Sunday 26 December 2010
Wednesday 8 December 2010
Goodbye and Thank You
Dear Examiner,
Thank You for taking the time to look through my work, it is very much appreciated and i hope it is all to your satisfaction.
Disha
Tuesday 7 December 2010
EVALUATION - Question 4
How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
When creating, planning and researching for my main products and evaluation i used a combination of physical and digital equipment. They were:
1) Final Cut (construction, research, planning and evaluation stages) - I used final cut to create and produce my music video. I used these features on the programme to aid me in this:
- - Colour corrector - To change and manipulate the colour for all of my shots. I would either change the colour of a frame (in my video i have black and white frames and red scenes) and increase or decrease the saturation levels, whites, blacks and mids.
- - Layers - I added and used layers where there were longer parts of the performance and i wanted to add in some narrative frames. This made it easier to do rather than keep cutting the performance clips, and also it made sure that other frames i had already put down would not move out of place (as i could lock the lower frame)
- - Effects/Transitions - I mainly used the Luminace Map transitions, as it would slowly change one frame to another; which i felt looked nice and fit in with the video and song.
- - Add sound - This is where i added the sound (song) to the audio timeline (below the visuals)
- - Sequence - I would always copy/duplicate my sequence so i always had a copy if anything were to go wrong
- - Bins - I used Bins to sort out all my video clips into separate folders e.g outside, Studio, House. This made it much clearer when i was making my video as i knew exactly where each clip would be.
Monday 6 December 2010
EVALUATION - Question 3
Question 3 - What have I learnt from audience feedback?
My audience feedback proved extremely effective in both tasks; my main product and Ancillary tasks. I received feedback throughout the project; from start to finish on my Ancillary tasks and from my rough cut to my final cut for my music video.
1) Class and teacher feedback on your initial treatment
Feedback we (as a group) recieved was mostly positive. We presented our pitch to our teacher and class, they then gave us both postive and constructive feedback on everything we had talked about.
Our groups initial pitch was
http://www.scribd.com/full/38834686?access_key=key-1ztf00pajz45uky5cr8h
Jamelia Pitch
Things they liked:
Areas they were unsure of
What camera shots we would use
Would the whole thing be in black and white?
With such positive feedback we did not feel the need to change much as we were compfortable with it and our teachers and classmates also thought it was good, apart from the constructive critisism. My (and the rest of the group) final product shows that we kept most of what we wanted the same, the main difference was the female character used.
2. Rough cut- class feedback and teacher feedback
Firstly viewer feedback on my rough cut showed slight colour differences in some of
the narrative sections (where colour is mean to be the same or similar throughout). To amend this problem i used the colour corrector to make sure that all the black and white sections were the same as well as the narrative sections; i had to move around the levels of white, saturates, black and mids on the colour corrector to get the same effect in all sections. Having consistency with colour is extremely important as it would make the overall product look clean and professional.
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| Colour corrector before any correction |
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| Colour Corrector after correction |
Other feedback i received from my rough cut told me that i had little narrative with long periods of the artist singing in the video; the story was still clear but could be made clearer if the audience had to more narrative to watch. From this, our group decided we needed more footage as we all had gaps we wanted to fill and it would allow us to give more substance to our narrative. After the re-shoot i was able to add in more, different narrative; which i then added in and recieved more feedback from that.
3. Class feedback on your digipack roughs
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| Front Rough |
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| Back Rough |
But two parts they did not like where the Fonts for the name of the artist and name of the album. They felt the font used for the name of the artist did not fit in or match the picture used and it was too bold and bright. Those who said this also told me that i should keep the colour, but find another font that would fit in and suit the pictures more; suggestions were getting a graffiti style font which would make sense on the brick walls ans fit the RnB genre. For the album name, suggestions were that i could change the name and then try and make the font suit the name. The knew name chosen (partly as a group) was 'Infinity', i chose a font which was more subtle and also a colour which also a little more subtle; so for the colour i used a main white font with a purple shadow.
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| Changed/Final Front |
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| Changed/Final Back |
The insides covers recieved a very good reception all round, and were made up of a collage of pictures taken from our photoshoot - which i then put effects on. I used effects with a variety of colours to show a 'different' side to Hayleigh, and also to add colour to the album. People also liked how one collage was of only Hayleigh's features (eyes and lips) and the other was of mid-shot pictures of her.
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| Inside Cover |
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| Inside Cover |
4. final version of everything- class feedback and feedback from anyone else
I also recieved feedback for my final product and ancillary tasks. Class feedback and feedback from friends and family told me that the narrative was clear and had been improved from my rough cut; making it more understandable. They also liked the different colour scenes (black and white for perormance and saturated for narratvie), especially when the shot turns red and represents the aggression we can see on screen. Everyone who watched it and gave me feedback said they all felt the way i would have wanted them to - sorry for 'Hayleigh'. This means all the narrative was set out well (although it could have been better) and clear enough for them to feel the emotion our artist did. They also liked the costumes, as they were not to 'put on' and it made the video feel natural; and the characters/actors used as they all felt there was a real connection or feeling between them, and they weren't just two people we put together and made act as if they liked each other.
