Evaluation - Question four

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

Throughout this project I used a variety of technology, programs and websites to complete my coursework, all of which have been vital for the completion of both the main product and the ancillary texts.

Facebook - 

Facebook is an online socialising network website. I used Facebook to contact the band and make arrangements and swap and talk about different ideas and styles for the video. I also used Facebook to talk to the other members used in the video - such as the sisters and the couple who I used in parts of the video.

Final cut express - 

Final cut express is a simplified editing programme created by Apple. I used the programme final cut express to edit my footage for my music video. As I had used final cut expresss last year for my AS piece I felt very confident on how to use the software and was therefore able to use it to its full ability. The only part I was not very confident in for final cut express was the lip syncing and therefore took part in a lip syncing tutorial which taught me how to place the audio markers in respect to the visuals and the music.

YouTube -

YouTube is a free online video sharing and viewing platform available for everyone. YouTube allowed me to conduct a lot of research on indie pop songs and music videos, as I was not particularly familiar with this genre this also allowed me to create the list of the 'top ten indie pop conventions'. YouTube also allowed me to show examples of video clips and songs on my blog, particularly on my music video timeline.

Photoshop -

The full name is Adobe Photoshop which is a graphics editing program originally developed by Adobe Systems. This was a very useful and an essential tool for me during the editing and creating process of my digipak and magazine advert. I was not familiar at all with this program therefore had done a rough example of a 'not real' magazine advert to allow myself to experience and practice using all the tools of the programme.

Blogger - 

Blogger is an online blogging service which I have used to display all processes and the progress throughout my media A-Level coursework. I feel that it has been a key vital tool in presenting my work online throughout each stage.

Da Font -

Da Font is a website, DaFont.com with hundreds of fonts to chose from, which can be downloaded and used for programmes such as Photoshop. The fonts used on my Digipak and Magazine advert were from the website DaFont.com, and has defiantly been useful.

Soundcloud -

I used sound cloud to listen to the bands songs clearly and to download it to use as the song for the music video. I feel as though this helped me especially for editing the music video.

Filming - 

For the filming I used an SD card video camera and a tripod, I also used two red head lights for recording the band to make sure they were visible and did not look like they were in the dark in the video. I felt it was essential to use a tripod especially for the start and stop motions, because if the camera was not kept still and in the same exact position and angle the affect of the start stop motion would be lost.

Evaluation - Question three

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Once all three sections had been created and finished I felt that it was important that I gather a sufficient amount of audience feedback, this was to ensure that all genre aspects of the overall brand image of the band had been successfully met, as well as being an excellent opportunity to receive improvement feedback in ensuring that all needs had been met to fulfil the genre conventions as well as most importantly meeting what is expected and wanted from the target market audience.


In order to receive useful and a good amount of feedback, I created a two page short questionnaire around each part of the practical one page was questions just on thoughts and views on the music video, and the second page was questions on thoughts and views on the magazine advert and digipak.

Below is the questions I used for the questionnaires

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Questionnaire for focus group reviewing of the Digi Pak and Magazine advert  -

What is your first impressions of the digital pack and magazine advert?

Do you think the colour theme that is used in both works well overall in the magazine and the digipak?

Do you think the digipak and magazine advert represent the band well?

What is your favourite part of the digipak and magazine advert?

Are there any further improvements that you think could be made?

Questionnaire for focus group reviewing of the music video ‘This  Is Love’ -

How old are you?

Do you find the music video easy to understand? (YES/NO)

On a scale of 1 to 10 how well do you think the video represented the theme of love?

What comes across your mind when you watch this video?

What was your favourite part of the music video?

What was your least favourite part of the music video?

What improvements do you think could have been made to the music video?

After gathering the feedback from the questionnaires, I received there were improvements which I found interesting. I realised that overall the music video and digipak and magazine advert were all successful in some ways but also had a lot of things to improve upon too. Generally the positive feedback was about the concept and how the different aspects of love were 'clearly demonstrated' which apparently made one respondent 'smile and think of my loved ones'. This was a really lovely piece of feedback as I wanted it to be emotionally stirring. Another positive was that the audience knew I was trying to portray my band as talented and not just a typical boyband. Furthermore the use of my heart motif was well received and the stop motion skill notes as 'current and fun'. In terms of criticisms that I have reflected upon and agreed with in many respects is the 'dark lighting taking away the sense of light and hope' from the piece/lyrics. This is something that I only really realised once I had filmed and uploaded the footage. The segments with the band were more light and uplifting however so I have demonstrated more ability in these areas. The other improvements suggested were about using clearer 'love moments' and coming back to them more frequently to develop the ministories more. I think these ideas are all very useful. 

