Jonny's Evaluation

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

Before the planning and creation of our media texts we did research into the conventions of the music industry. This included the general and fundamental forms and conventions of music videos but also those specific to our own genre. This new found knowledge we incorporated in our music video and ancillary tasks.

A good place to start is with a couple of the conventions that we used, conformed to, not stretching or subverting the ideal in anyway. One such instance is the use of a panning/crabbing shot, capturing the band while they are performing. This idea was originally inspired by the Paramore video – Crushcrushcrush. (Click here to view Paramore-Crushcrushcrush. View between time stamps 01:13 to 01:17 for the crabbing/panning effect.)

On the left, a still from our crabbing sequence.
On the right, the start of Paramore's crabbing sequence

This is relatively common in many videos and films. However, everything that is included in the shot is of interest in relation to conventions and audience appeal. The movement of the camera is critical to the effect. In both our text and the Paramore video there are many close ups and stationary shots where the camera is not moving. To compensate for the lack of movement there are multiple cuts in a very short space of time to give the video pace. When you use a panning or crabbing shot you slow down that very sudden changing of image. Instead you have a constant image which takes in a lot more: an almost panoramic effect. In our video what that does is give the audience the change to absorb what is going on in the scene: the band performing in their own space. As it is, using the mise-en-scene to our advantage we have followed two prominent indie conventions at once. One is focusing on the music as well as a narrative which is a key idea shared and promoted by the theorist, Steve Archer; and the other, simplicity. This means that the audiences eye is not distracted from the band. In doing so you are forced to focus on the band and the music.
The use of the former convention gives a 'real' connection between the video and the music but also the band and the audience. Having that link to the audience really makes them feel apart of the scene. Common in this part was general voyeurism targeted at no individual and not in a sexualising way though this was also used in relation to the singer. This is further enhanced by the proximity of the band to the camera and how the body language of the lead singer subtly plays to the camera. This can be associated with an exhibitionist's view that a female artist is often portrayed in such a way as to attract a sexualised gaze.

Left, still from our video.
Right, still from Cold Play - Fix You

The idea which of the lead singer being alone for a part or a lot of the video is also one we used early on. In the indie genre there are many videos where the whole band is together the entire time. Likewise there are videos where the lead singer is the only person you see throughout the entire text. Cold Play's Fix You is a mix between the two and again proved to be a source of inspiration. The video starts with the lead alone and builds to a performance toward the end. 

We went for a similar cross between the two. In so doing we put into practice the theory of Laura Mulvey about the 'male gaze' where by the female artist is sexualised. To build on this though, in the shot above, and those after, there is a distinct feel of a voyeuristic gaze which was highlighted by Sigmund Freud: the maybe perverse fun in watching someone without them realising, often in a sexual context but not always.  

Just for tonight - One Night Only

This was something that was brought out by the study of other videos in the genre. Many of them had themes related to unity or lack of it and as such much of the footage was of the band or group together as a unit. However we went for the other end of the spectrum whereby there was divisions within the group to begin with. This gave us a lot of room to develop the rest of the narrative with the ability to swing toward division or unity by the end. The examples of the relevant shots above show our group (left) divided and the group One Night Only (right) together. We are challenging the convention of unity in a group at this time thought later that does change. 

Left, our performance
Right, Paramore - Brick By Boring Brick

Lighting is a topic within the music industry that is crucial to having a good video but is often unappreciated and over looked by inexperienced producers and directors. As much as we may want to believe otherwise this is what we are. However, lighting was something that I was acutely aware of in the production of our text. As a result I think we have produced a good text but to do so we went against a few general rules and conventions of lighting within our music video, challenging them. First off, using three point lighting theory, is that you always have your subjects fully lit with at least a key light and fill light. Sometimes, even in big industry it is not always practical or feasible to have a back light but when it is it is used. We were limited in our ability to fully light people but instead we subverted this ideal. As a result we strategically used shadows and darkness and natural light as well small sources of light to create our effects. 

This is especially apparent in the studio when compared to the scenes based outside. The outside was gloriously lit by sunshine so our extra sources like industrial flood lights and car head lights were rendered useless. However, when inside we relied on studio lights and the standard 'house lights' in each room.


This is in stark contrast, quite literally, to Paramore's Brick By Boring Brick video, one still of which is sited above. That image above is just as the girl walks into a cave like room from the outside with the yellow sky in the doorway behind. However, from the light reflecting off her face and clothes there has to be a light source somewhere behind the camera. This luminescence and lack of deep near the characters continues for most of the video.

For the audience this brings into play another dynamic and also enhances the viewing experience and repeatability. It is something different which grabs the attention of the audience and adds a sense of mystery which is automatically associated with darkness and shadows. 

