Monday 14 December 2009

Evaluative commentry

Josh Grief - Media Evaluation

Media Evaluation

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


Our Music Video has been made using the forms and conventions of the Indie rock genre and applied them to our video. Indie rock videos are generally based around the idea of showing the artist or band performing. As well as this the speed of the cuts will generally be faster than a pop video because of the tempo of the song. Narrative is often used to compliment the video. This is the route we went down by using a main location and performance of the artist to cut back to, we where able to use these conventions while developing it by having the artist in a narrative scenario whilst still performing.
We used a colourful wood and outdoor location to avoid a dark looking video. This is because of the song being upbeat so the colours of locations suit the feel of the song. To help this even more so we used filters to increase the saturation on many of the clips not only to make the colours seem a continuous flow but to make it a visually more colourful.
The video also develops on the conventions of other indie rock videos for instance the shot of the artist in the car to keep the shot types fresh and interest the viewer. Again we developed on the shot types we used like other video’s we have researched, like the shot looking up at the artist in the forest.
In our attempt to challenge indie rock video conventions as well as other genre music videos in general we used stills. This creates a different look that stands out to the viewer which mixes in nicely to vary what the viewer sees.


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

There is a clear link between all of our products; the basis of this is the location in this which is the same the main bulk of out music video in the forest where the artist is seen by himself singing. By using the same location and having the artist by himself without a band for example clearly shows they are representing the same thing. The ancillary texts specifically are linked well together by being made up using similar parts these being – The pink spiders logo, bright colours, bold text as well as the same institutional information.
Not only do they link well together but also link reasonably well to the genre of indie rock by showing the artist as the main focus as well as using more unusual backgrounds. To keep the link strong between all 3 pieces we did not put an effect on the artist as there was none used in the video and by putting one on in the ancillary texts we could have visually separated the products.
By keeping the main artist as the focus for each product there is a continuous theme throughout. This creates a brand identity so the products can be easily recognized as a group of products on the same thing. While having this strong link they also represent the artists personality by showing different facial expressions and posture. This would then appeal more to the target audience as it shows his fun and laid back attitude to life.


3. What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

The first feedback we got was from our pitch. From this we could see that we had a strong basic idea but we needed more detail. This then helped us because we realized we had to put more focus on location and shot types. Not only this but the digipack at the time of the pitch lacked attention. Because of these things we then had a stronger base model to our project to work from.
From looking at the feedback we received on our blog as well as verbal feedback we could see where our products where failing and what needed rectifying and the positive feedback showed us we where heading in the right direction with the visuals of the products.
After getting feedback from people viewing the rough-cut we where able to see that our video was no dynamic enough, by getting this information early on we were able to go out and re-shoot parts of the video to get more close up shots of the artist. We then used this to cut back to which enabled us to achieve faster cuts which goes with the tempo of the song which we couldn’t have achieved without the feedback as we lacked the footage or the varying shot types to change to. This then made our final video keep the inertest of the viewer far better than the first attempt. Other feedback form the peer group "Filters are needed to make it seem more attractive rather than 'cold england'." By using this information we took the criticism and did as it said. By adding these filters we created a brighter more colourful video. So this feedback helped develop our video further.
On the ancillary feedback side early on we where hearing that it wasn’t unique enough and very plain. We remedied this by changing the background effect and made the text simpler so the photograph text and effects linked well together.



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

By using the internet we were able to quickly and effectively gather information on the forms and conventions of other indie rock videos, as well as other genre’s of videos to learn about how they are constructive and the different techniques that can be employed to create a professional video. We were also able to look through images on the internet to create a mood board which meant we could create the visual theme of the video into one board that gave us a a strong thing to aim for.
After coming up with an idea with the use of the internet we were able to make our story board on final cut which gave us a feel for what our final video would look like. From there we were able to use our footage to put together the video. It enabled us to cut the footage up and easily place it where we wanted to get the lip syncing correct. We could also use it to change filters which made the video in the forest all look the same which it did not when it came off the camera because of the changing light conditions.
Photoshop let us make unique ancillary pieces bye adding effects to the background and we could also use this alongside the internet to put institutional information on our products.
Without the use of the internet we would not have been able to create such a strong video that links to other music videos of this genre as well. This therefor means we could create a music video to the expectations of the audience.

