Embedded Poster (Final Poster Design)

Embedded Digipak (Final Digipak Design)

Embedded music video (Final Music Video)

EQ4 - How did you use technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

EQ4 - How did you use technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Technology has contributed to a large extent within the process of making my music video. Without technology within the process of making my music video I would have struggled as it allowed me to create a product that was the best it could be. The Apple Mac played a very important role and helped me significantly as it holds all the programs and content I need. With the Macs I found it useful that anything you’ve created stays on that one computer as it makes it easier for us keep everything together. However this also caused problems for our group as there was another group editing on that computer which meant that we had to construct a timetable of when we used the computer and when they did.

Also Google Chrome played a significant role in the research and planning for my music video, as I was able to research the codes and conventions of typical pop music videos. My use of Google ensured that I was able to research generic conventions of music videos and the different narrative structures they posses. This enabled us to identity the weaker elements to the music video and the stronger videos and also helped us collect feedback from our target demographic. This then gave us access to YouTube, which was the main source of our research and planning; as I was able watch other music videos that fit in with my genre. Also with out end product we uploaded it onto YouTube, which ensured that our audience could watch the music, which fits with David Gauntlet’s Web 2.0 theory where the audience independently finds what they want to on the Internet and with my music video being on YouTube they were able to access it independently.

Blogger is very significant in the process of research and planning as it meant that we were able to put all of the documents we need together onto a blog in which we can access from anywhere. This website was very useful also as it meant that when looking back on our work or deciding what we need to improve we were able see it all.

For our initial ideas we felt it would be beneficial to document it onto prezi as its different to PowerPoint and word and gives the audience a visual and interactive aspect to the research and planning. With prezi it also allowed me to document a lot of information and different subheadings for the information, which helped separate, the large amount of writing we were prepared to write. 

Another software that helped us within the process of planning was PhotoFunia, which allowed us to choose normal images, and change then into drawing which made out storyboard look more professional and presentable. We also created this on Word as we felt it was the easiest way to create the storyboard and meant that we could create a template for it. This helped us as the technology we had access to now in A2 media is more developed and efficient then in our AS productions. This also helped us as it meant that our storyboard wasn’t as simplistic as before and that we were able to visualize what our music video would actually look. This helped us decide on what types of shots we wanted to use as we felt that it would be affective if we used close ups of the artists face to fit in with the notion of viewing (male gaze theory by Laura Mulvey) as the artist was wearing red lipstick and the male audience tend to like red lipstick on women which would provide our group with a secondary audience of males.

Then to upload my coursework onto blogger I used scribd as it allowed me to share my work on my blog as it provides me with a link to embed it. This allowed me to ensure that all my coursework is together and easy to access so that I am able to improve my work. Also this helps me ensure that I have done all my work as I can create a checklist so that I can keep up to date with all of my coursework.

Scribd helped me as it ensured that I was able to download my uploads onto any computer I was on to edit it if I need to make any last minute improvements to my work.

Also for me to get audience feedback I used a website called survey monkey. This helped ensure that I was able to get feedback from the audience by asking music video specific questions as it gave me an idea of who my target demographic was and meant that I was able to hear from them to tailor my music video for their needs. This also helped me make last minute changes to ensure that my product was the best that it could be. Survey monkey was a very helpful source as it was easy to use and meant that I could ask my audience questions both quantitative and qualitative. To then document the response I got from the questionnaire I used PowerPoint so that I could analyse what types of things my audience may want in our music video and what they would expect to see and this would allow us to refer back to the responses and decide who our target demographic are as we would then see what they would like abut our video and what the majority of them use to watch their videos on and why.

To then film our music video we used a Canon 600D SLR Camera to capture the footage we wanted. This ensured that the footage we captured was high definition and to a high standard. We were also able to practice our use of focus pull which helped us ensure our filming and footage were as professional and effective as it could be. Also this camera helped us ensure that we had a wide range of different angles and shots, which helped us, vary the perspectives we denote of our artist. To then edit this footage we used Final Cut Pro X as we already had experience in using this program and felt that it gave our work a very professional look to it and helped us create a product that was the best of our ability. This program also allowed us to layer the performance shots over the music video so that we could sync it all up and use the shots we wanted. This also helped us link the footage with the lyrics, which fits with Andrew Goodwin’s theory of relations between footage and lyrics and make synergistic links between narrative and performance.

