Friday 20 December 2013

Welcome post

Dear moderator, welcome to Faye White and Sophie Hack's A2 Music Video Coursework blog. Please use the labels on the right hand side to navigate my/our work. Work has been split into three main categories; Research and Planning, Product, Evaluation and where work has been produced by just one group member it has been labelled with their name. I hope you enjoy reading through my coursework journey.

Final Music Video.


Final Poster and Digipak - Sophie Hack











(Little booklet)












Final Poster and Digipak - Faye White




(Little booklet)


(poster)

Wednesday 11 December 2013

Draft of Evaluation Question 1

We have tried to make our video as realistic as possible. Using a solo artist, and showing her simply getting ready for work, changing outfits, doing her and make up. Also using the sweet shop, showing she’s working in a ‘retail store’ and her looking bored and not enjoying herself, is realistic, as this is what is like for a percentage of our target audience. Using aspects of realism in our media product, helps sell the stars image, and also create more of a fan base, as she is allowing her fans to relate to this. It is also showing that she too is also an ordinary teen, which also create an ‘idol’ image, which is what most pop artist have.

The conventions of solo artist videos, include a lot of “repeatability”. In the song that we have chosen, repeats the chorus a lot, and as it’s a pop song, it has a memorable chorus for an audience to sing along to. Although we didn’t repeat the same shots for the chorus sections, we tried to have the same amount of clips for each chorus, to keep it energetic and catching.
We added a lot of close up shots of our artists to add a ‘first person mode of address’ which directly engages the audience, and as our video cuts from acting a narrative, to lip syncing, it shows our artists to look professional and authentic. It also makes it look more realistic.
My video is all about my “Stars image”, and as our genre is pop/folk, we have also not only got to sell our artists voice, but also their looks and a nice wholesome safe image. As we’ve used a solo artist for our media product, it was easier to use real life conventions, and to make sure we sold our artists star image we included close up shots, movements shots and also shots of her in different outfits.
 
I have used the amplification genre, where the lyrics of my media product do sometimes illustrate the lyrics, but also they don’t link at all. However there still is a link to the song, as we’ve used pop conventions, by keeping it upbeat, and energetic by using close up shots, quick shots and movement/dancing shots. Also, 95% of the shots we have our artist lip syncing, looking directly at the camera, this is one of the main music video conventions, especially for pop videos. We’ve tried to add a lot of camera movement, but because out artist is already moving in the shot, and a lot are quick shots, we mainly used the panning on longer shots. This allows the energy to still be kept in the video.


DIGIPAK & POSTER STUFF 


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

Digipak and Poster;

I challenge a conventions by using the same photo of both of my ancillary texts. This is because I felt that it would be easier for people to identify my artist, as it’s almost a copy of the album cover, just a little different. This would help advertisement and sales of my album. By using the same photo for both media products, it helps linking my product together. A lot of artists use this convention, e.g. Jessie J uses her album cover at the top of her poster and Ellie Goulding uses the same photo and also has a small photo of the actual album in the right hand corner of the poster.




I challenged a convention by not having the name of my artist on my digipak. I felt that just having the album name ‘Keys’ spread out across the bottom below the picture was enough as I wanted to go for a simple but eye catching front cover. 
By using the same photo on both ancillary texts, I develop a convention by re-positioning the photo on the poster so it allows the photo to command the poster.
I’ve used a lot of forms and conventions from real life media products in my ancillary texts. I’ve positioned my artist central in my digipak, and had her looking directly at the camera. I’ve used colours like pink, and had her wearing pink lipstick, to give the audience a girly feel about the album. I’ve presented my artist well on both media products, and she is lit well, this is important on any pop products, as pop artists give off the ‘perfect’ look, however as our artist has a ‘pop/folk’ look, we still wanted her to look almost perfect, but we stayed away from any over the top make up like Jessie J’s lipstick. This is because we wanted to challenge the conventions, and make it simple and neat, linking in with her music, but to still get that poppy feel about the digipak we added a little booklet with the lyrics in. This idea is used in a lot of pop albums, and we wanted to copy this convention.










