Evaluation: Question 4

Question 4:

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

I used a variety of different media technologies in each stage of my work. In the research stages I started off by using youtube in order to watch music videos online. I then learnt to embed them into my blog posts, so that could could be viewed easily. I then used "bloom.fm" in order to research carefully into niche genres. Bloom.fm is a smart phone app where you can listen to a personal radio station for a niche genre. I screen shot the list of songs playing and posted it on to my blog. I then used microsoft office powerpoint in order to create a presentation to show to my focus group. To insert this on to my blog I had to use a screen capture software to film the presentation playing. I then uploaded this screen capture as a video on my blog. I developed by presentation methods into a more advanced technology method by using "Prezi". Prezi is an online presentation website, and allows for a much more varied approach when compared to a powerpoint presentation. I really like the ability to work through ideas in an almost mind map style presentation, allowing you to think and present freely. I created a series of prezi's, which I uploaded onto my blog using HTML coding methods on blogger. I used the social networking site, Facebook for two different research methods. The first was using facebook messenger on my personal facebook account to speak to my friends, and gain quick feedback on things. This was great for gain other viewers. I also used facebook to create a record label page, where I could communicate with my target audience in a more professional manner. Facebook allowed me to share photos, videos and status uploads which could reach a large audience. When I was brainstorming ideas I used "MindMeister", online storyboarding software. This was better than using a pen and paper as points could be moved and edited freely. Allowing me to organise my ideas well on the mind map. I used an online questionnaire, hosted by "Survey Monkey". This allowed me to create a questionnaire, share easily using a weblink and present the results automatically on bar charts and tables. For my mood boarding I used "Pinterest", an online research mood boarding site. This works in a similar way to google images, allow you to search for pictures. You then group them onto "boards" where all the ideas are presented together. This worked brilliantly when I was researching examples of digipack covers that appealed to me. 

During my planning stage I also managed to find a lot of media technologies to use. The best was "TeamUp", an online calendar which allowed me to create a timetable for different users which plan my focus group involved room hire and loads of people. I also used email and text messaging in order to communicate to gain access to the church and send reminders to my actor. I used EverNote to create online lists, much better than paper lists as it could be shared online easier and not lost. I used "GetPocket" to keep track the websites that I reference too throughout my blog. This was a google chrome app, with a button in browser to add to the source list. Really quick and effective to use. I also experimented with online storyboarding, but found it less effective than hand drawing.  

In the construction stage I used a Canon E0S DSLR 60D with an 18-135mm lens. Brilliant as it allowed me to use manual focus, aperture, ISO and other modes to produce a professional standard of HD footage. I allowed me to use macro modes, for filming the ring scene, and a remote shutter, for filming myself. I used Serif MoviePlus x6 to edit my software. This was a good product, and gave me the ability of a large range of effects and footage. I used Adobe photoshop elements 11 and 12, in order to create a logo and edit my digipack and magazine advertisement. I worked with a music producer who used FL studio to produce the track for my music video. Although I did not use this software myself, I worked closely with the produce and got to see how it worked. I then uploaded the track on "Audiour", an online sound sharing website, in order to share it online. I also used "Flickr" in order to upload my photographs that I took for my digipack and poster. 

For the evaluation stage, I used the record label facebook page that I created earlier in my blog to gain feedback from my target audience. This was an effective way of getting feedback from people who had liked my facebook page. 

Evaluation: Question 3

Question 3:

"What have you learned from your audience feedback?"

I used my record labels facebook page it gain my audience feedback, in an earlier blog post. This was a brilliant means to gaining quick feedback from my target audience, I learnt that social networking sites are vital for sharing a music video. 

The positives that I learnt about my music viewer were my audience thought that my lip syncing was very accurate. I am pleased this with as I had to speed up and slow down various bits of footage in order to make it 100% perfect. They also discussed the church location used, and how it was well suited to the storyline. As it was an unusual location it appealed to the viewers, and also worked well as it conflicted with the stereotypical idea of a happy church wedding. One reviewer mention how the costume was stereotypical of Indie genre. This is a good as it helps to reinforce the idea of genre within my video. I styled my artist to look Indie, however indie costume is commonly more scruffy but had the restrict of having to dress smarter for the church environment. It interested me that viewers look for typical genre conventions within a music video that they are watching. Lots of people mentioned the colour wash, and how is was not something that they had seen used before. They liked the hints of colours, as a fresh change from typical black and white colouring of indie music videos. The focus pulling shoot at the beginning of the video was also mentioned as being a success, and that it captured a viewers interest as it was some clever camera work. As my camera and lens allowed me to use manual focus this was a shoot that I had planned to include. It was difficult to get it perfect, and took me a few attempts so I am glad that it was noticed. The lyrics on screen was also mentioned by a lot of people. They stated that this was an interesting idea, which not many had seen before. One stated how they liked the way the words appeared in time with the lyrics. This took me a while to achieve using fades on the text effects. It interested me that the audience noted and commented on a fresh idea within the genre, and compared it too other videos which they had seen. One person stated that like felt that the age range of the artist helped them to relate with him, due to being of a similar age group. This is something that I took into consideration when casting my lead actor and planning who my target audience would be. It was stated the the storyline theme to the video footage and lyrics helped to hold the viewers attention and made the video more interesting. While planning my shoots I had a lyrics sheet, and I tried to relate the footage to the video as much as possible. This was aimed by enigmas, mainly created using the mise-en-scene. For example, the gold ring used in one scene. This was coupled with a zoom effect applied in post production. I added the zoom effect to help draw in the viewers attention even more, and it was noticed by one person on my facebook comments. 

