Evaluation

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

Our video was conventional to its genre as it followed some of the norms and conventions of other videos in its genre. One video which influenced me was the remake of the KT Tunstall video. Although this video wasn't perfect it followed the conventions. There was some good scenery shots which did inspire us as we felt it would go well with the song and genre. The camera work and location also inspired me. These involved close ups of the artist and the inner city location of this video worked well with the song.

The video showed me plenty of things which I shouldn't do. The shots were extremely slow paced and I felt that a song like this would be better suited to faster paced shots.

                                                                      INFLUENCE

                                            

    VOICE OVER EXPLANATION

Because of the genre and in particular style of the song, I felt that there was no option but to follow the conventions, rather than challenge them. I considered challenging them by following methods used by very mainstream artists. For example, using the green screen and a set much more or putting plenty of make up on the artist. However, I felt this would not have worked with this artist and the conventions of this particular genre.

Other ways in which I followed the conventions, was to include the guitar in the video and digipack. This prop is definitely conventional to this genre and by including it in the video and digipack, it makes them look more professional. The nature shots, for example the leaves, grass and scenery shots worked well with the artist and her earthy personality.

I also did challenge the conventions of the 'pop' genre by not including so much editing and special effects. This is because it would not have been well suited to the artist or the song itself so editing was done but kept to a minimum.

I decided to use the conventions of the 'BBC Pop' genre when creating the digipack. I made the writing clear and bold for the audience to see. There is nothing extravagant as I felt over editing and adding too many effects would challenge the conventions and look unprofessional. The image on the front cover has been touched up in photoshop to keep her skin clear and photogenic.  The back includes the logo of the record company, the barcode, website of the artist, website of record label and the information on copyright and distribution.

For the advert I followed the conventions by adding the copyright and record label logo's. After studying some other artists' adverts, I noticed most included reviews. So for mine I included two good reviews from famous newspapers which followed conventions. The writing is big and bold and the logo's of where you can purchase the album is clearly visible. The release date and promotion for hit singles are also conventional for adverts to have, which is why I have included them in mine.

2. How effective is the combination of your main product (video) and ancillary texts (digipack and advertisement)?

Password = Student

I believe the link between the music video and its ancillary products were quite clear and consistent. Here are in which ways they linked.

The first link is the picture of the artist shown on all three products.

The title of the album is shown on the digipack and advertisement.

The colour scheme (grey) is linked through the digipack and advert.

The font is linked between the digipack and advert.

The video is called 'Suddenly I see' as is the album (written on it) and on the advert it promotes 'Suddenly I see.'

The digipack has a photo of Carnaby Street which is shown in the video and is quite iconic and recognisable to the audience.

The record label info links in the digipack and advertisement.

I believe that the ancillary texts are successful and work. I think my target audience would be attracted because it goes along with the artist's personality and her audience's personality. It also attracts a much wider audience, especially the older audience because of the neutral tone of the digipack and advert. The text written on the ancillary products were bold and direct. I believe the text on the advert in particular was very successful as it highlighted everything the audience needed to know and also included good reviews and promotion of the hit singles. These two points would further attract the audience and is effective to create excitement to the audience.

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

RESEARCH
- Use of Web (youtube, google, vimeo, myspace, wikipedia)

CONSTRUCTION
- Blogger, Photoshop, Quark, Final cut pro, Video Camera, Digital camera.

PLANNING
-Moodboard, google

EVALUATION
- Powerpoint, Microphone, Blogger, Vimeo, Youtube

    

I used a HD video camera - JVC 3CCD. This was used to record the shots of our video. The memory cards were inserted inside both the digital camera and the video camera at all times. This was to make sure everything we shot was saved.



                                                              Moodboard - (Planning)


For our research I used a number of websites including google, wikipedia and youtube. To create the moodboard for planning I went onto www.google.com and used the image feature. The images I chose were then printed and cut out to be stuck on.

Final Cut Pro - The split screen effect - (Construction)

To create the split screen effect which was used effectively in our video, we used the crop tool as shown below to crop two different clips. The two clips were then dragged down below on in line with each other and manually split on the screen by selecting and dragging them.

                                                                  
                                                         Photoshop editing (Construction)

I used photoshop to edit the photo we took from the digital camera.  Here I used the spot healing brush tool to clear out small spots which were visible as it was a medium close up shot. This button (shown next to the arrow) was clicked and you then rub over the spots which you can see. This was used to make the image look more professional.






                                                                  Quark - (Construction)

This is quark which was used to fit our pages onto the digipack. The images were imported through file then import and were placed directly in these boxes.


  Blogger - Embedding video + Links, Adding Pictures and video (Construction)

These three icons at the top were used to embed videos and link to my blog and also add picture and video.

Youtube - embed code, searching and links (planning, research, evaluation and planning)

To get the embed code, I clicked the 'Embed' button underneath. I then copied and pasted this into blogger. For research, I typed in music relating to kt tunstall and possible remakes at the top in the space provided. Also the links on the right had side were used as well.

Powerpoint - planning

Storyboard - (Planning)

4.)  What have you learned from your audience feedback?

WRITTEN FEEDBACK

This is feedback left by one individual in class. I learnt that what we had planned had worked very well with the audience. The feel good vibe which we hoped to gain was shown in this feedback as was the Mise en scene with the guitar. I learnt that natural lighting in the daytime is clearly not enough and that some sort of artificial lighting may be needed.



SECOND WRITTEN FEEDBACK

This is another feedback left by an individual in class. This taught me that the video looked professional and the pace of the shots were on time with the beat. It told me that it may be best to use the camera handheld more often as this was a big plus point with the feedback.

