Essay on my skills development in media

1. Ruby Moore
Skills Development essay
Throughout my time of studying Media I feel that my knowledge has progressed
excessively in many ways and that I have developed my skills in different areas and
continue to do so.
My knowledge on technology has grown over the past year an extreme amount,
predominantly on the software ‘Photoshop’ which I had never used, before I came to
college. I have used ‘Photoshop CS5’ in order to create all of my products throughout
my AS level. As I had never used Photoshop before I was unsure on the different
tools to use and their functions; therefore when it first came to the editing process of
using the tools, I was not very good at it and it took me a long time to understand the
tools. Yet I feel that I have continuously improved throughout AS, as I have had more
practice. AS media has taught me how to use the programme ‘Photoshop’ in great
detail allowing me to explore and develop my skills as a student. By learning the us e
of the tools on the programme, I have been able to edit my products in an effective
way and to a good standard that I was not able to do before I had access to the
programme. Initially, the first product that I created was the perfume advertisement.
The image on the left is the photo that I originally took for the preliminary task. The
image of the perfume bottle is of quite poor quality as there is dull lighting in the
background and the overall colour of the bottle is not bright enough for my liking. In
addition the flash from the camera is caught on the front of the bottle and this does
not appear appealing for the bottle. Then, I was made aware of how I could
manipulate this in Photoshop to improve the quality so that it is appropriate to be
featured on a perfume advertisement, to appear aesthetically pleasing. I first
uploaded the photo onto Photoshop and then duplicated the layer, so that I have
two images to work with in case I was to make a
mistake. By slowly and carefully using the lasso tool,
I was able to remove the background, so that I
could edit the perfume bottle further and could
dispose of the shadow in the background, which
was not appropriate for the advertisement. I found
that this allowed me to produce the product to the
high standard I wanted.

2. Ruby Moore
I also used this technique in other areas of my media work, such as practice imagery
for my final music magazine. As demonstrated above, I was able to use the tools on
Photoshop to manipulate an image to make it appear like a life concert, which I felt
appeared very effective.
I was also introduced to the use of Apple MAC’s when beginning Media, as I had
never worked on one before. With the introduction of working on them and also
using the computers, they have taught me how to
manipulate text and add it to my work. Such as, I learnt
how to printscreen the text on my computer, from
certain websites such as dafont.com, and then by using
the magic tool on Photoshop, and cut pasted the text,
then blended it to my magazine design. I found that
the more work that I produced, the more I practiced
this technique, which allowed me to develop and improve and resulted in me being
happy with how I manipulated the text for my final music magazine. Another skill
that I feel I have developed with digital technology is working with a camera. I
already had basic knowledge with camera work as I already had my own SLR camera
that I work with; however I still have learnt many more techniques and skills that I
will continue to use. These include: How to appropriately take a photograph, using
the different shot types and conventions of existing magazines. I feel that in my
beginning tasks, such as the preliminary task of the perfume advertisement and the
college magazine, although I did take a range of photos that I thought appeared
good; they were actually not produced to a good standard as I expected. This is clear
to see through the tasks I have completed and products I have produced. Therefore,
through the use of camera work I learnt how to capture a conventional shot using
the zoom lenses and aperture on my Canon DSLR.
I believe that I have shown creativity throughout my products and that it has shown
continuity, as I believe that I am quite a creative person. I like to experiment with
colour and imagery to see the range that I can produce and I have done this with all

3. Ruby Moore
of my tasks, to carefully choose a design. I am fond of quite neutral colours and
always like the colours of red, black and white as I think that they complement each
other and don’t clash with other colours. Therefore, I
mainly used this colour scheme in the tasks. In the
preliminary task, I dressed my model in a nude top
which contrasted well with the dark background, and
also complemented the perfume bottle which I added
to the advertisement through Photoshop and
researched the conventions of other perfume
advertisements. Then with my college magazine I also
dressed my model in black but also included the colour
purple, as it was conventional for college magazines to
consist of the colour scheme of that college, and
therefore I used purple as it is the colour of Wyke
College. However, I found once I had produced the
product that the design of the magazine cover was not
appealing with the purple text that I had inserted, as it
clashed with the dark background. Consequently, I made the conscious decision that
for my next task, I would use neutral colours and incorporate the colour scheme of
red, black and white into the piece as I feel that this design would appear most
effective. In the final task I planned the costume so that it would be conventional for
a rock magazine, by researching the rock genre for inspiration. Therefore, as the final
costume was black I also included red and white in the design.
Before each of my tasks I researched and planned everything I did for the piece, so
that it would appear conventional and so that I could produce my tasks as realistic as
possible to existing products. I did this by looking at existing pieces that I could relate
to my own products and learn the conventions of them. For the preliminary task, the
perfume advertisement, I bought several fashion magazines such as Elle and Vogue
to find inspiration from all of the perfume advertisements within them, as it is where
my advertisement would stereotypically be based in. I also learnt within digital
technology how to cut and move a bottle from a separate image and layer it onto an
image, as I did now want to take an image with my model holding the bottle, as I felt
I would be able to edit it more effectively on its own.
For my college magazine I carried out the same research; especially with the use of
Google, as I searched existing college magazines that other people had produced in
Media in previous years. I wanted to create a college magazine which stood out from
others and was persuasive for students who are considering going to the college.

4. Ruby Moore
Therefore I planned what mise-en-scene I could use within my imagery to promote
this. I also planned what shot to use as my main front cover image; looking at the
conventions of normal magazines. I decided to use a medium close-up of my model
holding a folder and some books, as well as her in a dance costume in the studios.
This was to promote the college being very organised and educational, but also to
represent its creative side and give an insight to some of the facilities, such as the
dance studios. I used these skills that I had learnt in this task to develop onto my final
AS task of the music magazine.
I again carried out more research and planning in order for my final pieces in my
music magazine and to produce them to the high standard that I wanted. I used
existing products such as NME
magazine and Q magazine as
examples of how to layout and
present my work. I produced a
reader profile in order to show my
target audience, the statistics and
what sort of things my target
audience would be interested in, if
they were to read my magazine. I
also did several image convention
comparisons as well as image
analysis’, so that I could put into
practice for evaluating my own
work and learning what I needed to do to produce a good final product.
Furthermore, I researched rock artists that are current at the moment and studied
the types of costume they have worn recently, which is how I got my inspiration to
create the artist ‘Alys’. I did this in order to create a character people would
remember when looking through other students work. I also took into consideration
what location I would like to have featured in my magazine and posted a range of
photos on my blog of the different locations and different shots, which I have learnt
from previous tasks. Finally, I produced an evaluation, which included several mind
maps and other software tools, along with all of the terminology that I learnt and
researched from the start of my preliminary task, to keep looking back on before
creating my pieces. I also produced many mock ups of my pieces of work in order to
get my finished products how I wanted them and to the best standard; by getting
feedback each time from my teachers and peers, to help improve my work.

5. Ruby Moore
After I had completed AS media and produced all of the tasks, I found that I had
learnt a lot of new skills that I had never used before and that I would be able to use
again in the future. These include using different software and programmes that I
could edit photos on; the main programme being Photoshop, which I could now use
for other products and editing images and in particular for my transition to A2 media.
In addition, I have now developed my knowledge of how I could effectively use my
Canon DSLR camera in my own time to produce high quality photographs along with
accurate camera shots which I have also learnt. Moreover, I think working on the
different tasks have helped me to be more creative in my work and will help me
produce work in the future to a more creative standard.