Evaluation Question 4

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

Within this response I will be discussing all of the media technologies I have used through my A2 music video coursework, in terms of creating a strong analysis of research and planning.  The most commonly used piece of technology I used was the Apple Mac; this was to cover aspects of research, planning and production. On the apple mac I was able to access the software blogger where I found it remotely easy to use the applications and overall work my way around the programme. To display my work in a portfolio format I used blogger to record all of the work I did to support and explain my findings to support my final music video. To gather together all my research I use online websites such as Google, Wikipedia, artist’s websites and biography pages. To then present my work I was able to upload images onto the page to support my work and show my findings, to further the way I displayed my work I used different sites such as Prezi, Slide share and PowerPoint. The positive thing about using blogger to display my work was that it was all electronically saved somewhere; this meant that if something did happen to my work it could be easily view online. Another advantage of it being accessible online meant that I didn’t need to download a programme to access it from outside of the school environment. Using any device which has internet access meant I was able to work on my blog, this mean my phone, tablet and laptop all gave me to possibility to upload information and update research. Due to the Macs being a preferable newer upgrade and software compared to other PC’s available it meant that the programs didn’t crash and they didn’t lag as much as some Microsoft programs I had used alongside to jot down research. To also record information I uploaded scanned in versions of research I had produced on paper, this was things such as the story board and magazine sketches, the scanned piece when straight to the Mac and then I was able to upload and access the picture file through the Mac software. The negative thing about using the Mac for our coursework purposes meant that we wasn’t given individual log in details, instead it was one log in that the entire school used. This therefore meant that if you moved computers your work wouldn’t be saved on that in particular device, which caused problems when it came to editing on a pc because the same computer needed to be free and accessible to continue editing the video. To edit the music video we used software which was downloaded onto the Mac’s called IMovie, this software was only accessible on the Mac’s which is reasoning for using the Mac computers. Because the software is only available on Mac software it meant we had a disadvantage when it came to working on the editing side of our video outside of school , due to all of us having a Microsoft computer it meant we couldn’t access the video to apply edits and effects.  Due to the Mac software being a recent update with newer features it provided our work with a more professional appearance and also gave us the capability to use different programs to upload our evaluation questions and blog posts. 

 

 

 

The IMovie software is what we used to create our music videos; we used different techniques and effects to produce an interesting and well-structured music video.  In terms of production IMovie was the only software we used to produce the editing side of the music video creation. However during the earlier staged of our research we created a small lip sync practise video, for this we also used IMovie to combine the music and filming clips together and match them up so the final practise looked as professional and realistic as possible. Although within our previous AS media coursework we used IMovie, this year we were using the programme for a different reason and had to make sure the music linked up to the recording clips added. We knew our way around the programme but hadn’t used different features to edit the video before. Due to the software being quite updated we felt we was at a good advantage and used the new features to incorporate into our project, the use of levelling out the unsteady filming and cropping the framing of the image were the two most used editing techniques we used. As it is a more advance software we felt our work would therefore reflect more of a professional look. We also experimented with slowing and quickening the video clips to add more of an interesting effect to what was taking place on the screen. IMovie is good when it comes to sharing your clip to social media, you’re given a lot of different exporting options, and the common ones we used was exporting as a file and uploading the video onto YouTube. By placing it onto YouTube the clip was much easier to them upload onto the blogger site. Overall we used and experimented with a lot more of the techniques and effects available on the IMovie software , although we found that the more advanced edits we did to the clip the bigger the file became, this therefore caused a time consuming when it came to exporting the clip. We found that the only negative thing was that it took a while for the video to export and also sometimes we experienced the programme crashing and then it had to be re-opened; therefore a backup always had to be made. The IMovie software is the only available editing software we had access to, although we did face some problems this was something we just had to work around, and I feel overall our end piece looked interesting and matched our ideas.

 

YouTube is another media technology which we used to our advantage; to produce more advanced types of research and planning we used YouTube to upload our lip sync video, this gained us audiences feedback and the general public could access our music video practise, but also our final pop music video which was uploaded towards the end of the coursework.

