Friday, 20 April 2012
Wednesday, 18 April 2012
Question Four - How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
This project relies a lot on technology and so the technology we used determined some thing's for us, removing our choice. The biggest limitation was when we were shooting our video. We only had a simple camcorder and a tripod, therefore we couldn't have the variety of shots and the dynamic style of professional videos. When filming an onstage performance directors often move the camera a lot, panning around the artist, showing the location and then tracking in to focus on the performers. These shots make videos exciting and work very well when matched to the pace of the music. We were unable to do this however as we didn't have the equipment such as camera dollys, tracks and cranes.
When it came to design the print work and edit the video we used professional programs and so weren't limited by the constraints of the technology available.
Media 2.0 technology was massively important in this project. The idea's of media 2.0 are that everyone should be able to create, rather than just the large production companies and that is what has lead to Photoshop, Final Cut and pro-am cameras being available. Web 2.0 is another part of this idea, encouraging the audience to interact with producers and to share ideas. Facebook and YouTube are both Web 2.0 sites and we used them often throughout the planning, creation and feedback of our video. Using Facebook during the creation of my print products mean that I could get instant feedback from my target audience rather than organising a lot of meetings and groups that would take up a lot more time. Youtube not only allowed us to post our video and share it, it was were almost all of my research into music videos took place. I could see a wide range of videos from all genres and what people said about them in the comments and ratings.
Question Three - What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Throughout this project audience feedback has been vital in keeping our products focussed at the target audience as well as providing creative idea's. We received feedback in several different ways at each stage of this task.
Once our group decided on a clear initial concept and audience we presented a pitch to media peers so that they could assess our ideas. They told us wether they thought our audience profile was specific and clear, wether our idea matched that group and any concerns they had with the creation of our video. It was good to get opinions from other media students as they understood the timescale, constraints and technology available for this project. The feedback we got was overall very positive. They said that our audience was well chosen and that the idea suited them. They did say that parts of our concept were ambitious, in particular the clown performance scenes, and asked about actors, locations and costumes we planned to use so that it looked authentic an professional.
We then took our idea to the audience. We planned a focus group consisting of people we considered a part of our target audience. We played them our song and then outlined our concept. Again the response was very good. They commented that our idea was very interesting, taking an original spin on a traditional narrative. They all though it sounded like an appealing music video and were excited to eventually see our finished product. Their concerns were again that we would have to make it look realistic, though they thought the theatre we chose was a perfect set. They also raised the issue that our main character was a man though the song was mainly performed by a woman. Our group discussed this and decided that this should not be an problem, though we needed to make it clear who viewers should empathise with.
One of the main things we needed to address was how we would ensure our video did not end up looking amateurish or silly. We finalised our plan to film in the theatre and organised an actor who we were confident would give a good performance. We also discussed costume, deciding to base it on pictures we found of the 'tramp clown' as this was a costume we could create.
We then storyboarded and filmed our video and started editing. When we got to the editing stage and had pieced together a good portion of the video we started to feel that the video was not working as well as it could. We didn't know if the video was working as a whole and we were going in circles. To get some fresh eyes on the material and generate some idea's we held two focus groups, showing them a rough cut of our work and asking what they though of the video, what was missing and if they had any suggestions.
These groups both thought that although what we had shot was good there were some problems. They said the footage of the clown looked grainy and low quality. We didn't have the time to re-shoot but viewers suggested trying adding a colour filter. They also said that the lack of performance in the video was a problem as it wasn't clearly a music video. Adding a performance aspect was necessary.
We made these changes to the video, using a sepia effect on the problematic footage and filming an artist performance. These changes made all the difference. Our video came together really well and we finished editing.
Whilst creating my print products I got feedback as I was designing. I created a Facebook group so that I could get almost instant feedback on what I was doing and the choices I was making. I posted colour palettes, fonts and design ideas then got comments on them from members of my audience. These comments meant that I had to make very few changes to my digipak and advert as I had been getting feedback as I went along.