Left, our CCTV effect
Right, a still from Arctic Monkeys - View from the afternoon

This was an idea that was incorporated not as a convention but as an aesthetically pleasing form to enhance the audiences viewing of the product. However, the technique of simulating a CCTV Camera follows conventions in its own right. It was an idea we developed from a series of videos where there were shots from a distance or high angle watching the action. Among these was Arctic Monkeys View From The Afternoon which had these shots in but was also made black and white with every shade of grey in-between.

This CCTV camera effect is a prominent form of voyeurism of the type discussed by Andrew Goodwin. Goodwin said that voyeurism (the estranged observation of a person without their knowledge) is a common theme within music video but has no gender specific or sexual connotations. It is exactly what it says on the tin: watching another. It also relates well to potential real life situations where cameras watch your every move which provides something to which the audience can relate. 

Taking the 'lone lead singer' idea and putting it in a more 'real' senario

Developing on two conventions and ideas simultaneously,  we took the idea of the lead singer being on her own but also the idea of using a recording studio. This draws good parallels with the Take That song, Rule The World. In this they also used an idea involving a recording studio. Each of the band members are in their own booth and in a similar way our lead singer is in a 'booth' too. This was the starting basis of the video which was developed further. What it did though was put in place certain expectations of the video which we could ad hear to, bend and break. In terms of view-ability it gave a video a 'real life' look which appeals to our demographic who are more likely to enjoy more down to earth music videos.

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

In this video I am giving an account of the technologies used in the production of our texts. Below this is an extension to encompass that which I missed in the video.

There were a few important websites that I missed out in the video guide above. One of which was key to the organisation and communication of our group and this was facebook. Filming days and editing times were organised through this website either by instant messaging (IM) or facebook messages. The advantage of the latter was that if one of us wasn't able to get online at the time, the conversation would be recorded to be read later. Windows IM, provided as apart of the Microsoft Hotmail franchise was also useful to an extent but we very quickly decided that for what we wanted, facebook was better as a medium to communicate to each other, as well as using good 'old fashioned' phones.

The other two websites, without which we would not have created this particular text, are www.mp3unsigned.com which is the website on which we found our music. The other is myspace. It was using this social networking site that we approached our prospective 'client' to ask permission to use their music. Since then we have kept them appraised of our work by email.

(image sourced apple.com)

On Final Cut Express (FCE) two of the biggest challenges were synchronising the visual text to the audio sequence and getting the continuity. The software allowed us to 'zoom' in on the sequence display and move audio and video clips minute amounts of time which aided very good accuracy in synchronising the texts.

Continuity was a challenge because we were trying to get multiple angles in places (for instance one of the montage shots around the female lead singer) where the camera is moving and getting the constant movement over the screen took time. The other instance of this was where the car is driving through deserted fields. When the camera moved back I tried to make sure the car started on the screen where it finished on the screen in the preceding clip.

PhotoShop

The last thing that I missed out in the video above was to mention the usefulness of the layering system on Photoshop. It enabled us to make changes to a very specific part of an overall image comprised of multiple layers. These alterations included using the 'magnetic lasso' tool which could be used to select a specific object in an image and move or alter; also adding text to the image was imperative for making a CD case and Magazine advert.

It was using the Apple Mac system MacBookPro that enabled us individually and as a group to produce our products using the software outlined above.

(As an after thought I have also used the bookmark system on the internet on Safari, Google Chrome and FireFox on the Mac OS, Windows Vista and Windows XP operating systems (OS) as well as Microsoft Word and OpenOffice on the latter two OS; and my mobile phone for texting, phoning, mobile internet and on the move twittering.)

        

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

This is an annotated version of our video. It has been annotated with various comments and quotes that have been expressed by a portion of our demographic.

As with all feed back some was positive and some negative; some, general; and some, specific. The general consensus seemed to be that we got the lip synchronisation with the lyrics very accurate which helped make the mixture of shots look "professional". However, the instrumental synchronisation was by comparison, not so good. Even described as "unconvincing" at one stage. While that synchronisation wasn't as good as the lip sync, the use of the instruments themselves in the different setting was quite good. As well as instruments, the costume was also well managed, giving variety but also a consistent feel with no overly dramatic changes like in "Katy Perry - Hot and Cold" (change from wedding dress to red leather outfit). One section that was popular was the use of 'BAD TV EFFECT' to create a CCTV like image.

BAD TV EFFECT

Lighting

People were uncertain of our lighting technique saying that in places there isn't enough light but later saying that the light is just right. 

†How effective is the combination of your primary and ancillary texts?

This is the video of our video recording summarising our texts. With it is appropriate imagery relating to the topic of discussion at the time.


