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

DigiPack

Introduction 
This blog post will be focused around my digipack. I will research digipacks, document the creation and present the finished product. 


What is a digipack?
A digipack is a booklet which comes with a hard copy CD. They are typically book style, paper document, made up for no more than 10 pages. They represent the band or artistic, and are designed to appeal to the target audience. Designs can vary greatly from bold graphics to simple style portraits of the artist. There are certain features which all include, such as the artistics name and a barcode. 


Research Of Digipacks
I decide to research into digipacks created by similar artists, to gain a general feel of what my should look like. To do this I first created a mood board, using Pinterested. Here is the link to my online mood board:
http://www.pinterest.com/jgrecords/digipack/

I then decided to study the digipack of an album by "Jake Bugg". Jake Bugg is a English singer and song writer from Nottingham. He is Indie, sub-genre indie folk rock. He around the same age as by artist, Vincent Dellow, and would appeal to a similar audience. Therefor making this a good and relevant study. The first impression that I got from the front cover was that it was quite a simple, but moody portrait of the artist. The dramatic facial expression represents the stereotypical indie moody genre. The colours are a sepia tone, again typical muted colouring for the genre. The texting is a simple style, which is a running theme throughout his promotional material. The costume is a plain dark jacket, and the location is no visible due to a blur filter on the background.

Photographs
I took all my photographs for my digipack while filming my music video. This allowed me to make sure than the location, costume and mise-en-scene was the some to allow a running theme. I took these photo's on my Canon 60D, using an 18-135mm lens. This allowed me to use manual focus, aperture, ISO setting and more to produce a high quality selection of images. 

A selection of the images that I took are viewable on this Flickr link:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/124516576@N06/

I decided to upload to Flickr as it is a online website designed to photo sharing. It was much easier than using to import and embed all of the photo's onto blogger. I have made the album public so that it could be shared on this blog. Here is a screen print of my Flickr photostream:

Creation of Digipack
To edit my photographs into a digipack I used Adobe Photoshop Elements 12. This is a professional standard photo editing software, which also allows features such as adding text. Making it perfect for the creation of this digipack. 

I began by cropping down my front cover image into a square using the crop tool. I then reduced the saturation by -40% to replicate the half and half effect used in my music video. I added a white text, and selected a font similar to that used in my music video. I also added a small pattern as well using the custom shape tool. I add the manually shape and position off the these features. 

For the back cover I had to insert barcodes and logos. I sourced these from google images, saved them as jpeg files and then imported into photoshop. I then selected and duplicated onto my back cover. The hardest was my own record labels logo. I had to convert it to black and white and then use the magic wand selection tool to select the text and a few stars. I then duplicated and positioned it onto my back cover. 

 Here is the logos, imported and positioned on the back cover:

I repeated similar text inserting stages for my inside pages too.


Finished Digipack
Here is my finished digipack:

(Click to enlarge images)

Front Cover

Inside Page 1

 Inside Page 2

 Inside Page 3

 Inside Page 4

Back Cover

Pocket Sources

Introduction
In this blog post I will discuss how I kept track of my sources and references used while completing this project.


GetPocket
To keep track of my sources I used GetPocket (http://getpocket.com). Is a way of sorting web-links to articles, videos or anything else in a dashboard style set up. You create an account and install GetPocket to google chrome. Then whilst on a webpage you similarly click the pocket icon on chrome and it saves into your GetPocket account. I found this really easy to use, and a much more effective way of sorting sources as compared to the traditional approach. 

Here is my GetPocket dashboard:

Editting

Introduction
In this blog post I am going to discuss the software and editing techniques that I used to create my music video.  


Software
The software that I used from my editing was Serif MoviePlus x6 (http://www.serif.com/movieplus/). This was an updated version, compared to last year, and had some great new features. I knew how to use the software due to my earlier experience and when I edited my focus group video. Here is my music video in editing:



I had decided to add some lyrics on screen, inspired by Azalea Bank's music video "212" however with a very different style to it. The font I chose reflected the church location. I add a text effect to make the text fade in slowly, word by word. I then timed this carefully with the music. As shown in the screen print below: 


I also added some other effects, such as zooms and crops using the transform tool. There were also some fades between different scenes or locations. At the end of my video I wanted a fade to white. To do this I had to insert a white screen photo and lengthen it to make it a video scene. I then overlaid with onto the finish bit of video footage. As shown in the screen print below:

I added a colour wash on every bit of footage. I wanted a muted colours soft of effect, reduced saturation without completely losing all colour tones. I found a "half and half" effect under "greyscale" colour settings. This was perfect!
Here's a screen print of appling the half and half effect. 

