RESEARCH - Skill Audit

From AS Media, individually, I have developed both my editing techniques on Final Cut Pro, Photoshop, Soundtrack Pro and the MP4 converter and now have a wider knowledge on how to use the four programs
Since I was one of the two editors in my AS Media group, my editing skills have improved vastly from what I had learned of editing at GCSE so I can now edit both the continuity of film and the disjoint-ness  of music videos, how to create my own soundtracks or edit existing base-tracks to my own liking in Soundtrack Pro, edit images in photoshop and convert exported Final Cut Pro files into a MPEG to upload onto the blog.

I learned how to use professional filming equipment how to set it up and how to handle it with care. I also learned different filming angles and movements such as tracking and establishing shots. Memorising all this shot types made it easier to think of what shot types my AS group actually wanted to use in our film opening. 

My communication skills also improved in AS, I improved on listening to my team mates ideas and sharing my own so we come to a mutual agreement on what we would do rather than dictating what I thought we should do, I think this is a skill trait that will be needed in the A2 course so no feuds happen between my group members and I.

I think it will be easier to analyse media products now because of the knowledge I gained in AS, it's easier to single out aspects of a media product and it's purpose and/or effect. It has also helped me improved my analysis when writing, I now know how to write clearly and precisely about a media project unlike previously. This will come in useful when it comes to practise exam questions.

Unlike AS, I can improve on planning as a whole, in AS we planned about half of our opening scene with various camera angles and shots but when it came to the actual filming we strayed from the plan we set out for ourselves and sometimes it was difficult to carry on filming because we were so lost when our plan ended or props that we used in a previous filming went missing so we had to improvise. So I hope we are better organised and planned this time round.