Negative feedback on the other hand (thankfully there wasn't much) was, some felt there were long periods of performance (Hayleigh in the studio) time; where there could have been narratvie separating it. But i chose to use slow cuts as the song itself wasn't very fast paced and i felt that for me with my narrative, it would work better with the slower cut compared to a faster one. Also, in some places where i put in fade effects; weren't as smooth as i woud have liked; but on the Apple Mac look better than when on my blog or YouTube.
Overall i felt that viewer feedback helped me to make my products much better than what they would have been if i had not recieved any feedback, some things they told me were down to just simple mistakes or lack of attention to detail. But i am happy that i was able to amend these problems and produce these products as my final pieces.
EVALUATION - Question 2
Question 2 - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks?
http://prezi.com/gvyqvk69-bff/evaluation-question-2/
The narrative for my main product is very simple and clear to understand. Our artist 'Hayleigh' is in a happy realationship with her boyfriend/partner, George; so much so that they live together. George then cheats on Hayleigh, making her feel heartbroken and numb.
We knew our artist for the song would be a solo female artist for the obvious reason that the song is sung by a solo female artist. This made it clear that our ancillary tasks (digi-pack and magazine advert) would have to be souly focused on one person; 'Hayleigh'. When the song is sung in our main product the artist is also by herself when singing the song in the music studio; keeping the attetion totaly on her. Also on the Magazine Advert, the picture is made up of a collage of pictures of our artist (which is also used as one of the inside covers for the digi-pack), showing an effective continuity between my main product and both ancillary tasks.
In the video, the main performance sections are all of Hayleigh in the studio perforimng the song. These parts are all in black and white and souly focused on the artist as she is by herself. My digi-pack and Magazine advert are based around these performance scenes as they use the same black and white effect, and are all focused on our solo artist.
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| Hayleigh in the black and white performance scenes |
The pictures used for my ancillary tasks were taken from our photoshoot. We took pictures of Hayleigh in variuous outifts and costumes in a variety of settings. The pictures used were chosen from a group of people fitting our target audience description. The same was done with the fonts for the front and back of the album cover as well as the magazine advert. I used the same font for all 3, which was selected by the same group of target audience members (used to select the pictures) from a select few shorlisted fonts. The colour theme was also chosen using target audience feedback and is consisten through my ancillary tasks and main product.
Album Cover (Front and Back) - Showing the focus on our artist
Hayleigh in the music studio - soul focus on the artist
Magazines and Album Covers
When researching current album covers and magazine adverts, i found their was a strong link between the two. Most magazine adverts, mirrored the album cover; with both the writing (font and colour), pictures (either from the front, back or one of the inside covers) and the colour themes.
This is the album cover and magazine advert for Plan B's new album 'The Defamation Of Strickland Banks'. They both use the same colour theme of red, black and white; both are wuite dark and mysterious; the font for the writing is also the same in both and the artist Plan B is wearing the same clothes in both. These similarities makes the two distinctive and recognisable.
My ancillary products share a clear link between them, both the background (brick wall), font and colout theme (purple) and pictures used on and within the products are the same. I used a picture of 'Hayleigh' on a black and white wall for both the front and back of the digipack and on the 2 inside covers i used a collage of pictures of our artist. For the Magazine advert, my background was of a black and white wall (mirroring the album covers) the main colour used was purple (mirroring the colour scheme used on the album cover) and the pictures used were taken from the inside covers of the album; but were all of the artist.
With all these features similar between the two sets of ancillary tasks and my main product, it will be much easier for the target audience to be recognise our artist and the album.
Sunday 5 December 2010
EVALUATION - Question 1, Section B
1) A shot that shows a link between lyrics and/or music and visuals
This is a shot form Bruno Mars’ song ‘Just the way you are’. This picture of Bruno Mars creating a picture of the female character, with great emphasis to her hair (as he plays with it) is brought into the video as he sings the lyrics; ‘her hair, her hair falls perfectly without her trying’. Showing a link between the lyrics and visuals.
2) A shot that typifies (symbolises) the way a record company would want their artist to be represented
This is a shot from Michael Jacksons ‘Bad’ video. It shows him performing a dance routing whilst singing the lyrics of the song. His record company would want him to presented not as just a singer but an all-round performer; giving him a larger fan base. He is also at the front of the group of dancers, showing importance.