Filming

Introduction
In this blog post I am going to document my days spent filming on location for my music video! I will include photo's taken of my set ups. 

  Filming Day One
First day of filming began with getting my kit ready. I had already planned all of this out in my "Filming Planning" most. I will be filming using a Canon EOS 60D with a EFS 18-135mm zoom lens. I will be using two tripods, a cullman and a hama. The cullman also me to pan and tilt the camera, whereas the hama does not but is much lighter weight and can extent a lot higher, all pictured below:

The pictures below, show my set up for filming in the church, featuring Vincent. I had issues leveling the the camera, due to the uneven flooring. I had to use the leveling screen on my screen and adjust the tripod legs to different heights accordingly.  

I also filmed at two house locations. The first was my own home, where the posting the letter through the door scenes were filmed. The second house location was my neighbor's kitchen, which I chose due to its plain walls, drawing the focus to the actor not the environment. Here is my set up for the ring scene:

Here is my set up for the "home alone I hang my head in sorrow" scene:

Filming Day Two
For the second day of the filming, I was the actress. This had to be done, as I decided last minute that I needed scenes with a female in a wedding dress to add to my footage. I wore my mother's wedding dress. An issue I faced here was setting up the camera, while wearing a wedding dress, it was difficult to move the tripod. Pictured below:

Another issue faced here was gaining the footage, was I was the actress. I started off using a cable shutter release, which allowed my to basically hold a wire and press the button when I wanted to start filming. However, this do not work well as you could see the cable in my hand and the cable didn't allows reach far enough. As I do not own a remove shutter release (wireless, like a TV remote), I had to find another option. I used an assistant to press the button on and off for me. I also turned the camera screen around so that I could check that I got the manual focus correct and was framing myself in the shot well. This is pictured below: 

Storyboards

Introduction
In this blog post I am going to be creating storyboards for the filming of my music video. I will also be testing out online storyboard software for the first time. 


Online Storyboarding 
For the creation of my online storyboarding is used StoryBoardThat (http://www.storyboardthat.com). I really struggled to find any software that was free and online. This one allowed me to use basic creation moods and not save my work, which was an issue but the best that I could find. I began creating my storyboard. 

I used the image search bar to find the needed image, for example I searched "Guitar". I could then manually position and resize the image to suit the situation. In the case of the door, as I needed to use the crop tool. This was as it was a close up of the letter box. To the right is a screen print of me cropping down the door to suit. 

I decided not to use the online storyboarding software, for a number of reasons:

1. Was not able to add enough detail in the text, for example shoot type, camera movements, etc. 
2. Image library did not include enough pictures to create a full scene. 
3. Was unable to create more boxes without buying a full membership for the software. 

Here is what I managed to create:

Completed Storyboards 
Here are my completed hand drawn storyboards:

(click to enlarge)

Risk Assessment

Introduction 
In this blog post I will be completing and presenting a risk assessment form for the filming of my music video.  


Risk Assessment Template 
I sourced a template for a risk assessment form from http://www.safetyrisk.net/work-method-statements/. This template will allow me to state the activities and location that risks will have to be taken into account. 


Scan of Risk Assessment
This is my completed risk form:

(Click to enlarge)

Audience Research

Introduction
In this blog post I am going to research into similar artists to my own. This will help to me understand how costume, mise-en-scene, etc, are used in music videos within the genre of "Indie". 


The XX
The XX are an Indie, sub-genre Indie Pop, band from England. They were formed in Wandsworth London in 2005. There imagine and appearance is classed as stereotypical for that of a UK indie band. The video of theirs which appealed to me the most was "VCR". The entire video has a been edited black and white/grey scale in post production. This really helps to add to the moody, depressive, indie feel of the video. The video starts of with a series of interestingly framed location shots, which draws in the viewers attention. The band members are also shown in interesting camera angles and interacting with the location. They have moody and sad facial expressions, again adding to the indie feel of the video. The shots cut on the beats of the music, and are generally quite short which keeps the video interesting. I am unsure if I will be able to achieve this too, as my video will need much longer cuts to suit the music due the slow pace of the song.  

