ITS OVERRRR :(

Although I admit it has been a VERY STRESSFUL year, I have really enjoyed working with everyone and I have appreciated all the time the media teachers have taken to help us all conclude this part of our year. I loved the group I worked in and I really enjoyed being the face of my music video, it was so much fun to see people's reactions to my performance. Thank youuuu to ALL the teachers for putting up with my annoying voice in workshop all the time, I know it must have been hard. I have to admit, I will miss this blog. 

Till next timeeee, 
Carina Andre 

Evaluation Q4 - What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

What have I learnt from Music Video feedback?

Taija felt we generally had a good Music Video  overall. She commented on all aspects of our work ranging from Karma's performance to the editing of the music video. In the second video many of the same comments were reproduced, for example Dionne said '' she liked the way our editing matche the beat of the song'' and Ruth said ''she liked the way we put together the shots of Karma picking the graffiti rose off the wall'.

What have I learnt from Ancillary Work feedback?
                                                                   

Nyomi

Masum

My Response to the ancillary feedback?

The main things I learnt from my Ancillary Work feedback were:

• I learnt the importance of incorporating the synergy products into all ancillary work because it helps to develop a visual link between the music video and ancillary work.
• I learnt I had a good understanding of the conventions of Ancillary Work because people had said I had followed all the conventions of the video.
• I also learnt that it was extremely important to use the same fonts and colour scheme throughout my work because that way all three pieces of work (Digipack, Advertisement and Main)
• However there was some improvements I could have made for example some of the target audience said I played with the the sharpness of the images to much. So from that comment I guess I can say I learnt  using editing equipment to much can be more detrimental to your work because then it starts to look over done.

Evaluation Q3 - How did you use media technologies in the Construction, Research, Planning and Evaluation stages?

How did I use media technologies in the “construction and research’’ of my Music Video and  Ancillary Work?

Music Video - Construction

• High Quality Cameras – Without using the cameras in the construction of Group 23s Music Video it would have not been done. So personally I think it was the most important piece of technology related to the construction of the Music Video. We used the cameras to film the entire three base tracks for our Music Video and we also used them to film extra clips which we would add in when editing our video.

• Final Cut Pro – Final Cut Pro was used for the editing process. I used final cut pro to cut the length of the clips we had filmed and I also used it to edit the colour, brightness, sharpness and contrast of the video footage. An example of this from the music video is when our artist picks a graffiti rose of the wall and it comes to life.  As you can see from the clip below before Karma had picked the rose of the wall the video was is black and white, but as soon as she begins to pick the rose off the wall the whole video fades to colour.

• Final Cut Pro – Another editing technique we managed to use in our Music Video using Final Cut Pro was the whip spin when our Artist Karma hit the camera in one location and as the camera pivots to the right it fades into another location where she catches the camera and continues to perform. I did this by cutting the clip where Karma slapped the camera in the first location half way through and then moulded it to the clip where the camera spins in the second location. After this I added a fade where the two clips joined.

Ancillary Work - Construction

• Photoshop – Photoshop was a very important piece of technology I used in the construction of my ancillary work. I used specific tools to tweak the brightness, sharpness, contrast and colours of the images present in my ancillary work. An example of this is when I played with colour red on all the images in my Digipack and advertisement. I wanted to make the colour red boulder throughout my work as it was my synergy colour. This was especially effective on the red lipstick which is one of my synergy items. 

• Photoshop – Photoshop was also use to edit the actual quality of my images. There are numerous filters which can be applied to images to enhance how they look. Intially I decided to add a filter on to the main image on my advertisement and the front of the digipack. The specific filter I used played with the sharpness of the image but I felt it became to blurry, so I decided to play with the filter settings until I got it just right.

Music Video - Research

• Internet for Research – Youtube was used a lot during the researching process of my music video. I used it too look at music videos of artists similar to Ellie Goulding. This was extremely beneficial because it gave me idea on how authentic music videos are meant to look like. Examples of videos I analysed were: Rita Ora – R.I.P and Katy B – 5AM.  When analysing videos on youtube I also used the suggestion bar to watch numerous videos from each artist.

