Friday
Wednesday
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Sunday
Evaluation
In what ways does your media project use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
The demographic of my target audience was aimed at mostly female from the age of 12 and above. The reason my video is aimed at this audience is because I believe the romantic song, along with the attractive young artist, is going to appeal to females more than males.
I wanted my media product to work with the conventions of a real media product rather than challenge it in order to appeal to my target audience.The song that I have chosen to use is by Micheal Buble within the jazz/pop genre; I wanted my music video to go with the chilled out music so that I stuck with the conventions.
I looked at music videos of Micheal Buble and also videos of the same musical genre. After looking at many music videos I decided that I wanted to use a lot of scenery and found a lot of the music videos in this category displayed the artist reflecting; I really liked this idea and wanted to use it in my music video.
From my research I found that mise en scene was the make or break of a music video being successful or not. I wanted to make sure my video's mise en scene didn’t let down my video. Looking at previous videos from the same artist I noticed a lot of close up shots were used which I think worked really well as it was informing the audience who the artist was. I also used close up camera shots many times throughout my video.
Goodwin’s music video theory suggests that close up shots are vital so that the artist can develop motifs which recur across their work. A music video which has a similar mise en scene is Leona Lewis' 'Bleeding Love'.
As part of my research into different styles of music videos I watched various examples. The video that I liked the best and that I felt I wanted to follow the conventions of was 'Bleeding Love' by Leona Lewis. I felt that the hand held feeling of the video was authentic, natural and believable and showed the artist as both vulnerable yet determined. This is exactly what I wanted my artist to be represented as.
I used the effect of black and white in my video as after seeing Alesha Dixon's 'Breathe Slow' video I thought it worked well with the genre of my music and mise en scene of the video.
My media video would be accepted by Gunther Kress’ theory of genre, which is that the audience will feel content watching the music video as it is a generic text for my video to go with the lyrics. I wanted to make sure the costume and lighting was perfect, that is why I dressed my artist in a plain hoody, trousers and long coat; this portrays a well dressed male, which went well with the lyrics, I didn’t want my artist to look too old as the lyrics of ‘I just haven’t met you yet’ suggest the idea of a young person waiting to meet the right partner, the narrative talking of someone being there that he just 'hadn’t met yet'. This also meant that I didn't want the artist to look too young either as he is looking for ‘the one', his soulmate.
In the ancillary tasks of my digipak and magazine advert I wanted them to combine and work well with the video, so I decided to keep my black and white theme throughout. I took pictures of the artist that were appropriate for production in black and white format. I wanted to also keep the theme of the artist 'looking for someone', that is why I used the shot of the artist's hands up in the air. I also wanted to keep the cold lonely feeling my video displayed.
After researching many digipaks I noticed the most appealing were those which had a picture of the artist, a title and a name; I thought that this would be an effective style to use so that I could promote the face behind the music. I also wanted to make sure the magazine advert went with the other two media products I produced; therefore I kept it simple and stuck to my black and white colour scheme. I followed conventions of real media products because I believed it works and that breaking those conventions wouldn't have been appropriate for what I wanted to achieve.
How effective is the combination of your main product with ancillary texts?
The combination of my main product and ancillary texts are very strong. Before I even started to work on any of the three I had a definite mindset that I wanted to make sure that all three went well together and the style and colours linked.
The font throughout the three products link and I wanted to keep it bold and simple to relate with the colours and feelings I have associated with my music video.
My front cover of my digipak and my music video link as I have used the same picture, I wanted to use the same picture so that they would go together as the magazine advert would be promoting the CD and, therefore, when the magazine was viewed the digipak would be associated with it.
I also used my artist's signature throughout all pieces of work as a sort of logo so that it could be recognised and linked to the other pieces of work.
There is total cohesion between the three products, they are clearly all linked by the same forms and conventions. This is a better way to reach my target audience.
What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
Before I completed any pieces of work I wanted audience feedback. I asked a range of people in my target audience, some being Media students themselves who had strong opinions of what they felt did and did not work.
I created a questionnaire in order to allow my audience to be honest. I also had a focus group which I found was very helpful and it gave me good feedback as to making sure the smaller things, such as transitions, in my music video went with the music, so that they didn’t let me down.
Although I had a clear idea of the black and white effect on my video the audience agreed it worked better than colour which made me more confident about the effect as it is an important part of the overall video.
