Describe how you developed your skills in use of digital technology for media production and evaluate how these skills contribute to your creative decision making, refer to a variety of examples to show how this differs over time.
I think that throughout the two years of this course it is vacant that my skills in the use of digital technology have developed greatly and show creativity throughout my chosen briefs. My brief I decided to do in AS was to create an opening sequence for a horror film and in A2, my brief was to create a music promotion. This involved creating an advert, a digi pak and most importantly, a music video. I will complete this essay by giving examples of how I made my decisions creative and how digital technology helped me make the decisions that helped me complete my work.
During pre production at AS, I decided it would be best to research the given brief of the horror genre as this would help me understand whether I wanted to convey conventions or challenge them. I looked at a few classic horror films such as Scream and Nightmare on Elm Street, as well as looking at more contemporary horror films such as The Orphan. I decided to this as this would give me a lot of variety. Whilst researching the sub genre, I thought it would be a good idea to look at horror specific directors such as Tim Burton and Steven Spielberg, as I could then find out what made these directors so memorable to the horror genre.
I also realised that it was better to collect audience research during pre production as then my opening sequence would come across more suited to the chosen genre. This also helped me in choosing what type of audience I wanted the horror film to suit, i.e teenager, young adults e.t.c.
I decided to look at the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) ratings towards horror films as I knew that this may limit my creativity for my chosen target audience. However if this film was to have been created, I needed the certificate for it to be correct as the audience would then know what to expect.
During production of my AS brief, digital technology was used in ways to convey my creative streak. I used a variety of different camera shots and angles inclucing a handicam shot, as I wanted to create a realistic feel and add panic towards the audience. I also made sure that the mise en scene was stereotypical for the genre. Since I knew I wanted the scene to look innocent at first I decided to create the opening sequence in a park and then during the flash back, to begin inside, somewhere dark if possible. Whilst in the middle of the production I reminded myself of what type of sounds to put in, synchronous, asynchronous and even children's voices due to the location in the beginning. This shows that not only was I taking the audio part of the opening sequence into consideration but I was also showing my creative skills as I was wondering when to use them on what e.t.c.
When my production was complete, I decided to edit it in Final Cut Pro as this would not put a bigger limit on my creativity skills. In Final cut I changed the majority of the video from colour to black and white. This was to notify the audience on the flashback as such and also to signify that this was a dark time in her past. This showed my creative skills through digital technology as I had made this decision on my own, making the effect a unique take on my original production. I also add the sounds in which I thought were appropriate to my opening sequence, i.e a crows call and panting whilst the female lead is running. When I had finished my production, I uploaded it onto internet sites such as Blogger. This was to record the progression of the production as well as my research and planning. I made my blog interesting when adding all of my work on as I wanted to enjoy looking through my work. This shows that I have also used my creative skills throught my presentation of my blog.
At A2 however, I think that my skills developed more creatively. For example, during pre production I thought it would be best to do audience research again as I found this useful in AS. However, in A2 I went into more detail. I created questionnaires and got people to respond to it. This was a much more active approach and a much more interesting approach too as the results were shown in pie and bar charts and were even colour coded. This made it easier for me to understand my results as well as showing that I had developed my research skills in a way that was more creative and easier to understand.
I also researched my brief more than I did in AS as I had to chose a song in any genre. I therefore decided to research a more varied choice of music videos as this would help me understand the sub genre in more detail as well as give me any ideas that would help in my music video creatively.
I decided that before starting my production it would also be best to collect a few music videos and label them as inspirational videos. As well as keeping me motivated, it also kept ideas at bay as the main reasoning for my selected music videos was the effects in them. I would watch the effects and think how I would apply them to my own work but with a slight twist. For example, Enrique Iglesias' music video 'I Like How It Feels' uses film burns throughout. This was a technique I really liked and wanted to add into my own work, even if it wasn't the sub genre in which I had hoped for.
During the production of my music video, I developed my use of equipment as I was more confident with how to set equipment up and how to use it correctly and effectively. I used the crane to show variations in my angles of the video and I used the track as I knew that this would make my music video look fluent. This has also developed in creativity as because I had more advanced equipment to use, It was more professional and I therefore wasn't as limited to what I could do. I added a lot of meat shots in my production as these are a stereotypical shot for my sub genre and I wanted to convey some of the original conventions of indie rock. I also decided to use colours in the props and costumes that I thought could be relevant to the song, i.e black and red gives the connotation of anger, frustration and pressure.
This concept was also used at post production as I used these colours in my digi pak and my advert to show continuity throughout my products. This also shows my creativity skills developing as although I wanted to use the colours in adverts and the digi pak, I still had to do a photo shoot with the band in the same colours. This shows that all of the work that was put into all of my A2 brief was original fresh and unique. I also added a lot of different techniques, such as making the lead singer perform at half speed and then speeding the clip up in Final Cut Pro to make it look as if the lead singer is nervous or on edge. I even added thought beats to my music production through Final Cut Pro as this technique is a convention towards indie rock. I found this technique very effective as the fastness of the jump shot thought beats, helped also build up the tension of what the band was singing about. This therefore shows how creative I have been through the use of digital technology.
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