Section 1A of the exam

13. How do you plan to use digital technology in the production of your 3 products?

Music video

In the music video, we will be using HD cameras to shoot the footage. Once we have finished shooting we will then use the SD cards to upload the footage to our hard drive. Once uploaded,  we will be using editing software, Final Cut Pro to edit the music video.

When shooting footage, we will also be using, tripods and lighting when necessary. 
Once we have finished editing, the video will need to be rendered and converted to quicktime and uploaded to the blog. 

Digipack

For the practise digipack, we took some sample shots, these shots are somewhat unrelated to the video, but as these are only sample shots we will be using a digital camera whilst filming to get "behind the scenes" photos and on set location shots that could be included in the digipack.
For the sample digipack, I used photoshop elements to add text and the barcode and also to have the two pictures side by side. Whilst making the real digipack I may use photoshop elements and I will also be using QuarkXpress to form a 6-8 panels. Once finished, I will upload it to the blog as I did with the sample digipack and there may be a brief explanation of how it appeals to the target audience, and what the aim was. 
Below is the sample digipack.

Advert
The advert will be made using QuarkXPress, upon completion, it will be uploaded to blogger  where we will talk about how it would appeal to our target audience. 

14. How have you used conventions from real media text in your planning? 

While planning shots for the music video, using an array of shots was key. The array of shots keeps the audience interested and adds to the perspective of the video. As well as using an array of shots, close up shots are shots that need to be used frequently as they allow the audience to identify with the artist. The artist looking directly into the camera makes the audience feel like she is talking directly to them.

In the digipack the front and back cover are of the artist so that when someone picking it up, the first thing they will see is the artist and her name and will be able to make a snap judgement about if they like the artist based on her appearance or not. As our audience is very wide, most people would identify with the artist as she is a dressed casually and isn't wearing piles of make up she is simple normal, just like them. The colours and the font of the writing draw people in as the font is big and bold, the colours are bright and aren't too artificial and it looks like a nice area she is in.

The advert too needs to draw the audience in by catching their eye. Again, using the same colour scheme as the digipack so that all three products link together, each reminding one of the other. The advert would need to feature the artist in as otherwise, the audience may not know who it is, also if they are seeing the advert before they have seen the music video or the digipack, they would need to be able to make the judgement on the artist.

15. What have you learned about research and planning a production, compared to AS? 

I have learnt that, when planning for a Thriller film you need to conform to the conventions that a Thriller film has; and when researching, ideas are created from the research and it also teaches you about what to do and what not to do.
The same principles of learning from the research still apply, but even more so as with music videos they need to fit their respective genre and if it is not done well then it can end up looking bad. 
With A2 the the planning must be done extensively and throughly as if not done, when filming and editing, you will not know what to do and where the story of your video is going.
I feel that the research that has already been done has helped a great deal as with our music video, it is in the genre of indie pop, but it doesn't exactly fall into those genres. With this genre it is like if the BBC made pop, this is what the result would be. It isn't like regular pop videos where the girls are made up and are wearing little to no clothing doing choreographed dances; That's where the indie element comes in.
As a group we have had to study the genre to come up with ideas that will show our video as an original video, but it will still conform to the genre. 


In our Thriller film, we didn't need an array of shots as some of the shots just wouldn't work with what we were trying to achieve. For the music video, we need lots and lots of different shots to keep the audience entertained and to fill the gaps of the pace of the editing. Extreme close ups and close ups are essential as it is an artist therefore the video needs to focus on the narrative (if there is a narrative) but even more so on the artist's face as that is what the audience will identify with.

With the thriller and the music video, mise en scene are still very important aspects as the wrong type of clothing, could send the wrong message to the audience. For instance, as the genre of our song is indie pop, the artist needs to be dressed in casual clothes and not too revealing, the artist also needs to not be wearing too much make up and suitable shoes. An importnat part of our mise en scene is a guitar. The artist writes and plays her own music, the use of a guitar will reflect this. 


The digipack also needs to be done in a way that conforms to the genre just as in AS. The digipack allows the audience to take another look and the digipack should remind them of the video and make them want to watch the video again and again. Certain elements of the digipack need to be the same as the music video, such as the setting and the same clothes.  This will remind them of the video.