Making of video

My Evaluation

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

Think about:

·      The products you have analysed and gained inspiration from.

·      Goodwin’s points

·      Genre of product

Our media product uses lots of typical forms and convention of real media products. Examples of this would be that it has a narrative running through the length of the music video and that it has lots of close up shot (and other types) of the artist singing which is conventional in about 99% of music videos, its conventional as companies want the singer to be the main focus of the video therefore there is a lot more shots in ratio to the narrative shots. Although our music video does use a lot of conventions it also develops and challenges the forms and conventions. The major way in which are product does this is that through out the whole video it is split screen which helps to tell the narrative as well as keeping main focus on the singer, it also helps to keep the viewer constantly interested as the images are always changing in different ways and into different parts of the screen. This is a different way to show the video, as most music videos will be full screen, although there are a few videos about which use split screen it a bit more original than your conventional video’s, by using this technique it also makes it more original to our genre

Demonstrates genre characteristics

Relationship between visuals and lyrics in parts.

Relationship between music and video (quicker on the beat etc.)

Lots of close ups of the artist as the labels would demand it.

Inter-textual reference to films.

How Effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary (Magazine advert / Digi pack cover) texts?

Think about:

·      How all 3 work together as a promo package

·      What image do they create of the artist

·      How are they successful at attracting the target audience

I believe that the combination of our main product, magazine advert and digi pack work together very well. I think it works well for 3 main reasons. One, it interlinks with one another such as the colour schemes and the shot types (lots of the artist).  Two, the style in which we designed them in are inter-linking; such as the fonts we decided on and the way we dressed the artist to fit in with the conventions of our genre. And three, I believe that it would appeal to a larger target audience, as its not to gender/age specific therefore hopefully attracting more people.

The main product and ancillary texts help to create an indie feel to the artist by the effects we used on the CD cover, this also crosses over into the music as this was the kind of genre it was, so it would have been unconventional and not really appropriate to take on a different style.

What have you learnt from you feedback?

·      Feedback on initial pitch

·      On your rough cut

·      On finished product

·      Peers and teachers

We learnt a great deal from all of the feedback we received. When we were doing the initial pitch we received a lot of ideas from other classmates as well as the teacher combined with a few of our own which could be used. When we had got to the rough cut point the main feedback we got was that the video was to indecisive as we weren’t sure as to the definite style that we wanted to use as we were torn between using the split screen, no split screen or split screen for parts of the video. After most the class agreeing that split screen would look better we decided to go with this and got on with making the whole video in split screen – a significant point in the process of making our product. When we had finished the product and shown the rest of the class the overall feedback was that they had liked it and thought that the split screen worked really well and helped to keep you interested through out the whole video. There were a couple of comments where they said that there was parts of it such as shots or narrative which could be slightly improved but nothing which was a major floor.

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

·      All the software (Blogger/Photoshop/Final Cut)

·      HD cameras / stills

·      In what ways did you use these products and how did they help you to prepare and create a successful product?

Blogger was a big influence and help in the process of planning the entire product as it allowed us to jot down ideas and pictures/ videos etc. which where an influence on our product.

Photoshop was probably the programme, which was used a bit less, however it allowed us to do unique and interesting images which otherwise, would not be possible, this was key as it allowed us to link ideas in to the front cover which were in the video.

Evaluative commentary script-Paragraph 4

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

Blogger was the main resource I used as I tried to research other videos, techniques and artists in order to gain inspiration for our own video and an idea of what conventions were found in the indie/alternative genre. Blogger was also very useful when it came to the evaluation stage as all of the material we needed was kept on our blog. We always tried to use posts to give us more ideas and to keep in contact with each other as we all had different tasks but wanted to make sure we were all going in the same direction. Final cut was useful as our prior use of the resource allowed us to create a better media product. Its vast number of features meant we could create whatever theme or style we wanted with the shots we took. Photoshop was useful as it allowed us to create our ancillary product to a reasonably high standard. We often found the program to be hard to use as it had many features and completing a simple cover took a long time. Despite our problems with the software it was very useful as it allowed us to use similar colours and styles to our music video which meant we could show a relationship between the products which would mean they promote each other to the audience.

Evaulative commentary script-Paragraph 1

In what ways does your media product use, break or develop conventions found in real media products?


