Evaluation - Question 4

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

There are many ways in which I used media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages of my product, such as: different software in order to create my music video and ancillary texts; online software in which I have used to present my work and social media in order to contact actors.

I used many different form of software in order to create different pieces of work. One software which I used was Final Cut Pro which was an essential program which I used in order to place all of my shots for my music video in order, edit them and place the song over them, and also to create my animatic. I found this editing software quite easy to use due to previous experience in using it during my transition task from AS Media Studies to A2 Media Studies in which I replicated part of the song Someone Like You by Adele. This was very helpful for me because it gave me a chance to experiment with using Final Cut Pro and learn the basic rules on how to use it and play with the different slide transitions and effects that you can use on it such as black and white and a black border around the frame. Therefore, the things that I learnt when creating this section of an existing music video gave me confidence to use Final Cut Pro when creating my own music video at A2 as I was more familiar with how it worked and what I was able to do on it.

Another media technology that I used was Adobe Photoshop when creating my ancillary texts and my costume ideas. Photoshop allowed me to place different images onto a page, layer them up, alongside text and shapes, add effects to them and edit them to improve or change them. This software was very helpful when creating my ancillary texts because I was able to get a template of a digipak off Google and use this to place my own images on top of it to create my own digipak. I did this by opening the image of the template on Photoshop and then opening any image that I wanted to be on my digipak, decreased the opacity of the image so that I was able to see the template in the background so I knew what size to make the image, I then cropped the image down to the size that fit the template and then added any other objects that I wanted to it such as text. Photoshop made it much easier for me to create my ancillary texts and it allowed me to be more creative with what I was able to do to my images as I could add effects to them and change the opacity of images to create different effects.

Other media technologies that I used consisted of basic software such as Microsoft Word and Microsoft PowerPoint in order to present written work. These helped me easily show what I wanted in an orderly way that made it easy for the audience to read and understand. Other ways in which I presented my work were using online applications such as Prezi, Slideshare, GoAnimate and Emaze. These are more fun and interesting ways in which I have presented my work. The reason why I decided to use these websites is to make my work more appealing towards the audience as it makes it much more interactive and keeps the audience’s attention in. All of these websites were very easy to follow making it simple to create the items. I have used all of these different applications throughout the research and planning, construction and evaluation stages of my work as I think that they have been relevant to use throughout the whole course and I have used them when I feel they would be most beneficial such as: to show answers to surveys that I have created using a website called Survey Monkey, to answer evaluation questions, to show cast and location ideas, to present my textual analysis’ and to present information on different theorists and their ideas.

A further media technology that I have used in the planning stages of my product was social media sites such as Facebook, in particular Facebook Messenger, in order to contact my actor, actress and anyone else involved in my music video such as those providing me with props. This form of media was very helpful for me to contact others because of how global Facebook has become therefore most people use this website and spend a lot of time on it which it made it an easy and free way to contact people. Plus, this way I was able to create a conversation with all of those involved within my music video so that everyone was aware of what was happening, making me a lot more organised in planning when I am going to shoot and costume choices for example.

A basic media technology that I used during the whole project was the TV and websites such as Youtube in which I was able to watch existing music videos and gain inspiration on what to include in my own music video and also notice the type of mise-en-scene, cinematography and editing styles used in music videos to see if there were any conventions that were used so that I could apply them to my own music video. Watching music videos was a very key factor throughout not only the planning stage but the construction stage of my product as I was able to gather lots of different ideas and bring them all together to use in my music video. Some existing music videos that I took inspiration from were Chandelier by Sia and Counting Stars by One Republic which helped shape my music video more as it gave me a clear image as to what I wanted to be included in my music video, and the ideas that I gained from these music videos helped lead me onto different ideas and develop from the ones I found from the existing music videos.

Overall, I would say that I have used a wide variety of media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages of my product in order to create different pieces of work and to present my work. They have all made my blog look a lot more appealing and enticing for the audience and have made some processes much easier for me to do. 

Digipak Improved

Here I have improved my digipak based on the comments that I received from my survey that I created. The only change that I have made is improving the quality of the text on the front cover. This looks much better now because there is no white marks running around it although I placed a white outline on the text so that it stands out more.

