What am I hoping to achieve in your skills development?

Below is a summary of what I am hoping to achieve in my A2 coursework in the 5 key areas I shall be assessed on. 

Digital Technology

Digital technology shall help me capture my ideas for my production in many ways. One of the most vital pieces of technology shall be camera work which I wish to develop from AS to show improvement. The use of camera equipment shall then help me capture my ideas for my television advert. Voice recording equipment will then aid me in recording my ideas for my radio advert along with any voiceovers I may want to use during my television advert or sponsorship sequence. Finally, editing software will also be integral in order to help me piece together my work making it flow and make sense. As well as help me combine any camera work with voice recordings or sound effects. Therefore, this shall help me achieve my goal at creating a more sophisticated and technical piece of coursework which provides evidence to show how I've become more confident with using digital technology individually and developed my individual skills in the area too. 

Creativity

I would like to achieve an original and unique advert that shall capture the audiences attention as this is a crucial conventions of this particular task. Therefore, I shall have to show creativity throughout the planning process in order to ensure my ideas and unique and not too similar to something that already exists. Moreover, I shall also have to show creativity in the production process to ensure I capture my ideas in the most effective way as well as the post-production process. This is because I shall have to ensure I piece together my work in an original and creative manor. Thus, in order to do this I shall seek the help of technology to help me capture my ideas imaginatively. Overall, I plan to show that my ability to think and produce creatively has developed as I have moved from AS to A2.

Research and Planning

Firstly, I shall have to research into the different types of advertisements as well as the codes and conventions. This shall aid my planning and make sure I create an advert that is unique but still corresponds with a number of typical conventions. After completing my research I shall start the planning process where I shall use a number of pre-production planning techniques. I have already completed a mind map of some ideas and pathways I could undertake for my advert as this has started to help me focus on more specific planning ideas. After this I shall also have to script my adverts to help gain a sense of narrative. Storyboarding was an extremely helpful process during my AS coursework therefore, I shall use this again because it gives me my first visual representation of how my adverts can may look. In addition, it also helps to play around with sequencing and narrative to see how small changes can affect the overall piece. Before, filming I shall also create  shot-list because I found this very useful in my AS coursework as it helped me organise and plan exactly which shots I needed to film on that day as well as which order they needed to be filmed in to create continuity. Hence, through my AS work I have learnt the importance of research and planning and I shall use this in my A2 coursework to improve the overall quality of my work. 

Post-Production

Most of my text shall be created during the production process such as the filming and recording of material however, the editing of it together and some of the effects of this shall be created during the post-production stages. Adobe Premiere Pro shall then help me edit my coursework including both my television adverts and my sponsorship sequence. After this I shall have to use a sound software such as Logic 9 for my radio advert. Thus, this is an example of how I shall use sound during my coursework. Moreover, I shall have to use sound through sound effects for my television adverts too to ensure the quality of sound is to a good standard. 

Using conventions from real media texts

In order to ensure my advert sticks to the correct codes and conventions I shall research how they are used in real media texts. For example, I have already noticed some similarities between adverts of different brands but similar products using conventions in a similar way. For instance, perfume and aftershave adverts are all very similar as they contain many close up shots and similar themes. Although I shall need to stick to many of the codes and conventions to provide the audience with familiarity, I may want to divert from some in order to create a sense of variance making my adverts unique.