post -production

"Describe how your skills in post-production informed your own creative media practice. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how these skills developed over time." 

My two years doing Media Studies has enabled me to advance my skill sin post-production and allowed me to enhance my creative skills over time. At AS I created a Prelim College Magazine and for my main task I created an Indie Music Magazine. At A2 I created a Prelim Trailer where I replicated the american pie reunion trailer and for my main task I created a Promotional package for a horror film.

For the AS prelim, in the post-procution stage, I was firstly introduced to using softwares such as Photoshop and Indesign. I created my front cover on Photoshop and used aspects of it like; Editing images (adjustments - brightness/contrast), the text tool (using the font already on Photoshop) and the colour pallet where I explored colours to create an effective colour pallet for the magazines genre where I stuck to using the college colours (purple and yellow). In Indesign I created the contents age, where I used aspects of a real media magazine as I had never created a magazine before, I used very basic tools such as; text and image tools. For my main task, I used the same software as I did for my prelim, therefore I felt more confident using the software as I wasn't going in blind this time. Due to the mass of research, I felt I could be more creative on the softwares to create an effective magazine. I used more tools on Photoshop, such as shapes, drop shadows, adding a stroke to fonts  (added through Layer Styles) the magnetic cut out tool to I could overlap the image over the title. I used websites such as DaFont to get a larger range of fonts whereas at the Prelim I didn't look very far into what fonts I could use. I was more adventurous with the colour schemes, as enjoying the music genre I felt I could relate and put more personal touches to the magazine. Using Indesign, I used a larger range of tools, still using the text and image tools, I learnt how to add shapes, and import a colour of my choice from Photoshop. I got feedback and created more drafts of my magazine and looked at the minor details like adding in more images and the style of the font for example. 

Moving on to A2, For the Prelim Trailer, I was introduced to FinalCut and didn't know much about this software, therefore was wary on what to do. I learnt basic editing techniques such as importing the footage and then cutting down shot lengths. When It came to making my promotional package, I was most unsure of creating the trailer de to my lack of experience on the software, however the prelim did give me the idea of basic techniques so I had somewhere to start. I gained vast skills creating this trailer, I learnt how to add in a fade in fade out technique, how to add in typography, add in effects such as the bad TV effect and the whirl effect my text, also the 8-point garage tool to overlay two shots.I watched youtube videos on how to do some of the techniques on FinalCut such as animated the text to make it look creepy and fit in with the genre. I also, did additional research into more horror trailers to expand my ideas and think of new ones that would enhance the scare factor of my trailer. I got feedback as I went along and this helped me to get the best out of making my trailer. Moving on to my print work, from using Photoshop to create my magazine cover at AS I felt confident to create a professional looking magazine cover for my A2, I have never created a film poster before therefore I had to do more research into the conventions of films posters. I have used Photoshop in much more detail to last year, but I found it much easier to use an It took me less time to put together therefore I had the time to be more creative and experiment with different fonts, colours, shots etc. I have made a few posters to see which one worked best and that portrays the genre and most importantly brand identity throughout my products, I did this by using a similar image type of my protagonist and the same font and colours throughout my product. Whereas at AS I didn't have to consider this through my designs. I did engage in additional research even though I was familiar with creating these sort of products, however unlike at AS, I wasn't familiar with conventions and representations of the horror genre therefore I had to do more detailed research and keep looking at a range of real media texts to make sure I convey these representations throughout my promotional package. 

Overall, I do feel I have vastly expanded my skill sin the post-productin stage as now I am not hesitant at continuously looking at real media texts and keeping doing additional research and getting feedback so I can make the best of my products and enhance my creative aspects when using the softwares.