DRAFT EVALUATION 4

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

PRE PRODUCTION

• YouTube- This was the program which I used to view other music videos which had already been made by other artists so I could analyse them and see conventions commonly used within the genre which I had chosen. they were free to watch and I could watch them as many times as I wanted to.
• Google- Google search mean I was able to search for anything in my research and planning. The most common, relevant results were shown first which meant it saved me time searching through pages meaning it made researching more efficient. Google images meant that I could find images of the artists who I was taking inspiration from  as well as aspirational images which I used in my mood board and when thinking of possible mise en scene to use.
• Twitter- ###########
• Scanner- When coming up with ideas such as possible digipack ideas, poster ideas and artist names, I did this by hand on paper and then scanned them into the computer via a scanner. This allowed the hand drawn/written pages be scanned and then an image of the paper would be sent to my email which I could then crop and add instantly to the blog. The images were of a high quality meaning this was a better option than taking a photo and downloading it onto the computer.
• Animoto- I used this to make my pitch. I could add images, text and a song which would help to portray my vision to peers. This also allowed me to embed the animoto video onto my blog so peers could see it and leave their feedback which was a vital part of the course.
• Slideshare- I used this to add the work I did over the summer- Which included listing conventions and music video analysis- onto my blog in a neat and easy way. This site meant that I could embed a power point presentation online which could be viewed and was easy to navigate through. 
• lookbook.nu- I used this in order to get images of inspiration for my artist which were incorporated within my mood baord. they are professional looking images and there were so many different styles which I could choose from to show how I wanted my artist top look. This site helped me to portray my vision even further.
• Microsoft programs- ##################
• final cut pro- I used this to make my animoto. After struggling on windows movie maker (fail) to make the animatic, this softwear meant I was able to edit my images together to the correct, planned timings so that I could see what my final video would look like.

PRODUCTION

• Macbook- Used to edit the video as it had the right softwear needed at anytime as opposed to just when we had media lessons. At school there are only a few Mac computers with the correct softwear so it would be difficult to have one available to use whenever I needed it so by having this made it easier and more efficient for editing the first draft and final video
• Final Cut Pro- The softwear on the macbook which enabled me to edit the length of shots and put it all together over the song in order to create my final video. After a struggle with windows movie maker, final cut was very easy to use and made the video I had made seem very professional as the transitions were a very smooth. I could also add other effects if I wanted to) for example the end fade or colour changes) in order to use convention of ready made music videos of that genre.
• Digital video camera- Used to film my artist. The footage would then be put onto the macbook and edited on final cut pro. The camera gave a high quality finish and meant that I could film my song in its entirety before editing. 
• SD card- Stored all of the footage of from my filming meaning I could put it onto any computer to edit meaning that the process was fairly quick which then meant I could get editing the video faster in  order to meet the deadlines.
• SD card reader- Meant the SD card could be read and the footage downloaded onto the computer in order to edit. this was a very efficient way of downloading the files and made the process very quick which meant that I could begin editing faster in order to meet deadlines.
• iTunes- Used to download the song and add to final cut pro on the video. This allowed the quality of the song to be high which added to the overall professional aspect of the video which I wanted to achieve.
• Photoshop- Used to edit the scanned images and add text/more images/effects etc within the digipack and poster. this meant that the overall digipack had a more professional looking edge as the softwear meant I could tweak most aspects of the digipack and poster until they looked just right. 
• Scanner- Scanned in the images which I had hand drawn which I then edited on Photoshop. An image of the scanned paper would be sent to my email which I could then crop and add instantly to Photoshop. The images were of a high quality meaning this was a better option than taking a photo and downloading it onto the computer.
• YouTube- The online video viewer meant I could upload both my first draft and final video and put them on my blog quickly so they could be viewed and so I could gain feedback (first draft) of how to make it better (final video)

POST PRODUCTION

• TubeChop- used in evaluation question 1 for showing evidence when answering the question.
• Scribd.
• Glogster
• Prezi
• Photoshop
• Microsoft Word

ALL 3

• blogger
• iPhone
• computer

DRAFT EVALUATION 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

BLOG FEEDBACK

I received feedback from my peers in class throughout the research and planning as well as making. This helped me realise what I needed to do in order to make my idea better or more specific.  

MOOD BOARD

The reason for my mood board was to show the theme and style which I wanted to portray in my final video and digipack. The look I wanted was vintage which is why I have included the vintage items and clothing and I wanted it to be very busy which is why the overall mood board was very scattered and busy. 

My teacher: MR FORD said that he liked the idea and that it encapsulated my vision very well. To me, this meant that he liked the idea and that I should run with it. 

