Throughout the year I have researched into different types of media, such as audio, photography and film but out of all the categories I have learnt about photography has always stood out more to me. This is a main reason why I chose to do a photo sketchbook for my final idea. I did this because I felt like photography was my strongest part in media but also because its the part I enjoy most.

Unit 1 – media processes and skills development:

Production and Post-Production

Throughout the production process I enjoyed taking photos of my animals and using different effects to make each shot look different. However if I was to do this project again I would make sure things like the focus is correct because as you can see in the photo above the lizards face is a little bit blurry.

Post-production I didn’t do much too my photos, so next time I would edit them to make the main part of the photograph stand out more.

Unit 2 – research skills in media

In unit 2 I really enjoyed the whole unit. I especially liked the research part because I found it very interesting finding out facts about mental health and how social media has such an impact on peoples mind set. The photography side was fun and I loved thinking of different ideas to take photos of and I was really pleased with how my photos turned out. A weakness would be I didn’t have enough photos so there wasn’t a variety and I think that lowered my mark.

Unit 3: professional practice:

I enjoyed filming the music piece and playing around with the lights to see how we wanted it to look like on the camera. I thoroughly enjoyed working with Kelsey and I think that she performed really well. It took a while to find how we wanted it to look but once we sorted it, it looked really good on the camera. I also enjoyed the research part of the production because I found it really fun to pull apart already made music videos and analyse them.

If I was to do this project again I would put filters over the lights to make them different colours because it would add a better effect to the video, rather than just having white lights. Due to a bit of miscommunication between us and our original singer Jessica, we had to change to a girl named Kelsey and work off of what we had while there so some of the points in the proposal may not add up to the end result.

From another person’s perspective I think that the video worked really well and you could hear the sound really well. One criticism would be that everything looked a bit plain so next time I would recommend changing up the scene a bit, like her walking around woods would of looked great!

Unit 4: critical contextual awareness:

What I enjoyed:

I really enjoyed researching about the murder of James Bulger. To begin with I didn’t know anything about him or anything about what how he died so finding that information out was really interesting for me.

Improvements:

One thing that I need to improve on is to shorten the writing on my poster because I feel like less people will look at it because I included too much information so next time I would just pick the key points and write about those.

Reviews:

I really liked the news idea and how you portrayed all the information on how he died but also about how the boys suffered and went to prison after.

Unit 5: investigating audio production and tech:

What I liked:

One thing I enjoyed would definitely be the research side. As I gained plenty  of knowledge on different types of sound. The other part I enjoyed was explain the different sound effects on the two chosen films. I analysed two films with one being “Psycho” directed by Alfred Hitchcock and “Clueless” directed by Amy Heckerling. I contrasted the background music between both films, and how each scene has a certain type of sound whether it is diegetic or non – diegetic sound.

Improvements:

One thing that I would improve on would be the script. I feel as though it lacked context. Even though it was meant to have a simple story-line as the target audience was aimed for younger children it just comes across quite generic. If I could change it I would redo the beginning because, I would want to use the frame technique where I begin with the ending. The reason for this is because, it will move into a flashback to tell how the character came to be where they are at the point of the story.

Reviews:

I thought it was really good to listen to, the sound effects were really good and linked really well with the story-line. One improvement would be to make sure all of the sound effects fade in and out throughout the story so then it will run smoothly.

Unit 6: visual production tech:

What I enjoyed:

One thing I enjoyed would be going out and taking the practise shots. As I took a collection of photos of different outfits and they all had different backgrounds. Because my idea was to have some simple outfits and a bright background. So I have a range of photos which show the outfits and backgrounds change.

Improvements:  

One thing I need to improve on would be to make sure I have enough time on my project because, in some areas I had to rush. Especially when it came to the plan of how I wanted to lay out my overall project.  Therefore being more organised would definitely be an improvement.

Reviews:

I really like the fashion idea, as one of my interests is fashion. The colour schemes and the layout of her proposal is well structured and full of colour. I like how she has given samples of photos for the viewers to see. Overall I think her idea was well thought through.

Unit 7: interactive products:

Making this quiz was fun because, I watch the show therefore, it was easy for me to create the questions. I also like the way it is structured as it flows really nicely.

Improvements:

To improve I could possibly create a website so then after the quiz they can write a review about how the quiz went. I would want to receive feedback therefore, creating a website would be an idea I’ll consider.

Reviews:

I really enjoyed the quiz, the instructions were clear and straightforward. As the theme was based off the TV show “Friends” it was very clear because, the images and gifs were linked to the show.