Evaluation: Question 4

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

Research:

For my research I decided to take inspiration for my CD digipak and magazine advert on Google. This way I could look at a wide range of images all in one place which I found easy. From this research I saw that artists that were in same genre of the song that we had chosen tended to have a really busy style, I decided I didn't want to follow the same convention as that because I thought it was to much to take in.

When it came to researching for a song for our music video, I looked at YouTube and MySpace to try and find an artist since we had to chose a song that didn't already have a music video for it. By using the internet this made the process a lot more easier. 

Also looking at TV channels such as MTV which as a wide range of current music videos gave me inspiration into what music video tend to have in them. Without these tool it would have been much harder to research what we needed to look at. I wouldn't have gotten a wide range of inspiration from everything that I looked at.

Planning:

For planning I used a wide range of different software's and also the types of sites that I could go on in Google. Because I have a Iphone I found it easy that if I had an idea I could just go on to Blogger and post a little post that I could look at later on.

Whilst in the planning stage we had a look as a group at different camera techniques that we could use in our video. We had a go at the green screen animation, stop motion filming and also jump cuts. We also had a go at filming our own shots that we thought we needed when it came to filming. 

 To test our skills we had a go at Photoshop so that we could experiment and think about what we could use when it came to constructing our Digipak's and Magazine Articles. I found this useful because it gave me a sense of how I wanted the layout to look and the type of colouring I wanted to use. Another software that we had a practice with that we would defiantly need was Premier Pro, this was the site that we were going to create our music videos with. So we decided to do some jump cut shots then rearrange them into a little film. 

Moodboards were a good part of planning because it allowed us to put all of the ideas that we had into one place so that we could look back and think about what I wanted to put in each of the work that I had to do. Timetoast was a way that I could keep track of all the work I had done and also when I needed to have it ready by. This allowed me to plan what I needed to do during college time and also when I was at home. 

Construction: 

For constructing my Digipak and Magazine Advert I used a DLSR Camera to take the images with. I found using a proper camera helped my images look more professional and clearer so that you can see all the details within the image. Also when it came to editing the image in Photoshop it didn't make the image blurry when I had to zoom in. Photoshop I used to edit my images, I used a wide range of tools on all of my images. This video below will show a technique that I used in on my image.

To film my music video I used a HD video camera, a tripod and lighting. All of this helped me keep the camera steady when I had to film, apart from the scene where we decided to do a shot in a hand held motion. To put our music video we used Premiere Pro, we had a slight problem at the start but we managed to get around it, this was that the camera that we had used wasn't adapted to the settings that were already there, so when we had a section of clips in the right place we had to render them. 

Using Premiere Pro meant that we could use special effects on our video. We used over lay on some parts of our video which made the shots look really interesting and also they seemed to go with the song well. Also we used the fade out at the end of some of the clips, this would stop the clips changing into another scene so abruptly.

Evaluation: 

For the evaluation I used YouTube to put upload the videos that I wanted to use examples up on to, also my Powtoon had to be uploaded to YouTube as well. I used Screen Cast O'Matic, so I could record how I managed to achieve the look I got on the images on my CD Digipak and also Magazine Advert. 

To answer the questions I used a new site called Powtoon, this allowed me to create a slideshow but add little figures to liven up the slideshow. After all that I did I uploaded them to Blogger, some of my posts I decided to write straight onto blogger. 

Evaluation: Question 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

For my audience feedback I decided to do a different ways to get a lot of feedback out of the audience. I decided to create a focus group on Facebook, get a group of my target audience to watch the video and then afterwards write down what they liked about the video and also what could have been improved.

In my Facebook focus group I showed my target audience my final Digipak and Magazine Advert and asked them to give me their opinion of what they think and also if anything could have been improved on.

This feedback was for my Cd Digipak and the feedback seems positive. What I have learnt from this is that she likes the different shots that have been used and how I have made all the images different to each other. The one negative that I have learnt from my cd digipak is that I could have added a little more colour to the front. I understand this because if I had added a little bit more colour to the front it would have made the digipak more interesting.

For my Magazine Advert my target audience seemed to like it. I got some good feedback and found that they liked the colour scheme on this because it didn't have many colours that stood out over each other. I tried to keep this advert simple and I think that is what my target audience like about it. 

These are some examples of the feedback that we got back from when the people watched our music video. One person found the video "really entropic" and they "really like the narrative of the video". Another person found the video "very engaging that has a lot of interesting ideas and concepts in it". They really like the idea that we did of using animal masks in the video, they said it was "spooky and cool" and this went well with the music and gave off the right tone. 

Editing of the video I have learnt that the liked the use of effects that we put on such as the fading transition from clip to clip and also creating a ghostly effect around the singer when she moved around. 

