EVALUATION- MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES

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

      While researching, planning and especially the construction during our project we had to adapt and develop our skills using different media technologies. our main use of media technology is using blogger to upload all of our research, planning, construction and finally evaluation showing how we developed to get to our final piece and the process of our project. As we also used blogger for our AS project i already had a very good understanding of how to use it which made it easier as i didn't have to learn and adapt before using it which i feel is the same for a lot of the other media technologies that i have used during this project.

      During the researching we used YouTube a lot to see other students music video, compare different genres and get a better idea of the codes and conventions of our chosen genre so that we have a better understanding of what we needed to include in our own media products and music video. We also used prezi and photo peach to present some of our work. i had previously used prezi and slide rocket during my AS project but hadn't used photo peach so i had to learn and develop my skills. It was easy to use and i feel it was an effective and more interesting way to present our work.

      While creating our products we created a website, twitter page and facebook page to make our band look more realist so we could advertise our album and up and coming concerts. As we all use social media we had a good idea of how it worked and therefore could make a realist and effective social media accounts for our band 'The New Age'. But to make it look more realist we changed certain things on the facebook and twitter page e.g the amount of followers and tweets to make it look more realist and adding a verified account sign to make the band seem famous and popular therefore making the pages look more realist. To add this we used photoshop, which we had also use previously so had an understanding of how to use it. We also used Photoshop to create the album and poster so it was a program that really helped us throughout the making of our product

      Although I knew how to use most of the media technologies i had develop my skills in certain areas and mainly in the construction of our video as we used Sony Vegas Pro that i had never used before to edit our music video to create a final piece. At the start of editing our music video i found it very difficult to use and quite confusing. Although i feel it is quite difficult to use i feel i got a lot better throughout, and also developed my skills a lot by doing so. i think that if i came to using this program again i would find it easier as i now have a better understanding of how to use it and get the most out of it. Sony Vegas Pro helped us to layer effects over our video so that the quality of the filming looked more effective and also helped to make the story line show that she was in his life in the past by using an old vintage effect. It also allowed us to cut the shots to fit in with the video and music and also the lip syncing look effective and in time with the actual song.

EVALUATION- HOW EFFECTIVE

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

When creating our video and media products we had to think about how to keep within the codes and conventions, keep our media products in tone with each other and the bands image and make sure our media products helped promote our band together. We had to make sure that our products worked collaboratively as a promotional campaign for our band for example using the same colour scheme logos so they work together and are identifiable to the audience. And we had to advertise using many different media platforms to advertise our products.

We made media products to go along side our video for example Digipak, twitter page, Facebook page and website which all fit and link together. For example our Facebook page is advertising an up and coming gig on the 1st of may and so our twitter page also has tweets about the same event. From researching and learning about the different ways of distributing and getting the word out we found that most bands, celebrities, artist, shops all have different pages and accounts on social networking sites helping to promote what they are trying to sell or help get the word out about themselves. They allow fans to know the latest gossip and products that they are selling and allow other people to 'share', 'like' and 'retweet' different events and products allowing more and more people to hear about it. It is a very easy, quick and cheap way for companies and artist to send out a message. After researching into this area we decided to create our own Facebook and twitter page for our band to help promote their new song and new events. We also made a website page so that fan and other poeple can learn more about the band, buy tickets and merchandise. 

We did research into different digipaks to gain an idea of what we would need to include and how to present our own one. We noticed that they all kept to very limited colours and particularly darker colours in the indie rock genre. So our main colours in our digipak are red, white and black to keep it simple and not over powering which colours. We also had to think about the font and how to present the main image on the front. we used simple big bold writing from both the album cover and poster to again keep the poster and album in the same style to make it identifiable to the genre and our own band. We used a big main image of the band on the poster and then a banner at the top clearly showing what we are advertising with then an image of the album in the right hand corner. I feel our media products have worked well together and are a clear representation of the indie rock genre. I think that doing research into the different areas has really helped our final products and given us a better in site into what we need to include.

EVALUATION- FORMS AND CONVENTIONS

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

After doing research and looking into the normal codes and conventions of a rock music video we decided to keep with the normal conventions. The music videos that we looked at in the rock genre, in particular Foo Fighters 'pretender' helped us to gain an understanding of the normal codes and conventions of rock music videos. We noticed that they are usually wearing very plain, casual clothing or band shirts so we followed this in our own video with our actors clothing. Indie Rock videos typically have the band playing their instruments with a very simple narrative alongside the band scene. we kept our video simple with just having the band and the simple narrative alongside. we used a range of different camera angles of the band and their instruments. 

Although our music video has quite a few differences as well as similarities to The Foo fighters 'pretender' video i feel it still follows the same codes and conventions and helped us to gain an understanding of it. The main similarities our video and the Foo Fighters video is that they both has a slow start setting the scene, and then gets more into the song even tho the Pretender is a much faster song than Use somebody which also shows a difference in the two video as the Foo fighters clips are very quick and short to go with the beat of the song whereas our song and video has a slower beat so our shots are longer. Another difference is that our video has a simple narrative giving flashback to a girl and then going back to the band scene. In the pretender video all of it us set in the same place, even though there is more than just the band setting there is no real clear narrative unlike our video. Another difference is that we decided to use an edit layer over the top if our video which gave it an aged look. I really liked this effect as i feel it emphasizes the fact that it is a flash back reminiscing on their past.  

