Evaluation

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
We decided too focus on more of a conventional pop 'love song' music video by filming and focusing on the main characters emotions and follow her throughout the song although usually another character (the person they are singing about) is a main feature within the video f which we decided to go against and not tell a stereotypical love story which would of fitted with the lyrics.

The fades of which we used, made the video flow and helped us to change the settings more easily and also did it to the beat at the beginning which we felt gave it a more professional look.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancilliary tasks?

On each the product and ancilliary task, our main focal point is Ciara with our main cd cover cover being 3 seperate black and white images of her and our video being Ciara throughout.

A colour scheme for the poster and the digipak was our main way of linking the two products. Our music video itself, included monochrome shots with in it, which we mirrored on our digipak because ciaras face was in black and white.


What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
After the class viewed our music video, we discovered the parts within it which they liked aswell the parts that could of been improved. Firstly, they mentioned that our lip synching was spot on, and fitted in perfectly (apart from the ending which had unfortuently moved out of time). We were pleased that this was noticed, as we spent along time making sure that, that was the case. The way in which Ciara perfomed the song was also commented on. They said that it was a very believeable performance as she did not hold back and wasnt shy to put emotion behind the lyrics that she was singing. Also, a few said they liked the way in which we had edited the footage to make it have a more proffesional look(we made some parts monochrome aswell as changing the saturation and contrast). A few negative points were made about the lyrics popping up on screen, because they felt it made it look less proffesional and did not fit in with the whole look of the video. After viewing the video again when these comments were made, we felt this was a very valid point and if we were too make any changes , it would be to delete the lyrics altogether.

Emillie's evaluation

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

·         Challenges as real pop genre music videos usually have a male and female lead in order to represent other pov’s, however we decided to just have a female lead as the artist is female and the video would concentrate on her.

·         Uses forms of real music videos as it has lots of cuts and different angles like real music videos, and the filters used are similar to give it a more professional feel.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancilliary texts?

·        

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

·         We have learnt that:

·         Our visuals and music fitted together well. For instance, the audience liked the link between the lyric “the second time around” and the visual spinning.

·         We also found that we had a lot of varied angles and that the editing fitted in really well with the lyrics and music.

·         Cut through the lines well, which meant that the visuals weren’t boring or repetitive

·         Variety of locations used to keep it interesting.

·         However, the audience also felt that there was a disadvantage to the type of font used on some parts of the video, and that it made it look less professional.

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

·         We used youtube a lot in the research stages, in order to watch a lot of contrasting real music videos. This allowed us to see what works and what doesn’t, and to also gain inspiration for our own video.

·         We also used the social networking site twitter in order to attempt to contact Lady Gaga, so that she could possibly give us some help or her view on our video.

·         Used final cut to edit all of our footage together, and to also add the filters and effects.

·         Photoshop to create our ancillary products (magazine ads, digipaks).

Ellen Quazi Evaluation Questions Notes

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Our music video uses conventions of a real media product in that it has a variation of different effects, such as slowing scenes down, speeding others up, change of colour filter etc, which are featured in real music videos. We also included quite a lot of cuts, some of which were in the middle of lines, which looks more effective compared to cutting all the shots after each line of the song.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancilliary texts?

?????

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

From our audience feedback we learnt that our lip syncing was kept in time well, which is a necessity to make your music video look professional. We also learnt that some of the audience felt the amount of cuts we included made our music video interesting to watch as it didn't get boring, as there wasn't long periods of time with the same shots. However, from our audience feedback, we learnt that adding in some of the lyrics onto the video made our music video look less professional. This could've been made better through using a different style of font and we could've placed the font in more interesting positions, to make our music video slighty 'different' to others.

How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
 In the researching and planning stages we used the internet a lot to help think of ideas, such as YouTube analyse existing music videos to gain ideas of how different cuts and other effects are used. In the construction stages, when it came to editing and putting all our footage together we used Final Cut. This programme allowed us to add different colour filters and other effects such as fades (Ciara fading shot at the start), and also speed up and slow down shots (Ciara spinning around in the chorus)

music video

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

use: 

develop:

challenge:

how effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary task?

use:

develop:

challenge:

Research into magazine ads

To complete the task of producing our own magazine advertisement we had to research into a lot of different styles. A magazine ad is vital in the publication and selling of an Artist as it includes important information about themselves and their up coming music. It also increases 'word of mouth' as people read magazines daily so it will be in constant view to many different types of people.

