Evaluation

Evaluation

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

My group 'Poster Child' focuses on the Pop/ Funk gene. To portray their genre of music, I had to show this through media products I made. To get to this stage I watched several music videos which are a similar genre to my group. Such as Maroon 5 which I've realised sound almost identical to my group. Instead of showing both singers from the band, I used just one character although I changed his outfits to create a similarity to pop music. In pop/ funk videos, we usually see a narrative so therefore i've related realistically to the conventions of pop music To resume the conventions in the following media products My advert: The image on the advert relates to the storyline of my music video. The character is on the flop, a bland expression on his face etc. Secondly on my Digipack, I've used images also relating to my video and I've remained focused on keeping the conventions of real media products. 

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

I personally feel that the products used work exceptionally well together. 

My music video

My CD Album cover 

My Magazine Advert

My main intentions were that I wanted to keep the image of the group. In order to reflect the narrative of the song, I repeatedly used images from the video and similar photographs to do so. I also wanted to Maintain a large variety of images to represent the group such as using a microphone, fashionable attire the mood represented in the song etc. Although I feel I could have used a larger variety of images to represent this. 

3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

I received mainly positive and constructive feedback. From this it helped me to improve on my work and showed me opinions on what my audience think about my music video and other products. Some of the feedback I received stated that I'd reahed my target audience. I took my feedback in positively because it's important that I learnt who I was attracting. I was also given suggestions as to what i could do to improve on my products. Some of the negative points received were roughly what I'd already stated and comments made were that I'd used the same shots for the chorus too often and that the shots were too dark. So from the feedback given I was able to improve. 

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

I only used technology for all of my research. For my initial research for my music video, I used websites such as youtube to watch music videos and analyse on my blog. I explored a wide range of genres to look at particular themes which arise such as popular shots. This allowed me to record my process and to talk through step by step. I used several applications to follow on from my research and blogging. Once I'd recorded my video I uploaded the footage onto IMovie and edit it also using IMovie. I added effects to remove the audio from the footage so only the song could be heard. I also used tools to edit the image to give it a contrasted glow. IMovie enabled me to cut sections of footage and speed it up if the length of the clip took too long. For my Digipak I used DiscLabel because of the templates they offer which gave me a good border to work with so I knew what measurements they were. The photographs taken were shot on a Nikon SLR for a crisp effect.

Magazine advert final ideas

I've decided to use this as my final photograph because the colors of the character - the black block colors with the white outline. The colors look good because they represent the mood of the character, I also like the fonts used, I was originally going to use a 'courier' font similar to typewriter however I personally think it looks too simple and bland. I like the orange and the font itself, it could be a recognizable font when advertised on a list of singers at a festival etc 

Magazine advert Ideas

I've used these two ideas and edit them on a website called 'PIC MONKEY'. It's a basic photo editor . I used a similar font to a type writer, it was called courier. I personally like the font because it relates to the theme of the music video which is about a writer with a writers block. Although the Navy color is too dark so therefore I'm not going to use either of these. 

I'm exceptionally pleased with the outcome of this cover. Both colors of the writing match the picture itself and we can still see the outline of my character. Although the positioning of the writing makes the top right half of the photograph look blank so therefore I'm going to experiment with this font and colours however I'm going to change the positioning. 

I've once again used the same colors as the previous photographs however I've added a sepia tone to this photograph instead of coloring the character in black. The orange however looks boring so therefore I'm going to research what colors suit the background. 

 These two photographs haven't turned out too well. I've used the same photograph as I did previously. I like the colours used however the white font looks bland, the picture towards the bottom works well although I still personally dislike the outcome of it so therefore I'm going to work on the darker photographs and experiment with the fonts. 

