When planning for my music video, I made sure that I was fully aware of the conventions used for a music video: such as different effects and also the technique used for different genres. Deconstructing a music video helped me achieve this; by watching it I was able to understand how the creator develops idea in order to achieve various audiences. Genre is an important factor when creating a music video as the ambience needs to tie in with the song and also the genre: I feel I did this by adding a Black and white effect; this gave the video an “indie” feel which was well established.
By using two different story lines in my video, I challenged forms of a real music video: The brays are a real band, and my storyline fitted the lyrics creating a very realistic music video. This gave me more understanding in how much work goes into creating music videos, developing my music video gave me many continuity errors, which I felt that could have been addressed if given the right equipment and also editing technology. The editing software I used was Adobe Premier Pro; I was very familiar with this software as we had used it in the previous year. This made editing very easy and I was able to create different effects and transitions such as dip to black, additional dissolve and also a flip. These editing techniques challenge forms of media as the videos appear more professional and clean cut.
This transition allowed me to move from one scene to another without it looking sharp, this also lengthen the scene. I feel that by using this I was able to capture a professional effect that I was able to identify in other music videos.
When filming I was able to use a Tri-pod that enabled me to keep the camera work consistent without it being shaky- causing it to look amateur. However I experience technical difficulties and the footage was very bad quality due to a faulty camera; this made the overall feel of the piece look old- like you would see in an “old movie” transition. I felt that by this happening I wasn’t able to capture a professional music video however I was able to plan and also edit effectively.
Another important indicator into ensuring our music video produced developed and challenge convention of real media products was props and clothing. I used this to link genre with my video; I felt that I needed to dress my actors into “indie” clothes that would create my genre. In a professional music video, the artists and storyline actors are dressed very fashionably and also follow the expected conventions of genres. I used this theory for my music video; and also I received audience feedback questionnaire that I able to understand the typical clothing that you would see in a music video. Clothing also plays an important role through personality and emotions, colour also indicates certain emotions. In the story line I dressed one of the characters in a “hoody” this represented a depressed feeling as the relationship has ended.
Props also play and important role as the audience would expect to see; my music video consisted of a Band playing and also a storyline, so my props were set in structure. For the band scenes, I filmed them whilst performing; this enabled me to use all their instruments for my video. These props included drums, guitars, keyboards, lighting and microphones; filming on stage also gave us the opportunity to incorporate a real life ambience with the band. For the main story line, props such as the picture created the plot of the story; I felt that by adding this to the scene I was able to capture the emotions within the characters. Using props is important as it tends to help with the transitions of the plot. When deconstructing music videos, I noticed a different camera angles and editing techniques are used to create a realistic view. I felt that I captured more emotion when filming due to the camera angles used. Fore example, when the couple were walking I used a low angle shot that enabled me to create a sense of pride with the couple, however when they spilt up I was able to change it to a high angle shot to create a sense of loss. Close ups and over the shoulder shots allowed me to create a realistic view of each characters helping me create the characters traits; this also was reflected in the band as I was able to use many different shots to emphasize meanings- within the lyrics.
The basic conventions of a music video are created through the public eye; they create stereotypes and perceive different genres in the media industry. By creating questionnaires I was able to use the public to my advantage by understanding there concepts of a typical “indie” music video and also their personal take on how a music video should be done. I feel that I used all possible forms of technology and planning to help me create a music video that would respectably be shown on television. There are many things I would change about the quality of my video- such as the pixel quality- however I feel that basic idea would, stereotypically, fit in the media world.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
When planning for my ancillary products I made sure that I could identify the key features of a Digipack and a magazine article. The creators and advertisers used specific techniques to make the public buy their item they are advertising or promoting.
For my Digipack I deconstructed 3 front covers from famous albums, this helped me understand the different techniques they used according to there genre. I wanted to create an effective piece however I knew that there would be a great deal of ICT skills involved which I was very wary about. After a few class practises I felt that I was able to use the photo manipulation software that would help me create an effective piece. The idea of a Digipack is to make the audience buy the artists product they are promoting and also the album art has to link with the song and also the genre of the artist. After a lot of contemplating I decided that I would use cartoon images that I would draw and scan in, using Photoshop to manipulate them to change, shape, colour and size. This image would incorporate with the genre and the video by the black and white images and also the image would emphasize a broken heart- the theme throughout the song. On the Digipack I made sure that used an image of the band so I could promote their individual images, this will also make them more recognisable. The album art will also consist of a background with black and white clouds; this will emphasize the “depression stage” of the broken heart and also the clichés of a dark cloud hanging over you- also an emphasis of the song.