We also use YouTube within our research stages, as one of our tasks we had to analysis previous students work ,to do this we used YouTube to search for people work and then watch there music videos to precisely critic and analyse. This came under more of the research aspect because we was able to gain ideas and see what worked and what didn't when it came to previous students work and how they were successful in appealing to the audience and their target market. Looking into stereotypes as well, noticing If they stuck to them or subverted there chosen gender within the video.

To upload the lip sync practise onto YouTube it gave us the ability to them apply the video to a blog post and analysis what worked and what editing skills or ideas we needed to work on. Due to YouTube being a world wide site were people are always uploading new music and video it  meant that this was a good platform to promote the music video and gain feedback onto what people liked within the video. YouTube also gives someone the possibility to then share that video on any type of social media site. When looking into our target research and what they enjoyed doing, a lot of people said that they watched YouTube and work perhaps watch more of YouTube then TV programmes. Another positive about using YouTube is that people are able to give there feedback, however this could come under a negative as well because we obviously didn't want to receive any horrible comments, but perhaps this could help us within the future, if we was to create more music videos; we'd be able to apply them comments to improve our filming skills and have a more positive outlook on producing a music video.

Using a camera within the coursework was another key media technology which we used. It was used for things such as filming, taking photographs of work and then producing photography shoots of the band for our dig packs and magazine advertisement. When using the camera we experimented with different types of camera settings to try and get the right type of effect when it came to using the camera to record. Because everyone within our group knew how to work the camera it meant that when it came to recording sections we all knew how to use and work the functions within the camera, meaning that we wasn't time wasting when it came to using the camera and recoding individual sections so that we all had chance to use the camera. The sections where I used the camera to record was the studio sections, although at times the tripod was set up we did still need to angle and position the camera so that the framing was goof and looked professional. The only negative side of constantly using the camera throughout our work was the fact the majority of the time we were carry the camera around to the location we was heading for. Also the quality on the camera regarding pixels and colour resolution was the best we could achieve, due to the camera being the schools equipment we was restricted to the facilities and predicts they had provided for us. However the camera we was using was a Nikon and we were able to quickly upload the recording onto the mac computer by just placing the SD card into the portable slot, the camera has a good storage capacity which meant we never had to delete files. This allowed us to have a lot of room for re- filming and in away we overfilled just to make sure we had enough clips and angles to fill a 3 minute music video. However we didn't just use the camera for filming, the Nikon was also useful in taking photograph for our magazine advert and dig packs, we took a variety of different close ups and camera angles which came out with a good quality image. By using the camera it could then be easily placed onto the Mac and then uploaded onto the blog software, also because the pictures were a JPEG which meant that they could be edited within Photoshop ,and adjusted in that formation to be airbrushed and placed onto a digi pack layout.

We didn't make any vide recordings for the evaluation questions, because we used a lot of digital media to present our work.

 

 

Final Music Video

This is our final Fifth Harmony music video 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDZVaxyuhag

Evaluation Quiestion 1

For this evaluation question I will be explaining the different range of media products I have used in this music video project and the ways using these media forms has challenged the conventions of real media products.


The purpose for using YouTube to upload the music video was to interact with the public and receive feedback including what they liked and disliked in the music video, regarding costumes, location and storyline. YouTube is the main online source for video sharing which provides the user with the opportunity to watch videos and upload their own music video documents. Founded in 2005, YouTube has helped people achieve successful careers in being found on YouTube for example Justin Beiber was found by a record company after his videos went viral and go top hits on YouTube. The age range our music video focused around was teenagers, this is the stereotypical music source which our target market use when file sharing and listening to their favourite artists music video. By adding the file to YouTube it meant we had to adjust the pixels and video quality when uploading the photograph. Therefore we came to the conclusion by adding your music video to a well-known and popular file sharing website it would be a good starting platform when it comes to promoting our band, Fifth Harmony.

The purpose of also using YouTube to advertise and promote the artists also conforms with the stereotype of media, as a lot of artists use YouTube as there starting base for advertising music and their new track releases, therefore due to artists being known for realising music videos on YouTube we felt like placing the music onto YouTube would create a better advertising base for our artist. Also YouTube is a promoting source which is seen through the world and can be access by anyone all over the world, providing a mass audience.

