Main Task Brief

A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with:

• a cover for its release as part of a digipak
• a magazine advertisement for the digipak

Skill Development - Post-Production

My skills in relation to post-production have also developed by a huge amount. Throughout the year, my ability to analyse products really improved. For many years I have had to use analytical skills, especially in English at school, and I thought they were one of my strong points. However, before starting A Level Media, I have never been as in-depth. Learning how to carry out thorough evaluations of my own work was an eye-opener, as I never realised how much detail I would have to go into. The process of completing the evaluations of my preliminary task, final task and my transition task was stressful at times and could be very time consuming but the outcome was worth it. As I progressed through the year I also developed my ability to apply creativity to and be imaginative with my post-production work. By the end of the year I was using lots of different formats for my evaluation, such as go animates, videos, etc. rather than doing one long text post. This helped me to gain more marks, and made my portfolio a lot more interesting.

Skill Development - Creativity

In relation to creativity, I think my skills have developed by a great amount. Before starting the course, I lacked in creativity, as the theory side was more my strong point. For this reason, I struggled to initially think of ideas for my coursework, especially my preliminary task. My blog posts also lacked imagination, as the format of my posts were all very boring and standard text posts, rather than using other mediums, such as prezis or videos, etc. Over the year, my creativity and imagination began to expand. I think looking at existing products and some example blogs of previous students really helped me to establish what was expected from me, and I developed ideas from there. Also, when looking back at the comparison of my preliminary task to my final product, the development in creativity is very clear. My final product is much more complex and professional. In addition, I felt as though I could be more creative within the brief compared to the preliminary task. My development is also clear when looking at the early posts of my blog, compared to the more recent ones. Throughout the year I learnt to be more imaginative with my blog posts and use a variety of formats, and also be more in-depth with each post, as these things gain more marks.

Skill Development - Using Conventions From Real Media Texts

From completing my Foundation Portfolio, I now know the conventions of the front cover, contents page and double page spread of a music magazine. My knowledge of conventions expanded throughout my AS year, for example, after completing the preliminary task I realised the importance of using the conventional shot type of medium close-up for the main image of the magazine cover. Before doing my preliminary task I thought any shot type would be acceptable and look effective, but when looking back at it, I can see that it doesn’t look as appealing and professional as it would have done with if I followed conventions and used a medium close-up, correct lighting and a set pose, and if I had done this in my final product, I would have lost marks. I also gained knowledge in relation to other key conventions, such as the positioning of the masthead, a set colour scheme including three colours, including a plug, etc. In the evaluation of my final product, I completed a conventions analysis of each part of the product (front cover, contents page, and double page spread), which clearly showed the conventions I followed. These conventions included: a skyline, main image, masthead, plug, barcode, etc. on my front cover, a title, editor’s note, feature stories with their page numbers, multiple images, layout in columns, etc. on my contents page, and a stand first, drop cap, pull quote, article set out in columns, main image taking up a page, etc. on my double page spread.

Skill Development - Research & Planning

I have always known that research and planning is important when creating a product, in order to get it to a high standard. However, before doing my foundation portfolio, I never realised the extent of planning that needs doing, and how in-depth you have to be. Throughout the year, I learnt about and used research and planning processes, such as LIIAR analyses, reader profiles, mood boards, conventions analyses, existing product research, audience research, and mock-ups. I included these processes in both my preliminary and final task, with the extent of how in-depth I was with each process improving between the two tasks. In addition, as well as doing the essential parts of planning and research, I also realised the importance of thinking outside the box, and doing some independent planning to put on my blog. This allowed me to go beyond what was being asked of me, in order to have a product of a better standard and gain a higher overall grade.

Skill Development - Digital Technology

Before starting media studies and beginning to put together my Foundation Portfolio, I had very little/no experience with using certain digital technology, especially Photoshop. As a class we had a Photoshop 'workshop' which helped me learn the basics, for example, how to change the brightness and contrast of an image. The preliminary task then allowed me to develop these skills further. I started to get more confident with the technology, learning how to add and edit text, get to grips with the layered format on Photoshop, etc. After that I mainly used a 'trial and error' approach with Photoshop, practicing with random pictures before beginning the actual production process of my magazine. Some specific skills I learnt throughout the duration of my year of AS Media include: image editing (colour treatment, spot healing tool, and dodge tool), text editing (magic wand and eraser tool, and transform-scale), how to add shapes, and changing layer styles (opacity, etc.).Throughout the course, I also became more confident with using cameras and lighting. Beforehand, I had used digital cameras but I had never used them in an advanced way. After doing multiple photo shoots for my product, I now know how to position and frame shots correctly and how to use lighting to make the shots look more flattering.

Transition Task - Evaluation