From all the feedback that I received I learnt a great deal. Firstly, for my main task I discovered that my choice of black and white was popular with all my focus groups, as was the camera angles I used. They felt that by using a hand held camera, and using close up shots, the feel to the video was far more personal.
There were some comments, however, that criticised the 'shakiness' quality of the video. However, I had an image for my video in mind and this quality was what I was after.
The focus group all liked the way the theme for the three products connected throughout.
For my magazine advert first draft the main comments were regarding the clarity of the picture and a lack of focus on the artist. I learnt that the image is a strong point for the advert and so I needed to make it sharper and have text and image evenly spread.
For my digipak I found that the focus groups wanted to see the layout of the whole digipak, rather than just the front cover and inside page. This led me to research and find a programme that allowed me to design a full digipak.
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
During the preparation and research section of my media coursework I used many different media technologies; to help me gather ideas and inspiration I used many websites and music television channels.
The main media technology I used was the internet; I found the most helpful site was www.youtube.com. Watching many youtube music videos gave me a solid idea of what works in a music video and what doesn’t. It also helped me to understand what is popular in a music video for certain genres of music; I found that a main focus on an artist singing was the most popular type of video.
Through my planning I found www.facebook.com very efficient; it allowed me to post ideas and get immediate feedback and also allowed me to ask a much wider audience their opinions on my products.
For the filming section of my task I used a Sony video recorder which I found to be a very reliable piece of equipment. After I had taken my footage I then uploaded onto one of the school computers. This was where I have encountered the most problems as the computer was not compatible with the footage so therefore I had to download a converter to help me upload my video. After I had sorted the problem with the files I started to create my video using Adobe Premiere Elements; I found this took some time to get used to the programme and unfortunately it continued to freeze throughout the whole development and took a lot of my time.
I used the video camera to take the still shots that I used for my ancillary texts and then used the programme Photoshop to edit the pictures. I found that Photoshop was a brilliant programme and allowed me to do everything I wished to do with my photos. This programme allowed me to edit only specific parts of the picture rather than a whole image.
The improved software that was available to me for this task has helped me to get a good quality to all three products. Through the editing software I was able to use a wide variety of transitions, allowing me to use a range of styles, still allowing me to keep it uniform in terms of genre and style.
After completing my video I got another focus group to watch my video, it was suggested to me that the image of the female might of worked better if she was in the video earlier on, however I did not want to do this because I wanted to keep the focus on the male artist and I thought that if I had the image of the girl from the start then it would seem like someone who he had already met, as I tried to insert some clips of the female into the video from the start and it didnt work aswell.
Another point my focus group made was that in my very last clip with the different characters holding the 'love'sign seemed a little random as it did not really seem to flow from the begining, however I used this to end the video on a light hearted note, and I wanted to add lots of different cultures into my video and ages to make it a wider issue and something eveybody wants.
I also used hand held cam, I did this because I wanted to make my video seem more personal and I thought this helped create it, but I wanted to be sure that the audiance was aware of this is deliberate technique when I asked my focus group what they thought of it and they said I was obvious it was deliberate I was pleased, as it was something I had been concerned about.
The demographic of my target audience was aimed at mostly female from the age of 12 and above. The reason my video is aimed at this audience is because I believe the romantic song, along with the attractive young artist, is going to appeal to females more than males.
I wanted my media product to work with the conventions of a real media product rather than challenge it in order to appeal to my target audience.The song that I have chosen to use is by Micheal Buble within the jazz/pop genre; I wanted my music video to go with the chilled out music so that I stuck with the conventions.
I looked at music videos of Micheal Buble and also videos of the same musical genre. After looking at many music videos I decided that I wanted to use a lot of scenery and found a lot of the music videos in this category displayed the artist reflecting; I really liked this idea and wanted to use it in my music video.
From my research I found that mise en scene was the make or break of a music video being successful or not. I wanted to make sure my video's mise en scene didn’t let down my video. Looking at previous videos from the same artist I noticed a lot of close up shots were used which I think worked really well as it was informing the audience who the artist was. I also used close up camera shots many times throughout my video.
Goodwin’s music video theory suggests that close up shots are vital so that the artist can develop motifs which recur across their work. A music video which has a similar mise en scene is Leona Lewis' 'Bleeding Love'.
As part of my research into different styles of music videos I watched various examples. The video that I liked the best and that I felt I wanted to follow the conventions of was 'Bleeding Love' by Leona Lewis. I felt that the hand held feeling of the video was authentic, natural and believable and showed the artist as both vulnerable yet determined. This is exactly what I wanted my artist to be represented as.