However, from looking at my feedback I have seen some criticisms of the music video as well. Most of them said that the lip syncing was of in some parts of the video which I agree with, we could have made sure when we were filming the video that we should have done a couple of takes of the lip syncing scenes. Another feedback was "editing pace sometimes the shots were too long" and also the "cuts could be more on the beat". 

Overall, what I have learnt from feedback from my target audience is that I would say that the video that the pleasures that they got from the texts would be jouissance (intellectual) because they are engaging with the video and keeping with the story. They are more preferred readers because they have responded the way I wanted them to. The feedback that I have got I think has really helped me see what they like and also show me the improvements that I could do if I could do all this again.
I think if I could alter my work I would have made sure that the lip syncing was 100% and also would have made sure the editing went with the music and make the shots shorter because some of them were too long. The 50 shots per minute rule is a good rule to follow, so I should follow that next time. 

Evaluation: Question 2

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

Evaluation: Question 1

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

Inspiration:

Our music video was inspired by the movie "The Wicker Man". This is where we saw the animal masks and thought about incorporating this into our video because the animal masks gave off a creepy look and we thought that this would work well with the music. A music video that inspired us was Bastille's Pompeii, because in the video he is doing a lot of running away from people who have weird eyes. These two ideas basically helped us create our music video. 

Theories:

Steve Neale says "instances of repetition and difference" this means that the video should have conventions of the genre that it is in so that the audience can recognize so that it attracts attention. Another theory is from Nicholas Abercrombie who says "television producers set out to exploit genre conventions.. It makes sound economic sense. Sets, properties and costumes can be used over and over again. Teams of stars, writers, directors and technicians can be built, giving economies of scale." He is basically saying that if you research into something in detail, it can help you be more organised and help you be more economic. 

Use:

My music video uses the typical conventions that you would expect in a music video:

• Lip syncing
• Editing - Pace & Montage
• Illusion - Miming and acting
• Cinematography
• Special Effects

By doing audience research I found it easier to come up with idea or get rid of some ideas that they weren't very keen on. By doing audience research it eventually helps you get the idea that you want and helps you create it. Comparing my work to other type of media I can see that I have used the typical conventions of music videos. We decided that we wanted to do a video were the whole song the performer was lip syncing to, we wanted it to differ between the shots. Close ups are used a lot in music videos, Andrew Goodwin's theory says "the demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist," in the type of genre that the song that we chose in, the artist needs a lot of support so this theory will go with the close ups. 

I think our video is more entropic and less redundant because not many music videos have this sort of theme to them, you would expect the Bastille video because of the genre it is in. Our video being in a different genre you wouldn't expect and this would be much more interesting for the audience to watch. 

From looking at research I think following forms and conventions is dangerous because otherwise most music videos will all look the same, instead of them all being different and unique to each other. People will start to lose interest in music videos so no money would be going in to making them. I think it is good when different artists change the conventions and forms and bring something new and fresh to the music world.

CD Digipak & Magazine Article: 

For my ancillary products I think that these have had a good overall effect on the audience. They seemed to really like the colours and the different type of editing. 

I would say in these two I have developed the conventions because not many artists tend to do this type of theme with their cd digipak and also the magazine advert. 

I researched into other artists CD covers and also there magazines and saw a lot of sepia tones, and they also tend to have a lot going on in the cd covers so I decided I didn't want to do that, I wanted to keep this simple as I could. 

Music Video - Wye Oak Civilian

This is the link to the video that we created. 

http://youtu.be/kYPRA_kmqHg

Magazine Advert

I have decided the magazine advert will be half a page for my chosen artist. 

CD Digipak

This is my Digpak that I have created for my chosen song! 

Costumes - Photoshoot

For the photoshoot for the CD Digipak and Magazine Advert I have decided on these ideas for costumes: 

• A dress 
• Winter clothing 

I am going to do a few picture with different costumes, this will mix and match the pictures that I use and they won't all look the same.

These are some inspiration for the outfits I want to use.

Health & Safety - Photoshoot

Woods - 

• When taking pictures we will have to be careful of were we step

Locations - Music Video

For our music video we are using a range of places. 

• Field - We are going to film in the field of the animals following her around and also we are going to film the camp fire scene in the field.

• Lake - We are going to have the model walking around the lake and gazing across it. We want to have her reflection in the water and have the animals appear behind her.

• Empty Bedroom - We want a basic bedroom for the start of the music video and this will introduce the animals to the video. We want the background to then eventually fade to another setting.

Locations - Photoshoot

Photo-shoot:
I have planned where I want the pictures for my CD and magazine advert.

