Personally I think the detail
that I have been putting in my work between AS and A2 has grown majorly! To
begin with I think because the amount of research we did in the beginning
helped us to learn to add more detail in our own planning work, because we were
able to see a lot of existing work and be influenced by how great it is, and
this inspired us to want to make our work really good, and the only way to do
this would be by adding much more detail in everything we do. For example, when
we viewed the last years A2 media work, we found it was great and we were able
to see the key reason for it being great, and detail was a major one, and when
we saw the high grades they got, it inspired us to want to make our work really
great and get high grades as well. Planning takes times and effort,
improvising isn't enough, I have learned that you have to be specific about
your planning, for example, costume choice in production, if we hadn't planned
our artists costume choice and she just turned up in any casual clothing then
it would mess up the genre of our music video and the location. I also think I have become
more confident in using a wide range of ICT to present my work, such as embedded
videos, Prezie TimeToast, Camtasia, Slideshare, photo sharing sites and many
more! I think this year I have used much more different ICT technologies. I think with all the blogs I have done, from research to planning and to
production, each blog shows how my work gets more detailed each time and how my
planning skills become better each time. Lastly, if there was anything
I could change about my blog, I would choose to use more ICT and less text!
Because I think it would have made by blogs visually better and more enjoyable!
Evaluation Question 4: What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Music Video Audience Feedback:
Brandon, Farheen and Zhane
Brandon:
Brandon thought overall our music video was good, what he
liked about it was the simplicity of the music video, he understood the
narrative well and thought the idea wasn't complex. This was great to hear
because our group was worried that our audience might not understand the story
our video was telling. He liked the contrast from day to night and the journey
the mystery man makes from day to night. He also said the theme of lights was
clear which therefore means our synergy was clear, and this was one of our
aims. To improve Brandon said we needed more day shots and to lighten some of
the night shots up and also he said that it would have been nice to see more costume
changes from the artist. From this feedback I have learned that during
production you can never have enough footage, the more you have the better,
because you have more to work with, and if for example one shot is too dark you
have alternatives. In relation to this feedback if I could improve my music
video, during our planning stage I would plan to have more base tracks, and
also have more locations so we could have more costume change, and during production
I would make sure we took out more lighting equipment to add more light to the
night shots.
Farheen -
After Farheen watched our music video in the cinema what
she liked about it was the location choice, because the lights in the
background looked good and it was clear our synergy was lights. She thought
there was a strong costume choice, the clothes were bright and coloured and
there was a contrast as a lot of the footage was filmed during the night - as a
young female artist to a female target audience. This was good to hear because
we thought our artist looked a little too casual in her costumes and this may
have made the music look less real. She also thought the camera angles were
good and the artist always came across as centre stage, which was one of our
aims. She also understood the narrative in the video and thought it worked
really well and was creative. To improve, Farheen said we could have used more
lighting. From this feedback I have learned that it is important to manage and
plan the time you have well, yes filming is essential, however it is also
important to leave a reasonable amount
of time for editing because if my group had more time we could have edited some
of the dark shots in our music video and made them brighter through different
effects on Final Cut Pro. In relation to this feedback if I could change my
music video I would have spent more time editing, I would have increased the brightness
and contrast in some of the dark shots.
Digipak And Advertisement Audience Feedback:
David:
David gave me feedback on my Digipak and advertisement,
what he liked about it was the font and the fact that it suits with the
background and the image. I am happy about this feedback because it means I choose
the right colour scheme. He in particular, liked the dotted lights because they
stand out and it's a visual aspect as it's something the audience can remember.
This was great feedback because the theme lights was my synergy, and this is
clear to my audience, it means I have incorporated synergy well in my products
and this was my main aim. He also liked the layout as the track list was clear and
positioned in a way that can be read clearly. To improve on my front panel
David thought I could have made the letters of the artists name clearer by
maybe adding something behind the artist name. What David liked about my
advertisement was that everything was readable and all the information was
clear, for example the artist website. To improve my advertisement David
suggested I add a view more reviews, just to fill up some empty spaces.
After the cinema screening were all the music videos were viewed by the A2 year, we got feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of our music video. The target audience was originally a young female demography, so we got most of our feedback from the female pupils. However, to make the feedback unbiased, we also got feedback from a male pupil who also viewed the music video. Below is the feedback that we received.
