Friday, 4 May 2012
Thursday, 3 May 2012
Evaluation Question 4
How did you use media technologies in the construction, research & planning and evaluation stages?
Evaluation Question 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Goodwin's theory was that there are three different types of music videos; performance, concept and narrative. From looking at our fifteen music video deconstructions we were able to pick out the main conventions of music videos before looking more deeply into genre specific music videos, these included: Lip syncing, shot variation, shot angle variation, close ups of the lead singer, different locations, interesting mise-en-scene, high use of lighting and usually fast paced editing. If the music video were to be performance based there is no narrative therefore shots are focused solely on the singer but may also include shots of the audience and instruments. They may also use shots where an audience member or significant object relating to song is focused on this may show a deeper meaning or a person who may be related to the target audience. They may also include fast paced editing because they have no narrative and they have to keep the audience interested especially when targeting youth audiences.
Contrasting with these ideas in the R&B genre forms and conventions differ for example; they often have a lot of props such as cars, jewelry and money and are featured wearing black and white suits and dresses as the genre represents wealth and glamour apposing ideologies of black families living in small homes with the extended family. R&B videos may also include dance routines and focus on the main singer as the product rather than the music being delivered because of this convention in our music video we dressed our band members in dresses and in one part of the narrative we enforced the sense of class in dress by dressing them in long flowing dresses with the lead singer wearing a large diamond covered necklace and simplistic make up. The band members are seen in three different outfits reinforcing the idea of wealth and self importance we always see in R&B music videos although in our video it is a female group rather than a typical solo male which tend to dominate in R&B music videos.
Instead of focusing on having sports cars (Akon is often seen driving a Lambogini in his music videos) as they are stereotypically seen as 'boys toys' (although this was challenged in Nicki Minaj's Superbass video in which she is seen with a pink lambgini and riding a pink motorbike) we encorporated a diamond chandelier to demonstrate the idea of wealth and the class of the band members as money is a huge part of R&B culture. We have challenged the convention of using one male or female dominating the narrative aspect and replaced it with a couple as the song is telling a story of heartbreak and betrayal when the boy in the relationship is found out to be cheating on his girlfriend. Shots of the band on the front cover of the digipak and the magazine ad represent the idea of feminism and female unity as they pose holding hands in a low angled shot.
We chose locations which could be seen as being romantic in both performance and narative aspects of the video for example the band are singing by a lake which the sun is shining on and at the end of the video it starts to cloud over around this location. One of the narrative aspects was filmed at the park where the couple a featured feeding ducks and holding hands while walking around the park (a close up of the couple holding hands at the beginning creates a sense of unity) These locations were also chosen to appeal to our secondary target audience who we would expect to watch romantic comedy films.
A side shot of the band was used while they were lip syncing to show the band were as one and because it is a common convention in band music videos. Lip syncing is a key convention in all music videos except when the band is performing live at concerts or gigs, this convention has a reluctancy to change in music videos as it has verially always been used which shows that the passing of time can not change conventions. Even though Destiny's Child have sepearated from being a group now to appeal to our audience we also used more modern and relevant clothing in other performace sequences, we made sure that the dresses were revealing like most of Destiny's Childs outfits choices. We also challenged the convention of using a lot of dance moves, as R&B music videos are often filmed in clubs or at parties because the song we chose was less upbeat we decided to go against this idea.
Forms and conventions for digipaks include; they are made from paper board which is recyclable and therefore more environmentally friendly than a CD although they may have plastic inner CD/DVD tray, the band name is usually clear on the front unless there is a symbol representing the band, the band image or print on the front is usually recognisable, website information and band website for people to find out more information is displayed, the band and album name on the side, including category number and company logo, a brief description of the band or a lyrics sheet in sometimes found on the inside booklet providing fans with extra information, copy tight information and there is always a barcode finally, there is often a leaflet inside which may show lyrics of each song included or photos of the band in performance usually ie. some use festival photos.
Digipaks arn't used hugely at the moment even though they are more environmentally friendly consumers are used to buying CD although most people download it illegally or buy their music online. Digipaks can have four or six panels most commonly. When constructing our digipak we had previously done a photoshoot with the band members playing Destiny's Child so we had a lot of images to choose from. The clothing differed from the footage the band had featured in as we wanted to show a more feminist and strong appearing group of females which Destiny's child are. We chose to use very tight clothing all round and focused on features that may enable the male gaze audience. One member of the band is in metalic leather leggings which is a strong masculine signifier but is also seen when worn as a sexy and dominant figure, all of the band members are photographed in heels to excentuate the legs and bring in the male audience. Annie wears a crop top which Destiny's child always a photographed and filmed in showing the abdominals which is also typically a masculine feature, the band do this to challenge the male stereotypes and appear strong and powerful women.
The front cover of the digipak we thought was the strongest shot of the bad it is a long shot of them walking inot the camera, the band are holding hands to show unity and strong friendship. We also chose to take the photo outside and we rejected feedback that the road we photographed them on looked a bit trashy because we wanted to present an urban look as the band like to see themselves as urban even though they are highly commercial. The title of the band is also prominant and we decided to call the digipak 'Growin' Up: The Best of' because it is relevant to the band as they have no split up and have become more mature sinse then (Beyonce recently had her first baby) so we thought we'd like to show a transition from the younger days of the band up until the time at which they split up. We included a sticker at the bottom of the digipak which boasted speacial features, a bonus DVD and behing the scenes footage as the public are still buying music online and CD's producers enable extras to persuade people to buy the digipaks. The enterior panel we wernt enitially sure about but we knew we wanted a close up pf the band members and after looking at digipaks such as Rihanna and Katy Perry we decided to do a spread across both interior panels with layering in each corner anchor the dominance of the band. The back of the digipak shows the songs on the CD with times and features, what the bonus DVD includes on the right. Underneath this we included copyright information a key convention of digipaks as we havnt found any digipaks without this information, the QR was created so that when scanned it can be linked via smartphones to the offical website which is new technolgy that has recently come about and is found in magazines and on CD's all the time. The barcode is always found on CD/DVD's and all media products. We also encorporated the company logo as this was also found on all the digipaks we looked at not just the ones of our genre.