• Internet for Research -  I also use a website called Vimeo because multiple videos of past students work has been uploaded. Therefore I was able to look how lower budget music videos were to be created. This was useful because the music video Group 23 was making had a budget of nothing. Because we didn't have a budget we couldn't try to recreate a high budget video, so we to compensate for the special effects and editing equitment which wernt availible to us.

Ancillary Work - Research

• Internet for Research – Various online fan sites were used in the research of my ancillary products. On these websites there are pictures of the artists digipacks and advertisements which means I was able to have a look at what a professional digipack and advertisement should look like

How did you use media technologies in the'' planning and evaluation''  stages of my Music Video and Ancillary work?

Music Video - Planning and Evaluation

• Webcam and Vlogs - A peice of technology I used in the planning stages of the music video was the computer webcam to create video blogs. I used the video blogs to talk about what me and the rest of the group intended to do for the costumes, locations and props we needed to create are music video. It was also good to add some variation to how we displayed our ideas and work because we would not have been encoporated many different technologies in our blog.

• Flip Cams - The Flip Cams was a very important peice of technology when it came to evaluating Group 23's Music Video. We used them to film a variety of peoples responces and feedback and then from the feeback we gathered we was able to base our final evaluation points around it. An example of when he flip cams came into great use was the day we went to Screen on the Green to watch all our Music Videos. After the videos was filmed, we were able to get great amounts of feedback.

Ancillary Work - Planning and Evaluation

• Photoshop - Once again Photoshop was an excellent peice of technology to plan my Digipack and Advertisement.  I was able to use the program to create a digital mock up so I could get the layout and font style of my work perfect.This was beneficial because I found out that my initial ideas about my layout were not conventional and did not look right on screen. Also because photoshop has a variety of fonts styles installed on the program, I was able to mix and match fonts to see if they went well together. 

• Flip Cams - As mentioned before, the flip cams are a great peice of technology for evaluation purposes, because you can analyse the feedback you recieve and make rational conclusions. When evaluationg my Ancillary work, I went round showing people my work and then recorded their responces and feedback. This was useful because I was able to capture the feeback aswell as their facial reaction from viewing my work.

Evaluation Q2 - How effective is the combination of your Music Video and Ancillary Products?

In evaluation I believe the combination between my Music Video and my Ancillary Work is very successful because I have recieved a good amount of positive feedback which I will talk about more in question 4. When Group 23 was planning for our Music video, it was decided that we were going to use two main synergy products which would link our Music Video to our individual Ancillary work. We decided to use a red rose and red lipstick. The reason we chose red was because it is an colour which symbolizes two main emotions; love and anger. We felt this worked perfectly because the song we had chosen was a love song but at the same time the lyrics suggest that the song writer is angry over the break up. Throughtout the video our artist Karma wore red lipstick and was holding a red rose in all of  the basetracks as you can see below.

To make a vital connection between the main and ancillary texts, it was obvious that I needed to use those synergy products in all of my Ancillary work so that my target audience would be able to recognize them as linked products. I think it is fair to say that my audience can recognise my work as linked products because of:

• The use of the Rose and Red lipstick in all of my products
• The same poses are used in video as well as ancillary work
• The font used at the beggining of the music video has been used on all the ancillary work aswell
• Colour Scheme
• Karma features in all of the pieces of work

As you can see from the images above the fonts used in the main and ancillary texts are basically the same, but I did add extra gradient to the text in my ancillary work. This means as soon as my target audience watch the video and see the ancillary work they will know the peices are connected because the font I have used is very memorable and stands out.

It was also important that my Digipack and Advertisement were easly linked together because if they wernt it would have been pointless trying to link them to my main product. To make sure they were linked, I also followed a strict colour scheme which was made up of black, white, grey and red. This colour scheme also featured in the music video at times.

