(a)1. Digital Technology

1. Digital Technology

1a. Explain how your skills in the creative use of digital technology developed over time. Refer to a range of examples from your media productions in your answer.

First, decide what you think 'digital technology' is! Then recall how you have used different sorts of digital technology across your AS and A2 courses. TOP TIP - remember the difference between software and hardware (ie a tripod is NOT an example of digital technology!). You need to demonstrate your development throughout the course, so think about what you used at AS then what you used at A2 that you hadn't used at AS.

Now think about your first area, Pre-production. Do a spider diagram or write bullet points answering this:
a) What digital technologies did you use in Pre-production at AS? This could be PowerPoint presentations, your blog, YouTube, mobile phones, tablet computers, FlipCams... Write down 3-4 examples.
b) What digital technologies did you use in Pre-production at A2? This could be social media (Facebook/Twitter), use of websites like IMDB, websites to stream content such as films... Write down 3 more examples.

Next, think about your second area, Production.
a) What digital technologies did you use during the production process at AS? This could be different camera settings, use of MP3 players for lipsyncing, lighting, sound recording, downloading tracks to iTunes... Find three examples.
b) What digital technologies did you use at A2? Find three examples.For example, Photoshop, creating a website, camera effects, greenscreening...

Finally, think about your third area, Post-production.
a) What digital technologies did you use during the post-production process at AS? This could be basic Premiere/Photoshop, importing clips, using transitions... Find 3 examples.
a) What digital technologies did you use at post-production at A2? This could be more advanced Premiere/Photoshop effects, such as colour correction, linking/unlinking audio, changing the speed of clips... Find 3 examples.

Now write your essay introduction, using the PDQ format: Point, Data, Question. Make your point, give your data/examples, then apply it to the question.
1. Answer or give your point of view on the question in 1-2 sentences.
2. Outline briefly the products you made across the two years - give the type of production, the title and the genre. The examiner needs to know what sort of work you're talking about!
3. Tell the examiner that you will structure your essay be explaining how you used digital technology at the pre-production, production and post-production stages of your work.
THEN reference basic theory if it's helpful - take from your AS representation work or your coursework evaluation.

Now you are ready to write your essay using the examples you found in your plan. A basic framework for your essay is below:

Basic essay structure for 1a (Write about your AS and A2 productions):

Paragraph 1 should be an introduction which explains which projects you did. It can be quite short, but should frame your response. Explain what you did, e.g. 'For my AS Foundation Portfolio, I produced a two-minute chick flick film opening and for my A2 Advanced Portfolio, I made a pop music video.' Then move on to impress the examiner with a theoretical statement related to the topic, such as: 'Digital technology has meant proliferation and convergence of cross-media forms. My projects have evidenced what Gauntlett describes as "the harnessing of collective intelligence through interactivity".

Paragraphs 2, 3, 4 and 5 should pick up a skill area and suggest something about your starting point with it- what skills you had already and how you used them. Use examples and have some key phrases ready, such as:

• 'Use of Premiere/Photoshop helped me understand the conventions of film editing' (good for analysing how use of software links to creativity). 
• Or 'My Premiere/Photoshop skills improved from AS to A2 as I  became more proficient with special effects' (then give examples of effects you used such as green-screening, detaching audio, colour saturation). You need to show evidence of improvement from AS to A2 which obviously also improved your creativity. 
• Or 'I found Premiere/Photoshop to be basic but suitable for the project; however at A2 I used the more advanced techniques'. 
• 'Using Premiere/Photoshop allowed me to create seamless transitions between camera angles, or using specific effects and filters in Photoshop to create suspense or follow genre conventions, whereas in my Foundation Portfolio I had problems with narrative continuity.' 
• 'I uploaded my film opening on to YouTube as an example of Web 2.0 to gain interactive feedback.'

Paragraph 6 Short conclusion relating back to the question and summing up key skills you have developed in that area over the AS and A2 course. Frame your essay with another quotation from another theorist that relates to the question and confirms what you said in your introduction.