Forms and conventions of Magazine Advertisements: The band name is shown in bold text to make it stand out, this is key if the background of the advertisement is busy as the audience want to know what the ad is as soon as possible before losing interest. A good example of this is the Destiny's Child cover for Rolling Stone magazine the band are dressed in camaflarge which links with there survivor music video, They provide realise dates for tours and CDs because Destiny's child are such a big band we decided that they would only play at huge venues like Madonna does nowadays as they have the same sized fan base so we chose big arenas to advertise on our magazine ad. We found an advert advertising the fan club and releasing tour dates if readers signed up to a particular fan site so we included tour dates and titled the tour, Newspapers or magazines often give the products a star rating out of 5 and because of the size and popularity of the band we gave them a high rating of 5/5, Band information and band websites so people know where they can find out more information on the band. Record label information and a copyright statement. Band image or cd image. Websites related to the band are shown such as there Twitter name and Facebook page. The singer or band dominates the advertisement for example in all of our texts Mel was in the middle of the other two band member because she was playing Beyonce the main singer in the band. Female bands or solo singers in particular often go into advertising beauty and cosmetics (Beyonce releases perfume scents annually aswell as being a Loreal girl advertising a new lipstick shade) we could of added a scent to our magazine ad which would of encorporated this but as only Beyonce has done this it was not representing unity and togetherness that the band aimed to display before they split up. We used multilayering on our magazine ad of a couple holding hands to show the narrative aspect of the video that we wanted to get across because normally in R&B music videos the artist/s dominate so we challenged this convention.
Goodwin's theory was that there are three different types of music videos; performance, concept and narrative. From looking at our fifteen music video deconstructions we were able to pick out the main conventions of music videos before looking more deeply into genre specific music videos, these included: Lip syncing, shot variation, shot angle variation, close ups of the lead singer, different locations, interesting mise-en-scene, high use of lighting and usually fast paced editing. If the music video were to be performance based there is no narrative therefore shots are focused solely on the singer but may also include shots of the audience and instruments. They may also use shots where an audience member or significant object relating to song is focused on this may show a deeper meaning or a person who may be related to the target audience. They may also include fast paced editing because they have no narrative and they have to keep the audience interested especially when targeting youth audiences.
Contrasting with these ideas in the R&B genre forms and conventions differ for example; they often have a lot of props such as cars, jewelry and money and are featured wearing black and white suits and dresses as the genre represents wealth and glamour apposing ideologies of black families living in small homes with the extended family. R&B videos may also include dance routines and focus on the main singer as the product rather than the music being delivered because of this convention in our music video we dressed our band members in dresses and in one part of the narrative we enforced the sense of class in dress by dressing them in long flowing dresses with the lead singer wearing a large diamond covered necklace and simplistic make up. The band members are seen in three different outfits reinforcing the idea of wealth and self importance we always see in R&B music videos although in our video it is a female group rather than a typical solo male which tend to dominate in R&B music videos.
Instead of focusing on having sports cars (Akon is often seen driving a Lambogini in his music videos) as they are stereotypically seen as 'boys toys' (although this was challenged in Nicki Minaj's Superbass video in which she is seen with a pink lambgini and riding a pink motorbike) we encorporated a diamond chandelier to demonstrate the idea of wealth and the class of the band members as money is a huge part of R&B culture. We have challenged the convention of using one male or female dominating the narrative aspect and replaced it with a couple as the song is telling a story of heartbreak and betrayal when the boy in the relationship is found out to be cheating on his girlfriend. Shots of the band on the front cover of the digipak and the magazine ad represent the idea of feminism and female unity as they pose holding hands in a low angled shot.
We chose locations which could be seen as being romantic in both performance and narative aspects of the video for example the band are singing by a lake which the sun is shining on and at the end of the video it starts to cloud over around this location. One of the narrative aspects was filmed at the park where the couple a featured feeding ducks and holding hands while walking around the park (a close up of the couple holding hands at the beginning creates a sense of unity) These locations were also chosen to appeal to our secondary target audience who we would expect to watch romantic comedy films.
A side shot of the band was used while they were lip syncing to show the band were as one and because it is a common convention in band music videos. Lip syncing is a key convention in all music videos except when the band is performing live at concerts or gigs, this convention has a reluctancy to change in music videos as it has verially always been used which shows that the passing of time can not change conventions. Even though Destiny's Child have sepearated from being a group now to appeal to our audience we also used more modern and relevant clothing in other performace sequences, we made sure that the dresses were revealing like most of Destiny's Childs outfits choices. We also challenged the convention of using a lot of dance moves, as R&B music videos are often filmed in clubs or at parties because the song we chose was less upbeat we decided to go against this idea.
Forms and conventions for digipaks include; they are made from paper board which is recyclable and therefore more environmentally friendly than a CD although they may have plastic inner CD/DVD tray, the band name is usually clear on the front unless there is a symbol representing the band, the band image or print on the front is usually recognisable, website information and band website for people to find out more information is displayed, the band and album name on the side, including category number and company logo, a brief description of the band or a lyrics sheet in sometimes found on the inside booklet providing fans with extra information, copy tight information and there is always a barcode finally, there is often a leaflet inside which may show lyrics of each song included or photos of the band in performance usually ie. some use festival photos.
