Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation Question 4

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

Editing

To follow up on equipment used, next part of the production stages is the editing process. For this, I used two pieces of software created by the same company; Adobe. To edit and combine pieces of select footage, I used Adobe Premiere Pro; using this allowed me to 'tinker' round with certain settings, changing colouring via RGB curves, shot timing and transitions. As my original footage is quite bland and imbalanced, I used the RGB Curves tool thus allowing me to alter the colour scheme of my footage - taking inspiration from "Young in America" by Danielle Bradbery, I added an increase of greens and reds. Next up, rather than cutting consistently, using certain transitions made my video look smoother and appealing. A particular transition I used was the 'dip to white' tool, changing from a dark setting to a light one, almost like a graphic match.

Moving on from Premiere Pro, I used Photoshop to create both Digipak and Poster. Using Photoshop gave me a variety of tools to 'play' around with. Initially I designed my Digipak, with using a template already constructed, I then designed the rest of the layout to follow conventions. I designed my own style for my Digipak, where I opposed natural colours and went for more of a bland yet quirky design. For instance, the fonts are extremely bold, with a Fifty Shades of Grey-esc design.

Using an external program, I created a simulation for an Electron in a Cloud Chamber to generate the pattern behind my artist. In addition, a ragged effect on the border of my Poster.

Other Software

To present information for my audience when in the research and planning stages, I used Emaze and Microsoft Powerpoint. Both of these pieces of software are easy to use but allow you to detail your information as in depth as possible. 

Other than using ways of presentation, I received feedback via Survey Monkey; in both research stages and post-production. Using Survey Monkey allowed me to gather information about the audience member and their views upon my products. With getting their views, I also asked about room for improvements in a separate box. Once all the feedback was collected, I analysed and generated an overall report.

Even using the basics is an effective way of receiving qualitative and quatative data, Facebook was one particular way of which I got in contact with a broad audience and for them to analyse my anxillary tasks.

Conclusion

Using a varied amount of software both gave me experience and new ways of producing, analysing and presenting information.

Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation Question 3

 

Qualitative data is the collection of important pieces of information that are vital when establishing an overall review.

Quantitative data is the collection of lots of different/similar reviews for a product.

Both coalesces and oppose each other as 2 very descriptive pieces of data is just as useful as 20 broad and simplistic pieces of data. Therefore the use of both working together is vital, a lot of people were interviewed/questioned however only a handful were selected due to the descriptiveness of their data. 

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 2

“How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks?”

For this I will be comparing differences and similarities between my Music Video, Digipak and Poster that I created as part of my A2 Media Coursework.

To create all three, I had to analyse the conventions of Country-Folk in general so that I knew what to include into my products. After analysing 4 Music Videos, 3 Digipaks and 4 Websites (very similar to posters), I created an understanding of the stereotypical conventions that Country Music included.

Typical conventions consist of natural and open scenery alongside a vintage colour scheme. Once analysing and noticing this convention, I created my Music Video based around a natural and open scenery. The colour scheme that I'd associate with nature is the use of greens, yellows and blues; where green represents grassland and forests, yellows representing farmland - wheat and corn and finally blue representing the sky. Within my Music Video, I involved all of these colours to follows typical colour scheme conventions allowing my audience to make an understanding of what genre my song is under. Though majorly it was Performance based, the Studio I hired out had a red background, this then allowed me to contrast the natural palette and include the use of reds and further oranges. I didn't design my Digipak to be similar to my Music Video, therefore go against what I analysed for other Digipaks, I followed the a more obscure colour scheme - use of blacks, whites and greys. From what I analysed, most Digipaks under my genre used a vintage scheme where the main colours used are browns and creams. Along with opposing conventions that I analysed for my genre for my Digipak, I continued this forth onto my poster. When I analysed Johnny Cash's official website, the theme arising was, as guessed a vintage scheme. I decided to implement a different scheme yet still a rugged design, but rather than using cream and brown, I used a again blacks and whites. Overall, my Music video has it's own style to stand out more to my audience and to follow their emotions as the video is playing, and a different, more eccentric style for my two other pieces.