I used the effect of black and white in my video as after seeing Alesha Dixon's 'Breathe Slow' video I thought it worked well with the genre of my music and mise en scene of the video.
My media video would be accepted by Gunther Kress’ theory of genre, which is that the audience will feel content watching the music video as it is a generic text for my video to go with the lyrics. I wanted to make sure the costume and lighting was perfect, that is why I dressed my artist in a plain hoody, trousers and long coat; this portrays a well dressed male, which went well with the lyrics, I didn’t want my artist to look too old as the lyrics of ‘I just haven’t met you yet’ suggest the idea of a young person waiting to meet the right partner, the narrative talking of someone being there that he just 'hadn’t met yet'. This also meant that I didn't want the artist to look too young either as he is looking for ‘the one', his soulmate.
In the ancillary tasks of my digipak and magazine advert I wanted them to combine and work well with the video, so I decided to keep my black and white theme throughout. I took pictures of the artist that were appropriate for production in black and white format. I wanted to also keep the theme of the artist 'looking for someone', that is why I used the shot of the artist's hands up in the air. I also wanted to keep the cold lonely feeling my video displayed.
After researching many digipaks I noticed the most appealing were those which had a picture of the artist, a title and a name; I thought that this would be an effective style to use so that I could promote the face behind the music. I also wanted to make sure the magazine advert went with the other two media products I produced; therefore I kept it simple and stuck to my black and white colour scheme. I followed conventions of real media products because I believed it works and that breaking those conventions wouldn't have been appropriate for what I wanted to achieve.
How effective is the combination of your main product with ancillary texts?
The combination of my main product and ancillary texts are very strong. Before I even started to work on any of the three I had a definite mindset that I wanted to make sure that all three went well together and the style and colours linked.
The font throughout the three products link and I wanted to keep it bold and simple to relate with the colours and feelings I have associated with my music video.
My front cover of my digipak and my music video link as I have used the same picture, I wanted to use the same picture so that they would go together as the magazine advert would be promoting the CD and, therefore, when the magazine was viewed the digipak would be associated with it.
I also used my artist's signature throughout all pieces of work as a sort of logo so that it could be recognised and linked to the other pieces of work.
There is total cohesion between the three products, they are clearly all linked by the same forms and conventions. This is a better way to reach my target audience.
What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
Before I completed any pieces of work I wanted audience feedback. I asked a range of people in my target audience, some being Media students themselves who had strong opinions of what they felt did and did not work.
I created a questionnaire in order to allow my audience to be honest. I also had a focus group which I found was very helpful and it gave me good feedback as to making sure the smaller things, such as transitions, in my music video went with the music, so that they didn’t let me down.
Although I had a clear idea of the black and white effect on my video the audience agreed it worked better than colour which made me more confident about the effect as it is an important part of the overall video.
From all the feedback that I received I learnt a great deal. Firstly, for my main task I discovered that my choice of black and white was popular with all my focus groups, as was the camera angles I used. They felt that by using a hand held camera, and using close up shots, the feel to the video was far more personal.
There were some comments, however, that criticised the 'shakiness' quality of the video. However, I had an image for my video in mind and this quality was what I was after.
The focus group all liked the way the theme for the three products connected throughout.
For my magazine advert first draft the main comments were regarding the clarity of the picture and a lack of focus on the artist. I learnt that the image is a strong point for the advert and so I needed to make it sharper and have text and image evenly spread.
For my digipak I found that the focus groups wanted to see the layout of the whole digipak, rather than just the front cover and inside page. This led me to research and find a programme that allowed me to design a full digipak.
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
During the preparation and research section of my media coursework I used many different media technologies; to help me gather ideas and inspiration I used many websites and music television channels.
The main media technology I used was the internet; I found the most helpful site was www.youtube.com. Watching many youtube music videos gave me a solid idea of what works in a music video and what doesn’t. It also helped me to understand what is popular in a music video for certain genres of music; I found that a main focus on an artist singing was the most popular type of video.
Through my planning I found www.facebook.com very efficient; it allowed me to post ideas and get immediate feedback and also allowed me to ask a much wider audience their opinions on my products.
For the filming section of my task I used a Sony video recorder which I found to be a very reliable piece of equipment. After I had taken my footage I then uploaded onto one of the school computers. This was where I have encountered the most problems as the computer was not compatible with the footage so therefore I had to download a converter to help me upload my video. After I had sorted the problem with the files I started to create my video using Adobe Premiere Elements; I found this took some time to get used to the programme and unfortunately it continued to freeze throughout the whole development and took a lot of my time.
