Evaluation Four

Word Doc:

Question Four: How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Media technologies have become a vital part in pre production, production and post production. It allows for effective research and planning, gaining feedback and the different elements of creating the music video.

When doing my initial planning for the music video I started off with using the internet and using websites such as YouTube, Vimeo, facebook and other music sites to understand and gain inspiration. The internet gave me a broad spectrum of different music videos and it allowed me to see what was effective and the different conventions. I was also able to use technologies such as Adobe Premier to put all the video’s that were inspirational to me together which allowed me to have a clear sense of direction of the type of video I wanted to produce. I was also able to make videos, animations to showcase other parts of my project.

The main tool that I used for planning was through the use of a blogging service called Blogger. It allows me to showcase and plan my work in a timely order and allows me to quickly navigate to my previous work using toggle tools and archives, allowing me to be organised with my work. Another aspect of blogger that I liked was the ability to update my blog over my iPhone. This meant that I was able to upload spontaneous posts if I was out and about and felt I had found something interesting and relevant. I also found using my phone was useful when I needed to distribute information to my actors. I was able to upload the information or convert my files into pdf on my phone and email it to them.

When researching I used programmes such as the conventional Microsoft word and PowerPoint, however I also used Prezi which is a zooming presentation device which allows me to fly around the screen which makes it more interesting and fun. I primarily did my research on Prezi as I was able to link thinks with arrows and have unlimited space to do so. It allowed my work to be clearly organised and shows the link of ideas. Any work that had important information regarding health and safety, location release and time scheduling I preferred to document on Word as it was more professional and the information would be easily read.

During the production of my music video I used a Cannon 550D and 500D.

I also increased the aperture to gain a depth of field; this made the footage visually appealing using a digital single lens reflex camera. These cameras are a lot smaller than the big production camera’s used to films which benefitted me as I had to be portal as I had various locations and had to travel. The high definition quality of the camera enabled me to film professionally which meant transferring the data onto memory stick to computer was easy. This meant that I was able to keep reshooting scenes that did not work without worrying about film and lack of memory.

I did not use any lightening equipment when shooting my music video as I wanted a more realistic tone to the video. In the dancer scenes I ensured the lighting was the same throughout by placing the camera in the right angles and directions.

I also used a tripod in many cases to steady the camera and enable my shots to be still when needed. The tripod also allowed me to pan and track straight, enhancing the visual quality of the video.  Another tool used was the shoulder mount. This equipment allowed me to take shots from different and unusual angles, such as the low angle shot of my artists face as he is looking around. This created variety in the shots for my music video making it more interesting for the audience.

For my post production I decided to use the programme Vegas Pro by Sony. I used this programme because I felt the features were more suited to my needs than Premier. I also felt the layout of the programme was more users friendly and I understood the programme more. Vegas allowed me to use a cutting and trimming tool and enabled me to see the exact timings of each short clip. It also allowed me to see the tempo and pitch of the song below which helped me trim my shots into the correct to the beat of the music. Vegas also allowed me to overlay and create scenes where they fade and cross over. There is a toggle tool that allowed me to change the intensity and the direction in which the face would go. Another useful tool on Vegas was the flash tool, it creates a white flash and I could also change the concentration of the flash hand the opacity. This was easier than editing my video on Premier and having to apply the flash on After Effects. One important tool whilst editing was the ability to slow and fasten clips, I wanted a disorientating feel whilst the artist was running around which I was able to do this using a timing tool. I also had a problem where some shots finished too early; with the timing tool I was able to drag certain parts of the clip out without affecting the rest of the clip. This allowed me to lengthen the clip in the appropriate places without it looking disjointed.

After the main editing of the music video I had to import it to the correct file using a converter. This is an example where technology has proven useful as without the converter the file would have been too big and would not have been compatible with some programmes. After converting the file and gaining final feedback I decided to use After-effects to add colour and gradient to my video which gave it the edgy and urban feel I was aiming for.

