Development of skills from AS to A2

MEDIA STUDIES AS/A LEVEL, TRANSITION WORK –EVALUATING YOUR SKILLS DEVELOPMENT THROUGH THE AS YEAR

As part of your A2 exam next June you will have to explain how your production skills as a Media practitioner have developed over time. This involves detailed explanation and evaluation of your skills at AS compared with skills at A2, and is about you as an individual, not the group as a whole. The exercise below is designed to start the preparation for this question, by asking you to evaluate your own skills at the end of the AS year; you will then revisit this later in the year when you have finished your A2 portfolio as part of your exam preparation. Each one of the skills areas listed in the left hand column could be the focus of an exam question next June.

What skills have I developed this year? What are my strengths and weaknesses? What should I work on improving next year?

Fill in your column

Skill area	Your evaluation of your own skills in this area – strengths, weaknesses, and things to work on. Be precise, giving examples or evidence  (eg on camera, discuss particular techniques such as focus pull)	Your teachers’ evaluation
Your use of Digital Technologies: how skilled are you in these areas? This includes your use of camera techniques, your use of blogger, your use of prezi (if you used it), the internet (used for research for example) final cut editing techniques, garageband, photoshop (if you used it), social networking (if you used it)	Camera Within our AS Foundation Portfolio I believe that my skills using a camera have improved massively. For example, use of techniques such as focus pulls (especially towards the end when the actress is dazing in and out of consciousness in a POV shot), shallow and large depth of field shots e.g. with the shot of the mobile phone (SDOF) and the actress walking under the street lamp (LDOF). This also shows variation within our shot sizes and framing with the close up of the mobile being a high angle canted shot. In comparison to the actress walking being an extreme long shot at mid angle. Blogger Blogger has played a major part in the digital technologies I have used throughout my AS Foundation Portfolio. I have used many techniques, taking into consideration appearance and complexity. Techniques such as titling; hyperlinking; illustrations; commentaries and video within my posts. Titling shown throughout all of my posts, becoming especially helpful in our Storyboard Voiceover Script. Hyperlinking shown in my Evaluation linking to the Pearl and Dean website which we researched real media products on. Illustrations and video used throughout and within my Evaluation to create a visual aspect to the post. Commentaries became very useful within our post Storyboard Animatic ensuring to break the text up in time with the images. Prezi Prezi has adapted my skills to using new techniques to create a post. I used Prezi within my evaluation to give more of a visual aspect to the post and separate large chunks of text. One strength of my Prezi is the use of illustrations within it which really make the post as visually pleasing as possible. The Internet One strength of the use of the internet is that I have been able to research real media products and this has played a major part in the production of our thriller opening. Shown within the post ‘Jack – Thriller Openings Research’ is the influence of real thriller openings on our product. A weakness of the internet is that we could have used it to research into possible settings, décor and locations to shoot in, which would have made our research more in depth and our final product more realistic. Final Cut My skills using Final Cut Pro have most definitely developed over the process of our AS Foundation Portfolio. I have learnt new techniques concerning visual editing which have completed our product to a high standard. By discovering how to add transition effects to our shots the opening has developed much more of a sense of continuity and conveys emotion to the spectator. Within our post ‘Final Film’ it is clear how much our skills with Final Cut Pro have developed from our post ‘FINAL FINISHED TASK’ which was our preliminary video. We also learnt the skill of desaturation and levels in Final Cut, allowing us to edit the shots themselves, this is also shown in the development from our preliminary task to our final product. Garageband Using Garageband has allowed my sound editing skills to develop majorly. One strength from using Garageband is the merging of multiple sound effects for example in the street shot with the actress walking hearing the dog barking and glass smashing. However, a weakness of my use of Grageband is the timing of sounds with images which I struggled to perfect. An example, is the pencil shot, as the sound effect of writing isn’t entirely in time with the action. I believe this is something I will need to work on in my Advanced Portfolio work. Social Networking There were many strengths of using social networking one of which being feedback on our choices and decisions as well as our final thriller opening. This allowed us to undertake any necessary actions for improvement or correction and also allowed us to add to our blog on why these decisions were made, shown particularly in my evaluation post. One disadvantage of using social media such as Facebook was that friends would comment things like “this is great” which were not as helpful as analytical comments.	Excellent self evaluation here Jack – well done! You made excellent use of the blog and achieved high marks for this. Your work with other dig technologies was conscientious and showed good progression.  You did make real improvements in your film making skills, and the end result showed proficient work. You were careful and diligent with all the editing of the final product, including the use of garageband. ·       Continue to pay attention to framing and adopt a more experimental approach to the short film. Aim for variety, interest and engagement of the spectator ·       Widen your range of knowledge about sound types and design. Improve sound recording ·       Aim to be experimental where appropriate with editing. Seek new ways of creating narrative and meaning using different types of transition. ·       Aim to gain more confidence in camera work ·       Aim to make more of prezi – experiment with different formats, and aim to include up to around 25 stopping points ·       Over the summer, explore the platforms for short films, and watch as many as you can – 1 every couple of days say. Make better use of social media to gain audience feedback, and integrate this more effectively into your developing products