Digipaks arn't used hugely at the moment even though they are more environmentally friendly consumers are used to buying CD although most people download it illegally or buy their music online. Digipaks can have four or six panels most commonly. When constructing our digipak we had previously done a photoshoot with the band members playing Destiny's Child so we had a lot of images to choose from. The clothing differed from the footage the band had featured in as we wanted to show a more feminist and strong appearing group of females which Destiny's child are. We chose to use very tight clothing all round and focused on features that may enable the male gaze audience. One member of the band is in metalic leather leggings which is a strong masculine signifier but is also seen when worn as a sexy and dominant figure, all of the band members are photographed in heels to excentuate the legs and bring in the male audience. Annie wears a crop top which Destiny's child always a photographed and filmed in showing the abdominals which is also typically a masculine feature, the band do this to challenge the male stereotypes and appear strong and powerful women.
The front cover of the digipak we thought was the strongest shot of the bad it is a long shot of them walking inot the camera, the band are holding hands to show unity and strong friendship. We also chose to take the photo outside and we rejected feedback that the road we photographed them on looked a bit trashy because we wanted to present an urban look as the band like to see themselves as urban even though they are highly commercial. The title of the band is also prominant and we decided to call the digipak 'Growin' Up: The Best of' because it is relevant to the band as they have no split up and have become more mature sinse then (Beyonce recently had her first baby) so we thought we'd like to show a transition from the younger days of the band up until the time at which they split up. We included a sticker at the bottom of the digipak which boasted speacial features, a bonus DVD and behing the scenes footage as the public are still buying music online and CD's producers enable extras to persuade people to buy the digipaks. The enterior panel we wernt enitially sure about but we knew we wanted a close up pf the band members and after looking at digipaks such as Rihanna and Katy Perry we decided to do a spread across both interior panels with layering in each corner anchor the dominance of the band. The back of the digipak shows the songs on the CD with times and features, what the bonus DVD includes on the right. Underneath this we included copyright information a key convention of digipaks as we havnt found any digipaks without this information, the QR was created so that when scanned it can be linked via smartphones to the offical website which is new technolgy that has recently come about and is found in magazines and on CD's all the time. The barcode is always found on CD/DVD's and all media products. We also encorporated the company logo as this was also found on all the digipaks we looked at not just the ones of our genre.
Forms and conventions of Magazine Advertisements: The band name is shown in bold text to make it stand out, this is key if the background of the advertisement is busy as the audience want to know what the ad is as soon as possible before losing interest. A good example of this is the Destiny's Child cover for Rolling Stone magazine the band are dressed in camaflarge which links with there survivor music video, They provide realise dates for tours and CDs because Destiny's child are such a big band we decided that they would only play at huge venues like Madonna does nowadays as they have the same sized fan base so we chose big arenas to advertise on our magazine ad. We found an advert advertising the fan club and releasing tour dates if readers signed up to a particular fan site so we included tour dates and titled the tour, Newspapers or magazines often give the products a star rating out of 5 and because of the size and popularity of the band we gave them a high rating of 5/5, Band information and band websites so people know where they can find out more information on the band. Record label information and a copyright statement. Band image or cd image. Websites related to the band are shown such as there Twitter name and Facebook page. The singer or band dominates the advertisement for example in all of our texts Mel was in the middle of the other two band member because she was playing Beyonce the main singer in the band. Female bands or solo singers in particular often go into advertising beauty and cosmetics (Beyonce releases perfume scents annually aswell as being a Loreal girl advertising a new lipstick shade) we could of added a scent to our magazine ad which would of encorporated this but as only Beyonce has done this it was not representing unity and togetherness that the band aimed to display before they split up. We used multilayering on our magazine ad of a couple holding hands to show the narrative aspect of the video that we wanted to get across because normally in R&B music videos the artist/s dominate so we challenged this convention.
Monday, 16 April 2012
Final Magazine Ad
Today I FINALLY managed to finish the magazine advert. I got some feedback from my Media teacher on the advert and he said:
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| This is an example a past student's wor |
- There was no point of the multi layering because he said to create a shadow-like effect, but it didn't work.
- The font was also weak, since it made the magazine advert look like that it was made in Publisher.
- He also mentioned that it looked like no research had been done, despite looking at a number of magazine adverts including some made by past students. Linking in with this, it's quite hard to find magazine adverts aimed at a female audience.
- www. should never be used in 2012.
- Unrealistic reviews.
- Weak layout.
- No price tag or Twitter/Facebook logos.
So putting this feedback into mind, created a new magazine ad. My teacher wanted me to put an image from the video in the area where the sky is, so I got a shot of the boyfriend and girlfriend walking down a path. I used the background eraser and quick selection brush tools to delete segments of the background of the picture.
Afterwards, I decreased the opacity and saturation quality so that it blends in with the poster. I also changed the tour dates by adding 2012 at the end of them and making the locations UK based. I also made the font pink so that it would appeal to a female target audience. Lastly a picture of the digipak's front cover can be seen as well so the public know what the product looks like.
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| FINAL Magazine Advert |
Digipak feedback from our class
Today we managed to obtain feedback from our class colleagues on the second version of our digipak.
We decided to abandon the inner digipak design with the pictures of the wine bottles because my colleagues didn't understand the deeper meaning behind them.
These next images are the panels which have been improved:
- No information on the DVD.
- Email address isn't needed.
- No upper case in the web address.
- The QR code needs to work, in order to show ICT skills. Linked to company blog.
- The sticker on the front cover was way too big.
- Huge line spacing can be seen on the sticker.
- Copyright information needs to be smaller.
- The main title on the front needs to be centred.
- Use plain Sariff font if needed.
