Year 1 Reflection
Soft and Hard skills
Last year was my first year taking media as a subject which means I learnt a lot. Over the course of the year I learnt and developed a range of soft and hard skills which helped me through my work. These are my skills I have developed.
Soft skills:
•Communication - Whilst working groups we have to talk through what each persons role is and what we need to do.
•Teamwork - In media we work in groups which means everyone has to help each other and do equal work.
•Managing deadlines - I had lots of coursework to complete in year 1 which all needed to be in by certain dates. I also had to balance this which other subjects which I do believe I did quite well.
•Creativity - Throughout my work I needed to find out what my aims were and how I wanted to do it. My a projects also needed to be unique and show a range of techniques.
Hard skills:
•Software editing - In my coursework I used a range of Adobe software. This was predominantly Premier Pro but also Photoshop, After Effects and Illustrator. It took a while to gain confidence using these software as I hadn't used the before and also hadn't used anything similar. I practised these and looking back at my past work I believe there has been progress, especially with Premier Pro.
•Filming - Another hard skill that I have developed over the past year would be my filming and camera skills. Using professional cameras was something I had not done before so I learnt things such as learn camera settings, how to zoom in and focus the camera, how to use autofocus, how to change settings and take photos.
•Lighting - I have tested and used a range of different lighting techniques over the past year. I have used LED lights as well as reflector panels and colour overlay filters.
FMP Evaluation
For my EPQ, I will be reflecting back on how my first year FMP went.
To start my FMP I began with a proposal. This was where I proposed my initial ideas and plans. I pointed out that I wanted to make a music video that was to a indie/rock genre. I wanted my music video to be themed on politics and to criticize the conservative government and how there is and age divide in politics. By having these ideas as my key themes, I was able to presse through my work and work forward. In my EPQ I would like to have initial clear aims as I felt that in the long run it saved time. I looked into different music videos which may influence my music video. I researched 3 music videos that followed different genre music videos, This meant I was able to look into what structure and mise en scene I wanted. A main part of my proposal was looking into what target audience I wanted my music video to be aimed at. I looked into a few stereotypical examples. By establishing my target audience and my audience profile I was able to research into how I could cater my music video to them. Again this was good to do early on as I was able to outline my plans early into the process. In my proposal I also outlined what primary and secondary research I would be taking further. Throughout my FMP I tried to be one step ahead of what I needed to do, for example thinking about what I would need to research, what I may need to practise, what I may need to rent or purchase for my project, ect. This is something I found my proposal useful for and I would like to continue to do that in my EPQ and later FMP. One thing I may want to change from my last project proposal would be to have a clearer idea sooner. This was due to me not being sure what specific themes to use - I thought about making my music video to do with transphobic comments made by the government or about misogyny or racism within the UK. I developed these ideas throughout my research.
After completing my proposal I moved onto my research. Initially I believe I completed a perfect amount of research but looking back now there are some things I looked into that might not have been that relevant. I started off by conducting a survey asking political based questions and common opinions. I am glad to say that I had 42 responses from a range of different ages. This was helpful as I was able to get a variety of answers instead of just answers from one age group which may make it biased. My survey was very helpful so I would definitely do one again. I moved onto an existing product analysis. This was where I was able to express certain things that I had seen in music videos which I liked and had found cool. I took lots of inspiration from other music videos. Part of the reason I was so happy with my music video was because I was able to do things that I had seen and didn't think id be able to make. Action research was a very important step of my research. As my music video had a large amount of it cloned, I needed to test how to edit this. I tested this a few time as I felt as though it needed some work. Action research is crucial to making sure what I wanted to do is possible. Taking my EPQ forward I would probably do more action research so I would be able to test until I get perfection. A form of research I did that I feel was not needed was looking into the use of music in politics. I had already completed a lyric analysis for the song I was using and looking back now looking at those other songs was just unnecessary. Taking my research \forward in my EPQ there are things that I will defiantly do again as they helped my project in the long run but there are also some things I will think more carefully about if I could spend more time on something else.
When completing my action research I faced a few issues. For one technical skill of my FMP I was using a green screen television to add in clips of the prime minister talking about young people. When tested I hadn't used a green screen before so when over laying to two clips there was visible overlay which did not match. I played around with this and tested quite a few different things. In my final edit I think the practise paid off well as it came together nicely. This was the same for my cloning. I had not had any issues when filming but when editing I was quite confused. I referred back to several issues but had issues with overlaying the two clips and masking them. This was simply a human error (having not tested cloning before) but after practise it was clearer.
Throughout my proposal and research my ideas did develop and change. For instance, I had initially thought about filming it in a playground to symbolise politicians being "childish" but I was told I may need to get permission. I then moved it to being in a open field area to represent how the government should be more open minded.
After figuring out who my cast and crew was, I tried to find a date which was best for everyone to help film. As I was filming one one day, I needed to get everyone together at the same time and also have decent weather. As we were doing costume changes I was worried that by the time we headed back to the location to film the second part the lighting and weather would be different. This would mean that when I edited my music video the two cloned scenes wouldn't match up. This did end up happening slightly. When editing I had to try and colour correct the scene as well as change certain properties. This is something that in my next project if I encounter this again I may do further editing to eliminate this.
In conclusion, looking back over my work from the past year I am very happy with my progress. There are a few things I would change but these are the things I aim to change in my EPQ and later projects.