Thinkning back to the planning of our music video ( Costumes and make up), I think these are also aspects which link the main to the ancillary products. This is because if you look at my ancillary work you can see that our artist Karma is wearing similar clothes to the costumes in the video and has similar make up on. This means her overall style and image has remained the same in the main and the ancillary work. This is an obvious connection between the two because it shows that her image throughout her music and ancillary texts are consistent.

Finally I think my target audience will be attracted to my main and ancillary texts because they are both Urban ( Costumes, Locations and Fonts) as well as Pop ( Filters, Airbrush and Special Effects). Because of this I would say that all my work fits the expectations of the genre which means the specific target audience is bound to be attracted to it. I know this because when researching for my pitch I found that Urban Pop fans expect to see well known urban brands and locations as well as relatively bright pop colours i.e red.

Evaluation 4:What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Carina's Feedback On My Digipak Cover & Inside My Digipak

Joel's Feedback On My Digipak

What I Have Learned Overall From The Feedback From My Ancillary Work

After looking at both my digipak and advert both Joel and Carina were able to recognise synergy I had used for example the red lips, and the font was the same font that was used in the music video. Both Carina and Joel also commented on how they were impressed with the choice of what picture I used and said it was suitable for an upcoming artist. I was glad to have this positive feeback as both Joel and Carina are the age group of my target audience, so if they are impressed with my ancillary work that means that it is highly likely my album and advert will attract my target audience.

Feedback On Our Music Video

Taija

Can

Romy

What I Have Learned Overall From The Feedback On Our Music Video.

Myself and other members of my group went to different media students who had viewed our video in the cinema and asked them for some feedback on what they thought about our video. We were pleased to hear that many liked our video and were impressed by it. The main points made were that editing was very well done and the special effects worked to make a good music video. Taija was one to point this out saying she thought our editing was very good and Romy also commented on an effect we made on the rose at the start. Both Can and Romy said that they recognised the synergy in the video with use of the colour red and especially Carina's bright red lipsticks. Romy also said she was impressed by our camera work and locations. Once again it was good to get such positive feedback from these three students as they fit our target audience, which means that our music video is likely to impressed our desired viewers.

Evaluation 3: How did you use media technologies in the Construction, Research, Planning and Evaluation stages?

MUSIC VID - Research, Planning, Construction & Evaluation

• RESEARCH

Throughout researching I had to look at other similar artists to ours that were in our chosen genre. A few of these artists were people such as Rita Ora, Katy B, Mz Brat. We looked at their music videos for inspiration for our music video and also to see what the conventions were of our genres music videos. Throughout this process we used sites such as Youtube, also we used the website Vimeo to view previous students work. Examples of videos were R.I.P  for Rita Ora and Broken Record Katy B.

• PLANNING

Throughout planning our group used the Macs to record videos/vlogs where we explained what we were doing to prepare for filming. We also recorded vlogs using the flip cameras. We also used our mobile phones throughout to upload picture of possible locations that we thought of filming in.

• CONSTRUCTION

For the actual making of our video we used high quality cameras to record our music video. This was a vital piece of technology in making our music video as without it there wouldn't be a way of making a professional music video. We filmed all three base tracks on the video camera and also other locations that appeared in the video. For the editing of our footage we used a programme on the Mac computers called Final Cut Pro. Final Cut Pro was also very important as we did all our editing on this. To edit the video we layered each piece of footage we had and then cut into base tracks. Without this we wouldn't have a professional look to video as there was a lot of parts that needed to be cut out. Also the change of colour from black to white on the rose wouldn't have been possible without editing. When all our base tracks were cut and we had muted the sound from our videos, we then had to sync our video with the song which was played over the footage we took. We often had to use the lock tool to keep parts of our footage in place as if they moved out of place it was not in sync with the song.

• EVALUATION

We also used the flip cameras to record feedback throughout. We recorded people's opinions straight after they came out of the cinema and we also showed people from our class the video and asked them for feedback. The flip cameras were easy to use and are very convenient and they are easy to carry around and operate.