RECORDING OF FEEDBACK

Not only did we get a pretty good feedback from the noise made in the cinema, we also managed to record feedback outside the cinema. Both these feedbacks confirmed that what we intended to do in the planning came across well to the audience. The feel good factor to the song was highlighted as was the quality of our shots. We had gained feedback on our rough cut version from the first person and gained more after and improved the shots which was left before.

I believe overall our video could of done with improvements. I believe the costume was slightly lazy and could have been improved to fit in more with the conventions of a pop genre. Also the lighting on some of the side shots could of been better. However I believe overall the video did follow the conventions and had much more positives than negatives. 

Prior to having gained feedback, I didn't know whether the video was good or bad. By gaining feedback it allowed me to decide how I really felt on the video. My doubts of the shot angles were never highlighted in the feedback which was a positive and some of the positives, for example, the way in which the shots go in beat with the music, I had never previously acknowledged until hearing and seeing feedback. 

Jpeg of completed Digipack

Jpeg of completed Advertisement

Do's and Don't (planning)

For the final digipack and advertisement I have written an overview of the do's and donts. I looked at the digipacks of similar artists and of KT Tunstall herself. To keep it conventional there are some things you should do and some things you should not do, these are:

Do


Make the font clear and visible. This record needs to stand out amongst others.

Use good images. Bad images should be edited until they look professional.

Use at maximum three different colours. Too many colours could make the digipack look unprofessional.

Include logo of record company and barcode. This is to make the digipack more professional and fit to sell in stores.

Use natural light in images. Try to keep the digipack professional and stylish, but try to keep it original also so it is conventional to its genre and taste.

Dont


Overstretch images. Overstretched images look unprofessional and would not look nice.

Over edit the digipack to make it look like an electro/glamour album. The album and artist is quite original and the digipack should be kept original as well.

Use more than 3 colours.

Make writing small and unclear.

Add too much writing.

Shortlist of fonts colours, layout and design ideas AND photos I plan to use on digipack AND mock up of digipack and advertisment (planning X 4))

This is just the rough drawing of what I had planned for the digipack. I wanted a sideshot photo of the artist and I wanted something different for the back. 

This is a photo that we took from the digital camera. I want to add the picture to the digipack because it looks conventional to the genre and to the artists character. 

This is another photo that we took of the artist. I wanted to put this onto the digipack because it demonstrates the relaxed 'earthy' personality of the artist. I do not want to edit this picture too much (only slightly) because the artist is not a glamorous type and more original. The props we wanted was the guitar and the scenery was quite basic and nothing out of the normal which is exactly what I wanted.

This is a rough idea of what I wanted my advert to look like. I wanted to keep the font clear and visible and also keep it normal and not too extravagant. I wanted all designs and editing to go with the style and personality of the artist.

Photo shoot 14/12/10 - Planning

Today, we decided to do a photo shoot for our digipack. As we decided that we needed better shots.
To begin we thought about the shots that we wanted for our panels.

We experimented with lighting and shutter speeds in the studio and ended up with a range of shots at our disposal for our digipack.

Feedback movie-Production

Analysis of three digipaks and three advertisements (research and planning)

During our lesson time we analysed digipaks and advertisements from previous students. Here a three digipaks and advertisements from established artists that I will be analysing and researching.

Here is the digipak and advertisement for Madonna.

The colour scheme and fonts is conventional to the genre is represents. It has quite a few vibrant energetic colours which aims to show the style of the music and Madonna herself. I noticed that on the advertisement, there are photos of her performing live. This gives the audience a taste of what it will be like to go on one of her shows.  There are quite a few different colours, however the over use of colours is at least maintained in every part of the digipack, adding to the wacky editing, it makes the digipak still look professional. 

Feedback

Music Video Final Edit

Japhet Mesfin, Hannah St Jean, Max Lee, Kayleigh Gillane from 283goswell on Vimeo.

Music Video Rough Cut -Production

Analysis of a sequence from the rough cut that we have plans of changing because of feedback from our teacher -Production

We have decided to change this sequence because of the repetitiveness of the shots that was noted by our tutor. We will most likely be replacing this with a variety of close ups and other shots and reducing the number of cuts so it does not seem so disorientating.  

Below is the same sequence after we changed some of the shots. We used a wider variety of shots instead of just switching back and forth between only two. The wider variety makes the sequence less disorientating and more of a pleasure to watch especially when on a bigger screen. 

Feedback from rough cut-Production

Photos from filming session 6/11-Production

Originally we had planned to film on the 5th, but because of the predicted rainy weather, we had to film on the next day.

Filming Session Two Feedback- Production

Pitch (planning)

This is the section of the pitch that I presented.

Practice Digipack (planning)

Here is the outer cover. However in the real one I will also need to create the inside cover and possibly more panels. However this is a layout and design of some practice that I got with the programme.

Audience Task (planning)

This is Ann. Ann is 20 years old and studies a English degree in Cambridge university. She enjoys the fine arts, theater, sketching and horse riding. She has a laidback lifestyle and spends her time walking and enjoying scenery, reading fictional boooks and reading magazines. She enjoys travelling and visiting cities with history and culture. She enjoys eating healthy foods and is a strict vegan because of her love of all animals. She enjoys the nightlife and enjoys the odd glass of wine, but is a very responsible drinker. She plays many instruments including the guitar, piano and flute.

Her love of this music is because of the relaxed laidback approach that it has, which goes well with her personality.

Shots of Potential Location- Planning

The shots below are some of the places in central London that we were thinking of filming.

Mood board (planning)

Our mood board was part of our planning. This displayed what we planned for our video. For example the props, the shots and creative idea's that showed the mood of our song.

Here are our photos: