Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation 4 - How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

iMac

I primarily used two macs (one and school and my own) which made the process easy for me as I could continue tasks of research and planning at home in my own time and then easily transfer it to the school iMac. I used both macs throughout all stages of this process (pre production, production and post production and now the evaluation.) Also, due to the advanced software it allowed me to open and run several applications at the same time without being slow and lethargic. 

Google Chrome and YouTube

I used Google Chrome and YouTube extensively throughout this process to research music videos as well videos I liked and to upload my storyboard, draft video and final video. I think that without this I would have found it very difficult to research into the videos that I did and therefore would not have got my inspiration from the videos I took a particular like to (Arctic Monkeys, Courteeners)

Blogger

I have used blogger throughout this process to display everything I have a produced. It also has an "embedding" feature which made it easy to share my inspiration and the research I had found. 

Photoshop

I used photoshop to create my Advert and Digipak and I also have the software on my macbook again making it easy to access continue working at home.

Final Cut Pro x

I used Final Cut Pro X to create my animatic for my story board, my draft and final music video. Again I have this software on my macbook which made it all the more accessible 

Twitter

Twitter allowed me to advertise my fictitious band and to also get in touch with teachers and inspirational bands if needs be. 

itunes and Soundcloud

I used my own iTunes to pick the track (and genre) which I used for my final music video. I used soundcloud to put together an inspirational song list of tracks from my chosen genre and with its embedding feature (similar to blogger) helped me to show this easily. 

Canon (mine)

I used my Canon EOS 70D digital SLR camera to capture images on film day to post on the blog and social media. This helped validate our footage and to help ensure everything was in place and the same after shooting the previous frame.

Canon (Ross's)

We used Ross' camera to capture all of our footage which was helpful because without footage it would have been very difficult to create the video... The high quality camera helped us to capture great footage and was reasonably easy to use. It was also an easy and fast process to upload and transfer the footage we had captured and then stored on the SD card over to either iMac.

UK Tribes and Animoto

I used sites such as UK Tribes to obtain the information about my target audience, thus helping me make decisions on what to create to suit their preferences. I was then able to give Molly the information needed to create our 25 word pitch and get started on creating mood boards for the potential target audience. Molly then used animoto (with my input) to create the 25 word pitch to present in class. We both found it simple, easy and quick to use and to make changes to making the process smoother for the both of us.

Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation 3 - What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Without receiving feedback, whether that be from classmates or teachers, it would be difficult to make the improvements that I needed to make in order to get the best grade possible. If I hadn't have had received the feedback I did on all products (my draft music video, draft digipak and advert and final digipak and advert) they may have looked very dissimilar to what they do now. I believe giving and receiving feedback is a vital process due to the indications and opinions they can give you in terms of what they like and dislike about what you have created.

After creating my draft and final advert and digipak I received the following feedback: 

Final Digipak

Feedback Received 

Millie! I am a fan of both you digipak and advert for you album and band. 

I feel that adding text and images on your previous blank panels helps to keep the continuity of both your products and creates a link between your products and the band. I also feel that the minimalistic design is interesting, suggesting that a audience member would be encouraged to listen to the band you have created, this is something that can also be applied for your advert.

In some cases it makes your design to efficient in its purpose and for its audiences, attracting the buyers that may be interested in your genre.

Keeping a house style I feel is very important, as it helps to give your advert and digipak the professional atmosphere, ensuring that you do well in the process. - Sanjay Patel

Millie, I really enjoy your final digipak and advert. I believe that the changes you have made from your draft to your final piece makes your work much better. I think that removing the album title from the front cover makes your digipak follow the conventions of an indie digipak as there are many albums that use this. Also the image that you have designed looks very unique and gives you a chance to add the same design to your advert. It is clear that you have followed the conventions of a typical indie digipak as it looks very unique and uses a simple but effective design. Your work looks extremely professional and is successfully authentic. Good work. - Will Jones

I really love your digipak and advert final designs you can defiantly see and improvement from your draft to your final ideas. Having less text on your panels has added a more minimalist style to your designs that make the audience want to know more about this digipak. Your colour scheme is very effective, its very eye pleasing and suits your genre well. These conventions fit with your genre and work well together as a package, i cant fault your design. I can see your progression of ideas through your research shape your final design, you have obviously put a lot of thought into it, well done. - Chloe Phillips 

Final Advert

Feedback Recieved

I really like the Digipak and Advert. The colours you have used for your house theme really compliment each other well. I like the 3D effect you have created on the front cover and the Advert. The overall simplicity of both the Digipak and Advert will attract many. I like the font, in particular, as it matches with the genre that is consistent throughout. It is evident through your research and planning, that you have carefully thought and designed your Digipak and Advert which has resulted in a simple yet effective piece of work :) - Krishna Chauhan

The small improvements Millie made from her draft to her final designs are minimalistic but extremely effective. Reducing the amount of font on each panel has increased the simplicity, but more importantly become more aesthetically pleasing to the eye. The distorted square adds a great touch to both the digipak and the advert, and the house style colours in my opinion are intriguing. I would find it interesting to know why pink was used as a secondary colour to compliment the black, but I don't fault it, as it isn't overused. I believe that the level of authenticity of these products is high, and clearly links with the indie genre very well. It is a product which would capture the eye of many in appropriate stores. - Nat Clarke

After receiving this feedback from my teachers, peers (potential audience) it allowed me to see what they liked and disliked about what I had created. The list of improvements my teachers gave me was clear and concise and easy to follow thus making the process easy for me due to the clear direction I received. 

