Tuesday 1 February 2011

Evaluation.Question 4

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

PRODUCTION
New media technologies were evident in the editing stages, mainly because we had to use Final Cut Pro an editing software some of us were not familiar with.When making sure the performances were in sync I used an ipod and an and ipod dock, this really helped us when getting the bend members to sing along with the track, and when it came to editing the video as a whole. To keep in contact with the band we used social networking and the good old mobile phones, we felt it important to be well organized because we all had different schedules and different times everyone was available, so by using these means of communication we were able to keep everything well organized and nobody got frustrated.  In terms of the performance shots the use of the guitar hero was another part of new media that we embarked upon throughout the construction element throughout the video.

PLANNING&RESEARCH
The main thing I used when planning our video was the Internet, mainly YouTube, in order to analyse as many videos as I possibly could. I also looked into social networking in order to make our band seem more real, the social networks we decided to use for the band were Twitter and Facebook, mainly because they are popular amongst our target audience.

Evaluation.Question 3

3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?
The most important part of the music video process was receiving our audience feedback. We posted our video on many forms of social networking, in order to receive as many comments about our music video as we could. One thing that was good about our audience feedback is everyone seemed enjoy the video and they weren't bored whilst watching which is something we wanted to achieve. As well as the positive feedback I also received some constructive criticism on it. The first form of feedback I got was right at the beginning of the editing stages, our teacher felt that the performance shots from the pub didn't do justice to the original idea of the video, as a group we were advised to re-shoot everything, I felt quite upset about this because I thought it was going to take a long time to do. I then thought of the idea to incorporate Guitar hero into the performance shots, in order to distinguish the idea of work and play, and I feel this gave the video some depth and also something exciting to switch too and from. When filming the fun shots i had to do this by myself, because Jason and Molly were unable to attend the shoot, one thing I was advised to do was set up the shots but make them look as if they were natural, I achieved this by removing one of the members at a time in order to make it look like POV shots, I then instructed the band in what I wanted them to do and when they did it they put their own swing on it which made it look very natural and un staged,most of all it gave off the element of fun which what the initial point of our video. Another thing that came about from the audience feedback was the lighting in our performance shots looked a bit bland therefore not highlighting the band and emphasising the band in the right ways, unfortunately this problem could not be altered on final cut in the way I would like, so we had to leave these shots as they were The audience we showed it too also commented on the quick cut shots at the start of the guitar solo, they felt it gave the video some pace and also kept the audience on there feet. Another thing we got from audience feedback was the performance shots needed to be embedded a bit more with full band and it was this that made us re-work the guitar solo portion of the video and we worked in more individual band member shots.The main thing we took from the feedback is if were to do it again we would take into careful consideration the lighting, in order to give the video a much more professional clean finish.

The audience feedback was very useful in the construction of our music video because it gave us something to work on and consider if we were to go back and start again. I am happy with the feedback I received because it gave us things to improve upon with our music video.

Evaluation.Question 2

2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
When I was informed I had to make a Digi-Pack and poster I wanted to emphasise the same amount of fun that I had in the video. Although we abandoned the shots in the pub we still took some lovely still photographs which I think work very well in creating a sense of fun within the CD cover and poster. I decided to use the same font on the Digi Pack as I used on my Poster in order to make them relate. In terms of the font I decided to make the font look somewhat like the Magners cider font this was relating back to the brief and I felt this worked well with the band themselves. The colour scheme I used for the Digi-Pack and poster was red and white, the reason for using these colours is because they are the main colours used in advertising and I feel this would make my CD cover and Poster stand out in any music store and billboard.  For the poster I decided to make the central image of the band the only thing in colour and everything else in black and white, to make the band stick out, I upped the contrast again to make them stand out, something I feel is important in the world of advertising. On the back of the CD cover I decided to display the Twitter and Facebook logos as well as the Blackberry Pin bar code, so the fans of our band to keep in contact with the band (it also makes the band seem more real). I also displayed our record label and the bar code again because this is what real CD covers include.

