In what ways does you media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
When beginning my research I needed to watch several music videos with music of the same genre so that I would be able to find the conventions that they have included in theirs that I would be able to include also and show redundancy due to the audiences being able to recognise elements. The two music videos in particular that we looked at were: jack penate- have I been a fool and scouting for girls- heartbeat.
We also watched our bands only music video which our artists produced for one of their other songs. The music video they made for ‘feel alive’ has both narrative and performance. We believed that the parallel action worked well for this music style. After watching similar music genre’s videos we discovered that many music videos for the ‘indie’ genre do contain narrative and performance, including the two specific music videos I watch: ‘jack penate- have I been a fool and scouting for girls- heartbeat’.
Jack Penate
Here is where I have used similar conventions when watching this music video. Within this music video Jack Penate dates several girls in the same places then between shots the girls change. In my music video I have reversed the sexes and I have every band member dating the same girl.
Here is the feedback I recieved from classmates about the genre and similar conventions incomparison to real media products:
- Split screen looks quite similar to other music videos so very effective - Video goes very well with the song - Redundant video but the different guys were quite original. (Busted- sleeping with the light on) - Two clearly different editing styles used to distinguish the singing from the narrative and seemed conventional of the genre but in a good way as it would have seemed out of place of it was challenging the genre. - Fairly entropic - Clear genre- love song, boys and girl
How effective is the combination of your main product and the ancillary texts?
THE BRIEF
A promotional package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with:
A cover for its release as part of a digipak (CD/DVD package);
A magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package).
For my ancillary texts, which I began producing first as this was individual work; I wanted to include several images for my cover as we had planned on including ‘picture in picture’ in our video. Several ideas arose with the possibility of using photography of the band I had taken in the woodland and making some type of montage that included several of them. However my alternative idea was using a rubix cube. After showing several friends both of my ideas (unfinished) the preferred the idea which represented a rubix cube. As my friends fitted the criteria of my target audience, I took their feedback seriously and this is what I produced as my front cover of my digipak.
This is my house style guide:
Colour Pallet = ffe900
= 0f8a0e
= 00079e
= fe0000
Font Verdana Bold
Extra's Straight Lines
Light and Bright Lighting
‘Indie’ Clothing Throughout
These four print screens were taken out of the video so you are able to see the same usage of the colour pallet in my music video as well as my digipak and my advert.
This is a cropped version of my advert so that you can see the colour alterations...
Price, Product, Place and Promotion
For my advertisement and digipak to have similar conventions of a real media text I needed to pay attention to the small details such as 'Where will my advert be shown?' 'How much will my album cost?' 'Which TV Music Channels are likely to show my music video?' I looked into prices of a Magazine Advertisement and found that they are quite pricey. Therefore as my band I am advertising will be Unknown to many readers of the magazine I need a colourful advert to 'catch the readers eye' but at a reasonable price to keep the band in supply of funds.
On the Internet I found that the average price for quarter of an inside page of an A4 Magazine is £450 which I think seems quite realistic for my band. The type of Magazine I would want to advertise it in would be NME (reason for choosing a quote from them for the advert). The digipak itself would hopefully be on sale in HMV and on the website. Online shopping is increasing annually and so websites such as Amazon would also be a good place to sell such album. The price for this would be £7.99 in shops and for iTunes download £5.99 currently due to the band still having low status. Hopefully if the album and band are successful then they would be able to increase their profits by increasing costs of their merchandise due to fans wanting to buy it.
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
After producing my music video I showed it to my class and asked for them all to give me some feedback on certain aspects of my music video.
Mise en scene - The cinema mise en scene is good- with the same girl- good narrative - Fast cuts of girl and different boys so is more interesting- doesn’t look boring. - Mise en scene of streets and town was great. - Match on action wasn’t perfect.
As you can see there are a variety of responses to the mise en scene. Even though there are comments which are expressing how the mise en scene and the fast cuts are ‘good’ and ‘interesting’. Ideally I needed more feedback from audience further than my local area and my social groups due to the feedback being more reliable if there was more of it. This may then allow me to gain a stronger response as to whether the mise en scene worked well for my music video.
