Evaluation Question 4

Q4) How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?


On doing my music video for the second time, I had a second chance to take advantage of the tools provided by the software, Serif Movie Maker. As well as using the basic tools that I used last time, such as simply cutting and trimming shots with the occasional fade, I took some time to experiment with different effects. This included using the 'Greyscale' tool, and then also using effects such as 'Brightness and Contrast' to really create an intense atmosphere through some scenes. Another tool I used more than I did last time is the crossfade which I used to fade into black, or to fade into each shot. Using these tools helped to boost the storyline and visually it helped the audience to follow this storyline.



This time round, I did not make any changes to my ancillary tasks, so the technologies I used, and learnt to use remain the same within 'Macromedia Dreamweaver' and 'Adobe InDesign'.


























During the research stages, using Blogger has been vital to my development, I have used it to record every stage of this coursework. The images I have taken and uploaded are all of my own images (other than those displayed in the visual mindmap) that I took using my own cameras. The technology necessary to upload some of these images included a scanner, which I used to upload the hand written aspects such as the mindmap and the annotations.

Evaluation Question 3

Q3) What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Following the creation of my new video I posted it onto YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnNwOfly8M8), in the hope of recieving some freedback from an audience. After posting it on the website I got only three comments and as I was pushed for time, I decided to post it onto social networking site Facebook, where the video recieved a mixture of reviews ranging from the very goodd to people almost picking on every aspect that made up the storyline.

From this I have been able to take away which parts were successful and which parts were not. From the feedback more people really liked the effect of the black and white scenes in the video and the emphasis on the flashbacks that it made. The also liked the musical interludes and the stillness of these shots in them, and how some of these fit perfectly with the music. They also liked the relevance of the narrative was to the content itself and how it takes you through a journey.

Things that the audience thought that did not go so well were things such as the man being engulfed by the reflection (which I had actually intended on as the man was supposedly reflecting on his memories), they thought that this did not work so well as you could hardly see his face in the window. Another aspect that was critisised was the pubs scenes, particularly the scene where the couple are walking out from the pub, they felt that this did not work and fit in with the video.

After recieving this feedback I have had some time to think about what I would improve on if I redid this particular video and song. I would definitely cut the scenes containing the pub, and perhaps something more classy/ respectable to match with the rest of the video. I would also make the scenes with the man in the window more prominent in their meaning and relevance to the video, perhaps by doing something as simple as editing them into black and white, for example. On the other hand, if I had to completely redo this task (again) I would definitely chose a shorter song as it didn't occur to me how long this song was and how much effort it would be to fill up all of the time with the appropriate footage.

Evaluation Question 2

Q2) How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

For each task it was important for there to be some sort of link, drawing them together. However, after creating my new video it was difficult to identify an obvious link to the band members as shown in the previous video. There is still clearly a link between both anicillary tasks whereby the images and details, such as the band name link. Howvever, there is not such an obvious one, other than the reference in the band name in the details. Upon reflection, it would have been nice to have involved the original band members as they played such a huge part in the last video.

Evaluation Question 1

1)In what ways does your media product, use, develop or challenge media forms and conventions?

Before starting the creation and planning of each task; I did thorough research into things that were of a similar genre it what my initial ideas were based on. Starting with the re-creation of my music video I looked at two other music videos, of the same genre (acoustic) and videos of the same length as the song I had chosen, so that I could grasp some ideas of what content I could include. Both of the songs I chose ‘Hey there Delilah’ by the Plain White T’s (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQ5f3VspUUQ) and ‘The Only Exception’ by Paramore (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J7J_IWUhls) contain easy flowing storylines that match the lyrics of the song, as most videos of this genre would do, conventionally. When it came to choosing some of the technicalities of the new music video it was important to film them so that the audience could easily follow what the video was showing, to do this I used many wide angle shots to show the location and to allow the audience to interpret where the characters are and also a few extreme close ups to focus on the content in one particular shot. Compared to my last video, I feel as though the research I have done this time is a lot more relevant and has therefore boosted the quality of my video overall.