Moving on to star image, for my Music Video, in almost every shot, our artist is the focus point. When I analysed Music Videos very similar to my genre, for instance 'Raging Fire' by Phillip Phillips, the artist was the focus point throughout the video. When I noticed that this could potentially be a convention, I decided to follow it and use it to my advantage. Using the artist as the focus point allows the audience to gain an understanding of who he is and what he goes through to get from start to end. My artist appears on 2 sides out of a total of 6 properly where we can also associate the other two as being shadows of his former self. This time however, the artist name and song title are on the front cover and spine of the Digipak layout, making it clear to my audience. Identifying my artist and song is essential when creating a Digipak otherwise when making a sale, the buyer cannot make a reference of who the CD belongs to, so forth including a name is evidently important. With relation to star image and the two listed production pieces, I involved the artist within my poster too.

 

Penultimately, I had no actual reference to a record label on my Music Video itself, but on my ancillary pieces however I had a non-copyright, made up initiative company distributing and promoting my product.

To conclude my evaluation question 2, there are references between all 3 of my products, however not all 3 link to each other. My poster has references to the video, my Digipak also links to my video but as I stated beforehand, my poster and Digipak have no correlation. Despite only some correlation between my video and ancillary task, the importance of some references is indeed necessary; the significance of correlation allows the audience to relate between all 3 products.

Evaluation Question 1

Evaluation Question 1

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

My Music video highly relies on concepts created by certain theorists. Though I did very little referencing which relates to Andrew Goodwin's concepts, I focused around the inclusion of Thought Beats, Performance (with some aspects of Narrative for a link between vocals and video) and of course a Star Image.

 

The concentration of Thought Beats allowed my video to be more dramatic, for which on particular increases/decreases in bass, I'd cut away allowing my audience to be more thrilled. Not all Music videos use Thought Beats which allowed me room to be more eccentric and create my own style, whilst using other stereotypes relating to Country Music in my previous analysis'.

 

Contrast and Conflict is something I tried adapting to; so I wasn't following just conventions, I'd essentially mix-it up. In relation to my research, I gathered information that saw me realise, Country Music usually requires a Narrative - typically a relationship between footage and lyrics. From this, I decided to oppose it and just have a Narrative within the lyrics.

 

Now with the station of Narrative only composed within lyrics, I concentrated on a Star Image and a Performance. My artist is the sole construction of the video and the relation that my viewers can make references to. My audience can associate with my artist on a personal level in the lyrics, yet what appears on camera matches the emotions my audience will be connecting with whilst listening to the song.

 

Following back to the prospect of stereotypes and typical relations, I followed the role of my audience needing to be easily able to know the genre and perhaps sub-genres of my Music video. Locations provided me with an emotional connection, the thought of nature and it's inspiration contrasting with a performance within a studio, where my artist is wearing: a checked shirt and denim jeans. Though some complications arose during the filming of outdoor scenery, as the construction of colour detail gave my video a dreary and morbid style - thus I had to use my skills in post-production to adjust the RGB and Tint for the create my own natural palette - based off my analysis of "Young in America" by Danielle Bradbery.

 

Now when someone brings up the thought of Country, nothing other than an Acoustic Guitar comes to mind and seeing as the majority of my song is composed instrumentally via a Guitar, I found it appropriate to use so.

 

After finalising my Music video, I had to secondary tasks that required me to make a Digipak and Poster based off further research I had done in the earlier months of A2. Typical colour palettes were of a more natural sense, however I wanted to distinguish each task individually - this required me to have a colour contrast between my Music video and my two other projects. The binary opposite to colour and nature is of course the use of bold blacks, greys and whites. I needed my own palette to stand out and almost make a point, with some inspiration taken from Against the Current's "Gravity" album and tour poster. Despite requiring a contrasting colour scheme, I over-analysed it by saying that the thought of dark colouring shows that something is hidden, there's something behind the songs - i.e. a Narrative.

Music Video Poster

Music Video Poster

After completing both Music Video and Digipak, it meant that I could then move onto my Music Video Poster. For this, it had to link with my actual video, to do so, I selected a certain star image to appear on the front which is in the video but also on the Digipak too. Star image on the front is essential as it tells our audience who exactly the artist is.