I felt it important to create some consistency between the ancillary product and the video. I went right back to the first planning stages of the product, the first thing that I noticed was we wanted to incorporate fun into the video, so that was my starting point. I also wanted to the audience to know that these boys have been friends for a while so I felt the image for the poster should tell this.

Wednesday 26 January 2011

Evaluation. Question 1

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
When creating a media product you have to take into consideration the codes and conventions the product generally has and music videos are no exception to this. When the initial process started of creating the music video we had to be very clear on what type of video we wanted to create. As a group we decided to create a indie/rock video, mainly because this is the type of music we all would choose to listen too. When we received our brief one song instantly stuck out to us and that was the song Alright by Supergrass. Once we picked the song it was time to start deciding on the type of video we wanted to create, I decided to look primarily young indie videos for example One Night Only and Mumm-Ra, I wanted to look at these kind of videos in particular because I feel they have a certain uniqueness to them and I find them very interesting to watch  mainly because of the narrative they all seemed to follow. After looking at these kinds of videos I began to notice similarities in all of them, the main thing I noticed were they all seemed to portray the band having fun with there friends and this was something I wanted our video to convey.

 After we looked into the general "indie" music video scene we began talking about our music video, the first thing we had to decide on was the band that were going to focus on in the video. The original name for our band was "Tonic"but as a group we didn't like the band name, we began to think about the band name and we looked at our brief to give us some ideas. In the brief we noticed it said the band had met in school, it was during this we decided to name the band "Two Mile Radius" because normally to attend a school you need to live withing a Two Mile Radius and as a group we felt this fitted the band very well. As we began planning the video we decided we wanted to document the band having fun, much like what I saw in the videos I analysed and seeing as the band are all teenagers we felt this would be the kind of video they would release. Initially we wanted to film a house party with some cafe shots embedded within it, however due to re-decorating and timing issues we had to re-think.

We then decided to film in a pub, in order to achieve the teenage atmosphere the band are about, the pub also has connotations of fun,laughter and youth again something the band are passionate about. After we looked at the pub scenes on the computer it soon became apparent that the video would look dull with just these shots, so we went back to the drawing board. We went back to videos we initially analysed, it was during this process we noticed one things the "independent" bands have in their videos, fun and performance. We decided we wanted to keep an element of fun to our video both with the band themselves and the performances. We decided we wanted to make the video look like a home movie, much like the Mcfly video for their single Star Girl.

As I went to film the fun shots I made it clear I wanted these shots to look as natural as possible so although I set up the angles of the shots and told the bands some of what I wanted them to do they really took it to the next level and it was this that made me really happy about the shots and I began to in vision the video in my head, this again made me very excited. When it came to the performance shots this was very easy to decide upon, we wanted to portray the same amount of fun as we did in the previous shots we also wanted to the contrast of work and play to be combined and it was this that made us decided to use the popular PlayStation game, Guitar Hero. As these shots were filmed we worked with a variety of shots again to give it a more authentic feel. During the editing process it was important for us to keep the video exciting in order for the audience not to become bored. We also included a photo montage, the photos have been placed in the guitar solo portion of the song and I personally feel it gives the video a new depth and it also gives the audience something new to look at.

Overall I feel our music video follows the codes and conventions of any young independent debut music video,I feel it has an organic feel which gives of young,carefree connotations which is something I feel is very important to the video and the band.

Tuesday 25 January 2011

Final Poster


Digi Pack

At last i've finished my Digi Pack, overall I am very happy with how my CD cover has turned out. Initally I wanted the CD cover to portray the same level of fun on the CD cover and poster as we portrayed in the video. The main colour scheme I have used for the CD cover is Red and White, I have used these colours because they are the main colours used in advertising and I feel this would helo my CD cover stand out on a CD rack. On the back cover of the CD i've decided to put the Twitter and Facebook logos so the people buying the CD cover will be able to see different ways they can get in touch with the band and so they are able to see what they band get up too and to see any recent gigs the band have coming up. Next to the barcode I decdied to put the Blackberry Pin barcode; the main reason I included this barcode is because of how popular the Blackberry is amongst our target audience and I feel by people scanning the barcode into their blackberry they will be able to recieve instant messages about the band, again so they get in touch with the band in a different way.

Digi Pack