Jemma and I hope that you have enjoyed looking at our blog and seeing how we have progressed.
I think that we worked well together generally and that the end result was at the standard that we had aimed for. Blogger was useful for us to document the process of both the main product and the ancillary texts, as well as us being able to share our ideas. I think that we have developed in confidence and skill in many areas, and I think that confidence during the process of this was key.
What have you learnt from your audience feed back?
The feed back we got throughout the drafts of our ancillary products and our draft music video helped when it came to decided what we would need to change to try and make our final product better. The first help I got was with my ancillary products as I got many comments from my teachers as I was trying to improve on my work.
After I had completed my ancillary products, our research and planning went back to focusing on our final music video, as we put up our draft music video 2 weeks before the final deadline, it allowed us to receive feed back from our teachers and then this allowed us to see how much of our music video we would need to shoot before editing it for the final time before the deadline.
Overall, I feel that the feed back we received was positive, with some constructive criticism given to aid us in making our music video better. I felt that our target audience responded well to the music video and understood our concept of the relationships that we had tried to portray throughout the entire video. I feel that we successfully completed our music video to a good standard, and we completed what we have set out to achieve from our storyboarding and throughout our research and planning.
To get feedback from those who the music video is targeted at, Me and Ella have decided to each select between 5-10 people to watch the video and then complete the questionnaire. The questionnaire has been done for question 3, then after the feed back, we can then complete the evaluation question.
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
In the process of research and evaluation, Jemma and I used a variety of different technologies. To plan the dates that we were going to film on, we used popular social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook and text messaging, as in doing this we were able to easily and quickly communicate so that we could properly prepare.
The main media technology I personally used during the process was Blogger, in order to update most of the preparation for both the main product and the ancillary products. I was able to then refer back to these to reform my ideas. Another reason for regularly posting on Blogger was so that my teachers would be able to see my ideas and the process and so would be able to say what they think would or would not work.
During the early process of the preparation, we filmed the pitch on my iPod, then I put it from it onto the computer and uploaded it to iTunes. From iTunes I straight away upload it to Blogger. The process of this was fairly simple and efficient as I carry around my iPod with me anyway and regularly connect it to the computer, which I have easy access to. Jemma and I also used iTunes to transfer the Regina Spektor song to my memory stick in order to embed it into the music video.
To make both the digipak and poster for the ancillary products, I used Photoshop. As I used it last year for AS Media, I found this relatively easy as I was used to how it worked. However, it would sometimes play up and I got confused at times due to not having been on it for a while.
To search for the fonts that I was going to use on both my poster and digipak I used dafont, on which you can download a very large variety of fonts. This proved very useful as I used more than one font from the website which I think well suited the genre I needed.
Lastly, Jemma and I used youtube and tubechop to find videos to inspire our own product and then cut the specific parts that we liked the most. From tubechop we uploaded them to Blogger and used them in the planning process.
What have you learned from your audience feedback? Most of the feedback I received on the main product was from teachers, saying what ideas we had would work and what ideas we had they think wouldn't. Jemma and I mostly listened to what the teachers said as we could understand the point that they were making and usually agreed.
On the draft product, we were told that the concept was mainly understood but at that point not quite achieved. We knew this as at the time things went wrong with settings, lighting, camera and characters. We knew though, that we would improve this for the final. We also knew that the trinkets had to have more emphasis on in order for the meaning to be properly projected in the video. As well as this in the feedback from the teachers, we listened to any other points they had that would improve our video. As neither of our teachers were the target audience for the video, however, we could not rely on only their feedback for aspects of the music video that were not about the quality etc.
Through the audience feedback I mostly learnt how to properly portray certain relationships so that the audience wouldn't misinterpret them, get confused or just not see a relationship there at all. The videos that our teacher suggested also helped us have a better idea of how to anchor the trinkets to the characters, which was important as it was a main aspect of the video.