In planning for the DVD cover, I looked at the cover for the Foo Fighters’ Everywhere but Home’ tour, which quickly made it obvious to me the conventions necessary for a successful DVD cover. This included things such as the conventional tagline at the bottom of the back of the DVD where all the credits are displayed. It also shows reviews on the DVD of people/reviewers who had obviously been to see the show, drawing in a wide audience. Another vital convention I had to include is the blurb at the back of the DVD where there is a brief description of its contents.

Editing and Experimenting

Editing started very well, and I found it easy to match the lyrics to the content that I had filmed. However, it quickly became obvious how long the song I had chosen was, initially I didn't think that 4 minutes was a long video, however after having to edit one, my opinion has changed, toward the end of the video I found it hard to fit all of my footage into the alloted time I had set in the story board, and in trying to make this work and fit, I had to move some things around, but I think this has worked for the best and will look better when it comes to the finished product.

Something that I enjoyed the most in my editing was experimenting with different effects on footage. I started playing around with the greyscale tool, and using it to make it seem as though some of the shots were in the past, which will help to make the story clearer. The screenshots below show an example of this, before the tool was used, and after:


















Another effect I used was the cross fade, I used this on only a couple of my shots, and this screenshot shows one method of using it. This tool allowed me to intertwine my shots as they fade into eachother, creating a nice merging of shots, looking more interesting:





When editing my video I really enjoyed using these effects, as on my last video, I used very few- almost none. Using them has opened up a whole new method of displaying a message, altering an audience members interpretation of what they are viewing.

Filming

The days filming went very well and smoothly with a few exceptions. Overall I think that all of the shots I have taken work very well and have come out as expected and I have plenty to work with when it comes to editing, which I am very excited about. Everything ran smoothly apart from, the pub I needed to use for filming refused us as they are a chain, so filming and photography is not permitted on their premisis. Following this we had to go to a pub further down the road, but I think that the footage here probably worked better as there was a lot more light on the inside. Another frustration that I had was that the weather was not as perfect as I had hoped, so the shots where the couple are running in the field do not seem as spectacular and as happy as I intended. I think that if these shots do not fit in well with the rest of the video I will have to re-shoot them or think of something different to use. Filming with the instruments was interesting as it was important to get the timings right and the note sequence accurate to the song so that it looks more professional, I was fortunate enough to have someone close to me who had the sheet music for this song and could easily play it for me. Now that this is done I am now going to start editing.

Letter of Permission

To use the music for the video, I have to ask the appropriate record label. Paolo Nutini is signed to Atlantic Records. To ask for their permission to use the song I had to send an email, the following screenshot shows this email as evidence:

Locations

These photos some of the locations. The ones not displayed here are still to be confirmed. The field shown is where Darren and Beci are having a good time with eachother, when Darren looks back at his good memories of their relationship. It's also where Beci leaves Darren.

















This is the pub where we first see Beci and Darren together, Beci leads Darren from here and down the street outside.

Costumes

The following pictures show the costumes that each actor will wear in different scenes of the video:

Beci:
This is the outfit that Beci will be wearing for the majority of the video, she will be wearing this in the field when she is having a good time with Darren, the other character in the film.

This is the outfit that Beci will be wearing when we first meet the characters in the pub, she will enter the pub and then walk over to Darren as he sits alone. She will then lead him out as the then walk down the street together.











Darren:
This is the outfit that Darren meets Beci in, in the pub- smart casual.


This second outfit, is the outfit that we first see Darren in- sat alone in the cafe.




















This last outfit is what Darren will wear with Beci in the field, however there may be a hooded jumper added, so that it is more realistic, as it is not the summer.

The Last Video

By comparing the two storyboards of my existing and new video, already I feel as though I have been able to develop my ideas a lot further. When I go onto edit the footage of my new video I plan on experimenting with the tools within the software to make my video more interesting and to emphasise points. I think that by giving my new video more of a story line it will make a lot more sense to the song, which is something I think my last video lacked, not because the action did not fit the lyrics, but because there was nothing carrying the action.

