Evaluation

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

I have created a short video, answering this evaluation question: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpR6ueTDjZA&feature=youtu.be 

Script from video: 
"I have compared a few clips from my music video to a Lucy Rose video 'middle of the bed'. The similar props, actresses and locations demonstrate the similarites that lie between the videos, proving the conventions of my own music video. As well as this, I feel that it highlights the differences; such as the light leaks and the more rural locations, challenging the usual conventions my chosen genre. 
I choose Lisa as my actress as her general look, clothing style and hair style, fits with the usual conventions of an 'indie' singer. Her blond wavy hair and carefree attitude, enabled clips similar to a typical indie music video. 
Locations such as sand dunes and beaches are similar to the Ben Howard video of old pine. This allows my video to stick to conventions of 'indie' media products by having a location that the target audience can relate to. It also allows shots to explore the location as part of the videos narrative."


Applying Andrew Goodwins Theory:  


1. The locations of nature, outdoors and the beach, follow the usual conventions and expectation of an acoustic, indie music video! Appealing to the expected conventions of the target audience.

2. As the lyrics 'moving on' are in the song, I have placed my actress on her own, reflecting upon her situation. As well as this she is 'rolling on' whilst on a bike and 'wears out feet' cuts to a shot of the actresses shoes. 
3. On a particually upbeat section on the song, I have placed a clip of Lisa laughing and blowing bubbles. 

4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artists and the artist may develop motifs which reoccur across their work (a visual style)

5. There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes etc and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body)


Conventional aspects of my digipack include the following:

  

Conventional aspects of my poster are as follows:

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

What have you learned from your audience feedback?


I have created a short video answering the video side of this question...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5wfLpmJ2Eg&feature=youtu.be





Before I began creating my music video, as part of the planning stage, I used www.surveymonkey.com, in order to collect information of typical expectations that my audience had of indie music video The results informed me of what my audience expected; such as costumes and locations; such as plain clothing, consisting of jeans and plain t shirts. Most people also expected beach/natural locations; I stuck to both of these conventions in order to stick to my chosen genre and   appeal to my chosen target audience.
After this, I began to create my anamatic from a hand drawn storyboard, the use of feedback from my class told me that although they liked the general concept of my music video, they would like to see a bit more movement; using the dolly. 
After Privately uploading my music video to youtube and gaining feedback from my class members, feedback taught me that I needed to make my narrative more obvious and have a little more movement in my video. This lead me to go out again and shoot about another minutes worth of footage; weaving this into my music video a  llowed the narrative to be alot more obvious and improved the whole thing overall.
As I uploaded my final music video, I shared the link on social networking sites such as twitter and facebook, allowing to gain comments and feedback on what my target audience thought of my music video. As well as this, 'likes' and comments on the youtube video link informed me of what other people were thinking. Overall the feedback was very positive, with people particularly mentioning that they liked the location, as well the effects such as the light leaks and the dust scratches.


The majority of the feedback that I gained for my ancillary tasks came from other members of my media class, after it was projected on to the big screen:


'Love the contrasting colours of the digipack, very convincing'
'Everything is easy to read but still interesting, cooooool!'
'Nice locations and photography- works will with video'
'Works well, could of used more brushes on the cover maybe'
'very conventional convincing hmv poster'


Together with feedback from social networking such as Facebook; overall I am very happy with my feedback, which is mainly positive, only mentioning that a few more brushes could have been used to improve the digipack.


OVERALL, I feel that through the use of survey monkey, social networking as well as peer feedback has enabled to develop my products over the course of my coursework, by learning typical aspects expected by my target audience and improving on these factors! :)  




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


I have created a short film answering this question: 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6Sycqy4Mag&feature=youtu.be

SCRIPT from film:
"For my research and planning, I began by using iCal to plan my time out, arranging how long I would spend analyzing each research video. It allowed me to manage my time well by sticking to deadlines, arranging filming times with the rest of my class and planning out how long each digipack or poster would take to create.

Using safari on the Mac G5, I looked at music videos of a similar genre to the one that I was going to choose; indie. I logged on to youtube and vimeo and took screen grabs, (using cmd shift, 4) of camera angles, shots and locations that I liked, and might use a similar idea for. 

Using my online blog, I uploaded my screen grabs and anayzed the photos. This is a screenr of my blogger homepage; consisting of my published posts. I also used the scanner to scan in my hand drawn storyboard. 

For my construction,
I began practicing digipacks and posters on InDesign, importing photographs that I had taken, and adding conventions and texts to make them look like a professional media product. I also used photoshop to edit my images and delete the white backgrounds off typical conventions. Here are some screen grabs of my creating my products.
For my actual filming, I used the canon 7d, as well as the tripod and dolly. This high end equipment allowed many interesting shots, using depth of field etc.
For constructing my main music video, I first compressed my footage on compressor. After this, I imported my footage into Final Cut Pro, where I edited it together, as well as overlaying light leaks and other effects.
Using After Effects, I have able to add in the text at the start of the song; consisting of the artists name, album name and song. 
Websites such as 1001fonts.com and brusheezy.com allowed my to download fonts and brushes. Installing and including these in my ancillary tasks allowed me to create professional, interesting media products. 
For my evaluation, I used online programs such as Survey Monkey- in order to collect research and collect feedback. As well as this, i used iMovie to create short films of my progress, as well as social networking such us Facebook, Twitter, and again YouTube, to share my film and gain comments."