The genre we chose to research and base our music video around was pop, we focused around using the Fifth Harmony song ' Write on me' , to get a more in depth inside into the type of music videos they created we focused on looking in to a couple of their songs. Gaining inspiration to what type of shot and camera angles they stereotypically used in there videos and if it matched the typical pop genre conventions and stereotypes. When we came to short picking our locations, we decided to research into local places where we could access a studio scene and an outside area. To find the perfect location a lot of researching was completed and looking into what was typical in a pop music video regarding lighting, colours and camera shots was this was so we could get an all-round idea into  what was required to produce a well-structured and pop related music video which fitted the genre. When watching music videos from our chosen band 'fifth harmony' we noted that a lot of camera angles and shots they used were captured in a studio surrounding, therefore we took this type of style as inspiration. Using a studio atmosphere we felt made our music video appear more professional and link more to what 'Fifth harmony's' fan base enjoyed watching. Another reason for using the studio location was because as a group we wanted to have a contrast in the different scenery we had. For example if was to have an outside location for lip syncing it would draw away the contrast in the two different aspects to the video, due to us trying to give across the message of the band singing about a current band members relationship. Therefore we took this into consideration and decided to use an arcade location due to the bright lighting being very stereotypical in a pop music video, we felt this would also have a big contrast between the studio lip-syncing clips. This therefore showed contrast in the type of locations we used throughout the music video.  In some of the studio shots we did incorporate inspiration for the music video ' Somebody that  I used to know ' By Gotye. We found By doing this it has made the formatting and closer the bagger and made the mother of the campus downhill, she won’t stop complaining about the colours by placing the some of the colouring and positing the bitch of a person doesn’t mean she can move everything around , by placing the image of fifth harmony on the background side of the cd cover  placing this music video very inspirational and decided to incorporate the idea of drawing over the face within some of our studio shots. Using the colours pink, purple and green face crayons we drew triangle shapes onto our faces. This idea was to symbolise our the three band members joining together to form one strong well connected group, as one side of a triangle drawn is there to represent one band member. This type of recording clip we did links also to the lyrics of the song as the line ' write on me' is used throughout the music video, therefore in some  parts we use these clips to link in with the lyrics when we were editing. This therefore linked to Goodwins theory of making relationship between the video and lyrics. We then went onto looking at field locations, this was so we had a safe and open space to do a power paint scene, this is to show a fun and energetic side to the girls and form as a way of expressing and reliving their emotions, we decided to have strong continuity and sick with the same coloured powder paint as the crayon pens we used in the studio location. To stick with an upbeat and energetic feel to the music video, sticking to the stereotypical conventions of the music video we decided to have a storyline of the couple on an adventurous first date. The reason for basing the location around an arcade was to link to the bright lighting and variety of bold interesting colours used within a pop genre music video, we wanted to produce a realistic element of them waking to the place and therefore we incorporated a river front walkway into our music video location. The reason for them walking instead of driving was to link more to our fan base, due to the target audience being young teenagers we knew that they wouldn't be old enough to drive and therefore the audience could relate and make a connection through the narrative because it was more relatable to a date they perhaps had been on before. Throughout this video we decided to use a mixture of the couple enjoying themselves, with flirty moments for example when the girl wraps the token tickets around the boys neck it shows there closeness and that they both enjoy each other’s company due to the body langue they show. We also used the walking along the river because that's symbolised to be very romantic; however we did contrast and had a lot of fun energetic moments in the music video when the song became more upbeat. This is stereotypical for a pop genre music video. Throughout the video we chose to switch up the location and keep transitioning from studio to outside flinging, this was because we didn't want to have block section of studio and then the rest of the video to be field with the narrative. We felt by doing this we would lose the audience’s attention, but also we wanted to build suspense and make the audience want to keep watching to find out what happened at the end of their date. As you can see in end of the video the couple get closer and appear to be more in love. The costumes all the actors and band members wore were all influenced and used to match the type of style our target market wore, at the time of filming branded clothing was very popular in the teenage market. The Addidas and Nike shoes with very casual styled clothes was what we found was the trend in our teenage market attire, we looked at different high street stores and after researching into what our fan base would wear we came to this conclusion. To match the codes and conventions of stereotypical pop genre music video we chose to use a mixture of camera shots and angles, we did this by using more close up and mid shots within the arcade scenes to keep the attention on the couples and their body language between each other, and then used a mixture of long shots and close up, variety from the two to show how the surrounding and location of the powder paint throwing. We came to the conclusion of using long cuts towards the beginning of the video and then when the beat of the music increased we then decided to use faster cuts to match the beat and rhythm of the song. This is a stereotypical convention which pop genre music videos do.