Also when it comes to physically filming the footage I plan on using a tripod more often to make shots steady and any hand held shots will have to be planned properly before being attempted. I am also going to pay a lot more attention to mise en scene which will hopefully make things more meaningful and exaggerated when it comes to putting the video together. I would like to pay more attention to what the characters are doing, making sure that their actions are more precise and in time with the lyrics even, I will also pay more attention to things such as their outfits and make up to bring out the best in shots. Another vitally important thing to consider if I want this to work properly also is the kind of weather that I will need to consider when I'm filming especially as some of it will take place outside.

The Storyboard

For my storyboard I used a template to do quick sketches, descriptions and rough time slots for each scene of my video. The video below shows this:

Looking at other Videos

To get some more ideas about the structure and technique involved in creating my second music video, I looked at two music videos. The first is Hey There Delilah- Plain White T's, and the second is The Only Exception- Paramore. From looking at each of these videos I was able to look at different techniques that I could use.

Hey There Delilah- Plain White T's:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQ5f3VspUUQ
I have chosen to look at this song because of the similarties in music genre- acoustic. I also chose this as it is almost the same length as the song I have chosen (White Lies) and because the stories told by the singer are almost the same. When you start watching this video it is immediately obvious that the screen is split into three sections, this varies throughout however, it breaks up and seperates the two characters shown in the video. The establishing shot is of a girl as the lyrics start 'Hey there Delilah...'. Every shot that shows the girl in this video is not steady and is almost subjective as we follow her around the city. The lyrics tell of the singer being seperated from this girl Delilah, and she's singing to her about their seperation, this is exaggerated as the split screen makes the seperation more obvious. Another thing which I liked throughout this video is the, use of instruments, and how they used extreme close ups of the parts being played by the guitar and the lingering shots of the guitar sat in a hallway. As well as this there is also a lot of shots of both of their surroundings- the singer in a small room sat on a chair, whilst Delilah wonders around the city aimlessly.













The Only Exception- Paramore:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J7J_IWUhls
I looked at this video mainly because of its technicalities, each one is fairly basic in using the shots etc. However, it does also have an interesting storyline. The video starts with a slow pan through a room until we meet our main characters. After this the video is a series of wide angle shots, close up and extreme close ups, over the shoulder shots, tilts, and fixed position shots, which are all things that I need to consider for my video as I need to demonstrate a variety of shots. I have also been able to get a few seperate ideas from this video for my own video, in reflections and having things mounted in the foreground as a person stands out of focus in the background. Also lingering shots of posessions that might play a big part in the story line. This video also shows a selection of shots of the band playing together casually on a stage, I like this idea because I think it's important that there is a link in a video back to the band/artist.

Visualising

Using the mindmap I created I have pulled together some images that I have found in photography books (The Photo Book, 21st Century Photography) and online (www.photobucket.com) to create a visual mindmap, this demonstrates the kind of things that I want my video to present.
This mindmap shows a series of images presenting relationships in different forms. Some of them show the relationship between couples, such as 'V-J Day in Times Square' by Alfred Eisenstaedt (bottom left corner). I have also taken some images from some film noir (right hand corner) because of the dark contrast in the frames that emphasises the emotion on the actors faces. The majority of these images are in black and white, this is something I plan on experimenting with when it comes to making my own video. This may be more relevant if I chose to include different times in my video i.e. a person looking back at memories, this would make it clear that the person is looking back as the grey scale presents quite old, rustic images.

After looking at these images, I decided to use some of my own images from Photography to get some ideas from. The following images show a couple together, however the dramatic light makes the mood so much more intense, emphasising every surface and physical contact that the two have.










I also took some portraits to experiment with different angles, and lighting. These images, show the same emotion, but in some cases I have edited them to look more dramatic, or present a different mood.



For the top image I have edited it to make it a sepia tone, and the angle from which it is taken makes the model look scared, this is particularly emphasised by the light, which is coming from below. This light makes the shadows rest on the models face in such a way as he might look scared.
The image below, the colour image, I made very little changes to, I simply cropped this image to make the focus more on the model. The atmosphere presented by this image is calm and peaceful as the lighting creates no shadow and bounces off the models face in a to make the image brighter.
The image on the right, in black and white, I have added more contrast to, to make it really dramatic. The angle from which the photo is taken, makes it seem as though the model is almost being engulfed by the darkness, as the high angle makes him look vulnerable.

