Evaluation question 4

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

Blogger:

Blogger was easy to pick up, and could be easily arranged, and can be used from any computer, helping me to work when I wasn't at home. It has easy to use features such as inserting an image, but was frustrating to organise, and wasn't very nice to look at.

Pre-production:

Keynote:

Keynote is Apple's version of Microsoft PowerPoint, and is very easy to use and it looks organised. It allowed me to draw easy comparisons to pictures, illustrating my opinion with arrows and other visual tools. It was much easier to move pictures around and get my point across.

Google images:

The majority of the pictures that I used are from google images, as there was a huge amount of content on the website, and is very easy to use with it's keywords search.

YouTube:

YouTube had every video I needed, to watch examples of music videos, and get an idea for how to plan my own.

Production:

Panasonic Hc-W850:

The camera that I used was a Panasonic Hc-W850, a camcorder that was small and portable and had a very good zoom. It was easy to store and take with me, and was quite cheap. I would have prefered to use a camera with a smaller depth of field which would have made a nicer shot, but the large depth of field was good for random shots at short notice, as I didn't have to worry about focus or shutter speed. I shot the whole video on 50fps, because I wanted to use slow-motion, and the higher the shutter speed, the more stable the footage would be when I slowed it to less than 50%.

Post Production:

Adobe Premiere Pro CC:

Adobe Premiere Pro CC is a very professional, clean and functional editing software. It took me some time to learn, but once I understood how it worked it became easy and natural. I started off by creating a simple timeline of every shot, and then worked through each shot changing the colour, speed and any other effects needed, such as cropping. I used Adobe After Effects to edit the opening the title sequence, which added a really professional touch.

Adobe Photoshop:

Adobe Photoshop was really nice to use as it allows you to do almost anything you can think of. I occasionally had to google how to do certain features, but overall I found it very easy to use.

Evaluation question 3

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

I collected audience feedback in written form, allowing for more open responses. I prompted the responses with questions to help them. The questions I asked were:

What did you like about my music video?

I had a range of things my audience liked about my music video, but the most common response was about the editing with the beats (thought beats). They said it made the video feel smooth and one respondent said it made them feel "sleepy but happy". Other positives included the locations, and they said it was very different but looks like a real music video. 

How could my music video have been improved?

The most interesting improvement I was suggested was about the lack of lip singing, and that it looked more like a short film than a music video. I think this happened because I have more connection with film than I do with music, so I naturally drifted towards film as a pose to a music video. The two media types do have parallels, and some people said they liked the film element of my video. If I did the video again I would probably add an artist or band playing the music in the classroom location.

Who do you think target audience is for my products?

All of my responses to this question said that they thought the target audience was teenagers which is what I had intended the audience to be. They said they thought this because of the classroom and the actors involved. Most of them said that they also thought the target audience was male, which I had not planned, but apparently the mostly male cast gave that view.


Do you think my 3 products worked well together?
A few of my responses were surprised about the colour theme I chose. They said they would have expected more green, but once they saw the yellow, black and blue theme they thought it worked very well, especially since I used the colours all the way through. My CD got a lot of praise as they liked the simple design that worked well with the inside cover, but they thought it didn't really work as well with the advert, front cover and back cover.

Evaluation question 2

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

My video links with my digipak and advert in shots, artist image and themes including colour and text. This was something I found was necessary when doing my audience research and by looking at professional work, as the audience likes to be able to see coherency in all of the texts. It helps create an artist's image, and lets the audience know which products are connected to each other.

I looked at Dizzee Rascal's album "Tongue n Cheek" and used some of the features he used in my own work, changing features where necessary for my own artist.

My Advert was a location within the music video, a vibrant, colourful landscape that was heavily involved in my video. I used the colour of the sunset across my who digipak and the fonts were all the same colours. This allowed me to create an image for my album, and it looked really aesthetic and pleasing.

I made it synergise with my digipak front cover which was also a sunset location, and used the same 3 main colours: Orange, Blue and White. The fonts are both the same, with "Pipe Dreams" in a bigger font than "Leon Beckett'.

The front cover and back cover were both sunsets, but the back cover was much further on, with the sun just disappearing over the mountains. This gives the impression that the journey is coming to an end with the sun being the start and stop point. I have all of the same fonts for the artist name, and the same use of colours. 

 The front cover and the CD synergise with colours, typography and the artist's image. The front cover shows the artist, whilst the disk also shows the artist, but in a silhouette. This allows the viewer and consumer to make a connection between the two texts, using the artist to link them.

 The CD and insider cover are extremely similar and synergise very well, using simplicity to show all the necessary information. They use the same colour shades, font and block colours. It is very easy to see the connection between the two texts.

If I was to redo the project, some changes I might make would be to the back cover, using a different picture as I feel it is the weakest of all of my digipak. I like the colours, however I think I should have made them brighter and make the contrast between them better.

Advert comparisons

I've used Olly Murs' "Right Place Right Time" to compare my work to, as he his a similar artist that is also in the Pop genre, and uses lots of generic advertising methods.

Advert conventions used in my work:

I found that my advert followed many features of Olly Murs' advert, including a 3 colour theme running throughout. I used 2 fonts in my advert, differentiating the title from the information below, a feature also used by Olly Murs.

Advert conventions challenged by my work:

The main difference with my advert to Olly Murs is the use of the artist in the picture. I decided to use a landscape instead as the focus of my work was on the song, and the freedon show in my music video. 

