AUDIENCE FEEDBACK.

'What have you learnt from your audience feedback?'

The audience have been a huge help through out the production of this project as they have been giving me feedback throughout the filming and editing process.
As I have been producing the music video, I had a lot of feedback and comments from my class mates about how it could be improved. I was told by one that I needed a wider range of shots, so I went out and re filmed some footage and added it into the music video. This was quite early on into the editing process so I was able to do this easily as I had a lot of time. I then went back and asked for some more feedback on my music video. This time, I was told that the performance shots lasted to long through the first part of video so I had to cut into the shots more often. They felt that it dragged on because of this. Therefore, I went out and retook some more performance shots using the studio this time as the weather was getting worse and I was not able to re take the shots done when the weather was good. I did look into some music videos that did have these sort of shots including a Lisa Mitchell one. I noted down what shots were used in the performance scenes and used some of these in my work when filming.

When completing the music video, I created a Youtube account and uploaded it to youtube asking for comments and feedback about the video. I got a few comments back. We both asked for feedback using social netwroking sites such as Facebook, Youtube and Tumblr. I also asked people within the school to come and take a look and give us some feedback.
Most of the feedback that we had back for our video was very useful to me as I found out what may target audience thought of my work. Some people commented and gave us ideas that we could have added into our music video.This person on the top line said that we should have used faster paced shots but to fit with the conventions of our genre, slower changes of shots is what makes the video more calmer and emotional which is what we were trying to achieve when producing it. Therefore, we could not change this without changing the emotional side of the song.This is a more positive feedback. They found the autumn location was very powerful and sets the genre very well. They also like the selection of shots and said that it does not over power the song.This person commented on the very last shot that was used within the video. I also agree with this. I feel that it makes the video more effective but also very personal towards the audience.This is another idea that we were given.


Feedback

I also asked people within our college to give us some feedback on our ancillary. Most of the feedback that we had from people was positive. Our audience liked the way I had brightened up the images and used a theme of paint splatter all the way through. Another person said they liked the fact that there was a comment page of the single as this would prove to the audience that it would be worth purchasing. They agreed they would buy this if seen on iTunes or in a shop such as HMV. The powerpoint above shows the changes i made to the front CD cover because of the feedback people had given me throughout the process.

Poster Feedback

The poster also got a lot of positive feedback, but there was a few people who felt it should link to the CD digipack a bit more as the poster is dark and does not create a link at all. Some people commented on the graphics of the poster and said that they found that is what caught thier eye. The title was very contrasted from the rest of the poster which they felt was the main aspect of the poster that stood out. The last peice of feedback I had on this was that the image is very dark up to the CD cover and they feel that it should be bright like the CD cover. SSo i took the time to re create the poster in a more suitable way for the audience. I also felt like the poster wasnt up to the standard of the CD cover so i decided to use the feedback my audience gave me and develop it into a poster that doesnt only promote the single, but to also show connections with the CD cover and the music video itself.

EVALUATION.

'How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research/planning and evaluation stages?'

RESEARCH:
Music Video: Within our research stages I used the internet a lot when it came to finding out about the genre, analysing different music videos etc.
I used the social networking site, Youtube to watch the videos and embedded them into my blog. We watched the video so we could find out about the conventions of an indie rock music video. We found out which locations, props, costume, and lighting etc. was used (mise en scene). Having Youtube as a well-known social networking site is a great advantage to me as so many videos are uploaded and give me great ideas. Looking at similar music videos gave me inspiration about different shots and locations I could use along with different storylines and the costumes. We tried out a variety of different techniques such as using the dolly. We used this within our music video and I found that it worked incredibly well as a simple narrative. The different locations also inspired me, such as the "Passenger- What Will become Of Us?" music video. This gave me the idea of using the countryside as a set location. Having the internet has been a fantastic advantage to me during the research process, because if I was unable to use the resorces I have had access to such as the social networking sites, I would have to watch the television or other places which would have been a lot more difficult to do.
Ancillary Task: I was also able to go on artist’s websites and find their album covers and posters that promote their songs. I was able to find out about strong convention of the genre and incorporate them within my work, but also challenge them at the same time by using block colour and brightness. This isnt so different from other artists now because all genres are becoming very similar to eachother because all the artists are experimenting with new things. I was able to use Google if I was unable to find the artists websites. I looked at Gabrielle Aplin’s latest EP Album Cover to get an idea of how she has presented herself. I could use Facebook to then get any more ideas.