When we had a final cut of our video I got feedback to asses how well I had created it. I used a site called 'Survey Monkey' and created a series of questions. The program allowed people to leave text answers discussing the questions rather than simply quantitative yes or no feedback. Qualitative feedback is far more useful for this project as it gives understanding of thoughts and emotions rather than generating statistics. I asked a range of questions trying to find out how viewers responded to the video and wether it worked as we had planned it to. The feedback I got suggests that our video was well made and viewers took the preferred reading. When asked about their understanding of the narrative and who they empathised with all participants said that it was clear the clown had been betrayed and therefore they felt sad for him. This was the way we wanted the narrative to be viewed and the female vocalist obviously didn't hinder this. Viewers said that the video was entertaining and though some had seen similar narrative ours had very original ideas. They also said they would definitely share the video with friends. This passing on of videos online is a kind of free marketing.
An important aspect of the video is how the artist is viewed. We want people to find them aspirational and approachable, someone that they could be friends with. This view creates a bond with the artist and means people will support them by buying the album.
The only negative comments received were about the performance of the band, the comments were split as some people said it was "very realistic" and some thought it "could be improved". The quality of the video was something we worried about, but it seems to not be a problem as all those asked thought it looked professional.
If we could make alter our video after this feedback I would make two changes. I would re-shoot the footage that was poor quality. Although this didn't seem a problem on the final cut I think it would make the video more professional looking. As we had little time to organise the band performance filming we had to use non-musicians. This meant that there is room for improvement as some of this could be made more exciting and realistic.
Once our group decided on a clear initial concept and audience we presented a pitch to media peers so that they could assess our ideas. They told us wether they thought our audience profile was specific and clear, wether our idea matched that group and any concerns they had with the creation of our video. It was good to get opinions from other media students as they understood the timescale, constraints and technology available for this project. The feedback we got was overall very positive. They said that our audience was well chosen and that the idea suited them. They did say that parts of our concept were ambitious, in particular the clown performance scenes, and asked about actors, locations and costumes we planned to use so that it looked authentic an professional.
We then took our idea to the audience. We planned a focus group consisting of people we considered a part of our target audience. We played them our song and then outlined our concept. Again the response was very good. They commented that our idea was very interesting, taking an original spin on a traditional narrative. They all though it sounded like an appealing music video and were excited to eventually see our finished product. Their concerns were again that we would have to make it look realistic, though they thought the theatre we chose was a perfect set. They also raised the issue that our main character was a man though the song was mainly performed by a woman. Our group discussed this and decided that this should not be an problem, though we needed to make it clear who viewers should empathise with.
One of the main things we needed to address was how we would ensure our video did not end up looking amateurish or silly. We finalised our plan to film in the theatre and organised an actor who we were confident would give a good performance. We also discussed costume, deciding to base it on pictures we found of the 'tramp clown' as this was a costume we could create.
We then storyboarded and filmed our video and started editing. When we got to the editing stage and had pieced together a good portion of the video we started to feel that the video was not working as well as it could. We didn't know if the video was working as a whole and we were going in circles. To get some fresh eyes on the material and generate some idea's we held two focus groups, showing them a rough cut of our work and asking what they though of the video, what was missing and if they had any suggestions.
These groups both thought that although what we had shot was good there were some problems. They said the footage of the clown looked grainy and low quality. We didn't have the time to re-shoot but viewers suggested trying adding a colour filter. They also said that the lack of performance in the video was a problem as it wasn't clearly a music video. Adding a performance aspect was necessary.
We made these changes to the video, using a sepia effect on the problematic footage and filming an artist performance. These changes made all the difference. Our video came together really well and we finished editing.
When we had a final cut of our video I got feedback to asses how well I had created it. I used a site called 'Survey Monkey' and created a series of questions. The program allowed people to leave text answers discussing the questions rather than simply quantitative yes or no feedback. Qualitative feedback is far more useful for this project as it gives understanding of thoughts and emotions rather than generating statistics. I asked a range of questions trying to find out how viewers responded to the video and wether it worked as we had planned it to. The feedback I got suggests that our video was well made and viewers took the preferred reading. When asked about their understanding of the narrative and who they empathised with all participants said that it was clear the clown had been betrayed and therefore they felt sad for him. This was the way we wanted the narrative to be viewed and the female vocalist obviously didn't hinder this. Viewers said that the video was entertaining and though some had seen similar narrative ours had very original ideas. They also said they would definitely share the video with friends. This passing on of videos online is a kind of free marketing.