We needed to conform to some of the conventions so we could establish a genre within our music video. Since the genre of the music we chose was indie/alternative, we used a similar dress code to products found in the same genre and also found in our audience, since our audience is younger people we felt it would be beneficial to dress in a similar way as it would be aesthetically pleasing to the audience. We also tried to keep a cut rate that matched the tempo so we could cut on the beat. This meant the final product would look sharper which would mean it would be closer to a real media product. Since we had a theme of romance in our song, we tried to forward this impression on our video through the colour scheme. In the video, Both Finn and Amy are wearing red tops which means the audience can link the characters together due to their correlating dress sense. We developed conventions were me felt necessary as it is part of the indie genre. Most products within the genre try to have an individual theme to make it stand out. I felt setting our video apart from the rest of the market was essential as it is a very competitive industry, so we needed to have a theme or concept that would make the audience go out and buy our record as opposed to a similar one. We decided after our peer feedback that we would make our entire video split-screen as it would put across our narrative of love/breaking up well as it would provide a barrier between the two characters. It would also make out video fairly niche as it was one of a few videos in the industry to use this type of edit the whole way through. We tried not to break conventions in our video because it would mean that we would take our video outside of the genre which would mean it wouldn't look like a real media product and therefore would defeat the point of the task.

BACK cover

Lesson 13/12/11

Lesson Plan 13/12/11
In today's lesson we will complete the video documentary. 
Also stay up to date with blogger and upload remaining evaluations.

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

We used new technologies in all of the stages of the process of creating the music video. For the planning ry useful as it was the main editing tool that we used. It allowed us to chop and change about the footage that we had captured and put it in an order that we wanted it to be. It also allowed us to put effects and change the size of the footage. This was very useful while we were doing the split screen effect on our video. This is because it allowed us to put several pieces of footage in one place and crop it so that they would all fit the screen and gave the effect of split screen. Without final cut express it wouldn’t be possible to do the viup did while they were away.

New technologies such as HD cameras, final cut express, and photoshop helped throughout the construction. HD cameras helped us because they were much easier to use than the previous cameras and had much better picture/video quality so it made the video look more professional. It was also much easier to transfer the video that we had captured as it was on a memory card opposed to using a tape and a firewire and then transferring them onto the computer.

Final cut express was also very useful as it was the main editing tool that we used. It allowed us to chop and change about the footage that we had captured and put it in an order that we wanted it to be. It also allowed us to put effects and change the size of the footage. This was very useful while we were doing the split screen effect on our video. This is because it allowed us to put several pieces of footage in one place and crop it so that they would all fit the screen and gave the effect of split screen. Without final cut express it wouldn’t be possible to do the video.

Photoshop CS3 was very useful for developing our ancillary product. It allowed us to apply effects such as dispersion to our image that we used in our ancillary product. It also allowed us create a magazine advert in a similar colour scheme to the rest of our product which means it fitted in nicely with the rest of the products. It also allowed us to add extra things to our products, such as putting a QR code on our digi-pack cover and magazine advert

HD video cameras also helped with our evaluation stages; this is because we used them to film our evaluation/making of documentary/interview. HD cameras helped because record in high definition which means that it gives us good clear video, they also record very clear sounding audio which helps because it makes it easier to understand what people are saying while they’re on camera.

Final cut express also helped because it allowed us to edit our evaluation together. It allowed us to put the video clips in what ever order we wanted and allowed us to cut about and remove bits of the interview which either wasn’t useful or had a lot of pauses in it. It also allowed us edit in bit of our music video over the top of our interview. This was helpful as it allowed us to show what we were talking about when we were referring to the video e.g. split screen. It also allowed us to put the video over bits where we had cut something out, this removed the problem of the video skipping about when parts were cut out and not looking right.

Blogger helped us as well as it gave us access to the questions that we had to answer for the evaluation, it also gave us a chance to look at what we had previously done and allowed us to see how its changed and what we had previously wrote which may help us with the evaluation. It also give us a place to put all the pieces of the evaluation into one place so its easy to view.

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

We leant a lot from our audience feedback. It helped us to choose which direction to take out music video in. This is because when we showed the group our rough cut only some of the video was in split screen, the audience were confused why half of it was in split screen and half wasn’t. This helped us to decide what direction to take it in, they said that they like the bits that were in split screen but when only some of it was and it didn’t look right, of flow properly and look a bit disjointed. This made us make the decision to make the whole video split screen and I think that this was the right choice as it made the video flow better, keep pace with the song and kept the audience interested throughout the whole song   

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

I think that the combination of our media product and ancillary products are very effective. The two combined have a very similar style to them in the type of font and colour scheme that they use. The two products also show a similar image of what we were trying to show throughout the whole of our media product. The combination of the main product and ancillary task are also useful from a marketing perspective. This is because we’ve used viral marketing to market our product better. We created a facebook page to promote our group and get our music video known to a bigger audience. We also created a QR code that you can scan with a smart phone and it links you directly to our youtube video, facebook page, and blogger account. 