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| Inner panel 1 |
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| Inner panel 2 |
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| Inner panel 3 |
.jpg) |
| Hidden credits panel |
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| Panel behind the front cover |
These next images are the panels which have been improved:
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| Front cover |
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| Back panel |
Now the QR code leads to the Blazing Grace production blog.
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| Spine |
Overall from this feedback while the outer panels are fine, the inside panels need changing. So now I will allow Sophie to make the inside of the digipak and I will take over making the magazine in order to speed things up in terms of scheduling.
Our final Digipak
Today we finally managed to finish the digipak after creating each prototype and obtaining feedback via our colleagues and Media teacher.
Here is the front cover. At the top, you can see the band name in large font which is usually seen in the R&B genre. Then we have the smaller font for the sub-title which gives off a quirky feel because of what it says.
A bonus DVD sticker can also be seen on the front cover as well, advertising a DVD and it's extras. Lastly, the main front cover picture consists of the three performers walking through a suburban environment. This is similar to the back of the digipak which I'll talk about to later.
Next, we have the spine of the digipak (as seen above). The colouring used for the spine creates a binary opposition between light and dark. This is due to the white font in black space and black font in white space which are similar to the yin yang symbols, which link in with the theory that the band in the video symbolise fallen angels. The catalogue number and company logo are also present.
Here, we have the inside of the digipak. The inside is a two-panel spread which has a picture of the band lying on the floor in the form of three separate images merged into one. The colours of the pictures which make the two-panel spread symbolise the past, present and future. Black and white = silent film associated with the past, colour = present day and blue = hologram linking in with the future. The initials for the band can also be seen. While there are a lack of credits, there are digipaks out there which lack credits such as the Britney Spears Greatest Hits: My Prerogative.
Lastly, we have the back cover of the digipak which uses most of the conventions seen on digipak. These include, a track listing, list of bonus features, QR code, web addresses, a bar code, the company logo and copyright information. The picture used, links in with front cover because of change in shot type.
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| Front cover |
A bonus DVD sticker can also be seen on the front cover as well, advertising a DVD and it's extras. Lastly, the main front cover picture consists of the three performers walking through a suburban environment. This is similar to the back of the digipak which I'll talk about to later.
 |
| Spine |
Next, we have the spine of the digipak (as seen above). The colouring used for the spine creates a binary opposition between light and dark. This is due to the white font in black space and black font in white space which are similar to the yin yang symbols, which link in with the theory that the band in the video symbolise fallen angels. The catalogue number and company logo are also present.
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| Inner panel |
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| Back of digipak |
Sunday, 15 April 2012
Podcast 5 - Audience feedback
In this podcast, I go solo by talking about the feedback from some friends of mine. I go into detail on topics such as long chunks of narrative and the use of Sepia
Thursday, 15 March 2012
Draft Evaluation Question 4
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Final Cut Express
iMovie
Blogger
Using other blogs for info
Photoshop
Sharing our rough cuts on YouTube and Facebook
Watching videos online
Websites, Forums and fansites
How has these technolgies made our video 'as good as' professional music videos that have been produced?
Show link lists
Final Cut Express
iMovie
Blogger
Using other blogs for info
Photoshop
Sharing our rough cuts on YouTube and Facebook
Watching videos online
Websites, Forums and fansites
How has these technolgies made our video 'as good as' professional music videos that have been produced?
Show link lists
Draft Evaluation Question 2
Question 2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
Similarities within our products:
- Effects with colour, we have used black and white shots in our digipak and the music video itself to show flashbacks of the relationship which is being portrayed in the video.
- White swirl fonts have been used within the digipak centre aswell as on the front of the magazine advertisement showing the release dates and Twitter and Facebook information.
Differences within..
products:
- As our music video has more potential and time the shot variety is much greater than in our other two texts.
Similarities within our products:
- Effects with colour, we have used black and white shots in our digipak and the music video itself to show flashbacks of the relationship which is being portrayed in the video.
- Layering has been used in the digipak especially on the back in which the band shot from behind has been added as layer and moved back so it looks like the band are actually walking away.
- The same font is used on my magazine ad to my digipak and both have been outlined in silver and purple glitter so that the convention of the texts standing out is anchored.
- Photos encorporated on the digipak have also been used on the magazine ad so that the two texts related we also hoped to use shots from filming the performance aspects to link the three texts.
- The same font is used on my magazine ad to my digipak and both have been outlined in silver and purple glitter so that the convention of the texts standing out is anchored.
- Photos encorporated on the digipak have also been used on the magazine ad so that the two texts related we also hoped to use shots from filming the performance aspects to link the three texts.
- White swirl fonts have been used within the digipak centre aswell as on the front of the magazine advertisement showing the release dates and Twitter and Facebook information.
Differences within..
products:
- As our music video has more potential and time the shot variety is much greater than in our other two texts.
Draft Evaluation Question 3
What have you learnt form your audience feedback?
Defining audience:
- 15-24 core audience.
- General fans of the Genre and Destiny's Child are our secondary audience.
- Audiences may be interested in Romantic comedy films.
- Fans of mass and mainstream music such as R&B, Hip hop and Rap.
- Audience may read magazines such as More, Now and Heat.
- The male audiences have been brought in as we have applied the male gaze theory to our music video dressing our band members in short shorts, low cut tops and tight leggings a swell as high heels.
To get audience feedback we have used a variety of methods such as posting our rough cut music video on Facebook, Destiny's Child forums/fan sites, YouTube and getting feedback from the class. Feedback from face book and the class were all from people within our target audience age range although some were male. Before we posted this rough cut we knew there was a series of problems with the footage which we knew the audience would pick up on but their viewing brought up points we had not yet recognised including a lack of shot variety and certain clips not making sense although we already knew this and were behind so were under pressure it showed used us how receptive the audience are. We dismissed some feedback which we did not agree with such as having a shaky shot at the beginning purely because we didn't think we would have enough time to re shoot but then realised it was essential as it did look rubbish and re-shot the footage.