Narrative - Quite original, but almost stereotype of boys chasing girl - Is she just a big slut? Not sure how all the different boys worked. None of them looked dumped. Not clear narrative structure. - I liked the narrative idea, it was really original. - Clear narrative structure.
The understanding of the narrative to me was an important factor due to if people didn’t understand the storyline of the video people would not want to continue watching the video or not enjoy it. Here I have been given a slightly mixed opinion due to some people commenting how the narrative structure is ‘clear’ therefore quite entropic I guess for a music video.
Use of Colour - Love the change of boys and the fast editing, the colours against the sepia ish street look really good- very vibrant. - Lighting and colour effective - Swapping colours during the chorus may be too sudden. - Good use of colour for different singers - Nice use of colour - Really liked the effects to show the 4 singers. - Effective black and white filming - Really good colour and variation - Don’t think the coloured bits went well with the black and white/sepia effect. It would have worked in colour. - Very good use of colour, from black and white to bright primary colours - The black and white effects make it look more professional - Good use of lighting and colour - Liked the binary opposition of black and white and then bright coloured singing bits.
My uses of colour seem to be quite popular (when using the blocked colour behind the actors). The main negative here was:
Don’t think the coloured bits went well with the black and white/sepia effect. It would have worked in colour.
Therefore I did an experiment by taking the 'black and white/ sepia effect off some of the clips (however unfortunately i couldnt take it off all, but as it was just as an example i thought it would be ok) and uploading that onto YouTube also to get more feedback on this video.
The people I asked to comment on which they preferred said:
'I prefer the video when it is mainly in sepia, this way the chorus seems more uplifting and bright because of the connotations of the colours'
'Sorry... Previously I thought that colour would have worked better... But now i prefer the sepia/black and white effect'.
Audience - Great for the audience - Can clearly see who this is aimed at.
Lip Syncing - Lip syncing wasn’t perfect all the time but the background colour blocks looked great. - Miming wasn’t all perfect…sorry. - Bad miming by blue guy but that isn’t your fault - Some lip syncing may have been out.
Lip syncing caused quite a few problems for me... The band struggled to memorise the song and one of the actors hadnt managed to receive the song therefore he had to try learn the song in a few hours. Hopefully it most cases it is well hidden that the actors sometimes needed a prompt to help them with the lyrics.
Cinematography - Shots are extremely good and original - The shots to show the boy had changed was a bit jumpy - Good use of film shots- close up and from a distance. - Effects and editing very professional - Very good editing - Good cinematography, the shots were good. Some from across the street and some close up. - The street shots aren’t particularly cinematic, whereas the colour shots are. - Some shots were slightly too long
Genre and Similar Conventions - Split screen looks quite similar to other music videos so very effective - Video goes very well with the song - Redundant video but the different guys were quite original. (Busted- sleeping with the light on) - Two clearly different editing styles used to distinguish the singing from the narrative and seemed conventional of the genre but in a good way as it would have seemed out of place of it was challenging the genre. - Fairly entropic - Clear genre- love song, boys and girl
Other - Made me smile :) - Really good - I like how he kissed his fingers at the end- that was funny. - Was entertaining as lively and energetic - Like how you made use of all the footage- fun/laughing and so on.
I also asked my target audience to answer a few questions for me...
1.) What type of genre do you think this song/music video belongs to? I’d say a pop/indie sort of music.
2.) Who do you think are the target audience for this video? I would say it has a universal target audience, but it wouldn’t be for children.
3.) Can you think of any alterations that you think would have improved it? I think that the jump when the squares move should be changed.
4.) Did the video/song have any effect on you? I thought it was touching, and was romantic!
5.) Do you think the narrative in the video fits with the song? And why? Yes, I think it does fit with the song, because it is the right speed of the song.
6.) Do the actors/actress fit the genre/video well? Yes I do.
1.) What type of genre do you think this song/music video belongs to? pop
2.) Who do you think are the target audience for this video? Young teens (15-17) mainly girls
3.) Can you think of any alterations that you think would have improved it? A change in actors, the one I felt didn’t look like he should have been in the band. Another thing that needed to have been done more clearly is that the lip synching wasn’t perfect therefore the actors needed to learn the song better.