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

I think that our media product uses and develops forms and conventions. Our media product uses conventions in its colour scheme and costume choices. The colour scheme is quite conventional, for example the song that we used is very upbeat and fast paced. This is reflected in the video, the video is very fast paced as it changes shots quickly and almost every second so no shot is on screen for too long. The colour scheme also reflects the upbeat nature of the song; the colour scheme is very bright and colourful which fits the genre of the song. The costume choice is conventional as it is similar to what many other male solo artists would wear during a video or performance. This is why our media product uses conventions because in this aspect it doesn’t do anything different from the normal thing that you would expect from this genre of music.

Our media product develops conventions by using split screen throughout the whole video. This develops conventions because it isn’t something that you’d expect to see in a music video, although it has been done before. This is why our product doesn’t break the conventions of a music video as although split screen is uncommon in music videos it isn’t something that’s brand new and never been done. It also develops conventions as we have turned a band into a male solo artist. This has been done before where it seems like it’s a solo performance as you don’t see the rest of the band performing, although it isn’t commonly done. 

Our media product doesn’t break or challenge conventions of real media products. This is because even though our video is different to many things that have been done before. Split screen has been used before, however not commonly used in music videos the whole way through.

Ananlysis of previous video

http://47longroadmusicvideo10.blogspot.com/

The commentary breaks conventions of documentaries as the speakers are both in the middle of the screen when it is conventional to have the speakers off-center. There is also a lack of on screen titles so you don't know who the speaker is in relation to the video. This takes away some of the authority that the speaker has, if there were on screen titles saying 'director' you would have a tendency to believe what the speaker is saying. The video has some strong features, as the speakers attempt to use standard English which improves the points they are trying to make.

Evaluation-Dan Giles

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

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

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

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

Evaluative commentary script-Paragraph 3

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

We have learnt that the audience feedback is more important than our own opinions of the video, as ultimately they are the ones that will be watching the video and buying the album so we need to sell the product to them. After our rough cut we had peer feedback which was brilliant as the comments were good as well as constructive. The main points were that the video was well edited and the performance was fantastic, but it lacked direction as half of the video used split screen and the other half used straight cuts after full screen shots. This meant that some of the narrative was lost as we did not convey the theme in a strong enough way. Since the narrative was essential to appreciating the video, we needed to make a decision to use one form of edit throughout to improve the continuity, this would mean that the audience could follow the narrative and therefore appreciate the video as a whole. We decided to use the split-screen technique as it meant it would be fairly unique compared with other videos and it would represent the romantic theme well.

Evaluation- Finn Morrell

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

Our media product uses conventions seen in real media products. We have used quick, fast paced cuts in the edit which fits with the beat and pace of the track often seen in conventional music videos. We have used an array of different costumes, these costumes fit with the genre of our track. The red jumper the lead performer wears symbolically portrays a sense of love, lust and power. This subtle use of costume gives a big subliminal impact as both the male and female protagonists main costume is red - emphasizing their connection in the video. The lead performer is in almost all of the shots, this is important as it devotes valuable screen time, often seen in conventional music videos.

The song we chose was performed by a band - but we felt it could work better as a male solo artist. Therefore we re branded the band 'Orson' Into a male solo artist. We developed conventions by making the entirety of our music video split screen - we researched split screen on the internet and YouTube. And although we found music video's which were split screen. We felt that we could use it in a way that hadn't been done before. We took inspiration from the film '500 days of summer' for ideas about love and the complication that come with it. Therefore we managed to create a media product which created these complications. For example we would have the female protagonist on one side of the screen and the male on the other - emphasizing the barrier between the performers. I feel by doing this we developed conventions of typical music videos, giving a unique and individual look to the media product. 





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

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

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

Evaluative commentary script-Paragraph 2

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

We tried to make both products similar in style so if the audience saw the video and then the advert they would know they were both for the same band. We also tried to use a viral marketing strategy to go with the ancillary product as it would help us reach more of our target demographic. We chose to use viral marketing as it is very cheap (free in our case) which mean we could devote more of our budget to the production of our video. We used a QR code on our digipack which could be scanned with a smart phone, This would link the consumer to our music video, Facebook page and blogger. This gave them a chance to see some of the bands work in the music video, follow the progress of the band on Facebook and see the making of the video on blogger. We also tried to collaborate our products using similar colour schemes and fonts so the audience would associate the products with each other.

The Importance of a QR code

The QR code was an essential component of our viral marketing strategy. We used viral marketing as it is very cheap (free in this case) and it has the scope to reach millions of people. The code links to a page which can take you to our video on Youtube, Facebook fan page and our blogger.

