Second cut of Video

First cut of our music video

 Adie Gentry-Falling hard

This is the first cut of our video. From this we will look at what needs to be amended and improve our piece.

Evaluation questions

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

A way in which we used forms and conventions of real media products is through the use of camera shots. In particular one of our artist looking over her shoulder and looking straight into the camera. It is used fairly often but works so well as the artist is directly looking at the viewer/fan. This gives a sense of femininity through flirtiness and confidence. The nearly barely naked shoulder gives sex appeal to the artist and makes her more appealing to the eye which is a bonus for the artist. The fact that she can look at a camera so easily brings us back to the pop genre as it could even mean that due to the fact they have become so successful, she has gained her confidence through being an artist. ~Taylor Swift uses this camera shot in 'love story'  has a very similar approach she does exactly the same, she also looks directly at the camera from over her shoulder. The fact that she has her back in the shot also shows sex appeal which is always important to have in the pop industry as the female pop artists generally have this.

 Another way that we used conventions of real media products is through the use of the narrative. The location of our music video is set in a field which strongly conforms to both pop and country genre for different reasons. It conforms to the pop genre because it is a fantasy place, of which she wishes to be there instead of being in her class. It is a very normal situation for a girl to be in, to be dreaming about the one she loves as generally pop songs refer to love most of the time.  In particular with the setting we liked to use the rule of thirds and have our artist at the edges the majority of the time to make sure that the setting is incorporated and acknowledged as it plays a massive part in our conventions.  Taylor swift uses this is her song 'i knew you were trouble. The long shots are done purposefully as the setting plays a huge part in knowing why she is there, and the narrative tells a story of her struggle much like our artist Adie Gentry- Falling hard. 

A convention in which Tash and I developed was the split screen method which we were able to do on final cut express. The song 'who says' by Selena Gomez uses the split screen effect which, when doing research about micro elements i came across and felt like it was such a good effect and would improve any music video as it looks so complicated and high tech, when in fact is extremely simple to do which i found when experimenting with final cut and looking on tutorials on YouTube. We developed the split screen even more by not only having 2 screens but in fact having 4 of the girls footsteps and various other shots of her as she is the main focus in the video. We also included the girls crush into the split screen by splitting the screen into 2 (one on the top left hand corner and the other on the bottom right) to show that in the girls fantasy world she is actually teasing the boy and almost playing hard to get. To make it even more fantasy like, we used transition effects before and after each split screen to give a softer shot to fade in and out. I think that this is one of the most effective edits included in our music video as it is not greatly used in the country or pop genre as much so it gives a new and interesting touch to the video.

Another way in which we challenged forms and conventions of real media products is through the use of extreme close up shots. From my knowledge of pop/country music videos there are generally close ups of hands/ faces etc however we took this close up to another level and used an extreme close up on our artists lips. This was effective as not only did we read her lips but from this actually take in what she's singing about which in this case strongly relates to love which is the main theme of our narrative as we want to give out the message as to why she is singing this song. Another artist that uses this but on the hands is Rihanna in her song 'diamonds'. She uses extreme close ups on her and her lovers hand which shows that she and the other person share a strong bond so by using close ups actually enables you to find the meaning in a song, even if the artist isn't actually singing.

A convention that  we challenged was the fact that we didn't have any performance in our piece. Typically in pop/country genre they have particular scenes in which they are playing an instrument or singing by a microphone, however we wanted to make our video different by just having narrative so that it would be more like a story, we almost modernised ours a little so having a chnge instead of seeing instruments all the time. This is challenging part of Firths theory of the performance in a video being the most important part of a music video. Shania Twains 'man i feel like a woman' includes a the complete opposite to our music video as her video is totally performance. We made our narrative on the other hand look realistic as we have a natural setting and the actor and actress Mike and Abi are as natural in front of the camera as they can be, as if the cameras aren't even there however man i feel like a woman is completely set up and is an unrealistic setting and has a completely different meaning, as it has connotations of other songs however our narrative was our own idea and used simplet yet effective ideas for a narrative that would be easy to understand. 

