Audit of Skills.

Terminology.

Mise-en-scene

Editing Sound

Camera angles/shots

Composition

Representations

Convergence

Conventions

Synergy

Digitalisation Platforms

Anchorage Rule of thirds

Diegetic/Non-Diegetic Masthead

TransitionsGenre

USP

Above/Below the line costsProduction

Distribution

Exhibition

Advertising

Theories.

I haven’t learnt anything about theories in media during my AS

year. This would be something I’d need to know more about for my

A2 studies.

Using Software• Photoshop: I was already aware of Photoshop

before I started my media course but I hadn’t used it much before so needed some help at first. I think I used this software well to put together my magazine. Using tools such as the magic eraser tool to edit the green screen out of my pictures. I was pleased with how this turned out.

• Prezi: I used prezi whilst doing my evaluation at the end of the AS year. This was also an easy software to use.

• Blogger: During this course we blogged our progress, ideas and final pieces onto our own blogger. This was new to me but I found it very easy to use and really helpful in organising and storing my work.

• Slideshare: I have used slide share to publish many power points to my blog. Again, this is a programme I had never used until this year and has been very useful. This had made my blog a lot more interesting than just normal blog posts. It has allowed me to blog in a different way and meant that my power points didn’t have to be rewritten into a blog post and it can be seen at its full potential.

PhotoshopI used Photoshop to edit all of my images as I had used a green screen to take my shots and, even though it took some time, they all turned out well.

It was also used to put my final front cover, contents and double page spread together and I really think without it my magazine would have been completely different and would never have looked as professional.

Blog Before this year, I had never used

blogger before. We set our blogs up in our first lesson of the year and they have

been very important and useful ever since. It has been really helpful for

keeping all my work in one place. I would sometimes forget to blog but overall I

think I have used it well. It is kept organised with labels and easy to find what I need to. I have

blogged everything from little decisions to final pieces. A really

good way to keep track of my work.

PowerPointPowerPoint was always useful to create questionnaires. I used questionnaires to make any big decisions for my coursework, such as the name of my magazine, my colour scheme, my main story etc. This was so that it was perfect for my target audience as it was my target audience who completed my questionnaires. This was an important part of my research that was verysuccessful.

PowerPoint helped me to achieve this.

Adobe Design

I haven’t used this program this year so would maybe look into using it for my A2

course.

Word

I didn’t use word much to complete my coursework this year. All I used it for was my Magazine form. This programme may

be more useful next year.

Scanning

I haven’t used any scanning during AS so would maybe consider it as

an option during A2.

Evaluation Putting together my evaluation at the end of

the course took quite a long time but I managed to finish for my deadline.

I did my whole evaluation on PowerPoint and transferred some of the questions onto a programme called prezi. This was to make my evaluation look more impressive and to show that I can use different programmes

with ease.

Generating Ideas

I used questionnaires to generate my ideas throughout my coursework. This was to make sure I was using ideas

preferred by my target audience. I feel like this was effective because any big decisions were made by my target audience so I could be sure that my magazine

was perfect for them.

File Organisation (images etc.)

All of my files were organised into folders, separated into exam work and coursework.

This meant I could keep all my things together without losing any work.

Another effective way of organising files was through my blogger. I blogged everything that I completed so that all my media work is in one

place and organised under labels.

Photography Skills

I took lots of different shots for my magazine front cover, contents and

double page spread. I tried out lots of different poses so I had enough choices when it came to finding the best images

to fit in with my theme and to go well with my anchorage etc.

Use of Sound

The only time I used sound was when I was identifying sound in clips for my textual analysis exam work. I struggled to use a

variety of different sound techniques but practicing by writing essays helped me to

improve this skill.

Planning and note taking

Note taking was a big part of my exam work. Making appropriate notes and enough notes to use was a vital part of succeeding in my exam. This was a skill that was needed often through my AS course

and I think I used it effectively.

Planning my coursework also helped me to succeed. Each section needed to be planned before jumping straight into it and I need to have ideas of

how I wanted it to look before I began. A very important skill.

Drafting

I didn’t use this skill very effectively. I could definitely have drafted my ideas and blogged them more than I did through my AS course. This would be a skill I could improve on in A2

work.

Research

Research was a big part of my coursework and it is also the section I think I completed to the highest standard. I tried

to use research tasks at any opportunity to improve my work and learn about my target audiences preferences and

also about things such as the different publishing houses that are known for different types of magazines. This

helped me find a gap in the market for a certain genre of magazine for me to fill and be successful in doing so.

People Skills

I needed people skills whilst completing my questionnaire as I needed to be polite and

apologetic to teachers when asking to interrupt their lesson to get students to

complete my questionnaire. And also being nice to the students willing to complete my

questionnaire too.

Organisation-Time management

I need to manage my time well during the AS course to meet deadlines. I think I managed to do this but could

maybe be more organised during A2 to get things completed earlier instead of rushing just before the deadline to check things and make any last minute

changes.

What is the most important thing to do next year?

The most important thing to do next year would be to keep on top of any homework and coursework

and to practice any skills that I feel could be improved. Also I should learn to use other

programmes that may be useful to me and that could help me to progress further in this course.