Skills development essay

Evaluation essay
For my foundation portfolio I planned and produced the front cover of a fictional college magazine for my preliminary task, alongside a draft of the same magazine’s contents page. I then planned and produced a front cover, a contents page, and a double page spread of a music magazine. Throughout the course of the year I learned new terminology and how to use the appropriate software to produce my work effectively.

I had some prior knowledge on how to research a topic and plan a project before AS Media. In much of my GCSE Media Production work I had to follow several steps to plan the pieces of coursework I was given. For example, during that time I put together a storyboard for a potential Yorkie bar advert which I eventually filmed, so I knew how to structure the shots and which details to add in the boxes below. For a movie poster that I also planned at that time, I had used Microsoft Publisher and MS Paint to produce mock-ups before moving on to drafts, then the final product.
Due to the editing of footage that I shot for the advert, I gained experience of post-production. The movie poster I produced taught me about the use of conventions from real media texts.

In terms of photo editing software, I’d had some experience with that too, and I knew my way around Microsoft Paint and had used Abode Photoshop CS5 on a few occasions, which I used a lot more during AS Media. Beforehand I often inserted text into pictures as well as cropping unnecessary areas out, the same techniques that proved to be important in the editing of my magazine pages.

I’d also had experience with cameras and photo taking, although I felt my knowledge and experience in working digital cameras was limited. Any photos I took were usually done with a mobile phone, so I wasn’t sure how certain buttons on a digital camera would make it function.  Taking photos for my college and media magazines taught me a few things about digital cameras, such as what kinds of lighting would work best, and how to zoom in and out.

The amount of research and planning I had to put into the foundation project surprised me at first, as it was a higher amount than on anything I’d had to plan before, although I did have some experience. I was asked to find several pre-existing magazine covers, contents pages and double page spreads and analyse them using a structure known as “LIIAR” (Language, Institution, Ideology, Audience and Representation) In order to do this effectively I also learned new media terminology (such as the word “ideology”)

Taking photos was important in my foundation portfolio. I had to take all the photos that would feature in the magazine myself. These photos would be taken during lessons, borrowing others from my class to take them with. This would usually take 10-20 minutes each session. I would then import the photos onto my college account straight away to commence editing at any time.

Creativity is also important in making a good media product. I had practiced creativity in high school doing Media Production in Years 10 and 11, producing things such as movie posters and trailers, as well as an advert for a chocolate bar.
Photo editing played a very important role in putting my magazine pages together. If there was anything in the background that interfered with the effect that the photo was supposed to have on the reader, I would be able to erase it using the spot healing brush tool, which effectively makes it seem as though it was never there, the ‘spot’ would be replaced using the surrounding elements. For example, if there was a scar on somebody’s hand, the spot healing brush tool would remove the scar, and would replace it with skin, effectively healing the scar.

The captions and effects I added onto my photos were reflective of conventions found in real media texts. I paid great attention to detail, including the locations of headlines and slogans, and the amount of blur I should apply to the background details of a photograph.

My confidence in analysing pre-existing media products grew from the planning of my college magazine to the planning of my music magazine. I had gained plenty of essential knowledge from lessons, and had a better understanding than ever of colours used in magazines and how/why they were conventional of the subject matter they were covering.

I also learned the importance of producing mock-ups and drafts, so I produced as many as I could for my music magazine, including hand-drawn pieces of work, and mock-ups produced in publisher and photoshop. I often sought out to make improvements so I would end up with good final products, often asking my teacher and students where there was potential room for improvement. I recall my teacher advising me to shorten my magazine’s slogan so it would more memorable, and more importantly, reflective of a real magazine cover.

I also realised as I continued to take photos that I was beginning to get the hang of camera angles and when to use them appropriately.  I also paid more attention to the lightning in my photos. With earlier photos, my teacher made comments on the poor lighting. However I began using the flash feature on the camera to improve lighting when necessary, as well as choosing better locations in which my model would stand out better, making photo editing easier.

In conclusion, I learned a substantial amount in terms of researching, planning, photo taking, and photo editing in AS Media during my Foundation project, which added greatly to the knowledge I already had. I hope to take this knowledge on board throughout my advanced portfolio in A2 Media in which I will be producing a music promotion package for a release of a music album which includes a music promo video, a cover for the album’s release as part of a digipak, and a magazine advertisement for the digipak.