Ruby Moore

Skills Development essay

Throughout my time of studying Media I feel that my knowledge has progressed excessively in many ways and that I have developed my skills in different areas and continue to do so.

My knowledge on technology has grown over the past year an extreme amount, predominantly on the software ‘Photoshop’ which I had never used, before I came to college. I have used ‘Photoshop CS5’ in order to create all of my products throughout my AS level. As I had never used Photoshop before I was unsure on the different tools to use and their functions; therefore when it first came to the editing process of using the tools, I was not very good at it and it took me a long time to understand the tools. Yet I feel that I have continuously improved throughout AS, as I have had more practice. AS media has taught me how to use the programme ‘Photoshop’ in great detail allowing me to explore and develop my skills as a student. By learning the use of the tools on the programme, I have been able to edit my products in an effective way and to a good standard that I was not able to do before I had access to the programme. Initially, the first product that I created was the perfume advertisement. The image on the left is the photo that I originally took for the preliminary task. The image of the perfume bottle is of quite poor quality as there is dull lighting in the background and the overall colour of the bottle is not bright enough for my liking. In addition the flash from the camera is caught on the front of the bottle and this does not appear appealing for the bottle. Then, I was made aware of how I could manipulate this in Photoshop to improve the quality so that it is appropriate to be featured on a perfume advertisement, to appear aesthetically pleasing. I first uploaded the photo onto Photoshop and then duplicated the layer, so that I have

two images to work with in case I was to make a mistake. By slowly and carefully using the lasso tool, I was able to remove the background, so that I could edit the perfume bottle further and could dispose of the shadow in the background, which was not appropriate for the advertisement. I found that this allowed me to produce the product to the

high standard I wanted.

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I also used this technique in other areas of my media work, such as practice imagery for my final music magazine. As demonstrated above, I was able to use the tools on Photoshop to manipulate an image to make it appear like a life concert, which I felt appeared very effective.

I was also introduced to the use of Apple MAC’s when beginning Media, as I had never worked on one before. With the introduction of working on them and also using the computers, they have taught me how to manipulate text and add it to my work. Such as, I learnt how to printscreen the text on my computer, from certain websites such as dafont.com, and then by using the magic tool on Photoshop, and cut pasted the text, then blended it to my magazine design. I found that the more work that I produced, the more I practiced this technique, which allowed me to develop and improve and resulted in me being happy with how I manipulated the text for my final music magazine. Another skill that I feel I have developed with digital technology is working with a camera. I already had basic knowledge with camera work as I already had my own SLR camera that I work with; however I still have learnt many more techniques and skills that I will continue to use. These include: How to appropriately take a photograph, using the different shot types and conventions of existing magazines. I feel that in my beginning tasks, such as the preliminary task of the perfume advertisement and the college magazine, although I did take a range of photos that I thought appeared good; they were actually not produced to a good standard as I expected. This is clear to see through the tasks I have completed and products I have produced. Therefore, through the use of camera work I learnt how to capture a conventional shot using the zoom lenses and aperture on my Canon DSLR.

I believe that I have shown creativity throughout my products and that it has shown continuity, as I believe that I am quite a creative person. I like to experiment with colour and imagery to see the range that I can produce and I have done this with all of my tasks, to carefully choose a design. I am fond of quite neutral colours and always like the colours of red, black and white as I think that they complement each

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other and don’t clash with other colours. Therefore, I mainly used this colour scheme in the tasks. In the preliminary task, I dressed my model in a nude top which contrasted well with the dark background, and also complemented the perfume bottle which I added to the advertisement through Photoshop and researched the conventions of other perfume advertisements. Then with my college magazine I also dressed my model in black but also included the colour purple, as it was conventional for college magazines to consist of the colour scheme of that college, and therefore I used purple as it is the colour of Wyke College. However, I found once I had produced the product that the design of the magazine cover was not appealing with the purple text that I had inserted, as it clashed with the dark background. Consequently, I made the conscious decision that for my next task, I would use neutral colours and incorporate the colour scheme of red, black and white into the piece as I feel that this design would appear most effective. In the final task I planned the costume so that it would be conventional for a rock magazine, by researching the rock genre for inspiration. Therefore, as the final costume was black I also included red and white in the design.

Before each of my tasks I researched and planned everything I did for the piece, so that it would appear conventional and so that I could produce my tasks as realistic as possible to existing products. I did this by looking at existing pieces that I could relate to my own products and learn the conventions of them. For the preliminary task, the perfume advertisement, I bought several fashion magazines such as Elle and Vogue to find inspiration from all of the perfume advertisements within them, as it is where my advertisement would stereotypically be based in. I also learnt within digital technology how to cut and move a bottle from a separate image and layer it onto an image, as I did now want to take an image with my model holding the bottle, as I felt I would be able to edit it more effectively on its own.

For my college magazine I carried out the same research; especially with the use of Google, as I searched existing college magazines that other people had produced in Media in previous years. I wanted to create a college magazine which stood out from others and was persuasive for students who are considering going to the college. Therefore I planned what mise-en-scene I could use within my imagery to promote this. I also planned what shot to use as my main front cover image; looking at the

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conventions of normal magazines. I decided to use a medium close-up of my model holding a folder and some books, as well as her in a dance costume in the studios. This was to promote the college being very organised and educational, but also to represent its creative side and give an insight to some of the facilities, such as the dance studios. I used these skills that I had learnt in this task to develop onto my final AS task of the music magazine.

I again carried out more research and planning in order for my final pieces in my music magazine and to produce them to the high standard that I wanted. I used

existing products such as NME magazine and Q magazine as examples of how to layout and present my work. I produced a reader profile in order to show my target audience, the statistics and what sort of things my target audience would be interested in, if they were to read my magazine. I also did several image convention comparisons as well as image analysis’, so that I could put into practice for evaluating my own

work and learning what I needed to do to produce a good final product. Furthermore, I researched rock artists that are current at the moment and studied the types of costume they have worn recently, which is how I got my inspiration to create the artist ‘Alys’. I did this in order to create a character people would remember when looking through other students work. I also took into consideration what location I would like to have featured in my magazine and posted a range of photos on my blog of the different locations and different shots, which I have learnt from previous tasks. Finally, I produced an evaluation, which included several mind maps and other software tools, along with all of the terminology that I learnt and researched from the start of my preliminary task, to keep looking back on before creating my pieces. I also produced many mock ups of my pieces of work in order to get my finished products how I wanted them and to the best standard; by getting feedback each time from my teachers and peers, to help improve my work.

After I had completed AS media and produced all of the tasks, I found that I had learnt a lot of new skills that I had never used before and that I would be able to use again in the future. These include using different software and programmes that I

Ruby Moore

could edit photos on; the main programme being Photoshop, which I could now use for other products and editing images and in particular for my transition to A2 media. In addition, I have now developed my knowledge of how I could effectively use my Canon DSLR camera in my own time to produce high quality photographs along with accurate camera shots which I have also learnt. Moreover, I think working on the different tasks have helped me to be more creative in my work and will help me produce work in the future to a more creative standard.