SUMMER MEDIA WORK

The comment told me that I needed to do a more full extended analysis of some music videos in order to broaden my knowledge in the concepts used. From this, I did some music video analysis which tool some time but really helped me to understand how certain concepts reflect the genre of music chosen in the video. This was particularly relevant in the Capital Cities- Safe and Sound video. 

This also suggested that I looked at other students work for guidance, from this I have regularly looked at work done by other students to ensure that the quality of my work is up to the right standard. This has helped me to understand tasks better and to see how peers present their ideas. 

ARTIST NAME

The comment says I should explain why I have chosen this name. This then lead me to think deeply about the name I should use in order for it to reflect the genre as well as the intended target audience. After this feedback, I then did a post explaining why I had chosen "Allie James" as the name for my artist.

ARTIST COMPARISON

My feedback from my teacher showed that the artist and styling which I was comparing my artist with was good to do comparisons with because they are of the same gender, genre and aim their products at a similar target audience which I plan to do. Therefore, it would be good for me to style my artist in similar ways to these artists (this is referred to in evaluation question 1).

FEEDBACK OF BLOG: MID POINT REVIEW

Although I had done some of the work required, my teacher had said that my blog was sparse and needed to include more posts regarding planning. This suggested that I:

- Added an artist biograhy: since I received this feedback, I have done a biography of my artust explaining a bit about where she is from, her parents, friends and how she got into the music business.

- Looked at some location ideas: I have done a post considering a few ideas on where to film my video alongside a brief explanation of why this would be good. I then came to the decision of using none of the locations I had originally decided to do, however this post was useful as it helped to rule out a few locations which I originally thought would be a good idea to use.

- Added audience research page: I did this using UK Tribes which gave me a greater knowledge of the type of people I would be aiming my products at. I found out what they liked, interests and hobbies which helped me when creating the products as I could make them more appealing to the intended target audience by including aspects which they would have found attractive. 

- Create a playlist of songs which inspired my artist: I haven't done this and I probably should have done because they would have been of a similar genre. I could have watched the videos for the songs and got ideas for concepts to use in my video.

FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE VIDEOS

I had just added some of the videos by Florence and The Machine onto my blog to use as inspiration, however this feedback suggested that I analyse the music videos and suggest how I can inorporate sections of this into my own music video. I then edited the post and included comments on the use of; mise en scene, lighting, camera shots/angles and editing techniques and how these could be modified and  included in my video. 

MUSIC VIDEO ANALYSIS

This feedback said that my analytical skills when talking about the video were good, however they needed to be more reflective and include a comment on how I can take inspiration from the videos and use it in my video in order to make the analysis more worth while in terms of making a music video after doing the research.

SONG CHOICE

My teacher said that I needed to include information on why I have chosen this song and I have included a post with the reasoning for the song choice. These included things such as me knowing the target audience well as I would be counted as a member of the intended target audience.

LYRICS AND TIMINGS

The feedback on this post was to include more information on my filming regarding shots, speed of editing, etc as this would help me when creating my storyboard and then my final video, however I didnt do this as I didnt have an idea so didnt know what information to include. 

In hindsight I should definitely have done this as it would have made story boarding a lot easier and I wouldn't have struggled as much to come up with a concept for my video.

PITCH

I received feedback from peers. The overall view was that they liked the idea of creating a vintage theme running throughout the video as well as the fact my idea of how I wanted it to be styled was very clear. However I was a bit vague in certain aspects of my pitch (one example being I didnt have a specific song at this point in the research which most other students did).

POSSIBLE MISE EN SCENE

The overall comment from the teacher was that my ideas for the mise en scene were good, however he wasn't sure of which items I would definitely be able to use. He suggested doing another post on the mise en scene I had available to me which I would be able to use in the video. I didn't do this before my first draft filming session and so when it came to it I found it difficult as I didn't know what props to use. This, however, changed before filming my second draft of my music video as I had created a post on what mise en scene I was going to use which made it a lot easier and less rushed/stressful on the day of filming.

FIRST DRAFT VIDEO

This feedback from my teacher showed what I had done well and had given his advice on what I needed to do in order to make it better and to achieve a higher grade. The image above shows the A4 document he wrote on describing how I needed to do things (aka re film the entire video) and how to do this to gain marks. I took this feedback onboard and printed the sheet out and took it to filming where I then did everything he suggested and ticked them off along the way. This ensured that I used everything I needed to in order to improve my video from 19/40 to a higher grade. 

MORE??

In order to gain more feedback on my video from people who would be considered the "intended target audience", I am going to do a film screening to ten people in order to get their opinions regarding the video.

I have made a list of these people:

This is the list. All of these people are between the age of 15 and 25 which is the age I believe my target audience would be. It is important to see whether or not they like it because otherwise my research and planning would have lead me to believe the wrong things about their tastes and would have failed in entertaining and appealing to the audience. In order to get their opinions, I am going to make a questionnaire which I can hand to them to fill in.

