Note to the Moderator

Dear moderator, welcome to my blog. Please use the labels on the right hand side to navigate my work. Work has been split into three main categories; Research and Planning, Product and Evaluation. I hope you enjoy reading through my coursework journey.

MUSIC VIDEO

Magazine Advert - After Feedback

Digipack

Final Evaluation Question 1:

Final Evaluation Question 2:

Final Evaluation Question 3:

Final Evaluation Question 4:

Draft Evaluation Question 1

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

For my music video I chose to use the style performance. This follows conventions of similar music videos in the genre. Examples of similar bands/ artists that have made performance videos are; Kings of Leon – Supersoaker, Kasabian – Club Foot, Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit. All of these music videos use the band performing as the main content of their video, with the main focus of the performance on the lead singer. My video follows similar conventions to the Kings of Leon video in that there are more shots of the lead singer than anyone else in the video. Much the same as Supersoaker I have chosen to use a variety of different shots of the lead singer, ranging from extreme close ups to long shots.

The lighting I chose to use also follows conventions of similar genre music videos. I chose to use low lighting which creates an eerie feel on stage. I used this in my music video to add to the vibe given by the transgressive lyrics which are a key part of the genre. The low lighting made the dark stage look powerful which I thought added well to the effect I wanted to give.

The band itself follows some forms, whilst challenging others, in that they have been styled to dress like a rock band. Rock bands tend to dress in dark clothes, dark shirt and dark jeans etc… They follow the forms in the way they are dressed, but they don’t have the right image in the face or hair. Common rock bands have long dark hair and beards, and are styled to look like a rock band. The chosen members of my band all have different images and different looks about them. They look more like a band called Weezer, which is a band of the same genre. Each individual in the band looks different, so in a way yes they follow some conventions and yes they challenge some conventions, but so do real professional bands.

When doing my research and planning for my music video we looked at a theory by Andrew Goodwin. We looked at 7 different key aspects, that an audience should be aware of in music videos. I used a grid to make comments and show evidence of these aspects in music videos I analysed. When completing my music videos I had to take these into account and work out which were the best to follow.  I used 2 of the ideas in my music video, which were close-ups and central focus on the star, (in my case the star was the lead singer) and I tried to follow genre characteristics with the low lighting. I found when looking at similar videos to mine, analysing and finding out what key aspects they used helped. I feel that I could have incorporated more of the 7 key aspects by doing a narrative video. Most of the videos I researched used 4 or more of the 7 aspects of Goodwins theory, so in the sense that I used only 2 my video challenges conventions of real media products.

My magazine advert strongly follows conventions of real media products. From my posts on my blog you can see that I have recreated a professional advert. Things I have included that follow conventions is: The front cover picture from the digipack, the bands twitter, the record company logo, the record company website and the album release date. There are several magazine articles I have seen that use these in their own professional magazines. I used the style from on magazine as well as the conventions from others, which highlights the fact that my magazine strongly follows conventions.

My digipack also follows conventions, which I have illustrated throughout my research and planning blog posts. There are many examples on my digipack of conventions used in different media products. I have taken several conventions and put them all together in one digipack. I used the black and white idea that has been used on several digipacks, examples include: Kasabian, Linkin Park, Arctic Monkeys, Example etc… This also proves that I am using conventions from real media products. As well as the black and white, I also had the text on the front in a bright colour and in the centre. This follows conventions also as there are examples of artists on my blog that have used the same conventions, again Example and Kasabian have done this. There are also several bands that put their song lyrics on the digipack; I chose to do the same. The conventions are that they have all the lyrics to every song. This means that the letters have to be in a small font as to fit them all on the page. I followed this convention and explained why in my blog posts. I feel it adds to the overall effect of my digipack and adds professionalism as well. Examples of bands that have used the small lyrics on the digipack are The Avalanches and The Beasty Boys.

Another convention I followed with both the magazine advert and the digipack was using the minimalist style. This creates a simple, readable and easy to understand magazine advert as well as creates a simple but well thought out digipack. Overall I feel that using this style was key, as it made sure I didn’t over complicate my work or make it not achievable.

Draft Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation Question 4: How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, and planning, and evaluation stages?