 To create a good advertisement and promoting platform for our band we decided to challenge common forms of real media products by using magazine adverts to advertise the bands new single and promote the Digi pack realize. When researching and looking into the typical ways artists promote themselves we found that its commonly known nowadays for artists to use sites such as, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to advertise their music and tour dates. However we wanted to subvert the stereotypical way of advertising through social media and focus on gaining attention through magazines, we found that still a lot of teenagers buy girly magazines and therefore promoting a band with a young female fan base it would attract and advertise the right type of people who would listen and be interested in Fifth Harmony's music.

To produce our magazine we decided to first look into other advertisements and see how they present and displayed their album within a magazine. We looked individually into different artist’s advertisement, analysing and observing bands and also solo singers to show the contrast and if there was any difference to the layout and information provided to the audience. The first thing we noticed about the magazines we looked at was that they all seemed to have a photograph of the artists, this we found would therefore hep the audience identify the band members and create more interesting advertisement rather than just having it filled with text. We also came to the conclusion that they seems to have a very straight to the point vibe, for example they were simple and wasn't overcrowded by text and images. By keeping it very basic it allows the audience to quickly read the key information and not have to search through paragraphs of text just to see when the album of their favourite band is being realised. Also we did notice that the font used was very bold and the more key information was in a larger lettering.  Therefore out reasoning behind using the black bubbly font was to appear more bold and eye-catching in contrast with the white background to show the band’s name, then we did slightly adjust the font on each line of the text towards the bottom of the page, this was a subtle change but allowed each of the lines of information to stand out individually inn their own way. By sticking to all capitals it made the font appeared more dramatic and link to the conventions of pop advertisements we had analysed. You will noticed that for the albums name we stuck with the same font used to advertise the album but also the same font was used on the actually album, this was to show continuity's and identify having a link between the two. When doing our target audience research we noticed that a lot of teenagers used their mobile phones and were apart of social media, therefore we chose to add the bands website at the bottom of the advertisement. This also was a key theme throughout a lot of the pop genre advertisements pages I looked into and therefore we felt this would be another good way for promoting the bands social media. For also having the website on the magazine it gives the opportunity for fans to recheck information and realise dates but also for people who don't know a lot of the band to then research and gain a lot of information about awards and successes the band has. This is a good way for gaining more fans through promoting.  Overall I’ve come to the conclusion that the ways a group we decided to advertise and promote our bands image and album release conformed to a lot of the codes and conventions of a pop genre advertisement. This I feel is because we looked into magazine advertisements and researched that stood out and what our target market looked for in an advertisement. This was a key achievement we wanted to make because we wanted our target audience to be interested in the magazine page.

Another type of advertising we created was producing a digipack, for this we decided to challenge the stereotype, to do this and find out what was stereotypical in a digipack we researched into the colours, font and layout of pop genre album overs. We found that vibrant colours and a lot of different colours we used throughout the digipack. Therefore as you can see in our final digipack design we decided to use very black and white toned colours, with just a small pop of light water toned purple.  We came to the decision of using the black and white effect filter throughout the beginning section of our music video to then incorporate the same colour theme within our bands digipack. Another reasoning for using these not so typical colours was because we found our song ‘ Write On Me’ to be a not so typical upbeat pop genre song, although  it came into the pop genre bracket we did find it to not obtain the same upbeat tune which some of their other song do, such as ‘ Work’.  We felt it had more of a chill vibe and very subtle beat which did pick up during the chorus but still didn’t reach a constant upbeat tempo. Therefore we used the contrast in black and white to contrast the colours, this I feel has worked well and actually made the colouring in the photograph more vibrant and interesting, also I feel the audience may be drawn to this type of coloured digipack due to the colouring not be stereotypical for a pop genre album cover.  Another thing we had to look and choose was what we wanted to do about the artist’s image. We did research into this a realised that most of the pop genre used a close up image of the band members, so used single shots and others used group close ups, therefore we chose to stick to this stereotype and placed a groups image at shoulder length of our band members onto the front of the digipack. This I feel one on a shelf will draw the audience into looking at the digipack.  By using the film strip effect on the CD disk I feel links very well with the theme throughout the music video we created. By then using the weaved grid effect on the inside cover of the digipack I feel represents how each person within n the bad come together and produce one image, this type of effect emphasises that they are all individual people but when merged together they produce the ‘fifth Harmony’ bond.