I used the video camera to take the still shots that I used for my ancillary texts and then used the programme Photoshop to edit the pictures. I found that Photoshop was a brilliant programme and allowed me to do everything I wished to do with my photos. This programme allowed me to edit only specific parts of the picture rather than a whole image.
The improved software that was available to me for this task has helped me to get a good quality to all three products. Through the editing software I was able to use a wide variety of transitions, allowing me to use a range of styles, still allowing me to keep it uniform in terms of genre and style.
After completing my video I got another focus group to watch my video, it was suggested to me that the image of the female might of worked better if she was in the video earlier on, however I did not want to do this because I wanted to keep the focus on the male artist and I thought that if I had the image of the girl from the start then it would seem like someone who he had already met, as I tried to insert some clips of the female into the video from the start and it didnt work aswell.
Another point my focus group made was that in my very last clip with the different characters holding the 'love'sign seemed a little random as it did not really seem to flow from the begining, however I used this to end the video on a light hearted note, and I wanted to add lots of different cultures into my video and ages to make it a wider issue and something eveybody wants.
I also used hand held cam, I did this because I wanted to make my video seem more personal and I thought this helped create it, but I wanted to be sure that the audiance was aware of this is deliberate technique when I asked my focus group what they thought of it and they said I was obvious it was deliberate I was pleased, as it was something I had been concerned about.
Friday
Task Development
Print Product
The first four pictures below are my own images I have taken to use for my digipak and digipak magazine advert. The three images below are ideas for three different album covers; they gave me an idea of what sort of thing I wanted to use in my print work.
Firstly I looked at solo male artists' album covers so that I could get an idea of what they were like. What I liked about these particular album front covers was their simplicity. I thought that the style of shot was appealing for their target audience as it made the featured artists look attractive and open.
From these digipaks I decided that I wanted to use the forms and conventions of the albums above in my own piece. I would carry out the winter theme on the front cover and throughout the entire digipak, focusing on the artist.
When I was filming I decided that I wanted my music video to link with the images on my album cover and magazine advertisement.
After having taken the pictures and researching what I wanted to be my main theme I decided to research digipaks. I looked at the following styles:
After looking at these I tried to create my own. This was my first draft:
However I found it very hard on publisher and therefore I took some time to look for a template on the internet, I found a very helpful website which I could download a template from http://www.duplication.ca/printspecs/digipack.htm I then uploaded it onto a publisher document and had to copy and paste it to overlay it over my pictures when I had finished. I found this programme very helpful. I then produced a first draft using the new programme.
I showed this to my focus group and they suggested that I fill the blank inside cover with a page of thanks from the artist. This follows the conventions of a digipak within this genre and so I added this feature to my design.
Once I had created my digipak I looked at some music magazine advertisements. I have included one example below:
I am fond of the simpleness of this however I do not think that the information is clear enough. For my advert I would like the information to be clear and the image of the artist to dominate the page, showing who he is; introducing the new artist to the public, increasing the awareness of him. I want the advert to appeal to the target audience. I believe that by using black and white images it connotes an air of mystery around the artist, thus inviting people to find out more about him.
Below is the first draft of my magazine advert. I liked the picture but I did feel it wasn't of a good enough quality to use. When I showed this to my focus group they said that the balance between image and text wasn't equal and that they felt the picture was too dark. They also said that the font wasn't attractive for the poster and the picture gave across a far scarier genre rather than a jazz/pop feel.
So, after listening to comments from my focus group I completed another draft.
As you can see the quality of the image on my second and final draft is much better. I have changed the image to a stronger image and wanted to make sure that my genre was evident from the photograph and colours of the poster. I wanted to make my artist more appealing and I feel that the second draft does this. I changed the font so that it was more suitable for the genre, making it more attractive and appealing to my target audience.
Main Product
I believe that my AS work has helped me greatly to become a more successful media producer rather than just a consumer. It allowed me to have a better knowledge of the planning and research part of development; with a clearer idea of just how important the research and development stages are in order for the success of a final product.
As I have shown in my other posts with my main product I researched many music videos for many reasons. I wanted to have as much knowledge as possible so that my final product was as professional as possible.