With the camera we also took the images we wanted for our digipak and poster and edited these images on a website called pixlr. This website ensured that we could edit the saturation and contrast of the images o make them all the same type of lighting. With my digipak and poster I made my images very bright and colourful and ensured that they all had high key lighting, as I didn’t want some images to be dull and the others to be extremely bright. This also helped us when planning out the digipak as we could see what looked right and what didn’t. When planning out our digipak we used open office as it allowed us to make a template for the images we captured and edited. This made it easier for us to visualise our digipak, which allowed us to decide whether the digipak went well with the poster and if it fit with the music video well.

Overall, technology helped my group to a large extent in the construction and research, planning stages and evaluation stages of making my media product as I was able to construct very useful research and also was able to receive useful feedback from our target audience.

EQ3 - What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Evaluation Question 3

EQ2 - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

EQ1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

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

Before we embarked on filming our music video it was crucial that we conducted in depth research into music videos from within our music genre in order to broaden our knowledge on the typical codes and conventions for our genre.

This was to also ensure that we were able to make comparisons between our music video and other music videos of the same genre. This also determined what conventions we wanted to subvert from and what elements we didn’t like.

Editing within the production of our music video is very important as it determines the ending result of the music video. This is why we felt that we wanted to subvert the conventions of a typical pop music video. Within a typical pop video you would expect to see a set narrative and the editing to be very clean and carefully thought out. However as a group we decided that with our song it wouldn’t be right to have a set narrative as the song is about having fun which would explain why we then came to the decision of editing our footage into a montage of different shots denoting a group of friends having fun with each other and just enjoying being young.

Within a typical pop music video you would expect to see a set narrative. However our music video subverts to this as it has a montage of shots and doesn’t really include a set narrative as we felt that the song was about having fun so wanted to include a montage of shots denoting a group of friends having fun. Our music video also has a lot of filters, as we wanted to make sure all of the shots had similar lighting, as some originally are brighter than the rest. We also put a camcorder filter/effect onto a few of the shots to give the video a more personal feel to it which fits in with the Blummer and Katz theory of personal relationship as it would make them feel like they can relate to the video as it has more of a homemade feel to it. This fits in with Calvin Harris music video where it looks as if he is holding the camera. This could be seen as our intertexual link as this is a similar idea to what we used in our music video.

With narrative and structure we feel as though if we was to have a balance between the use of performance shots and narrative shots that we would have a bigger chance of ensuring that the audience don’t get bored easy as there is a wide rand of different shots and what they show as we are making sure that it isn’t just performance or narrative. We also wanted to avoid making our music video abstract, as it wouldn’t have fit with the song very well.

As a group we looked at the music video for our song and realized that the official music video for our song was abstract as a lot of the footage either fit with the lyrics or didn’t go with the lyrics at all. As a group we decided that we wanted to do the opposite of the original video as we wasn’t sure about how abstract it was and felt that it would’ve been better with more shots that link the footage and lyrics together.

We also came to the decision of making our music video a montage of shots so that we could show a wide variety of different locations with a group of friends enjoying themselves. This also meant that we would be subverting the typical pop music video as usually you would expect to see a couple having fun and going out together but we decided it would’ve been a better idea to base our music video around friends as its not usually seen within music videos. This idea was also more feasible than a couple idea as this meant we could just film random shots whenever we went out with our group of friends which ensured that it wasn’t the same people in the music video and that it wouldn’t be in the same location every time.

For our performance shots we wanted to make sure that there was a wide range of different angles and that the audience would’ve been able to see the artist from different perspectives. We made sure that the places we filmed the performance in quite different places so that it didn’t get repetitive.

With camera shots in a pop music it’s expected to see close-ups of different features of the female characters face to attract the male audience. Our music video conforms to this as we have a lot of close-ups of the artists face to fit in with the male gaze theory by Laura Mulvey. This conforms to the male gaze theory as there are close ups of the females face with her wearing red lipstick which men typically like on a women and can be seen as a seductive colour. This also attracts the female demographic as the red lipstick and makeup will attract them, as they are able to relate and appreciate the makeup as they also wear makeup. Also there were a lot of long/establishing shots denoting the locations to which we filmed in. This subverts to a typical pop video, as they don’t usually include many location shots. We felt that using these types of shots we would be able to make the audience feel like they could relate as they may recognize the locations which would allow them to gain a personal relationships (Blummer and Katz) as the video denotes young people having fun in a number of familiar locations.

