Mrs d

There are some good ideas here Calum. You need more egs of audience feedback to improve. How are you presenting this?

Evaluation Final

Evaluation Draft

Evaluation Notes

Evaluation notes

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

Codes and conventions

-We used a mixture of performance and narrative like you would see in a traditional music video of a variety of genres. We showed this by using fades when cutting to the narrative to show the contrast between the two. We also made the narrative black and white to show which parts were narrative, making it clear

- We also stuck to the idea that the rock / indie genre is considered perhaps quite ‘rebellious’ and ‘free spirited’ and we reflected this in our piece by having the narrative character drinking alcohol.

-We had a problem when we wanted to show the main character of the narrative considering suicide because we didn’t want to promote suicide or cross any boundaries. To avoid, the fades and the black and white effects used on the narrative section helped because it made t seem that he was in a dream state. This is a technique that was used in Evanescence’s song ‘Bring me to life’. (Start of narrative helped for this also, showing the character falling to sleep)

-Also we used lots of short cuts as the music picks up and gets more fast paced which is a technique used in a lot of rock / indie music videos because it attains the speed of the song, making it exciting and entertaining.

-We used close ups on the singers to establish them as leading members of the band which also is commonly used in rock / indie music videos. This helps promote the band as artists. Also this is what Hollywood undead’s fans would want to see because they would be interested in the band and would want to see their skill with instruments.

-We filmed the performance part in a garage which is quite a typical location for some indie genre videos.

- We demonstrate the artists skill by doing close ups of the instruments.

- The band members in the narrative keep the theme of wearing a white shirt to help with continuity and help to make it clear for the viewer.

-We challenged some codes and conventions aswell because ost bands perhaps have one lead singer, and the video makes that obvious by placing them at the front, representing the whole band. However in ours we had three singers that were equally represented in the video. However one singer perhaps was more emphasised during the chorus as it was focused on him alot more.

How effective is the combination of the main task and ancillary texts?
The ancillary is black and white which links to the narrative part of the music video. The Digipak shows the 4 members of the band. The digipak views the band as all equal (no lead singer, which challenges some codes and conventions) which is how the band is presented in the video. The usage of the silhouettes on the digipak was also effective because it made the band seem mysterious and viewers will want to find out more about them.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?
We got audience feedback on the 2 ideas of the magazine advert and the audience preferred the simpler design with the similar image on the album front cover because they felt it fitted better. Also we compared the idea of the silhouettes with the album name written down the band members against the idea of having the band members in each corner with the album name in the middle. The audience feedback was useful because it provided us with opinions that were fresh and unbiased.

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Technologies used: Photoshop, Sony Vegas 8.0, Gimp 2.0Used them to edit photos and edit the videoUsed blogger to upload the courseworkUsed YouTube to upload the video then embed it into blogger. The camera that we used was a Sony Cmos HD video recorder
During the research stage, I collected data from the public (Questionnaire). I used Microsoft word to import the data into tables making the information clear, showing what it means.In the planning stage I used Lewis’s tablet with his PC to draw out designs for the storyboard, I then used Sony Vegas 8.0 to put all the storyboard images together in synch with the song, to construct the first animatronics video draft.

We used YouTube to upload the final piece so that we could then embed it into blogger so that it was easy to view.
The initial pictures that we took for the digipak (the pictures of the ‘gin’ and ‘pills) I edited in gimp2.0 because it was a useful program that allowed me to edit how the photo looked and also allowed me to add effects (such as black and white, some fading, cropping, and gamma adjustment)

Blogger was helpful because it allowed us to upload our work and access it wherever we were. It allowed us to view others profiles and open up the chance to get audience feedback which was very helpful. Using blogger, we could also use the ‘labelling’ technology on our posts, making it much easier to find bits of work in the side bar.
We used a laptop for editing because we found it useful that we could edit both at home and at school so that we get as much time as possible for the editing process. The laptop was also useful because it had high performance so that rendering times were cut down to a minimum.

Music videos that are similar:
Nickleback – Burn it to the ground (because during the performance part it has close ups of the instruments.
Avenged sevenfold – Seize the day
Slipknot psychosocial – performance
Avenged Sevenfold – Beast and the harlot- The mixture of performance and narrative
Effectiveness of main product + Ancillary task
Linkin Park - Crawling - Because of the close-ups of the singer

Final Album Digipak (Ancillary)

Final Draft of Main Task

Final Design for Magazine Advert (Digipak Ancillary)

Update

At the moment we are putting together the final drafts of the ancillary tasks.
We have finished editing the second draft of the main task.

Now i will construct another draft of the album digipak as a whole.

