Micro Essay - Digital Tech

Describe how you developed your skills in digital technology for media production and evaluate how these skills contributed to your creative decision-making. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how your skills developed over time.

Since the beginning of this course my skills and knowledge of digital technology have improved rapidly.

From the very start of AS we were taught to utilise the online blogging website – www.blogger.com. This helped me to organize all my planning and production materials. Blogger is an example of web 2.0 as it has opportunities for the audience to become interactive with comments and alterations.

We started simple with iMovie and Garageband to get use to timeline editing, transitions between shots, and how to layer audio over images.

 We then used social networking sites such as www.facebook.com to perform research into audience as well as gain audience feedback.

When it came to constructing our AS Thriller used a Canon mini DV camera. Through using this equipment I learned how to White Balance, and frame shots.

To upload we used a mini DV and Firewire cable to capture our footage on to the computer. We did not rewind the tape as this would have wiped the 8-digit timecode, which was necessary when editing.

In A2 we continued to use Blogger to organise our research and planning. However we did change and upgrade many digital technologies, one being the Sony HD1000p HD Digital Camera. Through this we learned how to manually set exposure and focus, which was adjusted automatically on the mini DV camera. We really explored the depths of Final Cut Pro. Instead of using this industry standard software, Justas a timeline editor, we also used a lot of its features such as the Video Effects bin and the Video transmissions Bin for effects such as fade and Bad Film. This allowed us to alter our footage to suit our genre. As well as this I also learned about Adobe Fireworks Photo Editor as I had to edit photos for my Digipak. I learned  how to manipulate photos taken on an SLR camera with tools such as Tint, Overlay, Contrast, Brushes and how to merger layers. I also used this programme to edit photos for my Website that was created on www.wix.com, an online website creator.

Mock Essay

I think that digital distribution has greatly affected the marketing and consumption of musicians and songs in the music industry. The use of web 2.0 and the subsequent rise in music piracy has resulted in a great shift in the way music is marketed and sold to an audience.

Beck is an artist that has broken all the rules in the book in terms of producing, marketing and distributing music. Instead of producing an album in the the standard way he has instead chosen to target a niche audience of musicians. He has done this by writing his music down in book and has asked his audience to create and interpret his music in their own style and then post their versions up online for people to see. This shows Beck has a clear understanding of the current state of the music industry and has chosen the route of prosumers to distribute his work online, a route which is only an option with then invention of web 2.0.

X-Factor is slightly different due to the fact it distributes it's music in a more conventional way. It targets a mainstream audience although it does not sell through the use of prosumers, it does rely on a participatory audience. However due to the fact it is marketing on the Television it focuses more on the image of the artist than the actual content of the music. This is due to the rise in piracy which has forced record companies to create a 360 degree deal with their artists which means the record company gets a cut of everything the artists make. The reason for this being that now the audience are getting the actual music for free they are making their money for concert and gig tickets and so they need to focus on trying to sell their image as someone fans would want to see live and in person.

Danger-mouse is an artist in the form of something called a prosumer. This means that he is an audience member who has decided to create his own work in the form of a mash-up from existing material, in this case the Beatles White album and Jay-Z's Black album. Before the invention of web 2.0 this style of music would have been very hard to make as an amateur artist. Not only that but it would have been nearly impossible to market of distribute to a mainstream audience. However by harnessing the new technology he has been able to do all of this successfully and start the demise of a conglomerate record company.

EMI were one of 4 conglomerate record labels up until the early 2000's. They refused to adapt to the changing and digitalisation of the music industry and instead focused on trying to sue artists such as Danger-mouse for the illegal use of their music. However EMI soon collapsed as they refused to evolve and the fall of a company that huge, proved the scale on which digital distribution has affected our consumption of artists and songs in the music industry

Digital distribution has broken down the barrier between consumer and producer, created a