conclude I feel that my I have I’m proved greatly throughout the two years. I feel I made the biggest improvement in my skills at AS level as Photoshop work was pretty new to me and as result I now feel very confident in working in Photoshop. I’m also a lot more confident in using a Photo camera and a Video camera as these were used throughout the two years.