PLANNING:
Music Video: When planning the music video, I was able to upload questionnaires onto Facebook. It was a lot quicker and easier to use and I got a lot of feedback quite quickly because of the amount of friends I have. I was able to collect the results and find out what sort of things my target audience would like to be included within the music video. I was able to get in contact with anybody around the world using this social networking site. Blogger has also been a great help to me as i was able to store all of my planning in one place and it also allowed people to comment on it and give me feedback or ideas. It also allows me to see how i have progressed throughout the journey of this project. This has been a huge help to me.
Ancillary Task: For the ancillary task I was also able to look at different album covers and draw out quick sketches of how we wanted them to look like. This was useful and by also looking at different artists CD covers gave me influences on how to produce my digipack and the poster.

FILMING:
Music Video: When filming the different scenes I learnt how to use various different technologies. One of these was a small digital camera that was easy to carry around and was simple to use and also very cheap. I was able to attach the bottom of the camera to a tripod which held the camera still at any height or angle. This allowed me to create different shot types and experiment with new and more creative shots. We also learnt how to use the dolly and we used this on quite a few occasions as I felt it would work well with our video. I could pan, move in on the actress, move out of the actress, and also follow her with the dolly. What I did find however is that it was very difficult to use unless on a completely flat surface as it did seem to react to minor bumps. Before creating these shots, I did look into the different shots that were used in previous music video in the same genre as ours and incorporated it into our work. The level technology is at now, I was able to film all of the footage very cheaply and easily as nowadays, digital film cameras are very cheap and simple to use.

PHOTOGRAPHS:
Ancillary Task: When taking images for both ancillary tasks, I used a large SLR digital camera. I already knew how to use these cameras so I took full advantage of this and created a lot of experimental images. I also used the white backdrop to create a more confined piece and different stage lighting to create shadows. I was able to also create a photoshoot very cheaply because of the wide range of technology that is coming out now.

EDITING:
Music Video: When coming to edit the many sequences that I had filmed, I firstly uploaded them to iMovie. This was thought to be an easy and simple program to get along with, but with many tries and fails, I could not get along with it. Therefore, I transferred all of my footage over to a different program called Final Cut Express. I found this easier as it was similar to the program I used last year called Adobe Premier Pro. I was soon able to start cutting clips and experimenting with different transitions and fades. I also found it had many more tools and I was able to create our music video to look more professional. I started simply putting together performance shots and getting them all in sync with the backing track and then after, I started adding in the narrative. This is iMovie. I found this program very difficult to use as there was only one long continuing line of footage whereas i like using different layers. So I used Final Cut Express to edit my work.

Ancillary Task: When coming to edit my photographs for the ancillary, I used a range of different programs such as Photoshop , Photobucket and Picnik. These are all very easy and simple editing programs to use. I was able to also experiment with different ways of cropping, colouring and the different graphics to also use. I played around with them and got to know the programs well and was able to finish a professional looking cd cover and poster.

EVALUATION:
When coming to evaluate my work, for the feedback from the target audience, I used social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. This allowed my target audience to be a range of different people from all over the world that will give me a wide selection of different results. I also uploaded the finished video onto Youtube. This allowed my target audience from all over the world to see the finished piece and for them to comment their feedback onto it.

Also using blogspot has opened my eyes to all of the opportunities there are on the internet. Having a blog to use in my own way has introduced me to websites such as scribd.com and slideshare which allows me to present my work neatly and in an orderly fashion.
Looking at blog to blog also has let me get influences from other peoples work as they also upload videos and present their work.

CODES AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS.

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

In our A2 media, we decided to create a music video as our main product and then also produce an ancillary task that involved creating a CD digipack for the album and a poster to advertise the single. All of these individual products had to be linked together by the appearance. I feel that I have done this well and followed the codes and conventions of the indie rock genre song we are creating these for but also I challenged them as well.