Tuesday 10 December 2013

Sample Questionnaire

Please circle your answer 

1. Gender?                                  Female       Male 

2. How old are you? 

3. Please state your top three artists/bands 

4. How well out of 5 do you think 'Poppy Mills - Way in the world' fits in with the genre of pop out of 5?
(5 meaning it fits really well and 1 meaning it does not show any aspect of pop)

     1 2 3 4 5 

5. How well  out of 5 do you think the Poppy mills digipak shows and demonstrates pop conventions? 

     1 2 3 4 5 

6.  How well out of 5 do you think the three products (music video, poster & digipak) shows a similar design and theme throughout? 

     1 2 3 4 5 

7. If you could not hear the music to the video, would you visually spot that this music video would be to a pop song? Please circle 

Very clear    Yes      Yes to parts of it   No I would not have known. 

8.  Out of 5 how well do you think that the mise en scene of the music video locations added to the pop feel of the song?

      1 2 3 4 5 

9. Out of 5 how well do you think the poster looks like a poster advertising a pop artist? 

      1 2 3 4 5 

10. If you were to personally rate the music video on the overall performance after the first time watching time watching it what would you give it out of 5 

      1 2 3 4 5 

Saturday 7 December 2013

Feedback on Kellys digipak and poster;


Feedback;

Magazine Advertisement;

In terms of the poster, it is very simple and mininalistic. I think that the two colours that you have used, black and white contrast well together, and link well the type of genre. You have presented your genre well of mental/rock music, and the reference of the cross sign with the page title links really well together. I think it has been very well thought out, and I think you can take the title different ways. The use of minimal text on your poster works well as the main focal point is the title, and then the cross.
In two of your posters you've written "There is hell" which obviously relates with the song title, and i like how this is well thought about. You have put the cross slightly to the left, and not directly in the centre, but it is well laid out and very sophisticated.
In terms of what could be improved is maybe bring the red into the other two posters to show more of a colour palette.

Digipak;

I think the feedback that i have made about the poster, you can also apply to the digipak. The colour palette is well thought about, however the red could of been used more often. Although the use of the red makes the white stand out more, and look more polished. I like how you've used the same image for your front cover of the digipak as of your poster, but tweaked it a little by adding the red font underneath the title. This allows your target audience to be able to easily recognise your digipak from your poster. You have used the same image of one of the panels, but taken away two of the shapes. This shows that you've kept the same design throughout. I like the way you have designed the back cover and how your track list has been centralised. I can't comment on any improvements I think you could make, as I feel you've produced a well presented piece of work.

Friday 6 December 2013

Evaluation Question 4 (draft)

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

Don't simply think about the technology you have used but also consider how they 'connect' together. Also comment on how much 'easier' technology has made the research, production and evaluation of your work.

Post Production;

