Evaluation Questions

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

Our music video follows Goodwin’s points by the music matching the lyrics. This was done with the use of slow action, Lip syncing and choosing to have the video in black and white. Also, the story of our music video matches the lyrics as it about a girl that has left the lead singer of the group which matches the visuals for instance when the lyrics say ”and if I was late, then im sorry” we showed bens girl walking away from there meeting point. The genre of the track was Indie Rock, so to convey this we took inspiration from a song by 3 Doors Down which showed a good band performance which we used in our final product. However our band performance wasn’t as good as we had hoped because we had little musical knowledge. To try to fix this we used individual shots for different instruments and also filmed from slightly weird angles to help cover up the fact we didn’t know how to play the song. In our video we also used some intertextuality through the close up of bens trainer and also when he is writing on his iPhone. The locations we used were kept relatively simple for example we filmed in the woodland area around Long Road. We felt this fit well the genre we were trying to convey as it showed in our research that indie bands use simple and sometimes obscure locations.  The clothing used in our media product also followed conventions of this genre

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

I think that our three products work very well together. The main video is purely in black and white, while the Magazine Ad and DVD Cover are very dulled down colour which still fits well the theme and genre of the video. We added a lot of blur and distortion to our Magazine Ad and DVD Cover. This makes the lead singer feel isolated and alone which fits with the genre and also fits with the video as lead singer ben is almost always pictured alone which adds a link between these products. Our music video and ancillary tasks attract the target audience as they use many conventions of the genre such as loneliness. The locations used in the three tasks are also kept relatively the same for example the video was shot in the woodland around Long Road and the picture on the Magazine Ad was also captured here with sun in the background. The picture on the DVD cover was captured with ben standing on the wall with the sunset and woodland in the background. There is a very clear link between locations used across our products. By using a slightly more colourful image for the Ancillary Tasks we hoped to draw in our target audience more and get them interested in the story/ feel of the video.

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

We read all the feedback from our peers on our final video. We were very happy with the positive feedback for example the black and white effect had achieved what we had hoped.

One piece of negative feedback was the instruments performance as it was clear we didn’t know how to play instruments. We understand where they are coming however we felt we needed to give it a go as it was one of the conventions of our genre and we tried to use fast cuts to hide the fact we didn’t know how to play.

Some negative feedback we felt was wrong for example “not enough locations”. As a group we felt we had a good number of locations including indoors and outdoors to give it variety and cut between regularly to keep the viewer interested.

We have learnt that we needed to be much more in depth with plan and have a very clear storyline for our video.

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

During the making of our products we used Final Cut to give our video a professional finish in terms of editing. We used cuts and fades as our main transitions, these gave the video a nice flowing feel to without it being too jumpy. Also when editing we used effects such as black and white by adding colour correction to our video and then taking the saturation out. This was used throughout the video. Also in Final Cut we used a shot of ben changing the studio dials and synced it with a volume, this gave the impression that ben had turned up the volume of the track.

During the creation of our magazine ad and DVD cover we used Photoshop to allow us to easily manipulate our picture and add realistic text and logos. We used tools like the smudge tool to erase unwanted background items for example the picture we ended up using had a person in the background and we used this tool to blend them into the background. We also used blur as an effect on almost everything except ben which gives a sense that he is important.

To research the conventions of our genre we used mostly the Internet including sites like Google, Wikipedia and YouTube. These allowed us to find out what video of this genre are likely to look like and took many ideas from them. Whilst filming we used HD video cameras to allow us to record high quality footage very quickly and efficiently. For our Magazine ad and DVD cover we used a professional stills camera to take more photographs for use on them. Using this we were able to take many pictures quickly from different locations to get one that is perfect and so when we edited it we had many options with what picture we used.

  

the script

We plan on typing up each others commentary by Thursday and then choose bits from each commentary on the day considering we start filming at 3:25

Digipack dvd cover

Magazine Advert

Schedule

Today + Tomorrow - Diagram Work and Mag Ad
28th November Monday - Timed response to evaluation Questions
30th November Wednesday - No lesson. Type up timed response onto the Blog. Prepare your script.
1st December Thursday - Filming your script - 45 minutes in studio only.
5th December Monday - Editing.
7th December Wesnesday - Editing deadline.
8th December Thursday - Peer feedback on script.
12th December- Finalise blogs.

Ideas for the font and style on the ancillary text

For the text, we wanted to also keep this relatively simple by keeping it in mostly black and white.

For this piece we simply only changed the font into 'rosewood std'

Font: 'Desdemona'

Effects: Inner glow & outer glow

Font: Beyond Wonderland

Effects:inner shadow, outer glow, inner glow, gradient overlay , bevel and emboss

Font: Papyrus

Effects: drop shadow , inner shadow, bevel and emboss, gradient overlay, pattern overlay

 

The style of the fonts were changed by double clicking on the layer and selecting the effects you want as shown above . 

ideas for the ancillary text

Our ancillary texts will contain locations that have been used within the music video such as the woodland area and the wall by the field. This will be done so that the images can show a correlation between the ancillary texts and the video. we will take several images at different locations so that we have a variety to pick from. We would like to have a horizontal image for the CD cover so that it stretches across front, back and side to give a continuous image. We also hope to add some print screen shots of the video itself so that the audience are able to view the content of the video.