Exploration into magazine adverts

The posters used represent each of the characters. Gwen Stefani's album represents her as glamorous yet sexy with her bold lipstick. Cee Lo Green's poster represents him as the title states, 'The Lady Killer'. Both of these adverts include details about the release, the record companies, the artists etc. This shows the indepth research used to produce these adverts. Magazine adverts are basically used to promote the upcoming release of a song or CD by an artist, they have to include details, if not then it's considered a poster or an advert, 

Final Cd cover

Favourite Cd cover ideas

Digipack Favourite Ideas

I like this photograph, it is another shot from my filming however i'm not too keen on the font because of the european look it has to it. It makes the title look Italian which could suggest that it's similar to french lyrics. So therefore I'm going to keep the picture however I'm just going to remove the 'Stranger Than Fiction' title and replace it.



I love this idea here, I've used it from my music video again. I've decided I'm going to use this Photo. I've used a deep contrasting tool, enhanced the brightness and then increased the contrast again.

I also like the outcome of this photograph so therefore I've decided I'm going to use this as a cover for my Digipack.

Cd Cover Ideas

I like the outcome of this photograph however the only problem was the subtitle 'Stranger Than Fiction' looks Italian because of the order of the colors, the typewriter font I've used however matches the theme of the song. I've edit the photograph on an application called Pic monkey, this enabled me to easily edit my photograph with the advantage of using features such as 'crop', 'sepia', increase the contrast etc.  

Digipack

I like the outcome of my digipack- I've used my favourite shots, I've edit them on Picmonkey which is a  simple yet easy photo editor. Then I've uploaded them onto DiscLabel which gives blank templates for you to design on so therefore my knowledge on how to make a Label for my cd has expanded. I like the outcome, I've also considered using a parental advisory stamp for my audience to understand that the songs may consist of explicit lyrics. However I've not put an age rating on my CD so therefore, this lets parents know their children can listen however they have to keep an eye out for any explicit Lyrics.

Digipack Ideas

I personally like this cover for the CD case because of the photograph I'd used in my Music video, however The writing is a good contrast to the colour of the clock. But the picture of the clock is quite blurry and the writing's darker than the rest. I've decided not to use this image because of the points mentioned above, the case is relevant however the disadvantagxe is the lack of color, this wouldn't attract my audience effectively.


I'm not to keen on this CD cover however a lot of pop CD covers have plain block colours and white/ black writing etc as a contrast. For instance Amy Winehouses 'Back to Black' CD cover is a matte black with a shiny black title, this looks attractive. However, I personally think this shows a lack of creativity and looks bland. So therefore I'd rather use a photo of my singer or an object that relates to the video to interest the viewer.

Maroon 5 CD covers

I've looked at Maroon 5's CD covers because of the relation to my band. I personally like the 'It wont be soon before long' cover because with that I could do an inspired CD cover of my friend reeve with different personalities, instead of all of the band members, I could morph individual pictures of Reeve onto one picture, and then the 'happy' Reeve where Adam Levine is standing on the picture. However this would have to consist of using photo shop or cutting out individual pictures and placing them on one photograph. Which may give off an unappealing vibe.

I also like the 'Maroon 5 Pay phone' cover because of the colorful background while all of the Band and Khalifa are wearing dull navy clothes. Although, I've only got one character in my music video the colorful background may be the pinpoint of the picture. But, if Reeve were to wear navy clothes, it may put the song across as gothic. However the clothes could symbolize Reeve's mood.

The cover for 'Songs about Jane' and 'Hands All Over' wouldn't be a very productive cover because the naked woman on the cover symbolically puts her across as a lustful character. My song doesn't focus on these elements.

Exploration into CD covers

The Black Eyed Peas are a well known worldwide group. Their music is played almost everywhere. In their recent album, their CD cover for 'THE END' portrays the group as cybertronical pop because of the pixellated face on the cover. There isn't much to this cover however, but their popularity ratings are through the roof. So therefore when the green pixelated man is seen on the cover, people will instantly realise that it's the Black Eyed Peas. 

Adele is a recently recognised world wide singer. She's known by millions of people as a pop sensation.  This CD cover relates to her songs in this album which are about a lost and not forgotten love. The song titles- 'Rolling In The Deep', 'Rumour Has It',  ' Someone Like You'. The cover shows adele pondering over something, the black and white tone on the cover also portrays a depressing vibe. 