The New Song

As mentioned before, I want my music video to carry some sort of storyline, and to do this I need to choose a song which almost tells a story. I have chosen Paolo Nutini's- White Lies (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muJlVnOXjOE). I have chosen this song because of the depth in the lyrics and the ideas that immediately occured to me on listening to it, this song is easy to listen to and contains suitable lyrics to fit the video to.

After choosing this song, I printed and annotated the lyrics, and also did a mindmap of the mood that this song presents to me and possible story lines to follow it. When looking at the lyrics I was using some of the ideas I had and applying them to parts. The ideas are quite sketchy and rough, but allowed me to develop more definite ideas for the storyboarding of the video.

By doing the following mindmap I was able to really explore the depth of emotion presented by this song. There are a variety of words that link to certain moods and certain occasions which I have also included onto one side of the mindmap. By linking the words to occasions I have been able to develop my initial ideas even further into what kind of story the video will tell. However, I now have so many different ideas that I'm not really sure which to chose: the first main idea, which is probably the most simplistic one is a break up in a relationship between a young couple. My more complex ideas that I would l ike to do/explore are that of a person being sent to war, leaving his loved ones behind, another is the rememberance of someone lost to a disease or illness. The song presents quite a solemn and serious mood, and a sad atmosphere. As the mindmap demonstrates.

Resubmission of A2 Coursework

After choosing to resubmit my coursework for A2 level media, I thought it would be best to redo my music video as I felt it was the weakest part of my previous courswork. By doing this I will later have to re-evaluate my work.This time however, I have no plans to redo or edit my two minor tasks- the DVD cover and website. Before choosing a new song I thought it would be best to almost re-evaluate my previous video, so that I have a clear idea on what I need to improve this time round, when it comes to refilming and re-editing the new video.

After watching the video back it was obvious that a lot of things could have been done better. For one thing, I have decided that my next video will definitely contain some sort of storyline, as my previous video lacked in any sort of direction. This time round I have ensured that I will have access to better equipment, for examole a tripod which will make certain that the majority of my shots (excluding ones involving movement, such as tracking) will be as steady. After looking more at the editing I did in my existing video, I realised that it was fairly simplistic, with basic cuts, and then a fade. On my next video, I plan on experimenting more with shots, using different effects, which I will hopefully document in my blog.

When it comes to choosing a new song to put a video to, I am looking for a video which I can add a story to, because the lyrics tell a story, something that contains some emotion, that people can truly relate to.

The video below shows my previous video to the song Shoot the Runner by Kasabian. However, the quality of this video is unfortunately not very good, due to the way it was exported and compressed from movie maker.

Evaluation Question 4

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

For each task I used a variety of different technologies. During the planning stages I mainly used Microsoft Word to create templates for each task and annotate them. For my research I used the internet briefly to look up the clip I wanted to use from Back to the Future, however I mainly used the DVD. In researching for the DVD cover I used my own DVD of Foo Fighters ‘Everywhere but Home’. I was then able to publish all of this onto my blog which is online.

On my first ancillary task which was the DVD cover I used Adobe Indesign which allowed me to place text and images onto a double page spread and edit text to my liking. The images I used for this were images I had taken from a concert earlier in the year; I used Paint Shop Pro to manipulate them using various different tools. I also used the internet and google to get the different logos I needed such as the age certificate.

For the website I used Macromedia Dreamweaver to create two pages using a template I created. On the website I added images I took whilst filming the major task, I only chose the name for the band as ‘archway’ because I knew the exact location of where I wanted to take the images for this task. I also manipulated these photos in Paint Shop Pro, cropping them and grouping them together. Within the website I used flash buttons that contained hyperlinks to the homepages and the first page. Also on the first page I embedded a short clip to act as an advert by writing the code in the pages HTML.

On creating the video I used a Sony video camera and Serif Movie Maker which allowed me to edit the film appropriately. Within this application I was able to cut shots down and used effects such as fading and adjusting the speed of any shots. Using this software I was also able to create a DVD menu after exporting the video onto disc.