Arctic Monkeys
The Arctic Monkeys are an English Indie, sub-genre indie rock band. They were formed in High Green, Sheffield in 2002. The music video of theirs that appealed to me the most was "When The Sun Goes Down". The colour effects are not the typical black and white used in Indie music videos. The colours have a muted style to them, maybe created by reducing the saturation or using a colour wash. This allows for a moody and dramatic feel, without completely losing all colour ranges. The video also includes a large variety of camera shots, flicking between extreme close ups to long shoots. I think this would be a good way to make my video more exciting, considering the limitations of a slow paced slow when trying to edit in time to the music. 

The 1975
The 1975 are an Indie, sub-genre Alternative Indie Rock band. They are based in Manchester, UK. The song of theirs which I looked at was "Chocolate". The feature which I liked was their experimental approach to focusing the camera, used at the beginning of the video and a few other times. The focusing pulling, going from crisp focus to blurred, effect works well for gaining viewers interest. This is something which I would be able to experiment with myself, as I am filming on a camera with manual focus. 

Filming Planning

Introduction
In this blog post I am going to detail the planning that I did before filming. This includes everything from location access to making props! 


Locations
The main location that I will be filming in is Underriver Church. I contacted the Church Warden earlier in the year to request permission (on another blog post). To get the key for the church I called her ahead of shooting. She informed me that I could use the church on Friday between 1pm and until daylight hours (due to insurance reasons). This is fine and I can plan the filming around this. 

Another location that I need was a kitchen table, to film a few shoots in of cast at home. To fit the lyrics "Home Alone I hang my head in sorrow". I decided that my own kitchen table would not be suitable, as it is a large open room with loads of clutter. I wanted a small plain room, which would look cosy. I phoned my neighbour and ask if she would allow be to use her table. She said yes, and agree that I could film there any time between 3pm and 4 15pm on the same Friday. 

Any other locations will be woods and fields. All of which are public footpath, so I do not need to request permission to film on them. 


Cast
The only cast member for this filming session is my friend Vincent. I selected him earlier in my blog as he fitted my requirements perfectly. He is free to film with me on Friday any time from 1pm onwards. 


Props and Costume
The props needed are:

• Guitar
• Rings
• Wedding invite 

The wedding invite I had to make myself. Luckily I had access to craft supplies. I choose random names for the invite and hand made it myself. Here are some images of it:

The costumes needed are:

• Green smart coat
• Cream Wool Jumper
• White Shirt
• Black Jeans
• Smart Shoes
• Trainers (for outside locations)

As the costumes as belong to my actor I needed to remind him what to bring. I decided that the best way to do this would be to use text messaging on our mobiles. This would ensure that he would not lost the list and I would easily resend it. Here the message that I sent:

Transport
As my filming locations are remote and away from any public transport I had to consider how me and my actor would get to the location. I have opted to drive myself, as we will also have some heavy props and filming equipment to take with us.


Lyrics to Shoot Ideas
To help remind myself of what shoots I wanted to lip sync with what lyrics, I created a lyrics to shoot page. This is basically a copy of the lyrics, which I then annotated in order to make a plan of ideas. I took this with me while filming. Here is my page:

Shoot Ideas Inspiration
I also wanted to get some artistic shoots of Vincent playing the guitar. I printed out a few images from my mood board to use as framing ideas. Here is the page:

I also used the Pinterested app on my Iphone 4 to view the mood boards I made earlier. This was brilliant as I could quickly view any of the images online. 


Equipment
The equipment needed is:

• Camera and Lens
• Tripod
• Memory Cards
• Laptop
• Laptop charger
• Guitar
• Lighting?

Kit List
To remember all of the kit which I needed for filming, I created an evernote page. Evernote (www.evernote.com) is an online notepad, which would allow my list to be viewed online or printed off. This would be useful as I could view it on my smartphone, and share the link with my actor. To view my evernote kit list please Click Here To View Online.

Here is a screen print of my evernote page in editing: