Post Production Revision

1. What did you use? How well did you use them? What did you learn about?

The first and most important programme I used for my AS coursework  was Adobe Photoshop which was key throughout the entirety of my coursework. This is a simple enough to use programme with some simpler parts that can be learnt quickly and it helped that I had experience with this programme at lower tiers of my education. The basic uses such as lassoing for images and cropping and layering for effects with images all works well but the brilliant thing with Photoshop is that every time I go on it there is something new to learn that I can carry on into future coursework and future projects in any area. Even this time around I can remember that I learnt how to use the Magnetic Lasso tool which is a simple alteration to the original which works better and quicker with cutting out certain sections of a photo.

Moving into A2 preliminary work I made my first use of the Apple Macs iMovie programme which I found to actually be an easy programme to get started off with and move into more detail further on which is what I plan to do with this years A2 coursework. With this programme I simply only tried to put together small sections of an overall music video to create the final piece including all its transitions, sound effects, speed settings and filters. With this programme in particular there will be much touching up on my skills with this as it will potentially be one of the most important I use over the course of my A2 course.

An important media website that I have become very familiar with over the last year is the "Blogger" website that allows you to create, with the use of templates a new blog for you do document research, planning and indeed the final product itself. This website comes very handy for the coursework and is extremely simple to use, it eliminates the need and aggravation for a portfolio to carry around all the time. It is also a website that I use frequently and I feel well during my Media studies time, its extremely simple to create new posts and edit previous ones it is just a very good web tool to have in the arsenal.

Conventions Revision

1. Which were the most influential conventions for you? How did your study of them affect your decisions and outcomes?

Almost certainly I wanted to stick closely to conventions at the time because I didn't want to make anything too different that it may have seemed an disliked change by the target audience. The two genres of magazine that I wanted to merge together to make my own was a combination of Rap and Indie, so that I could stick to the conventions and in particular the ones of these magazines but with making something new. With my front cover I stuck to the most simple conventions such as a readable font and reasonable text sizes, I wanted a central large image displayed relating to the main article of the magazine just like those of "Vibe" and "NME" I had studies the most. The colours I looked at pretty well because a trend has to followed with this as well because a bright yellow cover wouldn't go with the Indie side but a darker but still rich colour would. Simple conventions I stuck to pretty well but with obviously adding my own content and making alterations to the position of article titles and my title and images.

I would say that my decisions were altered by the use of conventions for the given magazines. I would feel that if my research would have been done, then if maybe gotten conformation that I could go crazy and create something new and revolutionary it would have sure up a position that I could be allowed to move much more independent direction. With having to complete the research and then relating my creation of my magazine to these others it made me feel that I had to be constricted to these styles and categories and that I would say eventually affected my decisions and outcomes. For example my final contents page became very similar looking to that of one I had used for research and completed analysis on so it wouldn't have really redefined any of the modern conventions and would have therefore limited the success and outcome that my magazine faced.

2. Did you subvert any conventions that you studied in music magazines?

In all honesty I think that I stuck pretty much to the conventions of music magazines and didn't move against any conventions at all either because I may have been unsure at the time or that I just felt that it would have been better to remain the way a certain convention. With the title and primary image of the front cover it seemed better to remain with the title at the top centre of the page and not go for anything like up the up the side or so on because it the kind of thing that doesn't work because it wouldn't be seen when seen in a shop. Ideas like this just made me really play it safe in the conventions department and also it is difficult to be creative on a subject such as this because most boundary changes have already been made and that there may not even be enough space on a page to fit cool, new ideas.

Research and Planning Revision

1. Detail how your understanding of the importance of good research and planning skills developed throughout the pre-production of your AS and A2 coursework.

At the opening of the AS course I quickly realised that research would be a key part of all coursework that would be done over the A level course. At the start research was made for the music magazine in the style of simply looking for the cover of other magazines such as "Vibe" and "NME" from the music industry and taking the details of them into consideration for when it came to creating my own magazine. The cover and contents would have been taken from certain magazines then the inspiration for a double page spread would have come from a studied student magazine that was shown to me at the opening of the pre-lim at AS level. Not really until it came towards the end of AS and there was time to look back at what had been done by myself for the coursework and look at others and then it had to be realised that maybe enough was done for research but more in depth analysis would be needed for future coursework such as for A2 and beyond. Even so far with A2 I have realised that much more in depth research for the band, directors, producers and videos is needed to really give the in depth element to the research and help me to bump up my marks for the final thing.

2. How did your knowledge of digital technology and your research and planning skills develop throughout the pre-production of your AS and A2 coursework.