An important aspect of the video is how the artist is viewed. We want people to find them aspirational and approachable, someone that they could be friends with. This view creates a bond with the artist and means people will support them by buying the album.
The only negative comments received were about the performance of the band, the comments were split as some people said it was "very realistic" and some thought it "could be improved". The quality of the video was something we worried about, but it seems to not be a problem as all those asked thought it looked professional.
If we could make alter our video after this feedback I would make two changes. I would re-shoot the footage that was poor quality. Although this didn't seem a problem on the final cut I think it would make the video more professional looking. As we had little time to organise the band performance filming we had to use non-musicians. This meant that there is room for improvement as some of this could be made more exciting and realistic.
Question Two - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
Question One - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
When creating a music video the starting point needs to be the song and artist that it will be based around. So the first thing our group did was to find a band and then decide on one of their songs. We spent some time doing this as we wanted to find a song that we thought had enough depth and inspired us creatively. We decided on All About Flux's song Just Don't Care.
After deciding on this song I researched, watched and analysed a variety of professional videos. This was an important step in the creative process. Here I generated ideas about what we might use in our video, what would not be appropriate and what characteristics made up the music video form.
The video which were the most interesting and engaging were those that had a storyline and were original. The most original videos had a lot of entropic elements, especially in the punk genre where individuality is important. It was clear that making a really good music video would mean doing something different and unexpected.
To get a good idea of what would appeal to our target audience I looked at videos that were popular with them. This was where the majority of our inspiration came from. I researched Paramore, one of the most successful pop-punk bands, and found that most of their videos had very interesting narratives. The songs and videos often revolved around relationships, this applies to almost all genres, and because our song was about a relationship the best choice was to continue that idea in our video. When studying videos I found that most of them had some link between the lyrics and the visuals and this was a convention we followed.
When researching music videos generally I also found common features that would not fit into our video. In many videos, mainly of other genres such as rap, there is a very voyeuristic approach to women. Women in these videos are treated as 'eye-candy' and are sexualised, the camera focusses on their body. This would be inappropriate for our video as the target audience are female and would likely see looks and vanity as unimportant. In many punk videos there are anti-establishment themes and representations of psychological disturbance. These have become quite common for the punk genre, seen in videos such as White Lies' Bigger Than Us and Paramore's Brick By Boring Brick. These ideas would not work in our video as they would clash with the emotional narrative.
The narrative we created was inspired first by Panic! at the Disco's video I Write Sins Not Tragedies. They took a redundant wedding scene and invaded it with clowns and circus performers. This idea interested us and we wanted to try and use a clown as one of our characters. The circus was a theme that suited music as it is another performance style and also the circus celebrates individuality and being extraordinary, something our target audience would associate with.
We searched for any similar videos and found Take That's "Said It All". This video showed clowns getting ready and then performing on stage, this worked really well with the music and was something we wanted in our video. The clowns were emotionally represented and romantic issues were hinted at in the video, but this was not explored to any depth. We decided to create a video around these themes, using a clown's failing relationship as our narrative.
The Take That video was what we based the look of sections of our video on. Their clown makeup was our model and also we likes the way the video was shot. It used close ups on the clown so the audience would connect with him, then longer shots to show his performing.