To create the music video, we first had to analyse a few different music videos for ourself. I felt I needed to get ready as I would be filming the entire music video. Therefore I broke down the different performance shots to a video with a similar genre. I found that a lot of close ups and mid shots were used at different angles throughout the music video. Therefore I chose to also create similar shots and used them well to create a flowing video.

Underneath is a powerpoint showing the differences and similarities of shots. I used Diana Vicker's music video to look at as it was a similar genre and style to what me and Charley had decided to create.

Conventions and Call Eng Ing Conventions of Indie Rock





I also created a powerpoint slide show of all of the performance shots Diana Vickers used as I wanted to see on average how many different shots were used throughout the music video.

Diana Vickers Shots


Creating the narrative side of the video was a lot more simple, as I found that most videos all used different techniques to eachother. Me and Charley both decided that not having a storyline as such would be a good idea, as we wanted to show the girl being alone through out most of the music video. Therefore, I captured a varielty of different shots using different techniques throughout. This consisted of the shots below o the powerpoint presentation.

Narrative Conventional and Unconventional Shots



Having a simple narrative was useful to us as we didnt have enough time as my partner was out a lot and we did fall behind. We used an over the shoulder shot of her writing "I miss you" and the lyrics of the song. I also filmed a lot of her walking around aimlessly on her own. This worked well as I slowed this down when coming to edit it and it created an emotional scene for the video. We did produce the other shots with other characters in such as the "throwing leaves scene" but we only used a small amount of this as we used them as flashbacks.

Album Cover Convention



In our ancillary task I also used other artists work to inspire me in how to create ours. I did create a first CD Cover and at the time got some feedback from some class mates. I was told it looked to much like a magazine front cover because of the mid shot and to change it. So I retook a photoshoot which a lot more glamour and effort and came to take some successful images. I took a variety of different shots to be able to experiment with all of them such as close ups, mid shots and also some long shots in the studio. I also challenged the conventions that our genre should contain. As I have found out in my research of CD Covers, I found that most of them were very chalk like or darker. But as I wanted to test it, I decided using a bright coloured CD Cover may catch the audiences eye.

CONTINUED.

This is the poster for our Ancillary Task. As you can see, we have used a similar image to the one we used to create the CD cover. This is because artists do this to keep the CD linked with the poster. We have challenged this slightly by not continuing the theme of the black splatter around the image. we have gone for a more faint yet effective flowery graphic coming out from the bottom right hand corner. Personally i feel this works a treat !!

When researching the different posters, i found that they ll had dates of the release. They all were very simple as too much writing wouldnt attract the audience. just simply the date, title of the song and obviously the artist.

COMBINATION OF MAIN PRODUCT AND ANCILLARY TEXTS.

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

Because of the type of genre we are producing a music video for; I found that the CD covers don’t ever really tie in with the actual video. The videos all seem to be calm and laid back, whereas the CD covers and promotional poster always is bright and stand out compared to the video. This is because the CD cover needs to sell itself and needs to be bright for it to be able to stand out to the audience. Personally if I was looking for a CD, my eye would be drawn to the most colourful and one that has a clear image of the artist on the front. Therefore, this is the approach I used.

These two images below are CD covers that I have found which are by famous artists. Number 1 is of Ellie Goulding, and indie rock artist who creates videos very similar to our project video. As you can see, the image is a close up of her, a very clear image which has been manipulated to make the image stand out. She has used bright lights to fill her hair for her image to stand out whereas I used a more simple approach used brightly coloured face make-up and paint splatters around. This gives the CD its own personality as well.

This is my finished CD front cover. I went against conventions of the genre also. By using bright make- up and a bright hair colour, this CD cover is more similar to Rihanna’s CD cover. Her music is more RnB, but I also feel that Rihanna is turning wackier and is trying to get into a similar genre. Nowadays, all of the genre's in the music industry are becoming closer and closer together. The indie rock genre (as we are producing) is becoming more colourful and bright like a more RandB style.
This image is a lot softer and relates more to the title of the song as she is fading out. This is a double page spread and I feel it works well because of this. This is the first page that the audience will see when opening the CD pack and it needed to be inspirational and fun. Therefore, using the title as an inspiration for me, I feel would give the audience something to think about. I also wanted the page to be fun as well as the genre conventions is what it is all about. The images needed to be quite natural but enjoyable to look at. Half of the images are very natural with her just staring into the camera but there are a few images that aren’t. I felt challenging the genres conventions will be fun and would work. So I got my model to pull a few funny faces and I also included the successful images into my work. The background is very plain and grey which is why the whole page is very dull in itself. Therefore, I thought the next page which is underneath needed to link with the CD front cover more.