Friday 11 December 2009

PROJECT EVALUATION





Evaluation

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

Our media product consists of a music video and ancillary tasks, these being a magazine ad and digipak cover. When planning the construction of the music video we had to keep the genre of pop in mind. We discussed how we would engage with the conventions of a pop music video. Whilst discussing this we decided that the main focus was selling the artist as a pop artist. Therefore we decided it was extremely important to focus on solely the main artist alone, we did not want to include performance from the band as we thought this was unnecessary. We gathered our thoughts and researched into other music videos of this genre and found that to sell the artist effectively we would need to show many close ups and mid shots showing off the artist.When planning the music video we had to consider particular conventions; one of these being performance from the artist. We mainly had the main artist performing throughout; we also had shots of the artist doing other things, one of these being driving. Another was relating music to visuals, this is typical in music video as the editing is done to complement the music and also change locations. Within our music video we had the artist moving up and down a bench and edited the footage to the beat of the music. Finally we related lyrics to visuals which is typical of a music video, we did this to illustrate the lyrics through footage of the artist, an example of this in the video is when one of the lines states every argument is endless, we then showed the artist and a female arguing.The music video is typical of a pop/rock video in showing a narrative based on two characters, this being the main artist and a female. There is also a main performance from the artist throughout the video. The props used within the music video are typical of this genre, with one of these being a car representing current teenage life.Another consideration we thought about was the locations used within the music video, one of these being a cafe when the generation being represented would be seen. We also added filters to the video which made locations seem brighter giving a colourful atmosphere relating to the genre of pop.The music video develops conventions as within this there are typical pop moments for example singing in the car, however involving an element of comedy. Our music video has been influenced by real media products, one of these being a video by Franz Ferdinand as we use similar techniques when cutting from one shot to the next.When constructing the ancillary tasks we followed conventions for the pop genre. This is because we had the artist surrounded by bright colours and text. This is an artistic way of representing the upbeat genre of music and conveying the mood of the music to the audience. The magazine ad showed the artist surrounded by a bright blue colour and the digipak showed the artist again surrounded by bright colours.

2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks?

All three products share a particular visual theme which binds them together to create a promotional package. All three of the products share the same brand identity and are easily recognisable as group products. All three show the artist in a simple way, this being just the image of the artist, this therefore presents the artist clearly and shows that the products are related to the pink spiders.The artist is represented in all three products in the same way, this being a typical guy who would be liked by many people, therefore this is a single identity as there are not two sides to the artist. This is typical of a pop/rock video as artists are represented as a nice person who would be a role model therefore providing someone to look up to. This would appeal to the target audience of teenagers as the artist is represented as a friendly character and the audience would want to be like him.The combination of both the music video and ancillary tasks is very effective this is because they both represent a similar visual style. All three of the products show a consistent theme and are recognised by the Pink Spiders logo. Both the products focus on the main artist throughout using close ups and mid shots in the music video the artist is shown performing using direct gaze, but also in the magazine ad the artist also uses direct gaze.The ancillary tasks consist of a photo of the artist surrounded by a glow and bright colours with bold text representing the pop genre. When creating the ancillary tasks we used no visual effects on the main artist to tie in with the music video as this was the main focal point. Therefore the theme of all three products was consistent. The artist was also shot images of in a similar location to the music video, this being the forest, this therefore showed the same theme and did not contradict the music video and the locations used.The combination of all the products works well together and would be a success in promoting and selling the artist this is because the artist can be clearly recognised and there is a consistent theme without and bright bold colours are used to represent the genre of pop/rock.

3. What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

The feedback we received was from impartial sources and was presented on our music video blog, this was available online and gave anyone the chance to add comments about our video, and therefore this widened the range of feedback we received. The feedback from our pitch stated that we needed to consider the magazine ad and digipak cover as well as the music video. From the pitch it was found that the editing techniques we proposed were strong ideas. This helped us as we then were able to think about how all three products would work together to give a collective identity. Therefore once we had constructed the music video we could see what would work well to represent the artist for the digipak cover and the magazine ad.We were able to use the class as a sample group of our target audience; this enabled us to get feedback from many groups within the class as to what they thought about the music video. The feedback given from the audience regarding the rough cut for the music video is generally positive. The audience were able to identify the genre and thought that the shots and stills used added a positive element.The feedback told us that parts of the music video were dynamic; however other parts were not dynamic at all. Therefore from this we were able to re shoot the music video, again covering the whole song so that we could use sections from the new footage to replace the old footage; therefore we had performance from the main artist. The feedback was very helpful because we learnt that to make a good music video we needed to make the product dynamic, using many shot types and effects to keep the attention of the audience. We learnt that also when making a music video always have the genre in mind so that we could stick to the conventions of a pop video.The feedback we received from the draft magazine ad showed us that there was not a strong enough visual relationship between it and the music video. This was because the magazine ad contained visual effects on the artist’s face and therefore it was difficult to identify the artist without having the pink spider’s logo also. Therefore we decided to not use effects on the artist’s face but on just the background of the image instead. This helped as the audience would be able to relate to all three products and could identify the artist from the image not including the logo. The feedback also received regarding the ancillary tasks also told us that the text used did not look professional as it contained multiple colours and was in an inappropriate font. Therefore from this we changed the font and colour, this being a black to make the product more professional and take the emphasis off just the text.Without the feedback from the various sources our products would look very different and would not be as effective, this therefore was a valuable part of the production of the music video and the ancillary tasks as it enable us to learn what appealed to the audience.