Jessie J has recently also become recognized world wide. She's a quirky, fashionable, cheeky looking character. Also recently seen as a judge in the TV programme called 'The Voice' which has increased her popularity. The cover portrays her as a gothic character. However, because of her fashionable appearence, we know she isn't that sort of character. Although the black make up is a huge contrast to the golden title, which also comes across as slightly glamorous. 

Cee Lo Green is hugely known after his 'Forget you' track and so therefore is now well known. His song is extremely popular so therefore this album 'The Lady Killer' has been a huge hit. On the cover we can see Cee Lo with his hand on the side of his head which either gives the impression he's watching something in detail or he's pondering over something. We can see Cee Lo's rather wealthy because of the large golden ring on his smallest finger and the thick golden sunglasses he's wearing. The pink title is a good contrast with the white suit he's wearing. 

Exploration into CD covers

 

I like this CD cover because of the colorful cartooned effects, they highlight MIKA's personality and put him across as a cheerful colorful character. Although the genre of my song varies from pop to funk. The song is about a song writer unable to come up with any productive ideas for his song. So therefore I've thought roughly on a few ideas for my CD cover relating to MIKA however it wouldn't compare to the song. 

Zoom + |

I personally like this CD cover because of the loneliness portrayed. This relates to my character in my music video. However I don't see the relation to the rocket so therefore I've considered changing it into my own visualisation as where we would instead see The character in the picture is thinking about a computer instead of walking down a path so therefore I've decided I like this image however I don't see much of a relation and as I haven't focused on Bruno Mars, I therefore don't think I should continue with influences from his album.

Exploration into digipack

Digipaks consist of a gatefold (book-style) paperboard or card stock outer binding, with one or more plastic trays capable of holding a CD or DVD attached to the inside.

Digipaks differ from jewel cases because of the materials used, Jewel cases are a hard shiny plastic, you place the cover inside the case and the following pictures are underneath where the CD is inserted. With a Digipak, the case is a hard card/cardboard and sometimes an extra side with additional information or a photograph promoting the CD. Digipaks promote new albums or give additional information compared to Jewel cases. However Jewel cases can sometimes include booklets with the additional information although this has become very uncommon.

How Problems were solved

To solve the ongoing situations while filming the lip sycing, I played the line of the song so Reeve could mime along with it to get the timings right, I asked him several times so if I didn't have the right footage when editing my music video, I'd have extra footage to work from.

Secondly there was a problem that arised with the lighting, to solve this I got hold of my character earlier in the day and chose a day when the weather wasn't so dull outside which meant we had extra lighting to work with which made the newer shots used brighter. I've decided to keep some of the darker shots to portray my characters mood.

Lastly, my character and me had problems with timings because we were both had a busy schedule so therefore I had to get my friend as soon as he'd finished college to come to my house where I'd have him for filming for half an hour before he had to go to work, although we managed to work with this and I was then able to produce more footage for my Music video.

Problems faced with

-The overall problem was the lighting in the garage where I was filming and arranging the timings for filming.

During filming the shots needed to be bright. I made sure I placed a piece of white paper in front of the camera before filming to enhance the colour although the whole lighting situation hasn't been solved. So therefore I'm going to approach this by getting hold of and using artificial lighting.

-Secondly, another main problem faced with was the lack of time we had for filming. My friend Reeve who is the character in my music video was difficult to get hold of because we go to separate collages. He works on the weekends so therefore we had to arrange a time in the late afternoon/ early evening when it was still light. 


-Another problem that occurred  Poster Child took themselves from Unsigned.com so I therefore couldn't take their song from the website, I emailed them once or twice and got a reply about three weeks later- 


Hi Emily,

Sorry its taken me so long to get back to you. Ive been moving house, so things have been manic! We had to take our unsigned.com profile down as we are going to be signing with a Devon based label mid July. We finally have our website up and running that you get get our bio/pics from:

www.posterchildmusic.com

Hope the filming went well. Looking forward to seeing the finished thing!