Finally the second way that our media product challenge conventions of real media was again from the narrative as usually its the girl chasing the boy, but we thought due to the song choice that the boy would chase the girl. I think that this has been effective as in this modern day, it is no longer just boys chasing girls but in fact a lot of girls chase boys too, so we added a modern touch to the narrative to make it seem obvious to whoever watches the video that the girl is dreaming about the boy. In Taylor Swifts song 'you belong with me' it shows a cliché scene of a girl that likes a boy and she tries to be with him however in our artist- ~Adie Gentry's dream it is in fact the opposite. 

2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

This is a video that tash and i created about how all the ancillary texts worked as a whole. Generally we thought that the use of the narrative reflecting the genres well, worked as doing this we were about to create an all round image of our artist. 

3.What have you learned from your audience feedback?

On our second cut of our video we added annotations on YouTube to show what feedback we received from questionnaires and other peoples opinions. This is extremely useful as it is a guide on what to change and what worked etc. We learnt a lot from this. For example we learnt that in order to make our video more of a professional and believable one, we needed to include more lip syncing, especially on the chorus parts as they particularly emphasise the reason why she has made and sung this song, so for a love story and how she feels like its going. We needed to be more aware of shots that were put in, that they had a purpose, they they had a meaning behind why they were there which we made the mistake of putting a scenery shot instead of the artist lip syncing which we found from looking at ourselves and from various comments that it didn't work. However we took all of this into consideration as without this feedback we would not have known how to improve it so it has helped us a lot. 

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

This video is of all i used during my time doing coursework and which i continue using, after finishing filming this video it suddenly struck me how much media technologies i actually used which is an achievement because as a result of doing media for A2 i have learnt a significant amount of computers, macs, softwares which i didn't know existed until i took media as an A level. 

Ancillary texts- Completed Digipack and Advert

Here is the completed Version of mine and Tashs Digipak.

Here is the front cover-

Back cover

This is inlay 1

 

Inlay 2

inlay 3

inlay 4

This is our completed Advert.  

Unused photos

These photos that i have uploaded are rejected photos that we considered using as possible advert/ digipak photos. 


With this first photo, we decided against using it because the image as wasn't the correct size, it was too big length wise even after editing it on photoshop so that it would be an appropriate size for a professionally edited digipak. Also this photo was edited too dark and i was unable revert the image back to the original one. 







With this image i played around with the effects quite a lot. I thought that in order for her to be centre of attention then a good way of emphasising this was to blur the background out and as a result didn't look as good as i wanted it to be, also because the tutu she wears is very feminine so would be a suitable costume for her to wear. I also wanted to add a personal touch to it by adding the same font as we used for the front and back cover to make it all match professionally with part of the colour theme of pink. 

 

This was our original front cover. 

We thought by making the photo black and white and her in colour it would be a decent way of challenging the typical pop convention. However after careful thought we decided against this as it looked almost too fake and unrealistic that we just weren't happy with it. Also it was fairly difficult to make our particular font that we wanted, show up well in front of the black and white background, so we were having trouble with that too and had to make sure that we had to have an 'inner glow' a 'drop shadow' and an 'outer glow' to make sure that it stood as much as we could make it. Here is a print screen of how i had to make the text in the layer on photoshop as bold as i could. 

This photo we considered using but by using this we thought that we would have used outdoor scenery of trees etc a little too much as we have used both photos of our artist and of just the scenery so to have the majority of inlays as scenery wouldn't be appealing to the 
buyer of the album. 

This photo that we also took onset was unsuitable as a digipak photo as the artists was a bit off guard when we actually took the photo so her mouth appears to be open and her eyes shut. However the angling of the camera makes the shot look nice,not only because of the angle but because of the fact she is on the far right which looks appropriate because of the rule of thirds, she is not directly in centre but she is important enough in the shot to actually acknowledge. 