3) A shot that illustrates music genre
This shot from the Kings Of Leon song ‘Sex on Frie’ shows the band performing there song, using electric guitars and wearing skiny jeans and vests. These props and costumes in shot the shot are typically used in rock video’s, as well as the bands/artists performing their songs (using mic’s).
4) A shot that shows an inter-textual reference
This shot is taken from the song 'Just Lose It' by Eminem. This particular shot shows Eminem dressed as Michael Jackson, walking on tiles which ligh up - making reference to Michael Jackson's video 'Billie Jean', where the tiles light up when Michael Jackson walks on them.
5) A shot that demonstrates use of camera
This shot was taken from Kanye Wests’ song ‘All falls down’. In this clip the female character is talking directly to the camera; as if we are the male character (Kanye). This enticed the audience and we feel part of the video.
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| Add caption |
6) A shot that demonstrates use of lighting
This shot from Michael Jacksons – Billie Jean, shows a very clever use of lighting. Every time Michael Jackson steps on one of the concrete slabs it lights up, around the time of the release of this video is was one of the first to use an effect like this; making it very effective.
7) A shot that demonstrates use of mise-en-scene
This shot from the Black Eyed Peas song ‘Rock that body’ shows a good use of Mise-en-scene. One of the band members, Will.I.Am is the main character/feature in this shot and we can see that he is holding a big gun. We can also see the legs of a large robot behind him.
8) Two shots which you feel demonstrate something which shows you have watched other music videos
This shot is from Lily Allens 'Not Fair', it shows the focus on the solo female artist singing/performing her song into the microphone; a shot which i have used within my video.
9) This shot is take from Green Day's 'Wake me up when Spetember ends', it shows part of the narrative story which is based around a couple (shown in the picture). My video also uses this concept, of the narrative being based on a couple.
This shot is from Lily Allens 'Not Fair', it shows the focus on the solo female artist singing/performing her song into the microphone; a shot which i have used within my video.
EVALUATION - Question 1, Section A
Question 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
1) A shot that shows a link between lyrics and/or music and visuals
This shot of Hayleigh walking into the house is shown as the lyrics sung say; 'Every step that I take is another mistake to you'. Showing a relationship between the lyrics and visuals. It also seen in other parts of the video as well as links between the music and visuals.
2) A shot that typifies the way a record company would want their artist to be represented
This shot typifies the way a record company would want the artist to be reperesnted as she is standing on her own omfprtably, showing her individuality as well as showing off her style. The shot is focused on herself in the music studio, showing the two most important things a record company want to sell; their act (Hayleigh) and their music.
3) A shot that illustrates how your video uses music genre
This shot shows the two genres of our music videos. Our video is split into two main colour styles (shown in the picture), black and white and normal colour (with the brightness and saturates increased). The black and white represents the performance genre and the brighter/normal colour represents the narrative genre.
4) a shot that shows an intertextual reference
This shot mirrors a shot taken from the music video by Eminem and Rihana for their song Love The Way You Lie. Throughout the video, the two characters (other than Eminem and Rihana) are constantly fighting when insde their house. The fighting is both verbal and physical; one of the physical scenes see's the male character pushing the female character, which used as inspiration for this shot
5) A shot that demonstrates your use of camera
I used many different shots in my music video, such as Long Shots, Close Ups, Point of View Shots, Over the shoulder Shots and Mid Shots.. This shot shows an over the sholder shot of Hayleigh holding a pictuire frame. The shot before this showed her walking into the house happy, holding something and looking down at it. The next shot (this shot) then shows what she is holding, which is made obvious as we can see part of the back of her head; as if we are her.
6) A shot that demonstrates your use of lighting
In our video, there are 3 types of lighting; black and white (for when our artist is singning in the studio), scenes where the lighting has been enhanced and brighetend (for the narratvie sections) and finally there are two scenes where i changed colour of the light from normal to red (for the parts where Hayleigh and George are fighting). This shot demonstrates one of the shots i changed to red, to symbolise the anger
7) A shot that demonstrates your use of mise-en-scene
This shot shows one of the settings and some of the props we used in our video. This particular shot shows Frankie (who plays our artist Hayleigh) singing in the music studio, props seen here included the Microphones and the Headphones.
8&9) Two shots which you feel demonstrate something which shows you have watched other music videos
8) The first shot is from the song 'Getting Over You' by David Guetta featuring Fergie.
It shows as female artist (as we have) singing/performing her song in a music studio. We have a group of similar shots in our video, as the sections where we see our artist singing are all in a music studio.
9) The second shot is from the music video 'Love The Way You Lie' by Eminem and Rihanna.
This shot shows two people, who are in a relationship fighting; for a reason unknown to the viewer. In our video we use a similar scene, where the two characters; Frankie and George have a fight. The difference is, that in our video the viewer see's why they are fighting and why Frankie is angry with George.
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