I found it very helpful to use www.youtube.com as I was able to research a huge variety of music videos and get many ideas. I also found looking at previous students entries of A2 music videos helpful as it gave me confidence to not be afraid of making the video more exciting by using such things as different angle shots.
My video development took a very long time, as I wanted to make sure I had a very clear idea of what I wanted; I didn't want to start filming without an idea in my head of what a really wanted to achieve. Although my final filming was in the snow and my first draft storyboard was not as finally tuned I still had a very clear idea of what I wanted to achieve and set in mind how I wanted my artist to come across.
I was very sure I wasn't going to accept any clip in my video that I didn't believe worked just to fill in the gaps, therefore I spent much time going back and re-filming. After I had taken more footage I asked a focus group to look at and I wanted comments back as to what they thought worked better. There is a clip in my music video which isn't in the snow which is of a female, this is shown in a different weather condition and colour because it is a memory and I have also added the effect of 'old film' because I think it works well to show that somewhere the artist has been looking for 'Her' but he hasn't met her yet, however this thought has been ongoing for a while throughout his life therefore I believe that it works well.
The problem that I had with editing my video was that the snow only lasted a couple days and whilst I was at the editing stage the snow disappeared. This meant that any extra shots had to be done minus the snow so I had to find a way to work these into my existing footage.
I did this by taking extra footage of the male in a different location. I made this inside so that the lack of snow wasn't a problem. With the female I wanted to make it look like a different time and place anyway so I think that the lack of snow as mise en scene doesn't really affect this part.
I had to work out an ending to the video as the original footage for this wasn't of a high enough quality to use in comparison to the rest of the footage that I had so I decided to use the song lyrics as an idea. I used the repetition of the word 'love' and thought it would be good to incorporate different ages and nationalities into the video to attract a wider audience. I also thought that this contrast brought an aspect of light relief to the end of the video.
After completing my video I got another focus group to watch my video, it was suggested to me that the image of the female might of worked better if she was in the video earlier on, however I did not want to do this because I wanted to keep the focus on the male artist and I thought that if I had the image of the girl from the start then it would seem like someone who he had already met, as I tried to insert some clips of the female into the video from the start and it didnt work aswell.
Another point my focus group made was that in my very last clip with the different characters holding the 'love'sign seemed a little random as it did not really seem to flow from the begining, however I used this to end the video on a light hearted note, and I wanted to add lots of different cultures into my video and ages to make it a wider issue and something eveybody wants.
I also used hand held cam, I did this because I wanted to make my video seem more personal and I thought this helped create it, but I wanted to be sure that the audiance was aware of this is deliberate technique when I asked my focus group what they thought of it and they said I was obvious it was deliberate I was pleased, as it was something I had been concerned about.
Another problem I had was with my male actor. There are times throughout the filming where he forgot or was unsure of the words of the song and this has affected some of the clips. As I stated before I couldn't re-shoot these as the snow had gone and it would have affected the continuity of the music video.
The first four pictures below are my own images I have taken to use for my digipak and digipak magazine advert. The three images below are ideas for three different album covers; they gave me an idea of what sort of thing I wanted to use in my print work.
Firstly I looked at solo male artists' album covers so that I could get an idea of what they were like. What I liked about these particular album front covers was their simplicity. I thought that the style of shot was appealing for their target audience as it made the featured artists look attractive and open.
From these digipaks I decided that I wanted to use the forms and conventions of the albums above in my own piece. I would carry out the winter theme on the front cover and throughout the entire digipak, focusing on the artist.
When I was filming I decided that I wanted my music video to link with the images on my album cover and magazine advertisement.
After having taken the pictures and researching what I wanted to be my main theme I decided to research digipaks. I looked at the following styles:
After looking at these I tried to create my own. This was my first draft:
However I found it very hard on publisher and therefore I took some time to look for a template on the internet, I found a very helpful website which I could download a template from http://www.duplication.ca/printspecs/digipack.htm I then uploaded it onto a publisher document and had to copy and paste it to overlay it over my pictures when I had finished. I found this programme very helpful. I then produced a first draft using the new programme.
I showed this to my focus group and they suggested that I fill the blank inside cover with a page of thanks from the artist. This follows the conventions of a digipak within this genre and so I added this feature to my design.
Once I had created my digipak I looked at some music magazine advertisements. I have included one example below:
I am fond of the simpleness of this however I do not think that the information is clear enough. For my advert I would like the information to be clear and the image of the artist to dominate the page, showing who he is; introducing the new artist to the public, increasing the awareness of him. I want the advert to appeal to the target audience. I believe that by using black and white images it connotes an air of mystery around the artist, thus inviting people to find out more about him.