Youtube was brilliant as it would allow you to watch the music video in a matter of seconds after scanning the code. This is very useful as it gives us more views on Youtube which would mean more income through Youtube advertising and it would spread the word for our band which would promote the digi-pack. Youtube is useful as it is one of the biggest websites in the world and pretty much every music video can be found on it. This obviously means that this is big business for the music industry as it promotes the artist as well as making money from the views. Many other music videos are some of the most watched clips on the site, with Justin Bieber's 'Baby' being watched an astonishing 671 million times.

Facebook is brilliant as it is a site that is primarily used by young people 16-25 which is also the main demographic of indie/alternative music. It is a free resource and it is a good way to promote the video as if a friend on Facebook likes our fan page, there is a good chance it will appear on the news feed which will mean it will inevitably come in to contact with the group most likely to be a fan of the artist and the video. It is a good resource for bands to keep in contact with their fans which means they are aware of popular opinion on themselves as artists and the music they produce, which will allow them to have a deeper understanding of the ever-changing tastes in the music industry.

Blogger was liked via the QR code because it gave fans an insight into the making of the music video. This will allow them to see the thought processes behind the product and also understand the narrative and theme in a deeper way. Blogger is generally used by artistic or creative minded people as they use the site to upload images and other work they do for an online community that has similar interests. Since they are generally creative minded they may be more inclined to take an interest in the production of the video and the planning behind it so it reaches a sub-market within the younger age bracket.

QR CODE

Instead of copying and pasting an image from the internet of a code. We created our own working QR code which links to the blog, YouTube video and Facebook page. TRY IT!

We used this website to create it - http://kimtag.com/

And this is what our page looks like, once you've scanned the code -

MAGAZINE ADVERT FOR DIGIPACK

This magazine is effective as it clearly demonstrates that we have re-branded the band 'ORSON' into a male solo artist - this is apparent both in the music video itself and on the album cover. The colour scheme is a current - running through our project, the use of reds in the video (having the male and female protagonist dressed in red) created a mood and atmosphere of love.

Because of the simplicity of the colour scheme and amount of text - it makes it easy for the eye of the viewer, immediately allowing the viewer to distinguish who the band is and what is being sold. 'NO TOMORROW SPECIAL EDITION'

The use of the QR code allows viewers with a smart phone to scan the code - directing them to our blog, facebook page, and youtube video. This is commonly used in professional products, as it is simple, cheap and saves cluttering the advertisement with links - which people may forget or no take notice of .

Lesson Plan 8/11/11

In today's lesson we hope to complete the Video commentary.

Codes and Conventions of Documentaries

http://www.slideshare.net/crosswaysfederation/the-five-modes-of-documentary-typical-conventions

These conventions provide guidelines for any documentary maker. The conventions are particular features often associated with documentaries, and using and perhaps developing them will allow us to make a convincing product. The main purpose of a documentary is to inform the viewer, so many of conventions are used to make the viewer believe the speaker and what he/she is saying. This is done by making the speaker appear to be an authority to make the dialogue seem more convincing. On screen titles show who the speaker is in a professional sense e.g. Director. Giving the speaker his/her title makes them have more power when they are talking about a subject in their particular field. Another way this is done is by putting them in a professional environment such as a library or office to make the speaker seem educated which will increase his/her authority. The final way this is done is buy dressing the speaker in professional clothing such as a suit so they seem educated which will improve the likelihood of the audience taking what the speaker is saying seriously. By giving the speaker a more authoritative persona, it gives the dialogue more weight which allows it to convey information more convincingly. 

How to make a documentary.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdzQHSZRd2Y

FILMED EVALUATION (THE MAKING OF)

The filmed evaluation was a success - a script was prepared in the lesson prior. As a group we found we were organized and we knew what we were going to say. We framed the shots conventionally with the person giving the questions off camera right. Meaning the person being interviewed will be looking off camera - giving a professional looking product.

In the documentary we spoke about conventions and how we used, challenged and developed them. We also talked about how we used an interactive marketing strategy in order to develop and reach a fan base. In terms of production, we talked about the tools and software we used and how they assisted us but also the limitations of the software and how it may of prevented us from making an industry level product.

In order for our documentary to be a success, we will need to back up these fairly general analytical points with specific examples from our video. This will allow us to give more detail which will mean that we can convey our ideas and points on the video.

FEEDBACK FOR OUR FINAL MUSIC VIDEO

GOOD PERFORMANCE x10
GREAT USE OF SPLIT SCREEN x24
INTERESTING x2
GOOD PACE x4
COOL NARRATIVE

MAGAZINE ADVERT FOR DIGIPACK

MAGAZINE ADVERT