Feedback

First Draft:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLmHqF9IIG8&feature=share&list=UUoTepyGEdF9TcqD56scLPPg

After uploading my first draft as a private video to YouTube; I gained the following feedback from other members of my media class:

'The effects look great and add well to the atmosphere but I think that the narrative is diffucult to follow'
'Interesting shots and nice locations, but could there be a way to tie them together?'
'Makes you smile... fits well in the genre.'
'Scratches look good, maybe a few too many light leaks though!'
'Love it, good choice of actors and location, maybe a slightly easier narrative to follow'
'Could have a bit more depth of field to make it look profesh'
'Easy listening and easy watching- suits the 'indie' genre'
'Fun but a little difficult to follow.'

From this feedback on www.surveymonkey.com, that I asked my media class to fill out for me; I learnt that I would need to make my narrative a little easy to follow but maintain the easy, light atmosphere.
Due to this; I decided to include another character; a boy of a similar age. It would consist of the 'couple' taking photographs together, laughing and relaxing together. The 'photoshoot' would be a way to tie the locations together, as well as adding another aspect, by allowing me to create some 'through the camera' style shots. I went back out to film a another 30 secs-1 min of footage and edited these back into my film.

Final Ancillary Task

Final Music Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=UUoTepyGEdF9TcqD56scLPPg&feature=player_embedded&v=x--yHNEAdTc

Construction post- Music Video

A short construction video: Firstly, showing on site footage me filming a section of my music video, secondly, using Screenr.com, I was able to record myself downloading fonts and brushes to use for my ancillary tasks, as well as demonstrating how to overlay light leaks and compressing footage to allow editing easier in FCP.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRzYOA5GV5Q&list=UUoTepyGEdF9TcqD56scLPPg&index=1&feature=plcp

Compressing my footage before importing it into FCP, allowed me to create my music video, without having to render a clip after each movement or cut. Here are screen grabs of me doing this process;

After selecting my clips, I simply had to drag them into compressor, highlight all my footage and select the setting that I wanted. (In this case 422) 

 After selecting footage that was suitable for the simple, indie narrative that I has chosen, I was able to begin cutting, editing and placing clips in an appropriate order, ensuring that I was cutting clips to the beat of the song.

Construction post- Ancillary Tasks

In order to create my poster and digipacks I had to take photographs of my actress in similar locations to that of my video. I held two different photo-shoots, one at the same time as filming, in the same locations and costumes, and another along the sand dunes in a range of outfits; though still sticking to the conventions of the acoustic/indie genre. These photos are shown in the following contact sheets: 

Although I prefer the photo shoot that I held on a different day to shooting my footage, as the light is better and therefore creates a more interesting composition, the following contact sheets also reflect a few photos which atmosphere could contrast well to the sun and brightness, with a windy, darker atmosphere. These also stick more the music video/digipacks conventions by maintaining the locations throughout the products. 

Using a digipack template and CD cover template, I was able to begin creating my digipack on InDesign. Using tools such as the 'type on path tool' I was able to add text around the outside of my CD and create a professional looking product. 

As I felt that my main cover photo was slightly boring... I began editing it in photoshop.

In order to put a back ground underneath my CD, I had to export the CD cover as jpeg file, upload it onto photoshop, add a new layer and delete the white background, and then export it as a PNG file... I feel that this aspect makes my product look more professional that a simple white background. 

On the website www.brusheezy.com, I was able to download brushes that I could use on photoshop to add to my photographs in order for them to look more professional and interesting. Using them I was able to create simple backgrounds out of texts, maps and other cool brushes. 

^ an example of using brushes on my images to create an interesting effect to put them in my booklet. 

Again using photoshop I was able to delete white backgrounds of conventions such as production company logos to maintain a professional front on my product.

As well as brushes, the use of downloading and installing fonts from the internet allowed me to improve the quality of my media product. 

Although I feel that the brushes on the backgrounds look kind of cool, I feel that it looks a little 'media student'y and therefore want to use a photograph in order to improve the quality. 

Having changed the backgrounds to photographs I feel that my product looks much more interesting. The contrast between the opposing blues and yellows on opposite sides of the digipack, allows it to be eye catching and engaging. The message from the artist also allows the audience to relate by making them feel connected and part of the experience of the music. 

FINAL DIGIPACK ^

POSTER

Again, using InDesign, I added in photoshopped conventions and aspects of a conventional HMV poster using downloaded fonts and logos, to photographs similar to those taken for my digipack. The copy right text is also another aspect that contributes to the conventional poster. 

^ conventional HMV font

^ Warner brothers and WSM logos

 Using photoshop and InDesign, I was also able to create a draft 'booklet' for my digipack; this would consist of photography of my actress, as well as lyrics from the album of the song and notes from the 'artist.'