 

These different shots will be copied and pasted on the back of the cover in no order so that the audience can have an insight to our media creation. we also plan to show this through adding and editing a film strip across the images to make it look more effective and professional.

 

Practice on Photoshop for a magazine advert

As you can see above, this was our first image that we practiced editing on Photoshop and we managed to change the colours by using several tools such as the magnetic lasso tool to select the rose so we could invert the selection and change the colour into black and white o that the rose stood out. we then added text in the colour of the rose so that they matched one another. The font was kept simple and was changed into italics to link with the idea of a feminine look relating to the rose in colour. This will help us produce ideas for our ancillary texts as we can refer back to it when needed to do so.

Feedback on Final Cut

T2-40

They promote the artist by the use of screen time on the band and when they're playing the instruments. The costume is modern/trendy/casual which emphasizes the band and its genre and personality.

The video is represented in black and white allowing the genre of the video to be displayed and the mood which was purposely created i.e depressing

The shots of the eyes at he beginning is effective in representing the characters thought/mood. Also the shot where they turn the volume up is effective and the volume to the audience also increases. This adds to the mise-en-scene and the genre chosen for the video. At the end the shot of the kick when the music stops again, adds to the whole rock genre ect.  The mirror shot was effective in representing the artist. The shot of the text allows the story to be portrayed.

We would improve the timing of the instruments (particularly the drums) if we did this video as well as adding a fade in and fade out at the beginning and the end.

T2 - 39

Good:

• Good variety shot and movement and shot types
• Some emotion shown towards actions in the song
• Band and some performance
• Some relation between lyrics and visuals.

Poor

• Lack of looking into the camera
• The performance lacks any enthusiasm and is obvious that the chosen artists to play cannot actually play the instruments - performance idea is good but sadly would have been better if it was done by musicians
• There were few close up shots
• There were objects and people in background 
• Sadly there were alot of the similar locations used
• Few costume changes
• Some confusing narrative

T2 - 38

Criticisms:

• Lip synching could have been improved and more emphasis on singing the lyrics
• Obvious that instruments wasn't playing the tune, atleast not particularly well.
• Monochrome was overused, should of been used sparingly.
• Equipment visible in some shots.
• Small editing error where a black screen appeared for a split second

Good points: 

• Good shot variation
• Link between lyric and visual was good. A nd the end kick.
• Genre conventions met in regards to showing the drums/guitar/switchboard
• Good lighting
• Emotive acting
• Good use of locations, however could of been more continuous.
• Good emphasis on walking away.

Lewis, Liam & Matt.

The lip syncing in the mirror is really effective. In general the lip syncing in the video is really good, apart from the first lip syncing shots. The music & lyrics during the first chorus aren't as effective as they could have been, though this was just down to an acting issue. The use of the iphone is really good and meets goodwins point on analysis - intertextuality. The filter over the video is also very effective. Use of the music studio button board thing is really good, with the music getting louder. The kick at the end of the song was brilliant. 

Continuity in the first chorus shows a wall with a bag against it, however it was not there at the shot before. Also some of the shots seem a little too staged. The drumming in one of your shots isn't done very well, however we understand how hard this is to do! Some of your shots are a little too long for the song, also cutting to the beat of the song could have been better.      

T2-42

Thank you for the positive feedback.

However:

- We had a limited amount of people who were available for filming, so we had to make do with what we had to play instruments

- The reason why ben didn't look into the camera was because we wanted to create a sense of awkwardness in order to draw the attention of the audience so they could think about what he was thinking

- When analysing our video again, we noticed we had 10 separate locations so unsure about that comment?

- Ben changed costume 3 times and we are a little confused about where we could've changed costume again.
- The narrative is basically Ben writing about how his feelings are about his"love-interest" when messing it up with her, hence why he was late when meeting her when she walked off and Ben walked on. Then for the rest of the footage he is on his own because of Ben being late. Then when Ben walks towards the pond at the end, he was going to meet her but she isn't there. We tried showing this through the shot of the pond with nobody else around.
- We didn't want too much enthusiasm on the singing as we were trying to show Ben being sad and we didn't exactly want to show that he was happy about being lonely and messing things up.
- The whole thing was in black and white to show the emotion of it being a bit downbeat.
- The split second can't be seen unless you go onto the timeline and stretch the clip and see the tiniest of gaps, however, even though there was a split second missing, it still looks like its just a cut between scenes.

Final Video

7th november- mondays lesson

Today we updated blog and edited more footage that was taken on Thursdays lesson.
extra shots were used to fill in the gaps in the video. i.e
Ben walking in the woods
Ben on bench singing
extreme close up of Ben's eyes to cut down the duration on one of the previous shots.

Time line

00.6 - 00.19 ... Ben walking into the bulding

00.19- 01.8 ... music starts, instruments are played by band and Ben singing. ( all in same location-music  room)

01.8 - 01.33... (location- near the Grafton centre) female walks away in disappointment losing hope as Ben fails to be there on time.