For the Digipak and Magazine adverts I decided to use the same camera as it was multipurpose. To edit and create my products I primarily used Adobe Photoshop Elements 8.0, this is a photo editing tool which has allowed me to lots of different effects, edits and make changes to my images which is crucial to making magazines. This programme advances over any programme such as paint which is very basic and limited. There are endless amounts of things I used on Photoshop but the prime tools that I used to create my production were tools such as layering, liquidation, clone tool and using the different gradient tools. Using the layering allowed me to create a picturesque look for my magazine advert, it allowed me to place different things on the layout such s text, secondary images and image effects. It makes it look more interesting and aesthetically pleasing to the eye. The clone tool was also useful to get rid of any impurities on my model or any unwanted imagery such as the rubbish bin that was in one of the images originally.

Evaluation Three

evaluation 3 from pamela on Vimeo.

Word Doc:

Evaluation Three: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Feedback to me is one of the most important aspects of creating a product. I believe that without audience feedback the product would not be effective and the purpose of the task would not be fulfilled.  Gaining feedback allows me to understand the strengths and weaknesses of my products and what could be improved and if it was effective.

The purpose of my music video was to represent my artists in the appropriate way, campaign his music and to entertain the audience. The idea for the music video would be the base of all my production so I need to ensure that it was appropriate and potentially entertaining. I wrote a written plan of my idea and read them out to a selected few people between the ages of 16-30, my target audience, and recorded their feedback. I learned from their feedback that my idea was potentially interesting and visual video. I also learned from the video that my target audience are interested in different showcase of skills and are interested in different visual effects. This allowed me to note that my video should have lots of different shots and visuals which would appeal to my target audience.

After my first draft of my music video I decided to put my video on a social networking site called Facebook and allowed my whole friends list to comment and like the video. I felt that I had a large friends base with an age range of 16- 30 which meant that they were all primarily within my target audience. On Facebook I invited people to press the ‘like’ button if they felt it had a good concept and flow and to comment any improvements. I managed to get a good variety of comments and improvements that needed to be changed. One of the main comments I have gained in my first draft was the continuity. Many people believed that it did not flow as well as it should and the video felt a bit disjointed. Other feedback I gained was the flashes I included, a few people believed that the flashes made the video look unprofessional and ‘student’ like. However a reasonable amount more believed that I edited the flashes so they went in time with the music and made them more fluid that it would make the video look more aesthetically appealing and realistic. Some people also believed that at the beginning there were a few unnecessary shots that were unstable that should be removed. Overall many people liked the simple concept and the different locations and shots used within the video.

From this feedback I took the advice to remove scenes that were unstable and to ensure the continuity flowed and looked pleasing. From these simple edits I found that my music immediately looked more professional and a better standard as it made my narrative stronger. I learned that audiences within my target audience like visuals and things that make sense that are not awkward or disjointed.

For the second draft, for feedback I decided to do another video interview of my target audience’s thoughts. I used a couple more people to increase the variety and also some people that were slightly off my target audience to see the secondary audience’s perception. I learned that my improvements that I made an extortionate difference to my music video as most of the comments I gained were positive and had very little improvements that need to be made. The continuity that was the main problem is now one of the best aspects of the video as the narrative now made sense and was clear and coherent. The flashes added made the dancers look like a fantasy place where the artist wanted to reach rather than random people in the video with no meaning to the narrative. Many of the feedback also commented on the musicality of the video being accurate and shots were edited to the correct timings making the video more entertaining. Also mentioned was the use of interesting and colourful locations, the audience believed that it brought the video to life and gave it an exciting element.

From all the positive feedback I didn’t think that I would need to make any adjustments, but I decided to get one last feedback from my teacher for his expertise. The only improvements he suggested was to give the video a filter which will make it look more professional and edgy.