- I will target each of the three texts individually.
- 1 draft and 1 roughcut - expain all of the feedback points made and what we needed to do.
- Before and after shots of the video after we have made changes from any negative feedback.
- Show when we ignored or disagreed with any of the feedback instead of just not making changes.
- An overview of all the feedback we have recieved and what was most useful.
- How important or limited we thought the feedback was.
- Is our final cut all of our work or did we change vast amounts of it due to audience feedback.
Defining audience:
- 15-24 core audience.
- General fans of the Genre and Destiny's Child are our secondary audience.
- Audiences may be interested in Romantic comedy films.
- Fans of mass and mainstream music such as R&B, Hip hop and Rap.
- Audience may read magazines such as More, Now and Heat.
- The male audiences have been brought in as we have applied the male gaze theory to our music video dressing our band members in short shorts, low cut tops and tight leggings a swell as high heels.
To get audience feedback we have used a variety of methods such as posting our rough cut music video on Facebook, Destiny's Child forums/fan sites, YouTube and getting feedback from the class. Feedback from face book and the class were all from people within our target audience age range although some were male. Before we posted this rough cut we knew there was a series of problems with the footage which we knew the audience would pick up on but their viewing brought up points we had not yet recognised including a lack of shot variety and certain clips not making sense although we already knew this and were behind so were under pressure it showed used us how receptive the audience are. We dismissed some feedback which we did not agree with such as having a shaky shot at the beginning purely because we didn't think we would have enough time to re shoot but then realised it was essential as it did look rubbish and re-shot the footage.
- I will target each of the three texts individually.
- 1 draft and 1 roughcut - expain all of the feedback points made and what we needed to do.
- Before and after shots of the video after we have made changes from any negative feedback.
- Show when we ignored or disagreed with any of the feedback instead of just not making changes.
- An overview of all the feedback we have recieved and what was most useful.
- How important or limited we thought the feedback was.
- Is our final cut all of our work or did we change vast amounts of it due to audience feedback.
Draft Evaluation Question 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
THE TASK: to produce a portfolio of three productions including a music video (main text) plus two ancillary texts:- a digipak and a magazine advertisement for the digipak. We have all come up with our music video ideas independantly.
Magazine Ads:
The band name is shown in bold text to make it stand out, this is key if the background of the advertisement is busy as the audience want to know what the ad is as soon as possible before losing interest. A good example of this is the Destiny's Child cover for Rolling Stone magazine.
They provide realise dates for tours and CDs. We found a advert advertising the fan club and releasing tour dates if readers signed up to a particular fan site.
Newspapers or magazines often give the products a star rating out of 5.
Band information and band websites, so people know where they can find out more information on the band.
Record label information and a copyright statement.
Band image or cd image.
Websites related to the band are shown such as there Twitter name and Facebook page.
The singer or band dominates the advertisement. Female bands or solo singers in particular often go into advertising beauty and cosmetics (Beyonce releases perfume scents annually aswell as being a Loreal girl advertising a new lipstick shade)
Digipak:
Made from paper board which is recyclable and therefore more environmentally friendly than a CD.
The band name is usually clear on the front unless there is a symbol representing the band.
Band image or print on the front, usually recognisable.
Website information and band website for people to find out more information.
Band and album name on the side, including category number and company logo.
A brief description of the band or a lyrics sheet in usually found on the inside booklet. This provide you with information.
Barcode.
There is often a leaflet inside which may show lyrics of each song included or photos of the band in performance usually ie. some use festival photos.
Music Video:
They tend to include both a mixture of performance and narrative. Sometimes the artist will be the centre of the music video and the camera will follow them an example of this are pop artists such as Britney Spears and Katy Perry.
Shot variety. Tracking shots are commonly used to create a moving flow for slower songs. Pop videos mainly use longs shots of the female on screen for the male gaze although they may also use close up of breats, legs and , lips and eyes. On the other hand, Indie bands use close ups of the main vocalist and close ups of the instruments.
Lip syncing is commonly used to portray the sense of a performance going on.
Music videos usually feature jump cutting and the footage is usually used to match what is going on on screen.
The mise-en-scene is usually selected to match the genre of the band e.g. a metal band would use some sort of warehouse to create an isolated feeling.
Fast paced editing is used although some artists are known to challenge this creating one moving-shot videos like I previously made reference to in a deconstruction Bruno Mars - The Lazy Song.
Conventions in our texts:
Mag Ad:
- Prominant image of the band and then seperate photos down the right side making it look like photo booth picures
- Large band name
- Release date of the digipak.
- Logo of a retailer where the digipak will be available.
-Twitter and Facebook addresses shown at the bottom right so the audience are able to get more information on the band and updates
THE TASK: to produce a portfolio of three productions including a music video (main text) plus two ancillary texts:- a digipak and a magazine advertisement for the digipak. We have all come up with our music video ideas independantly.
Magazine Ads:
The band name is shown in bold text to make it stand out, this is key if the background of the advertisement is busy as the audience want to know what the ad is as soon as possible before losing interest. A good example of this is the Destiny's Child cover for Rolling Stone magazine.
They provide realise dates for tours and CDs. We found a advert advertising the fan club and releasing tour dates if readers signed up to a particular fan site.
Newspapers or magazines often give the products a star rating out of 5.
Band information and band websites, so people know where they can find out more information on the band.
Record label information and a copyright statement.
Band image or cd image.
Websites related to the band are shown such as there Twitter name and Facebook page.