Evaluation Question 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

By showing a draft of each of my products to a small audience I realised I had a few details to change to make my products more effective. By first showing my audience my video it became obvious that I needed to make some tweaks to certain cuts and shots. This included moving some shots to make them more in time with the music which overall made it more affective. With the ancillary texts I needed to adjust things slightly to make them more conventional and realistic. On the website it was suggested that I make some of the images larger and add more text onto the home page. With the DVD cover I needed to add another quotation from a reviewer and add a selection of logos to make it more realistic. By making these changes based on the audience feedback, I think that my products have become more accurate to the task brief and are at a good standard of realism.

Evaluation Question 2

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

When approaching these tasks as a promotional package for the release of an album I felt it was important for each of my products to have obvious links to each other. Both of my ancillary texts contain small things such as the record label of a shamrock and shared images to link them together subtly. The website contains a small advert which I created using clips from the music video. This clip advertises ‘Archway: Live from Chicago’ CD and DVD. The website also contains images of the band linking to the video and indicating to the audience what the band look like. I chose these three tasks because of the variety of skills needed to use the applications involved with them, and also to add variety to my project. I also think that these three parts complement each other nicely and also run on from each other through the links that they contain.

Evaluation Question 1

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

Before starting the creation and planning of two of my products I researched and analysed similar real products that could inspire and develop my ideas. Before starting my video, I watched a scene from Back to the Future which contains a chase between Marty and Biff through the town square; this scene involves a lot of fast paced running action, which was very similar to my ideas at the time. By watching this clip I was able to grasp on to some of the basic camera angles and shots that I needed to use in my video. In developing these various shots and ideas that I had gotten from the scenes I drew up a storyboard to the song I had chosen (Shoot the Runner- Kasabian) containing approximate timings, camera angles and sketches making it easier to visualise. In order to make my video more conventional I tried to make cuts and shots precise to the beat and rhythm of the music. I also ensured that I had credits at the beginning and the end of the video. At the beginning of the video I had titles showing the name of the song and the name of the band, the ending of the video contained credits showing the actors who starred in the video and the names of the director and editor.

For the DVD cover that I made I looked at the ‘Foo Fighters’ DVD cover for their ‘Everywhere but home’ tour. I chose this because the band Foo Fighters is of a similar genre to the one that I had chosen for my band ‘Archway’. By looking and analysing this cover I was able to get an idea of how to create a realistic and conventional cover. By looking at this cover it became obvious what I needed to make a realistic cover: images, a short blurb and reviews. I also needed a credits banner where I would write the names of everyone involved in the production of the DVD. Looking at the DVD also gave me an plan of what logos and titles I needed to have on the cover. These included conventional logos such as age certificates and the logos of the Production Company and record label. Looking at this DVD gave me an insight into how to make my product conventional and realistic to the genre of the band and to the media form.

Review

Before publishing my video and other media products, I showed them to a selection of people. These people consisted of my brother and his friend who actually starred in the video and photo shoots, and the others were some friends that had heard about my project.

I showed them all three of my products and after each they made some comments on what they thought could be changed and what they really liked about each product.
I first showed them the video to which they were most excited about. After seeing the video they all agreed that they quite liked the song and the ideas that were presented in the video. However they felt in some places the cuts or shots could be more precise to the beat of the music. They also thought that I could have used more effects such as slow motion or fading shots into each other.

I then showed them the DVD cover. They said that the colours and text all contrasted well and the cover matched their mental image of what a music DVD should look like. One of them suggested that the cover could use one or two more DVD logos such as an age certificate (PG, 12 etc) or something relating to the production of the DVD. They also suggested that there should be more than one review on the cover to show more variety and to persuade the average audience member further.

The last on my project that I showed the group was the bands website. They all really the video embedded into the homepage and liked the idea of this page being an entrance into the proper homepage. On the homepage they all thought it was fine however they recommended that I should make some of the images bigger and maybe add a little extra to the text on this page.

After taking the following comments in I tried to use all of them to improve each of my products. With the video I worked hard trying to cut shots precisely with the music to make it more hard hitting and effective. I also tried to add some effects such as slow motion. On the DVD cover I added logos, to emphasise the realism of the product. On the website I managed to make the images bigger, to make them more effective, I also added a manipulated image that I used on the DVD cover. I also added more contrast to the images that were already on the page to give them more mood and to contrast them against the black background and surroundings of the page.