I had the best feedback with regards to my digipak and advert as the original images I took on my camera of the band all together were of a high quality and the outside setting seems to have gone down well in developing the down-to-earth image. 

Evaluation - Question two

Evaluation - Question one

In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

In order to for a music video to be successful for its genre and audience the music video has to take a form of many conventions to uphold its genre features and appeal to its target audience. Andrew Goodwin's theory is an example of conventions through music types consists through every music video. However these convention may not be necessarily represented in a music video and this may be used, developed or challenged.

Convention - Lyrics match visuals. 

I used this convention as the lyrics talk about love and and throughout the music video and the visuals in the music video portray and show different forms of love, from sisterly love, to giving a cup of tea and a hug to someone. I also used start and stop motions of daily objects in the shape of a heart which is highly symbolic towards love. The image below shows a start stop motion of a daily object of leaves which is done in a start stop motion in the video.

Convention - Notion of looking at women in a sexual way.

With this convention I challenged it, as throughout my entire my music video there is not one part where women are looked, shown or seen at in a sexual way, but just because women are not shown in a sexual way does not mean that I did not use any. Challenging this convention I used all females in the music video in a non sexual manor just presenting a form and act of love. The image below is an example of this which is two sisters in the music video.

Convention - Visuals match music.

I followed and used this convention as I matched the visuals with the beat of the music. As the music is up tempo and fast pace this allowed me to cut and change every visual image on the beat. I did this on final cut express. Although this took a lot of time and patience in order to use and achieve this convention to the fullest I believe it was all worth it as I feel it makes the music video more precise and on point. 

Convention - Demonstrates Genre characteristics.

Once again I followed this convention as throughout the video there are a few examples of the band being presented in their typical genre characteristics, a few are the band being shown playing instruments, laid back fashion, staged together and unglamorous. The image below shows the band in three of their genre characteristics - laid back fashion, staged together and playing instruments.

Convention - Intertextuality.

I challenged this convention as after discussing with my media teacher realised that there is no need for intertextuality in the music video as the simplicity of the theme of love in the video is enough in itself. 

Digipak and Advert: In terms of form conventions of both these texts I have tried to adequately follow as many as possible to make the texts identifiable and professional to the audience. I used a barcode and tracklist for example on my digipak and a release date for the advert. In terms of genre conventions I have also tried to remain close to the blueprint offered by the industry and offered up the guys in my band together in unison- however they do not have their instruments nearby which is more subversive. I have them sitting down in some images which presents them as rather passive in contrast to the more active covers of coldplay and Arctic monkeys for example. 

Reflection on magazine advert

My final magazine advert links to the album cover as it is the same image from the lyric booklet, therefore tieing in together allowing the audience to be able to have a mental connection of the relation between the magazine advert and the album. In the magazine advert I used the same font and colour as the bands name once again relating the magazine advert with the album cover, as with the albums name being the same colour and tieing in with the name of the album creating a connection that the album is "truly an addictive sound". An improvement I would make is to possibly use a different colour border to maybe add a bigger pop to catch more peoples attention. Overall I am very happy and pleased with the outcome of the magazine advert and I feel like it represents the band in the indie pop light it is.

Final Magazine advert

Advert Sketches

The image above is a picture of the sketches of the ideas that I have in relation to my magazine advert, I did this with sketch drafts as I have decided to go with the idea of having the bands front album cover image with.

The image above is a picture of my final magazine advert and the programme photoshop which I used to achieve this.

Advert sketches

Conventions of a magazine advert form

A magazine advert is usually on a A4 sized paper and the function of the magazine advert is to promote the product of the artist or band. Typically a magazine advert is found in a wide variety of magazine depending on the genre, such as an artist like Justin Beiber being found in teenage girl magazines. Usually a magazine advert is on an A4 sized paper and there is an image of the artist or band and sometimes a key logo in relation to them so that the audience can become more familiar with who or what is being promotes. Typically there is also an image of the actual album, although many artists/bands do not include this in their magazine advert as their advert is just a larger version of their product. However it does differ between the genres of music such as a indie band like the band I chose are likely not to include an image of themselves on the cover but would have a certain image that represents them, where as a pop artist is likely to have a close up or just a distinct picture of themselves to show their identity. However it is is vital for any magazine advert for there to be a connection as the audience need to be familiar with the brand identity. 