The feedback I got for my ancillary products was mostly verbally from friends I showed who were interested in the type of genre; through this I was able to have a better idea of what colour theme and fonts would be best suited for the genre of anti-folk. People have said that they liked the idea of the use of the tree and that both the poster and digipak are well linked. I was told that the first font I used was too much of a bold one that contrasted with the rest of the products and hardened the tone too much. This then influenced me to look at some more fonts used on album art, eventually finding inspiration for the chosen font on Regina Spektor's 'Mary Ann Meets the Gravediggers' (and Other Short Stories).
How Effective is the Combination of Your Main Product and Ancillary Texts? For the ancillary texts I chose to use a theme of nature, using the colours of black and white, plus the yellow leaf and the itunes and NME logo on the poster. In doing this I was able to brand the texts together and ensure that the concept was clear. I made sure that the font on both of the ancillary texts were the same, such as the artist's name, Isabella Fawkes again just to clarify that they are linked. The name is also the first thing that you read on both of the products, which I think is important. I think that my choice in font for the artist's name was effective as it was reflective of things you may associate with the genre of anti-folk; it was simple and pretty but bold, different and eye-catching. I took the inspiration for this font from Regina Spektor's artwork on the CD/DVD for Mary Ann Meets the Gravediggers (and Other Short Stories.) From looking at this I decided to use the font on both the poster and the digipak as I thought it well projected the genre.
The inspiration for the use of the tree itself with the falling leaf was partly from the above album and also a quote from 'Shiver' by Maggie Steifvater, which is “Did you know you get one happy day for every one you catch?...
One happy day for every falling leaf you catch." As I already liked the idea of a tree I thought that this would link nicely so I painted it to see what it would look like. I then proceeded to title two of the songs on the album 'One Happy Day' and 'A Falling Leaf'. The reason I thought that the quote was a good thing to get inspiration from and link to is that I just believe that it is a nice, natural, different and precious thing to say. As I wanted the album art to be related to nature, it therefore also fitted nicely.
I think that the style we chose for the artist is well reflected in the ancillary products as her dress style was cute, quirky and airy; i thought that you would think of someone who dresses like this as a natural being. Consequently I thought that this would well link to nature, hence the tree featuring on both the digipak and poster. I think that the artist wearing natural make up in the music video also links to the ancillary products as you would link it to the genre and sub-genres of anti-folk, which I hoped to achieve and clearly put across. The artist herself was actually featured on the digipak, too, where she looked as she did in the video, natural and folk-like.
In the music video, there was of course to recurring theme of trinkets, which were reflective of the relationships featured in it. It was an idea to use one of these trinkets from the main product in the ancillary product, however I thought that it would perhaps look messy and not fit in with the genre. I also wasn't sure which trinket I would use, or whether to use all of them instead, as the artist herself doesn't have a main trinket. I therefore decided not to include the trinket as I thought that I would be able to link the products together another way which would be simpler and more effective.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
For our main product, we looked on youtube for videos of a similar genre or style to get ideas from. We used the video for the song 'First Day of My Life' by Bright Eyes as an inspiration for the use of sofas in our music video, which were featured quite a few times. We also liked the idea of more than the artist singing along to the song, as I think that it portrayed universality of love, which was an aim and a sub-theme for the music video as that is basically what the song is about. The people that we used in our video all had different styles and had different relationships (not just boyfriend/girlfriend), as was in 'First Day of My Life'.
I also used youtube to find a clip from 'Mom At 16' where a couple take pictures in a flashback, when they were together and happy. We used this idea for inspiration for our music video, taking the same picture-taking idea and putting it into our video with both of the girls. I think that this was effective as it achieved what we aimed to and helped outline with clarity the relationships that we were trying to put across. This use of intertextuality relates to Goodwin's theory, as it referring to another text by taking an idea from one thing and using it as inspiration to put it into another.
We were going to include a part in our video where the artist would be singing the lines "Praying that disease would leave the ones we love and never come again" and pan across to next to her on the sofa which would be empty, as if a person was supposed to be there. The idea for this partly came from the Cancer Research advert where there is the same empty seat next to a loved one, again on a sofa.
