Post-Production + Creativity Essay Question

Describe how you developed your post production skills for media production and evaluate how these skills informed your creative media practice. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how these skills developed over time

During the last two years of studying media I have been given the task of creating two briefs for my AS and A2 studies; a 2 minute opening sequence for a film noire, and and create a music promotional package including  a music video, digipak and advert. Post production plays a key role in the overall production value of my products, also enabling tools available to me to be utilised for creative purposes. I will answer this question by first outlining post production and evaluation in AS, followed by the development of these into A2.

During post production at AS post production played a key role in portraying the typical film noire features, while also allowing me to add creative twists and features to my products. Imovie allowed quick editing and easy incorporation of simple ideas through tools such as cutting, thus allowing me to add my own ideas such as merging of shots without any real struggle. However, Imovie is fairly simple and lacks more professional tools, therefore preventing any huge creative ideas from being incorporated. The use of photoshop after filming also enabled ideas to be entrenched into my film noire, allowing the addition of the likes of the 'noire-like' title scene; again adding a layer of tools available to me that can help emphasis the noire stereotypes I want while also allowing additions of original ideas. This suite can be complicated at time however, lacking intuitive options which did to an extent prevent the incorporation of truly unique ideas. The use of final cut on the product allowed non-linear editing and a large range of effects to be used, such as sepia, creating that 'must needed' element of black and white so clearly shown in typical film noires. Final Cut's flexibility however allowed me to twist these typical conventions to be more creative, such as using the sepia effect only on specific clips. Rendering on the Emac's did take time however.

Itunes was also an aid in post-production and adding a unique flare to my products, being utilised to allow quick importation of audio clips with little fuss. This allowing me to adopt the personal ideas of utilising audio in my clip with the likes of narration throughout, however Itunes offered little in the forms of editing the clip and therefore final cut had to be used to creatively use the audio. The timeline feature on final cut was important in the syncing of the audio and visual parts of my clip, allowing me to freely move parts of my recording so that I could gain my own desired effect out of what I had. The viewer also found inside of final cut also enabled me to quickly review changes I had made, showing me the overall 'picture' of what I had done before committing to finishing; this in turn giving me more freedom to mess with ideas on my product, though this screen failed to show the product before being applied therefore i did hold back from adding certain aspects incase i failed to return them to normal.

The evaluation aspect of AS also saw the adoption of post production being closely tied with the creativity of my products. For example, web 2.0 such as slideshare was used to create a much more interactive type of evaluation, breaking the mould of just using office suites to create my evaluations. Also the website Prezzi was used for a unique twist on reviewing products, creating an engaging way to navigate through the categories of my evaluations.

Post production in A2 developed much further than that found in AS, with many products and usage after filming being used in a more productive and unique way. For example, Final cut was used to develop from simple editing to the use of much more unique and complex ideas, such as frame-cutting, so that more convention challenges could be incorporated into my product. This freedom allowing me to both incorporate stereotypical ideas with unique ones of my own, such as 'POW' images. Photoshop skills were also improved vastly, with the tools available to me being used much more effectively so that less restraint was given on how I could create new and fresh ideas, especially as I now had a greater understanding of what was available to me. 

This was create in the use of posterisation throughout my film. Another point in photoshop was the more frequent usage of it in my products, with its extensive features being embraced when creating both my film and advertisements simply due to the wide range of professional options available to me; which in turn allowed my creative ideas to be added with a much more pleasing overall presence. Final cut was also used to much more effect too, with the tools and abilities, such as multiple timeline layers and zoom, being used throughout my product to allow both creativity in how the product is viewed and the ability for me to have less restraint when it comes to adding my own ideas. However, even with the upgrade to Imac's, rendering speed was still and issue and did limit the amount of changes I was willing to make.

Evaluation during A2 was also developed to some extent. For example, the web 2.0 site Blogger was used much more extensively, using tools and ordering throughout my posts to create a place for my work that was much more related to the product and theme I was aiming to achieve. Slideshare and it's usage was also developed, with the evaluation I created having much more flow to them than found in AS, being more extensively used and co-existing together for simplicity and a more unique feel.