“Describe and evaluate your skills development in digital technology
from AS to A2”
At AS, I was involved in producing a two minute thriller film opening,
it is clear to see at A2 level, I have developed my skills both individually
and when working as a team. My progression in digital technology has enabled me
to be part of creating a much more mastered piece of film.
Whilst creating my AS film opening, the digital technology I used was
rather basic. We were fixed with using iMovie, as what we were producing did
not require complex effects and we did not have the required knowledge to use
specialised programs. This year, however, we were fortunate to have a Final Cut
Express workshop to help learn about the full advantages we could get out of
this in order to make our music video as original as possible. For instance, we
constructed the split screen by using this in order to build a greater visual
effect as well as it also being part of our underlying plot. I have used
Photoshop to design my Digipak, as my skills in this program have developed, as
opposed to AS where I made the film company logos using a simpler program,
Paint and carried out straightforward operations such as converting an image
into black and white.
As the Flip is not of great quality, we tended to only film the ‘behind
the scenes’ footage of our music video, whereas last year we actually used it
to film our opening. This year, my group and I filmed using various types of
cameras in order to have the best standard of footage by using the new
Panasonic HD cameras. For example, in order to conform to our Indie/Alternative
genre, we established our settings by filming a variety of panning shots of
city and scenic shots as we had previously seen in famous music videos on
YouTube. The downfall, however, with this hardware is the fact they run out of
battery and this can be a real inconvenience when filming in a deserted
location. A piece of technology I had with me at all times is my mobile
phone, this was extremely useful when finding practical shooting locations so I
could upload raw pictures onto my Blog and it was constantly used when
organizing filming days.
As part of my research and planning, I ensured that I found well-fitting
secondary source pictures in relation to the music video we aimed to create. I
used websites other than ‘Google Images’ and used quirky picture websites such
as ‘We Heart It’ and ‘Deviant Art’. Other than finding inspiring images,
I used YouTube a great deal in order to benefit from other artists’ music videos
and fully appreciate the approaches they have taken in order to attract certain
audiences and reactions.
In order to form a more realistic result of our brand band for Hunt the
Noise, I created a Twitter page for their fans. This technique would not only allow
fans to ‘follow’ them to find out useful information e.g. upcoming tour dates
but it also adds a personal aspect for fans. This enables the public to
see what their favourite bands are doing, view their uploaded pictures and even
have the opportunity to ask them questions.
During AS, we did not have a chance to use the green screen, however,
this year it has come in very valuable in our music video, particularly when
experimenting with several backgrounds. Although, we did have some
software problems when attempting to upload the footage and edit onto it, which
resulted in a fault of the green fabric we bought.
In conclusion, my skills in digital technology have
developed enormously in both the software and hardware that I have used when
putting together my music video. I now have the capacity to carry forward the
fundamental knowledge I have learnt from AS and A2 which will permit me to
start my next project.
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