Our video is very simple and easy to follow by having a narrative which is easy to understand and then the band scenes throughout it. We used a variety of different camera angles and shots and a main one was when Abbie is looking directly into the camera as if she is looking at the audience and talking to the lead singer (David), breaking the 4th wall. I feel this was effective even though it is not a traditional convention of an indie rock video. We also know form our feedback that this was a creative and effective technique as the comments we received were positive.

Both of our videos have the band members wearing appropriate clothing for the genres codes and conventions. They are wearing simple plain clothing, some with plain tops or band tops and skinny jeans looking very casual. The clothing seen on rock band artists are very different to what you would see on a pop band. Pop band usually wear brightly coloured clothing which would be considered on tread that everyone aspires to look like whereas the rock genre are very basic clothing. before choosing rock as our chosen genre we were planning to do a rap video, which helps to compare and see the difference between the different genres. i noticed when researching into rap that they usually wear a lot of gold jewellery, hats, try to show of their money with their clothing and expensive items in their videos. So the plan for the clothing for our first video is very different to what we decided in the end when changing it to indie rock. I feel by following the main codes of conventions of our chosen genre we have been able to create a professional and realistic outcome which is is recognisable to the audience as a indie rock video. 

EVALUATION FEEDBACK

http://prezi.com/6qsjwu-f8bi_/present/?auth_key=laiu2pf&follow=xeq3hi2ymtxk&kw=present-6qsjwu-f8bi_&rc=ref-41067779


This is my presentation on my audience feedback of our music video.

STORYBOARD- USE SOMEBODY

STORYBOARD- FIRST PLAN

MUSIC VIDEO THEORY

•“The relationship between the song lyrics/subject matter, musical style, genre, vocal delivery and star persona/physical presence all interact with three minutes’ worth of images” (Davies 2006: 11).

I agree with this theory as all of the elements Davies has included are all very important factors in a music video and all need to link in with each other. Stereotypically each genre of music keeps to the codes and conventions. I did research on different music genres and their codes and conventions and then analysed some music videos. from my research i found that they videos i looked at followed the typical codes and conventions however there are some that try to go against the norm to try and stand out from the rest of the competition in their music genres. 

•Goodwin on Davies “video behaves like a mini-film using cinematic devices, ‘fictional’ characters and the dramatisation of a story”.

I disagree with is theory as not all music videos have a narrative especially with dance music as it is usually people just having a party and dancing in a club. Although a lot of videos do have a narrative most are very simple and easy to follow and also a lot do not have any. For our music video we decided to do a very simple subtle story line to make is simple to follow and also to make it more about the music rather than the video and story.  so most of our video is focusing on the band setting and the music. 

EDITING

These are a the print screens from the editing process which we completed as a group. You can see from each photo, the process of colour satiation, cutting and pasting parts of the clip to form our music video. Using desaturation effect, gave the footage a vintage feel,  this particular high level edit was used as we agreed it would cover any imperfections and errors in our filming. The reason behind this was due to the camera being slightly out of focus, this was not clear when filming.

ALBUM DIGIPAK ANALYSIS

Rihanna digi-pak loud

Front cover is of Rihanna there is an extreme close up of her face; she is wearing red lipstick and has red hair this could show love and passion, her make up is bold but not over the top. Her facial expression is quite plain she has her eyes closed, which shows she is thinking or might be upset or hurt.  This cover already shows that the album is about love. The album is called loud most of the music is up tempo, pop, electro-R&B and it reflects her personality which is loud fun flirty and energetic and the attitude grabs your attention.Vocalists, including rappers Drake, Nicki Minaj and Eminem,The CD is a pink rose, the pink can symbolize flirty and sweet and it’s a rose so it can show elegance. Also it goes with the theme of love and passion.

GENRE R&B/RAP

ARTIST/GENRE RESEARCH

PHOTO PEACH

http://photopeach.com/album/eq8hlj

WEBSITE

Link: http://tillyottaway.wix.com/thenewage

TWITTER PAGE

FINAL MUSIC VIDEO

PARK FILMING

7th March

We filmed at Ewell Court park for the final part of the music video where he is remembering/ reminiscing of the girl that he wants with him. We took our actor Abbie to the park and filmed the camera from david (the main actor)s point of view, so she was looking directly at the camera talking to it and playing around in front of it so it looked like it was in front of him. The filming of this went well as we got a good amount of filming and really good footage of our actress, the weather was good as it wasn't raining so the equipment didn't get wet and it wasn't too sunny so that the sun wasn't in her eyes whilst filming so we had a good natural light. What didn't go so well is that we brought 2 cameras and the better camera had died so we had to switch the battery from the other camera into the better one, apart from that it went really well.