                                  

                                                   Front Cover Advertising

This image shown is of a recent NME magazine front cover, the artist Lady Gaga takes up most of the cover space, this is important to catch the readers eye, and to stand out from other magazines. Her name in bold stands out over anything else on the cover, again highlighting herself to the audience. A quote from the artist adds a personal touch, so the readers know that the magazine includes an interview with her. The outfit that Lady Gaga is wearing works along side the main message of 'Lady Gaga Unzipped', this visual interpretation of the headline helps to draw the audience in to read the article.

Article Interviews

Article interviews give artists the opportunity to let the public know about themselves, and also the chance to self promote their music; this image of a double page spread on Lady Gaga from Q magazine illustrates how. The full page image of the artist plants a strong image in the readers mind, this increases the chance of the reader recognising and remembering the artist and her face. As the image shows this was a very detailed interview, this has negative and positive aspects as some readers would find it very interesting, however due to the large amount   of text important details go unnoticed such as release dates of upcoming music and tours.       

This piece of advertisement in a magazine is so effective as it would stand out against plain text articles. However simple the ad, the information is put straight across informing the audience of the most important details from the artist.

                                                                                                                                                       



Feedback from class on final cut of video

Good points:

• Lip syncing fitted well
• lyrics coming up on screen - interesting.
• Lyrics matched visuals (second time around matched spinning around in the chorus)
• Editing fitted in with music
• Good performance
• Enough scenes (outside, black room)
• Variety of shots (low angles etc)
• cutting through the lines
• Scenes changed with time of the music
• Different places keeps the video varied and people interested

Bad points:

• Text on the video made it less professional.

Actual costumes used in the video!

Initially when we started planning for our music video, we intended for our "artist" to be wearing only one outfit, which was based off of this look:

However, once we started filming, we realised that by having more than one outfit it would make the video look more real rather than looking like it had been filmed on one day. So, we devised 3 outfits, a really casual outfit, a smart outfit and then an everyday outfit, all of which fit into their scenes.

Outfit 1: This outfit was the really casual outfit, consisting of a pink t-shirt and jeans. This outfit only really features in a few scenes, but we really liked the way the camera picked up the lighting on the t-shirt.

Outfit 2: This outfit was the smarter outfit, which consisted of a floral dress, black tights and then a light denim jacket. This outfit was used only in the dark room scenes, and again the lighting made the floral print really stand out from the black background.

Outfit 3: The last outfit was more of an everyday outfit, consisting of black leggings and an oversized blue cardigan. This outfit featured in quite a few of the outside scenes, making them look relaxed and not like we were filming.

Use of narrative/abstract/performance in video

We didn't want our video to be too cliche, because we could've followed the story that is being told in the song. We thought that this would be hard to achieve,  and would be very predictable. We decided to use more of an abstract performance in our music video. This included shots of our 'artist' in different locations, sometimes lipsyncing, sometimes not. When we were filming our footage we were worried it may be boring, but we knew we wanted to used editing to make our music video more interesting. Editing is a good way to make simple shots look more complex. If we used the narrative and just acted out the story, it would be harder to use more editing in it without making it too confusing, as you want the audience to be able to follow the story.

However, 'story' videos do sometimes work, for example Katy Perry's 'Last Friday Night (TGIF),this video is a sucess becuase it uses humour to keep the audience entertained. There also would have been a good budget, meaning costumes, location and the quality of filiming and editing were more professional looking.



Bruno Mars' 'The Lazy Song' does the oppposite and has a completely random video, which includes men with monkey masks on. Although some of his actions in the video fit in with the lyrics of the song, it is still less 'story-like' than Katy Perry's.

Research into transition types

We wanted to use a variation of transitions in our music video. We liked the idea of having our main character fading away in the first scene, and then using the same scene at the end of the video. This works like a 'loop', giving a starting and ending point.
We also liked using quick cuts between shots, that fitted in with the music, because the song we used had a strong beat that could be used to make our video look more interesting. An example we found where this was used was in the Nicki Minaj and Rihanna video for 'Fly'. At the 41 second mark, there is a quick beat, which shows fast cuts that cut between Nicki Minaj and her feet as she walks. We thought this was a good technique as it shows the main characters facial expression, whilst at the same time you're not just stuck on that one shot of her face.