• Woods - I am taking pictures in the a wood by me and I have permission from the farmers to use it. I want to relate the music video and also the digipak to each other.

• Lake - I want to take some pictures by the lake too. I did a test by the lake to give me some inspiration on how I wanted the model to look and how the shot should be taken. 

• Against A Wall - I want a brick wall background to create a different feel from the rest of the other pictures. 

I want my pictures to have a element of fun to them but also in some of the pictures I want to have the people with just the white faces lurking in the background of the image  

Here I have marked out the area's in which I want to take my pictures at.

Change Of Plan

Me and Jack have decided that we are going to change our idea of the animal masks to having the casts have plain white faces.

CD Digipak Practice

I had a practise at designing the CD digipak and I experimented with some of the tools on Photoshop. This has helped me develop an idea for my real CD digipak and how I want it to look like when it comes to creating it.

Analysing Existing Products

Magazine Adverts: 

Kings Of Leon: 

This is a full page magazine advert that the band has used. This magazine advert from Kings Of Leon looks quite basic and simple. The colours are quite interesting because they aren't too bright and overpowering but they do attract the audiences attention. The style of writing goes well with the background image but in the darker colour at the bottom it is a little harder to read so the audience will need to focus more on reading it. This design of this advert relates to the text, since the album is called "Come Around Sundown" it makes sense to use the sunset feel. Because Kings Of Leon are a well known band they have used a full page to advertise their CD because they can afford it. 


Ellie Goulding:
This look has more going on in the advert. The title of the CD has been shown in the image with all the little dots of lights has been spread around and used to make the advertising more interesting and catch the attention of the target audience. This advert has also used quotes from reviews to make the album seem worth while to buy and listen to this album, also having the rating put on also adds to make it sound really good to listen to. 
There isn't a big use of colours in this advert, their is a lot of black used but it makes all the gold colours and the writing stand out clear and makes it easier to read. 




Jessie J: 
This advert is similar to the Ellie Goulding one, the colour scheme of this has stayed to three colours so it doesn't over complicate the picture and also so it doesn't look too busy. Using the black and white background helps the writing stand out clearly and the font of writing works well with the style in which Jessie J's name is in, it all works together. The layout of this is neat and not too much. There isn't much writing on this just a little bit about the album and mentions one song that is included, the website has been used this is used to promote the artist and make you want to look more into what she does. 

Analysing Existing Products

CD Covers: 

How are these covers constructing/maintaining a brand image?

How are they likely to appeal to their target audience?

Jake Bugg:

The cd cover is maintaining the brand image with this cover. Jake Bugg seems to keep the same look throughout all of his cd covers, they all have a negative look about them and they are also shot in a empty estate and also on a street. He has the same type of facial expression on most of his album covers which is a bit of a moody and mysterious look. 

Birdy:
This cd cover of Birdy is also maintaining the indie feel to it as well. Birdy has a different look slightly to Jake Bugg's album cover. Birdy looks much more welcoming and kind of draws you to the album the way she has a look of innocence to her. The water colour background could describe what her music is like to listen to that it will calm you. She has also followed that there isn't much going on in the picture its just her simple standing in front of a wall.


Bombay Bicycle Club:

This picture shows the inside and outside of the CD cover. This is the other version of what some indie artists use for their front covers, this uses more creative looks and uses a lot of imagination. This cover would attract the target audience because it stands out with the wide range of colours but also with the two heads which have lots of colour inside of them. I would like to use some of this creative skill and show it in my CD cover to make it stand out from the crowd and attract my target audience.

How Will The Audience Recognise The Genre Of Music?

The audience will recognise the genre of my music by the way the CD cover looks. From researching existing CD covers by other artists with the same genre as the song I have chosen I have noticed how indie genres tend to have not very much going on in the cover, the band or artist is usually an empty space is the background. In some cases the the CD cover looks a little weird and different from what you would usually see. 

How will you address your particular target audience?
To get this across to my target audience I will follow the typical indie look of CD covers and have the artist in the picture but to add a weird strange look I will add some creepy looking animals into the background that you can see. Possibly hiding behind the singer, this I think will make an interesting looking cover.

Permission To Use Song

This is our email that we sent to ask permission to use the song that we have chosen so we can create a music video for. 

Casting

The person who is going to be the main performer is Emma. 

I think that she will relate more to my target audience since she is in the same age group as them and also has the same interests as them too.

The people that will be wearing the animal masks are Aaran, Chloe, Sophie and Toni. These are two of the cast below.

New Idea!!

Use a fold away bed and put it in a falling down room in the house. Then we can put it outside as a background change and she can be still sat on the bed. 

Shot number - 2 

Time Management

This is our time management line. We will keep updating as time goes by.