4.) Did the video/song have any effect on you? I thought it was really uplifting, and very catchy... I found myself humming the chorus during the day. Id definitely be tempted to listen to more of their songs.
5.) Do you think the narrative in the video fits with the song? and why? Yeah I do! The tempo of the song fits the action in the video well, also the lyrics are really romantic and so is the narrative, it’s really cute!
6.) Do the actors/actress fit the genre/video well? Yeah, even though some of the sync was out so it didn’t look like the one in particular was in the bad... however their clothing was perfect!
This message was to quickly let you know that we have completed our music Video. Im sure you all can't wait to watch it... ha! Here is a link to it on youtube...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlo-jpbplDUIf at all possible could you watch it and give us some feedback...? Shame you live so far away otherwise it would have been nice to have you in it.
Thanks, Lauren x
THEIR REPLY...
Ahhhh awesome! absolutely love it, looks really pro and love the coloured spotlights on the guys!thank you so music for choosing to use our tune in your coursework, really does mean a lot!make sure you say well done to everyone involved in making it, really does look great!
George
L&S x
Conclusion
I was really happy with my feedback because the majority of comments were positive. I found it really useful gaining feedback which I could then experiment with such as the alterations to effects on certain clips.
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Throughout all stages of creating my music video and digipak media technologies have been incredible important. The first thing we did in lesson was do research and watch several children’s TV openings and music videos to see which one we as individuals felt we would be able to achieve.
However with regards to technological determinism I was able to control the technology rather than the technology directed us in a path that it seemed to want us to take to produce our music video.
Our teacher showed us these clips from ‘YouTube’ through using a projector to show the class.
Here are two of the clips that we watched. Being able to watch these we were able to analyse all clips and then see what we felt would be realistic to achieve ourselves. Another reason why I used YouTube was so that we would be able to share our music video with others. This would allow us to gain audience feedback outside of our social groups.
We named our video ‘Final Video- fly around the world’ and in the ‘information’ section on the right of the video we wrote ‘I DO have permission from the copyright holder of this music to broadcast it as part of an educational exercise’ so that there would be no problems in distributing the music.
I also used YouTube to help me with my production work. In my research and planning I realised how popular ‘picture and picture’ was within music videos so that influenced wanted to include ‘picture in picture’ in my music video. However due to last year I made the opening to a horror movie and therefore didn’t use features such as ‘picture in picture’ I did not know how to achieve this. As there are several groups within my class who all needed help from the teacher, I decided to turn to the internet for help. I typed into google: ‘How to produce ‘picture in picture’ in premiere pro’. This then gave me a list of possible tutorials which I would be able to read to help me. However I am a visual learning and believe that I learn more by watching how something is done. I noticed that one of the links was a YouTube link which had a four minute video tutorial.
After watching this I then knew how to produce ‘picture in picture’ which I did a test for.
When taking photos I used a Nikon N60 DSLR, with a memory card in so that we would be able to hold all of our photos on for the whole photo shoot. This equipment meant that we could take great quality photos and have the ability to alter the settings such as focus and iris size manually to make the photo quality what we wanted. Then to film our music video we used the college DV Cameras.
Social networking sites also played a major role in creating my music video. Firstly we were given the task of finding our own band to email to ask permission to use their music. For this I thought that the best social networking site would be ‘Myspace’.
When I had found several bands and artists which I liked I then emailed all of them with the same email (in my research and planning LINK TO BLOG POST) asking whether using their music would be acceptable. After sending several emails we were shocked to see that all of the emails sent received a reply of ‘yes’. This then gave us another issue of having to decide which band/artist we would rather use. We were able to decide this by listening to all of their music on their Myspace and then try and think of ways in which we would be able to express the ideas of the lyrics with an appropriate music video to compliment the music.
Facebook is another social networking site which I used which I found a very useful source of feedback and distribution of our video.
Here you can see ‘Lauren Mullen’ (I) posted my music video onto my facebook profile which was ‘liked’ by a friend of mine ‘Ole Bastoo’ who also does Media Studies at our college. Another student in my Media Class then commented on my post with:
This was nice to have some criticism about the technical problems which I wish I would have been able to alter.
