Below is the schedule for my project. This will include my dates from start to finish on things such as my video filming , my editing for this and other aspects such as designing my posters and digipaks. My schedule is an important factor of this project as it is important to follow throughout due to the chance of not finishing my work on time. Finishing work at the time I planned to set is also important as it will be difficult to carry work on whilst starting another part of my project as time is the greatest issue faced within this project.
PROJECT DATE STARTING DATE FINISHING Planning film ideas Friday 5th Feb 10 TUESDAY 9th March Filming music video Monday 22nd feb10 Wednesday 24th Feb Editing music video Thursday 25th Feb 10 Friday 19th March 10
Media evaluation
Below is my evaluation for the project. Below this evaluation is my other blog work . Please read this when you have looked at my other work below the evaluation.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
The combination of my main product and ancillary texts have been important in my production of my music video and overall research. My ancillary text ( my digipak and my posters) have helped me with my overall project aand outcome as I have learnt more about market research , producing these using technologies such as Photoshop and other technologies such as camera and eqipment. Researching into Digipak designs , layouts and conventions has helped me with my final product as I have follow a professional form and have used common concepts to create my own for my band/ artist.Ancillary texts are an important part of my main product as there is greater detail and indepth research for my product. I find if I support my main product of work with ancillary texts then I can provide justified research and a greater depth of knowledge with the work that I have created.
With my main product I have used ancillary texts in several areas of my work. One area I used this was my planning of my poster designs. As I researched other bands I followed conventions and used them for my own ideas. I found this important as I was able to use aspects included in other bands posters to create my own as recognisability was a factor which I found important for a successful poster design.
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Audience’s feedback is important in the production of this task for many reasons. A specific reason for why this feedback is important is that it enables me to change and edit what I have to make it better. We can see this change due to feedback in areas of the task such as the digipak and poster designs. As I created three posters and 3 digipak designs I was able to choose the most suitable design with the help of the audience’s feedback. The audience’s feedback for this task is important for further research as they indicate what they like and dislike. This helped with the target audience as we aimed our music video at a teenage audience and were able to gain feedback from this same age group.
This audience feedback enabled me to interact greater with the audience as their feedback enabled me to have a greater and more personal connection between me and the audience. This connection between me and the audience ultimately gave me a more representative view on what I needed to improve as they were more honest with their responses.
One of the most important factors of audience feedback for me was the repetition of answers given. As my results found that areas of my work could be improved due to feedback being repetitive I decided to change two scenes from my music video. I decided to expand on my audience feedback through the social website facebook.I decided to upload a cd cover draft so others could reply and I could get feedback to decide what I could change. After I had several replies with comments such as “a different colour could make it better”, I realised other peoples opinions and feedback would help my work become better.
Ultimately I have realised audience feedback is important for my work standard. Using other people’s feedback allows me to categories my work into a specific genre which will attract a certain audience as I follow conventions whilst making my band posters, digipak and video
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Media technologies have played a significant role in all aspects of my work. Whilst constructing I have used technology to develop ideas and have also depending on them for my development. One crucial area that this can be seen is in my music video. I used the editing software final cut pro to construct my music video as this was the only way I could produce a professional and realistic music video. Taking this into account I could not have been able to produce a music video and therefore would have been unable to finish my product. The computer has been my main source for research, planning, evaluating and construction due to programmes such as final cut pro, the internet and Photoshop. Whilst using Photoshop, I had problems with opening up my work which led to more time wasted. I was soon able to open my work and produce my digipak and poster as Photoshop enable me to work on a greater professional level.My last years foundation porfolio has helped me with my work considerably as I used last years work to develop my own knowledge and understanding. I used my knowledge of last years work in my editing and my creation of my digipak and poster as I used Photoshop to help me create a professional design. I used a video camera to create my music video. As there was only one video camera available to our group our only option was to take all the shots with this camera. This affected our timing as we had to spend more time creating the video and taking more shots from different angles. If I was able to re-create the music video I would have used two cameras as this would of allowed us to spend more time on specific shots and angles as this method was time consuming. Another problem with this camera was that it was not the best quality. This affected our final piece as it had less of a professional look as there was not as much detail in the shots.