                                                                                             This last photo is very nice as we very much liked how the trees all caved in together- this photo is very clever indeed however the lighting wasn't very good as it was too bright and however much we edited it and tried to tone it down by hue, saturation, curves etc it just didn't work so we had to make so with this end result on the editing. It doesn't look totally awful but the use of the pinks yet again would be overusing the pinks and purples as much as they look good in the edited photo.  
                                                                                          

Adverts

As well as making a Digipak, we have to make an Advert too. I have done some research and i have found a number of Adverts that are useful to analyse to get an idea of how to set our Advert out.
With this Gwen Stefani advert it is very bold. Italmost looks like the photo has been edited to look like she isnt real, and that she is animated by what looks like a watercolour effect. She is central so all of our attention will immediately be brought onto her. The crown and the other props thathave been added in are all sparkly which depicts a flashy woman, that she is very successful in what she does and how she can afford to spend money. The crown shows that she is viewed as a 'queen' of her kind of genre. The colours are very vibrant, and all the colours almost merge into eachother,especially the greens and oranges, and match extremelywell with the colour of the font. The font is very old english, very traditional which goes with the jewels to add to the royal look. In the corner there is a photo of the front cover of her digipak to advertise that too to encourage eople to buy it. The photos are very similar and the advert photo looks like a zoomed in picture which personally makes me want to see the whole thing. It includes information about when her album is due out and what songs are on there -rich girl is a very popular song so people would recognise that and encourage them to buy the rest of the album. Included on this is somewhere to purchase the album so it is quick and easy to buy.

Taylor Swifts advert has a very different portrayal to Gwen Stefani's. She looks very innocent yet her eye contact with the camera adds a bit of sex appeal as she is looking from the corner of her eyes.Again though she is central in the advert which draws us automatically to Taylor Swift's face. The colour theme is very minimal only using yellow, red and white which matches with the photo.The font looks like it has been hand written which gives Taylor swift a personal touch to her advert, and her name looks like it has been written so could possibly be her signature and uses it to be known for this. It says where the album is available to buy so it is easily accessible for their audiences to buy it. Much like Gwen Stefani's advert it shows the front cover of the album and from what we can she see looks very glamourous in what seems to be a red dress. It has added extras written in bold near the bottom to appeal to the public even more. The QR code in the bottom right hand corner may take the audience member onto her website which is also useful. 

This advert by Jessi J is very in your face, it is very centre of attention and gives a lot of attitude with her mouth open. All of the colours work well together as her make up which is smokey and dark matches with the grey bold and capitals font that stands out. Jessi J's name is in an italic font in a silver colour, i don't think that her name stands out as much as it is a fainter colour however as jessie j is very well known for her chart songs, her name doesn't need to be very bold and stand out. Her songs that are mentioned from her new album are very successful already and especially featuring people like david guetta will definitely expand her audience and even just her name. She has an official website which is useful for her fans to look at directly for tour dates etc and for more info about her. The way she looks at the camera is very daunting which emphasises her confidence and her attitude, as, if she can play up to a camera for a photo shoot then you can imagine what she would be like live. 

Our digipak layout

We have decided to go for an original Digipak template. We are in the process of making our digipak, using photoshop which is a challenge as Photoshop isn't a program i would normally use. We have found very useful tutorials on youtube.

Progress post- Editing day

Today we had a full day of editing. This was extremely useful for Tash and I as we had only made a start to our editing beforehand, so it gave us a day of actually piecing all of our footage together to make us closer to finishing our final piece. We looked up tutorials on how to split screen, and we managed to use different transitions such as cross dissolves and additive dissolves. These transitions helped to make our piece look very authentic and different to the normal dissolves. We managed to get about 3/4 done on the editing day so we made a massive progression from a few clips on final cut express to the majority of the footage edited and placed into final cut in order to finish the video. 

Progress post

We have now finished our filming and in our Media lesson today we uploaded our footage from the camera onto our chosen mac then began to edit our footage. So we had quite a productive lesson overall. 

Progress Post

Today, on the 13/11/12 we managed to do the first part of filming with our friend who also attends sixth form called Abigail Sears. She was kind enough to star in the music video. We have yet to just film some shots of Abi with a boy to add to the narrative of our piece. 

Risk assessment

During our time filming, we have to take into consideration the risks that we may be faced with.