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

We were able to use new media technologies in order to assist us. One of these was by using the internet. Without the internet we would have found it extremely difficult to produce the music video and ancillary tasks. This is because without the internet we would have not been able to view music videos of the same genre. This would have put us at a disadvantage because we would have not fully understood what is needed in a music video to follow conventions and appeal to the audience.We were able to use YouTube to view music videos of our genre, so we could see things to include in the video. One of these being Break your heart by Taio Cruz. We watched the video and saw that bright bold colours were used to represent the genre of pop; there were also notions of looking included where the artist gave direct gaze which we used within our music video. This also enabled us to come up with ideas as to how to make our music video. We also used the internet to present our ideas; this was presented on our blog. We used this to note down any research we carried out into pop/rock videos and also it used to show initial ideas for each individual product along with detailed plans as to how we were going to carry it out. The blog was also used as a log which we updated regularly telling people how we were getting on in the production phases an example being the filming log which we wrote after we had been out on location filming and reflected back on how it went. The feedback received from peers was helped as we could see the audience’s thoughts and opinions as to what worked well and what needed work in our music video.We were able to use final cut also to create and enhance our music video. The first time we used final cut was to create our storyboard, this enabled us to see clearly our ideas and could use it as a reminder as to what we wanted to achieve. We also used final cut to edit test footage, we had the artist move up and down the stairs so we were able to practice cutting to the beat, this would provide us with the knowledge and correct technique for the music video. Final cut also helped as we were able to add filters, therefore enhancing the video relating it to the genre.Photoshop helped us when creating our ancillary tasks; this was because we were able to add many items to our products easily. We were able to add colour this meant that we could use the same effects on both the digipak cover and magazine ad to give a visual style which tied all the products together. The institutional information added was to make the product seem realistic and was typical of these type of products in informing the public of the single and the artist, this would help when promoting the artist to the target audience.

Wednesday 9 December 2009

Feedback to Connor on Evaluation

Your responses are very good, put the question numbers by your responses to make it clear which answer is to which question. Talk about the choices you made about your engagement with the conventions of music videos from your genre of music. Also talk about how you engaged with the form of music videos, obviously it's very different from the narrative video forms you have worked on before. Also talk in detail about specific conventions you used and give examples from your texts. Talk about the video, the magazine ad and the digipak. Discuss the conventions of the ancillary products and which ones you used and/or challenged.
Question 2 talk about the representation of the artist in all three products, do they work in combination to communicate something specific about the artist.
For the question on new media technology talk about some more specific examples of using the internet for looking at examples of other videos from that genre, research into target audience etc.
Also the question about feedback, mention all of the points at which you got feedback, pitch, rough cut, final cut, digipak and magazine ad draft and final versions etc. Also talk about peer feedback and using the class as a sample group of your target audience.
Give specific examples of feedback you received (use quotes or screengrabs if you wish), state what you learnt from the feedback and how you responded to it.
You MUST make these improvements to your evaluation.