 

Some where along the line in our voice recordings of both the technologies used and the effective combination of the media text, we some how didn't mention the convergence of media technologies. This is a fundamental aspect of advertisement and the methods used to put your product out on the market. This ranges from consumer goods to services as well. BBC News is available on television, radio, internet and to an extent, The Radio Times covers the biggest stories of the past week. Music is very much the same. You can buy it in-store, on-line from a shop and have it delivered or you can buy the digital file on-line and download (iTunes). However, despite this world of digital media, print media such as a magazine advert and the cover of the CD play a vital roll in making a product marketable.


Our own product is affected by this. The video is digital media technology which can only be shown using television, film or computer (internet). However to accompany is you have the magazine advert which can be used as print technology or converted to a digital file and used a advertisement on websites as well as in magazines and on posters. Lastly you have the CD case side of the digipack which would be a physical 'print' item in a store or an online file using the album art as advertisement. 

Digipack

Made the final alterations to our digipack so it is finally done. Among the suggestions we made we have managed to use different ideas (images, texts, fonts and effects) that we each came up with. One idea of mine that we agreed on was using the grass texture image as a neutral background throughout the inlays. This is relevant to the rest of the digipack as grass is on both the front and back covers as well as the image that would be under the CD housing (reverse side of the back cover, which was a collaborative idea between Grace and I). It gives more feel to the inlay itself without overwhelming the consumer with intense imagery as well as being a nice background to read the lyrics off. It also ties in well with  video as 'nature' is a theme that occurs frequently and the blend between natural and artificial.

In the process I learned to use photoshop for apple mac to a reasonable ability. I wouldn't say I'm an expert but I can manipulate enough of an image to give good effect, learning how to:

• Select and move layers
• Select specific parts of a layer using the 'magnetic select' tool (confirm name)
• Make alterations to the image size, colour, contrast, sharpness
• Add text and alter text there after

Digipack Feedback

Feedback on our digipack says that we need to find a more interesting and quirky font so this is something to aim for as well as our evaluations in uncoming few days.

Final Digipack and Magazine Advert

FRONT COVER - CD and Inlay

First Double page spread of Inlay

Second Double Page Spread of Inlay

Thrid Double Page Spread of inlay

Back Cover of Inlay

CD Holder

BACK COVER - CD case

Magazine Advert

Meeting

When we met today we managed to discuss the following:

1. Photoshoot date and time for digipack - Wednesday 24th November 8.00am at Newport - Weather permitting and Sam permitting
2. Insert for digipack (including fonts and sizes) - We decided on the photos to include in the digipack insert and have discussed possible content for the other pages including lyrics and credits.
3. Photos that we need to take to include in digipack other than those from the video - We need to take a pamoramic image of the band and also some posed photos (poster pictures) as well as the front and back cover photos with the hat

We managed to put together an rough overall layout of the digipack inlay booklet - this included making it as a physical object to make it easier to visualise it as a completed component. We agreed that the inlay should be a booklet rather than a 'fold out' and that the centre page should include one larger photograph of the band together.

Front cover of insert same as album cover

First double page spread - we were thinking that this would consist of lyrics from the tracks and maybe a couple of images. We believe there should be about 7 tracks on this album as this is generally around the number that are on other new releases albums. We have emailed the original band to ask for some more track names and lyrics to save us some time in making them all up.

Middle double page spread - this would be a panaramic image of all the band members and down the sides would be an artistic design maybe including some iconography and some images that link with the names 'Said the Hatter' or 'Out of a Hat'.

Last double page spread - one page will contain the other track lyrics that were not displayed previous and the other page will contain credits with an image of a soundboard across the bottom - the credits will include things like record label and mixing e.t.c. This page should probably also include a small section about the label and who the band are signed to.

Back cover of insert - 4 images taken from the music video

Digipack Designing

We have come up with a couple of images which we would like to try and create for our front and back cover. This has been done through much research and thought.
When looking we found that the front cover tends to be busy and have a lot going on partly to attract the audience through the use of the particular image and partly to give a message of whats to come inside. The back cover we found was much more simplistic in most cases, generally using the same location as the front however with only the use of one or two props (maybe the same as the front cover) but making them look less like the main feature. Partly the reason for this is because on the back the track names must be readable.
As we have the album name 'Out of a Hat' we wanted to make this image stand out and thought that by visually displaying it it would become more interesting to the audience. We have also taken the theme that has been running throughout our video of the artificial in a natural environment and tried to continue this on the front and back cover.


FRONT COVER
The connotations of this are that there is alot going on. The hat and band dominate the image. It gives the message that there is a lot that has gone into it and that there is a lot to come from the album. This links with the theme of the 'Mad Hatter'.
The sightlines in the image will all be different. A couple of the artists will be looking at the camera and the others will be looking at each other or at what they are holding/doing. The artists should be fairly straight faced as this is what creates mood and atmosphere in the image.
The colours in the image will be natural to link with the theme of artificial in a natural environment. They may be enhanced slightly to make them look bolder and to sharpen the edges slightly more.
The hat and artist are positioned centre of the image and fill more of the page to link with the connotations and to make the image stand out.
The image may be cropped slightly to ensure that the hat and artists are centre and fill the image.
Within the image there is some instruments and a radio. This are to add to the 'busyness' of the image and to generally make the image more interesting to look at. The objects also link to the music video and what was included in it.
Dress will be similar or the same of that used in the music video to keep a constant theme and to ensure that the indie genre is kept.

