Post Production Essay.

Production for my AS work was that i had to produce a Front Cover, Contents page and a Double Page Spread. This had to be well thought about and a variety of tools were used in order for this to take place.

In post production i had to take pictures that i was going to use for my magazine. In order to this, many steps had to be taken for example I needed to get hold of a decent camera, as well as a location to take the photos at and an artist that I can use in the photos. This was all a process of post production as this needed to be done in order for the final piece to be completed. Once I had got all these things together, it was time for me to use some types of technology to put them onto the computer so I was able to edit them etc. Luckily, when we did our preliminary task, we was shown how to put them up and this made it a lot easier for me as my knowledge of doing this had increased. This is where I next had to use software to put it together. To back this up, we can use Bentley’s theory (1997) which tells us that by doing a preliminary task before helps us to do the final version, and this is true when looking back at when I did my work.

The main software in order for post-production to take place was Photoshop which gave me a range of tools to use for my post production elements. I had to play around with this first in order to get used to it and once i had done it got simple to use. The first draft i did, i was not that good at using. I inserted images that i was going to use on my magazine and used tools like Magnetic Lasso and the contrast and brightness adjusting tool. With the magnetic lasso i was able to crop around the image so the background that i did not want i could get rid of and have the image alone that i wanted for my final piece. In addition, due to me wanting the pictures to look professional and suit the genre i tried to use some effects that Photoshop had to offer to see if i could make it better. One effect i did use was the contrast tool to make the image look grey scale as this linked to my genre better and link in with colour scheme of the magazine. This was all post production as this was what i was doing in the process of making my final piece, this links to the actual piece as it will be what I will use. This is just an example of one thing that I did in my post production; however the software I used, which was Photoshop, was the main one through post production and the production process.

In A2 for post production, I had to do some of the same things that I did in AS but due the fact of me already having done them, I was able to use different elements and conventions to make it better which shows that I have made an improvement since AS.

Firstly, like before I had to take pictures of an artist, in a certain costume and a certain location which would suit the genre of my music video. From my mistakes before, I had learnt a few key things for example, the type of poses and location he would need to be in, I had thought of these before so I wasn’t looking for one last minute like I did in AS. Once I had taken my pictures, I went through the same process of putting them on the computer which allows me to edit them and what not. However, because I had done this previously, I found it very easy and did the process very quick and was able to know the tools I needed to use to crop the pictures and use it efficiently. This again shows an improvement from my AS and it was a massive advantage.
Something differently we had to do this time round is filming for the video, as this will enable to put it all together and make our final version. For this, we needed a high quality video camera to get the best quality possible for the video as this will make it more professional and we had to choose locations for us to do the filming and make it link to the genre and conventions for the video. After doing the main part of the post production, we had to upload it to the computers and this was much more difficult that doing it with images as we had to use a totally new software and we had never uploaded videos before.
However, once this was completed we then had to use the new software to the editing as we had to put it all together and make the lipsyncing was in time with the song. This was new to us both but after we got used to it, it became easier. We used our knowledge from when we first used photoshop, meaning that playing around with it first then made it easier to get used to it. In addition, like AS we did a preliminary task and this also made it a bit easier and again this links to the theorist Bentley (1997).

The post production was a must when making the final piece as this allows you to put it all together and actually create a final piece.

What makes a good essay.

What made a good essay:

• Applying theories to your work confidently
• Constantly linking to the question
• A good understanding of how your skills have progressed from AS to A2
• Using the 5 key words (Pete Fraser) as a starting point

DIKW Pyramid- a theory.

The DIKW pyramid can be useful theory to apply to the areas of Research and Planning as well as Digital Technology.How can the DIKW Pyramid be applied to your c/w?

Post Production.

List Of the Main Things I did in my AS task:
Used PHOTOSHOP to make most of the magazine. Had many pros as the tools it had to offer were really useful to the task for examples: MAGNETIC LASSO to crop around images, MAGIC WAND TOOL which allowed us to take a big chunk out of the background, MOVE TOOL and the TEXT TOOL which allowed me to move images around and the text tool let me put writing on the page.
With the softwares, there was mainly Photoshop that i used due to it making editing it so much easier and the tools on it. The disadvantages for this software was that there are many tools on the software and it got really hard to use at times because it was very professional. Luckily my strengths do consist of learning new tools quite easily so once i played around with this software, i started to get used to it and also helped other people use it quite well. In myself, i had a weakness of not having much patience so when learning new things and i do get quite annoyed when things dont go as i wanted them.

A2 work.
Again i used Photoshop for my A2 with my auxilary work and this time round it was better because i had a better idea of the tools so i was more fluent in using it. The same tools i used were the same because i had to edit things in the same way that i edited my magazine. Another software i needed to use for my A2 work was Final Cut Pro and this was an editing software.

David Bowie.

A BIT ABOUT HIM.
David Robert Jones (born 8 January 1947), known by his stage name David Bowie. David Jones, but changed his name in the 60s to avoid confusion with DavyJones (not the Pirates of the Caribbean character, but of  The Monkees  who  were  an  american  pop  band). 
Although generally known as a musician and performer, Bowie’s original training, like many British musicians of his generation, was at art school. Throughout his career he has maintained strong connections to the visual arts as an exhibiting painter, printmaker, and art collector. In addition to being a highly visible supporter of the “YBA,” or Young British Artists, he has served as a contributor and member of the editorial board of the British journal, Modern Painters, since 1993.

