Final Music Video

Evaluation: Q4 What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Music video:

The music video was shown to a large audience, but this viewing wasn't exactly shown to its intended target audience, so this could have effected the feedback, but the general feedback for our music video is positive there were three main points that kept arising: unenthusiasm at times, lack of variety of shots and static shots. 

Some of the band members were unenthusiastic throughout the performance parts of the video. This was something we should have been looking for whilst filming, but didn't and so next time looking at the performance of those being filmed will be a priority as it takes away from the intended atmosphere. at the time of filming we weren't aware of how unenthusiastic they looked, but once we uploaded clips in final cut it was one of the things that we noticed instantly, but wasn't something we could easily change. So to take away the attention from the unenthusiastic we tried not to hold that shot for too long throughout the video. I've have learned that this could have been prevented through better direction throughout filming and a rehearsal of the performance.
Another area which was brought up was the lack of variety of shots. I learned that this made the video look rather repetitive at times, and like the unenthusiastic performance from some members took away the lively and carefree atmosphere and attitude of the band. Again this is something we only realised when we uploaded the clips to final cut, but tried to do the best with the footage we had. This  Use of static shots was brought up. Some said that use of a handheld during the performance would have given a more intimate and exciting performance, something that I would agree with. 

Digipak and advert:

From the feedback of my digipak and advert I have learned that the choice of using visual links between all three products works effectively an seems to be something people see conventional of the genre. The colours (red, black and white) and font (impact) that I chose to use stand out and catch the attention of the audience because I used capital letters.

Evaluation: Q3 How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

 Throughout the construction and research, planning and evaluation of the main product and ancillary texts I used a number of technologies to produce the best quality products possible, besides using video camera and tripod, lighting and digital camera.

Final cut:

Throughout the production of our music video, final cut played the most important role. This program allowed us to cut our recorded clips of performance and narrative and piece it all together on a simple timeline. This program also allowed us to change the appearance of our video clips in the screen shot to the right you can see how we removed the colour from clips - this is how we wanted the audience to distinguish between performance and flash back scenes. To achieve this we had to use the video filter 'desaturate'.








 We also changed the speed of a number of shots throughout the music video but using the modify 'change speed' tool. This allows us to slow the rate of the clip and also of we wanted, to reverse the clip. We also used the effects tool to place transitions at various points in the video to smoothly change between performance and black and white. Final cut also allowed us to lip sync the original track with the clips that we recorded. This was done by placing markers on each clip at the same point so it could easily be matched and in sync.

                                                                                         Photoshop:

Photoshop like final cut, played the most important role in the creation of both digipak and advertisement. I used various tools within the program to completely distort the original images I photographed, such as 'stamp' and the paint bucket tool in areas of photos to change their colour and effect. I cut out parts of photographs and changed their orientation to fit my ideas.

Photoshop also helped to create images for the animatics made for the evaluation stages to show comparisons between other videos and my own work by dragging similar images onto a blank file and saving them as JPEGs and importing them into movie maker.

Photoshop also helped to create images for the animatics made for the evaluation stages to show comparisons between other videos and my own work by dragging similar images onto a blank file and saving them as JPEGs and importing them into movie maker.

Movie Maker:
I used windows movie maker to create the storyboard animatic during the planning stages, by simply dropping photographs of the drawn storyboard onto a time-line and then adding audio by importing tracks from itunes. To illustrate when we wanted each shot to be used and how we wanted to cut to the beat.
I have also used movie maker in the evaluation stage, creating animations with voice overs explaining processes and ideas.

The Internet:

The internet has allowed me to use many sites throughout planning, production and evaluation.

Youtube is one website that has allowed me to research music videos of the indie/rock genre so that I could identify and use conventions our my own. by typing band names into the search bar, for example "Kings of Leon" As a group, we also used youtube to create our shortlist of songs that we wanted to use at the very beginning. To get the official version of the song we chose, after searching it, we used you tube to download the track and import into final cut to use in the production stage, using the download tool and also used youtube to embed the music videos directly into blogger so that the video is watchable directly on the blog.

Google images allowed me to research all areas of advertisements and digipaks. By typing only band names , eg "Pigeon Detectives"into the search engine, from this got hundreds of images of the bands, digipack and adverts and from this I could identify conventions and colour schemes of the genre.