It was also important I gained feedback for the digipacks and advertisements as I had to ensure all the products had the unifying theme and were recognisable. I gained feedback from my initial drafts to ensure the ideas were appropriate and purposeful. It proved useful as the feedback I gained showed that the digipak designs were confusing as the conventions for the different pages were jumbled, which I rectified. But the overall designs received good feedback as it was unique and colour coherent. The final feedback I gained for the digipak and advertisements was excellent as my intentions were for the designs to be creative and unique. A lot of the feedback showed that I had thought outside of the box and created designs that were appealing and appropriate to the urban theme.

Taken as a whole I found that feedback has been the most influential piece of data for my work. Without I would have not been able to create such effective and purposeful pieces of work that appealed to my target audience. 

Evaluation Two

Evaluation 2 With Pics by pamelango

Word Doc:

Evaluation 2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Having had my briefs I automatically understood that the three tasks would combine to effectively becoming a campaign to raise awareness of my chosen artist and his materials. Having a unifying theme throughout is one of the most important thing as your audience need to recognise the style and genre of the artist, this is also to prevent the products to be mistaken for another artist. I believed that my work was successful in creating an in-house theme with the funky, edgy and urban theme throughout. In all my products there is a graffiti style, whether in the locations on the walls and environment or in the background of the posters. Another way I created the theme was simply by using images and videos from the same shoot. This allows all my products to be similar in location, costume and artist. An obvious and conventional way of creating a reoccurring theme is through the use of colour. I decided to use lots of bright colours but for the print productions I decided to use the undertones of cool blues and grey. It created a cool and laid back feel which I felt reflected my artist’s personality. It also allowed the font and important information to be highlighted red. I felt red was a colour of urgency and had the ability to immediately draw attention from the reader. The red used was a interpretation of the artists material, something that is bold and exciting.

As stated I created the unifying theme by doing all photographs on the set of the video shoot. This meant that I had to plan and understand all the microelements that would make my music video look professional and appealing. A music video is a short film, video or montage of footage that accompanies a piece of music. It is used to market and promote the sales of the music. I wanted to promote the artist as someone the audience could relate to and to create a feel good vibe. After researching different dance genre music video’s I decided that the best way of creating a feel good vibe is to have a music video with lots of people, high energy and a narrative that ends well. I felt I was successful in creating the good atmosphere and excitable vibe as the song I chose was upbeat, fun and the dancers were high in energy and had positive attitudes. This translates to the audience allows them to enjoy the video as a form of entertainment which makes the music and video more appealing.

I also intended for my music video to be relatable to the audience about the struggle and triumphs in life, however I did not want to make it too complicated or over the top. This lead me to create the narrative where my artist was not happy with where he was and he went ‘searching for truth/ something different’ where he leads the audience down to a basement. This allows the audience to use their imagination of where he ends up which is appealing as the audience gets a choice as it could be where they would want to be after their own struggles. This uses the gratification of personal identity as the music video allows the audience to reflect on their own life and where they want to be.

The purpose of a music video is to establish a visual representation of an artist or band, providing an audience with a first impression of them and to existing fans, to fulfil expectations. After researching Example I found that he has a very bold personality and has a street / old school style. This allowed me to dress my artist accordingly in vintage Air Max 1’s, body warmer and branded hoody. This allows the audience to recognise the style and appreciate it.

The Digipacks are just as important as the music video itself as it was created to give the CD a more visual and creative way of merchandising itself. Especially with the rise of digital downloads less and less people are buying physical CD’s, there fore the importance of Digipacks have a risen as they are able to persuade and capture the attention of audiences as collectables. As the digipak had to eye catching and creative I firstly decided to have an eight sided digipak, this automatically differs from regular digipaks as it has more sides and I designed it so there are more fold outs. This is appealing as it seems that the audience are getting more for their money as opposed to a regular 4 sided digipak. Another way in which my digipak was successful was through the blend of realistic photos and computer generated designs. This is unique and creates a surreal design for the audience to look at which again makes it appealing. The visuals on the digipak correspond to the other productions and the bold colours are suitable to grab the reader’s attention.