I also learnt a few dislikes of the target audience. The main one was that in place the guitar chords and strumming was not also perfect. This was noticed by two people who play guitar. As I am not a guitarist it was hard for me to match the chords with the music. Upon reflection I should have asked someone more knowledgeable to check the footage with my before I exported and uploaded it. For example, I could have asked my school music teacher. There were also some comments stating that although the half and half effect was interesting and a fresh approach, black and white is still preferred. It found it interesting that when an audience see's all the videos of one genre filmed or edited in a certain way, they can reject a different one. I thought that a fresh approach would draw in the audience more, however I can see that the black and white would reinforce Indie genre ideals and suit the moody lyrics more. It was also stated that more locations could have be featured in order to make the video more interesting. In reflection I could have filmed some performance shoots in a different location, instead of in the church. I could have used a studio or stage to recreate a live performance look instead of just performing alone in the church. However, I do like the isolated feel of the church style performance. 

Evaluation: Question 2

Question 2:

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

A music video, digipack and magazine advertisement are vital to creating an image which will appeal to the target audience. In order to make the 3 appear as the complete set, certain features should link between them. For example, the typography that I used was the same/very similar throughout my work. These really helped to make it noticeable that they were a set, especially the font in a large part of the music video with the lyrics appearing on screen in places. Another way that I created a brand identity was with the colouring of my products. I used a half and half effect and a reduced saturation to mute down the colours. This interesting effect run throughout, as it is quite an unusual effect its is noticeable. The actors that feature in my music video are also in my digipack photographs, creating another strong link. The costume and props are also running throughout. My artist, Vincent Dellow, has a plain and clean cut style which I carefully created earlier in my blog. The use of costume running through helps to create a style for the artist, making an image which others could relate to. The mood of the artist in my music video is sad and serious. So I reflected this in my ancillary texts by asking my model to pull serious facial expressions, yet another link between the products. 

Evaluation: Question 1

Question 1:

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

I wanted my music video to use conventions from current day media texts, so that my viewers would be able to recognise and relate with it. I believe that in this modern day genres are becoming more and more diverse and niche. This meant that I had to try and make the examples that I studied as closely relating to my own artist as possible. For me, this meant attempting to find Indie artists, who were male and from England. For example, Jack Bugg and The Arctic Monkeys. My artistic conforms with alot of typical and common features of this genre, however also challenges a few. I noticed that a large amount of indie music videos where presented in black and white colouring. This was other to reinforce the moody feel of the lyrics. I want to use this convention, but I noticed limitations with it. Converting footage into black and white lost a large amount of detail, making the locations and costumes much less dramatic. My solution to this was to use a half and half effect, which muted the colours without all the details. I also replicated this in my digipack and magazine poster by reducing the saturation in my images on Photoshop. Another typical convention of the indie genre that I used was including a guitar as a prop. This suited the acoustic song, and reinforced the idea of a large percentage of indie music videos include this. I also meant that my music video had elements of a performance video. However, due to the lyrics there was also a storyline. Which challenged David Gauntlett's theory that all videos must be either one or the other. Mine is a hybrid narrative/performance video. An example of an artist who also does this is Ed Sheeran. Yet another convention that my video challenges is with its location. All the music videos that were also set in and around a church, had a happy romantic theme to them. Mine conflicts with this, as the artist is not happy and in love. 

I also used conventions from real media texts for my digipack. I analysed "Jack Buggs" digipack and learnt that real media texts include certain details such as barcodes, lyric pages, and record label logos. I conformed to these conventions in order to make my work recognisable as a digipack. I used the same and image colouring throughout, in order to link each digipack pages together as a booklet. The font used was also supposed to link with the location of the church, due to the traditional and old styling. In order make the front cover recognisable, I used a simple portrait style photo of Vincent Dellow. I also used the guitar as a prop for this shoot to reinforce the genre of indie. My poster also conformed with typical conventions by including the artists name and image, alongside a review from a music magazine.   

Audience Feedback

Introduction
In this blog post I will be gaining audience feedback on my video. This will be useful when I come to evaluate my work.

Facebook Feedback
I decided to use my record labels facebook page as a means to gaining feedback. I felt that this would be an effective place to do it, as my target audience have already liked my page in order to keep in touch with my artists progress. Making them an ideal research group. I posted the link to my video and this message:

"The finished music is now on youtube! Please leave your thoughts on the video in the comments below."

I then waited for my audience to respond. Here is a link to the post: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=634145346661337&id=586514758091063&comment_id=634183379990867&offset=0&total_comments=4&notif_t=share_comment

Here is the feedback that I received:

Magazine Advertisement

Introduction
In this blog post I am going to research into music magazine adverts. I will also be creating and present my own for my artist Vincent Dellow.


Research into Magazine Adverts
From my research into other artists magazines adverts I discovered that mine should include:

• Artists Name
• Artists Photo
• Featured Tracks
• Website/bandpage link
• Review 

Creation of the Advert
To create the poster I used Adobe Photoshop Elements 12. This software is a professional standard and ideally suited to the task. I used very similar techniques as in the creation of my digipack, please see earlier blog post. I added the white stars using the star creation tool, I duplicated the layer to get multiple the same size. I also reduced the saturation of this image, to replicate the colour wash used in the music video and digipack. I was hoping to create a running theme of muted colour tones. 


Finished Magazine Advertisement
Here is my finished product:

(Click image to enlarge)

Finished Music Video

Introduction
In this blog post I will be presenting my completed music video!


Finished Music Video
Here is my finished music video uploaded to youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ0dIkyD9dE

I also posted the link up on my record labels facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=634145346661337&id=586514758091063