Evaluation - Question 3

Music Video Final Draft

This is the final draft of my music video. I was unable to do successful fade overs with the footage that I had so I had to create another way in which I could go round this.

For my first fade over that I planned to do, which was between both my actors, I have decided just to place the two shots next to each other instead. This doesn't look as effective as I hoped it to be but it still flows well and fits in time with the lyrics of the song.

My other fade over that I planned to do was with both my actors and my shot of the TV with the broadcast footage over the top of it. I wanted to have the TV positioned in the centre of the frame with my actress lip-syncing on the left hand side of the frame and my actor fading in on the right-hand side of the frame when he begins to lip-sync. However I was unable to do this as I shot it against an unsuitable background. So to resolve this I positioned the TV bigger on the right-hand side of the frame with just my actress fading in on the left-hand side of the screen and this has seemed to work out quite well in my opinion. 

Another change that I have made is increasing the shot length of my shots of the TV against the black background. I have done this so that it leads up to the close up shot of the TV during the broadcast sequence and makes more sense within my video.

The final change that I made to this draft was making the TV broadcast sequence in black and white so that the fade over doesn't look as noticeable. 

Overall, I am happy with my final draft of my music video because I think that it flows well, the lip-syncing is in time with the song and I have a range of different shot types and have experimented with my editing techniques. If I could change it though I would have reshot some footage to make it of a higher quality and I would have filmed my fade over parts against a green screen rather than a yellow wall in order to make sure that my fade overs work well.

Evaluation - Question 2

Music Video Fourth Draft

This is the fourth draft of my music video. I have made quite a few changes to this draft which I think have improved my music video and made it look more professional.

One of the changes that I have made is that I have now put my candidate name and number etc. at the beginning of my music video so that the examiner knows exactly who I am and what this piece of work is for.

A second change that I have made is that during my shot in which I tilt the camera up and then down in the following shot I have put a quick slide transition in between the two shots to make it flow better as this way you cannot see the change in shots. The slide transition that I used was a quick fade which I think has worked very well in my music video because it links to the two shots together well.

Another change that I have made is that during my first split screen I have tried to match the shot with my male actor in with the one with my female actress in as I was unable to change the quality of this shot to make it better so the way in which I have overcome this is by trying to make the other shot match this shot as much as possible. I have done this by using many different effects on this shot and playing with the colour of the shot to match it as much I can. I think that the shots now look very similar to one another however I am quite disappointed with the quality of the footage but this is something that I can no longer change so I have made it work as best as I possibly can.

During my shots of my actress sat in the corner of a room I noticed that the last shot of this before she starts lip-syncing zoomed in too far on her face so I made this shot in slow motion and cropped down the shot so that it is to a better shot length and I think that this now looks a lot better and more professional.

Plus, on my TV broadcast section I have now included the shot of my broadcaster and cropped this shot down so that it fits inside the TV. Although, I still need to do a lot of work on this shot because the fade overs aren't working at the moment and I haven't found out how to make the TV and broadcast footage zoom in. So in my next draft I am hoping to find out how to do this.

After this broadcast scene finished I thought that the shot of the black screen lasted far too long so I have cropped this down and added in a shot of the TV smashed up to fill up the time that I have just cropped out. Also this now foreshadows what is about to happen in the music video, to give the audience an insight as to what is to come.

The final changes that I have made is at the very end of my video. The first change of this is that I have put a Bad TV Effect over the top of my shot of a close up of the TV to make it seem as if the full music video is just a media concept and that this is shown on TV and that this shot is breaking up. The next change that I made is the slide transition between this and the next shot as I have used a Static slide transition which gives the effect that the TV is about to turn off. This shot is juxtaposed with a black screen with a white glowing line running through the centre of the screen which lasts for a split second as this is a typical feature of what happens when TV's turn off. This then ends with a plain black screen to show that the TV has turned off.

I think that all of these changes have improved my music video quite a lot because it has made my music video flow better and look more professional due to the effects and slide transitions that I have included in it. For my next draft I am going to change the fade overs so that they work a lot better and then I think I will be very pleased with my music video as a whole.