When an album is launched the marketing is very important as it could determine the success of failure of an album. Advertisement allows the audience/community to be aware of the new product and acknowledges it. I felt the best way to reach my audience was to use extremely bold and visually appealing artwork in my adverts. For both I decided again use the graffiti art in the background of the adverts, I felt it was full of character and personality which reflected my artist. I also ensured for both I used large and bold font that would reflect the genre of the artist which would appeal the correct target audience.

In the magazine adverts, the first one was created on a pale blue and grey background with unique and retro stencil art. I felt this was most appropriate setting as it was subtle enough to withhold important information on the pages that would enable the reader to get more information if they were interested. I felt the name of the artist was most important so I used contrasting colours to make it stand out the most. This allows it to be on the forefront of the readers mind and may stick with them for the rest of the day. Another feature that I felt appealed to my audiences and interested them was through the body language and facial expression of my artist. I felt his unprepared stance made it look unusual and allows the audience to become eager to find out more.

In the second advertisement I thought I would use more vivid colours to catch the reader’s eye. As the adverts purpose it to promote the new album I believed it was appropriate to include an image of the CD cover which allows it to be recognisable and the audience will be able to identify it in the shops if they were to buy one. For the artists stance in this advert I felt a laid back feel ensures the audience do not feel pressured to buy the album.

A billboard advertisement is very important as it is exposed to more people and a larger variety of people, not to mention all the other billboards fighting for attention. I decided to use a highly recognised iconic design inspired from Run DMC to attract interest. I felt that using a recognisable style would attract the audience as they would believe it is something interesting. I also included a realistic image with ‘Example Lane’ to suggest ownership and power. This attracts the audience as they will feel that if it is powerful there should be a reason why and become interested.

I believe that my products serve their purposes very well as they all appeal to the audiences and attain interest. I feel the products are also very marketable and would have been a successful campaign in raising the artist’s profile.

Evaluation One

Word Doc: 

Evaluation 1: In what ways does your media products use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

I believed that a successful music video would be to establish a visual representation of an artist or band and to give a great entertainment value. I chose to base my media productions on an artist named Example because I felt he has a large personality and I would be able to think creatively and create media products to appeal to audiences. Example is part of an electro house / dance genre and had a style that I was interested in myself which I felt would be suitable as I would be doing mass research into the genre.

I chose the song ‘Changed the Way You Kissed Me’ as it was a popular and upbeat song. Conventionally electro house and dance music videos are usually committed to the theme of having locations that are either bright sunny days or dark rave like locations. They use lots of interesting lighting such as strobe lighting and effects. I wanted to develop this convention by having a switch between realistic day time scenes and darker and exciting atmospheres.

I did not want to follow commit to only one of the three generic types of music videos but to merge narrative and performance together. I felt this way I would be able to excite the audience with climatic performance but also interest them in a small narrative to keep them thinking. This developed my simple but effective narrative and performance concept of having my artist in a narrative where he is unhappy with his life and goes on a journey to find something exciting and also having performers creating the high energy to match the song. The narrative was developed based on Bulmer and Katz’s uses and gratifications where individuals use texts for various different reasons such as knowledge, personal identity, socialism and entertainment (escapism). I believed that the narrative would have the gratifications of personal identity and knowledge as the narrative resembles Examples own life of struggle before becoming successful, which the audience can relate to as they would have their own struggles and triumphs.

Mise en scene establishes the genre of the music video and creates the right atmosphere for the music video. I wanted the audience to recognise the locations being used to bring a sense of belonging to them and to make it realistic. With the genre of Electro house and dance there are some conventions of an urban or vintage style, I wanted to follow this as style and fashion is important to my target audience and it is a simple way to appeal to them. This lead to my decision to use locations such as Brick Lane, Camden, Piccadilly and Southbank as they have unique and interesting art all around the areas. I believe they represent a middle social class, how they enjoy life without luxuries through the creative graffiti art and unique styling’s which a positive outlook on life. It also makes the viewing experience more believable for some types of music videos as it makes it more naturalistic and recognisable. This shows that I am following the conventions of a dance music video as it is relatable and stylish.