As well as having written feedback, verbal feedback is just as important. As I created all of my products on my personal computer my friends and family all saw what I had created thus allowing me to get feedback while I was working and away from teachers and other class mates. This helped me because none of my friends or family have studied this subject and are therefore complete novices and could be used as a sample audience. I received both positive and negative feedback from them and again this helped me shape my work to what my target audience would enjoy and what fits the "typical indie" look.

Due to problems we encountered while filming, Molly and I didn't receive much feedback thus resulting in me having nothing to look at as a comparison while creating my final video.  It would have been helpful to have some feedback from the draft to help with the transition to the final because it gives me a starting point and would give me an indication of what my peers like and dislike about what I had produced. 

However, the verbal feedback I have received in the process of making my final version helped to fill in the gaps of what feedback I had previously missed, without this I would gave struggled. The feedback I received during the making of my final video was more effective (in my opinion) than receiving one piece of feedback after the draft and that be it. As a student I enjoy knowing how I'm doing as I go along and am constantly looking at ways to improve my work, which means having constant feedback (or the opportunity to have feedback when needed) suits my way of learning perfectly.

Evaluation Question 2

EVALUATION 2. How Effective is the Combination of Your Main Product and Ancillary Texts?

My digipak and Advert are very similar due to the colour schemes, fonts and geometric type shapes I used on both. The similarities between these aspects as well as the typeface hopefully shows a form of "branding."

The geometric type shaping and bold colours could not be used and adapted into my music video thus meaning I had to change the idea of my video completely therefore meaning it is not similar to my other two products (digipak and advert.

I believe I followed the typical conventions in all of my products, however the use of geometric shapes in conjunction with an indie song(instead of indie electronic like my inspirational digipak artists the XX)

My two fonts used in the digipak and advert are the same (name of font) meaning there is some similarities and common ground between the two thus helping the idea of branding throughout. I decided that in order to support and practice the branding for my fictitious artist I would need to make my digipak and advert has as many similarities as possible in order for it to be believable that it has all be made by the same person.


I feel as if my digipak and advert complement each other and that is an obvious link between them, however due to the fact I feel as if I haven't branded in my music video as well as I had have hoped meaning this could have been something I did better.

During the music video I wanted it to be obvious that the lead singer was the centre of attention and that his input directed the entire video, however due to issues that arose on film day was unavoidable, thus meaning that again, I could have done something better to prevent this.

I think that the use of a live band (or what convincingly looks like a real band) is a great way to show that my band was not fictitious and therefore made it easy for the audience to picture that band when they saw the digipak/advert because there is nothing on either of them that refers to the band or their image portrayed through my music video.

Although I feel as if my music video does not comply looks wise with my other two products (digipak and advert) I feel as though there is some similarities between the three and that they work in conjunction with each other to be as affective as I could have made them (due to and issues I encountered) The bright and bold text seen flashing at the beginning of my music video can correlate directly with the bold font I used on both my digipak and advert thus creating a common ground with all three. Although the bright pink colour could not be enforced through the music video I decided to ensure that the lead singer was wearing a black shirt to subliminally connect my advert and digipak to the lead singer.

Evaluation Question 1

EVALUATION 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The ideas I had for creating my Digipak, Advert and Music Video came from external sources and were far from ORIGINAL. I found inspiration from many covers including, Arctic Monkeys AM cover, Jamie XX, The Smiths and Kanye West. What I looked for when I was researching is the use of bright colours, minimalism and geometric type shaping. Some of which were easy to find and would be categorised as "typically indie" (black and white, minimalistic). As well as those that fit the genre I also found some that were slightly controversial, using obscure imagery and positioning. I enjoyed the idea of creating something that could challenge the typical conventions but could be difficult to back up with extensive evidence as some of the bright and controversial examples I found were of different genres such as jazz. I also enjoy the idea of creating something that stands out against others of the same genre and style. Through extensive research into Digipaks and Adverts of my chosen genre I found similar themes throughout. 