Whilst looking for music videos that use a lot of close ups we found ‘Alex G – Roar’ this inspired us to use close-ups to denote the artist to the audience. Our use of close ups throughout the music video of the artist were to help the audience relate to the artist more as most girls wear makeup and even if they don’t they will be able to recognize that the artist is girly and takes pride in her appearance. This fits in with Blummer and Katz theory of personal relationships as the use of makeup denotes the artists personality and people may be able to relate to her which suggests that they would be more attracted to music video as they will feel as though they have a connection with the artist.

With my Digipak and Poster I followed the codes and conventions of the typical ones, as I wanted to ensure that they would be recognised. However I decided not to include too many images of the artist within the digipak as it can get repetitive so I chose to balance it out with shots that I got within the music video. Quite a few of my images were screenshots from the music video as I felt that it links the digipak to the music video quite well. I wanted to ensure this as it represents the music video more and advertises it more if they are linked.

However with my digipak I found it difficult choosing what images would look best on each panel and what images I wanted to use for my front cover and back page.

During the process of choosing the images for my digipak I chose an establishing shot of Brighton as the image that will go where the cd will be placed but changed my mind as the image of Brighton featured too much colour which made it hard to use as I was planning to place the logo onto it as well but couldn’t as there was too much white within this image. I then chose to use an image that featured in the music video as it was still colourful but worked better.

With mise en scene we looked at various different music videos one of them included ‘Alex G – Roar’ this video represents the type of lighting we planned to use as the lighting almost makes her glow. This music video also inspired us with the camera shots within the performance aspect of the video as there are close ups of her face at the start revealing her red lips, as a group we found that the red lips looked good and decided to have our singer wear red lipstick during the performance aspects of our video. Within this video there was high key lighting, as it was a bright day this made the shots look more vibrant and colourful which is something as a group we liked and decided we wanted to recreate for our performance shots. We made sure that the day we filmed would be bright and sunny day so that we could make the shots look as bright and exciting as this music video does. This fits the codes and conventions to a pop music video as you would expect there to be bright colours and high key lighting as it is usually a happy and cheerful mood being brought on by the music video which would influence the audiences mood as they will now feel happy from watching this video. Also ‘Tori Kelly - Paper Hearts' inspired my group with both location and props. Also within this video part of it is set in a funfair where Tori Kelly is denoted enjoying herself. This is the type of representation we want for our artist as we want her to be enjoying herself. This encouraged us to find the perfect locations to film in that were both practical/feasible and fun. We then made the decision to film a lot of our narrative footage in a park as it was easy to get to and we also decided that filming on the Brighton pier and in Brighton would be a very bright and happy place to film, which fit in perfectly with the lyrics of our song. In pop music videos high key lighting is usually evident as they usually would like the audience to feel happy and would want them to enjoy the video, as pop songs are usually quite cheerful and upbeat. That kind of lighting within the music video determines whether the song is supposed to make you feel happy or sad and with most pop videos the lighting is very bright to bring up the audiences mood. This conforms to the typical pop video as most of them involve very bright shots. This would be the dominant reading in Stuart Hall’s theory as you would expect to see high key lighting within a pop music video as the footage is usually very uplifting and light hearted to make the viewers feel happy and to divert them from any issues they have which fits in with Blummer and Katz theory of diversion as it will left them from whatever mood they are in and will make them feel happy depending on the type of pop song it is. Nicholas Abercrombie says that ‘media producers should stick to using the typical conventions in a music video as audiences are guaranteed to like them’ this connotes that if my group was to go with the typical conventions of a pop music video and use high key lighting or a love story that people would still like it as its what they are used to. My music video both subverts and conforms to this as we have used high key lighting like most pop videos would use but we haven’t gone with a typical love sorry/breakup narrative as we disagree with Nicholas Abercrombie as we feel that if we was to go for the typical pop video it would get boring quick. In the process of trying to find inspiration and ideas for our music video we looked at Tori Kelly’s Paper Hearts music video where they used Polaroid’s include the lyrics of the song in the video. We felt that this idea was cute and wanted to use it for our own music video however in the process of editing we decided that the concept of the polaroid’s wasn’t what we was going for. As a group we decided that our narrative would purely be a montage of different shots that link to the lyrics. This was our way of ensuring our footage and lyrics matched so that we could engage our audience. This would have been our intertexual reference as this idea was inspired by Tori Kelly’s music video however after filming the polaroid’s we realized that the lighting within the shots didn’t really match with our other shots as they are very bright.