 

Final Digipak

Reflection on final digipak

The front cover uses an image which was taken for the digipak, I chose this image out of the other three as I felt the pose shows the band as a strong band and shows all there different and unique styles. I think the Font being soft did help take the serious edge off of the image and pose of the boys on the cover. Going back and reflecting on the final front cover for my digipak an improvement i would make is to  try and take the image of the boys more closer together, that way the audience would be able to see all of the band members style and face better.
For the CD tray I thought it would look unique and original to have all the band together, so that they would fit around the CD template. They only improvement I would have here is that if the picture was taken at a lower and further angle the band would fit directly and exactly in the CD template which is what I had originally visioned.
As the band are a very simple band who allow themselves to speak through their indie pop song lyrics I decided to leave the Lyric Booklet blank and as a image of the pavement they are standing on two of the original images that I took. At the time I though this would be affective but now looking back on it I realise if I added a  heart shape of objects relating to the band this would have still been simple yet affective and tie in with the start stop motions of the music video.
The lyric booklet shows the band all sitting down once again they are scattered out yet all connected by them all being in all the same place. I felt that rather than having the band follow many other cliche examples of a lyric booklet that them sitting down with calm natural scenery around them would look cool and laid back and appeal to their target market audience. Improvements - Once again  I feel that if the band were all closer together that they would all then look more equal rather than Rubin the bands lead singer and a guitarist being at the front again.

Taking my original images

As the band are a indie pop band I decided to stick with their genre and keep all the pictures very relaxed and natural, therefore I picked a Kenwood park, as the park itself has a very mellow and tranquil yet young vibe to it. It was extremely important to me that the band felt comfortable swell whilst taking the pictures therefore when explained my pitch to them for the digipak images they were more than happy and felt it represented them in the right light aswell.
I used a tripod and digital camera to take the images. I used the tripod as i wanted the images to come out completely straight and steady for which ever angle I took them at.

Photoshop tutorial

The photoshop tutorial allowed me to familiarise myself with photoshop and the important key tools which could and would be used and needed to edit and apply to the images and texts of my digipak. A few of the key lessons I learnt in the photoshop tutorial is -

• How to cut and add text - by using a new layer
• How to edit images from their original - colour transformation
• How to add on other pieces of text and imagery - by using and saving a new layer on to the image
• How to edit the size of an image - by using the transformation key
• How to transform an image - through the adjustment of the colour and the focus which can be increased or decreased

Digipak sketches

Below is a picture of the sketches I sketched for planning and coming up with ideas for my digipak which with all I tried to keep a theme that tied together and yet all unique and original in their own way -

Focus group feedback into brand image

Overall from the focus group i got a real variety into useful feedback for the bands image, with key adjectives to describe the band as ''realists, rugid, preppy and diverse''. I was most surprised when some people in the focus group described the band as 'softies', all though I can see where they are coming from as the song they sing is up beat and about love rather than grungy and depressing. Although in the end I have decided to go for a rigid, as they don't overly care about their appearance and would rather go to gigs than go to the pub and get wasted.

Ananlysis & annotation of album

 I HAVE A FILE SAVED ALREADY WHERE I HAVE A COPY OF THIS ON THE MAC AT SCHOOL AND WILL UPLOAD IT HERE AS SOON AS I GET INTO SCHOOL NEXT WEEK.
SORRY FOR THE DELAY

Conventions Of A Digipak Form

A Digipak packaging is often used for CD singles or special editions of CD albums.Digipaks typically consist of a gatefold which is a book-style paperboard or card stock on the outer binding.
The digipak typically has one or more plastic trays capable of holding a CD or DVD attached to the inside. As of now in the present, digipaks are very common and very popular.
A digipak is a 4-8 net that is eventfully folded together to become a digipak packaging. Usually on the different faces of the digipak there are certain features that would be typically expected e.g.. list of tracks on the back, lyric booklet artist on the front etc. A connection between the different parts of the digipak must all relate to each other to emphasise the theme of the artist and video.

Word Cloud

The image above is a picture of the world cloud I created, the word cloud is made up of audience feedback as well as many of my own ideas. This allowed me to clearly see what angels the band could be presented in.

Uploading my footage

I have just uploaded all my filming and I am about to begin my editing.

Further improvements

After looking back on my video with my media teacher we have decided to film more stop motion shots over the weekend as the leaf stop motion of a heart has worked and tied in well with my music video already. Therefore my plan for filming over the weekend is to film stop motions that would tie in well with the different narrative pieces already in the video, like a heart shaped stop motion that would tie in with other scenes like a heart stop motion of cups of tea and clothes on the floor.