This is the feedback that we received from Zhane. All of the feedback that she gave implied that we did a good job at not only during the process of filming, but also the way we planned the music video. For example, firstly she mentions that the idea of the narrative was good for a number of reasons. She began by stating that the narrative was fairly easy to understand. This may be because the structure of the video helps to create the bigger picture of the narrative as they can visualise and anticipate from different gestures shown in the video. This includes the editing, mis-en-scene and camera work. She did not mention any weaknesses in the narrative which goes to prove that the main focus of the video, which is the narrative, appealed to her,
She also picked up on the amplification of lights. Our main target was to ensure that the audience recognise the synergy, being the lights in the mis-en-scene referring to the name and concept of the song. If she managed to realise this synergy, it would be very useful for her to realise the distinction between the music video and ancillary products. Overall, her feedback suggests that it appealed to her as a young female audience. There were not any criticisms about the music video which is very positive.
The feedback that we gathered from farheen was unexpectedly similar to the feedback from zhane. This is something that we wanted because the similarity of response shows that it also appealed to her in the same way. Farheen similarly implies that the narrative was good, but also gives a reason which was that the locations used in the narrative were effective. She aslo says that the costumes worked well with the theme of the song as they were bright colours that contrasted with the colour of the night. This is a good suggestion due to the fact that it brings up the idea of synergy once again as the bright costumes refer to the theme of lights.
Farheen identifies that the camera work on the artist was very good because it makes her centre of the stage. This is a statement that was very positive because it shows that we have promoted the artist in a way that she can be recognised.
Unlike Zhane who gave full postive responses, Farheen spotted a weakness that we could improve on. This is to do with the lighting used in the night scene as some shots were unclear, limiting the visibilty of the artist. This is something that has had a huge impact on the response of the video, as it has given me a variety of ideas that could i change and possibly improve upon.
How we could improve for future use
Whilst filming at night, we did have difficulties with the lighting equipment due to the fact that some filming sessions, we were limited to a small amount of batteries. Therefore, we were not able to film with the highest standard of lighting. To improve, I believe that if we had a better source of lighting, we could have filmed to a better standard were the the artist as well as the location could have been presented to the viewers in a much clearer manner. I have learnt from this feedback that the audience automatically picks up on the visibility and brightness of the mis-en-scene. Therefore, i have gathered that filming at night time must involve high preparation to overcome the slight glitches that have caused this negative response.
Lastly, we gathered a response from a male pupil who also viewed our media product, Brandon. This is to contradict with the opinions of the female target audience, to show the clear difference in the way a male would percieve the video. Bringing in different views allows me to openly discuss the wide range of responses from an unbiased perspective.
Like the previous feedback from Zhane and Farheen, he also mentions the strengths in the narrative. However, he realises the simplicity throughout the music video. The concept of simplicity is a structure that we decided to follow and from this feedback i have learnt that we have executed it very well.
Criticisms
He similarly criticised the brightness of some of the shots. On the other hand, unlike Zhane and Farheen, he brings up the idea that there was a lack of costume changes. I have learnt from this that Mulveys theory of the male gaze has fitted into the way that the male viewer forsees the video. The two female responses did not mention any ways that the costume was limited, but the suggestion from Brandon instantly adapts to the ideas that i have previously learnt from the research of mulvey, due to the fact that the negative response revolved around the female artist. Therefore, i have learnt that for this type of music video to appeal to a wider audience, specifically females and males, the presentation of the female artist is crucial.
What i have learnt overall from all the feedback
I have learnt that the mis-en-scene is more crucial than the aspects of camerawork and editing. The camera work and editing that we used was very simple, in a way that was rather effective in engaging the viewer. However, the mis-en-scene is what most of the criticisms were based upon, including the lighting and props. There were not any negative comments on the in-complexity of the editing and camera work. Also, from research that was done through the earlier stages of this project, the main focus of the research revolved around the aspect of mis-en-scene including clear lighting, suitable locations etc. Research also suggested that editing and camera work were to be simple in order to make a conventional pop video. We did the editing and camera work simply, following the ideas of Carol Vernallis but lost focus on the mis-en-scene were the artist was involved. Andrew Goodwin suggests that a music video is a way to promote the industry further but with the lack of lighting, it could have possibly affected the promotion of the artist. Affecting this type of promotion could be very crucial in the real world, as gaining publicity would be very hard if some unclear shots make the artist unidentifiable.