iMovie – I used this to create the animatic on. This allowed me to practice editing things together, and also get the shots in time with the music, so that we know exactly how long each shot needs to be. I also used this to create the test shot video on.
YouTube – We used this for our research and planning, when researching artists and looking at ideal shots and different real life conventions we can use into our media product. I’ve also used it for uploading things such as the animatic and the test shot video. 
Blogger – Blogger is where I’ve published all my work on, so both me and Sophie can keep up to date with one another and be organised with our coursework. Blogger is also where we get given feedback on from our teacher, so any improvements can be made. 
Twitter – I’ve used twitter to talk to Sophie with our teacher to discuss different ideas for our music video and ancillary texts. Me and Sophie have also set up a twitter account for our artist ‘@PoppyMillsMusic’ where we’ve tweeted a couple of tweets of things our artist would say. Twitter is also a good way of getting audience feedback or advice for anything, as it’s a well known social networking site which all of our target audience properly use. 
Scribd – I’ve used this to upload some of my work, which have been produced on Microsoft word. This website allows my work to look a lot neater and be put on my blog in a better format. Its also somewhere where I can upload my work onto, incase I lose it, and also easier for me to embed and download from different places.
Animoto – This is where we produce our pitch on. This helped us make a short video, allowing us to add all the detail needed. This made our research easier, as we were able to put all of our ideas into one thing, to produce something which tells everyone what exactly our video will be like. 
Screen Grab – I’ve used this to screen grab things of youtube videos, twitter feeds and different pictures of artists to help with my research and planning. I’ve screen grabbed different shots of youtube which I’d liked to of included into my own work. 
MacBook – This is what I’ve used to do the majority on my own work on. However all the joint work has been done on a iMac. Using my Macbook has made it easier for me to import anything that has been done on my iPhone or Sophies iPhone because we can just simple import it to iPhoto and then use it straight away. Also I've been able to download PhotoShop for a month on a free trial where i've been able to do any of the work done on this software at home as well as at school.
On the iMac we imported all of our videos which we have filmed onto this, which automatically imported them onto Final Cut Pro. 
PowerPoint - This software has been use when research UK Tribes. This was easier when splitting the work load between Sophie and I, as we would take it in turns to each complete a slide with different information on it. 
PhotoShop - This software was used to create our ancillary texts. As I was already familiar with this software, it was easier for me to use. I used the research that I had done into digipaks and posters, to help me produce a layout, and also the final products. It was easier to link both of my ancillary texts together, because I could work on them at the same time, to ensure that they were both following the same style and gave off the same pop/folk, simple but neat look. It also made it easier to work on separate panels of the digipak, I didn't have to work in an order, I was able to start on the back cover, and then the front.
Camera  - Canon - used to take photos of our artists on for our ancillary texts. We were lucky enough to use a high spec camera, and the white screen and the parachute lights in the AVS room. This made our artist look very well presented against the white screen, and the lights also made her a lot lighter and got rid of any shadows. This was easier for me when editing the photo on the digipak and poster, as she was already well lit, and there weren't any shadows which meant we could use the grey/white background on the poster and digipak.
Slideshare - I used this website to upload the power points which i've produced, so that they can put published on my blog in a slideshare format. This makes it easier for people to read, and also easier to get information off. Varies the formats that we've used. 
 Flickr - This website is were we have published all the photos that we've taken from the photo shots of our artist. Its easier for both me and Sophie, because then we both has access to the photos. It was also easier to narrow down the photos that we could possibly use for our media products. This is because having them all next to one another, you could tell which ones stood out and looks better with the lighting and angle, and which ones would look better on both media products.

Production;

Camera - Panasonic HD - We used this camera for filming both the draft and final media product. It was useful for us as it was a HD camera, meaning it was a lot better quality, and it also helped with the lighting, and lighting her face up. We used the parachute lights when filming in our second location, the sweet shop. This made the mise en scene look well presented, and it was easier to maintain a good lighting in the sweet shop. After researching several pop videos, a lot of them as well lit, bright and colourful. We had an advantage of using the sweet shop and also the parachute lights, so it was slightly easier for us to present out artist well.   