Watching and analysing existing music videos was important as it forms a mould of what videos are like generally. It showed what features almost all videos included, such as performance by the artist which promoted them and created a star image. When creating a media product it is most often best to balance redundant and entropic features. This is an idea that Steve Neale has presented, talking about how audiences enjoy both repetition and difference. We want the audience to enjoy our video and so it needs to be familiar to them and fit in with the other things they enjoy; it needs to meet some of their expectations. To do this creators use redundant idea's that will signal the the viewer that this product fits into their preferred genre. In our video we styled the artist in black and white clothes and had them act with an attitude, thus fitting into the punk genre. But viewers do not want to see exactly the same thing repeated over and over, to make an interesting product something new is needed. Our narrative about a failing relationship is fairly standard for music videos, but by making the man a clown it added another layer. Now he was trying to decide between his performing and his girlfriend, as well as living on a small amount of money. This is a story that hasn't been used in music videos before and so would make our video stand out to viewer as interesting and be memorable.
When trying to do something different you can also go too far. There are many videos that
have no structure to them or which are very experimental. Sometimes these videos work and are a massive success. But they can also be so radical that many viewers don't understand the concept and feel alienated or think the video is ridiculous.
Getting audience feedback heavily influenced our video, showing wether we were working too far from the conventions or if it was all redundant. Before starting to plan the creation of our video the group created a detailed mood-board, this meant we had a clear idea of our audience and what their interests were etc. We pitched our concept and had an initial audience focus group. These highlighted some concerns from the audience. Although they thought the idea was original and appealing, they thought that the setting and clown performance might not look realistic. When they heard the song they commented that because the lead singer was female but the main characters was male it could be confusing who viewers are supposed to empathise with. This was something we made sure to address when planning and filming.
After editing together a rough cut of our video we performed more focus groups to see it what we had done was working. The biggest change this prompted was the addition of artist performance to the video. We had at first didn't want to have performance, this was a challenge to music video conventions and was clearly a step too far as it didn't work. The audience thought seeing the artist perform the song was a necessary feature and so we incorporated it. By following the form more closely and adding performance our video looked a lot more professional and came together as a whole, an example of when conforming to convention can improve the product.
Our video is quite similar to a professional music video in many ways. The narrative, editing and use of conventions are all very similar. There are of course some things which do not look as professional, due to restraints such as time, technology and expertise. Over the course of filming we used different camera's and this meant our video quality was inconsistent. Some of the scenes looks professional quality and some do not look as good. We also realised after filming one set of scenes that the lighting in the location did not work well when recorded. We learnt from these mistakes but did not have enough time to reshoot, as we would have liked too.
After deciding on this song I researched, watched and analysed a variety of professional videos. This was an important step in the creative process. Here I generated ideas about what we might use in our video, what would not be appropriate and what characteristics made up the music video form.
The video which were the most interesting and engaging were those that had a storyline and were original. The most original videos had a lot of entropic elements, especially in the punk genre where individuality is important. It was clear that making a really good music video would mean doing something different and unexpected.
To get a good idea of what would appeal to our target audience I looked at videos that were popular with them. This was where the majority of our inspiration came from. I researched Paramore, one of the most successful pop-punk bands, and found that most of their videos had very interesting narratives. The songs and videos often revolved around relationships, this applies to almost all genres, and because our song was about a relationship the best choice was to continue that idea in our video. When studying videos I found that most of them had some link between the lyrics and the visuals and this was a convention we followed.
When researching music videos generally I also found common features that would not fit into our video. In many videos, mainly of other genres such as rap, there is a very voyeuristic approach to women. Women in these videos are treated as 'eye-candy' and are sexualised, the camera focusses on their body. This would be inappropriate for our video as the target audience are female and would likely see looks and vanity as unimportant. In many punk videos there are anti-establishment themes and representations of psychological disturbance. These have become quite common for the punk genre, seen in videos such as White Lies' Bigger Than Us and Paramore's Brick By Boring Brick. These ideas would not work in our video as they would clash with the emotional narrative. |
| Bigger Than Us Brick By Boring Brick |
We searched for any similar videos and found Take That's "Said It All". This video showed clowns getting ready and then performing on stage, this worked really well with the music and was something we wanted in our video. The clowns were emotionally represented and romantic issues were hinted at in the video, but this was not explored to any depth. We decided to create a video around these themes, using a clown's failing relationship as our narrative.
The Take That video was what we based the look of sections of our video on. Their clown makeup was our model and also we likes the way the video was shot. It used close ups on the clown so the audience would connect with him, then longer shots to show his performing.