Blogger has allowed me to blog progress of all stages of this unit so that fellow group members, peers and teachers can see and check on all progress by opening our group blog page "group 35" The blog has allowed me to upload and import photographs and movies/animatics that i have made through the uploading tools provided in the tool bar. We're also able to embed music videos from youtube by pasting the embed code into the blog post. 

Evaluation: Q2 How effective is the combination of your main production and ancillary texts?

  

I think together all three products are successful because the use conventions of the genre and of the products themselves:

- The digipak features a number of bonus tracks shown by the use of a sticker on the front cover. This will appeal to the audience because they want more that what is featured on the CD and because they want more from the band. 

- The advertisement uses star ratings which are usually seen on advertisements. 

 

- And the music video uses a range of shot types and fast editing like others of its genre.  

I think the targeted audience will be attracted because of the aspects we chose to use from other music videos and I chose to develop of other digipaks and adverts, particularly the red and black colour scheme of both, but mainly because of the use of and focus on instruments and the backstage lives of the band members. We wanted the band to have the ability to attract an audience who loved music and had aspirations to be part of the music industry the music video is an indication of how it can happen to anybody and shows those passions.

Evaluation: Q1 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Production: Advert and Digipak

This is the digipak and advertisement for our band Runrate.

Planning: Advert mock-up

Planning: Digipak mock-up

Ideally, I want to create a digipak that has a flowing graphic design and colour scheme which conformed to the conventions of the genre. I wanted to have a wire theme, to show the importance of the electric rocky sound within the bands music. The conflicting black, white and red are something that I'd associate also with genre and other rock albums.

Planning: Shortlist of photos

These are some of the photos that I'd like to use within my digipak and advert. With a bit of editing and being placed correctly I think they could successfully create a positive image for our band.

Planning: Do's and Don'ts of design

In order to create a convincing and professional looking digipak and advert we were given a guide of dos and don'ts to follow.

Do:

• Use clear fonts and photos in an appropriate size/shape.
• Use a layout that follows the rule of thirds for composition.
• Appropriate font that follows genre conventions; position text to conform to conventions
• Follow the three colour rule and choose colours that are appropriate for images, font and backgrounds.
• Think carefully about how you use and intergrate images, font, text and language. (anchoring meaning putting images with text)
•  Use approprate industry logos, conventions properly positioned. 

Dont:

• Stretch images.
• Use Layer styles.
• Use effects that do not fit the genre.
• Place text across artists face.
• Use a font because you 'like it'
• Feel the need to use separate images on each panel.

The guide above has helped me get an idea of what I want my digipak and advert to look like and how to avoid them looking unprofessional and non-conventional. It will be useful using these pointers when creating a mock up of both digipak and advert, and could also make creating the final drafts easier as many key points will have already been included in them.

Planning: shortlist of fonts, colours, layout and design ideas.

FONTS:
After looking at number of digipaks the fonts on each are very basic, usually capitalised and artist/band names are substantially bigger than the album title. Below are a few fonts that i have chosen as possibilities for my digipak and advert.

COLOURS:
These are the colours that I think could fit the genre of the band. I'd like to use only two or three colors throughout the whole digipak and the advertisement.

 

LAYOUT:

I want to use a very basic image, either of the band or something that links to the band for example, a cluster of instruments used in the music video. Id like the the band name and album title in bold text in two different colours in the top right area of the cover. The track listings will be on the back in a conventional listed paragraph in the same text used on the front. The inside of the digipak will contain extra information on the tracks listed one outside cover.

Research: Digipak Anlysis

In order to create a genuine looking digipak we were asked to look at a selection of digipaks that fit the genre of music our band fit into and outline how it fits the genre and audience. 

'Unplugged' by all time low is a special edition CD of live tracks. The album cover clearly shows us who is in the band; from the instruments and clothing worn we get an idea of the indie rock genre. The instruments in our music video play an important part of emphasizing the genre. The front cover image allows the audience to get a clear view of what the band are about and the performance aspect in the image front shows us that they are passionate about music and not gimmicky. The inside panels of the digipak are images of the ban performing to a very small audience. The colours are very much the same as inside as they are on the front cover.

'This is war' by 30 seconds to mars is a very basic design where only a few colours are used. The dark colours could suggest a darkness in the lyrics of the bands songs which the audience are used too and the darkness the genre and connote. The front and back panels of the digipak have the word 'war' taking up majority if it with the rest of the album title very small within the word. The digipak has a very different image to the one featured on the CD, as so the only thing creating a link is the band name across the bottom and album name. The use of text and no actual band image is something I may consider doing in my digipack.  


