Describe how you developed your skills in the use of digital technology for media production and evaluate how these skills contributed to your decision making. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how these skills developed over time.

Over the last two years in my media coursework I have used a lot of different digital technologies. For AS I had to create a two minute long film opening including titles. In my second year I had to create a music promo package including a music video, advert and digipak.

In my first year we used blogger (web 2.0) to collate our research and planning, and to present our final product. From starting at AS i improved my overall understanding of how to use the blogging site and became more efficient in using it. In a2 i used the website again to collate my pre-production work and present the final product, but i feel that i have progressed a lot and can use blogger a lot better than last year. In the second year i learnt how to do things such as using inline frames and embedding different objects to make my blog more attractive and easier to use, as well as using HTML editing to modify the theme and layout of my blog.

In pre production at AS level we used a DRM85 Flash Mike to record a voiceover for our animatic, we did this quite well but the voiceover wasn't clear or well rehearsed. In A2 I improved upon this area and recorded another animatic. In our second animatic we did not record a voiceover and used music instead, along with iMovie, to make our animatic more effective. We did use the Flash Mike later in post production as part of our evaluation and the results were much better than first year because we positioned the mike much better and rehearsed the voiceover.

In the production of my AS video, my group used a Sony digital Handycam and a Cannon XL2 camera. These were ok cameras and we got good use out of them, I learnt a lot about filming that i did not have a clue about when i first started the course. In the second year however we became more effective in the use of cameras and filming. I learnt how to effectively use different camera techniques a lot more than in AS and opted to use a better Sony camera with more HD capabilities and an overall better picture than the ones we used in AS.

Another thing we used in AS was the Trycaster Studio 2.5 MS and multiple Sony HD cameras. In AS we were less confident with this technology and only used it in postproduction, however at A2 level we gained confidence using the studio and opted to use it in production. We recorded our band playing in front of a green-screen and used the studio's features along with some camera abilities to make a well-finished and effective sequence. This was a big improvement on the knowledge I had on studio hardware (and software) when I first started at AS and I now know a lot more about this type of technology.

In postproduction I have also improved a lot from AS. To edit and finish our video at AS level we used iMovie, this was a easy to use program that allowed us to easily edit our project and helped us easily gain editing experience. However iMovie lacked some of the abilities that we wanted to use in A2, so we tried various different editing programs and eventually settled on using Sony Vegas Pro for our A2 editing. Sony Vegas allowed us to do everything you can on iMovie and final cut but with extra effects and features, allowing us to be much more creative. Also because it is a windows based program it allowed us to do editing outside of the classroom. The combination of all of the skills I have gained in AS and improved upon in A2 allow me to be much more creative with my media work.