I am also going to show the video to some males because I need to see if they don't like the video as I have anticipated throughout my research and planning. This will reinforce that my video is aimed at females and so therefore females will like it more than males do. The list of boys I am going to show the video to is shown above.

I have created a questionnaire for these people to fill in so I can gather data and see if my video appeals to the right target audience and why it appeals to them. I also need to do the same with my digipack and poster because all 3 products are promoting the same thing (my artist/sing/genre) and so all 3 need to be appealing to the same, correct target audience.

I have planned for all of the people to watch the video and look at the digipack and poster which I have made to see what they think of it and to gain honest feedback from the intended target audience.

I have created a questionnaire to give to the people watching my video in order to gain their feedback. This should give me information on whether or not my products appeal to the people I have aimed it at and also to see which elements of the video/digipack/poster they like the best. I have done mainly one word answers which is good as sometimes, when asking for feedback, people dont want to write really detailed answers and may not give their true opinion in order to save time when writing down the answers so by only asking for one word or very short answers, this ensures I will get their honest opinions. Also, by making sure I wasn't asking too many questions (it is a quarter of an A4 sheet of paper) I can be sure that the target audience answer all of the questions honestly.

DRAFT EVALUATION 2

How Effective is the Combination of Your Main Product and Ancillary Texts?

Final Poster

Final Digipack

Final Video

Combination of the video and poster

• Although I had planned for it, my artist ended up not wearing the dress which I had included in the image on the poster. This could have looked unprofessional and as though it wasn't part of the same product, however I think this works quite well and isn't that big of a deal. 
• The vintage style is continued in the video (through the use of costume and mise en scene) as well as the poster (through the outfit in the image, background and font) which works well and makes all of the products look involved in each other. It was this type of continuity which I wanted to show throughout my products to make sure they all looked authentic.
• Also, the background on the poster links in well with one of the outfits which she is wearing as it has a similar colour scheme and pattern. This adds to the continuity within all three of my products.

• I also wanted to use an image on the poster that looked like my artist as I wanted to make sure it all related and went well together therefore the reflection of the artist in the poster ensures that the intended audience know the artist belongs with the product.

Combination of the video and digipack

• Again, my artist wasn't wearing the blue dress which I had originally planned, however she was wearing a similar style/coloured outfit as the one she is wearing on the panel on the inside of the digipack. 

• I also made sure that the image I used in the digipack looked like my artist in order to make sure they looked like they belonged to her. I wanted to make sure the digipack related to the singer as I have done research into album covers which don't relate to the artist and I didn't like them as much as the ones which did.
• I have also continued the mise en scene within both of these products. In the video I have filled the are with a lot of items to give it the vintage theme which I wanted. I have also included a vintage style bird cage on two of the panels in the digipack. Showing these vintage props continues the theme as well as the "cluttered" look which I was going for.

Combination of the poster and digipack

• Same image- I have us ed the same image on my poster as  have on the cover of my digipack. I feek that this gives a more professional approach and will ensure that my target audience would know that the products were both adverytsing the same thing. For example, if they saw the poster advertising the CD, they would easily be able to recognise the album in a shop because it looks so alike. 

• Same record label- Parlephone. I have done this as it creates a brand identity and is more of a marketing ploy. The record label is the label that will have paid for the album to be made and so therefore use their logo/branding on the cover and poster.
• Same font- this adds continuity and means that people would be able to recognise the CD when they see it in a shop after seeing the advertising poster because they use the same font. This creates a brand for my artist (which has been done for other artists including Oasis who were one of the best selling bands) and means her name/brand/logo will be instantly recognisable

• Same background- is effective to the target audience as it means that the products have continuity and are recognisable of being part of the same product range for the same artist. This also contiunes the vintage theme which I wanted to portray within my products links well with each other as well as collectively alongside the video.
• Same style- handmade. I chose to do a handmade sketch design on both my digipack and poster because I thought it represented the indie and folk influences of the song. After looking at various album covers from these genres, a hand made look was often used and so using this look on my products meant that they looked more authentic. This look also meant that the intended target audience would recognise these conventions as being part of those specific genres- the genres which they are interested in- which would spark an interest in the album/poster.
• Same colours- the same colour scheme makes both the digipack and poster look as though they are part of the same marketing ploy which is the main reasoning for the products. The vintage colours also means that both the products link in with the video. This relflects the style which I planned to use and the styles shown in the videos which I analysed that were aimed at a similar target audience as my video is. 

Marketing Ploy

The products which I have created all form a marketing ploy which will be used in order to promote the song and the artist. The poster used advertises the CD which the target audience will (hopefully) want to buy, the CD digipack will then advertise the "new single" which would then push the target audience to go online and look at the video.