Below is the first draft of my magazine advert. I liked the picture but I did feel it wasn't of a good enough quality to use. When I showed this to my focus group they said that the balance between image and text wasn't equal and that they felt the picture was too dark. They also said that the font wasn't attractive for the poster and the picture gave across a far scarier genre rather than a jazz/pop feel.
So, after listening to comments from my focus group I completed another draft.
As you can see the quality of the image on my second and final draft is much better. I have changed the image to a stronger image and wanted to make sure that my genre was evident from the photograph and colours of the poster. I wanted to make my artist more appealing and I feel that the second draft does this. I changed the font so that it was more suitable for the genre, making it more attractive and appealing to my target audience.
Main Product
I believe that my AS work has helped me greatly to become a more successful media producer rather than just a consumer. It allowed me to have a better knowledge of the planning and research part of development; with a clearer idea of just how important the research and development stages are in order for the success of a final product.
As I have shown in my other posts with my main product I researched many music videos for many reasons. I wanted to have as much knowledge as possible so that my final product was as professional as possible.
I found it very helpful to use www.youtube.com as I was able to research a huge variety of music videos and get many ideas. I also found looking at previous students entries of A2 music videos helpful as it gave me confidence to not be afraid of making the video more exciting by using such things as different angle shots.
My video development took a very long time, as I wanted to make sure I had a very clear idea of what I wanted; I didn't want to start filming without an idea in my head of what a really wanted to achieve. Although my final filming was in the snow and my first draft storyboard was not as finally tuned I still had a very clear idea of what I wanted to achieve and set in mind how I wanted my artist to come across.
I was very sure I wasn't going to accept any clip in my video that I didn't believe worked just to fill in the gaps, therefore I spent much time going back and re-filming. After I had taken more footage I asked a focus group to look at and I wanted comments back as to what they thought worked better. There is a clip in my music video which isn't in the snow which is of a female, this is shown in a different weather condition and colour because it is a memory and I have also added the effect of 'old film' because I think it works well to show that somewhere the artist has been looking for 'Her' but he hasn't met her yet, however this thought has been ongoing for a while throughout his life therefore I believe that it works well.
The problem that I had with editing my video was that the snow only lasted a couple days and whilst I was at the editing stage the snow disappeared. This meant that any extra shots had to be done minus the snow so I had to find a way to work these into my existing footage.
I did this by taking extra footage of the male in a different location. I made this inside so that the lack of snow wasn't a problem. With the female I wanted to make it look like a different time and place anyway so I think that the lack of snow as mise en scene doesn't really affect this part.
I had to work out an ending to the video as the original footage for this wasn't of a high enough quality to use in comparison to the rest of the footage that I had so I decided to use the song lyrics as an idea. I used the repetition of the word 'love' and thought it would be good to incorporate different ages and nationalities into the video to attract a wider audience. I also thought that this contrast brought an aspect of light relief to the end of the video.
After completing my video I got another focus group to watch my video, it was suggested to me that the image of the female might of worked better if she was in the video earlier on, however I did not want to do this because I wanted to keep the focus on the male artist and I thought that if I had the image of the girl from the start then it would seem like someone who he had already met, as I tried to insert some clips of the female into the video from the start and it didnt work aswell.
Another point my focus group made was that in my very last clip with the different characters holding the 'love'sign seemed a little random as it did not really seem to flow from the begining, however I used this to end the video on a light hearted note, and I wanted to add lots of different cultures into my video and ages to make it a wider issue and something eveybody wants.
I also used hand held cam, I did this because I wanted to make my video seem more personal and I thought this helped create it, but I wanted to be sure that the audiance was aware of this is deliberate technique when I asked my focus group what they thought of it and they said I was obvious it was deliberate I was pleased, as it was something I had been concerned about.
Another problem I had was with my male actor. There are times throughout the filming where he forgot or was unsure of the words of the song and this has affected some of the clips. As I stated before I couldn't re-shoot these as the snow had gone and it would have affected the continuity of the music video.
Editing
Now that I have all my footage, it is time to edit it and create my video.
At first I was going to use Windows movie maker, however the same week I was to start editing my music footage windows movie maker was taken off the school computers and Adobe Premier Elements 7 was installed. Although Adobe is a much more advanced programme, it is hard for me as I was used to working with Windows Movie Maker.