My knowledge of digital technology actually increased fairly quickly because I had to quickly get to grips with the new Apple Macs and then other software was given more detail such as Powerpoint which I already had experience with but learnt further controls such as lasso, magic wand etc. New uses for some of the buttons on the programme was also learnt. Also direction was given by the teacher with programmes and hardware to use for the coursework and this assisted with simply furthering my knowledge and being a great help with my development. From the current research and planning made in my pre-production for A2 I realise that I have had my eyes open to the view that my work from least year wasn't really as good quality as originally thought. With my magazine front cover my ideas were fairly mimicking of magazines such as the "Vibe" which my title style and central image is focused on "Vibe". Lots could be done to improve my research and the planning for my Music Video and improve the overall quality from my entire coursework project this year and work to achieve a better grade overall.

Creativity Revision

1. Do you think you were creative or not throughout your coursework?

I do feel that there was a degree of creativity on my behalf during the AS coursework but it did happen more as I developed my skills with use of software such as Photoshop. Overall though I feel that not a huge amount of creativity came from me and that in terms of the creation of the music magazine, it was of a following of trends from current magazines that shaped my drafts and final design.

2. Did technology enhance your creativity or not?

The access that I had to new and known technologies was certainly a big help for creativity as oppose to being left to design things on basic programmes on home PC's or so on.

The developing of skills through the use of Photoshop in which I gained much more knowledge of new buttons, for example the magnetic lasso, normal lasso and so on. The hardware use with Apple Macs certainly assisted in the creativity element with the unique and different features that are on the Macintosh's themselves. Also the Sony Video Camera that was used for the filming was one of my own because I knew I had one at home.A new and simple enough to use camera that recorded a decent quality and was quick and brilliant in assisting the creation process.

3. What ideas did you communicate and what stylistic techniques did you use? How did you relate to your interests/self identity?

The ideas I really wanted to get across with the coursework was that people would enjoy the magazine that had been created and make a relation themselves to the genre of the magazine and enjoy the music reviews. They could relate it to one of their accepted genres and accept the style of the magazine that would be presented to them. An example of the research on certain genres that I did was searching for Rap and Indie style of magazines because that was the idea I had, to create a mixture of both genres. The interests I had I put into the magazine along with the kind of music I like and the style i liked as well I did put into the magazine. I did make the magazine one that I liked and maybe that became a mistake in the end because the appeal to a wide audience may have been slightly lost  with this decision. It could have still met success though due to the curious blend of two differing genres to attract a wider audience.

4. Was your product influenced by your environment?

The final product that was made come the end of the coursework I would say was influenced by the environment. With being in school and thinking about the music friends and others like the magazine was related to that also examples that were researched and looked at influenced the style and set up of the final magazine that was made. Example magazines I did research were texts such as "Vibe" magazine which presented the Rap side of my magazine and one for the Indie side would have been "NME".

5. Was it original or did you add something extra to an original media text?

The idea that was created was a new idea, a new magazine that had a new set up and features but the original influences for the magazine I suppose were a mixture of small ideas taken from other known music and other such as sport magazines such as "Vibe","NME" and even a little look at "ESPN" magazine just for alternative style tips. In basic I suppose the magazine I made was a combination of small ideas taken from a variety of 3 or 4 magazines. There was also a magazine that the contents page was the only thing looked at because it had a unique style so I wanted mine to be similar. My magazine could possibly be seen as new extra's being added to a few original media texts.

6. Would you take any creative skills into future projects or have you been influenced to engage these skills in any other projects?

The creative skills I have now and ones I've developed over the period of the year will be useful for future projects e.g. Furthered Photoshop use, iMovie and even developed skills with use of the Blog. I will still be very open to alterations and new developments in my skills being made during the course of the work this academic year. Being able to hone these skills and build on them will be vital for use in the future especially with a certain type of chosen media career.

Digital Technology Revision

What were the good and bad things about the software and hardware used at AS in terms of skills development?

The positives that can be said about the hardware used at AS level in general is that it was of simple use and no learning really needed to happen in that department. Everyone know how to use the cam- recorders and the cable connecting was simple enough. Plus the Apple Macs are similar in style to a PC, so they are easy to make good use of quickly.

However there were some irritating problems with the transferring of the videos recorded from the camera to the Mac, but then that could have been more of a software related issue.

With software and the use of the programme Photoshop, there was previous basic experience there but it is nice and easy to gain the use of a new mechanic or button every time it was used. Photoshop is simple enough to use anyway and there is always more to learn. The development that was made here was the gradual development of the skills needed and realising that later on something would need altering.

Skills development in the AS level was very basic and it was really only simple new things being learnt. Realy, there was a knowledge already on how to use most of the hardware and software.