When creating my media products, I have used several new media products to create and enhance my media products. Many of these technologies were specific to stages of my work, and helped me a different points. However there were still several products that helped me all the way through creating my products. Examples of these were:

·         The website Blogger – This I used all the way through to post onto to keep all my course work in one place, that the examiner can view it. The website enabled me to gain feedback from my peers, teachers and other people from around the world. I used this on the internet on the computer and also downloaded the app for my phone which allowed me to take photos and post them straight to my blog, E.G pictures of the location.

·         Samsung Laptop – I used my laptop most lessons to browse the internet when doing the research and planning, to create my ancillary texts and music videos and the type up all the documents posted on my blog including my evaluations. This helped me massively as it meant I could take my laptop wherever I went and work in different places instead of having to use the crowded computer rooms at school or sit in one spot at home. It also gave me a good storage device for all my videos documents and pictures associated with my media work.

·         Memory stick and SD card – I used these throughout my work to transfer documents to other computers for backing up, and from the camera to my laptop. If I ever used the school computers to do any work then I saved the work onto my memory stick ready to put on my laptop. The SD card was a great way to transfer pictures and videos to my laptop without having to bother with wires connecting the camera.

Research and Planning

There were a few things that I specifically used during my research and planning stage. I used several websites to gain pictures for my research. I used websites such as the bands official website, Flickr, etc… As well as this, I also used:

·         YouTube – This was used in my initial research of music videos. I watched several music videos in different genres and analysed 3 from the same genre of mine. I took screen shots from YouTube and used them to back up and demonstrate my points. These pictures are on my blog.

·         Animoto – I used the Animoto website to make my 25 word pitch that would aid me when pitching my idea to the class. This website puts your text and pictures together into a clever, short video that is easy to grasp. This allowed me to get feedback on my ideas from the class and helped me to improve my work.

·         Fujifilm S1800 – This is the camera I used to take the picture of my storyboard. I used this as it take good quality stills and I would be able to read what I had written in each box, which allowed me to see who was in the shot, what the shot was of and how long the shot was.

·         Movie Maker – I used this software when putting together my storyboard pictures to make an animatic. The reason I used this was that it was on my laptop when it arrived and it is easy to use, there is nothing complex. I put all the pictures on and got them roughly cut so they were in the right place. This helped me to visualise what the final video would look like. When I started the filming I watched this over which told me what shots to do and what the lyrics were.

Production

There were several things that were specific to the production stage that I didn’t use in any other stage. Below is each of the things I used in this stage that I didn’t use in any other stages.

·         Musical Instruments – I used a microphone when filming my music video, although it wasn’t turned on, I gave the impression that it was being used and made the performance look real. As well as this, I used 2 guitars, one was a Westbury original and one Vintage Les Paul Style. These were 2 electric guitars, both very different, which also gave an element of realism to my video and showed that the guitarists have differences in opinion on guitar. I also used the school drum kit, which looked rough and used, but also added to the video, which wouldn’t have looked the same without.

·         Sony Vegas Pro 12.0 – This is the software I chose to download and use for my music video. This helped me massive amounts, by enabling me to get the lip synching right by letting me slow down the speed of the video and track together and let me get it right down to the millisecond. This also allowed me to put all the clips together with a backing track and mute all the videos I took, by building up the layers. This made the final video look professional and without any real vocals just the ones in the real song. I also had the option of rendering the song in several different formats. Throughout editing I would keep checking what the video looked like by continuously rendering in a small bad quality. The reason for this is as it was quicker than in a high quality. When I did my final render it was in 1080p Full HD, which was a high quality which lest my blurriness or distortion.

·         HD Video Camera – I used this to film the whole of my music video. The camera was good as it films in full HD. This meant that I could get really good quality footage, making my video professional.

·         Spot Lights – I used these when shooting my music video, the shots were lit from the air, and this was a great source of lighting as it mad the band stand out but didn’t make the back drop too light. This did create shadow, but that was eliminated by the free standing lights.

·         Free Standing lights - I used these both for my ancillary texts, in the pictures and in the music video. These were used to provide lighting to the people but also to eliminate shadows meaning that my video looked better and my pictures have less shadow.

·         White Backdrop – I used this when I was taking the pictures for my ancillary texts as it provided a blank background. I chose to do this as this made the shots easy to frame and made them look professional.

