How did your production skills develop throughout this project?
You have reflected on your skills , just like Napoleon Dynamite…
You have thought about and evidenced your production journey in Media Studies in your blog. Most of the work for this question has already been done!
So…Hooray & Hoorah!
This Creative Critical Reflection asks you to reflect on how far your production skills have developed during this unit. It asks you to reflect on the technical and creative skills you have acquired and how they have helped you become a more skilled and technically competent media producer:
- Photographer
- Photoshop(er)
- Designer
- Journalist
Moreover, you have also learnt some valuable production skills that are easily transferable to other parts of your life, education and your ultimately career:
- Time management skills
- Directing and Management skills
- Communication & Collaboration skills
- Writing skills
- Research and Planning skills
Creative Critical Evaluation 3 (Outcome)
“A letter to a future A Level Media Studies student, which describes and evaluates the production skills you have used and learnt whilst making your magazine pages.
You need to advise them to learn from your experience and perhaps also your mistakes. You will have inevitably met challenges and setbacks and credit is due for learning from those.
Record yourself reading the letter and submit the MP3, along with the written letter in your blog.
TASK 1
Use the template in classroom to write your letter.
Each skill must be named and described along with the IMPACT it had on the product, even if that impact was initially a setback or problem; how you then overcame that problem is also important.
Always try and mention – how the skill impacted on or was designed for:
- Magazine Genre
- Star image
- Your audience
- Attention, Interest, Desire and Action
- Blumler and Katz are also helpful here – you are designing for the uses and gratification of a particular audience
Where possible use technical terms to describe the features of the magazine as well as specific tools you used on the camera, flash kit or in the Adobe applications. For example:
- “…font, copy, cover lines, masthead, pugs, plugs, stand first, drop capital, cover star…”
- “…ISO, Aperture, Shutter Speed, Tripods & Diffusers (flash kit), Hot Shoe…”
- “…Photoshop: Adjustments, Selection, Colour Balance, Filters, Layers & masks…”
- “…InDesign: Stoke, Fill, Drop Shadows, Columns, serif & sans serif typeface…”
TASK 2
Ensure that the letter has a clear introduction and structure, which you will highlight in the recording:
- Introduction – Dear Future A Level Media Student…
- Technical Production Skills A description of the specific skills you have learnt in:
- InDesign and Photoshop as well as your use of the studios and flash photography…
- Creative Production Skills – A description of skills you have learnt about:
- design, costume, framing , mise-en-scene…
- Transferable Skills – Skills you have used and improved that you can use elsewhere in life:
- directing, time management, organisation, collaboration, confidence, literacy, computer skills…
- Sign off and with a last piece of advice and a good luck.
TASK 3
Record your letter.
- Use the voice memo or other recording app on your phone
- Find a quiet room with lots of soft furniture – your bedroom is ideal.
- Read the letter out slowly and clearly – it should last no more than 5 minutes!
- Upload to the blog – you may need to do this via Drive
- Export the letter as a PDF and upload it to the blog next to the recording
THIS IS AN EXEMPLAR.
Please note: We have dropped the need to do a slide show this year to make the product less time consuming, but it is worth listening to for some ideas of skills learned:
Advice.
Be sure not to make it a list – instead ensure each skill has an example attached to it and how that skill specifically impacted on the product – how it affected star image, or genre, or narrative, or the audience.
Remember, making the result ‘more professional’ is never enough – what does it even mean?
Make it chatty, exciting and personal.
Submit the letter to classroom for feedback before recording.
THIS DOCUMENT HAS A VARIETY OF IDEAS ON WHAT YOU SHOULD MENTION IN YOUR LETTER.