Watching and analysing existing music videos was important as it forms a mould of what videos are like generally. It showed what features almost all videos included, such as performance by the artist which promoted them and created a star image. When creating a media product it is most often best to balance redundant and entropic features. This is an idea that Steve Neale has presented, talking about how audiences enjoy both repetition and difference. We want the audience to enjoy our video and so it needs to be familiar to them and fit in with the other things they enjoy; it needs to meet some of their expectations. To do this creators use redundant idea's that will signal the the viewer that this product fits into their preferred genre. In our video we styled the artist in black and white clothes and had them act with an attitude, thus fitting into the punk genre. But viewers do not want to see exactly the same thing repeated over and over, to make an interesting product something new is needed. Our narrative about a failing relationship is fairly standard for music videos, but by making the man a clown it added another layer. Now he was trying to decide between his performing and his girlfriend, as well as living on a small amount of money. This is a story that hasn't been used in music videos before and so would make our video stand out to viewer as interesting and be memorable.
When trying to do something different you can also go too far. There are many videos that
have no structure to them or which are very experimental. Sometimes these videos work and are a massive success. But they can also be so radical that many viewers don't understand the concept and feel alienated or think the video is ridiculous.
Getting audience feedback heavily influenced our video, showing wether we were working too far from the conventions or if it was all redundant. Before starting to plan the creation of our video the group created a detailed mood-board, this meant we had a clear idea of our audience and what their interests were etc. We pitched our concept and had an initial audience focus group. These highlighted some concerns from the audience. Although they thought the idea was original and appealing, they thought that the setting and clown performance might not look realistic. When they heard the song they commented that because the lead singer was female but the main characters was male it could be confusing who viewers are supposed to empathise with. This was something we made sure to address when planning and filming.
After editing together a rough cut of our video we performed more focus groups to see it what we had done was working. The biggest change this prompted was the addition of artist performance to the video. We had at first didn't want to have performance, this was a challenge to music video conventions and was clearly a step too far as it didn't work. The audience thought seeing the artist perform the song was a necessary feature and so we incorporated it. By following the form more closely and adding performance our video looked a lot more professional and came together as a whole, an example of when conforming to convention can improve the product.
Our video is quite similar to a professional music video in many ways. The narrative, editing and use of conventions are all very similar. There are of course some things which do not look as professional, due to restraints such as time, technology and expertise. Over the course of filming we used different camera's and this meant our video quality was inconsistent. Some of the scenes looks professional quality and some do not look as good. We also realised after filming one set of scenes that the lighting in the location did not work well when recorded. We learnt from these mistakes but did not have enough time to reshoot, as we would have liked too.
Tuesday, 3 April 2012
Creating My Digipak Advert
I have already finished my digipak and so creating an accompanying advert is fairly simple. The two should look very similar so that once people have seen the advert they can recognise the CD cover. They will use the same fonts and colour palette, though I would like to use a different photograph so that each product is new and interesting to fans.
Adverts need to be very bold and eye catching, but I thought the original image was too busy and text would be unclear on the background. Because of this I decided to darken the image except for the area with the artists.
I chose to use this photograph, that would not fit into the digipak. It follows the overall theme I am going for with my print products, displays the band well and has room to the right where I can place the necessary text.
Adverts need to be very bold and eye catching, but I thought the original image was too busy and text would be unclear on the background. Because of this I decided to darken the image except for the area with the artists.This has made the band stand out a lot more and will mean the text can be read easily by passers by. When I asked for comments on my advert people said the chair number plates were distracting and so I have blacked them out. To complete the advert I added the relevant information, such as the band name and cd title etc. I have tried to keep all my print products simple and professional looking, so I didn't use too much text or graphics on the advert.
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| Final Digipak Advert |
Monday, 2 April 2012
Final Digipak Design
Below is my final design for my digipak. I have added in the necessary conventions of the product, such as copyright information and the website. I also put the signatures of the two band members, to give it a personal touch that fans would appreciate.
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| External Panels |
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| Internal Panels |
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