Obviously, I had to reference the album title and artist name for promotion purposes; another promotion you may see are two familiar logos, working as synergy along side the Music Video, Poster and Digipak.

Through a sketching system, I created through influence of one of my A2 courses (Physics), an electron in a cloud chamber. As I figured this is a strange pattern and quirky, it's conflicting against conventions of Country by having my own style.

The only actual coloured image is a digital representation of a blue sun, referring to the lyrics of burning. The third sun in a series (1st Camera Flare, 2nd Red Sun Digipak Disc), inspiration taken from the Cornetto Trilogy of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost films.

Digipak Finalised

Digipak Finalised

Once I completed the editing stages for my music video, I could then begin the creation of my digipak.

The purpose of completing the music video before attempting the digpak is because of the images needed; I took certain shots from scenes during my video to implement into my digipak.

Beforehand, I briefly studied the digpaks I previously analysed and quickly scanned across a couple others on the internet for some inspiration.
Along with the digipak is an attempt of a disc. This disc, I took inspiration from the lyrics as being literal; the aspect of fire reminded me about the Sun. Thus I created my own rendition of the Sun through Photoshop.

 

For further marks, I decided to go the extra mile and essentially create a booklet for the inside cover.

 

 

 

 

 

Music Video: Completed

After countless hours of editing to make sure I've achieved my full potential, here is my final piece.

I wouldn't of been able to have complete it without the assistance from my teachers, my friends and the owners of Electric Bear and Shady Farm.

Some small errors I came across whilst completing my final piece is definitely how smooth some shots transition and the scale of the video on YouTube. As seen in my Animatic, I wanted the video to not fill the screen, instead have the top and bottom bordered with black - like seen in most videos nowadays.

Editing Stages

Editing Stages

Throughout the editing stages of my music video, I was required to take screenshots and shots of me editing

The first image editing one of the first shot used. During this particular editing stage, I am applying RGB colour curves, allowing me to essentially make the shot look more both appealing and natural. Similar colour schemes are used as conventions for folk country songs such as "Young in America" by Danielle Bradbery, where the fields are thriving with brightness, yellows and oranges. A simple addition of text on the top layer, providing my audience with a title, artist and director noun.

 

For this second screenshot, I gave the original piece of footage some camera flare from a sun which we also implemented as well as additional RGB curves. Once again, camera flare is used for more of a naturist feel as most music videos have the sun flaring into the camera.

Furthermore, as you can see on the original shot on the left, the sky is bland and too white, thus we added more of a natural colour palette through RGB curves which then gave the shot an open and friendly appeal.

Moving onto the third shot, here I took two shots and created a burning effect on the top layer with the second shot as a secondary layer. The purpose of this editing technique was to refer back to the lyrics of burning and fire. Alpha Glow and Roughen Edges in the end allowed me to create this effect which turned out better than anticipated.

 

 

Finally, using an online program and an artist at Confetti, Nottingham, I used three proper filmed shots and created them into sketched stills with a fade into the initial shot. This thought shows off my eccentricity and in addition talent in programming and realistic drawing.

 

 

Research into Websites: Part 4 (Country)

Research into Websites: Part 4 (Country)

Johnny Cash: http://www.johnnycash.com/

Johnny Cash, a well-known country artist in the 50s to 90s, popular for 'Folsom Prison Blues' and 'I Walk the Line'. As his era was the 50s & 60s, his music is focused around vocals and acoustic instruments.

Essentially the home page for Johnny Cash, I can see a significant difference in styles to the other three analysis' I've done. The font is by far the most obscure and abstract that I've seen, to which it reflects old-style writing. The use of browns and greens for colouring of the background reflects upon a natural feeling as a standard convention of country is nature and genuine outdoor scenery rather than setup in a studio.

 To signify artist importance, just like the ATC & Taylor Swift analysis', the artist is picture in the centre, I've began to presume that the artist importance must be shown on the initial home page.

 

The layout of Cash' page is quite peculiar as there are more sub-pages than others. Once again there are references to a store, where one can purchase merchandise, a page to view the biography of the artist and more...
 