However without the video camera we would be unable to film the band appropriately as overall this form of media technology helped me produce a professional looking music video. Photoshop elements 3.0 significantly helped me with my bands digipak and posters. As I originally decided to draw out my designs I was able to use a scanner to scan them in and produce a profession final poster and digipak design. Without Photoshop I would have been able to create both but they would have ended up looking less professional and it would have been more time consuming.
Whilst researching I decided to use the internet as there was a greater amount of information than the local library and had relevant and new information. Without the internet my research would have been deeply affected as I would have been unable to find all the relevant research for my project. I used the internet for research on magazines, posters, band research, digipaks, music video research and analysis. I even used the internet for finding my locations on
Taking this into account the internet has been one of my main sources for this product. Without this I would be unable to research, plan and produce in enough time as I would have to find other ways to gain this information. I used the internet as a way to gain audience feedback as I used a social network site (facebook) to upload ideas for my digipak and poster ideas. The internet therefore has affected most aspects of my work as this has been the core source for research.
I used a computer as a media technology to help evaluate my work and others work. I used Microsoft word for evaluating work as this was the only way I could upload my evaluation without having to scan it in. There were no problems with evaluating work using this method as I planned the content and could easily assess this programme.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Now that I have completed my media product I have developed areas of my own stills and believe I have challenged common forms and conventions for in real media products. An example of my work challenging these media products is my digipak. My digipak does not follow common forms and conventions due to my irregular styling. Even though my digipak follows colour conventions of an average digipak it goes a step further by developing this by including contrasting colours. I thought this would be a good idea as breaking conventions of colour (found on the colour wheel ) will challenge the common forms of digipak designs.
Even though I believe I developed the digipak product I still used common conventions of this media product. I followed a common digipak template to ensure my final result would look professional and would still be recognisable as a cd album. Even though it’s a good idea to push the boundaries of media products such as the digipak I still found it important to follow common forms and conventions found with media products. For my main task of actually creating a music video I found challenging and developing common music videos important for my own. With the use of planning and in-depth research of other music videos I was able to create a music video which challenged common convention as I was able to show my own style of creating and portray my views on how a music video should be made. I also developed last years portfolio of work as I gained previous knowledge of how to create my project such as Photoshop, blogger and camera work.I believe I challenged common music videos in the sense of the direction I chose to take my video. I believe I didn’t keep to a specific genre with my music video as other artists’ videos I researched only aimed their content in the video at a specific audience. I believe this worked out well as more people would look at the video instead of judge it by the genre of music.
Creating my music video
For part of my brief I had to create a music video. The video had to be roughly 3-4 minutes long and also had to include techniques and conventions found in a typical music video. The first thing I decided to do was plan out every aspect of my music video. The first thing i decided to do whilst planning was to find an artist/ band to perform.
The first place I looked was unsigned.com, this website was a key place to find unsigned artists which could help me with my music video. As I already have a genre in mind most people didn’t fit with what I wanted. As I struggled to find an artist I looked to my friend’s band for help. After listening to covers and their own songs I decided to choose his band crayolaR as their style suited what I wanted for my music video.
My next task was to think of my music video ideas, this was challenging as I wanted to follow a specific genre whilst following codes and conventions found in the music videos that I had previously researched. Whilst planning I had to think of the cast and style of the music video. As I analysed music videos from bands such as 30 seconds to mars I wanted to include aspects of these videos such as the intricate details and varied camera shots in my own video.
Now that I had analysed the music videos I decided to create a performance narrative video as I thought a story behind the music would be the best way to make the video interesting for the audience.