Ancillary - Magazine Advert Idea + Original Photos (without Background)

Ancillary Album Digipak - First Draft + Original Photos

Added blur + fonts

Original Images

Ancillary Update

After viewing the templates and designs of the ancillaries that I have constructed, I have decided that doing a magazine advert will be better than doing web, the rest of the group agreed. So now a draft of the magazine advert is now on the group blog.

Update - Ancillary

Right now, Lewis and I are editing a draft of the ancillary (Album cover) we have decided to have the image on the front of a bottle of pills and a bottle of gin with a notes between them saying "Your's sincerely, The Reaper" (Which is the album name) as the front cover. We thought this was effective because the idea of The Grim Reaper giving gifts is quite controdictory which links to the controdiction of the main song. We have chosen a caligraphy styled fontfor the fron cover because it makes the note seem authentic and personal. We have chosen this font:

First draft - How it went

I think the editing of the first draft went well because we finished it to a good standard. I am pleased with the outcome considering its just a first draft. We still need to touch up some parts of the video such as the part where the singer's head was cut of slightly. Also we want to re-do the rapping because it didnt go so well on the day. Also we want to add more performance to the video and get more of the band in because in the chorus it was mainly the singer being shown.So considering all this I think it was succesful.

Ancillary progress

We have had a discussion about the chosen name, font and background. We have brought all our ideas together to decide on what the best choices for the album would be to promote the band. We will post our findings on the group blog in more detail.

Ancillary

I have added more to the previously posted ancillary work below, adding some web design and planning too.

Progress so far (Editing + Storyboard)

We have edited the storyboard and have posted it on the group blog. Dom and Lewis did most of the drawing whereas I did more of the editing. Next we will edit the first draft of the actual music video from what we have filmed so far (Mainly performance).

Editing and Progress

Right now we are editing our first draft using Dom's laptop. We found this was the easiest way to edit both in class aswell as at home as he can bring it in whenever. We are using Sony Vegas 8.0 to edit the first draft because me and Lewis are familiar with the sofware. If we were to use the Macs, we would only be able to edit in class so that is how we got around the problem. Now I am drawing up the last set of images fo the storyboard ready to be scanned in and animated.

Mrs D

There are some good reflections regarding your contribution to your group work, yet it only looks like you have done 3 things in over a week. You need to be uploading more often to protect your grade.

Filming

Saturday was succesful because we got everything we hoped for done. The performance in now almost complete and the narrative is also partially done. The rest can be done nearer to where we live so we wont have to organise a trip to Luke's house. We still need to film a couple of extra shots of the rapping part with the band members as so far we only have one take on each rap section. A first draft will be edited shortly and uploaded.

Doing the Timings and Progress with Filming

At the momentwe are writing down the timings for the song. We are listening to the song and writing down the times we want each shot to be in. When we complete that we can begin filming at the weekend. We have also organised between us, the actors and the filming location for the weekend. Everyone can make Saturday and Sunday for filming and we have permision to use our friend Luke's house. So we are all set for filming this weekend.

Storyboard Idea

When thinking about the storyboard, my idea was to have the character go for the knife block but then look away for a bit. When the character look back (done in 3 seperate shots) the knifes are gone (taken away by the 'guardians') I think this was a good idea because it defintley shows the purpose of the 'guardians' and avoids any confusion as to what they are and why they can't be seen by the narrative character.

Dolby

There are the majority of the ideas here but I would have liked to have seen some more specific ideas as to fonts, colours and themes. Also, when looking at the digipak cover, ensure that there is a theme running across all three and that the video, advert and digipak have visual links.

Main Planning

Our Main Planning is on our group blog: HERE

Idea for Album Cover (Front)

This design idea for the album front cover fits the genre of the album. The eery looking tree coupled with black font definitively hints a dark element to the album.



The font looks as though it is hand written giving it the personal feel, which when you have it associated with suicide (the song) is quite sadistic, which I though would to link to the song.


The background with the dark sky hints sadness too which again is linked to the ideas of the song





















These fonts definitley refelct the genre of the music because they are black and kind of sinister which suggests the metal genre. I prefer the second font because the way that the letters are styled it looks very grungy and definitely goes with the codes and conventions of the metal genre.

Ancillary Magazine Advert / Web Design(Idea)

I want the font to stand out from the background so that it is eye catching and more appealing to an audience.

Also i think a picture of the band is important as the band are very iconic so people will recognize them straight away.

