Media Coursework A2 - Lorida Berisha
Friday 7 March 2014
Evaluation 4 Essay Form
Question 4 –How did you use media technologies in the
construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
At the start before any of my research and
planning began, I created a blog on www.blogger.com, so that I could keep note
of every element within the process of creating all three of my products. This
was not very hard for me as I used a blog in year 12 and knew how to keep it
all up to date and the importance of it. Additionally, it has proved to be extremely
great in displaying my multimedia skills and portraying my work in a visually
interesting way. It was essential for me to find a variety of ways to showcase
my media work, not just in essay format. I began to familiarise myself with
Prezi, which is a web based presentation application, which helps to present
work in abstract and entertaining ways. The embed tool on Prezi is what allowed
me to put a copy of any presentations I created onto my blog – meaning a copy
of my work was always accessible online.
When presenting videos and copies of my music
video drafts, I found Vimeo was particularly good as it allows you to host
videos in HD. Often after exporting my music video drafts, which were made
using Premier Pro, I would discover that uploading them straight to Blogger was
not possible. This is because the file size of my music video drafts were
generally over 100MG as I would convert them in high quality, and files over
this size would often be disallowed on Blogger. Therefore, finding alternative
ways to showcase videos was something I taught myself to do. Other methods
might include placing my video into Windows Live Movie Maker and converting it
from that, as it would automatically reduce the file size, and also uploading
it to Youtube and then embedding it on my blog however visually the video
didn’t look bad.
Furthermore using Microsoft PowerPoint became
a habit and it was one software which I used frequently, especially when
analysing products such as my similar product research for music magazine
adverts. This is because using the Text Box Tool and the Shape Tool (when
drawing arrows to parts of the images), meant I could analyse products quickly
and easily, as I am familiar with PowerPoint. However, adding a PowerPoint
presentation to Blogger is not simple. There are two ways it can be done, you
can either save the PowerPoint as individual pages and upload them as JPG
files, so that they are viewable from blogger as images. Or, you can use Scribd
– which is the method I used more often. This is a digital documents library
that allows users to publish presentations and then access the embed code,
enabling you to post it on blogger by pasting the embed code in the HTML
section. SlideShare was also used, but as a provider of information when
carrying out research on the soft Rock genre, this website displays
presentations created by people around the world – meaning I could access different
views and opinions of my research topics such as “What are the conventions for
Rock music?”
When shooting photos for my ancillary tasks I
used a Cannon 550D. This camera was equipped with a cinematic shutter speed
with a 1.8 aperture lens. This meant I could take photographs in shallow focus
for a more creative and artistic look and change setting to make it darker if I
wanted to in order to suit the conventions of my rock genre. When editing these
images I would place them into Adobe Photoshop, which allowed me to use the
Crop Tool to make images the size I wanted for my digipak or magazine advert
and the Magic Wand Tool is what assisted me in cutting out particular parts of
an image in a professional manner. The Brush Tool also came in handy when
making my magazine advert look more interesting, as it meant I could scroll
through a selection of shapes and images and print them onto the background of
my advert. In order to change some contrasts in the picture and make it look
either very dark or suit the Rock genre with different colours I would create
an Adjustment Layer and edit the Brightening or Contrast of the photo –
choosing a more dark tone.
In production, I shot my music video using a Canon550D; this is because I wanted to ensure
my footage was of the highest possible quality. Using this camera provided a cinema-look to my production piece as it
uses different modes which creates a progressive-look effect. After filming I
made some parts of my video slow motion to add an effective look. To light the
shots of girl as she was indoors I used
2 Arri 650 watt lights that come equipped with barn doors, meaning you can
control and create the shape of the light you want. I chose to make a straight
slash of light across the wall and window inside, creating a tense and negative
atmosphere in order to again suit my Rock conventions.
I used Adobe Premier Pro CS5 when editing my
music video, as it allowed to me to cut shots using the Razor Tool and
rearrange them into the order I wanted and then add the song and any other
audio I desired to have within my music video – for example the ringing of the
bell on the window at the beginning of my video. The option to add titles came
into use at the beginning of my music video, when the artists name and song
shows on screen, as well as my own. To create this, I placed this title on top
of the first shot in my video and used the Dissolve transition to make the
writing fade on and off screen as it would on professional music videos shown
on music channels such as MTV or VIVA.