The singer or band dominates the advertisement. Female bands or solo singers in particular often go into advertising beauty and cosmetics (Beyonce releases perfume scents annually aswell as being a Loreal girl advertising a new lipstick shade)
Digipak:
Made from paper board which is recyclable and therefore more environmentally friendly than a CD.
The band name is usually clear on the front unless there is a symbol representing the band.
Band image or print on the front, usually recognisable.
Website information and band website for people to find out more information.
Band and album name on the side, including category number and company logo.
A brief description of the band or a lyrics sheet in usually found on the inside booklet. This provide you with information.
Barcode.
There is often a leaflet inside which may show lyrics of each song included or photos of the band in performance usually ie. some use festival photos.
Music Video:
They tend to include both a mixture of performance and narrative. Sometimes the artist will be the centre of the music video and the camera will follow them an example of this are pop artists such as Britney Spears and Katy Perry.
Shot variety. Tracking shots are commonly used to create a moving flow for slower songs. Pop videos mainly use longs shots of the female on screen for the male gaze although they may also use close up of breats, legs and , lips and eyes. On the other hand, Indie bands use close ups of the main vocalist and close ups of the instruments.
Lip syncing is commonly used to portray the sense of a performance going on.
Music videos usually feature jump cutting and the footage is usually used to match what is going on on screen.
The mise-en-scene is usually selected to match the genre of the band e.g. a metal band would use some sort of warehouse to create an isolated feeling.
Fast paced editing is used although some artists are known to challenge this creating one moving-shot videos like I previously made reference to in a deconstruction Bruno Mars - The Lazy Song.
Conventions in our texts:
Mag Ad:
- Prominant image of the band and then seperate photos down the right side making it look like photo booth picures
- Large band name
- Release date of the digipak.
- Logo of a retailer where the digipak will be available.
-Twitter and Facebook addresses shown at the bottom right so the audience are able to get more information on the band and updates
Music video:
- Fast paced editing.
- Both narrative and performance aspects have been applied.
- Shot variety, we have encorporated long shots, extremem, long shots, medium, medium close ups, close ups and extreme close ups.
- Lip syncing by our band members.
- Mise en scene is relevant to genre eg. R&B breakup track.
Digipak
- Digipak is linked to the other texts for example the black and white themes which have been used for the flas backs in our music video are used in the digipak made by Asa.
- Shot variety, we have three shots as well as single long shots and low angled shots although we also would like to encorporate a close up of the band members feet into the digipak onto one of the interior panels.
- Made from pale blue paper board.
- The band name is prominant and bold on the cover with silver and purple glitter.band
- The band image is on the front of the digipak.
- Fast paced editing.
- Both narrative and performance aspects have been applied.
- Shot variety, we have encorporated long shots, extremem, long shots, medium, medium close ups, close ups and extreme close ups.
- Lip syncing by our band members.
- Mise en scene is relevant to genre eg. R&B breakup track.
Digipak
- Digipak is linked to the other texts for example the black and white themes which have been used for the flas backs in our music video are used in the digipak made by Asa.
- Shot variety, we have three shots as well as single long shots and low angled shots although we also would like to encorporate a close up of the band members feet into the digipak onto one of the interior panels.
- Made from pale blue paper board.
- The band name is prominant and bold on the cover with silver and purple glitter.band
- The band image is on the front of the digipak.
Finished Magazine Ad
After many delays and issues, we finally managed to finish the magazine advert thanks to Miss Sophie Dixon, with some Photoshop advice from me of course. Anyway deconstructing the advert, it is made up of four pictures of the band. The band's clothing denotes the male gaze theory where the audience is shown that women are treated nothing more than seductive objects for male desire.
 |
| Here is an example shown to promote the 360/PS3 title, Ninja Gaiden 3 which comes out next week. |
Pink text is used at the top left hand corner of the advert, to attract a female audience towards the digipak since it is the prime colour associated with women. Twitter and Facebook links to the company/band pages can be seen at the bottom left hand corner of the page. This is a common convention seen across different media products from music videos to even video games.
As for what the advert is advertising, it is promoting the upcoming release of the digipak as shown by the release date in silver. Little text is shown to give the advert a mysterious feel with the only piece of information being a date of 15th March.
As for what the advert is advertising, it is promoting the upcoming release of the digipak as shown by the release date in silver. Little text is shown to give the advert a mysterious feel with the only piece of information being a date of 15th March.
Wednesday, 14 March 2012
Destiny's Child forums
There are loads of Destiny's child fan sites and forums and we wanted to share our work with the secondary audience (main r&b listeners and fans of the band in general) We have now posted our blog address on the webiste iamfan a popular forum not just for Destiny's child but all genres of music:
http://www.iamfan.com/~destinys_child/
http://www.iamfan.com/~destinys_child/
'Final' digipak
Here is the final version of my digipak. As shown below, there are 3 main panels which can be folded out.
- On the front cover we have a ripped picture of the band which links in with the break up theme of the video
- Then on the inside we have three panels of the band member's faces shown on a bottle of wine with two glasses. On the first panel they're empty, second they're full and third, one glass has a tiny bit of wine next and the other glass is smashed.
- When you fold out the first panel, a "saucy" picture of the band is seen. This links in with the male gaze theory because of the artists' clothing. Leading to male target audience.
- If you fold the middle inside panel, the credits of the digipak can be seen. Which includes, the roles of the group and links to the company's Twitter and Facebook pages
- The discs come out of two disc sleeves which are part of the two panels on the sides of the middle one.
- Lastly on the back of the digipak we have the track and extras listing. Besides that, we also have a link to the main website, bar and QR codes along with a picture of band members walking away.
Podcast on Audience feedback
This podcast was by Asa discussing what he found when he asked a number of students in our year (aged 17-18 men and females)
Tuesday, 13 March 2012
AN - Update 13/03
With the deadline coming up this Friday, here are a list of tasks that our group is currently doing to prepare for that deadline.