Digipak Comparisons

CD conventions that I have used:

CD conventions that I've challenged:

Front cover conventions that I have used:

Front cover conventions that I have challenged:

Back cover conventions that I have used:

Back cover conventions that I have challenged:

Evaluation Question 1

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

Conventions I learnt about over this project included age demographics, gender roles, mise-en-scene, camera shots and the impact these have on meaning and influence. I took all of these into account when planning my music video, choosing whether to include these stereotypes or try to go against them. 

Age.

I have used my character’s age as a tool in this music video, using the negative connotations of school and boredom to appeal to viewers of a similar age and use freedom and exploration as a opposing emotion in an attempt to create contrast and enjoyment throughout the video, returning back to the school environment at the end for humorous purposes. 

Gender.

I have not used any connotations with male gender in this music video as I didn’t feel as the gender of the character should make a difference to the emotions or audience, and because the 

gender did not effect the story being told.

Mise-en-scene.

I have used an array of clothes in my music video, sticking mainly to baggy t-shirts and shorts as they give a feeling of comfort and freedom, contrasting nicely with the tight, formal, bland clothing used in the classroom, which look uncomfortable, tight and desensitising.

I’ve used sunglasses and a backpack throughout, as they are heavily connected to exotic and adventurous conventions, and the use of sunglasses in the final classroom shot connects everything together, making the dreamy escapes of Rio look like it could be a reality.

Shots.

I’ve used lots of wide angle, establishing shots within my music video to try and create the illusion of endless exploration and places to be discovered. 

I made sure to always keep the shot moving, whether that meant a pan, tilt or a zoom, because it gave the video more movement and the idea of moving from one location to another.

I used close ups, particularly in one fast paced montage, that create the contrast from the huge mountains and landmarks, conveying the message to focus on the small things as well as big things, which works with the lyrics “From the view of an atom the human body is a universe”.

I matched the shots with the lyrics as much as possible, which is commonly used in music videos to easily apply a message to a song. Another example of this in my music video is "Some days I put my hands up like this shit right here is hopeless, some days I throw my hands up like this shit right here's the dopest":

There are many different conventions used in different genres, something I’ve had to focus on to make sure my video matches the music. I started out by looking at different pop and rap songs, finding patterns and trends. 

The main convention I found was the use of objectification. This is when a man or woman are viewed as an object, and something to be put on display. I have made sure not to use objectification in this music video, as it is targeted at younger viewers, who need to be taught body confidence. 

I’ve used Andrew Goodwin’s theory of Thought Beats from beginning to end in my music video, cutting and editing at a drum beat or at a solo piano note. This makes the video vert smooth to watch, as the viewer doesn’t even notice that edit has been made, as the edits are almost camouflaged by the music.

The video is concept based with elements of narrative. The video is about a student that is daydreaming in school about getting away from the classroom, and from that opening sequence the narrative doesn’t develop much further, other than to explore this dream. I finished the video by returning to the classroom, but wearing the sunglasses, as it showed that it would be possible for the character to achieve his dreams.

One convention of a digipak is to make sure the design reflects the artist and album, using typography, colours and images. I looked at a digital from Dizzie Rascal and I found that the album title was in big, pink bubble writing, a reflection of his bubbly personality. The colours used were black, pink and blue, with no gradient or confusion within the image. 

Any text should be easy to read and visible from a distance, and should feature the typography associated with the artist. I used the artist name “Leon Beckett” in the same font and colour throughout my project, including the video, digipak and advert. I made sure that my digipak linked together throughout, with the same colours of Blue, Orange and white on all of the pages and disk. These colours are also used in the advert to compliment the pack, showing all in all the illusion of sunsets, that I have associated with the ending of a dream.

Almost every advert has the same formula, with the artist name and the single/ album title in large font, the largest being the most important; if an artist is very well known, then their name will be in the largest font, but if the song is better known than the artist, then the song name will be in the bigger writing.

Final Music Video and Digipak

Music Video

Advert

Digipak

Front Cover

Back Cover

Disk

Inside cover

Common Conventions

Features of music videos:

Music videos nearly always follows the same sorts of conventions.

For example, teenagers are nearly always rebellious or adventurous, shown in coming of age videos and films. Elderly characters are often sad and giving up, which is shown through grey colours and low lighting. Men are shown as powerful and aggressive whilst women are shown as repressed and kind, through clothing, with men being shown from a low angle, and women from a high angle.
Villains are demonstrated through make up and costume, having scars and disfigurements, coupled with very tight fitting clothing. Loose clothes are worn by the antagonists which makes the audience feel comfortable, whereas tight clothing makes the audience feel uptight and uncomfortable.

Shots:

Different shots can show a range of different things, such as power, relationship, characters portrayal and the effect this has on the audience. The distance the camera is from the action tell us a few things, either where we are, or who is there.

Mise-en-scene

The mise-en-scene can tell us where we are, along with who is there. The mise-en-scene is a visual representation as to what is going on in the characters mind, as we need to be shown the character's internal thought, externally.

Audience:

The audience needs to relate to the lyrics, which needs to be related to what they are seeing. Similar to seeing the music beats, the audience needs to see a correlation between the words and the actions, to enforce the purpose of the song.

Representations

Within my music video I will have the representation of freedom and confinement. The classroom will represent confinement and imprisoned, using unsaturated colours to appear flatter and less appealing. I want there to be a large contrast between the classroom and the escapism scenes, so I will increase the saturation on the Rio shots to make them more lush.

The sunglasses and backpack in my music video will also be important to the representations. I want them to be the bridge between the classroom and the dream sequence. I will be wearing the accessories throughout  to try and cement this idea.