BACK COVER
This contrasts the front cover. It displays to the audience that the album is finished. They have listened and watched the business of the band and now it has come to an end - this is done through the use of an empty image. There is still the hat left to signify that there is still something left of the band.
The majority of the image will be similar to that of the front cover however as said above the content is reduced and the 'busyness' is reduced to wind down the album - this then links with the music and the video in that they both reduce in hype and 'busyness' towards the end. The hat is positioned off centre and is relatively small in comparison to the rest of the image to show the reduction. It is the only prop in the image, so the audiences attention is drawn to it.

Website - Digipack

After consultation as a group we decided to proceed with a magazine advert rather than the website due to the mass of information and complexity of constructing an entire website. Some principles however can be carried through, such as using some of the stills from the video to include though we may not necessarily do this.

Simplistic Design

Looking at the magazine adverts in different music magazines they tend to be very simple with either a plain background with a few images, or they have a large image as the background with text on top. Over complicating things can be counter productive as a potential consumer will look only briefly at an advert. In that time they may not be able to decipher the information and thus ignore it.

Too much information?

Audience Feedback Ideas

As we are now in the phase where we need responses from our video to progress with changes, we came up with some questions to ask some of our target audience (16-25). Feedback from the other range (26-45) of our target audience is difficult to gain at this time, however it is still possible through facebook contacts.

As a group we have decided to pursue avenues of YouTube and Facebook especially to gather audience feedback on our music video. This is because we can reach mass audiences very easily and within a short space of time. This also enhances the 'believability' of the band if they are available on sites like these in a industry that nowadays involves so much reliance on technology.

I (Henry) thought I could use questionnaire type feedback but do it online for the above reasons. Here are some of the questions I came up with (to help focus the audience feedback we receive):

-What do you like about the video?
-What don't you like about the video?
-Do you think that the video fits well into the indie genre?
-After seeing the video, do you want to explore the band’s other work (i.e. their album)?
-Do you think we conform to or challenge stereotypes of indie genre within the video?
-Do you think the band members seem believable (i.e. do you think the band members could pass off as a real indie group)?

I (Grace) agree with Henry's questions. Some I had already included in the discussions board on the facebook page for the feedback I started collecting. The others I have come up with are almost identical to Henry's, but I was waiting to discuss them as a group, however now there is no need for me to post them.
The are a couple of questions I would add to the list:

- Can you think of any improvements to our video that would make it more interesting for you as the audience to watch?
- Which is the best part of the music video?/Which part was most interesting to watch? - I want to include this question as I feel that it will benefit us as a group to find out which part was most interesting to the audience.

Also I would re-word the question 'Do you think it fits well into the indie genre?' to
- Which parts of the video do you think fit with the indie genre and which parts do not?

I also asked Miss Mapp if she would kindly send out a message to her facebook friends to help us target the 26-45 age range as well as the 16-25 age range for feedback. From this we have had one response:
'Some of the edit at the start is a bit abrupt. Maybe look into fades or slow cuts. Attention to use of light is good. My main criticism is that unless abrupt cuts are purposeful, be careful of them.
Well done guys!'

Meeting, Editing and Audience Feedback

This is a final copy of our video which we are now showing to audiences which will enable us to gain feedback so that we can polish it.

This video shows some of what we achieved yesterday. We had already got all shots into some sort of chronological order on Thursday and Friday, so our focus was to edit any shots which either didn't fit in the sequence or any camera shot which weren't great i.e. the steadiness of the shot or the framing.

We also managed to continue to look in to and make decisions on our digipak work. For instance, we had an idea for the front cover of the album so we tested this an took some photos. Our aim here was to get the depth of field right otherwise it won't work. Also at the time of taking the images there was not enough light, so the turn out was not exactly as we wanted it.

The photos below are some test shots for our digipack. We decided to test this idea as one of the suggestiong for the album name was 'Out of a hat' and the front cover was suggested to have the band members sitting on a hat. Unfortunatly we only has a Trillby to hand at the time but if we were to develop this further we would use a top hat.

This shot is too far away to create the illusion of the person sitting on the hat

This shot shows another postition and how more than one person could be placed on the hat

This image is the best that we have. If we have we have a shot in the field were there is only the hat then this shot should be successful.

This shot is slightly too far away to make it look as though the hat is being sat on