ANCILLARY- Research, Planning, Construction & Evaluation

• RESEARCH

Once again for research we used the internet. I used the search engine google to search for information on similar artists to mine. I started off by researching into the artist that sings our song which is Ellie Goulding, I looked at both her album cover and any adverts promoting her album. I also looked at Rita Ora's album cover and advert for her album.

• PLANNING

When planning the construction for my ancillary work I practiced making a mock up on Photoshop. This was very useful as it helped me to get familiar with the programme before using it for my real album cover and advert. I also looked and different filters and ways of sharping images. I also learnt to keep the font simple so that it was easy to read. Also I used the same font on my artist's name as the font of Karma's name when it appeared in our video. I ended up using a filter on both my album cover and advert.

• CONSTRUCTION

I used Photoshop to make my album cover and advert. I found this quite easy as I had practiced with my mock up and was quite familiar with the programme. I used tools such as the eyedropper tool to make sure I used the same shade of red throughout my ancillary work. I also used the shape tool to make a circle and create the image of a CD disk. I used the quick selection tool to fill in carina's lips to red on my black and white image used inside my album. I thought the contract from the deep red colour to the black and white background worked well, and also emphasised on our synergy with Karma's red lips.

• EVALUATION

For the evaluation of my ancillary work I asked my classmates what they thought of both my album (cover and inside of it) and my advert. I then recorded it using the flip cameras and uploaded them to the blog. Many people gave positive feedback saying that they recognised the synergy used throughout,  a few constructive comments were also made. This was useful as I could make changes and improvements based on what people said about my ancillary work.

Evaluation 2:How effective is the combination of your Music Video and Ancillary Products?

Here is a slideshow explaining how effective the combination of my music video & ancillary texts are:

Evaluation 1: In what ways does your media products use, develop or challenge forms or conventions of real media products

CONVENTIONS FOLLOWED IN OUR MUSIC VIDEO

This is a video by the British RnB artist Rita Ora featuring Tinie Tempa. This video inspired our group when making our music video as this particular artist is in the same genre as our artist so we thought we could use some ideas represented in this video. Like Rita Ora our artist has used bright red lipstick throughout the video which works as synergy. Also our music video was set in urban locations. In the R.I.P video by Rita Ora she uses car park for her video. The locations used in our video followed the conventions of a RnB video as our video used locations which had things such as graffiti walls in the background, we also used city locations such as markets and stalls. These are usually aspects that are included in RnB videos.

High Angle Shot of Carina - Mulvey's Thoery

Carina Moves Around While The Camera Pans Down Her Body - Mulvey's Thoery

After looking back at our video I have found that we followed many of the conventions that Carol Vernaliss point out in her theory. We have obvious edits such as the special effect on the rose, we also have used a base tracks for our three locations. Also when the pace of the song increase so does the camera work, for example when it comes up to the chorus of the song and our artist slaps the camera causing it to spin. We also followed the conventions of Mulvey's theory as there are shots that are suited to a male viewer. For example when the camera pans up and down Carina's body while she moves around. She is also made to look submissive and at times vulnerable due to the use of high angle shots.

In terms of Goodwin's theory we didn't follow all his points, for example Goodwin stated that pop videos often act out a story where the artists plays narrator and character and we did not do this in our video. Our video would fall into the category of disjuncture as it does not really act out what the lyrics of the song explain. However we did follow some of his conventions as Carina looks into the camera a lot and there is repetition of locations throughout.

Along with red lipstick we also used a rose as our synergy product. This idea came from the 'Broken-Hearted Girl' video by Beyonce. The rose is featured throughout our music video and we have shots where our artist (Carina) is picking off petals which is also done in Beyonce's video. In the Broken-Hearted Girl video Beyonce has parts of the video that our rewinded to make a special effect. We also used this technique at the end of our video to put the rose back into the wall. In this particular video by Beyonce there are parts of the video which are black and white and also parts which are filmed in colour. We have used this technique in our video too as the start of our video is in black and white and then it comes into colour as the song begins to play.

Here is a video which points our the specific points in our video where conventions are followed.