Tuesday 8 December 2009

Evaluation draft

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

1. Our music video uses a blend of traditional conventions of a pop/indie rock music video to create a colourful vibrant atmosphere. The feature video is heavily performance based this is expected of this particular genre of music. We have also chosen to include a narrative that runs throughout the whole video. This is used to keep up the fast pace of the video, from transition to transition, and to also give the audience something else to follow. We chose to stick with many of the main conventions of our specific genre of music, sticking with a vibrant location and even mix of narrative and performance. We also included one main performance location to repeatedly link back to throughout the video giving the video a much better sense of cohesion. The locations used depict an upbeat colourful atmosphere, this links back to the genre of pop. However we also used some video filters on certain pieces of footage to take the colour from the shots, this represents the jump from past to present, and also shows the darkened mood of the two characters. This counteracts the pop genre however one would argue it fits in perfectly with the sub genre of rock. Whilst producing the music video we took the time to develop the conventions for our specific genre, an example of this would be the singing in the car. Adding shots like this also helped us to add elements of comedy to the video which is never a bad thing when done correctly and in the right taste. We challenged the conventions of general music video's in different ways, one being adding stills to our video. When watched closely allot of our shots are actually stills, the occasions on which they are used are opportunities to cut to the beat. We really liked the idea of the characters moving up and down a park bench, we used a collection of different 5 second clips to put together and cut away to create a sequence of jumps, we then timed the shots correctly to create the cut to the beat. Our music video tends to stick to the very colourful pop/indie rock conventions. It uses the combination of brightly lighted locations and a fast frame rate to keep with a upbeat atmosphere. This music video was much different than anything we had looked at before not due to the generic characteristics. But the actual song was much more underground so a mainstream video would not of suited it and we tried to play on the fact that the song could of been classed as an indie rock video. This gave us a whole new set of conventions to play with. You can see these in the form of darker filters hence the black and white argument and the darker performance shots. Throughout most of our music video you can see the clear visual relationship between the music and videos one of theses is when the artist sings; "That i need to stay awake," he is drinking a cup of coffee in a cafe. these relationships are necessary in keeping with Goodwins characteristics of a music video. The ancillary products tended to stick with the generic conventions of the genre as they included bright colours and a main picture of the artist on both the magazine advert and digipak as a focal point. They also included necessary institutional information and the 'Pink Spiders' band logo.

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

2. The combination of our main task and ancillary tasks i believe works well, there is a very obvious visual relationship between the two ancillary tasks, this being the affect that is used on the background. We chose this particular affect as it brought out the very strong colours of the trees in the background. However if the image was just left naturally this could of also been done but not to the same affect, because as well as bringing through the colours from the tree's it also darkens everything else around them. We have left the artists face unaffected in both ancillary tasks, this is to create the link back to the feature video. We chose the image of the artist to connect with the video, as he is heavily illustrated in the video and is the main focal point. In doing this we ensure that our products sell as a group and are easily recognisable as a particular brand name (The Pink Spiders). The artist is represented as a confident singer and exciting performer. At first the footage we had was boring and very static, however after we discovered this problem we went out and filmed allot more performance based footage, except this time the artist looked allot more convincing and performed for the camera more. With this new improved footage including some more close ups we managed to include many more examples of the notion of looking and direct gaze. The three tasks also share a consistent theme; this includes Institutional information, bold text, and the original Pink Spiders logo. We created our graphics to relate to our genre of pop/indie rock, we used photo shop to mould and shape the affects into the most colourful and vibrant that we could achieve. The collection of all three products are effective and i believe could be used to launch a successful campaign for the artist.

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

3. We have continually received feedback from different resources on our products and have tried very hard to take everything said on board. We also used this feedback to edit our products in the most efficient way. Most of the feedback we have received is verbal feedback from impartial sources. However our blogs are also available for anyone to view and comment on at any time. We received a comment from one source informing us that the pink spiders where no longer a band and therefore we needed to seek permission to use there song from Matt Friction who owns all publishing rights, unfortunately after following this up and trying to find the facebook page that we were given to contact him on we discovered that it was not possible to message him. We also received some feedback from our particular media class, basing them as the audience. From this we discovered that some of our shots where very static and therefore not synthetically pleasing, after receiving this feedback however we made an obvious decision to scrap allot of the footage that we had started with and to go back and film more interesting performance based shots. Thanks to all the different types of feedback we received we discovered the key to creating a truly great music video is diversity, the video must use a huge range of different shot types, locations, props, and affects. The footage used also needs to be diverse and quick to change to keep the audience interested and engaged. The feedback given from the audience regarding the music video however was generally positive, they were able to quickly identify the genre and noted that the range of shots and stills added a positive element.