Creativity: In what ways did you try to be original? How successfully did you balance the use of standard conventions of thrillers with the aim to be different or original? Eg consider  techniques used, narrative, character, mood, sound, themes, titles etc Research and Planning: How thorough and effective was your research into real media texts? How actively did you use your findings to create your own ideas? How well did you record your findings? How individual was your research? What was your role in planning and what was effective or not so effective?	We tried to be original by using a range of techniques rarely seen in real media thriller film openings, for example, dissolve transitions, bird’s eye view angles, etc. We also tried to be original by using a theme and plot that had rarely been seen before, with use of the younger looking actor and actress this also diversified our film from common thriller films. As aforementioned, we did try to differ from original conventions of thriller films to be diverse. Though, we did also have to adapt to the common conventions to show we understood our research and planning. I think we managed to balance the two very well, with uses of thriller conventions such as desaturation and low-key lighting showing our understanding of thriller conventions. Our research into real media texts was very thorough and took major effect on our thriller film opening. We used our findings very actively in the creation of our own ideas, allowing us to understand the basic and common conventions of thriller films and not only adapting them but also testing them. I think we recorded our findings really well with each member of our group adding a blog post on four films they researched along with more singular research. This allowed us to return to this information whenever we felt it was needed or required to make a vital decision. My research was completely individual and I completed it in my own time without any assistance from my team, as did they without assistance from other members and I. Researching individually allowed me to come up with my own ideas and then bring it to my groups attention so we could work out our vital decisions and choices together, meaning we all had a major and singular impact. My role in planning was deciding on props, location and actors/actresses. I believe that my planning was very effective and in the end, led to us pursuing most of the choices and ideas I had come up with, much the same with other members of the group. One thing that was not so effective, however, was the allocation of an actor as nobody was to keen on playing the part. Although, I took it upon myself to become the actor and feel that I did enjoy the experience and hopefully I made the right decision.	·       Use mise en scene appropriately and creatively throughout – you did this before, but short films demand different skills and range of mise en scene. Decide early what style you favour for the short film (eg genre), and try add something original to this, as short films often do. ·       You made very good efforts as a group to be original in your thriller, in terms of character. Continue to do this if you can, and be bold with ideas as this format really suits experimentation of all kinds, as long as your spectator can understand! ·       Make your research from the start count towards your final creative decisions. Try to steer your research towards your interests in terms of genre, audience and story type. This will probably evolve as the project does and you will all change your minds I expect, but this is all part of the process. Just document every decision or thought process as you go. ·       Allow plenty of time for storyboarding. This doesn’t have to be perfect drawing, but must give an idea of the shot you create, with sound and mise en scene selections and transitions. Keep to deadlines on this to avoid being late on filming. ·       Your analysis of this stage is excellent, and already shows that you are able to critically examine your own work to make improvements. This is a great basis for A2. Start researching short films now , because although they are short, you’ll find that it takes a long time to seek out films that are useful or inspiring. Try to improve this aspect of research – always consider what you have learnt by watching and analysing the film. ·       Continue to use media language terms to analyse, as that will also give you material for qn 1b in the exam. ·       Planning was good, but you did fall behind as a group on this at times. Try to make sure that you are fully aware of the tasks you have to complete and by when. Aim to start the storyboarding early, as you may have to plan 60+ shots!
Post production: This refers to the entire editing process (sound and vision). What specific skills have you individually developed in this area? What do you need to work on? How successfully did you work on sound and vision together?	At the beginning of the course, I had never edited any sort of production before, for this reason I have learnt lots of new skills. Some specific skills I have developed are editing shots together using different transitions, e.g. dissolve to create continuity effects. I have also learnt how to edit colouring within the shot rather than attempting to do it when filming. In terms of sound editing, I have learnt to edit sound with images so that a more prominent sound is made rather than using the sound within the filming process. This has also allowed me to learn how to use techniques such as foleys and use of parallel and contrapuntal sound to get a certain impression across and convey emotion. Using non-copyrighted websites also allowed me to take sound from them and edit them into our own piece, my skills have developed here in choosing suitable sounds and being more aware that sound can’t be taken from anywhere. I feel as though I need to work on perfecting my timing of shots with the sound I use to ensure the most realistic effect is conveyed. Foleys could also do with some improvement. By making foleys sound very similar to the sound I wish to create the production as a whole will appear more realistic. I worked on sound and vision together rather successfully, allowing me to take on tasks for both kinds of post production. I believe that I did have a big impact on the sound and vision editing as a whole, along with other group members.	As before, this is an area where you can really improve. Your work was very diligent and conscientious at AS, and good results achieved, but you can develop new techniques in vision and sound editing and be bold and experimental. Excellent evaluation of your own progress again Jack. Well done!
Using conventions from real media texts: Which specific conventions of the thriller genre did you choose to use in your product? How successfully did you use them? What were the reasons for not being able to use them?	Some specific conventions of the thriller genre that we chose to use in our product was shot sizes, angles, movement, etc. in terms of camera movement. We also took on the conventions of creating enigma and creation of mysterious character to help support the common narration of the thriller genre. We took on lots of conventions from real media products these list just a few, in addition, we also used costume and mise en scene similar to conventions of the thriller genre, e.g. dark clothing, limited décor, etc. We used these conventions, in my opinion, very successfully, though there did have to be a balance between originality and similarity, I feel that the conventions we used were used very much to our advantage and were successful. As aforementioned, the reason for not being able to use some conventions was so that we were original and creative and differed from real thriller films. It was our intention to put our own ideas into the thriller genre and adapt to conventions also.	You did well with conventions in our view. With the short film, you need to pay attention to the narrative shape of these films, and decide early on how you want the film to work in relation to time. This is the difference between plot and story. Visual conventions will be affected by your choice of style or genre, so be clear about this in research stages, and then use conventions and adapt to be original as far as possible. WELL DONE!