After Effects was used when adding a filter
light to my music video – although I did not use this in my final product, it
was experimented with in my second draft. To do so, I first chose the filter I
wanted to use which was called Cinematic2. I would then add an adjustment layer
over all of my footage and drag this particular lighting onto the layer. It
gave my whole video a dark tone, with extra defined shadowing. However, after
converting it and watching it, I decided it decreased the quality of my
footage, resulting in me deleting this layer and going with the lighting from
my original film shoot.
Friday 7 February 2014
Evaluation 3 - Essay Form
What
have you learned from your audience feedback?
Having
to gather feedback was a very important part of my production process, as it
gave me a very good idea on what I was doing right and what I needed to improve
in order to reach the best product I could.
It ensured
that I was creating products that would successfully appeal to my target
audience and be of a high professional quality.
I
received quantitative and qualitative data and this was by encouraging other
people who saw my video and my other products to take a survey on ‘Survey
monkey’. The question types involved “Rate my magazine out of 10, 10 being very
good and 1 being very bad”. I believe this has massively supported me in order
to make creative and technical decisions.
The
primary target audiences for my products are females and males aged 13-25. Due
to my chosen music artist 'Kodaline' being of a rock type band it is therefore
being aimed at people who are more into the soft rock music genre. This was
presented in the way I created my products in a delicate and rock like manner.
Examples of this could be the black colour clothes my artist wore throughout
the music video, or the narrative in my music video following a female on her
journey where she is seeing lyrics but they have no effect on her emotionally–
allowing audiences to personally identify with the female character having a
strong personality.
I made
sure to gather audience feedback for all products I was making, all the way
through the process. I generated this feedback through social networking
websites such as Twitter and Facebook, asking people to message me with their
likes and dislikes. I also created a questionnaire, that was handed out to 30
members of my target audience, asking them questions such as “what does an interesting
music video involve?” This guaranteed that I was going to create a music video
that suited their interests, ensuring it would be popular amongst my desired
audience. Other ways included, asking audience members directly and organizing
screenings, in focus groups, of my drafts so audience members could watch my
video and I could note responses
Additionally,
I found that some feedback was more effective than others, for example asking
audience members directly was very helpful as I could indulge in greater depth
of conversation about their views, allowing me to ask them leading questions
such as “If you didn’t like that, what would you prefer to see instead?” I took
the feedback very seriously and took note of it all the time in order to use it
in my advantage. This meant I could refer back to the feedback later on in the
process of creation, reminding me what to include and what to dismiss. Having
said that, the questionnaires were extremely helpful, as they allowed me to
compare particular answers and using these statistics to come up with the best
decision. For example, when deciding what my narrative should include, the
feedback I gathered was hugely relevant, as the question “What do narratives in
Rock music videos usually involve?” I gathered
answers that could ensure my music video was conveying my chosen genre in the right
light. My concept of the female being strong emotionally and representing women
to be generally strong was conducted through the responses I received –
highlighting just how essential audience feedback really is.
Furthermore,
once I had done my first drafts for all three products (music video, magazine
advert and digipak) I asked people on Facebook to message me their views. This
is where I gathered very important information about my house style, as many
people asked to see more of a nature effect on my digipak photographs as
essentially this is what Kodaline usually tend to go for. Taking this into
account, I interpreted that the rock
genre look was obviously popular amongst Rock fans, however even though
rock fans are known to be ‘stronger’ the nature look to my Digipak contradicts
it completely which encouraged me to use the photograph of the rain drops on
the window in my magazine advert.
Moreover, my determination to gain criticism and advice
was displayed in the way I sent copies of my music video and printed pictures
of my magazine advert and digipak to family and friends. I found that the most
positive feedback I received was surrounding the way I edited my shots to be in
time with the pace of the music, in result depicting the sad and foreboding
tone of the narrative. The mise en scene and lighting was also commented on as
a success, as audience members were able to instantly recognise the theme of rock
and nature and freedom due to the large open locations I used to film in and my
focus on sunlight and nature.