The Ancillary texts we used I feel worked successfully, this is because we had continuity throughout the three and therefore they linked well together. We chose as a group to keep to the black and white theme throughout the ancillary texts and also keep with the same group photographs that the audience could easily identify the ancillary texts together. We doing the research into ancillary texts we did come to the conclusion that a lot of theme kept a theme throughout and therefore we feel we didn’t subvert the stereotypes when it came to the ancillary texts, this could’ve been down to colouring and costume in some situations. We found that all our end pieces linked together well; however we did through the magazine advertisement change up the font slightly, adjusting the colour outline and sizing to make the magazine seem less uniformed. However the colours and costumes used still link together and I feel by having a constant theme throughout brings the whole ancillary together because the audience can quickly identify as the three to be ‘Fifth Harmony’ based.  The only areas within our Ancillary where we subverted from the codes and conventions was when we added a type wrotter section to our music video, this therefore created a vintage style which isn’t stereotypical of a pop genre music video to obtain.

Evaluation Question 3

What Have You Learned From Your Audience Feedback?

Planning stages - Evaluation Question 3 from megan clements

Magazine Advertisement

Within this blog post I will be showing the design sketches we produced as the starting base to creating our magazine advertisement. We produced two hand drawn drafts which we labelled and annotated, trying to give across our ideas and thoughts on what should be stereotypically added to the magazine. 

We feel these designs show off the bands image and we used typical conventions of an advertisement to produce some well thought out designs. 

Magazine Design 1

This is our first initial draft, when looking at codes and conventions of a magazine advertisement we noticed that a number of artists had a trademark logo to represent the band. Therefore we wanted to produce and advertisement which would be easily recognizable for fans to know the magazine post was about Fifth harmony. Therefore to represent the trademark we used a bold number '5' to symbolise the amount of band members the group has.  Our target market for this advertisement is female teenagers, therefore we chose to add a girly aspect to the design, incorporating flowers and flowey swirly font we found foreshadowed this. By also using smooth pastel colours it added a girly vibe and represented the magazine advertisement as being very innocent and pretty. However we also wanted to make sure the font was still bold and eye catching, we wanted the text to standout and give across a clear and readable awareness of the realise dates and the other important aspects of promoting the bands image and tour dates.  The only thing we feel this advertisement draft didn't include was a photograph of the band, this is something that as a group we felt needed to be on the advertisement because it shows the fans and the audience who the members of the group are.  We also found that when researching into magazine advertisements the majority we came across had the artists face on the magazine page, it overall put a face to the advertisement. 

Magazine Design 2

When doing this draft we took into consideration what wasn't so successful in our first initial draft. Therefore within this magazine advertisement we decided to add a group photograph, we felt that this made the advertisement page was interesting and eye catching as the fans are then able to know that the page is about Fifth Harmony. When looking at previous magazines and seeing how other artists advertised their realise dates we found that having a text piece such as ' out now' was a key convention. Therefore we chose to carry this through and added the line 'Out Now' in bold font to draw the audiences attention in to reading the whole promotion. We kept the colours very pastel and girly shades of colour, with also incorporated a boarder to the surrounding group photograph, this was to emphasises a Polaroid type image. We found this is a very pop theme at the moment to take photograph on Polaroid's and therefore we decided to add this effect to appeal to our teenage target market, so they could relate to how we took the image. 