Film the aftermath of the girlfriend (final piece of filming) - ALL
Make the digipaks - ALL
Make the magazine adverts - SD and KM
Evaluation post - ALL
Evaluation podcasts - ALL (separately)
Film the aftermath of the girlfriend (final piece of filming) - ALL
Make the digipaks - ALL
Make the magazine adverts - SD and KM
Evaluation post - ALL
Evaluation podcasts - ALL (separately)
Tuesday, 6 March 2012
AN - Filming 6/3/12
Today we filmed our penultimate bit of footage during our Rec & Leisure time. In this session, mostly filmed stuff which was based on the feedback we obtained from the previous Rough Cut. This feedback included ongoing continuity errors which had the boyfriend (James) making a dinner for the girlfriend (Katie) at her house, this made no sense to people and because of this, we had to film it that the house belonged to the boyfriend with the girlfriend walking up to the house and walking out to signify the break up has taken place. We used a variety of shots while filming this sequence such a high angle shot of the break up and a low angle shot of the girlfriend's feet walking up to the house.
Besides that we also filmed a close up of the beans on bread for the dinner scene, since people did not understand what was happening during that sequence so by adding shot variety we will give our audience a better idea of what was happening in the situation.
Besides that we also filmed a close up of the beans on bread for the dinner scene, since people did not understand what was happening during that sequence so by adding shot variety we will give our audience a better idea of what was happening in the situation.
AN - Re-shooting the narrative of the romantic meal
Today we filmed our penultimate bit of footage during our Rec & Leisure time. In this session, mostly filmed stuff which was based on the feedback we obtained from the previous Rough Cut. This feedback included ongoing continuity errors which had the boyfriend (James) making a dinner for the girlfriend (Katie) at her house, this made no sense to people and because of this, we had to film it that the house belonged to the boyfriend with the girlfriend walking up to the house and walking out to signify the break up has taken place. We used a variety of shots while filming this sequence such a high angle shot of the break up and a low angle shot of the girlfriend's feet walking up to the house.
Besides that we also filmed a close up of the beans on bread for the dinner scene, since people did not understand what was happening during that sequence so by adding shot variety we will give our audience a better idea of what was happening in the situation.
Besides that we also filmed a close up of the beans on bread for the dinner scene, since people did not understand what was happening during that sequence so by adding shot variety we will give our audience a better idea of what was happening in the situation.
Monday, 5 March 2012
Audience theories:
- Julian McDougal (2009) suggests that because online age is getting harder to concieve media audiences as a stable identifyable groups.
HOWEVER..
Audiences still clearly make sense and give meaning to cultural products, certain people may not be interested in media products in which others are.
- McQuail (1972) said an audience can be described as a 'temporary collective' ie. people that are linked as being fandoms and are temporary audiences such as a couple going out to the cinema and picking a film last minute which they would'nt normally be interested in they may like or dislike the film after watching it.
HOWEVER..
If there was a cult following (not mainstream) but gathers sucess over a long period of time instead, these people are not temporary collective audiences. Some serious cult followers embrace aspects of a band or film or character intot their lives such as quoting characters and reading up on subjects they want to know more about in the text.
- Ien Ang (1991) says that audiences only exist as an imaginary entity, an abstraction which is constructed from the vantage point of the institution. This theory is talking about companies and corporations and is therefore not relative to people. This theory could be seen as outdated because of recent digitisation, because of digitisation audiences can be now scientifically measure on websites such as youtubes and website statistics.
Ang also said that audiencehood is becoming ever more multifaceted, fragmented and diversified repertoire of practices and experiences. More and more subgenres are coming about which would agree with this theory although the older generation may disagree.
Sunday, 4 March 2012
CD Disc design - Example Three
I was surprised how plane the CD design for the Girls Aloud single 'The Show' was. The CD is all black and white (something Asa has been wanting to do our digipak like) there is only one image of a directors cutting device on it which is also in black and white. This is a countertype of what you would expect as the girls a a bunch of singers not actresses although this obviously is linked to the name of the album and track one on the track listing, which only contains two songs 'the Show' and the later released single 'Jump' although this is a remix of the origional track. The track listing is shown on the cut thing aswell as the date the single was released underneath. In a box next to the image there is a box containing small font explaining again the full rights go to the distributor and record label which is again, Polydor the same label Hear'say were signed to owned by Universal Music Company. Below this there are four logos; one with an image and then the name GirlsAloud, another saying Aloudsound which is researched and found that it is the name of the official Girls Aloud fan site, Compact disc digital audio (which has been featured on all of my examples), and the last the letters GA inside a triangle which looks like the one which usually contains film age ratings.
This is the front cover of the single 'The Show' it is quite plane for a Girl band's cover but as the band has recently been put together before this, it names the members and is quite 'cutesy' which matches with the idea of putting a fan site in the bottom right corner in the hope that the band would become bigger and more well known. The 'GA' in the traingle sticks with this idea and is quite fun rating themselves as just the band quite a simple idea, the green obviously means suitable for anyone which may imply that the band are trying to appeal to all audiences and arn't marketing themselves specifically or to one core audience although obviously they don't appeal to all audiences.
This is the front cover of the single 'The Show' it is quite plane for a Girl band's cover but as the band has recently been put together before this, it names the members and is quite 'cutesy' which matches with the idea of putting a fan site in the bottom right corner in the hope that the band would become bigger and more well known. The 'GA' in the traingle sticks with this idea and is quite fun rating themselves as just the band quite a simple idea, the green obviously means suitable for anyone which may imply that the band are trying to appeal to all audiences and arn't marketing themselves specifically or to one core audience although obviously they don't appeal to all audiences.