Evaluation Question 1 (Textual Analysis of my Music Video)

Evaluation - Question 1

My Digipak in the Real World

These pictures show how my digipak would look in the real world, on CD racks in a shop. These give me more of an idea as to whether these look realistic or not. I created these by finding an image of a CD rack in a shop  then distorting the image of my digipak onto the original image on Photoshop to give a realistic effect that fits in well with the background image. I think that these were successful because this way I am able to picture my digipak in real life forms and I now feel more confident and happy with my digipak as I think it looks quite effective in the images shown above. I also placed a price tag on some of my digipaks to make it look even more realistic.

My Magazine Advert in the Real World

These pictures show how my magazine advert would look in the real world, inside magazines as a magazine advert and on a poster at a bus stop. These give me more of an idea as to whether these look realistic or not. I created these by finding an image of a magazine or a poster at a bus top and then distorting and warping the image of my magazine advert onto the original image on Photoshop to give a realistic effect that fits in well with the background image. I think that these were successful because this way I am able to picture my magazine advert in real life forms and I now feel more confident and happy with my magazine advert as I think it looks quite effective in the images shown above.

Ancillary Texts - Magazine Advert Draft 2

This draft is almost exactly the same as the previous one the only thing that I have changed on this is that I have made the word 'best' larger than the other words to make it stand out more. I have also included a website at the bottom of the advert in which the public can find out more about the album and they can purchase it off this website. This makes it very direct and straightforward for the audience to purchase the album as there is a direct website link on the magazine advert in which they can purchase it off.

Ancillary Texts - Magazine Advert

Ancillary Texts - Digipak

Music Video Third Draft

This draft is a full edit of my music video including the song on it. I have matched the lip-syncing in the videos with the lyrics of the song and I have cropped every shot down to a length which works well. I have also experimented with some editing techniques such as slow motion shots, reverse shots and fade overs. However, I have had trouble with creating successful fade overs so in my next edit I am looking to resolve this by finding a way to make this look effective through editing my shots or re-shooting these shots. I think that this edit looks quite good because I am now able to see what it looks like all together. Despite this, there are elements in which I need to change.

One improvement that I want to make is the fluidity of the shots as some shots don't follow on from each other very well. So to improve this I am going to add shots into it to break this up.

Another improvement that I want to make is the stability of the shots as some of the shots look quite shaky, making my video look unprofessional. I am able to do this whilst editing my film so in my next draft I am going to stabilise the shots which I think look too shaky in order to make them look smoother.

A problem that I am still having with my music video is the difference between the shots as some of the shots were filmed with only natural lighting but when it got darker this showed on my footage so I tried my best to make it as light as possible but the difference between the shots with natural lighting and artificial lighting are too different. So I am considering removing all of the darker shots and finding new shots which could replace these in order to have continuity throughout my music video and also to have my video to a higher and better quality.

Overall, I am quite happy with this draft because the lip-syncing works well and I like my use of slow-motion and reverse shots during the sledgehammer element of my video because I think it makes it look much more effective as the audience is able to identify what is going to happen next and it intensifies the event.

Locations Used

For my music video I have used three different locations. Two of them are located in the same building but are different rooms in this building. These rooms are plain, empty rooms to make it look as if they are abandoned. I was able to access this location as I knew someone who was working on emptying this house and redecorating it so I asked if I was able to film there as it would be perfect for my music video. The only problem that I had with this location is that there were no curtains on the windows meaning that you could easily see when it was getting darker so some of my footage isn't as clear as others because part way through filming I had to turn some lights on as I wasn't picking up anything on my camera.

The final location that I used was underneath a bridge with graffiti on the walls. I thought that this location would be very iconographic of the rock genre and would look very effective in my music video. This location is where I have smashed my TV which I think reflects the graffiti on the walls and gives a reckless element to this part of my music video. This will look quite different to what I had planned for my music video on my storyboard because I wanted my male actor to move from one room to another in order to smash my TV but I am having to change this because I realised that I would not be allowed to smash a TV inside any building that I choose. So I decided that I would have to find an exterior location to do this.

New Possible Locations

Due to the fact that I was unable to get the location that I wanted I had to look for quick alternatives. These are the locations that I have found that would be best to use.