Final Magazine Design 
This is our final magazine advertisement design. After taking into consideration all the codes and conventions a stereotypical advertisement has we chose to use this as our final design. we combined different elements and sections for both of our drafts, incorporating the could photograph of the band in a bordered outline and placing the writing in bold font onto a black solid fill background.  By having a purple themed colour it appeals to a female target market, the tones effect provides an interesting and eye catching colour filter attracting the audiences attention. We decided to place a date on the advertisement so it resembled more of a teaser poster, giving the audience and fan base an opportunity to have something to count down to and mark on their calendar. By also advertising the song we used for our music video it in forms the audience that particular  song will be featured in the new album. The reasoning for having a black background was to make the white font more vibrant, due to the colour contrast this made a perfect advertisement section to the magazine page, as the font is easily readable. By having this type of group shot on the advertisement it created a good band profile, due to the clothing being very casual it portrays the band members being very down to earth who live very relatable lives. Our reasoning for also wearing high street brand clothing was to target the fan base and connect with the type of clothing they could purchase and wear, this we felt created a bond between the target market. 

Digi Pack Designs

For this blogpost we took into consideration the research we had gathered from analysing and researching into different digi packs, we then came up with a few designs which we felt would be best way to portray our bands music in a digi pack form. We took inspiration from other bands digi packs and created a couple of designs which we fell promote fifth harmony but also are very interesting and would be very eye catching on a shops shelving. 

The first this we started todo was look into different style fonts which represent the artists image. We used Da Font to collect different styled texts and become influenced on which designs to use within our digi pack. 

Digi Pack Design 1

This digi pack design is very vibrant, the colours used are extremely feminine and therefore link to are female target market. The pastel tones complement each other and create a happy theme throughout the digi pack. We tried to show continuity throughout the digipack and keep to the theme of having the same colours which were used in the music video. By using a triangle theme throughout the background and inside cover of the cd case it foreshadows the triangles which the artists drew on their face in the music video. The idea behind this was to have a symbol  which represented the band, for example because there is three people in the group each line of the triangle has been drawn to symbolise the forming and friendship they have. Within the inside of the Cd cover there are three triangles which are linked together, this shows that each member of the band brings something different to the group and that overall they work together as a team. On the main front cover we came to the decision of using basic font which wasn't too bold and eye catching, instead we wanted to make sure the artists single shot photographers were clear and the centre focus of the cd cover. This is because when researching into different digi packs we found that if the artists picture is on the front cover then the fan base and target market already know who that group is and can easily identify the name. Therefore we took this into consideration and make the text very basic and not too brightly coloured.

Final Digi Pack Design 

For this Digi Pack we decided to go with a group photograph, this was to resemble the friendship and closeness the band has. The positioning of the artists was done in a random way to show that they are all equal but however different in the purpose of what they bring to the group. This type of shot is stereotypical within a pop bands digi pack, as it shows the bands closeness and friendship. By Using the same photograph which is used on the magazine advertisement it showed continuity throughout the whole advertising process, by the artists wearing very high street brands and affordable clothing it overall would appeal to their target market. This is because their fan base are teenage girls who don't necessary have the money to spend on expensive clothing. Therefore by wearing everyday and casual clothing is portrays the band as being down to earth and very relatable. Perhaps even someone their fan base could look up to and aspire to be like as the girls are being typical females and not exposing themselves in an bad ways, which makes them very good role models to young teenagers. We came to the decision of placing the bands name and song title in black and white coloured font, this was because this type of colour theme is shown on the back and inside section of the digi pack. Therefore by using these colours in the font on the front cover it tied in and made the CD cover more whole as the colours were consistent throughout the whole of the digi pack. We did however add a splash of purple in the background of the group image, this was to add a girly vibe to the digi pack, by adding this pop of colour it made the front cover seem more interesting and eye catching. By using the type writer script style font to show the artists names it would appeal to a female audience, as the curly flowey text is stereotypically seen on female artists digi packs. This overall theme the digi pack has is very vintage, the use of the old traditional film strip pattern printed on the CD disk is very unique and quirky. Also the ripped edging on the back of the casing adds a very interesting and intriguing effect, by placing the white flowey font onto a black background its enabled the font to stand out due to the colours having a high contrast. To add a quirky effect to the inside cover of the digi pack we chose to take a portrait photograph of each band member and produce a weaved effect, this is to symbolise that the girls form one image and they all individually bring something different to the group to form a close and well formed band. To then achieve a more professional look we added the copy write details and record label we used to the back of the CD cover, a barcode was also added to give it that realistic effect of being a real digi pack.