When researching and planning for the music video, we looked at other artists of a similar genre and their music videos, in order to get an idea of what clothing we were going to use for the artist, putting this in the artist profile. We looked at music videos of Vanessa Carlton's mostly as she has the same sort of look that we hoped to achieve for our artist; quirky and pretty. For the style of the rest of the characters in our music video, we just ensured we made them dress differently to each other. Again, this links to Goodwin's theory applied to music videos of genre characteristics. This is because the genre of music is reflected through the style we have chosen for the artist, as was expected. The last way in which our music video uses coventions of real media products is the idea of the trinkets. We were going to use trinkets anyway, to anchor characters to each other, but then our teacher suggested we look at the video 'Fucked Me Right Up' to get a further sense of how we could achieve this and make it clear that the trinkets were a main part of it. For example, we took and developed ideas from it, such as the close up of holding hands, and the close up of a trinket itself in order to frame it well to represent the importance of it and the relationships.
For the digipak I tried to emulate artistic elements, which I took from the genre of music I usually like (rock) and then searched for digipaks of a similar genre to the artist we chose which used art in it. I did this so that I was aware of what I was doing for the digipak and had a clear idea of it. Despite the complete difference in genre, it helped me to know the sort of art that I would use and want for my own digipak. I found that artists such as Regina Spektor use artistic elements for their album art, as on the album 'Far' and also Paolo Nutini's 'Sunny Side Up.' I did look at more female artists, such as Elissa Franceschi, but found that the style was not what I wanted to achieve and I was not sure of whether I would want the artist on the cover or not.
On the cover of 'Far' there is a piano featured with a blue sky and white clouds on it. With further exploration, I found that this was Regina Spektor perhaps using the inspiration of Rene Magritte's art, which always included this. Instead of copying the same idea, I decided to use it as a step and include something nature-related. In the end, I went for the tree as I think that it suits the natural and quirky style of the artist and genre. Also, I wanted to get across that the artist's audience may be artistic themselves and so would understand what the inspirations would be.
The inspiration behind the poster was very similar to that of the inspiration for the digipak; simple and linking to natural style of the artist. Having already completed by digipak by the time I got onto my poster I was motivated enough to know exactly what style I wanted. I wanted the poster to be down to the point: the artist is bringing out a new album and you should go and buy it if you are a fan. I therefore followed the coventions of any other poster promoting an album- bold and clear title and name of the artist, eye-catching image and a review to show that it's worth the purchase.
During the making of our music video, we used several different types of media technology to help aid us. We used well known social networking sites- Facebook and Twitter- to plan when we would be shooting, what we would be shooting and the times of shooting. The finalisation of these were then done by text messages. When we did our research and planning part, we used Tube Chop to show where we got inspiration from other videos- these were all taken from Youtube and then uplaoded to our blog. When we filmed for our pitch, we had to use an iPod to film our pitch, then upload this to iTunes and finally put it onto Youtube, followed by blogger. For our research and planning of our digipaks, music videos and poster, we used blogger as a regular way to update our teachers and each other of our ideas, and blogger also allowed us to show any changes that we made throughout. To get our song, we used iTunes then put this onto a memory stick to put into our music video. When we had to edit our draft video, we had to use windows movie maker as the premier elements we were meant to use refused to work for us. Again, when it came to doing the final music video, we still had problems with premier, forcing us to convert all our films onto the school mac and then edit our final video on there. We also used iMovie and iDvd to burn our music video onto a dvd to give in when our final video was complete.
We made our digipaks and poster using photoshop, and constantly shown any progress by the use of blogger. To upload the photos, again we used blogger and then edited them accordingly on photoshop. To get any fonts, I used dafont.com as I tried several out before finding the one I thought suited the genre of music. To get our pictures, we used a digital camera, uploaded them to a computer and added them to blogger. For our digipak template, we had to use the internet to try and find one, however, I ended up making my own on published before using photoshop to make sure the measurements of the digipak was correct.
