During the production process of both my foundation and advanced portfolios digital technology played a massive role in allowing me to develop my ideas and in turn, developing my creativity. This ability to create and develop my own media products, in a macro sense, means that the statement: “Digital technology turns media consumers into media producers” is likely to be true as, in the past, media producers, people responsible for the production of media products had complete control over what media consumers, the general public who are responsible for purchasing these media products, view or listen to.
Firstly, before the production of my foundation portfolio I would have been considered a media consumer as I had little experience of actually producing media products, which are aimed at a particular audience. The use of digital technology in the case of the production of my foundation portfolio was vital in developing my creative ideas in relation to what makes a high quality, professional media product. The Apple Mac provided me with applications such as the web browser safari which allowed me to research existing media products and make note of any features which I felt were effective in creating a desired effect. Another application which was made available to me through the use of the Apple Mac was IMovie, this application was perhaps the most important in allowing my to edit my media product in a way which shaped the feelings my target audience had towards what they had viewed after they had watched it. However, due to my lack of experience during the production of my foundation portfolio I found using these applications slightly complicated meaning that my creative ideas were not transferred to my work in the desired way, the implication of this was that my foundation media product may have lacked the professionalism exhibited during my research into existing media products.
During the production of my advanced portfolio I was able to utilize and develop my creativity due to my previous experience using the apple mac. I was able to combine my creative ideas for my media product with ideas taken from my extensive research into existing media products. The experience I gained from the use of the apple mac in the production of my foundation portfolio also meant that I had become more familiar with the functions of iMovie meaning that I was able to utilize every effect available to me based on what effect I wanted to have on my targeted media consumers.
This piece of digital technology, the Apple Mac and its applications iMovie and Safari are completely available to media consumers across the globe meaning that anyone anywhere who has access to an Apple Mac has the capability to become a freelance media producer, producing and distributing their own media products across the internet. In my experience, during the production of my coursework productions the development of my creativity has been substantial as I took inspiration from the Internet research I carried out and iMovie allowed me to apply this creativity throughout the production of my advanced portfolio especially.
Secondly, the primary research carried out before the production of my foundation portfolio may have been considered as limited as my questionnaire was only available to people I had direct contact with and knew personally, this means that the data I received may have been biased based on the participants opinion of myself. However, during the pre-production primary research I carried out before the production of my advanced portfolio I was able to create an online questionnaire as well as a physical questionnaire using Survey Monkey, this allowed me to capture responses from people across the world as it was accessible on the internet. Similarly, the use of Survey Monkey allowed me to use a very modern mobile phone application: the QR code reader, I attached the QR code to both of my ancillary texts as this was supposed to make it more convenient for a modern audience to take part in my questionnaire. However, I considered the use of the QR reader a failure as there were multiple issues with the mobile phone application meaning that people were unable to use it effectively.
In conclusion, the statement: “Digital technology turns media consumers into media producers” could be considered true in some aspects, however, equipment, which allows the production of high quality and creative media products is expensive meaning that many media consumers may not have access to this digital technology meaning that if media consumers do not have access to this technology they are unable to be turned into media producers. In terms of my own experience during the completion my coursework productions my creativity was developed massively through the use of digital technology, there was a distinct development in the creativity displayed in my foundation portfolio and that of my advanced portfolio, this was aided by the use of the apple mac and applications such as iMovie and safari which provided me with the capability to research and develop my creative ideas.
Jordan Bell's media blog 