My band ‘Lights and Sounds’ also have facebook. Therefore I was able to find more out about their target audience by looking at their profiles.
This is my Advert to Advertise the release of the 'LIGHTS AND SOUNDS' album. I took the photo of the rubix cube using my mobile phone, Samsung Pixon which has an 8 mega pixel camera so I was able to get decent quality photos. I then edited these photos using Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0 by editing text and extra images. I made the stars on 'Paint' and then copied the image from the digipak cover and pasted this onto the front also.
When asking for feedback on this people liked how I had used the same colours for the digipak cover and music video in the advert on the rubix cube, showing the same design and house style throughout.
Here is my Final Digipak. There are two pieces of software which I used to produce this...
Photoshop
Picasa 3
The photos were taken in a photography suite which i then needed to edit so that I could adjust the background colour of each to match the colours behind them in the music video. The photo (Top right) which was taken in the wood I edited using the magic tool on Photoshop to put several sections/layers of the band onto the background I had produced.
Here are some collages I made using 'Picasa 3' software which allow you to crop photos and them place them in a grid size arrangement of your choice. After editing the backgrounds of each individual photo I then was able to piece them together. This didn't take much time at all with using 'Picasa 3' so I was then able to focus on my final product with the detail elements such as the barcode, song titles on the back and the album name and band name on the front.
Here are some of the photos that I had taken, and what I have done to them to edit them so they are suitable for my front cover. The colours I have used are to represent the rubix cube.
On the 15th of December we had arranged to take the photos my digipak. The original plan was show an entertaining side of the boys so that It would appeal to the teenage audience. This would include bright colours and the boys making funny faces in the photos.
My idea is to base my digipak and my advertisment around a 'rubix cube'. This idea was first sparked due to how complicated it was trying to retreive the CD off our band. I joked at home at it being easier to solve a rubix cube than get the CD from the band. It is a fun entertaining gimic and hopefully works well.
Friday 11 December 2009
Here is a montage that I made to show the ideas I had when first listening to the song. I imagined making a romantic music video with mise en scene such as dark lighting in a romantic city setting with stars (flying around the world). However... this is not what my partner had in mind, and after watching music videos of bands such as Scouting for Girls we didn't think that this type of music video would appeal to our target audience.
These tables were produced so that if me and Lucy had either booked a camera or needed to ask any of our actors a question we would be able to easily know whether they would be free. For filming, as we all finish early on a Wednesday this has been the best day for filming. For photography we have been quite lucky in that during the last week of term some lessons had been cancelled. This enabled us to have more free time so that we could go into the wood and also into the photography suite and get some good group photos.
I think that having time management is really important, and the use of these tables have been extremely useful. I was able to take this from my AS Media project, as we didnt have this it was difficult. This is something which I will be able to use in the future also for my next projects.
Here is the Album cover of 'The Script'. There are bright colours and a variety of thoughts and images from this. Building rooftops and smoke coming from chimneys almost gives it a grungey look, with what seems to be a cardboard cut out hand holding two people with what seems to be a rainbow. The fact that there are so many confusing ideas on this one album cover suggests that the album has variety on it... I like this album cover quite a lot even though it is confusing.
Here is the album cover of 'Scouting for Girls'. I realy like the font and the use of colour on this album cover. 'Scouting' suggests they are looking or in search of something, and with the characters here on the boat almost in search of something reflects the title. The sepia effect I think works well, however it doesnt seem to reflect to me what the content is like, (even though it is a good album... there are many songs which seem similar, this may reflect the one event happening on the cover.
Here is the album cover for 'Lights and Sounds' (an unsigned band). This is the current album cover where I picked the music from for my Music Video. Currently it is very plain, and therefore for me the main thing i want to change is the brightness. As I wish for my album cover to reflect the content, like 'The Script' I need to have a lot more colour on it so that people can believe it is full of life. I really like the font of this... I may try and produce my own so that I do not completely take the bands current indentity away.