At the moment, the main feedback that I have recieved has been from my teachers over the development of the draft music video and the ancillary products. The one below is for both my ancillary products and is mainly targeted at my font used on both the digipak and poster.
For my main ancillary products, I got several comments from my teachers giving me his opinions on my digipak and poster fonts and the styling on the poster he liked the best; I did listen to his advice, however, the genre of anti-folk is mainly aimed at women. The main comments were for the font and it was important for me to find the right style of font to suit the genre of music. The comments pointed me in the right direction to find a suitable font to match the genre of my music video (as this was the main thing that I have struggled with the most)
For our draft music video, the comments that we got were all improvements or links to videos that could have us achieve the type of video that we wanted to achieve.
The comments that we got from Mrs Abrahamson were telling us the changes that she thought that we needed to do. When it came to thefinal music video, we listened to her advice and made sure that each of the shots were all lit correctly, and that the camera was always the same distance away from the person (using a close-up of the person when singing and using mid-shots when action of the characters were taking place) The Harry Potter poster did go, this is because we decided to use the sofa setting to record the part of Hannah and Ella, setting it on a neutral background. For the feedback from Mr Smith, he suggested ways to challenge Laura Mulvey male gaze theory, as we didn't want the women in our music video to be sexualised. He gave us links to Youtubes videos which we then viewed together in class and then discussed the ideas that we could use. The main video we tried to use was the last video link that was given to us, this being because of the use of trinkets within the video, which again is something we had difficulty trying to portray to our audience. For our final one, we decided to use close-up shots like the video does and then this helped us establish to the audeicne that the trinkets were important.
From our final draft, at the moment we have recieved no audience feedback for our music video or for my individual ancillary products. To overcome this, I shall be adding the Youtube link to Twitter which will hopefully get us some feedback from our target audience and then I shall add the video onto Facebook, where hopefully enough people will watch our music video and give us feedback. For my poster and digipak, I shall also put them onto Facebook, where I will be hoping to recieve feedback from my friends who have done media, and also those in our target audience. I will be hoping to get feedback from those who have taken media, as they will be able to point out any key skills that they would expect to see on a poster or digipak having analysed their work already. Getting feedback from those in my target audience is also important for digipak and poster as they will be looking for key items that may have attracted them into the final poster design and digipak design.
The combination of my ancillary text works well, this is due to the continuity being kept across both of the product. This is because the main image of the artist stays the key feature on both of them, with the artist name being the first thing you read on both the digipak and the poster. The poster and the digipak work very well together, as you can instantly spot the link between the two through the use of the image and the colour scheme which is carried across. From the draft to the final of the digipak and poster, I did need to make several changes to keep the continuity, this is because I made no link between my ancillary products and my video. To fix this, I used a still picture of the trinket inside the digipak panel, hoping that this would work so you could see the link between the music video and the ancillary products- however, the link was a very subtle one and may be one that the target audience may not notice.
The main combination that worked the best together were the digipak and the poster. The music video did not really have continuity with the digipak or poster, and the only way the two relate together was due to similar styling from the music video in the pictures that I used for my digipak and poster. To keep the styling ideas similar across all three products, we used music videos to get the original styling. another thing that I kept the same was using a mid-shot image, as this was the main shot used in our music video. After we completed our draft music video, we took images straight after shooting, making sure that the artist to wear the same clothes to start with. After the artist changed several times, I choose the picture that represented our artist the best- this was of her wearing a dress, with her hair tied back; this was because the dress still links in with the theme of anti-folk, yet is something that many of our target audience would wear. Her hair was also tied back in the music video in the same styling of the picture, this was so the audience could make a link between the music video and the ancillary texts.