This image is a lot brighter and block coloured and is similar to the front cover. It is obviously staged which is unusual for the type of genres but it works well. I have framed it with a black border to make it look like a Polaroid picture. As the same as above, I have included lyrics from the song. When looking through various CD packs, this stood out in most of them. Therefore I felt putting important lyrics within the CD pack would give the lyrics more meaning and would also promote other songs within the CD album. I have used a simple handwritten style graphic throughout the whole CD pack as I felt this would make the CD more personal to the audience. This is also very common in other CD packs with a similar genre and sometimes even includes a signature.
This is an insert for primarily the audience. It is a comment page about what the audience think about the CD. We posted this on three different social networking sites, including facebook, twitter and also tumblr. We asked a small audience what they thought of the song sang by Gabrielle Aplin- Ghosts and these are the actual comments that were left. Having a long shot image of the actress down the side of the comments gives the page more input as if there was no image, the page would look to plain, and the audience would most probably not look at it. This is very similar to the second insert as the background is very plain and washed out. This is because the main aspect of this page is the comments and they need to be easy to read and not over complicated. Therefore I decided to keep the detail to a minimum. I simply used a paint splatter to continue the theme that has happened throughout the CD pack.

This is the lyrics page. When looking through CD pack examples, I found that the backgrounds are very plain. Therefore I decided keeping the background a very slight grey would allow the lyrics to stand out. I used a simple font that I had used throughout the rest of the pack as I did not want to over complicate the lettering as it was already very small. I clearly marked out the different verses and the chorus. I have used the theme once again but expanded on this slightly and added different shapes in such as a heart. I feel this works well.
BACK COVER

This is the back cover of the CD. As you can see it links with the front cover very well. The colour is very similar and has all of the icons that a CD would expect to have. It has a bar code, and also small print at the very bottom. I looked into what the writing included at the bottom of the CD cover and found that it was about the company and the copyright of the music. Therefore, I created the same but in the way it was relevant to our group.

EVALUATION PLAN.

Now I and Charley have completed our music video and our ancillary tasks we shall now looking into how our research, planning, production, and feedback went during our project. To find this out we need to answer these questions listed below.

In what way does your media product use, develop and challenge the code and conventions of real media product?

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

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

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

UPLOADED VIDEO.

I have uploaded my music video onto Youtube. I have written in the description if i could get some feedback.

FILMING 5.

Today we need to create some more narrative scenes as we have realised that the footage we have taken so far will not be enough for the whole video. Therefore, as it was a nice day, we decided to capture soem more.

We do not have much time left, so we are going to use the school feilds as it is easy to get to and we do not have any travelling involved. We will be using a tripod and camera for this so we can keep the shot steady.

The props that are involved in this will be simply, a piece of paper and a pen. Charlotte is going to write i miss you, i miss you all of the page in different size hand writing along with the lyrics to the song. We feel this will be sucessful as it will be different and will show the audience how the actress is feeling.

EDITING 2.

Editing today, i feel went well because i was able to start putting some narrative scenes in towards the end of the lesson as i was very comfortable with how the performance shots were going.

I started putting some simple narrative shots in as my partner was not in and i did not want to create something she did not agree with. Once i started building the music video up with many different layers, it started to look more like a music video with a selection of different shots changes. I have tried very hard to make the video flow as half way through filming, my partner changed the colour of her hair dramatically from blonde to red, so i have to tie the whole different hair colours in together to make it flow well.

I have set a target to myself that i want up to 2 minutes completed and perfected by the 20th April as i feel having a target will make me work harder and be more determind to complete it. I would like a variety of different shots, both narrative and performance within the 2 minutes and if more footage is needed then i will have to go and film some more.