·         Photoshop – I used this to put together several layers creating my digipack and magazine advert. Using this software allowed me to put together layer by layer pictures and sexts as well as adjusting the contrasts to create a sharper picture. I was also able to freely move exerything around, only view the layers I wanted and merge any layers that needed moving. This was undoubtedly a key part in creating my media products.

Draft Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation Question 3: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Since starting my research and planning I have had feedback from several people. Primarily, the majority of feedback came when doing my ancillary texts and music video. Most of my feedback was verbal from my friends, which are all of similar age and listen to the same genre of music. This was ideal as they were my target audience. They all pitched ideas for the music video, giving me a wide variety to choose from. Quotes like ‘well in the (……..) video, they did this,’ ‘why don’t we copy the (……..) video,’ were used a fair amount. Most of the feedback was positive and helped me to make the video I did, however some were probably better if said earlier. My friends helped me to decide what pictures to use on my digipack, what to call the band and what songs went on the album. So their feedback helped me a vast amount, as they were the target audience and I wanted it to be as realistic as possible.

I also created a twitter account for the band, for people to tweet me feedback, however not much feedback was gained this way. For a start I didn’t gain many followers, as well as having to change the band name which meant creating a new twitter, that wasn’t generating feedback, would be a nonstarter. This meant I could better use my time to stick to the schedule.

The teachers gave me a huge amount of feedback for everything I did. I received comments on blog posts, face to face, feedback on post it notes, on paper and annotations on my work. The teachers told me what to change and what needed adding to my ancillary texts to make them both 10/10, both by writing on post it notes, annotating my printouts and various conversations. Other feedback I received was on my video, feedback face to face and on paper helped me to both improve my video and remember what I had to improve for the second lot of filming. The teachers helped me to follow the mark scheme and gain a higher mark by doing as many of the things on the list as possible.

When talking to my parents about making my video they suggested that I add some fun shots to the video. The reason we discussed this was to add continuity between my ancillary tasks and video. The front panel of my digipack and the main image on my magazine advert are both fun images and we discussed continuing with the theme and trying to incorporate it into my video. When I researched music videos, I didn’t come across many that used this style, so I decided to stick with conventions and go against the fun theme in the video and keep it uniform with serious shots of the band.

I also had peers on my class comment on my blog posts. The peers on my class were part of my target audience as they are of similar age and the people who commented also like the genre. They commented and gave me feedback on my 25 word pitch, which was ultimately my initial idea for the video. Feedback included thinking carefully about the location I will choose to use for my video as it has to look right for the genre. As well as this I had to think about the lighting, which again made me thing about the location, as I wanted to use spot lighting, the venue needed to have the facilities. After collaborating with the band, who are also my target audience we decided that we could do it after college on the stage in the hall as there was lighting and a black backdrop. I then had to change location, as the lighting was too advanced and needed a professional and the hall was unavailable on days that I needed. This brought me to drama the final location, with spotlights in the ceiling and a black backdrop this was ideal. I asked the peers in my class weather this was a good idea and they said the location was great as long as I framed it right.

After receiving a huge amount of feedback from several groups of people, I took all the opinions into account when making my video. I made sure that even the people who weren’t part of my target audience got their feedback across and told me what they thought I should do and should improve. All in all the feedback helped massively to gain ideas and improve.

Draft Evaluation Question 2

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

When creating my products, I decided to use the same fonts on both the magazine advert and digipack for the band name. I did this as bands usually have their own font, which helps people to distinguish different bands. I used the font both on the spine of the digipack and the front cover as well as across the middle of the advert; this gives something to easily distinguish the band by. This gives a sense of unity and helps people to recognise the band by visualising the logo as well as remembering the name. I also used the same record company and logo on both my digipack and magazine advert, as well as putting the company website on both products, giving my band an identity and a sense of belonging to a big company. This gives a sense of cohesion.