Ancillary Album Design

Ancillary Plan

Ancillary Plan

For the album cover I want large font so that the name stands out and is easily identifiable. An idea for the picture on the front is to have a large hill in the background with a single tree on with a person hanging from it. This sinister image presents the band this way also which is considered ‘cool’. However a problem with this is that it might not conform to the watershed idea, that the image might promote suicide. So I have chosen to go with a much more neutral idea, still sticking to the hill with tree, only making the tree look sinister with a grey sky hinting sadness, which is associated with suicide which is linked with the song.

Ideas for Album Name;

The easy way out
A sweet release
Set me free
The joy in death

These names fit the genre of the music as death is linked to metal bands. The last name is contradictory as is the song so it fits. I also think that the names have to be quite sinister and almost sadistic because the song ‘bullet’ sings about suicide but with a happy tone, which too is sadistic, so I think this fits.

For the poster I want to majority of it to be the words (name of the album) This is so that it stands out and gets people’s attention. I also want the release date and other information to be at the bottom of the poster. This is because this is the standard place for them to be and people will know where to look for it. I also want a picture to be the backdrop. The picture will be of the band with their instruments showcasing their talent as this is what fans want to see.

Mrs D

Well done for hitting your first deadline Calum. You need to go back and add some details to research informing planning - you need to specifically identify what you have learnt and how you intend to incorporate it into your planning. Why have you analysed mag front covers when the ancillary option is mag advert?

Product Placment

Product Placement

Music and band promotion is very important in today’s society. So many different artists and record labels fighting over the money make it so that companies have to promote bands in order to get them noticed.
The internet is a huge part of music video promotion. This is mainly because of the huge audience of billions that the internet has access to. One of the most popular video sharing website is YouTube. But within YouTube there is VEVO who upload music videos on YouTube officially and then advertise on those videos to gain money.

Record labels also release music videos on music channels for money. Music channels can pay record companies to host their music videos which helps promote the band/artist. Then the music channels make money on any advertising on those channels. So there is a cycle of events, Music channel pays record company to play their videos, music channel makes money on advertising music (often), and the record companies attract audiences through the adverts that they place on the channel.

If we were to advertise our music video, I would advertise on main music channels such as MTV, VIVA and The Hits.

How research will inform planning

Through our research we will be able design our final product in greater knowledge of the subject. Using the questionnaires we have recorded we can use our analysis to look at what people want out of a music video and then apply that yo our own. We can also find out an estimate of how large the audience for our video will be.

To summarize , the research stage of the production will help us greatly as we will can have different views on the video then just our own, and therefore increase the entertainment value of the final product

Focus Group

Focus group – Black Stone Cherry – White Trash Millionaire

For this focus group I got together 4 people and discussed the above music video. We talked about the following questions:

Did you like the music video?
For this question everyone said they enjoyed the video. This was mainly because everyone enjoyed an artist performance. There were some American muscle cars in the video that everyone said looked ‘cool’. They said they liked the camera angles and how the camera pans out from the band during the chorus.

Did you think the music video was appropriate to the song?
Everyone agreed that the music video was appropriate to the song. This was because the song was about being rebellious and not caring about anything and the band were dressed as if they didn’t care what they wore. Also they were in a scrap yard. “The American muscle cars helped capture the whole rebellious feel”.

What was appealing in the video?
One person said that they liked they American muscle cars because ‘they look cool’ and everyone else agreed with that. Also they said that they liked seeing the whole band perform together because it gives the viewer a sense of being at a concert which was very exciting.

What could be better?
We call agreed that during the chorus the camera angles were still quite slow which contrasted with the fast paced chorus. We thought that there could have been shorter cuts to help keep the viewer interested because it would have made the whole video a lot more entertaining

Questionnaire results

Ancillary Task - Magazine Front Cover (Biffy Clyro)

Ancillary Task - Magazine Advert (Slipnot)

Ancillary Task - Album cover Analysis 2 (Linkin Park))

Ancillary Task - Album cover Analysis (KoRn)

Dolby

I agree with Mrs D. Make sure you are looking at the ancillary tasks too as you are creating a promotional PACKAGE.

Questionnaire

Questionnaire

1. What gender are you?

Male Female

2. What age are you?

1-10 11-14 15-18 19-25 26-35 40+

3. What colours do you expect so see in a music video of your proffered genre?


4. What style of dancing (if any) do you expect to see?

Jumping Freestyle Synchronised dancing None Other

5. Do you expect to see an artist performance in the video?

Yes No

6. Do you prefer music videos with a story line, a concept themed video or an artist performance in the video?


7. Do the artist’s clothes and style affect your own choice in clothes?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………….

