L.O: To be able to evaluate how your skills have progressed from AS to A2

Digital Technology

L.O: To be able to evaluate how your skills have progressed from AS to A2

Digital Technology

Starter:

Write a list of all the different digital technology that you have used at both AS and A2

Digital Technology

Next to your list write down 1 example of how you have specifically used it at AS and A2.

Photoshop AS – We had to create a magazine front cover, contents page and two-page spread.

A2 – we used Photoshop again to create another magazine front cover and a poster for our movie.

Digital Technology

Digital technologies have had a massive influence on media production over the last few years and you may not realised but since you started in Year 12 you have learned a massive amount about how to use them and what the benefits are of using them. They in turn have had a massive impact on the quality of your finished products.

Digital Technology

Throughout your essay you should try and give several examples of real occasions you used these technologies. For example:

“At AS we were not as confident using digital technology and therefore when we began working on Serif we struggled with putting together our opening titles. As a result we used very basic transactions between the clips and the fonts we used didn’t really match the genre of our film. The finished version still looked rather amateur. However at A2 we developed our skills by learning how to use Serif in more depth. Through the use of YouTube tutorials we learnt how to layer our images which gave a final product a more professional look. For example, in our trailer we created a blurred effect surrounding the young people holding a séance. We were able to do this by duplicating the footage but having the top layer my transparent and in a slightly different place. This gave the illusion of confusion and disorientation which fit with our genre.”

Digital Technology

Serif – Had zero experience at the beginning and have now moved from basic editing to more complex editing, effects, transitions, sound manipulation (Layering). Quick to upload so something can be filmed, uploaded and edited in a matter of minutes. – Be specific – What specific techniques did you use and where?

Social Networking Sites – Allows you to communicate with a far wider network of people than other websites. You could have used this to gather audience research, upload your video and ask for feedback etc. Be specific – Give an example of something you did using facebook/twitter etc.

Digital Technology

YouTube – Allows you to communicate with a far wider network of people than other websites. Allowed you to research existing trailers. Once work is complete you will be able to post your own video to a massive audience. Be specific – Give examples of real videos you looked at, real comments you got etc.

Digital Camera – Struggled initially with holding steady shots, framing etc.. But they allow instant playback, LCD screen, small, portable (in comparison to larger older bulkier camera) etc. Allowed you to film in small spaces, to easily travel all over Slough to film, to film something and view it straight away to check if it was ok. Now can easily film a variety of shot types.

Digital Technology

Photoshop – This allows the manipulation of images, effects, colours, cropping, layering images and words. Be specific – What did YOU do on Photoshop?

Other technologies you could mention:

•Blogging•Prezzi•Other Internet sites (Incomputech – royalty free music)

Digital technology has enabled you (a consumer of media) to become a producer that can not only make a higher quality media product, but edit it and distribute it to a wider audience.

Evaluation

4) Opinionated Octopus. Evaluate the topic using 4 strengths and 4 weaknesses.

To Get A & B Grades

To get the higher grades on this question, you need to ensure you are not just DESCRIBING how your skills developed. Instead you need to focus on the EVALUATE part. To EVALUATE you could comment on any of the following throughout your work:

• HOW important digital technology was• WHY was digital technology important• HOW did digital technology benefit you? Strengths/weaknesses

at AS• WHAT EFFECT did digital technology have on your final work at

A2? • WHAT would you NOT have been able to do without digital

technology?

Digital Technology

• How has digital technology helped you to capture your ideas?• What benefits do digital technologies offer over analogue?

Are there any disadvantages?• How did digital technology influence your work in pre-

production, production, and post-production?• How have your skills with digital technology developed, and

how has this influenced your productions? • What role might digital technology plan in the distribution of

your work?• How is digital technology changing media production?

AS to A2Technology How it helped us/How did

we progress? At AS we used Digital Cameras to....

At A2 we used Digital Cameras in a different way.....

At AS we used Photoshop to...

At A2 we used Photoshop in a different way......

At AS we used Social Networking Sites to....

At A2 we used Social Networking Sites in a different way........

Homework

L.O: To be able to evaluate how your skills have progressed from AS to A2

Creativity

Starter:

What IS creativity? – DEFINE IT!!

Creativity

Creativity is….

“the making of new things and the re-arranging of the old”.

E.G. The ability to have your OWN ideas and not just copy other peoples. The ability to do things that are unusual and different.

Creativity

Where did your original ideas come from? – How did you increase your ability to come up with your own ideas? Did you mind map? Did you share ideas? Did you do creative types of research e.g. not just questionnaires with people you knew, but using YouTube to get comments from people around the world, etc. Give real specific examples.