Effects Research Effects research is the idea that audiences can differ depending on what type of person they are, or how they are at that moment in time, these perceptions are made by the effects researchers. An audience member is seen to be either Passive, Active or the same. A passive member of the audience is someone who is not really thinking but infact they are just there and seem as though they are involved. An Active member of the audience is therefore the opposite- someone who is highly involved and participating. Effects researchers presumed that all audiences are the same and that they all would have the same response to a media text no matter what their background who what they have seen previously. However this was challenged by researchers such as 'Blumler and Katz (1974)' who believed that audiences do not do what the media wants, but infact the audience decide what they want to do with the Media- uses and gratifications.
This will be the style of digipak I will be using. I will be designing for sides: front, back and the two inside sides which one will be behind the CD.
Here is the digipak template to show the panels and where they are when i will print it out. I may use a website which allows you to trial their printing and print one CD for free as the trial.
First day of production opened my eyes tremendously... I didnt realise that at 2.30 on a wednesday afternoon on the edge of town one street so could be so busy!! Luckily i was able to take some photos which I would be able to include in my photostory board. Unfortunately not all of the actors were able to attend, so I only have a few of the cast in the photos, but we were able to see whether they desired camera angles were achievable with our location and college equipment.
If you are able to wait between shots you are able to get the street empty. I still have faith in our idea, and im excited about shooting it!
(Verse 1) Today I'm on my own again But when you're here it all keeps coming back and I don't know how to act When I see you there I don't know what to do Because I think so fast and I don't know which way to choose You make me feel so good but you're hardly ever here and I still want you it's true
(Chorus) So take me out please darling cos I've been waiting all my life For this feeling, we have wasted so much time So let's go, tonight we'll be together and We'll float right up to the sky and fly around the world
(Verse 2) The days go by and the sun still shines I long for you and everything you do My world falls down around you When I see you there I don't know what to do Because I think so fast and I don't know which way to choose It feels so good I hope you feel it too
And I still want you..just you
(Chorus) So take me out please darling cos I've been waiting all my life For this feeling, we have wasted so much time So let's go, tonight we'll be together and We'll float right up to the sky and fly around the world
(Bridge) Speak up, shout out, come on woah Speak up, shout out, come on woah Make me believe that you are my home Waiting for you to save my soul
Here is my conversation between the band, starting with asking for permission to use their music to being given the lyrics.
----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: .~*Fallen Angel*~. (lolilol@myspace.com) To: LIGHTS AND SOUNDS (ACOUSTIC SHOW - 27th SEPT) (lightsandsoundsmusic@myspace.com) Date: 18 Sep 2009, 15:43 Subject:
Dear Lights and Sounds,
We are Lucy and Lauren and we are currently at a sixth form college in Worcester, England. One of our recent projects is to create a music video that includes a track of our choice. This is the difficult part... We have searched Myspace and have come across you. Your music is really remarkable and we would be honoured to be able to feature any of your music in our music video.
The music video we produce will only be used for classroom purposes and to be sent off for evaluation by an exam board; unless you would like it to be shown elsewhere for advertisement.
We would really appreciate it if you could get back to us asap so that we can begin production soon as we have deadlines to meet.
Even if we are unfortunate and do not get the go ahead to use your music, we would just like to say what a great artist you are, and keep up the good work!
From,
Lucy and Lauren
----------------- Original Message ----------------- From: LIGHTS AND SOUNDS (ACOUSTIC SHOW - 27th SEPT) (lightsandsoundsmusic@myspace.com) To: .~*Fallen Angel*~. (lolilol@myspace.com) Date: 18 Sep 2009, 17:31 Subject: RE:
Hey this is absolutely fine :) which song have you chosen? x
----------------- Original Message ----------------- From: .~*Fallen Angel*~. (lolilol@myspace.com) To: LIGHTS AND SOUNDS (ACOUSTIC SHOW - 27th SEPT) (lightsandsoundsmusic@myspace.com) Date: 22 Sep 2009, 10:53 Subject: RE:
YAYYYYY :D
Thank you for getting back in touch... we had surprisingly quite a few replies, but in our opinion your music was the best! Congratulations :P
Our FAVOURITE song is 'feel alive' however as you already seem to have a music video for this, we were thinking possibly 'fly around the world' unless you have any other songs not on your myspace which have a similar sound to 'feel alive'.