Feedback for the ancillary
Firstly, i started of my ancillary feedback from Brandon. I chose Brandon because i wanted to get a view of someone who does not have much knowledge about media as he does not study the subject. The reason i decided to do this was to test the audience, such as consumers too see what they are really intrigued by. I have learnt that the only way industries promote their artists and products is not only by showing products within an industry but by exposing it to a wider range of people. What i have learnt is almost an abstract of me (being the industry) willing to promote the artist (Farha) and album to a wider range of people (Brandon who is a male).
Brandon was the first to give me comments about my ancillary products. Instantly, he identified the theme of lights. Throughout my production, i acknowledged the fact that synergy is a very important form of promotion, due to the fact that it is a better way of appealing to an audience. As Brandon identified the lights first, it goes to show that Synergy is not only a term but a way of audience interaction. He also mentions the simplicity of the video which is also connected to the simplicity of the video. From the research of real life products, I learnt that the feeling and atmosphere that the music video bring should be reflected in its promotion products which is why i chose to follow this little form of complexion.
Brandon seemed pretty amazed by my ancillary product although i am at an amateur promotion level. However, this review is an example of how real life media products can catch the eye of audience in the outside world other than media students, as media is a world wide business and industry.
I contrasted the views of Shrepsa purposely to Brandons so I can get a criticism from a female media student. She also realised the theme of lights and simplicity which is a similarity between a ;less knowledgeable media consumer to a experienced female media student. This strengthens what i have learnt about synergy and the way it is identified by people from different background, social groups and age. She crticised the colour use of the green on the inside panels and the different style font and colour on the advertisement. I learnt that having two different texts can make it confusing for the audience and can make it seem over worked and over exaggerated depending on the amount of colours and text/fonts used.
To conclude with...
The feedback has not only helped me on improvements that need to be made from critics and comments. It has also shown the improvements made during the whole process of this project from what i have learnt and from the mistakes and comments on previous work that i have adapted to. Mainly out of all the feedback of the products that have been were that the mis-en-scene is most probably the main thing that engage viewers and mistakes in the mis-en-scene will easily be identified. However, throughout the whole process from when I started of learning concepts of music videos through research to this very evaluation has shown that the whole process has taught me a lot about everything to do with music videos and promotion. All of what i have learnt have been expressed in the production and feedback from the audience concerning the media products that i have been involved in creating.
In the process of the planning, research and production of our music video, there were many technologies that helped us to create an excellent product of our own. These technologies are:
Video camera's, memory cards and hard drive
Photography cameras
Blogger
Youtube
Google
Final Cut Pro
Photoshop
Photobucket
Slideshare
Video Camera's and memory cards and hard drive
The video camera we used were a brand new state of the art camera. It managed to hold two memory cards (A and B) which allowed the camera to film and store more footage. Most camera's rely on just one memory card which limits the amount of footage that can be taken in one instance. The camera was also very easy to use, letting us film in the type of style we want. For example, letting us change the focus to our own standard.
Furthermore, the memory cards were able to be fit in a memory card reader that enabled us to download footage on to the Imacs, which we then stored on the hard drive. The hard drive safely stored our footage, in case there was any danger of erased footage, as some cameras and memory cards can get lost or can be unreliable.
All three were very useful, in a way that we could record footage simple, put it on the computers for editing simple and store all the footage safely on a hard drive. This made processes very easy for the group.
Photography cameras
We used Photography cameras instead of basic cameras to take still pictures of our artist to be put on our ancillary products. These cameras captured clear images, which was important for the ancillary products.
This is an example of a picture taken from the photography cameras
Blogger
Blogger is a website that gives us the opportunity to keep up to date and also to keep a diary of what we were doing in the process of research, planning and production work. It is a very good website because all posted blogs are put on to one page in chronological order. This means that all work during the process could be accessed by just viewing the blog. Whilst doing research, all our research were put onto the blog. This kept all the research in one place, making it easier to view, use and look back on. Also, all planning were put onto the blog so that we could continue were we left of rather than losing track. At the end of each day of filming, a diary of each day was put onto the blog so we could reflect on this after the production finished. Blogger has been very useful in this manner.
Apps such as Photobucket and Slideshare could be inserted into the blogs, as well as videos from youtube or from files on a computer which makes it flexible in what can be used in the blog.
Above shows how to use the basics of the blogger. In order i of the pictures i will explain how it is used.