I decided to use a similar colour scheme for both the magazine advert and the digipack. The colour palette I used was red, black and white, which were all colours I had text in. I kept this colour palette the same throughout as it kept my work looking professional and uniform. I used mainly a white back ground, with black and white pictures and red or black writing, giving the magazine advert and the digipack a sharp clean look. The look was added to by keeping everything uniform and straight, again making them both look professional. My video was kept sharp with straight shots with little movement and no canted angle shots used. This was done by filming by hand as using a tripod was getting in the way of the microphone stand. I used uniform shots which were repeated throughout, with several mid-shots, close-ups etc…

As well as this I have used the same 4 band members in each of my products. Some bands use either family members, models or photographs as their album covers, but I decided for the purpose of continuity I would keep the same band members. Examples of bands who have used people other than themselves are; Bombay Bicycle Club, Vampire Weekend, Tyler the Creator and the Vaccines. This shows that my products have continuity in that they don’t differ. In addition, I used the same picture on the advert as I used for the cover of my digipack, creating continuity. I chose to do this as most bands use the same image on their adverts as they do for their album covers. This is a convention of most bands in most genres. Ideally, I would have liked the band to be wearing the same clothes in all of my products; however, this wasn’t feasible as the filming was done on separate back to back days.

My two ancillary texts are effective in working together to promote the album. They magazine advert and the music video work together to increase awareness and interest in the digipack/ album.  This shows that they work together and are an effective combination, as we can see that they are related.

Draft Evaluation Question 1

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

For my music video I chose to use the style performance. This follows conventions of similar music videos in the genre. Examples of similar bands/ artists that have made performance videos are; Kings of Leon – Supersoaker, Kasabian – Club Foot, Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit. All of these music videos use the band performing as the main content of their video, with the main focus of the performance on the lead singer. My video follows similar conventions to the Kings of Leon video in that there are more shots of the lead singer than anyone else in the video. Much the same as Supersoaker I have chosen to use a variety of different shots of the lead singer, ranging from extreme close ups to long shots.

The lighting I chose to use also follows conventions of similar genre music videos. I chose to use low lighting which creates an eerie feel on stage. I used this in my music video to add to the vibe given by the transgressive lyrics which are a key part of the genre. The low lighting made the dark stage look powerful which I thought added well to the effect I wanted to give.

The band itself follows some forms, whilst challenging others, in that they have been styled to dress like a rock band. Rock bands tend to dress in dark clothes, dark shirt and dark jeans etc… They follow the forms in the way they are dressed, but they don’t have the right image in the face or hair. Common rock bands have long dark hair and beards, and are styled to look like a rock band. The chosen members of my band all have different images and different looks about them. They look more like a band called Weezer, which is a band of the same genre. Each individual in the band looks different, so in a way yes they follow some conventions and yes they challenge some conventions, but so do real professional bands.

When doing my research and planning for my music video we looked at a theory by Andrew Goodwin. We looked at 7 different key aspects, that an audience should be aware of in music videos. I used a grid to make comments and show evidence of these aspects in music videos I analysed. When completing my music videos I had to take these into account and work out which were the best to follow.  I used 2 of the ideas in my music video, which were close-ups and central focus on the star, (in my case the star was the lead singer) and I tried to follow genre characteristics with the low lighting. I found when looking at similar videos to mine, analysing and finding out what key aspects they used helped. I feel that I could have incorporated more of the 7 key aspects by doing a narrative video. Most of the videos I researched used 4 or more of the 7 aspects of Goodwins theory, so in the sense that I used only 2 my video challenges conventions of real media products.

Location Change

Unfortunately I had to change location from the school main stage to the drama department. The reasoning behind this was that i wanted to keep continuity in my video and I was unable to film on the main stage when I needed to. The drama room is free and was easy to set up in as it is easier to access. Another reason for my change is that the lighting was better in drama as I could use the spotlights in the ceiling as well as the free standing lights, which removed almost all shadow. As well as this it made the band bright whilst keeping the background dark following the conventions of my genre. Where as on the main stage, I was unable to use the lights as it was only available if used by a professional.

Feedback on video

A2 Music Video Draft 1

A2 Music Video Draft - Killers - Mr Brightside

MAGAZINE ADVERT

DIGIPACK

Thought behind 'FUN BAND'

I wanted to portray a fun band that aren’t so serious and can have fun as well as perform. I feel that as well as the front cover following conventions of other bands, by having a 4 quadrant picture, it also makes the band look fun. This is backed up and emphasized by the panel under the CD which shows a fun picture of the band.