PRODUCTION COMPANY LOGO

Using Photoshop, we were able to design and create a production company logo. The production company is named Bass Records to relate with a musical theme. Choosing black and white colours keeps the image bold and simple, creating a professional outcome. 

HALL FILMING

27th Feb

We started filming for kings of leon- use somebody on the 27th February in the hall on stage. It went well as we had got all the instruments and props ready beforehand and didn't take long to set them up, our actors took it seriously and didn't mess around which was helpful as it made things easier and quicker to get it filmed. We got a really good amount of filming done which was very successful we didn't have any problems apart from the lighting we wanted to use we wasn't allowed to, and we wanted to play the music with speakers so the band could hear it clearly when singing along to it but couldn't find any but we made do with playing it from the laptop.

3rd March 
We then filmed again monday 3rd March twise, the first time we started was early in the morning which went well but we didn't have all the props and instruments such as the amps which are important to make it look realistic and we used them in the previous filming session, we wasn't able to access them as the room they were in was locked and the person who had the key was busy. We then made the best out of it by filming close up to the actors face and prepared everything for the second filming session later in the afternoon.


When we filmed later in the afternoon we had the amps and had everything we needed and it was all set up to film so we spent the whole time filming different angles and shots so we have a good amount of film for when we edit it. what also went well was the actors were getting use to doing it, so they were really getting into it and giving a lot more effort and a lot more enthusiastic. Overall our filming went really well and we have managed to get loads of film with a range of camera angles to use for our music video.

DIGIPAK

Album Cover (front)

Album Cover (back)

Poster

FACEBOOK PAGE

ACTORS PROFILES

Band: The New Age Members: David Clark, Aamir Callo, Jake Kiernan and Shahnam Khazforoosh.

Name: David Clark

Age: 25

Occupation: Lead singer,song writer

Website: www.thenewage.com

Email: dclarkenquiries@bassrecords.com 

Contact number: 01955424377 

David Clark is a singer song writer. The individual artist is known for his range in music, for his singles, albums and unique voice. The artist is now recently recognised for participation as lead singer in 'The New Age'.

Name: Aamir Calloo
Age: 24

Occupation: Base Guitarist

Website: www.thenewage.com

Email: acallooenquiries@bassrecords.com 

Contact number: 01837671112

The guitarist , Aamir has been preforming from a young age. The 24 year old artist has written his own music and is part of the well known band, The New Age. The artists was founded preforming to a small audience as part of a formed group.

Name: Jake Kiernan
Age: 22
Occupation:  Drummer, Singer song writer and record producer
Website: www.thenewage.com

Email: jkiernanenquiries@bassrecords.com

Contact number: 01976651298

The main founder of The New Age. Jake Kiernan began a career in music having a passion for music, and a strong interest in the playing the drums.

Name: Shanham Khazforoosh

Age:23

Occupation: Band Guitarist

Website:www.thenewage.com

Email:  khazforooshenquiries@bassproductions.com

Guitarist Shanham Khazforoosh began playing the electric guitar at the age of 10. The young artist was formally known for his role collaborating with well known artists, The Kooks. 

LIP SYNCING TEST

We tried out lip syncing with 3 of our actors to get an idea of who was best at lip syncing and therefore would be the lead singer in our band. After a few attempts we found that David was best at lip syncing as he already knew all the word to our chosen song 'use somebody' by Kings of leon and was in time with the music. Testing out the lip syncing before filming our music video made it a lot easier to pick who was going to be which band member as we knew straight away that David was right for the lead singer role in the band.  

FILMING SCHEDULE- FIRST PLAN

Within the film industry institutions use filming schedules to follow what they are filming and also to inform others viewing in the video, the creators and editors on the location and timing in which the events need to be recorded. Using a filming schedule is a professional document used by the majority of large cooperations.

LYRICS ANALYSIS USE SOMEBODY

RISK ASSESSMENT FORM

COSTUME

I researched what typical rock bands look like and created a mood board of different rock bands and how they dress. They are mainly all males with a few exceptions so we have kept to this norm and created an all male band. They are all wearing quite casual, plain clothing and simple t-shirts. Our band members will be dressed with the typical codes an conventions that i have found to go with the rock theme. I have gathered images of examples f the type of clothing our actors will be wearing. 

PROP LIST

Props we needed for our filming:

• Drum kit
• Bass Guitar  
• Microphone 
• Electric Guitar 
• 2 Amps 
• 2 Cameras 
• Tripod
• Lights 

by looking at different rock music videos and seeing what most of them include we chose a story line and planning what we wanted in our own music video we then knew what props we needed to include.

FILMING SCHEDULE

Within the film industry institutions use filming schedules to follow what they are filming and also to inform others viewing in the video, the creators and editors on the location and timing in which the events need to be recorded. Using a filming schedule is a professional document used by the majority of large cooperations

PRODUCTION COMPANY RESEARCH

FIRST PLAN- STORY BOARD OF OUR VIDEO