Where are you all based?
If you have any ideas of things that you may like to see, or any general ideas which may be of use, please feel free to get in touch. The next step for us is planning a video that will compliment your music.
Thanks again, Speak Soon,
Lucy and Lauren
----------------- Original Message ----------------- From: LIGHTS AND SOUNDS (ACOUSTIC SHOW - 27th SEPT) (lightsandsoundsmusic@myspace.com) To: .~*Fallen Angel*~. (lolilol@myspace.com) Date: 23 Sep 2009, 16:15 Subject: RE:
Hey that's top news!!
"Fly Around The World" would be great to have a vid for. We say go for it. If you need more info about the song for ideas let us know, but to be honest it's pretty clear from the lyrics what it's all about. We're just soppy romantics!
Please keep us updated with it all. Thanks and speak soon
ALex x
----------------- Original Message ----------------- From: .~*Fallen Angel*~. (lolilol@myspace.com) To: LIGHTS AND SOUNDS (JACK WILLS TOUR DATES UP) (lightsandsoundsmusic@myspace.com) Date: 24 Sep 2009, 10:38 Subject: RE:
Great! Information on the song would be great, maybe the story behind it? Being soppy is not always a bad thing haha! Could we please be sent the song lyrics so we can have a look at them, just so we're clear on the messages your sending out?
We'll keep you posted :) We just need to pitch our idea to the class, we're sure they'll love you.
Thanks again,
Lucy and Lauren xx
Hi Again,
Any chance on those lyrics? Our pitch had the green light so now we need to think about making a start on production. We are currently in the process of our logistical arrangements and we're making the finishing touches to our research and planning. Any background information on the song would be brilliant.
Hopefully hear from you soon,
Lucy and Lauren
----------------- Original Message ----------------- From: LIGHTS AND SOUNDS (ACOUSTIC SHOW - 27th SEPT) (lightsandsoundsmusic@myspace.com) To: .~*Fallen Angel*~. (lolilol@myspace.com) Date: 6th Oct 2009, 23.06 Subject: RE:
Hey girls, Yeah no problem. The song's about a loving someone and getting them to take a chance on you basically. The flying around the world represents that feeling of invincibility you get when you're in love...like you can do anything. Lyrics are Today I'm on my own again But when you're here it all keeps coming back and I don't know how to act When I see you there I don't know what to do Because I think so fast and I don't know which way to choose You make me feel so good but you're hardly ever here and I still want you it's true So take me out please darling cos I've been waiting all my life For this feeling, we have wasted so much time So let's go, tonight we'll be together and We'll float right up to the sky and fly around the world The days go by and the sun still shines I long for you and everything you do My world falls down around you When I see you there I don't know what to do Because I think so fast and I don't know which way to choose It feels so good I hope you feel it too And I still want you..just you Speak up, shout out, come on woah Speak up, shout out, come on woah Make me believe that you are my home Waiting for you to save my soul Hope that helps...looking forward to seeing it :) good luck xxx
A week was put aside by our teacher, where we could pick out several things which we thought may cause complications when either filming or editing.
My worries were:
Not being able to use the QuarkExpress software, as i mainly use Photoshop.
Not knowing how to alter the features onthe cameras. E.g. being able to adjust the iris on the cameras or adjust the focus.
Having no idea how to produce picture in picture with the adobe Premier Pro editing software.
Here is evidence of us achieving a good result with Adobe Premier Pro editing software to produce picture in picture:
Here is a print screen of our footage in the software. You are able to see that all of our clips are at the same time in the timeline however they are on different layers. We managed to do this by clicking on footage on the screen in the top right corner and then being able to drag them and resize them. This meant that I was able to readjust the slips so that they were beside one another rather on top of eachother.
Here is the clip that we produced with our footage:
I was really happy with what we had produced. During the production of this clip we realised that for us to have enough footage we needed to film a lot more than we had originally thought. Having four clips happening at once means that the amount of time our footage covers will decrease. I am glad that we did this test run so that we could have found this out before we came to film it.
