Skill development essay

Skill development

Evaluation essay

Before I started the AS media course I had little to no experience with the media subject. I had not studied media at high school or at any other stage of my education. At the start of the AS media course I found the work to be challenging. Furthermore, there were occasions where I had no idea what to do. However, during the duration of the first month of the course, my skills began to improve which in turn increased my confidence. This is evident as the initial drafts of my aftershave advertisements were crude and unconventional to relating objects. However, through the duration of the preliminary task the drafts began to improve becoming more refined and conventional. The final product turned out completely different to the initial draft due to the development of my skills and also through the process of trial and error. Trial and error has been essential to my development because it has allowed me refine my ideas into something that is truly effective and beneficial for my product. My recent work is in great contrast to my early work and this is partly due to development listed above.

The teaching methods used by the teachers have helped a lot in the development of my skills. The would explain the task clearly and thoroughly, furthermore if the students were still ensure she would repeat what she had said and break it down making it more understandable. The 1 to 1 sessions also helped as they allowed us to understand what is required of us and how we should go about to achieve it.

Another method that I used to gain knowledge and skills is online research. I often used YouTube to find photo shop tutorials on features and editing techniques. I found this to be extremely beneficial as it allowed me to create a more effective product. Furthermore, it improved my skills in independent research. This method of development has been used extensively through my AS Media course and also the start of my A2 media course.

Creativity was an issue at the start of the course because I had no idea of what genre I was going to base my advert on. However the methods that were taught in class to gain inspiration helped me with the problem.  By looking at other existing products I began to gain a greater understanding of the target audience that I was trying to appeal to. Furthermore, it showed the conventions of where specific information was located and positioned. Tis allowed me to create a finished product that was conventional and relatable for the target audience. Another method that I used to help with creativity was drafting ideas and removing the ones that are not effective until there are only a select few left. This helped me add convention and information which, resulted in the finished product being creative and realistic.

The extensive use of research and planning was difficult for me at first as I had little previous experience with it.  Furthermore, the detail required was initially more than I could find. A method I used to develop on this was reading texts more thoroughly which, allowed me to gain a greater understanding and also extract more information from it. Over the duration of the course I learnt to be as detailed and thorough as possible in my work. As it increased my grade and reduced the risk of having to return to it at a later date.

The methods I used for research were primarily the internet and existing products. However, I also gained knowledge from friends and teachers by asking them there expectation of the products. Online research is the method that was most extensively used. It allowed me to find all the necessary information required for my research. The information was easily accessible and could be easily interpreted into my own words. Looking at existing products for example magazines was beneficial as it allowed me to gain an understanding of the target audience and there expectations of the product. Furthermore, it allowed me to determine the conventions and the positioning and location of the conventions. Asking friends of their expectation of this product was beneficial as it allowed me to gain greater insight into the product. This allowed me to determine which conventions would be the most effective for the specific target audience. Asking friends also allowed for a wider range of views as something that I find effective may not in the eyes of someone else. The comments and observations on the drafts from the teacher and class mates were also beneficial. It gave me ideas on how to modify the product to make it more effective for example changing the colour of a feature, changing the positioning and adding features.