Creativity

Location/Sets/Costumes – At first you chose locations that were nearby and easy to access (give examples). Then as A2 you were more creative in your choices (give example). Did you choose unusual ones? Did it take creative planning to adapt them? Be specific – What creative locations did you use? Why did using creative locations help your production?

Creativity

Camera Shots – At first your shots and filming were practical. You filmed and took pictures with a medium shot because you hadn’t considered doing anything else. For AS your camera skills were quite basic. Now you have developed so you started filming in a more creative way e.g. high/low angles, putting the camera on the floor etc… Be specific giving real examples of creative camera shots you used and explain how they made your production better.

Creativity

Editing – At first you weren’t very creative. Editing was functional. Your manipulation of images were very basic on Photoshop which didn’t allow you to have very professional looking pieces. Your pictures were much more straight forward so it didn’t allow you to be as creative as you could have been. You tended to just copy styles from other media you had seen. However in A2 your ideas were much more creative, your skills had advanced allowing you to try out more interesting techniques – be specific, explain what impace they had on your production.

Creativity

Other possible creative opportunities:

•Genre

•Conventions

•Casting

Conclusion

Certain restraints on your creativity in place from the exam board – you HAD to make a poster and magazine etc.. These rules do limit your ability to be creative to a certain extent.

Not easy to just be creative. You actually needed to do practical thinks like research, paperwork, storyboards, etc. to ALLOW you to develop your creativity. Without solid research and planning, being creative was impossible. You needed a balance of organised AND creative people to be successful.

You can’t BE creative. Often it is a learning process where you start by being told what to do, then you try doing things on your own and then you end up being confident and skilled enough to experiment which leads to creativity. You have to make mistakes at first to be creative.

To Get A & B Grades

To get the higher grades on this question, you need to ensure you are not just DESCRIBING how your skills developed. Instead you need to focus on the EVALUATE part. To EVALUATE you could comment on any of the following throughout your work:

• HOW important creativity was• WHY was creativity important• WHAT EFFECT did creativity have on your final work• WHAT PROBLEMS are there with being creative?• WHAT would you NOT have been able to do without creativity?• HOW did creativity benefit you?

To Get A & B Grades

Pick three areas of creativity from the following list and answer the 6 questions on them.

•Original Ideas•Location/Sets/Costumes•Camera•Editing•Genre•Conventions •Photoshop

1. HOW important creativity was2. WHY was creativity important3. WHAT EFFECT did creativity have on your final work4. WHAT PROBLEMS are there with being creative?5. WHAT would you NOT have been able to do without creativity?6. HOW did creativity benefit you?

Homework

L.O: To be able to evaluate how your skills have progressed from AS to A2

Planning and Research

Starter:

List all the things you did in order to plan and research for your coursework.

Planning & Research

• How did your research into genre contribute to your production work?• How did your research into audience contribute to your production work?• How did your research into institutions responsible for the production and

regulation of the media influence your production work?• What pre-production planning techniques did you employ (scripting,

storyboarding, shot-listing, flat-planning etc.)? How effective was your planning – how did it help you in the production phase?

• What did you learn from planning your first production that helped you to improve your planning for the second?

• How did you use audience feedback to influence your production work while it was in progress?

EvaluationCreate a table of strengths and weaknesses for planning and research at AS and A2

AS A2

Strengths Weaknesses Strengths Weaknesses

To Get A & B Grades

To get the higher grades on this question, you need to ensure you are not just DESCRIBING how your skills developed. Instead you need to focus on the EVALUATE part. To EVALUATE you could comment on any of the following throughout your work:

• HOW important research and planning was• WHY was it important• WHAT EFFECT did it have on your final work• WHAT PROBLEMS are there with ineffective p&r?• WHAT would you NOT have been able to do without it?• HOW did it benefit you?

Exam Question

L.O: To be able to evaluate how your skills have progressed from AS to A2

Post-Production

Starter:

List all the things you did during the Post-Production stage.

Post- ProductionAS A2

• How much of your text was ‘created’ in post-production?

• What technologies did you use to modify your raw material?

• How did this change the meaning of your work?

• What transitions/ effects did you apply during post-production?

• How did you manipulate narrative/ colours/ lighting/ contrast/brightness/ sound etc during the edit?

• How much of your footage ended up ‘on the cutting room floor’ (unused) and why?

L.O: To be able to evaluate how your skills have progressed from AS to A2

Conventions of real text.

Conventions of real text: • In what ways have your productions used or developed

conventions adopted from real media products?

• In what ways have your productions challenged or played with conventions adopted from real media products? In other words, is your work generic, or experimental – or both?

• Some media producers adopt a style of working that is quite distinctive – explore how work you have produced may have been influenced by your own favourite producers/ directors/ designers/ publishers. Do you have a ‘style’? Are you an auteur?