Skills Audit – Week Seven

My Skills Audit for Week one can be found here – Week One Skills Audit by creating a skills audit from the beginning and end of my project, I have been able to see my progress and see what I have learned through my research.

 

Skill	None	A bit but not confident	Basic	Competent	Proficient
Secondary Research				/		I have used a lot more secondary research than in past projects, it’s something I still struggle with however I believe I have defiantly developed this.
Primary Research					/	I have used a lot of primary research in this project and have learnt how to research better overall. I have gained a lot of knowledge through this.
Playing Guitar				/		At the start of this project I could only accompany myself, however now I have learned to write my own songs and perform live with a guitar
Video Editing				/		I believe I have expanded my knowledge dramatically through this project, taking into consideration where I was at, at the start of the year to now has shown me how much research can really help.
Camera Work				/		I have learned through trial and error how to use a camera to its full potential and how to shoot good quality images working with an experienced photographer has helped me with this.
Songwriting				/		Writing on my own has been a little tricky and I have struggled with confidents slightly, however after gaining some knowledge in writing techniques I believe I have become a better writer.
Vocals					/	I had quite a bit of knowledge in singing when I entered this project due to doing vocal examinations and building my confidents through gigs, I feel this has helped my songs progress for this project.
Mixing using logic			/			I used logic a lot when creating my demos for the EP this allowed me to practise finding the correct levels and the right amount of effects to put on vocal and guitar, id say I have developed using logic however there is still a lot of space for improvement.
Problem Solving				/		I have not came across many problems for this project, this is mainly due to thinking very depth into my plan and allowing space for mistakes.
Communication				/		Communication has been a little trickery in this project due to not knowing my producer very well, this is something I have never had to deal with before making it harder, however I managed to work on this by planning meetings and discussions
Documenting process					/	I have been extremely strict with myself for this project and have done weekly blogs on my process, this has allowed me to stick to my plan and keep my work organise.
Timing				/		When in the studio I struggled with timing with guitar, I managed to overcome this by practising.

I decided to compare each skills audit from week one to week eight, this will allow me to see my progress throughout the project and be able to see my next steps of improvement. One major thing I noticed I have developed through this project is video editing, I made sure to allow myself lots of time to gain lots of new knowledge through my research and trial and error, I can now edit a video wth confidents and professionalism and I can also render a file to a high quality standard. There is still a lot of space for improvement, however I have come a long way since the beginning of the project and I hope to carry on using premiere in the future and carry on making improvements.

Another thing I noticed that I have developed a lot is my guitar playing, I believe I have really started to find my own style/ genre, which is mainly due to building my confidence in playing guitar and learning to write music with an accompaniment, from this I have developed my song writing skills and have learned how to write on my own, although something I need to improve on is performing guitar live. I have recently done a live gig where I have forgotten my chords on stage resulting in having to start the song again, this was a  very easy mistake to make, however to prevent this from happening again I will make sure to not let nerves get the better of me and practise chord changes a lot more, this will hopefully help me in future gigs.

Furthermore, I have made a drastic improvement in my weekly process logs, this is something I was very bad at in my last FMP and resulted in having to catch up last minute, this year I stated in my plan that I would be posting every week and have even set reminders on my phone to ensure I do post, this has helped me be very consistent and organised throughout my project. I have noticed the difference this can really make to a project and the amount of stress it can take off you. I will ensure to take this type of organisation to university.

I have used a range of primary and secondary research in my project, but not as much secondary as I wanted to, I have defiantly broadened my research this year by doing things such as visiting art galleries, carrying out Pre Production and using experimentation however,  my next step would be to use secondary research more confidently and consistently through my work.

In the future I would like to also broaden my guitar skills, this will hopefully allow me to develop my style more and also help to become more comfortable on stage with a guitar, I will do this by having a few guitar lessons, and learning more of the theory behind guitar playing.

Overall I have found through this process that I have become a better Artist with more confidents and a discovered style, I hope to carry on writing music this way and develop these skills further. I have learned a lot through my FMP and can only learn more in the future, I believe I have gave myself a good platform to start university in September with the new skills I have gained.