Lastly, I believe I have been very dependent of feedback
as it has encouraged me to improve my music video massively.
Evaluation 2 - Essay Form
How effective is the combination of your main product and
ancillary texts?
While creating my music video, magazine advert and Digipak
I ensured to make a recognisable ‘rock style’ so that the theme of the album
will be easily identified by its target audience, in result; working together
to promote the album. The extended metaphor that runs through all my three
products is the feeling of nostalgia. However, also how carefree actions
reflect on other people’s lives – which is reinforced within the lyrics of my
song choice.
My music video has the purpose to entertain its audience
and also, to create a character that fans of
Kodaline can personally identify with, therefore feel sympathy for when
observing the ending of my music video. As well as this, it was also used to
amplify the lyrics and message behind the song “All I Want” by using a modern
and interesting narrative to reflect how losing someone can be very difficult.
The way the video is filmed; using slow motion and gentle slow cuts at the
start helps to represent my theme of innocence for the female, creating a
feeling of nostalgia amongst older viewers – encouraging them to remember a
more carefree time. The artist I chose will naturally help sales and stimulate
word-of-mouth, as she is of a very young age with such great talent.
The purpose of the
magazine advert is literally to promote the album and contribute to the image
and style of the artist I wish to create. I feel my magazine advert
successfully represents this as I chose to design it in a very simple way and
by just taking a picture of rain drops on the window– which will appeal to the
target audience of my artist as they will appreciate products representing
pathatic fallacy that reflects nature. In terms of the image of the raindrops; it
signifies the emotion in which my music video is set in, which is reiterated
within the mise en scene of the window raindrops. It’s also a visual
representation of everything my artist stands for – music. This will instantly
assist sales of the album, as my target audience will appreciate artists with a
passion and consideration for music. The mention of it being sold on Digipak
will appeal to more enthusiastic fans of Kodaline, as they will be able to buy
a high quality product; which might be used and kept as a collector’s item –
making them feel as though they are getting something special and worthy of
their money.
The digipak I created also maintains to portray the rock
style with the same photograph being used. The darkened edges around the picture make the customer feel as though they
are peaking through something, generating the feeling of exclusiveness; as if
they are seeing something not many people are privileged to see. The title of
my digipak “In a perfect world” reinforces my theme of trying to be in a
perfect world again after losing their lover. I downloaded a font called
Subsumed, as I felt it was bold enough to grab a customer’s attention, without
ruining the elegance and pictures unique manner of the product. I tried to
create an air of mystery about the band, by taking a picture of the raindrops
as I felt this would make the audience feel more empathy and engage more with
their feelings towards the band. This will attract the younger target audience
I am aiming for, as well as reflecting on the older generation.
Evaluation 1 - Essay Form
In what ways does you media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Additionally, Goodwin states that music videos might also
be used to amplify emotions and moods, without completely illustrating the
song. In terms of this suggestion, my music video conforms perfectly, due to
how the sad mood and sense of loneliness is displayed by the character in my
narrative, capturing the essence of the song, whilst creating a completely new
storyline. This grasps the audience’s attention, keeping their interest the
whole way through, until the part where the character steps on stage and starts
doing a live performance at the end of the video; where it is revealed that the
male has died as she is doing a tribute about him.
Moreover, in terms of the representation, I attempted to
create a sense of innocence and freedom within my music video. I did this
essentially using mise-en-scene. For instance, by filming the majority of the
video in the woods, this created a feeling of carelessness, which was essential
to be portrayed as it fit into the storyline which hints that the young girl
has been very sad about her lover's death and she is not able to see him ever
again. Another way this was portrayed would be in the costume and make up of my
model. Dressing her in a black dress, with black boots, clear complexion gives
an essence of the past, reinforcing the idea of the character cannot do
anything about the past and may as well stop caring. This idea complements my
song choice as within it are references to childhood memories that could make
audiences feel nostalgic: “you took my soul and wiped it clean”.