Drake's  video for 'Headlines' also uses the beat to do lots of quick cuts which makes the video really interesting to watch, because although the video is only made up of about 4 scenes, they are quite simplistic.This shows the power that cuts can have on a music video to make it different to normal. Drake's video also include a sort of 'split screen' effect but they are of the same scene, he is just doing different things/movements which gives a fascinating effect, that makes you want to keep watching.

Research into filters and special effects

We realised that without changing the colour filters of our music video, it would look far too much like a  'home video', which was not the look we were after, nor does it look like a professional, higher budget music video.

We paticularly liked the colour effect used on popular E4 show 'Made in Chelsea'. The colour filter used on this programme is very subtle but is 'warm' looking and makes the filming look more professional. It also improves skin tone.



On Final Cut we tried to achieve a similar look, but this was hard to do on the colour corrector. So we decided just to play around with the colour corrector dials and the sliders to achieve the filters we wanted.

We varied our filters throughout the video, some were bright, some were 'colder' looking, some were black and white. This gave our video variation and made it look less like a home video.

Time line of whole project

October schedule

 

November schedule

Our Day of Filming 09/11/2011

We decided to book our camera on this day and do a whole day of filming as we felt we were falling behind on our video because instead of filming our initial ideas, we were discussing new ideas too much so therefore we hadnt got enough footage for our whole music video.

Our ideas of having shots in fields and picturess surroundings were definitly at the forfront of what we wanted to film on this day. We came up with different ideas as to where we could drive too in order to get the shots we wanted with places such as

The botanic gardens- but we found that this cost to get in and felt we could find a location that would fit out video for free

Fields near Haverhill- Although this wasnt a quick and conveniant place to go because it wasnt near Long Road so we looked closer and in surrounding areas.

Newnham Park - In the end we settled on newham park which is about 2miles from Long Road so was in easy reach too get there and back without wasting too much time, it was free and has exactly the surroundings that we had wanted.

A change of plan- Once we chose our location, we watched the music video that we had so far and came to grips with the lyrics that we still needed to film or the footage for the lyrics that we were not happy with due to bad lighting so therefore wanted to re film it. We wrote down these lyrics and then planned what we wanted to do for each because at the start we were only planning on having the singing in the black room but as time went on and different ideas came to the for front, we decided to have the singing on location also which became a slight problem as we had not previously planned this.

Filming schedule for the day
11am - Get to Newnham Park, giving us 4 hours to film what we need.
11am- 12pm - Film lipsynching shots around the bridge area and field.
12pm-1pm Lunch
1pm - 2pm - More filming of lipsynching but from different angles
2pm - 4pm Scenery shots.

Classification

After researching different music videos, we've found that they are also given classifications in order to see who they are mainly aimed at and what audience they are suitable for. An example of this is Rhiannas 'Man down' of which features a shooting aswell as references to sexual assault. This video kicked up a storm in the media because it was being shown on tv aswell as the internet where youngsters could easily view it, although it was not seen as exceptable. This was later classified as a 15.

Our music video on the other hand is definitly aimed at a much wider audience because no violence, swearing etc is in it but instead it is simple and goes with the theme of the song, which is about a girl talking about love and going through a rough time of which a range of ages can relate to but mainly around 16 and over.

Overall we felt this music video should be given a U classification after we read what the guidelines are for this, with it saying that it can tackle problematic themes but sensitively aswell as no discriminitory language or behaviour.

Classification U
Should be suitable for viewers aged 4 and over. No violence, threat or horror. An example of a classified U music video is "Baby" by Justin Bieber, mainly due to his young fanbase.

Classification PG
Generally okay, but could be damaging to some young viewers.

Classification 12 and 15
Classification 12 is used when the material being shown is only suitable for people aged 12 and over. Classification 15 is used when the material being shown is damaging to people under 15.