The majority of which had the same main colour combinations of black and white which I wanted to use but in a different and more edgy way. Thus resulting in me using a bright colour along side the black and white. I also found that some used the geometric type shaping and I liked that idea. By combining the black, white and what I had then decided would be pink, I added together the use of shapes such as rectangles and triangular type shapes. Through research I found that some cover such as Goats "commune" cover used bright contrasting colours as well as the shaping, thus resulting in an album that would stand out from the rest. Another example of shaping would be the XX's cover "coexist", they made several versions of this including just a simple white on black X through to flames and skylines. I love the idea of having different versions of the same cover but though that again it could be hard to back up with evidence because my chosen band sounds nothing like indie electronic (like the XX)

 In terms of my music video I believe that I do not challenge any conventions that you would see within another video of this genre. The band is fresh faced, well dressed and aesthetically pleasing and the location is bright and minimalistic. During the planning of dressing the set I wanted to strip everything down to its bare minimum and do everything as plain as I could. Thus, conforming the trend that has already been created within this genre. Kasabian's "eez-eh" video gave me a lot of inspiration and was very thought provoking because it was as minimalistic as it could be and in black and white which is what I had wanted my video to be edited in. Although I didn't use controversial costume and props like they did I chose to follow the style that they used and use close ups, long shots and mid shots of the band because I knew through extensive research that they are the most commonly used shots within this genre. I also looked at several Arctic Monkey videos and one that struck me as being "typically indie" (black and white, with close up, long and mid shots) would be the Arabella video where the lead singer is in the majority of the shots used. 

Although in this aspect I followed the conventions of having a typically black and white video with close up, mid and wide shots, I feel as if using the expressive dance that I did within my music video could challenge the typical type of dance that you would find in indie music. In my inspirational video by Bombay Bicycle Club (carry me) the type of dance within that could be classed as expressive and works well with that particular video, which to me says that even though it is being challenged it can work and be effective. Thus giving me the inspiration and confidence that it would work if I were to try it.

Images from Film Day

Band Image and Styling

Due to our previously encountered issues in terms of securing a band, I took it upon myself to get in contact with friends of mine that are musicians. All of which play an instrument, are part of a band or sing alone. After reflecting on the problems that occurred I thought that it may have actually worked in our favour because being a proper band, the previous members may not have listened to direction very well and may have thought that some of our requests didn't fit their "bands image". As all of the members are musicians themselves they are all very familiar with the roles that they play and I believe that because they aren't a real band they will listen to direction and have no objections to our ideas. I feel much more positive about filming next week and am confident that our band is secure.

Here are some pictures of the band members.

Aaron 

Harry

  

Bradley

Filming

Molly and I have booked 151 studio for Saturday 29th November for 4 hours with an additional 3 lights. We are both very hopeful that the filming this time is a success as we are much more organised than we were for when we filmed the draft. We have a secure and reliable band and both Molly and I are free to film. We aren't 100% sure both of our dancers are available but because we have just over a week to sort it all out I feel that even if they aren't both available we can get a replacements. 

What we need

Prior to filming, we need to ensure that we have everything we need organised and viable. Here is a list I made in readiness for film day next week.

Roles on film day

In order for the filming to run as smoothly as it can, Molly and I have decided what roles suit our character and skills best. 

Due to my creativity and communication skills I thought it would be best for me to be director as well as art director. I have a keen interest in interior design and I have a clear idea of what I want the set to look like as well as the video itself. Also, because the idea is mine, I have a clear vision and I have valuable communication skills so that will also play to my advantage as director as I can give clear instructions to the band members and dancers. After the problems we encountered filming our draft I know how to improve our organisation skills as well as learning how to be clearer in my explanations of what Im asking for. 

Although I created the storyboard, Molly watched me closely through this process therefore she has a clear view of what sort of shots we need and can watch the animatic/draft video back if needs be. She is also much more familiar with the camera and technical equipment than I am so we both agreed it would be best for her to film.  We also agreed that we would share the role of sorting out the hair and make up as neither of us are experts in this field but if the role is shared equally it'll share the responsibility. Any general jobs such as cleaning we will also share equal responsibility for so that our duties are weighted fairly.

Giving and Receiving feedback

Giving and receiving feedback is a vital process in the making of the different coursework elements, it allows us to give constructive criticism and allows our peers to comment on what they like and/or dislike. It also helps us both to make any improvements and to develop any ideas we already have. I feel as if the feedback I have given and received has had a huge impact on this process.

Feedback Received.

The feedback I was given was really helpful and all positive which gives me confidence in the elements I have produced. It also helps me come to the conclusion that if I was to produce these they would work and would intrigue the target audience to want to learn more about my band and the albums they produce. All of the feedback I received backed up my views on how minimalistic covers can be extremely effective if produced to a high quality. 

Journey Sheet

A3 Journey Sheet 1

Teachers Feedback

Our feedback we received from the teachers was mainly positive for what we produced. Molly and I had several problems during the filming process which we have created a post on. The main problem we had to deal with was when the band pulled out last minute which resulted in us losing the majority of our shots as the band made up the bulk of our video. Due to having no band we didn't give our teachers much to comment. 

The comments we were given were praising the dancing abilities but obviously due to having no band that it about all our teachers could comment on. Also, they said that in terms of filming and shots that we need to make sure we move the camera a lot more as our longer shots were very static and at times our dancers we almost out of the frame. A lot of this will come with practise and when we film again we will have scope to practice and get used to how the camera works and how to produce angles that work well. 

Obviously because we had little to comment on in terms of shots Molly and I have learnt that we need to use people that are 100% reliable and that we also need to ensure that we manage our time in the most effective way possible. 

Final Advert