Saturday, 3 March 2012
Defining our Audience
- The age of our core audience is 15-24.
- General fans of the band and the R&B genre.
- The male gaze aspect would bring in a secondary male audience.
- Our audience may be interested in viewing romantic comedy films rather than indie and horror films.
- They will be interested in mainstream music and genre's such as R&B, Pop and maybe Hip-hop.
- The audience may also read gossip magazine rather than informative newsletters and papers, these may include the ones that target the same age group ie. More, Now & Look
- The uses of gratifications theory is good to use when thinking about the audience you are trying to target, getting a fuller view of what the viewer is interested in will help when making decissions to include within the text itself, magazine advertisment and digipak.
- Destiny's Childs audience is Mainstream but also a Mass audience although because they are a female band in the R&B genre which could be seen as attracting a niche audience.
'Uses of gratifications theory is an approach to understanding why people actively seek out specific media outlets and content for gratification purposes. The theory discusses how users proactively search for media that will not only meet a given need but enhance knowledge, social interactions and diversion.
This theory assumes that members of the audience are not passive but take an active role in interpreting and integrating media into their own lives. The theory also holds that audiences are responsible for choosing media to meet their needs. The approach suggests that people use the media to fulfill specific gratifications. This theory would then imply that the media compete against other information sources for viewers' gratification.'
- General fans of the band and the R&B genre.
- The male gaze aspect would bring in a secondary male audience.
- Our audience may be interested in viewing romantic comedy films rather than indie and horror films.
- They will be interested in mainstream music and genre's such as R&B, Pop and maybe Hip-hop.
- The audience may also read gossip magazine rather than informative newsletters and papers, these may include the ones that target the same age group ie. More, Now & Look
- The uses of gratifications theory is good to use when thinking about the audience you are trying to target, getting a fuller view of what the viewer is interested in will help when making decissions to include within the text itself, magazine advertisment and digipak.
- Destiny's Childs audience is Mainstream but also a Mass audience although because they are a female band in the R&B genre which could be seen as attracting a niche audience.
'Uses of gratifications theory is an approach to understanding why people actively seek out specific media outlets and content for gratification purposes. The theory discusses how users proactively search for media that will not only meet a given need but enhance knowledge, social interactions and diversion.
This theory assumes that members of the audience are not passive but take an active role in interpreting and integrating media into their own lives. The theory also holds that audiences are responsible for choosing media to meet their needs. The approach suggests that people use the media to fulfill specific gratifications. This theory would then imply that the media compete against other information sources for viewers' gratification.'
Friday, 2 March 2012
All - Blazing Grace so far, Schedule for finishing all products
On Tuesday we filmed a new scene, this was just another scene showing the boyfriend and girlfriend together before the aftermath's take place.
We now need to film the girlfriend's aftermath and re shoot the scene when the meal takes place for the girlfriend and boyfriend because their was a bit of a mix up with the scene itself, so a quick re shoot should fix the problem.
So far with the Digipak and Magazine Ad, we have not spent enough time as we would of hoped but all three of us have either made a prototype or researched on previous Digipaks and Magazine Ad's.
We will have an update soon, and will hopefully have a final rough cut to post up early next week.
Here is our plan to deal with these products and what we have to do.
Filming:
We now need to film the girlfriend's aftermath and re shoot the scene when the meal takes place for the girlfriend and boyfriend because their was a bit of a mix up with the scene itself, so a quick re shoot should fix the problem.
So far with the Digipak and Magazine Ad, we have not spent enough time as we would of hoped but all three of us have either made a prototype or researched on previous Digipaks and Magazine Ad's.
We will have an update soon, and will hopefully have a final rough cut to post up early next week.
Here is our plan to deal with these products and what we have to do.
Filming:
Girlfriend's aftermath
Girlfriend walking up to the house
Girlfriend leaving house
Close up of beans on toast
We plan on filming this stuff this weekend and edit the items on Monday.
Digipak:
Implement feedback into Asa's digipak
Sophie and Katie need to learn how to use Photoshop. If they run out of time, Asa's digipak will be the main one although we shouldnt see this as being a problem as there are afew ICT students in the class who could show us how to use it.
Magazine Ad:
Research done.
Sophie and Katie will use either Photoshop or Microsoft Publisher to create the advert.
A photoshoot of the band will also take place so that pictures can be obtained for the digipaks this will be done this weekend on a cobbled suburban road in which the band members will be featured walking dow a street away from the camera in a long shot which will be used for the back face of the digipak
Girlfriend walking up to the house
Girlfriend leaving house
Close up of beans on toast
We plan on filming this stuff this weekend and edit the items on Monday.
Digipak:
Implement feedback into Asa's digipak
Sophie and Katie need to learn how to use Photoshop. If they run out of time, Asa's digipak will be the main one although we shouldnt see this as being a problem as there are afew ICT students in the class who could show us how to use it.
Magazine Ad:
Research done.
Sophie and Katie will use either Photoshop or Microsoft Publisher to create the advert.
A photoshoot of the band will also take place so that pictures can be obtained for the digipaks this will be done this weekend on a cobbled suburban road in which the band members will be featured walking dow a street away from the camera in a long shot which will be used for the back face of the digipak
Feedback from our first Rough Cut.
The main feedback we recieved from the class mainly focused on how one of the narrative aspects didnt make sense (The boyfriend James had set up a surprise meal for his girlfriend Katie in her own house when he had been shown arriving moments before). They also thought that we should do faster paced editing and although it is a slow song we would be marked down for shot variety. Connor suggested a digetic intro in which we could have the couple having a conversation. Another problem which we knew about already but was pointed out is that the first few shots were shakey as we forgot to use the tripod.
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