When deconstructing magazine articles, I noticed that it depended on the actual magazine to what the article will look like. As I scanned images from NME and Kerrang magazine I learnt the style that these “Indie” magazines use. I wanted to make my article look real, promoting the band, so I looked through magazines that would sell products from companies such as HMV, GAME and Play.com. I discovered HMV house mark logo and decided to use the images on my article. I created a black canvas in Fireworks- adobe software- and imported these images. I also wanted to make the Band my feature, I then imported the same picture I used on the Digipack- this gave me the link between the two. By adding the album art onto the magazine and also the price I was able to create a very realistic magazine article. (Emailing the company for copyright however no response was given). I designed a audience feedback questionnaire on my magazine that I created and the response gave many opinions, the main on was that people thought that my article was very simple and plain and didn’t stand out. However I feel that I have covered all the conventions of an article and also using an original style relates the audience to a shop that they could buy the products from.
What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
Throughout my planning I needed to make sure that I had the audience at mind, as they will be buying the product. To understand the audience’s opinions I created audience feedback questionnaire for genre specific questions this helped me gain perspective in what the audience want to watch and also what kind of music they are interested in. When I receive the results I analysed them and realised that the audience- the audience being my form- had the same basic taste, this lead me to believe that the audience preferred Indie music. The questionnaire also allowed me to ask questions that I wouldn’t be able to answer, for example: how they felt about black and white videos, and what they thought about two different story lines. These answers allowed me to create a video that appealed to the audience. After making my product I viewed to my form again and they filled out another questionnaire these questions were to give constructive criticism and also an understanding in what I would change. These results were positive however the audience did feel that same about the quality of the video, which however I wouldn’t be able to correct. I feel that I have gained confidence in the audience feedback and also how the audience reacts to different genre specific devices.
I also created questionnaires for my ancillary products, this helped me gain prospective in how to create a Digipack and a magazine article. As I had already made a video before I was quite confident in the results however I didn’t know the conventions of what the ancillary products entailed. Creating the questionnaire I wanted to add questions that I was unsure about such as the links between the Digipack and the magazine article, this would give me a clear understanding in what the audience is looking for when wanting to buy a Digipack and looking at a magazine article. The questionnaire told me that they both have to link with each other and also have a device that would make the audience feel intrigued; after reading the results I created by final products. I then also created another questionnaire that would help me understand if I had met the conventions of the advertisement. I feel that without the audiences support I would have confidence in what I was creating, the feedback I achieved helped me deal with constructive criticism and also understand how the advertisement works.
How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research planning and evaluation stages?
Technology play an important role in the media industry as it allows you to create many powerful media. Technology has given me the confidence to create my AS and A2 products to my best ability. When planning for my AS year we was advised to use www.Blogger.com as it is a useful programme which can show the step by step construction of the planning; this would allow me upload different images and video footage to the website. Last year the server was very unreliable resulting in to the lost marks as we used Microsoft PowerPoint for our planning- this showed a lack of ICT Skills. As last year I was able to attain a good grade, I wanted to use another way of presenting the planning so this year I chance the server and used the internet for my planning, a website called Prezi- a zooming presentation website this allowed us to download the URL and also create a more entertaining way in presenting . I also used www.Blogger.com for the lengthy pieces of planning such as my deconstructions. By using this website I was able to embed URLS, pictures and online slideshows- emphasizing my ICT skills. The internet allowed me to research different audience theories, deconstructions and also the use of www.Youtube.com which helped support the deconstructions. Without the new media technologies, such as the Editing software and also the internet I wouldn’t be able to complete my planning, editing and filming.
When filming us used DV mini camcorders which allowed us to film straight on to the tapes provided. The cameras however are not the highest quality; although they still allowed us to upload the footage quickly and successfully on to the computers. The editing software on the school systems is up to date and is very easy to use. This enabled us to use different transitions and effects on the footage making it look very professional. I felt that I was able to use the editing software Adobe Premier Elements very well as we used Adobe Premier Pro last year, which is basically the same.
For our ancillary products we used a programme called Adobe Fireworks and also Photoshop, this allowed me to design, edit and create each of our ancillary products. The software allowed us to create different images and also to merge different images together. Photoshop allowed me to change my images to grey scale and also resize. Overall the technology we had access to helped us create our products, it keeps the ideas successful so we can gain a good grades in our AS and A2 years. The technologies used have help me show my creative side and also my ICT skills.