Overall, I feel that the combination of my main product and the ancillary text is not that effective as the only subtle link is the styling. The main settings for taking the images was not shown on my digipak or poster, therefore, I could not create a link by using any of the settings that we originally shot in. The combination of the ancillary texts did work better together than the music video did, this was due to the images used stayed the same on the poster and digipak in the draft and then stayed the same when it came to the final one, as the feedback given suggested that the picture did not need changing, therefore, I kept it the same. The video and the ancillary products did not have a greater link than I would have liked in the draft version, however, after having added the trinket in the digipak inside panel, I felt that the link was slightly better, yet I feel now a greater link may have been needed.
For the music video, we decided to do a song from the category of Anti-Folk, as this category is not as well know, we had to do a lot of research into the styling and the type of conventions that have been done before. Our main inspiration came from the music video "Bright eyes: First day of my life" video, this is where we used the idea of having people placed on the sofa, listening to the music and also singing along. Another music video that we used was "Kate Nash: 'Foundations" This is because the first part of the song is an instrumental part, and so was ours. So we took the idea of establishing the setting within the instrumental.
Another idea we took was to use the cancer research advert to show one of the trinkets- a picture of a lost love one. The idea we decided to use was to use to have the picture on the side, and then pan from the artist to the picture. We decided to use the 'praying that disease' lyrics to portray that the love one was lost to the disease. We did do this in our draft version, however it did not fit right for our final music video.
We also used the film 'Mom at Sixteen' to take the idea of having a flashback in the form of a picture. We managed to use the picture idea within the entire music video, and Hannah and Ella holding a camera, taking a photo to show this link. The 'Mom at Sixteen' idea is not something that is regularly shown during a music video, this challenges the conventions of our genre of music video.
For the clothing idea of the artist, I used inspiration from the artist's profile to do so. The main people that I looked at were: Vanessa Carlton and Lenka. I did this by using Youtube to look at music videos and then print screening the type of clothing that would be appropriate to be in our music video. In the end, we went for a dress design (clothing that both of the artist above would wear) and we had to make sure our artist had her hair up so it did not get in her face during the singing. Our artist also had to wear light make-up, as heavy make up would not have suited the type of music genre. The two music videos that I took the styling from was Vanessa Carlton- Nolita Fairytale and Lenka: The Show
In the end, we decided to go with the dress idea to keep in theme with our genre of music, however, as the artists whole body isn't in the shot, the shoes were not important- this was also good as a full shot of her wasn't used on my digipak or poster. My artist also kept the same style of hair for our music video too, this is shown in the photographs used on the digipak and poster to keep the continuity of all three products.
Most of the key conventions in a anti-folk style of music video is somewhere in our music video, however, the main thing that challenges the conventions of an anti-folk video is the setting of our music video. Our video was all shot in different sofas in each persons house, whereas in anti- folk videos they choose to shoot outside or in places that do not particularly like with the genre of the song (Regina Spektor's video: On the Radio is shot in a school using younger children within the production) something which we did not do. We also did not shoot outside as it would not really be realistic to the story telling through the use of the trinkets in the video.
For my ancillary product, the poster follows the key conventions that it would be expected to follow. This is using the artist as a recognition for selling her album, I done this by using a big image of her on the page, I also added the artists name and the title of the album. Reviews were then placed towards the bottom of the page, with the record label placed at the bottom- being the last thing the reader would see. The image and the artist name are the two main thing that you would expect to see on a poster, and the biggest thing on the page. This is to draw the attention of the reader.
For my digipak, again I used the artist name and album title using the same font. I also used the same picture to keep the continuity from the poster to show the two belong to the same person. Again, this does not challenge any forms of real media products. This being because the artist is the main image, something which is usually associated with anti-folk artists. The inside panel uses a trinket used in the video, linking the digipak with the video.
There have been many problems with editing our music video. In our first draft we attempted to use Premiere but it didn't work properly for us, causing us to do the draft on Windows Media Player instead. After the draft was completed, we decided that we were going to edit the final of it on Premiere. However, there was another problem with the software which we were unable to find the cause of or the solution to. Now we are in the process of uploading the videos onto the Macs and we will have to start from scratch.