I like this location because even though it still looks in good condition the brick work looks very detailed and would match my rock genre well. Despite this, the building is not that big so I don't think that it would be very suitable to film here as I need three, perhaps two, different rooms for my music video which need to be quite big.I like this building because it is very big so I would have a lot of room to film. Also this buiding is abadnoned now so it should have the right mise-en-scene on the inside that I want, which is rubble and debree on the floor and empty rooms. Plus, this location is very close to where I live, making it much easier for me and my actors to get there and easier for the transportation of cameras and tripods etc.

I really like this building because it matches my rock genre perfectly and I can picture where I would film each part in this location in my mind. The only problem that I have with this location is that it is in Doncaster which is very far away from where I live so it would be very difficult to get there.

Music Video Second Draft

This is the second draft of my music video. I still have some footage missing from this which is why I haven't placed the song alongside the video as it would not fit in with the video at this moment in time. Some of my footage was a bit too dark which is why some shots look different to the others but I am looking to change this.

Existing Album Covers

Above are a few images of existing album covers to give me an idea of what to include in it, different shot types used, composition of images and typography, typography styles and sizes, colours etc. I got some covers that reflect the rock genre that I am doing so that I can use these covers as my main sources for ideas. The other covers that I found I have included because I think that I can use some of the techniques that they have used such as the stripes on the Paolo Nutini album and the positioning of the text on the Carrie Underwood album. I really like the Nickelback album cover because it is simple yet effective due to the silver/metal teardrop however this looks very hard for me to recreate so I don't think that I will make something as complex as that due to the lack of skills that I have.

Existing Digipak's

Here are some examples of existing digipaks (mainly 6 panel, 2 disc digipaks) so that I can see what actual digipaks look like and will be able to use these as references when making my own digipak, to give me ideas and inspiration. In the images above I really like the red Metallica digipak because of the one image that crosses over two panels and a spine because it increases the size of the image and looks very effective when the digipak is opened up. I also like the Beyonce B'Day digipak due to the description on the left hand side panel because it makes the digipak look more detailed and professional. It is also an opportunity to use even more images on my digipak.

Digipak Template

This is the digipak template that I will be using for one of my ancillary texts. It is a 6 panel, 2 disc template. This will be very helpful for when I make my digipak because I will need to know how many surfaces I need to create and the sizes of each surface. I could then print this off and fold it together to see what it would physically look like.

Problems and How I Will Overcome Them

After waiting for over 2 months for a reply from Blundell Street Board School I unfortunately never received one so I have had to look into different locations to shoot my film, in which I can gain the owners authorisation.

Plus, I realised that no matter what location I get for my music video, there is a very slim chance that they will allow me to smash a TV in the building so I have decided to shoot this part outside instead because this way I will still be able to do this and I don't have to worry about damaging buildings. Although I need to make sure that all the glass and scrap metal is cleaned up properly as I don't want to cause any harm or danger to the public.

Unfortunatley, the male actor for my music video was no longer able to shoot for my film so I had to find a quick and reliable replacement that will be able to stand in his place. I have found this replacement however he isn't as suitable for the role as much as my previous actor based on looks and confidence but I will be able to get around this by finding mise-en-scene for my actor to reflect the genre of my music video and do his make-up to make him look more fitting for the part. The confidence element will be quite hard to get round but it should be easier for him because he is shooting with someone who he does know, making him feel more comfortable with acting for me.

Another problem that I have to think around is that my male actor that I originally found had the clothes already that I had in mind and were perfect for my music video whereas my new actor doesn't have these clothes so I will have to see if there is any clothes that he has that I could use, and if not I would have to ask around to borrow clothes off people I know in order to create the right image for my actor. Also, I have had to ask some of my friends if they have a sledgehammer that I could use in my music video because my male actor was the one who had the sledghammer that I was going to use in my video so I have had to ask others for this prop. I have found someone who has one and will be willing to let me use it for my music video.

When starting to film for my music video I have encountered many different problems which have prevented me from filming so now I need to find a new location and find some clothes for my male actor which links well with the rock genre of my music video.

Outfit Ideas - Actor

Before I began filming I had to create the outfits for my actors so here I came up with two different outfit ideas for my actor. For my actor I decided that I wanted his outfit to have a dominance of the colours red, black and white, in order to match the rock theme because in my opinion these colours are iconographic of the rock genre. I created these outfits by finding each individual item off the Internet, either on Google or clothing websites, and then editing them together to form a realistic outfit on Adobe Photoshop.