A powerpoint reflecting on skills developed in creating three media products, and how these skills will be useful in the future.

1. Reflection on Skill
development
Jon Black

2. Research and Planning
 In planning the filming of the music video my group considered the
casting decisions in consideration of how many people appear in the
video, as well as how many people are seen in each shot- then I
produced a printout of all the shots in the original video to provide a
reference throughout the shoots. This part of the project has been useful
to improve planning and time management skills.
 The website needed to appeal to the artist’s target audience, so in
designing the Wix website in post production, I did some research into
how to make a website appeal to a target audience, visiting several
websites with information about making a web professional and attractive
to users- as well as referencing a similar website for ideas about layout
and appropriate colour scheme for the website design, which was then
applied in Post production.

3. Digital Technology: Hardware
 In filming the video we used a camcorder fixed to a tripod, and a stills
camera was used to collect photography for the Digipack simultaneous to
the shoot. The use of two cameras doing production was important, as it
allowed flexibility, given that the Digipack images and footage for the video
could be taken in the same recording sessions. The filming process helped
me develop skills in using the tripod and the camera efficiently in a shoot,
which will no doubt be useful in future projects.
 The Digital products were created on three adjacent Apple iMacs, one for
each product- which made it easy to synchronise and reference the style
and aesthetic of the products with each other during the creation process.

4. Digital Technology: Software
 To edit and publish the video, Final Cut Express was used in Post
Production. Final Cut Express allows for rendering, which means that
playback and amending editing errors was easy and sped up the post
production time allocated to the video product.
 To create the Digipack CD packaging, Adobe Photoshop CS6 was used
during Post Production. It’s an advanced digital image editing software with
various content manipulation options, allowing for creativity when creating
image products.
 The website was created using online website creator “Wix”- which is an
online free website creation tool which offers various templates to create an
accessible website which can look professional and appeal to the target
audience.

5. Post Production: Video
 Though I didn’t use the Final Cut Software in
the Post Production, it was used to great
effect- and the editing tools and techniques
used will be useful in creating video products
in future projects. For example, using slow
motion in some videos to fully synchronise
the video will be incredibly useful in creating
my own music video in A2 Media Studies, as
accuracy of editing is important in creating a
product that feels professional and well
crafted.
 In addition, using tools like filters (for
colouration of footage), overlaying media
(the Vevo logo on the bottom left of the
screen), and making sure the sound is
synched and consistent in the product will all
be incredibly useful skills to apply to any
future project, but certainly the creation of a
music video.

6. Post Production: Digipack
 Though I didn’t work on the Digipack
personally, I noticed several skills being
used that will be useful to replicate if I
need to use the software in future
projects. For example the magic eraser
tool was used to remove backgrounds
from existing images- a skill which I
believe will really be useful for future
production of promotional images
involving multiple layers.
 Other tools were also used effectively, like
the transformation tool which was used to
edit the images to make them the correct
length and width- which is important, as
products made by Photoshop need to be
accurately designed and produced. I will
likely use the transformation tool a lot in
using Photoshop in the future because of
this.

7. Post Production: Website
 After researching by looking at tips on
how to make a website appeal to a
target audience while maintaining
general professionalism, we begun to
create the website on Wix. We chose a
template that had a fun and pop
aesthetic, and chose a background
colour to reflect this aesthetic. The links
on the website were changed to
reference our artist “Treghan Mainor”,
and images taken on set by the
digipack creators were also added into
the website’s gallery section.
 Using Wix has developed the skill of
being able to adapt to new software,
helped by the accessibility of the site
and prior experience in using online
design software- this will be useful if in
future projects a website needs to be
created for a product.

8. Real Media Conventions
 In creating all three products it was important to consider real media
conventions, to increase professionalism and ultimately appeal more to
the target audience.
 A key convention of professional music videos that we thought was
important to replicate was the accuracy of the shots- making sure that
the actors are placed in the right positions in the footage and that the
décor, costume and background features are all accurate to the original
piece. This will in a way be useful as a transferrable skill as video
products will need to be recreated accurately from a storyboard
sequence and/or animatic.
 Another obvious convention of media products created by professional
industries is the level of planning involved prior to the shooting and post
production processes, so an obvious skill that needs to be used
throughout the A2 Media Coursework project will be to plan effectively
and efficiently- to make sure that everything is ready prior to filming.