As my narrative followed a journey it felt necessary to follow the convention of having lots of tracking shots. I also wanted the audience to have a more intimate relationship with the artist so when he is having a deeper emotional response I used lots of close ups and extreme close ups to make it more personal, again using the gratification of personal identity. A good example of where the audience will be engrossed in the artist’s journey would be the low angle close up of his face as he looks around the location frustrated. Also being a performance based music video I wanted to make the shots looks interesting and exciting so I used lots of high, low and tilt shots when shooting the dancers to make it more aesthetically pleasing. This also allows the audience to see the dancers in a more interesting and unusual way capturing their attention.

Andrew Goodwin suggests that a music video should advertise its material; this brought me to include talent that may be overshadowed in reality. Dancers in music videos are conventionally behind the artists as backups but I felt to go against the convention and have the dancers as main characters in the music video. This is to demonstrate their talent and skill and to become a motivation to the artist in the narrative. There is a growing popularity of street and hip hop dancing which makes it appealing to the audience. The talent demonstrated by the dancers allow the video to be coherent repetitively which allows the audience to watch the video’s many times without losing interest, which Goodwin suggests. Goodwin suggests voyeurism as a convention in music videos; however I went against that convention and decided to have the girls similar to the boys. I decided to dress them in an urban style and boyish style; this is to prevent any sexual appeal. I wanted the girls to gain attention through the means of their dance and using hard hitting choreography which match up to the boys in the video. I believed the effect of this would be that the audience would be exhilarated by the power / dance battle between the girls and boys.

Music videos have to be very interesting and eye catching for an audience to enjoy it and using editing is the most important part of ensuring this. I followed the conventions of having a music video that featured lots of jump and cross cuts as it is believed by theorists that we are now apart of a culture where there is only a three minuet attention span. I also ensure that all my cuts matched the beats of the song for continuity for viewing pleasure.

I wanted to keep an urban theme throughout all of my media products as I did not want my target audience to become genre confused and to create a memorable style to represent my artist. I wanted to keep the sleek and edgy style to match my music video, I wanted to use darker tones but use certain elements in the pictures to brighten the product to make it eye catching.

A digipak is a important aspect of the media products as it has to reflect the attitude and personality of the artist. As example was classed as a dance / electro house genre it is conventionally known that digipacks do not usually feature the artist and use poster art or a minimalistic design. I wanted to challenge this convention as I believed that the artist is very important and should be the main showcase. I however I used some creative designs and imagery in the digipacks as well as realistic photography. I used photographs of Nike Blazers to appeal to the fashionable sense of the audience and photographs of the artist to gain publicity and acknowledgement. I then also created computer generated images to create a unique and interesting design. I felt the mixture of the types of images would create a slightly dystopian view as if the artist lived in an anamatic world. This made it interesting for the target audience to look at and also persuade them to buy the digipak against the other digipaks on offer.

The magazine advert was also important to appeal to people other than the targeted, this means that it has to draw attention and persuade the reader to become interested in the album / single. Again I followed the convention to have all the products coherent, for the first magazine I ensured a bold and graffiti styled font to grab the attention of the readers and immediately suggest an urban genre.  I used the bright conventional colours to suggest a more commercial and dance genre. I wanted to go against the convention of having the artist in a serious body language/ facial expression. I wanted the image to stand out so I took the image of my artist when he was not ready. This created a slightly comical yet interesting image. I thought that this would make my artist more appealing to the reader as it makes him look less superficial and realistic, someone they can relate to. In both posters I followed conventions of having websites, artist name and album name. This allows the reader to have a choice whether they want to find out more information which is also appealing.

In my billboard advertisement I wanted to make it more iconic. In the area where it shows all the information for tour dates, albums and artist information my inspiration was from RUN DMC, they are extremely well known and I felt that the reader would automatically associate my artist with RUN DMC. The group is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential acts in the history of hip hop and urban culture. However to differentiate my artist and RUN DMC I ensured ‘Example’ was central and had the street name named after him. This allows the reader to immediately understand that it is a advertisement for Example and not RUN DMC.