01.33- 01.41... band play in the studio

01.41- 01.48.. gap

01.48- 01.56.. Ben singing in the mirror

01.56- 02.05... gap

02.05- 02.21 ... Ben singing on bench

02.21- 02.36... Ben walking in the woods singing

02.36- 03.22... gap

03.22- 03.53... Ben failing to meet girl on time.

What remains to be done:

Due to the timing of the filming we have not been able to capture enough shots to fill in the gaps therfore wedesday's lesson  9th November will be used for extra filming and then the time we have left after 5pm will be used for editing.
extra sounds will need to be put in at the beginning (footsteps)
black and white filter needs to be used for more of the shots
more transitions also need to be put in between specific shots.

Evaluation for rough cut

The variety of shot angles within the rough cut is really good and effective as it makes it more appealing to watch. The black and white effect also helps emphasize the clarity of the genre and the mood of the song which portrays a more despairing image.

Due to the lack of on time filming and planning we have had a big gap in the video as we have struggled a little with the story board which also resulted to the duration of the last few shots to be longer than expected. we have overcome this by doing some extra filming and getting some more locations to fit in with the lyrics.

The plan in the beginning was to have parts of the video in black and white and part of it in colour to separate the storyline from the band playing but we found that the black and white effect is more effective throughout the whole video rather than parts of it which made it a little confusing for the audience.

The beginning of the video was thought to be too long and not appealing enough meaning something more engaging with the audience needs to also be added.
Ben moving the button upwards in the music room gives a more realistic look to the video as it shows him having control over the music because the volume slowly increases as the button is moved upwards.

Thursday 3rd november - extra filming

for this lesson we filmed some extra shots that were needed to fill in the space gap in the middle of the song. This included some more shots of Ben in the music room when he is 'writing' and singing at the same time. we figured this needed more shots i.e extreme close up to divide the duration of the shot as it seemed too long and made the video seem less appealing when we watched it back with the class.
>extreme close up of eyes (to show more emotion in the video)

we also filmed more of Ben singing to the lyrics whilst sittin gon a bench, we figured that each verse of the video represents another location of either the band playing or Ben, the main artist singing or walking in isolation.
>mid-shot of Ben singing on bench
>mid- shot/ tracking shot of Ben walking through 'woods'

feedback on rough cut

+ Good camera shots
+ Good storyline
+ Good lipsyncing
+Good black and white effect to show emotion
+ good instrument playing
+ element of ben writing the song works well
+ vizuals match lyrics and sht types


- Needs a wider range of locations
- perfomer needs to be more passionate?
- make it more engaging to the audience
- more cross cutting quickly
-need to experiment with filters
-clips are too long

rough cut!

filters and special effects

There are many types of different filters such as...


Protective filters - Absorbs ultraviolet rays.  Gives cleaner, sharper pictures with less haze.  Also serves as a permanent lens protector.

polarising filters-Essential for outdoor filming ; deepens intensity of blue skies; reduces or eliminates glare.  Circular Polarizing filters are used on auto focus cameras.

Neutral density filters-Essential for outdoor photography; deepens intensity of blue skies; reduces or eliminates glare.  Circular Polarizing filters are used on auto focus cameras.             
ultra thin filters- High end filters designed to avoid vignetting problems which occur with wide angle lenses.

special effect filters- split filed filters, close up, multi vision mirrored shot, pop filter sets, sepia

3rd editing lesson

So far we have accomplished 1 minute and 20 seconds of the rough cut , we have gathered a good mixture of different shots and get the actions to be as close as possible to the sound of the music and the lyrics. we have used the fade transition to distinguish one movement from another i.e when Ben is walking towards the building there are different shots of hes feet / trainer which are separated by a transition to make it look more effective. The pace of the shot where an instrument is being played has been decreased and also the volume of the music has been edited  ( increased ) to match the movement  of Ben's hands on the equipment so that it looks he has control over the sound in the recording room.

Transition types

Cut

The most common transition — an instant change from one shot to the next. The raw footage from the  camera contains cuts between shots where you stop and start recording (unless built in transitions are used) In music videos the vast majority of transitions are cuts.

Mix / Dissolve / Crossfade

These are all terms to describe the same transition — a gradual fade from one shot to the next.
Crossfades have a more relaxed feel than a cut and are useful if you want a meandering pace, calm mood, etc. Scenery sequences work well with crossfades.
Crossfades can also convey a sense of passing time or changing location. i.e one shot of walking to a place to another being in the different location/ position

Fade

Fades the shot to a single colour, usually black or white. The "fade to black" and "fade from black"  usually signal the beginning and end of a music video.
Fades can be used between shots to create a sort of crossfade which fades quickly to white before fading to the next shot.

Wipe

One shot is progressively replaced by another shot in a  pattern. There are many types of wipe, from straight lines to different shapes.
Wipes often have a coloured border to help distinguish the shots during the transition.
Wipes are a good way to show changing location.

Other Digital Effects

These effects include colour replacement, animated effects, pixelization, focus drops, lighting effects, etc.