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

4. The media technology available made it possible to create our video, however without one of the many programs that we used to research, create, film and edit our music video with this project would not of been possible. We used the Internet to research our products, finding different designs for our ancillary tasks on the web helped us to design our own. Without YouTube we would not of been able to research other videos in the same genre, this would mean we would be working blind and i am sure our final product would have been no where near as successful. In the construction stages we used programs such as 'Final Cut Express' and 'Photo Shop' to make our products look proffesioanl. We also used final cut to create a storyboard, this is very important to the whole project as it allowed us to see our plan of our video in video, not just written up in words on the blog. We used the website www.blogger.com to record all our planning and research for our main video and two ancillary tasks, this was another important program in the success of our project. Final Cut Express allowed us to edit our test footage which again helped the construction of the feature video as it meant that we did not make any foolish errors when filming for the real thing. However final cut helped us to construct a successful music video by allowing us to add filters on to our existing footage, and to also cut and change the clips we had with great ease. This added diversity to our video, and a good pace of transisions, it also allowed us to cut to the beat. When creating our ancillary tasks we used a mix of photoshop to construct the actual tasks and the internet to research and find institutional information. Photoshop greatly enhanced the possibilities available to us when creating the two ancillary tasks as it gave the options of different texts, affects, and colour schemes.

Tuesday 1 December 2009

Video Commentary Plan

We are going to include the whole group in the commentary talking about different parts of the video with different opinions.

The main points we are going to include are split up into the main questions, before each we will have a title introducing the points we are going to show.

Q1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

- Our music video uses generic conventions on music videos and genres along with original and unusual ideas to make it unique and interesting.
- Heavily performance based which also follows a narrative which is typical of this genre.
- The props used within the music video is typical of this genre with one being a car representing the current teenage life.
- The locations used help to depict an upbeat colourful atmosphere, this links back to the genre of pop. however we also used video filters and effects to take the colour out of some shots, this was done to illustrate the jump in time from present to past.
- These filters seem to counteract the typical conventions of a pop video, however you could argue that these darker shots fit in nicely with a rock video.
- The music video also develops conventions as within this there are typical pop moments for example singing in the car, however involving an element of comedy.
- We tried to challenge the conventions of music videos in general for example, we included stills within the video, which is uncommon in most music videos. We were also trying to stick to the generic conventions of music videos making the mix more difficult, however we managed to achieve it.

This section will be accompanied with clips from the video with voiceover also blended with an interview style video of the group members.

Q2 - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancilliary texts?

- The combination of the main products and the and the ancillary tasks are very effective and show a strong visual relationship as they represent a similar visual style.
- All 3 are easily recognisable as group products as they all share a consistent theme, this being bright colours, bold text and institutional information along with the pink spiders logo.
- We constucted our graphics to relate to the pop/indie rock genre and apeal to the target audience, we used bright colours and modern effects to achieve this.
- When creating the ancillary tasks, this being the magazine advert and digipak, we used no visual effects on the main artist to tie in with the music video as this was the main focal point.
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- The combination of the products are very effective as together, they could launch a successful music video in an effective way.

This section would be shown by interview style clips blended with stills of the ancillary texts and the software used to achieve this.

Q3 - What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

-The feedback we recieved was verbal feedback from impartial sources, we also had our blog available for anyone to comment on online, this gave us wider sources of feedback. We also had feedback recieved from test viewers in our class.
- The feedback given from the audience regarding the music video is generally positive. The audience were able to identify the genre and thought that the shots and stills used added a positive element.
- From the feedback we found that parts of video were dynamic, however other parts were lacking this, and were able to re-shoot certain scenes after the roughcut. This was mainly focused around extra performance of the artist.
- The feedback was extremely helpful because we learned that to make a good music video we needed diversity, using many shot types and effects to keep the attention of the audience.

This section would be shown by interview style clips blended with captured clips or stills of the blog and other feedback methods.

Q4 - How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

- Without new media technologies, the project would have been extremely different. Even in the beginning stages we were using new media (the internet) to research music videos, watch them online and decide on how to carry out the whole project.
-In the construction stages we used specialist software such as Photoshop and Final Cut, these dramatically simplified the way we went about producing professional products.
- We were first using final cut to create a storyboard which was important because we could clearly see our ideas and use it as a reminder as to what we wanted to achieve.
- We also used final cut to edit the test footage, this helped us to learn and perfect techniques that we needed in the final video.
- The main way it helped was for constructing the final video, we were able to add filters and cut the footage therefore enhancing the video and relating it to a pop genre.
- The internet also helped us find institutional information and logos which were helpful to promoting the artist.

This section would be shown by interview style clips blended with captured clips or stills of the group developing the products and stills of the software.
 
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