8. How often do you watch music videos?

Often Sometimes Rarely Never

9. How do you watch music videos?

TV Internet Other

10. What is your favourite music video of all time?

………………………………………………………………………

Real Media Artefact 2

Real Media Artefact 2
Korn – Word Up

The music video to Word Up by KoRn is a concept video. The band’s faces are all put onto dog’s heads in the editing stage. This is quite humorous because it’s not what you expect to see in a music video and it’s also quite strange. The lead singer appears first (as a dog) and begins to walk around the dessert. Already this is very odd because the video seems to have nothing to do with the song. But this technique is quite effective because a lot of people will find the video so strange that it’s actually funny, and then they will want to see more KoRn videos so that they can be amused again. This is a good promotional tool.

The camera is quite fluid throughout. The camera mostly tracks the dogs as they run about. Occasionally cutting to what the dogs are looking at. When the lead singer (as a dog) pokes his head through a doorway, there is people dancing and the camera pans along the with a low angled shot looking up at the dancers. The shot is done as though looking through the dog’s eyes. It is quite a voyeuristic gaze as the dancers are women with skirts. So there is some sex appeal in the video. Also when the chorus kicks in the camera shots become more frequent (Short takes) this helps make the chorus more intense and enjoyable for the viewer.

For the editing stage, the faces that are pasted on to dog’s bodies are definitely a clever editing idea. It makes the video a bit more fun and quirky and people will want to see more videos like it. People like to have a variety, they don’t want the same kind of video all the time, and this video definitely caters to those people because it is so different. So this is definitely a well thought of promotional video.

In the video they are in a dessert and desserts are considered to be baron and deserted (hence where the name ‘deserted’ came from) and this is related to the band because they play a lot of rock/metal and it is considered rebellious or ‘cool’ to be somewhere deserted and I think the fans of KoRn perhaps can relate to that and will enjoy the video a lot more. Also the female dancers wearing barely anything appeal to a male audience for obvious reasons and KoRn’s fans are probably the majority audience. This is because statistically metal is proffered by males probably because of all the anger and intensity that is involved in metal that appeals to males. The use of the dogs perhaps is a metaphor for the bands ‘free spirit’ and people can relate to that because everyone longs to be ‘free’ so to speak and putting the bands faces on dog’s makes them appear as though they have no worries and are just living life, which is what people aspire to be. So this video could be viewed as a ‘feel good video’ because it might make the viewer feel good about life.

Mrs D

This is a great draft Calum, where you have obviously tried to keep in mind how the music promo promotes the band. Try and use a bit more terminology - especially with editing and quote some lyrics and explore how the images match the lyrics. Well done.

Real Media Artefact1 (Draft)

Real Media Artefact – Linkin Park Faint

Linkin Park’s song ‘Faint’ is purely a performance based video. In the video the band are performing at a concert with a huge crowd. The videos showcases and emphasises the talent of the band which is what Link park’s audience wants to see because the band are very skilled in the instruments that they play and fans want to be able to see them perform. So the video definitely caters to its target audience.

The camera angles in the video are very focused on the band. The camera will cut to a specific member of the band at a time. When a member of the band’s instrument is perhaps emphasised in the song, the camera will cut to that member. For example when the chorus begins, the drummer will hit his two crash symbols to start the chorus and as this is a very distinct sound in the song, the camera cuts to him. This is because viewers will want to see his talents as a drummer and this is best emphasised with this technique.Another camera technique is the constant panning across the stage. This is so that it still looks lively as they play which is synchronised with the song. The cuts also become more frequent as the chorus kicks in because it is quite heavy and fast paced so the camera reflects that. The lights at the back are enhanced in the editing stage of the production. They are made much brighter helping the silhouette effect. The lights might possibly be CGI too.

In terms of mise-en-scene all you see is the stage, the band, the crowd and the huge lights at the very back. The members of the band are viewed as silhouettes so there is no obvious fashion. However you can see that the drummer is wearing a hoody, which is associated with youths which, statistically, are their largest audience. Also the lighting at the back gets a lot brighter when the chorus kicks in and this happens suddenly when the drummer hits his crash, which is a very clever technique because it makes the whole video a lot more lively. Also the crowd are very lively. They are jumping and waving their arms around to the beat of the song. This could be used in the video as a promotional tool to try and get more people interested in going to see their concerts because people will see the huge crowd of people having fun and will want to be a part of that.

The colours that are used are Black and yellow. This is expressed through the band members Black) and the lighting at the back (yellow). This makes the band look quite mysterious. Linkin park’s audience might find this quite ‘cool’ and maybe relate to it. The fact that the band are wearing everyday wear makes them seem rebellious which also would appeal to their audience.

Advanced Production check list