My next task in the creation of the music video was now to find the cast. (In the cast section on my blog you will find the cast for this.) I thought a relationship story within the music video would help the video flow better as there would be something to follow whilst keeping the performance aspect with the band. I tried to follow conventions of other music videos that I researched to create a professional video. Ways in which I followed these codes and conventions were through aspects of lighting , set and the style of my video.
With the lighting I planned on the narrative scenes between characters being lightly lit as this would indicate the story was a memory they both had. A scene where this can be seen is where the girl walks a way and the boy follows. The audience see him come on shot in the middle of the room indicating not every second was remembered but the important parts were included within this story. Problems I had with the lighting was where this was all going to be located.
As I planned beforehand where to set the scenes I did not take in to full account of positioning in terms of lighting as areas especially inside where dark and therefore harder to shoot. I came over this difficulty but editing scenes to make them appear lighter and also shot from different angles where light was as its best for the video.
As I knew props can be problematic I decided only a few were needed. Whilst analysing other music videos (found in my research and planning section) I found many videos only used specific props to show importance and relevance. As I knew only half the music video was narrative I decided on keeping only key props such as the mobile phone, music equipment and basic props such as tables and chairs. This would enable the audience to not get distracted away from the narrative as some of the audience could have at times found it slightly difficult to follow.
The locations for this video were hard to find as several problems occurred. One of these problems found even in large scale music videos was the budget. As we wanted to carry out a low cost video we found it important to find locations near where we were located as we then did not have to travel a great distance. Personally I believed the best shots which weren’t cost effective were the scenes shot outside. This would enable us to use natural light and would also be a ‘free’ space to use. Looking back I believe this to be a good idea as we could spend more time shooting and less time booking spaces and worrying about lighting equipment. My only issue with this was the aspect of the weather, as we were greatly dependant on it not to rain and to look fairly similar throughout the day of shooting. We tackled this by deciding to film several parts inside as we could get better shots of the actor’s faces and them both together.
I found timing was an issue within my music video as problems occurred which could have been resolved quicker. Issues such as band availability made this harder for us as we had to re assess locations as the timing within the day wasn’t the best it could have been due to lighting and the surroundings. Outside shots had to be filmed in the day due to our idea of a lightly lit area and also minor issues such as safety whilst shooting in the dark. We believed before we shot the actors availability could be a problem as we took into account they may not at times be able to shoot on the days we would have liked. Fortunately the actors were able to take time to shoot when we liked which I believe helped us greatly with the timing as we were able to shoot continuously throughout the day of filming without distractions or worries over availability.
Research and planning helped greatly with our finished music video as we knew from the beginning what type of shots we wanted and how we were going to get them. After editing and completing the music video overall I believe it was a success. If I were to change anything about the way it was created or create a new music video I would have made greater use out of the green screen. I would have used this to create a more professional video as the quality of my own video could have been improved with this. To conclude, I have enjoyed this project as I was able to learn new ways of creating and producing my very own music video. I have also enjoyed the teamwork and planning within our group with James Goodman and Chris Morris as we worked well and hard to produce what we believe is a good music video. Audience feedback suggests to us that it was a success as we were able to use and challenge media products within the video and whilst creating to succeed in the project. I have learnt many things whilst creating this video and also have improved on key skills of producing and directing as I have faced realistic issues commonly found on set of professional music videos which I believe I have handled appropriately and as a group overcome to produce a well planned and professional music video.
Poster design 3. 
After i used layers to include text and colour i had most of my design underway. - below is how i included layers on my digipak
Digipak rough design 3. - I decided not to go further than design what it would look like as this in the end didnt suite my overall image of my ideal digipak. I do however like the artistic style but will nt use this as my final digipak design.
Poster research 
My storyboard has helped with my overall final media product as I was able to apply last years foundation portfolio ideas to my current ideas. I followed my Storyboard within my filming so I would be able to stick to a schedule.
North Kesteven/ Moor lane ( west wall)