Cheers

-The final problem was the character I'd used for my music video didn't have enough time to learn the lyrics so therefore while filming I had to play the section of the song so he knew what to sing, the timing and the pitch he had to portray, we both found this useful yet humorous.

Audience Feedback

- Sounds like Maroon 5

- Pop elements

- About writing lyrics, nothings going right

-Upbeat fast pace footage.

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- I can see you've applied several changes which make it more effective, it shows you've took your audience feedback into account

- I like the different outfits used, it shows that it represents two different characters or that the guy struggling is in the past.

Final Cut

Changes made & Considered

-Chorus X2

-Shots with lyrics - Always Thinking Thinking, Hands are shaking shaking, Clock is ticking ticking, time to give in give in.

-REMEMBER to use the tripod for the shots of the clock.

-More shots of the character sitting round the house unaware of how to produce any ideas: Shots on the phone, attempting to call someone but with no answer- roughly 5 seconds?, clearer shots looking out of the window with elbows perched on the window sill instead of leaning on the table looking out of the patio door, shots sitting on the stairs head in hands, then a few more consisting of the character sitting on the floor against the wall, in the hallway maybe to portray a childish yet mature character to attract a younger audience?

Audience feedback from song

- Sounds like Maroon 5
- Pop elements
- About writing lyrics, nothings going right
-Upbeat fast pace footage.


Suggestions- A jump shot could be useful
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-Hyperactive/ catchy/ good beat
- Sounds like Maroon 5


Suggestion- Could be turned into a narrative of two contrasting characters


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-Funk/ Pop Genre
- The lyrics describe a relationship that's not going very well
- Similar to Maroon five


Suggestion- Could use a lot of jumpy fact paced shots which would match the fast paced beat

Audience feedback from video

The character used looks similar to the lead singer of Maroon 5. The split personalities of the characters was also done well.


The lighting could be worked on and through out a lot of the singing shots the same shots have been used, I advise you to change them


The colours used- contrast/ brightness etc could be ignored if the shots were lighter, consider using artificial lighting.

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- The beginning matches the beat of the music
-Slightly repetitive- Reading Book
-Lip Synch slightly off on chorus
-Can hear your voice on one of the clips
-Body lang matches Lyrics
- I enjoyed the way it ends




Suggestion- Fix the lip synch


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-Slightly More Variety at the beginning
- Good Lip Sync
-Repetition of some shots
-Good variety of techniques like the quick shots of the clock
-'Lighter shot is great!'


Suggestion- More Lip Sync?

Rough Cut

Shots Needed & Pre Production Run

-Reeve Tapping fingers on mouse/ desk- 3 seconds

- ''Haah'' Shots- 11 seconds

- Shots in the garden. ''It's not ok'' mix with others

- Shots with Match/ Lighter 

- Shot throwing match

- Shots putting laptop in bin (Shot reverse shot)

- Shots of piles of paper/ books on floor

- Tapping fingers for line ''Hands are shaking, shaking'' 

- Zoom in of fingers turning radio dial

- Talking on phone- Close up- ''Talk is cheap''

- Throwing phone in bin- 9 seconds

- Throwing book in bin 

- Singing in the garage- Chorus

- Sat at table - ''Always thinking, thinking'' 

- Tapping fingers- ''Hands are shaking, shaking''

- Kitchen clock( re-film using tripod for less shaky shot)- ''Clock is ticking, ticking'' 

- Reeve singing, medium close up- ''Time to give in, give in''

- Consider shot of air rifle aimed at computer

- Walking past camera out of shot with air rifle

- Leaving Microphone on floor, other character of reeve picks up and smiles?

Pre Productional Shots- Experimenting With Camera Shots And Angles

During the beginning of the filming process, Reeve was just getting used to the scenes, from the stimuli that I'd explained, we had to go over the shots several times as shown below. Although, the new shots which are currently being filmed are working well.