Ed Sheeran- A Team- (Ideas)

This is the video for Ed Sheeran's first released single, The A Team. As a group we really liked this video, due to the natural setting, such as the park and the sunshine. Also, this video was filmed on just £20, which just shows that not all good videos have high budgets. This budget is similar to our budget as well, and so this video gave us quite a lot of inspiration. Another part of the video we like is when everything around the girl is sped up, making it look like everyone else is moving and she isn't. We would like to incorporate the black and white filter into parts of our music video, and would also like the incorporate the natural setting.

Lyrics.

 (these will be analysed against our shot list)

Oh oh oh yeah
Babe

Last time I thought we have this talk
Boy you were getting ready to leave
I thought baby you were done
Cause for a while you could barely look at me.

This time I thought that we`d be fine
That I`d forget the things that you said
I tried crossing out your words

But baby you can not forget the past (x2)
Still baby

Chorus:

I’m so unpredictable
you don’t know what to think
So unemotional
Wonder if I’m even still in love
You see
I don’t know what to tell you now
Its always harder the second time around

Im so unpredictable
Just like you used to be
So unemotional
Boy I can forget the way you were with me
I don’t know what to tell you now
Its always harder
the second time around (x2)

We tried going back to Joe’s
That always was our favourite place
Long rides baby by the coast
Do you remember where we stayed

Last time we were hanging out
You were acting kind of strange
Now it’s the second time around
I’m sorry now it’s me that feels this way
Its me that feels this way, babe

Chorus:

I’m so unpredictable
You don’t know what to think
So unemotional
Wonder if I’m even still in love
You see
I don’t know what to tell you now
Its always harder the second time around

Im so unpredictable
Just like you used to be
So unemotional
Boy I can forget the way you were with me
I don’t know what to tell you now
Its always harder
the second time around


I`m not sure the best way to say this
But I can’t pretend to love you no more babe
This ferris wheel`s got me crazy
Maybe the second time around is not meant for us babe
Not mean for us babe yeah!

Repeat corus (x2)

Shot list.

For this shot list, we're going to either say the line or the time frame and then describe the shot :)
Our first section- up too 'last time i thoughts we had this talk' RED
Shot 1- 0:00- 0:05 - variation of close ups, mid shots and long shots all cut to the beat of the song.
Shot 2- "Oh yeah babe" - All mid shots of ciara, mixture of angles.
Shot 3-
Shot 4-
Shot 5-

Second section- up too 'you can not forget the past' GREEN
Shot 1- Last time I though we had this talk - Mid shot
Shot 2- Boy you were getting ready to leave - Long shot
Shot 3-
Shot 4-
Shot 5-
Shot 6-
Shot 7-
Shot 8-

Third section- Chorus 'the second time around' BLUE
Shot 1-
Shot 2-
Shot 3-
Shot 4-
Shot 5-
Shot 6-
Shot 7-
Shot 8-
Shot 9-

Fourth section- Up too 'its me that feels this way' PURPLE
Shot 1-
Shot 2-
Shot 3-
Shot 4-
Shot 5-
Shot 6-
Shot 7-
Shot 8-
Shot 9-

Fifth section- Chorus up too 'the second time around' BLUE
Shot 1-
Shot 2-
Shot 3-
Shot 4-
Shot 5-
Shot 6-
Shot 7-
Shot 8-
Shot 9-

Sixth section- Up too 'not meant for us baby' PINK
Shot 1-
Shot 2-
Shot 3-
Shot 4-
Shot 5-
Shot 6-

Seventh section- Chorus and finish BLUE
Shot 1-
Shot 2-
Shot 3-
Shot 4-
Shot 5-
Shot 6-
Shot 7-
Shot 8-
Shot 9-

Auteur study :)

Flora Sigismondi- She is an intalian director from the city of Pescara, born in 1965. At an early age, it was clear that she was a very artistic, imaginitive child and went on to study painting and illistation at Ontario college and aswell as this she took a degree later on in photography. Music videos came about for Floria when she was approached by The Revolver film company and she began to direct for bands in Canada. Her style was very noticeable and somewhat contraversial, with it being quite dark and disturbing. This though, helped her career and attracted many different artists of whom wanted to work with her. Some of her work includes;                                                                                 

  Katy Perry-E.T                                                              

Aswell as music videos, she also directed a film called 'The Runaways' in 2010 which was based around a girl rockband and it made over $3 million dollars at the box-office but overall the film was on rated  a 6.2/10 by film critics of whom felt it wasnt on par with other american films.