CONVENTIONS FOLLOWED IN OUR ANCILLARY PRODUCTS

Before making my album cover and advert I researched other artists similar to Karma. When making my advert I placed the main picture to one side and had the text placed around it. I found that when researching album adverts this was often the set up for landscape adverts as if the picture is placed in the middle of advert the text often being over the artist's face. I also made sure that the artist's name was the biggest texts out of all other writing on the advert. My advert also stays to the colour scheme red,white and black.

Quotes from newspapers and magazines are usually put onto adverts which is what I have done with my advert. I have also added a quote from a celebrity as that could promote the artist even more and bring in fans from a different artist. In my research I found that this technique is sometimes used for new and less established artists. Carina looks the same in both pictures used in the advert and album cover so she would be easy to identify from her advert and therefore fans would know what to look for when going to buy her album.

Also with the back of my album, I have stuck to the conventions of having all the correct logos for example the record company's logo. Also when looking at other artists tracklist the usual number is just under 10 but not usually over 10 songs so I made sure there were only 10 songs listed on the album.

For my album cover I used a close up picture just like the artist Dionne Bromfield. This picture is suitable as the artist is looking straight into the camera, which means that when you look at the picture it feels like the artist is looking at you. This means that it is easy for the artist to connect with their fans., this is important as our artist would be an upcoming artist so they would not be that known and they would want fans to become familar with their face. Carina's face is on all ancillary products as she would not be an established artist yet so this would be a way of getting her face and music recognised. Also the artist name is the biggest font on the cover, followed  by the album name.

MY SCHEDULE FOR COMPLETING MY EVALUATION QUESTIONS

I hope to finish most of my question 1 by the end of this weekend then come into college to complete the rest, where I will need the Mac's, also I will start question 2. I plan on coming into college early on Monday to get some work done and I may also stay for workshop as well as going to workshop on tuesday if I am able to. On tuesday I will try to begin questions 3 and 4 so I am comfortable with my timing. 

EVALUATION QUESTION 4: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Audience feedback is something that is extremely important and can determine whether you are successful or not. The target audience that we aimed for was from the ages of 16-21, as our artist is urban and it would fit into the style of today's teenagers. It was good that this was our target audience since we had many people between these ages all around us at college. 

When we went to the cinema to watch our music videos, our video came on last and the wait was definitely worth the wait. The audiences reaction was exactly what we wanted and we were surprised at the amount of noise and feedback we got from our colleagues about our video. Many people came up to me and commented on my performance and mentioned that if this was actual artist, they may be drawn into listening to her due-to the clothing she wore and her attitude. 

These are two feedback videos that we got straight after the cinema viewing. (They are a little bit confusing because everyone was excited)

I commented on some of the feedback we got from our music video and I gave my own opinion on what I thought of it all. 

What have I learned from the feedback I got?

From the feedback I got from our video, I learned that our use of the rose as one of our synergy products was very efficient. We were able to effect our target audience with the rose as many people commented on it and said they really liked it. I also learned that the time you spend planning and researching is crucial as it allows you to dig deeper into what your target audience likes. Due-to our thorough research, we got an amazing feedback from our audience and we were extremely happy when we heard the loud cheering after our video was played at the cinema. 

FEEDBACK ON MY ANCILLARY PRODUCTS:

I also received numerous good comments on my ancillary work which also made me very happy. A very common comment that I received was on my use of colour and the fact that the pictures are in black and white and are then contrasted with the red lipstick. I learned that the research I done into London's urban culture was worth it because I was able to design my digipak and advertisement using photo shop and I was able to focus on specific things that would make my digipak and advertisement more urban. I also looked back at my ancillary work after I heard these comments and I noticed that I forgot to add my cereal number in, however only one person commented on that and if I were to do it again, that would be something that I would add in. 

Evaluation Q1 - In What Ways Does Your Media Products Use, Develop or Challenge forms and Conventions of Real Media Products?