My music video fits into the alternative rock music genre,
due to the footage within my product echoing many shots used in music videos
for artists such as Kodaline, Muse, and Example. An example of this is my focus
on nature and the colour black. Wide angle long shots of the sun peering
through the trees and bushes towards the camera are typical shots that are used
in order to create a calm feel to the video which some may say may not be a
convention of rock music, as the songs usually aim to make the listener feel
excited, aggressive, and tense – in contrast to perhaps indie/folk music that
aims to make the listener feel calm and peaceful.
My focus on locations is what makes my music video so
visually pleasing. Finding a lot of trees and different logs in order to place
lyrics to film my last scenes in helps to target my video at the right
audience. Those who listen to Alternative Rock music will enjoy the outdoors
and will also have an interest in soft rock music. Therefore, the locations
within my video are easier for my audience to identify with. On the other hand,
those who listen to alternative rock music who live in city areas might find
great joy in enduring within footage outside of their normal environment,
creating a sense of escapism. My video would essentially appeal to young girls
and boys, those from 12-24. This is because the band 'Kodaline' is in fact
aimed at that age group. Their lyrics clearly portray this – therefore largely
appealing to those of a similar generation. In result, I carefully picked my
main actress to appear as a young girl, small in size and petite. This is so I
could ensure that my audience would feel a personal identification with my
actress, helping them to feel more engaged with the narrative – which also
means my video applies to Bulmer and Katz' Uses and Gratifications theory.
My video reinforces the concept of how the actions you make
have an impact on other people’s lives as well as your own, in the form of a
linear narrative. The story begins at the start of the young girl getting ready,
in which we see her brushing her teeth, putting her clothes on, and putting
some make up on– reinforcing the audience's concept of rock artists. However,
the restrictive narrative ensure that occasional shots to a different location
which in this case is at the woods; accompanied by shots of the main character
walking through the trees with the sunlight directly on the cameras highlight
some negative aspects of rock conventions.
This could make my story slightly abstract, as it is not until the end
that it’s revealed that the man who is 'figuratively' singing those lyrics to
her is actually dead. The use of the sun
reflecting through the trees and grass and onto her face gives the character a
positive aura, making audiences feel sympathetic for her as she is facing
relationship problems.
Magazine Advert
My magazine advert conforms to the conventions of
real-media products in relation to the Alternative Rock genre. The artists name
is written clearly at top, ensuring to grasp the attention of Kodaline fans.
their name is written in the same way it is on the Digipak – this creates a
Rock Style and a common theme – so the artists products are easily identified
each time. The title of the album is simply placed on the page, so that it
sticks in the readers memory. I featured five-star ratings and quote such as:
“Our of the world” and “Their best album ever” by popular magazines and
newspapers such as NME and The Times, in
order to give the album a feeling of success, which audience members will
appreciate as they will know spending their money on this album will not be of
waste. The language I used to describe the album fit into the genre, as
Kodaline's target audience will enjoy soft
music, which I feel the words I have used represent. The image of the rain
which is a part of pathatic fallacy also fit into the theme of my music video,
as it is set in that type of emotion and also conforms to the ‘rocky
-aggressive’ convention that my target
audience will probably be used to. I created one in portrait and one in
landscape; this is because I wanted to ensure the album could be advertised in
various places, for example, a bus stop advert in portrait and also perhaps a
billboard in landscape.
Digipack Cover
The CD holders and back page are all photos of trees/nature. This is because I am trying to convey the tone of the album, highlighting the soft type of music Kodaline sings. Target audience members of rock music will instantly associate themselves with albums of this look. The filters on these photos make the leaves and scenery appear sunlit and warm, making the album more appealing and eye catching. I also included a record label logo of ‘Fame records’ so that industrially audience members will begin to recognise the record label and associate it with this genre, helping to advertise the artist and the company at once. The copyright details are also included as well as typical generic conventions such as a track list and a barcode. These all contribute to making my product look as professional and as close to real-life media texts as possible.
Thursday 6 February 2014
Print work
This is some print work I did in order to make my overall product look professional and see how realistic it would actually look if it was to be on a real billboard or underground train stations. I think this helped me use and show my Photoshop skills by using the Vanishing tool. Overall I believe I made a good effort in order to complete this successfully.
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