It has taken me a long time to understand the programme of movie editing, and I have encountered many problems with it, for example it taking an hour to load and then not letting me select my work.
However, when it came to my ancillary tasks I was very pleased with the new photo editing software as it gave me greater technical ability to edit my pieces.
I am pleased I have enough footage to work with, as this makes editing a little easier.
At first I was going to use Windows movie maker, however the same week I was to start editing my music footage windows movie maker was taken off the school computers and Adobe Premier Elements 7 was installed. Although Adobe is a much more advanced programme, it is hard for me as I was used to working with Windows Movie Maker.
It has taken me a long time to understand the programme of movie editing, and I have encountered many problems with it, for example it taking an hour to load and then not letting me select my work.
However, when it came to my ancillary tasks I was very pleased with the new photo editing software as it gave me greater technical ability to edit my pieces.
I am pleased I have enough footage to work with, as this makes editing a little easier.
Change of Plan
The first idea that I had for my video was that it would be shot in an old manor house, giving it a cosy feel with a lot of focus on the artist singing in a natural home environment. I was going to include log fires, a library etc to get a 'country house' feel to the video as I believed that this matched the lyrics in a contemplative way.
However, on the day I planned to start my shooting I looked out the window and the snow was coming down thick and fast. Before cancelling my filming, I thought that although it would be cold and risky to film in snowy conditions as i might not get all the filming i wished to have done before the snow stopped, I made the decision that my video would have more impact in the snow. I believe that the snow was an advantage as long as my actor was happy with the snowy conditions.
I roughly sketched a new storyboard (which was later then refined)that incorporated the new snowy setting as I felt it would be a waste not to use the snow as part of the video due to the feel I wanted for the video.
I took my story board and iPod with the song outside and started to shoot my video. Although my actor was very helpful he struggled to mime the song and therefore I had to find a new actor at short notice. I found another friend who was happy to learn the lyrics in one morning, however hoping the snow wouldn't stop falling was a slight worry.
Now I had a new actor who was confident with the song, filming started again.
I had an image in my head of how I wanted my artist to look and his costume, I wanted the costume to be contemporary, warm and stylish.
After shooting the first verse five times, it was time to stop as the weather conditions got too cold and dangerous.
However, after an hour break, the blizzard like conditions stopped and we started the filming again in the various locations. As shooting in the snow was very risky I made sure I had plenty of footage.
After the first day, I was more that happy at how much I had got done and was very pleased at the footage I had. I was hoping that the next morning there would be more snow, although I had checked the weather and that was what the forecast was. Indeed, the snow was thick, thicker than day one in fact which was brilliant, it meant I could hopefully get the last bits finished.
By the end of the day I had all my footage, and I was happy with the filming I had achieved.
However, on the day I planned to start my shooting I looked out the window and the snow was coming down thick and fast. Before cancelling my filming, I thought that although it would be cold and risky to film in snowy conditions as i might not get all the filming i wished to have done before the snow stopped, I made the decision that my video would have more impact in the snow. I believe that the snow was an advantage as long as my actor was happy with the snowy conditions.
I roughly sketched a new storyboard (which was later then refined)that incorporated the new snowy setting as I felt it would be a waste not to use the snow as part of the video due to the feel I wanted for the video.
I took my story board and iPod with the song outside and started to shoot my video. Although my actor was very helpful he struggled to mime the song and therefore I had to find a new actor at short notice. I found another friend who was happy to learn the lyrics in one morning, however hoping the snow wouldn't stop falling was a slight worry.
Now I had a new actor who was confident with the song, filming started again.
I had an image in my head of how I wanted my artist to look and his costume, I wanted the costume to be contemporary, warm and stylish.
After shooting the first verse five times, it was time to stop as the weather conditions got too cold and dangerous.
However, after an hour break, the blizzard like conditions stopped and we started the filming again in the various locations. As shooting in the snow was very risky I made sure I had plenty of footage.
After the first day, I was more that happy at how much I had got done and was very pleased at the footage I had. I was hoping that the next morning there would be more snow, although I had checked the weather and that was what the forecast was. Indeed, the snow was thick, thicker than day one in fact which was brilliant, it meant I could hopefully get the last bits finished.
By the end of the day I had all my footage, and I was happy with the filming I had achieved.
Planning
Now that I have a good idea of what sort of things I want my music video to include, it is now time for me to do some research so that I am also taking into account what my target audience would like to see, and what would most appeal to them.