I'd decided to experiment with close ups, zoom ins. Angled shots where I'd lay the camera on the grass while reeve was also lying on the grass. I personally think this shot worked well because of the interesting angles used and I've therefore decided to use them. 

Locational Shots

Firstly the main scene is in the garage where my character is singing, this is a stereotypical location for a wide range of genres, it gives a personal vibe to my audience, when a pop singer is singing in a house, the audience take a huge interest in this because it gives an impression what the singer behaves like at home and what their house actually looks like.

I've used this photograph of the garden to widen the range of shots used in my music video, when I've used this scene, I've shown my character on the floor looking up at the sky which shows how he's passing time while thinking of what to write.

Shots of props & Details

Tripod

This is an essential piece of equiptment for any filming. It's used to keep the shot straight and at a specific angle etc. So therefore I've used one to keep a straight steady shot to gain a good piece of filming.

My song is about a song writer with a writers block. So I think using books once or twice through out the video is essential to show my singers deep exploration into making a song.

During my exploration into the pop genre and Maroon 5, Adam Levine is always seen singing with a microphone in his videos so therefore I've decided to create a link with my singer so have therefore chosen to use a microphone to add a realistic element to my music video.

Shots of costume & Details

Checkered shirts are a stereotype of the male pop generation. The are fashionable which also advertises effectively and influences the younger audience to also purchase them. Bruno Mars is a well known singer who we see in almost every music video wearing one.


Leather Jasckets are also a popular element in music videos surrounding the pop genre and related genres such as indie or rock.

Converse trainers are beyond the most popular brand of trainers in the world, they are worn by hundreds of singers in music video, they are seen in Rock, Pop, Indie, Metal, Emo etc genres.

Overall idea for animatic

After learning the lyrics and getting into deep thought about what to use for my music video, I decided to focus on some of the conventions that arise with pop music. Pop videos usually consist of narrative sequences and therefore that's going to be one of my aims.

During the animatic, we see the character in different scenes debating a way to find material for a new song he's writing, however from what we can see he's having no luck. So therefore I've expanded on this by stating the obvious, the writer is trying several different ways such as reading, talking on the phone, watching television and listening to the radio. A contrast to this also highlights the conventional aspects by a narrative, It is the same character singing, this makes the video look like he's telling us the story and the shots of the writer with a lack of creativity are in the past.

Outcome of Animatic

I'm pleased with the outcome of the storyboard and how well the song would merge with the Images if I arrange them all appropriately and effectively. During filming, I've decided my video will consist of several angled shots to keep the viewers eye.


I've decided to leave the pictures as they are although I've decided I'm going to be using my friend Reeve who is a considerably fashionable man, so therefore will be at an advantage because a lot of current fashionable lines are included in pop videos as mentioned in an earlier post on costume in pop videos

Animatic

Costume and locations of the pop genre

Adam Levine is a stereotypical pop singer including his band. He is a fashionable attractive singer that the younger to older generation of women adore which luckily rises the bands popularity. Because of his dress sense and 99.9% of his songs consisting about relationsips or love, people from the public can relate to this from the teen generation to the older generation as we have all experienced it.

Christina Agulera is also another well known pop sensation, with the looks, the popularity and the fashionable appearence Agulera is well known by millions, recently becoming popular from joining Maroon 5 in 'Moves Like Jagger'.

John Mayer is another well known pop singer, he's well known after being a previous boyfriend of Jennifer Aniston. He's better known in america although from his appearence he's a recognisable singer, especially because of his attractive appearence which attracts the younger audiences eye.

Locations: Pop videos specific locations usually consist of luxurious backgrounds to garages. The pop genre covers a huge variety of locations, from streets to parks to playing live at concerts. It goes to show how the genre itself has advanced and covers a large variety. A lot of the wealthier singers such as Taio Cruz sing in large luxourious houses, for instance it just goes to show how wealthy he is in his 'Hangover' video where he's in such a large house however it's been messed up by several others after a party he's thrown.