We have decided that we are going to use simple editing for our music video. There will be no effects, besides perhaps certain parts sped up/slowed down to portray an awkward or tense atmosphere. For example, when there is a shot of the two people holding hands, we are going to slow that down to get across how nervous the couple would be feeling. The only sound we are going to be using is the Regina Spektor song, with no special effects on this either. The reason for the simplicity is that we want it to emulate raw emotion rather than wrap things up and add too much of an emphasis onto every aspect of the video. I think that in doing this we will make the video more aesthetically pleasing for the type of song that it is.
On Sunday, we did the all the filming for our main artist. What me and Ella decided to do was get our artist to sing as much as the song as possible, we did this several times so we could use the best of the shots for our final video. We tried many different angles but made sure that the camera was at the same distance away at all time. We also filmed Ella's and Hannah's part together too; this was where we finally decided to film this part inside as the weather was not too good and we did not have the locations that we desired, however we worked effectively by using our storyboard all the way through.
Today, I completed the filming of myself and my sister. As Ella was unable to make it, it was a challenge for me to film it by myself, so when I filmed myself my sister helped me do this by making sure the camera was in the same position every time we filmed something and also started and stopped the filming at the correct time for me. When I filmed, I had to make sure that the camera distance was the same when we filmed on Sunday and that the lighting was bright- this was achieved by using advice and having 3 different lights on, to make the person faces clearer and brighter. I also made sure that both myself and Sophie were appropriately dressed and looked similar as the role was to portray sisters. To do this, I made sure that our hair was clipped the same way (this makes us look similar) and I also used make-up to make my eyes stand out- another feature that is similar.
As I was filming alone today, I had to use my judgement to see whether or not the lip-syncing was good enough or not. Some shots had to be filmed several times and in the end, I made sure both myself and my sister were actually singing (this can be heard on the camera too but we can get rid of that during editing). Overall, I feel today was a good success and during tomorrows lesson I hope that me and Ella will be able to get a fair bit of editing complete, however I'm unsure how much was done during the two lessons on Monday as I was ill.
Jemma and I have decided that we are going to film all of myself and Hannah's parts tomorrow after school, all of Jemma and her sister's parts on Saturday and then all of the artist's on Sunday. We are going to use the ones that have me on my own in as they are the best light and we don't have time to waste re-filming parts that don't need to be re-filmed.
From this unofficial music video, towards the end they use trinkets to show the relationship between the couple. In the video they do this by using a split screen of 3/4 different shots and use a close up of the trinket placed next to the person it belongs to. In our draft, as the trinket was not so clear, we have decided to take close up shots of each trinket, and then put them in a spilt screen (if possible with the editing software we're using) with a close-up of the person who the trinket belongs to.
Friday, 11 November 2011
Jemma and I have decided that we are going to re-film everything on Sunday 13th and Sunday 20th. We plan to edit all of it in all of the following lessons up until the deadline. By having these dates set we are giving ourselves plenty of time to edit along with any spare time after school, if we need it, to re-film extra parts. I think we will be able to get everything re-filmed on both of the Sundays though, and we are going to ensure that it is how we visualised this time.
I have now completed both of my posters and digipak, however, at the moment I am having difficulties printing the poster in A3, as the font and picture goes blurry. For now, I have printed it in A4.
On the digipak, I used the grids to make sure that the panels of the digipak were symmetrical. The only thing that needs to be changed now is the image of the hand with the neckless in. I took new photos for this and will today make the necessary changes. I also have to make sure the digipak font matches that of the poster. I am keep the front of the digipak like this as I feel no changes need to be made.
For my digipak, I decided to take several photos of one of the trinkets that is going to be used in the video and thought it could go on the inside panel of my digipak, however I'm not too sure if this will work as it may be viewed as being too simplistic or it just may not look right at all.
At the moment, I'm unsure if this idea will work, however I will try it and see if the brightness needs to be changed at all and see if adding any colour to the background will work. If not, I shall have to think of another idea to use.
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