Final Cut Pro - This software is what we used to produce both the draft music video and the final product. As both me and Sophie were familiar with this software from previous tasks in the post production section, we were able to start editing straight away. We were able to adapt the shots to the correct timing, and also make sure the lip syncing was in time. We separate both of the locations into two different events so that it was easier for us to find the correct clip. We went by our storyboard when editing, however some things were changed and added in. This software also allows you to add different effects, and any sound effects. We used the cross fade effect right at the end, to smoothly link in our last shot and the '#wayintheworld' hashtag trend. We also added in on screen text at the begging and ending, which said the name of the artist, the artist song, the record label and the directors. This is basic conventions which are on real life media products which are published on TV programmes like MTV. 
Google - We used Google images to add into our media product. This is because we wanted to make it look more professional. We added in the 'MTV' logo and also the artists name and song. This is so that it makes it look more realistic, and makes the video fit into our genre of pop. As our video would be something you'd find being played on tv programmes such as MTV, we thought it would be easier for an audience to identify the genre of our music video, and also add in more conventions of real life media products.
YouTube - This is were we have uploaded on final video on to. This helps us to embed the link onto different website, and also link people to watch our video for feedback. People who have internet, have an easier access to the video. It also allows people who we don't know to watch and give us feedback. Uploading it onto YouTube also makes it more professional, and more realistic.


 

Evaluation Question 3 (Draft)


Evaluation Question 2 (draft)

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


Director & Designer explains how effective the combination of the main prodcuts and ancillary texts are.


The combination of my main product and ancillary texts was particularly effective, because I’ve used a mixture of different elements linking in with my genre to help make it easy to identify my artist. The genre pop is mainstream well-known music, with memorable chorus for an audience to sing along to. Most pop artist appear to be presentable perfect, however as our artist has a pop/folk genre and feel we’ve given it the ‘girl next door’ look. We limited the amount of make up we put on our artist for both the ancillary texts and the main product. We put a pink lipstick on, using the same lipstick for both the main product and the ancillary texts, this is because we both felt that the pink gave off our artist a girly look, and also made her lips stand out more. We wanted them to both link in together, however we didn't dress our artist in the same outfit from the sweet shop. This is because the girl she was in our main product, isn't the girl who she actually is, although we still wanted to go for the 'girl next door' look, so we dressed her in a polka dot shirt and baggy jumpers. This still combines with our main product, because this is how we dress our artist in our video. We were still going for the 'star image' on the front of both ancillary texts and also the main product. 

I’ve used the idea of having my artist on the front cover in bright and bold colours, and also using the same photo for both ancillary texts. This allows the audience the help recognize the artist, and make it easy to identify the artist in the main product and the ancillary texts. Both of the photos are close up shots of her, and I've link this in with my main product by taking the idea of close up shots from my music video and linking it in with my ancillary texts. Also artists like Jessie J, and Ellie Goulding have done this, and after researching and taking their idea, I linked this in with my own.
I’ve included a little booklet which slots inside the digipak. The booklet consists of the lyrics to each track on the album. As the majority of Nina Nesbitts songs have memorable chorus’, a lyric book is ideal for our target audience. I think adding the little booklet helps represent the artist and the artists genre. Both ancillary texts are bold and stand out with eye-catching colours used. For our main product, we tried to use bold colours, for example in the sweet shop. The pink and blue contrast well together, although blue is more of a boy colour, we've gone for more of a navy blue, that works well with the colour pink. I've linked in the colours of the texts, by taking the pink from our artist lipstick, and the blue navy from her shirt, and using those colours for the text. This makes our artist stand out more, and also the colours.

Both the main product and the ancillary texts are girly, soft and feminine, with pink writing. The ancillary texts are very plain and simple, very minimalistic. Which doesn’t fit into the “Pop” genre, as a lot of artist for example Rihanna or Katy Perry have very detailed and busy digipaks and posters. However this is because they’re a lot more famous that our inspired artist Nina Nesbitt, and also it isn’t just about their music, where as for our artist it is. 
haven't included for both the main product and ancillary texts, lots of girly things. I think because we hadn't used big bright colours and flowers for our main product, I wanted to keep the digipak simple too. Also, our main product doesn't include lots of detail, as they're as just two set locations, and because our artist is only acting within the main product, there was no need to use the locations for photos for our ancillary texts, because they would only be selling her single and not the album. 
Overall, I think that the combination of my main product and ancillary texts is effective because i've kept the same genre and style for both my media product throughout, and you can easy identify the artist from the video.