Music Video Conventions 

From watching and analysing Group 23's Music Video a number of times, I would say that we have followed the conventions of Music Videos. Carol Vernalis stated that the editing found in music videos is much more obvious when compared with the editing found in films. She also stated that music videos contain disjuncture in a rhythmic basis. 

Her overall conclusions were:

•  Obvious Edits – Jump Cuts, Transitions (Wipes and Special Effects) and Fades.

•  Rules of Continuity editing are broken

•  Base tracks are used to add structure

An example of Group 23 following the convention of Obvious edits is the rapid jump cuts we have used in our music video when the beat begins to drop. We took this idea from Beyonce - Baby Boy and I used Camtasia to present it. 
 

The flickering in our Music video helped to add structure because it featured twice so in a way we followed Andrew Goodwin's suggestion that music videos have no sense of closure or ending. Instead it build up to a climax and then fades away and then repeats the process. This is what we done.

Since we have used so many Jump cuts through out our music video, it suggests that we have broken the rules of continuity editing which means we have followed another convention of music videos, because the rules of continuity editing are often broken in music videos. Below is an example take from our music video of Jump Cuts used:

Another convetntion of music videos Group 23 followed was the idea of Base Track Editing. As mentioned earlier, Carol Vernalis stated that music videos often contain base tracks to add some sort of structure to the music video. We have done this in are video, by using three main base tracks.

We also followed many of the music video conventions Andrew Goodwin suggested in his theory of Music videos. His stated that music videos had no sign of closure or ending. Instead they will build up to the climax of the song and then fade away. This process would be repeated throughout the music video. From watching Group 23's Music video, I can definately say that we followed this convention. Our song started of very slowy and so did our music video. As the pace of the song increased are edits became more frequent and faster. Then as soon as the beat dropped the song began to slow down once again, and so did our editing pace. This was the pattern which we followed throughout are music video.


Also our Artist Karma made sure she looked and sung directly into the camera when filming are music video. This was another convention suggested by Andrew Goodwin. Which is why we decided to follow it. Also by doing this, we did gain a lot of positive feedback because member of are target audience said that Karma's eyes drew their attention inwards.


Finally we also followed the idea of Amplification in our Music Video. This is when music videos introduce new meanings that do not contradict with the lyrics but add layers of meaning. We done this through our shot types and Karma's performance. For example the lyrics of the song are quite saddening which is why when Karma was performing she had to show that emotion.

 

Ancillary Work Conventions followed

The codes and conventions of Ancillary products can also be described as the expectations the fans have for that music genre. This means sometimes depending the music genre the conventions can vary. Because our aritst was an urban pop artist, we would have to follow the conventions of a pop stars ancillary work. Furthermore are target audience would have generally been young adults and teenagers.

The main conventions of a Pop Stars Ancillary work are:

• Layout
• Colour Scheme
• Use of Image filters
• Fonts
• Similarites between Digipack and Advert

Rita Ora's Digipack did inspire the colour scheme of my Digipack because I used red, grey, white and black as my main four colours as you can see below:

However when it comes to layout, my Digipack has followed all the conventions unlike the Rita Ora's one. I have positioned my tracklist in the middle of the back cover, barcode in the bottom left, record lable in the bottom right and copy right in the middle at the bottom of the cover.  I did end up tweaking the pictures I used in my final digipack by adjusting sharpness, colours, brightness and the contrast of the image. So I guess I can say that I did use an filter on my image but I created it myself rather than using one of the presets.

Another convention that my Ancillary work followed was the similarities between my advert and the inside and outside of my Digipack. Throughout all the peices of my work, I have used the same fonts and colour schemes so straight away you can see that all three peices are for the same artist. This is important because not only do the peices of work have to be related to one another, but they also have to fufil the expectations of the fans. So if one peice of work appealed to the fans and another didnt this means I would have contradicted one of the main conventions of ancillary work.

Overall I would say I followed all the main conventions of Music Videos and Ancillary work and used them in a relatively good way because the Music Video Group 23 managed to produce looks authentic and so does my ancillary work which I am pleased about.