Postmodern Elements with David Bowie.

• On each one of his new albums he uses different themes and genres of every album he makes. This is unusual for many artists as they would usually stick to one genre and it is risky to go into other areas.
• Influenced by a range of things, such as politics, love,drugs and literature. Bowie brought the unexpected intohis lyrics, such as the decay of society, pairing together different things.
• He  says  with  new  ideas come  from  recombining  of other  peoples  ideas in  an  innovative  way.  

ZIGGY STARDUST.

This is his Ultra Ego that David Bowie created for himself. He says it is an alien who fell to earth and is a rockstar (hence the name SPIDER FROM MARS).

Postmodern Elements for his new album- THE NEXT DAY.

Without even listening to the album we can notice, and this by using the term 'judging a book by its cover', that the album cover is very unusual. The genres David Bowie is known for are Rock, Glam Rock, Art Rock and Pop and this is not what we would usually see on the front cover. Behind the white filled box with the text in it saying THE NEXT DAY we can see a part of an image and that is what you may expect on the front cover on one of these albums. The white box, makes it more weird and this is part of being postmodern, to have weird elements in it. It is quite uneasy to the eye and may give you a sense of what will be in the album as it is quite strange.

The picture we can see behind the white text is of one of his old albums called 'Heroes'.

Conventions Essay.

The last two years have been a huge learning curve for me and the amount of things i see now that relate to media and some of the stuff i have learnt is massive. for my first task, i was required to make a music magazine and we was told to go ahead and make one; a few instructions and then we set of without any idea of what should be done, the layout, the images, it was just for us to go do it. I then set of and it was terrible, well at the time it looked ok but now i know all about magazine conventions, it is poorly made. For the second task we was told to make a music video, but wern't set of straight away to make one but did one as a class so we got a feel of what we need to do in order to produce one. These were both completed on time after a lot of time spent creating them but good memories lie with the production of them.

For my AS project which was the music magazine, i did a lot of research and planning to look at the conventions for my genre which would make it look professional and make it so it could be pictured on a shelf of a store with other magazines. The front cover may look very different to all magazines but they all have th same ideas about them as they all contain a title, sub-heading, a colour theme to make it look pleasing to the eye and much more. I had to look at hip hop magazines, like Complex and XXL to see what they did when they published magazine as it is better to get ideas from a established company which you can almost copy or develop. I did the same for looking at contents and double page spread but looked at many magazines as they mostly have the same layout also. I did follow conventions from hip hop magazines but looking at others gave me a bit more knowledge. I looked at the conventions and adapted them to my work as i wanted that professional feel and conventions from exsisting texts is the best way as they have more experience than me so they know what is best and show it on their magazines. A theorist said, "Media producers can learn nothing from studying the conventions of oldtexts," but i do not agree with this at all as you would have to use conventions to make your work look professional with the right ideas. 

After learning the correct conventions for my magazine with looking at existing texts, it made doing my work a lot more easier. Before when i had no idea what to do, i didn't know where to start. But once i looked at the correct conventions and seen what i had to do, i knew where to start with my magazine and how it should look. This is a massive difference to how i was before doing my research for the correct conventions. When i had to look for things to put onto my magazine, the title for example, i know how i wanted so i made sure i chose the right ones that i needed so learning the conventions did make a huge difference for me and made doing my magazine much easier. When constructing my preliminary i thought it would be easier to work on the preliminary to construct my final magazine but once i learnt the conventions, there was no way i could and decided to start from scratch. Bentley in 1997 said "The making of the new and the re arranging of the old" and i agree with the first part of what he says for my magazine, as i had to make it starting scratch because my old one was nothing like what it would be like if i knew the conventions. 

With my A2 work, i used experience from AS and knew the best thing to do was analyze music videos and again find the right conventions by looking at hip hop videos and one that may be a bit like the one i was making. This would give great sense with costume, shots and conventions like that in the hip hop genre. The same was adapted to my digipak and poster as i went through numerous hip hop digipaks and poster and analysed them. Mis-en-scene in the music video is important in order to bring the genre across well and this includes costume, props and for us, the setting we were in as we did it in the night time to bring the genre across better. In the digipak and poster, branding was important and this was done through colour scheme and for me, the artist chosen to be on my digipak and poster. I learnt doing this look at conventions from hip hop media which made it so much easier.

I mainly followed conventions in my work due to the hip hop genre being quite a strict one and challenging the conventions could take it down a different genre and look strange when you say this is a hip hop media. A lot of hip hop media products follow the same rules and conventions and ones that challenge them do not look right at all. Hip Hop is straight foward and should be one way. This is why i stuck to these conventions and kept them the same because i wanted it to look correct and when seen people would understand the genre it came from. The song also helped me with my decision with the music video and sticking to the conventions as the song is very hip hop so i had to do what the conventions intended. The whole reason why i just used and developed the conventions is because hip hop is very strict and has to be done one way to make sure it looks right.

In conclusion, conventions are very important when looking at media as they pretty much make up a whole genre. The way things are done in a genre are done because of the conventions it has so if you want to follow this genre you have to do as the conventions show so the genre you have shown can be seen. They were very significant whilst making my music video as i used them as a guide line and followed them when doing my work. I have learnt a lot about conventions and their importance with media, i know this because learning them was very helpful with my work and allowed me to aim for that professional feel that i was aiming for. Becuase established magazines, digipaks, posters and music videos use conventions, i knew i had to also and i learnt them and now i can recognise them on many different things.