This kind of marketing ploy is something which music labels (such as Parlephone- the music label which my "artist" is signed to) would use as it would reach out to a wide audience. The video is a fairly cheap way of ensuring a lot of people the song and begin to hear about the artist which would spark an interest in the artist amongst the intended target audience. This interest would then continue to grow as they see the poster and digipack which would then lead to the artist gaining a bigger status within the music industry and then gaining a bigger following- this is achieved through social media sites such as Twitter (which my artist has), Instagram, Facebook and Tumblr. These social media sites are commonly used by my intended target audience and so would be easy for them to keep up to date with my artist and find out the latest news.

DRAFT EVALUATION 1

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

EVALUATION QUESTION 1

POST PRODUCTION PRELIMINARY EVALUATION

POST PRODUCTION

When using Final Cut Pro on the mac computers, a softwear program which I hadn't used before, me and my editing parter Laura were apprehensive about using it. However, although we weren't that confident about using the program, I feel like after a bit of practice we became better at what we were doing. Also by doing this, we got a clearer vision of what we wanted our video to look like. It isn't a complete remake of the "Get Lucky" video as the shots aren't exactly the same and they arent in exactly the same sequence which I think is better than an exact copy. We took inspiration from the video and the storyboards, however we decided to change and cut certain shots which I think makes the video look quite good. The editing process was quite time consuming due and trying to get the lip syncing in time to the song was difficult. Me and Laura could be found trying to cut a tiny amount of footage from the clip and, although it took a long time, I think that the video looks good and is mainly in time. Different effects which we used in the video including a disco light effect which matched the sound and feel of the song as well as a "cross section dissolve" which made the shots fall together more fluently. These effects, in my opinion, helped to make our video look more professional. When I do this again, I will make sure the quality of the footage is better and more professional and I will have a lot more footage to use as this was an issue we found when editing the video. Overall I think the video uses forms and conventions of real media products as a variety of shots have been used which is something found in almost every music video. Also, professional editing softwear has been used along with professional lighting which helps make the video look more professional as a whole. I think our video is effective, however I think it is a little bit boring.

PRODUCTION PRELIMINARY EVALUATION

PRODUCTION

During the production stage of the video, Sophie the director worked closely with George the camera man in order to achieve professional looking shots which they took from the storyboard which me and Ellie created. Sophie made the decisions as to what sections of the video would be filmed referring back to the storyboard. The storyboard meant that everything was easy to do as it was organised so the shots could be ticked off. Sophie would tell George the cameraman which shot to do and which angle it needed to be taken at in order to get the filming done accurately and as quickly as possible. Although there were a few changes to the roles due to bad decisions made in the pre-production stages however they were quickly resolved by the class when making joint decisions which worked better .Once during filming, we hired a technician who showed us how to use the lighting facilities so we could learn how to use them ourselves later on. Problems occured when people were off sick so we has to re-evaluate the ituation and continue with making the video. Although there weren't many problems during this, it made filming last longer than it could have been. This has made me realise that there will be issues when I am filming my video and that I will need to be able to work around potential problems. I know that I will always need a plan B incase plan A is jeopardised.

 

PRE PRODUCTION PRELIMINARY EVALUATION

PRE-PRODUCTION

Before filming the video, the class split into groups in order to plan the remake of Daft Punks "Get Lucky" video. The groups which were chosen then went off and got on with the different things. One of the tasks which needed to be done was to storyboard the first minute and a half (or there abouts) of the video which was useful during filming. Doing the storyboard meant that we knew the shots we needed which made filming a lot quicker as there was no messing around. We even storyboarded some "just in case" shots so that we would definitely have enough footage when it came to editing. As well as storyboarding, we also had prop lists and decided upon costumes for the 'stars' to wear in the video which meant the class were organised when it came to filming. The costumes were carefully planned so that they resembled the ones used in the actual video (although, the costumes don't look as smart and glittery) and the props (the instruments) were all carefully planned so that the video would look like the real thing as opposed to a really bad remake. The best thing about the pre-production was the planning that we did. Roles were assigned straight away, so the four stars in the video were decided very quickly. Then the storyboarders (me and Ellie) and then George as the camera man as he already had a camera. From that Sophie as director and the remaining two peers assigned as location and prop people. Location was difficult as we needed to find a room which had a black backround. We looked in the AV studio however the black wall space wasn't big enough whereas the main hall provided the space that we needed. As well as the space, the main hall had special performing lights which could be used to recreate the lighting in the video. In order to guarantee the filming space during lesson time, we took it upon ourselves to book the hall and a technician to ensure that the stage was only being used by us and to make sure the lighting would be perfect. The organisational skills learned from the preliminary can be taken into our final music videos.