Research into Websites: Part 3 (Indie)

Research into Websites: Part 3

Coldplay: http://coldplay.com/

Initially, my first opinion of the Coldplay website was bizarre, the website has a lot of funk and especially flair. On the front page, there is a lot of animated images to create a unique vibe.

This vibe, in my opinion reflects the genre Coldplay are associated with; Indie. The genre of Indie creates a sense of strangeness where the audience is made to be sometimes be amused or given a sense of reality. In Coldplays case, their website layout is deliberately created to amuse the audience viewing the website. Despite the amusement, the use of the whole colour spectrum follows conventions of Indie music.

 

Even though the front page is mainly for amusement purposes, the page is actually organised, a side-tab dedicated for sub pages, "Home", "News", "Tour", "Music", "Videos", "Timeline", "Store" and even "Signup". With these sub pages, the audience are given the opportunity to choose what they want to view, whether it be intrigued by music published, merchandise or their lifestyle.

Comparing this website to the two others I've analysed and assessed, for my website, I'd prefer not to take influence from here as the genre doesn't fit my particular song; on the other hand the tabs involved will be implemented.
Typically, in the music sub-section, as there would obviously be a list of Coldplay' songs, similar to ATC, the lyrics are shown too. The fact that lyrics are shown, allows us, the audience to potentially 'sing-along' with the music being played. I.e. this is a user friendly interface.
Throughout each page, the font differs between two different styles. One more simpler than the other,

 

 

 

 

Research into Websites: Part 2 (Country-Pop)

Research into Websites

Taylor Swift: http://taylorswift.com/

Taylor Swift, associated with Pop & some Country, she's an international artist with hundreds-thousands of fans.
 

Her official website page, located at the top is promotions of her new EP & tour dates.
Comparing Taylor Swifts website to ATC's, Taylors has both more links and a variety of colours.
The particular use of so many colours can suggest conventions for the music genre and it's relation to mood.

To signify importance, her newest album is located in the middle of the page; the first thing us, the audience concentrate on. The fact that the album promotion is centralised in the middle of the page, this is very similar to my previous website analysis of ATC (Against the Current).
Not only is there an album promotion, but a few other promotions appear on screen with the promotions flicking between each other like a presentation - newest song, upcoming tour and newest album.

In case the audience doesn't know what Taylor Swift looks like, very unlikely, she has references to some of her pictures potentially from social media websites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc. With references to Taylors social media pages, there's also essentially a biography page written in third person; identifies that it was written by herself in third person or by someone else.

The font throughout her whole web page is fairly inconsistent, not in negative though. The fonts vary between each individual tab; the variance gives more style and flair allowing the audience to be more pleased.

Typically for an artist, Taylors website has a link to her 'Store', the store is self-explanatory where fans of hers can buy merchandise relating to the artist

On a separate page, the audience can view each particular song created by the artist which allows a more organised appeal - easy to locate and well laid out.
 

 

Research into Websites: Part 1 (Pop)

Research into Websites

Against the Current: http://www.atcofficial.com/

Against the Current are a three member band located in the United States, I would relate them under the genre of Modern Pop & Indie. Recently, they've been associated with Fueled by Ramen; a record label which have connections with Paramore, FUN and Panic! At the Disco.

 

The initial page link for the ATC website has a wide shot of the band centralised with links & references to each individual band member - links to social media, Facebook, YouTube, iTunes, Instagram and Twitter.
There is a lot of use of graphite, reds and whites in terms of the colouring of the pages along with some bold and grey texts. The use of greys and whites follows conventions of the indie genre, however the use of reds - specifically the promotion at the top of each page is to stand out and allow the reader to focus on what's being promoted.
At the top of the page is an 'announcement' bar to promote their new single, in their case 'Outsiders'. On the far right hand side there is specific links to sub-pages, such as 'Home', 'Merchandise' etc.
A sub-divided page is 'Music', where every song produced by the band is listed, furthermore, with each song, there's the link to iTunes and lyrics too.
Throughout the whole ATC website, the layout is similar.