DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY TURNS MEDIA CONSUMERS INTO MEDIA PRODUCERS

In your own experience, how has your creativity developed using digital technology to complete your coursework productions?

I think that Technology has played a crucial role in my own experience of developing my creative ideas, I believe that without the Technology I had at hand, I would not have been able to achieve the work I have produced.

When I was making my music video, technology allowed me to research all the different conventions of a music video. I was able to watch multiple music videos online on video playing platforms such youtube, vimeo etc. This allowed me to gather the knowledge of what was in music videos, I was able to find similiarities which all of them shared and how they also differed from each other. Not only did technology allow me to look at other music videos, it also helped me throughout the whole process of the actual making and also after I had finished. Equipments such as Cameras, Computers, iPods and Smart phones helped me along the way to portray my thoughts and ideas, without these, it would've have been almost impossible to make the music video. Programs such as Adobe Photoshop and Premiere were probably the most important components when it came to expressing how I wanted my products to look. I don't think that it was just these particular programs, but some sort of editing program which allowed me to have the freedom of using a variety of tools and editing effects to achieve the look I wanted.

Looking back at AS and now at A2, I would say that my creativity has definitely developed further since then. I am able to come up with a simple idea, use it as a foundation and build upon it to create something that is and I say this lightly 'authentic and original' as nothing is really original or authentic anymore, we take inlufences from other people's work and put our own spin onto it to make it ours. When I think of my AS magazine, I definittely believe that it was not 100% original, I took influences from other magazines through the use of technology, I picked out the aspects I liked about them and I tried to blend them together to create something that I would like to read. I don't beleive that Technology has been the biggest influence, I believe that everything around us can inspire us. The simplest shapes and forms can evolve into the weirdest and bestest ideas. I came up with the 'Pop-Art' theme for my Magazine by looking at artists I was interested in, I came across Andy Warhol who has done some of the most famous portraits. I was attracted to the use of bright colours he used on his screen prints of famous celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe and Michael Jackson. So I 'replicated' this effect through Photoshop, I had to experiment with the effects and tools to get the right look I wanted.