Throughout my media products I followed many of the conventions to ensure success with appealing to the target audience and for continuity for ease to watch and read. However I felt I have challenged a few to keep my media products authentic and to allow the audience to remain active and give them choices.

Final Music Video

FINAL RENDERED FILTERED MUSIC VIDEO from pamela on Vimeo.

Final Digipak

                                               DIGIPAK PUT TOGETHER

FRONT COVER  

INDUSTRIAL INFORMATION

CD HOLDER

THANKYOU DOUBLE PAGE

TRACK LISTINGS

WEBSITE

ARITST PAGE

This is the completed and finalised versions of the sides of my digipak. I feel they reflect the correct genre of my artists and will appeal to my target audience. They all have corresponding colours and design which I feel makes it look professional and interesting.

Final Advertisements and Display Possibilities

 These are the finalized versions of my advertisments; Billboard and Magazine Advertisements. They all have a urban edge and feature the main artist. they also all follow a graffitti style which I feel will appeal well to the audience.

BILLBOARD

MAGAZINE ADVERT 1

MAGAZINE ADVERT 2

EXAMPLE OF MAGAZINE ADVERT

BILLBOARD EXAMPLE

BUS STOP EXAMPLE

TUBE EXAMPLE

How to Overlay Two Video's

how to overlay two videos and extend it from pamela on Vimeo.

This is how I overlayed two videos and changed the opacity to show the two shots. This was an effective editing shot to show the transition of my artist. 

How to Apply Flash

how to apply flash from pamela on Vimeo.

This is how I used the flash tool to improve my continuity and create a stronger narrative. 

How to Keep Image Quality

When creating my digipaks and adverts I had a problem where the quality of my images were hard to keep due to its large size, every time I wanted to scale down my image it would become very pixilated. I found this website that made my image a vector which allowed me to keep my quality. 

How I Made my Billboard Advert

This is how I made my Billboard advert on photoshop. This example shows how I changed the name of the street using the clone tool, remove and replace a image of a rubbish bin and how to slant my text so it matches the wall.



 
EXAMPLE ON HOW TO MAKE BILLBOARD from pamela on Vimeo.

Growth of Digipaks and Advertisements

This is video showing all the different layers of how I created my digipak and advertisements. I chose to use photoshop elements to edit and create these productions due to its different tools and ease of use. 

 

HOW I MADE DIGIPAKS from pamela on Vimeo.

Feedback for Digipak and Advertisements

Feedback for Digipak &Advertisements Final by pamelango

Program Choice for Editing

Program Choice by pamelango

Feedback for Second Draft

Second Draft Music Video

Second Draft Music Video - Rendered from pamela on Vimeo.

This is the second draft of my music video after gaining feedback from my target audience. I added the appropriate flashes in the right places and made sure the editing was fluid and looked professional. I feel that there are still some small changes I can make to further improve my video such as adding a filter to make it look professional and adding some interesting effects to some of the shots. 

Feedback for First Draft of Music Video

Feedback From Facebook for First Draft by pamelango

First Draft of Music Video

DRAFT MUSIC VIDEO COMPLETE 2 rendered from pamela on Vimeo.

This is the first draft for my music video. I used the program Vegas pro by Sony to edit and compose the music video as I found it was easier to use and had the effects I wanted to use. I will get feedback for the music video to see what I need to change and improve. 

Music Video Clips

These are the tumbnaiols of the different clips I have attained through my music video shoots. There is well over 30 different clips as I wanted to show a variety of shots. It also took me alot of time to ensure all of them were named for easier use in my chosen video editor.

Progression with Digipak and Advertisments

These are the first initial designs for my double spread digipak and billboard advertisments, I felt they were good designs, simple and effective and held its purpose. However as I changed the actor for my music video I had to change these designs as the model did not corresponde to the actual 'artist'.