* Whilst getting to our chosen setting, we come across a train crossing. 

-We should make sure to walk over the crossing, sensibly and when is best to do so.

* walking through the river with bare feet can cut her feet as there may be sharp objects that we cannot see. 
-Make sure to walk through the river carefully, finding a safe path in order to be able to film.

*Whilst filming on the bridge we have the risk of falling beneath or through the barriers at the sides, and risk of equipment falling in river.
- We need to use a tripod to keep the camera secure and still and stand as far in the centre as possible to be able to avoid falling over the barriers. 

*Risk of actress/actor falling or tripping over whilst filming.
- Make sure all equipment and bags etc are clearly out of the way and look to see if there is any uneven ground which would be unsuitable place for using as a running shot.

* Risk of getting scratched/ poked in the eye by branches or stinging nettles.
- This can be easily avoidable as we just choose not to film in unnecessary places which will cause harm to our actor and actress.

Changes

Due to the long processes that we would have had to go through to film at Audley end house we thought that we wouldn't have been able to film in time. So we have been through the village of Newport and discovered some great places to film, which we think will be a suitable place for filming.

Researching Different fonts

I like this font as it gives a personal touch as it seems to me that it could have been handwritten, and it's almost like they have left their mark. 




This font is more jokey, it has a girly feel to it yet very plainly written. 

This font is very appealing to me as its like 'bubble writing' which is seen as quite girly, the shaded in effect adds to the boldness of the name and looks like it would have taken a long time and put in a lot of effort to write this. 



These two fonts are Italic compared to the others, it gives the impression of the name being actually onto a piece of paper and adds to the realness and 3 dimensional effect. 

Pictures of digipaks

 

 

Equipment used for filming

In order to be able to film there are pieces of equipment that are essential for making our music video.

The main piece of equipment is our HD cannon handheld video camera. We need to make sure this is fiully charged and we will have a backup battery just in case our original battery dies.

To be able to get still and precise footage for our music video we need a tripod. This is especially good for panning and tracking shots and generally helps out to prevent jumpy footage so will be very useful.

This is a dolly. We will take one of these when filming so that moving shots are made easier for us. So instead of holding the camera and tripod we can just wheel the dolly around which makes our lives a lot easier.

Digipak 3 Miley Cyrus- Can't be Tamed

The front cover to Miley Cyrus' Digipak can't be tamed is a much more grown up, girl compared to what she was like before. 
In the front cover, the whole thing is very 'out there', very feisty with a lot of attitude. 
The background is very plain with nothing but what seems like a spotlight which is on her, giving our full attention on Miley Cyrus. It is themed with very dark colours- khaki greens and black which gives us the impression that she isn't innocent, but in fact the complete opposite. Her costume is very revealing, all in leather which shows that she has hints of country in her because of the studs on the collar however it is very sharp yet fashionable at the same time. She is looking directly at the camera with a very fierce and serious expression on her face. This depicts a very confident woman in her, not afraid of much and has that personal connection with her fans. Lastly the font is very bold in capitals, in a khaki colour in the centre of the album cover. The font looks very rough, not hand drawn but looks like its been stamped on, almost like a prisoner. The 'can't be tamed' album name goes with the theme of being fierce. The way that her arm is positioned also draws attention to her bare tummy which gives her sex appeal. 

The back is very bold. The font looks like its been washed away which gives it an older, more traditional look to it, especially as it is in black and white- matching the dark colour theme. There are no spaces, the font is so bold that they names of the songs literally scream out the page. It also contains the legal jargon- the bar code, the name of the production and record company. It includes special features that can be viewed on your computer or laptop which is even more appealing to the buyer. 

The CD is very simple yet effective. It is like a collage of writing, and the writing all together says 'Miley Cyrus Can't Be Tamed'. Once again the font is very faded and rough and at the bottom in small print contains the legal jargon. 