'Come around sundown' by Kings of Leon has quite a simple digipack cover. The same shades of orange are used though-out the digipak as wells as very similar beach images. There is a huge sense of familiarity between the digipak and the CD as they both have the same olouring and very similar photos on the digipak. The images relate to genre of the music and the bands personality, which i would consider to be quite laid back.

Research: Advertisement Analysis

This advert uses the image on the album cover as a visual link. This allows buyers and fans of the CD/digipak to instantly know what it looks like. The bright and bold colours help with this and are usual for the indie/rock genre (shown below also). The font is not as bold as the image and at times quite small, but colours allow it stand out more so. This entire advert relies on its relationship with the CD cover to attract its audience.

This advertisement uses a similar colour scheme as the above, but uses it to create a dark atmosphere. It features an image of the band members and the CD cover it is advertising. The text on the poster is capitalized and makes it stand out, particularly the bad name in white on black background. The image has been edited to fit a pop art theme which is seen of the rock genre, like on The Beatles albums.

Both digipak and advert employ the same colour filter over the images, the advertisement features an image of the album and  the band, this create different a relaxed atmosphere and can give an indication of the relaxed styles of the rock genre they produce. The clothing the band wear is one thing that gives away the genre also,

Production: Final Edit.

Production: Rough Cut.

 

There are a few things that we need to change in terms of editing from the feedback given by the teachers. These are:

1. Keeping the same transitions constant, at various points there are fades from black where there  shouldn't be. 

2. Some clips need to be cut a few seconds earlier as they begin to zoom in at times. 

3. A fade should be used to start and finish the music video.

4. In some shots the instruments aren't in time with the music or they aren't being played at all, they need to be put in sync.

Production: PROBLEM!?!

With two weeks to our final cut deadline myself and George showed our video to a number of media teachers to give us ideas of what we can fill the last minute of our music video with but...we are running out of footage. We need a wider variety of footage - the beginning of our video is looking good but you can see it starting to repeat as it gets to about a minute and a half /two minute minutes. The only way to resolve this problem is to get back to the drawing board and discuss ideas for quick filming. Another problem we face is the fact that everyone during our band performance looks miserable and we cant use this footage for too long because everyone will notice it. I think this is where the lack footage is rooted as we planned for the performance to be the main aspect of the music video -  now we are having to change this and use it as little as possible.

Production: Filming Day Two/Three.

On Friday 5th November, we decided to film for a second day location: Michael's house. We decided to film the 'band' hanging out and writing music in a living room so that they appeal to an aspiring audience and so that the band are easily related too by fans. There weren't really any problem on this day, except that Chloe couldn't make it. Looking back over the footage we got some really good stuff we could.

The next day, Myself and George decided to go out on our own and film footage of some main and very familiar areas of London to include in our video. The only problem we had was because it was a weekend all locations were extremely busy and people kept walking into shots. The reason for us choosing to film areas of London was to create a sense of familiarity with fans and pin point where the band are from and where their music career started. Even with the busyness of London this footage also turned out pretty good and its likely that it will be used in the final edit of our music video.

Production: Filiming Day One.

 

Our first filming day went really well, we filmed all shots and angles that we felt would do the performance aspect of the music video justice. Even though the performance space was on the small side, we thought that it still looked pretty effective and puts the band where it is at in the world of music - forthcoming. Without having looked back at the footage, the only problem we have encountered so far was the dropping out of the drummer at the very last minute, and so we had to get George to play the drums with no experience. Above are a few of the photos we took while on shoot. some could possibly be used in digipaks and adverts. 

Planning: Main Filming Location.

On Monday the 18th of October, myself and Michael officially booked our main filming location at the Roundhouse. We were shown around the facilities available for us to use at a small fee. We discovered that if we wanted to, whilst filming, are able to use programs such as Final Cut Pro in their media labs. This could be used to our advantage as we will not have to wait until we get back to college to find faults in our footage.


One thing that could be a disadvantage is the overall size of the rehearsal rooms: they are very compact and they are poorly decorated and brightly light. Though I think we will have to use an idea suggested by teachers, which is putting curtains/fabric around the areas of filming so that we can have a plain and clean looking background. It needs to be discussed whether or not to use black or white backdrops. Today I have been emailing requestin permission to film footage outside a number of small gig venues to be edited into music video.

Planning: Storyboard

This is the final storyboard that we have come up with and will be the main basis of the production of music video.