Skills Profi leHow have our technical skills developed during the course of A2 ?

At fi rst…At the beginning of the A2 course both myself and Tom had a limitation of the tools we knew how to use. I particularly lacked knowledge on image retouching skills on Photoshop, and had never used Sony Vegas 9.0 previously.

Likewise Tom had limited knowledge of Sony Vegas before the course, but did however know how to use Adobe Photoshop successfully.

Neither of us had used Adobe InDesign before, so this was something we would need to become familiar with.

(Before) Skills Audit… JamesAdobe Photoshop

• Filter gallery• Magic wand tool• Magnetic lasso tool• Polygonal lasso tool• Gradient• New layer• Shape tool

Sony Vegas

• I had not used Sony Vegas before

InDesign

• I had not used InDesign previously.

I also had a basic understanding of camera work, which I had previously developed during my AS course. But this was limited to basic camera movements, angles and shots.

(Before) Skills Audit… TomAdobe PhotoshopFree Transform Select/DeselectMove ToolShape Tool Gradient/Paint bucket ToolAnti-Alias in TextOpacity/Fill SettingsPatternsClipping MasksCrop ToolLayer Locking SettingsLayer Grouping/LinkingRasterizingSwatch/StylesCreating/Saving PresetsGuide LinesCopy/pasting Layer Styles

InDesignI had not used InDesign previously.

I also had a basic understanding of camera work, which I had previously developed during my AS course. But this was limited to basic camera movements, angles and shots.

FiltersBlending OptionsHue & SaturationColour BalanceLayer Styles Selection Tools Clone ToolText ToolEye Dropping ColoursLevels & CurvesInverseGridlines/RulersSmudge/Blur/Sharpen ToolsBurn ToolBrushes Eraser ToolSpot Healing Brush ToolLayer Adjustments

Sony Vegas 9 ProCutting ClipsBasic Project SettingsAdding AudioAdding VideoMixersText MediaRendering

What new technical skills have we learned?

JamesDuring the A2 course I learnt many new and additional skills that I implemented into the main short film and following ancillary tasks. I particularly developed my knowledge in InDesign which I had not previously used, this did not mean I was an expert however, I still have a limitation in the tools I know how to use effectively. Below is a skills audit of some of the new skills I learnt.

Photoshop• Curves• Threshold• Levels• Brightness• Wind• Feather• Colour Overlay

InDesign• Text type• Text Warp• Layer Ordering• Rulers• Change font colour• Drop Capital

Sony Vegas (Learnt while Assisting/Shadowing Tom)• Make cuts• Cut audio to shot• Apply a radial blur• Reverse shots• Under crank shots (fast-

forward)

JamesAdjusti ng levels , curves and brightness

At first the image was vey dark with little contrast, this made it hard to see. Curves were added

to increase the input tones.

1 2

3

Finally I added brightness, this improved the clarity of the image.

James Text Warping in InDesign

Originally the inserted image had no text warping.

I then set the text wrap to- around the object.

The distance was set to 3mm. The text has successfully been wrapped.

1 2

3 4

James- Evaluati on of technical skillsMy technical skills saw a vast development in the areas of InDesign and Photoshop particularly. This meant I was able to produce what I believed was a successful main product and accompanying film poster and review.

During the process I did however experience a few issues, one of which was that I became stuck, with the use of InDesign. Upon searching for and viewing online tutorials on how to use the software I became more confident and was able to accomplish, what I wanted. Whether this was scaling an image simply or altering the colour of the text.

Tom was also a useful guidance when it came to the editing of images in Photoshop, he was able to guide me on how I should use curves, brightness and levels effectively. I believed however that the image of the house “Vacant” could have been enhanced further, I possibly should have used a Hue & Saturation to improve the richness of the colour. The Hue & saturation tool, is a tool I feel I should learn how to use effectively for future image manipulating projects, using it during my coursework may have helped (as I explained to enrich colour).

I also developed my technical skills of the camera; I was able to include a variety of camera movements; to signify a particular connotation. A variety of shot types were also evident.

What new technical skills have we learned?

TomDuring the A2 course I learnt additional skills that I was able to implement into the main short film and following ancillary tasks. I particularly developed my skills and knowledge in Sony Vegas 9 Pro which I lacked advanced skills, although I did understand the main tools of the program therefore I was able to learn the more advanced tools quickly. However, I still have a limitation in the tools I know how to use effectively. Below is a skills audit of some of the new skills I learnt.

Photoshop• Twirl Tool• Pen Tool (Advanced Techniques)• Black & White• Layer Styles• Contrast• Various new project settings

InDesign (Learnt while Assisting/Shadowing James)• Text type• Text Warp• Layer Ordering• Rulers• Drop Capital

Sony Vegas• Reverse shots• Under crank shots (fast-

forward)• Radial Blur• Colour Correction• Linking Frames/Shots• Syncing Audio to Shots• Layer Styles

Tom – Black & White

I found our image, duplicated the Image.

I then Used the Black & White Tool to turn the new layer Black & White. I made the background completely black and white but left the characters in colour, I did this by using the eraser tool to erase the background so the Black & White showed through.

1

3

2

Tom – Radial Blur1 2

3

I located the clip I wanted to edit on the timeline.

I then clicked the green icon on the clip and selected ‘Radial Blur’.

I then selected ‘Weak proportional’ and applied the Radial Blur to the clip.

Tom- Evaluati on of technical skillsMy technical skills saw a great improvement and development in the areas in Sony Vegas, Photoshop and InDesign. This enabled me to produce what I believe to be a successful product with ancillary tasks.

During the production process I did however experience a few issues, one of the issues I experienced was that Sony Vegas would occasionally freeze when I was editing, therefore I would have to wait for it to start responding again. This impacted on the time which it took me to edit, next time I will consider using an Apple MAC and Final Cut Pro to edit as Sony Vegas proved to have certain annoying bugs. I became more confident on Sony Vegas as I looked into online tutorials and asked various friends for help and techniques, this boosted my confidence throughout the production.

I was able to help James with many Photoshop aspects, but both myself and James were new to InDesign, therefore we needed to work together through the various issues we came upon. We had to make use of online tutorials and our Media Technician when we had issues understanding the application.

I developed my technical skills of camera; I was able to include a variety of camera movements; to signify a particular connotation. A variety of shot types were also evident and were used appropriatly.