The inside picture is a similar photo to the front cover apart from the position of her hands is different. Her hands are on her collar holding her jacket which shows that she is somewhat fashionable and stylish. We see a shadow behind her which gives the idea of follwers, the fact she is famous reflects the fact she has loads of fans. She is once again in the centre third of the shot which automatically makes her centre of attention. Her hair is curly but has a degree of roughness to it, a messy look but still looking fashionable. She is pouting- this gives us the idea that she is comfortable with her looks and not camera shy. 

Lastly is the inlay photo of Miley Cyrus. This shows her in a different light as she is more sexy in this particular photo as her pose outlines her curvy figure. Once again she is look straight at the camera so there is that personal relationship with her and her fans. She is more in the right of this shot which makes her less centre of attention. The fact that the spotlight is only on the top half of the body shows dignity, yet a hint of sex appeal as we have sneak peaks of her skin- for example her shoulder and parts of her chest through her dress. The pearls around her neck have a more original and traditional feel to the picture and her hair is curly and long. She looks more elegant and its almost the other side to her, her more sensible side. 

Kylie Minogue- Flower Micro Element

Another micro element which i would very much like to incorporate in our music video is a cross dissolve. This gives a soft touch onto the video, and i would particularly like to use it when the girl in the video will be walking so we can track her feet from A to B but give another touch to it. In this video 'Flower' by Kylie minogue, the cross dissolve is used whilst she is lip syncing so that it gives the impression of some time passing possibly. It looks effective and adds to the authenticity as it is also in black and white which is another element which i could consider using. 

In this screen shot you can clearly see the cross dissolve transition used. I have also looked this up on youtube and found a really helpful tutorial on how to add in cross dissolves like this one that was used in the video.          

Selena Gomez- Who says Micro Elements

I have found a song by Selena Gomez and it is called 'Who says'. There are many elements to her music video that particularly work which I would like to possibly add into our final piece if we are able to. 

The first element in the video is the mis en scene. I like how she wears a black dress, so not conforming to the stereotypical 'girly' theme of colours. This supports the theorist Levi- Strauss as he says that there are BINARY OPPOSITIONS. The binary opposition in this case is being Perfect and not being perfect. This particularly fits with the song as it is about how she doesn't care about being 'perfect' and she is just herself. 

Another element that i liked was the use of the split screen. It is very effective as it may either help to understand the narrative of the song and to tell a story, or even use it as a contrast of scenes or show different people. In this print screen that i took, it gives a clearer picture of the surroundings. 


The last element that i found extremely effective was the use of the images whilst Selena sung them. For example when she sung  'nanananana' The split screen has a shot of her in one and a shop called 'nana'. There are other words in that shot of the shop as she mentions 'a diamond in the ruck' it has relevance to the shop as it is a jewellery shop. And this is also used again just after when she sings 'you've got every right' it cuts to a shot of two sign posts- one pointing left saying 'every' and one pointing right saying 'right' which is portraying the lyrics through images.



Here is the tutorial i have found about how to make a basic split screen so as long as i follow the instructions it should be a fairly simple process.

Audience research Results

             

 These are the results for my survey. We found that the majority of people that answered the Survey Monkey which was 30 people chose Pop as their preferred genre of music. This is quite unsurprising because a lot of the music that is in the charts, that most people know about are the from the Pop genre, so are more mainstream. 

From question 2 i took a sample of two answers and they like music that is catchy, that they can sing along to, and also more influential artists that have got so far, and made it in the music industry. 

From question 3 we had cliché scenes, and just scenarios that are typically found in mainstream, more popular music. 

Question 4 was a general question about where people find their music. Most people are influenced by their friends to which they hear about their music which isn't surprising as most people have groups of friends because of the things they have in common- in this particular case music. Youtube wwith a close second, which is how a lot of people listen to music as opposed to finding their music on there.  

No one answered 'Always' in this question 5 part of the survey. This may have been to do with the fact that they may not have wanted us, the surveyors, to know that the only way that their music taste is there is because it is influenced by others. Sometimes was the majority answer which is also an unsurprising factor due to the fact that music is being shared everywhere, especially through the internet. There is obviously the minority that aren't influenced by others that listen to their own type of music so this shows how divided people can be when it comes to music tastes.