In order to find out about this I created a questionnaire and I also put together a focus group. I approached the task of forming a focus group by using my position as Head Girl to talk to the school in an assembly about my portfolio. I invited students who liked the jazz/pop genre of music to come forward to join my focus group. From the pupils that volunteered I randomly selected 20 pupils who would advise me throughout the production. I also included staff in this group as I feel that this genre of music is wide ranging in terms of age.
I left my questions open so that I could get as much feedback as possible.
Focus Group Planning
The questions I asked in my focus group were:
1. What do you prefer the focus of a music video to be? Narrative / Artist
2. What special effects do you think work in music videos of this genre?
3. Do you prefer black & white videos or colour?
4. Do you think hidden messages are more important than the actual surface quality?
5. Does sex or sexual images play a subconscious part of your life?
I also showed them a number of music videos and asked them their reactions and impressions of each through a group discussion.
I made notes throughout the discussion so that I could refer to these ideas throughout the production of my main task.
The majority of the focus group said that they liked a story to be told through the video but also with a focus on the artist as it made it feel more realistic. They also thought that the videos that I showed them in black and white were far more appealing and looked more professional than the ones in colour. Most of the group weren't bothered about a video containing hidden messages and didn't agree that the idea of sex necessarily sells a music video, particularly with a male artist.
Following my work with the focus group I had a wide range of ideas of what I wanted to include in the video and also what my target audience wanted to see.
So now it was time to create a story board.
I set the storyboard out according to the order of the lyrics of the song so that I was aware of what I wanted to do at each point in the song.
Now I had a sure idea of how I wanted my music video to go, it was time to think about shooting it.
I took Todorov's 'narrative theory' into consideration when creating my story boards. Todorov believed that the primary function of a narrative was to solve a problem, the story is narrated usually in a chronological order so that the story makes sense and explains why events occur. His theory is based on the idea of a state of equilibrium with the narrative ending in a solved problem.
This theory is followed in my video by the male artist starting off lonely and then throughout the song it becomes more obvious the artist is alone and then finally ending on smiling faces all holding a 'love sign' which makes the video end on a high, showing him everyone all over the world is looking for love. It ends with a positive feeling.
When I changed my original idea due to the snow I had to create new story boards:
In order to find out about this I created a questionnaire and I also put together a focus group. I approached the task of forming a focus group by using my position as Head Girl to talk to the school in an assembly about my portfolio. I invited students who liked the jazz/pop genre of music to come forward to join my focus group. From the pupils that volunteered I randomly selected 20 pupils who would advise me throughout the production. I also included staff in this group as I feel that this genre of music is wide ranging in terms of age.
I left my questions open so that I could get as much feedback as possible.
Focus Group Planning
The questions I asked in my focus group were:
1. What do you prefer the focus of a music video to be? Narrative / Artist
2. What special effects do you think work in music videos of this genre?
3. Do you prefer black & white videos or colour?
4. Do you think hidden messages are more important than the actual surface quality?
5. Does sex or sexual images play a subconscious part of your life?
I also showed them a number of music videos and asked them their reactions and impressions of each through a group discussion.
I made notes throughout the discussion so that I could refer to these ideas throughout the production of my main task.
The majority of the focus group said that they liked a story to be told through the video but also with a focus on the artist as it made it feel more realistic. They also thought that the videos that I showed them in black and white were far more appealing and looked more professional than the ones in colour. Most of the group weren't bothered about a video containing hidden messages and didn't agree that the idea of sex necessarily sells a music video, particularly with a male artist.
Following my work with the focus group I had a wide range of ideas of what I wanted to include in the video and also what my target audience wanted to see.
So now it was time to create a story board.
I set the storyboard out according to the order of the lyrics of the song so that I was aware of what I wanted to do at each point in the song.
Now I had a sure idea of how I wanted my music video to go, it was time to think about shooting it.
I took Todorov's 'narrative theory' into consideration when creating my story boards. Todorov believed that the primary function of a narrative was to solve a problem, the story is narrated usually in a chronological order so that the story makes sense and explains why events occur. His theory is based on the idea of a state of equilibrium with the narrative ending in a solved problem.
This theory is followed in my video by the male artist starting off lonely and then throughout the song it becomes more obvious the artist is alone and then finally ending on smiling faces all holding a 'love sign' which makes the video end on a high, showing him everyone all over the world is looking for love. It ends with a positive feeling.
When I changed my original idea due to the snow I had to create new story boards:
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