Firstly, click on the pen to create a blog
An empty post will appear where you will be able to add the necessary information required. The title name will be written at the top and to label your name, click on label and write your name.
To insert pictures click on the image tool and it allows you to upload pictures from your computer.
To insert video click on the video tool and it allows you to insert videos from the computer as well as Youtube.
A few blog posts in the production, research and planning of this project are shown to give a preview of how it would look like on the blog.
Youtube
Youtube was very useful in the research of our production. As youtube allows users to watch videos and more specifically music videos, watching music videos to analyse, gain ideas and criticism was crucial in the planning of our music video. Youtube is one of the most useful websites for searching viral music videos, and most video analysis came from the videos on youtube. Analysis that youtube could let us do : compare genres, identify key factors and elements of music videos, choose the song that we used for our own production, research the original artist and much more.
Example of a video that helped my analysis from youtube
Google
Google provided us with very useful information. For example, researching the production company that we planned to use for our promotion came from research on Google. Also, researching real ancillary products such as Ellie Gouldings were done by gathering images from Google images. A key thing that Google helped us with was the research of the locations that we used in the music video.
Photobucket
Photobucket is an application that brings more than one picture into an album that can be inserted into Blogger. Photobucket is an easier and more convenient way of storing and viewing images, as it bring all images into one screen rather than them being shuffled all over a page.
Below is some ways that Final Cut Pro has allowed us to make edits and effects are shown in the areas that we used them in our music video. There are three main things which are:
Speeding footage
Speeding footage as well as slowing down footage is necessary in the production and editing of the music video. Keeping the same pace of movement throughout the video makes it less engaging and unusual. Not only does it create an effect, it also help to follow the theory of Carol Vernallis in the sense that the camera movement and speed tend to be in time with the beat. Although it may sound difficult, the video above shows how simple it is and how effective it is. Final Cut Pro is a technology that allows this type of edit to happen easily without any difficulty. It has been very useful in this way.
Fades
Final Cut Pro has tools that allows users to create transitions. Transitions, although are not commonly used in music videos which is also explained by carol vernallis, is something that we decided to use at the very end of the video. we only used it once, but the use still had a very good effect on the video. The example below shows how easy it was to create this effect and also how the execution of the effect has made an impact on the video. We did not use any other sort of transition due to the fact that we followed Carol Vernallis ideas, basing our music video around cuts and other edits such as speed which is shown in the first example above.
Base Track
The base track/master shot is a form of recording that allowed a simpler form of editing on Final Cut Pro. All the edits including jump cuts were structured by the base tracks.which made it easier to erase parts of the video that we did not want. Final Cut Pro allows more than one base track, so erasing a part of one base track will lead to the next base track in the exact same timing of the song.
Not only was Final Cut Pro very useful during the editing of the music video, it was very effective whilst planning. We created a story board which we then turned into an animatic story board by using Final Cut pro to run through the images of the storyboard like an actual music video. By doing this, it enabled us to understand what we were doing through out the music video. For example, the feedback from the animatic storyboard suggested that we needed to think it through again, which was useful as we went back to Final Cut Pro to re arrange the storyboard pictures in a correct order. The animatic storyboard is shown below.
She liked the way that I have incorporated the lights through the dots (this implies that she is able to pick out that the synergy for my products is lights). She has identified that there is a visual link between the back and the front cover because of the dots that I have used on both panels and she has also complimented the font that I have used. I originally had a different font but my teacher advised me to change it because it didn't suit with the genre of my music. I decided to listen to his advise and picked a more fun and feminine font and I am glad I did because now you can tell from the font that this Digipak is directed to female who like pop music. She said that to improve I should fill up more of the space on the background which I agree with because my back panel does look bare. If I was to do this again I might consider filling the whole background with the dots and maybe changing the opaqueness of it so that it looks more like a transparent light rather than dots.
Digipak - Inside:
She has pointed out that there is a visual link between the inside and the outside which I am please about because I planned my inside and outside so that they would look the same and that people would know straight away that they belong to the same Digipak. She complimented the image and said that it looks as if she is actually blowing the lights. This is because I had a clear image of how I wanted the inside to look and instructed the artist on how she should pose so that the image came out right. She said that she couldn't think of any improvements for the inside panels. If I had to criticise myself, I would say that I could have made the image of the artist bigger so that it filled up more space on the left panel. I would also try to add a glowing effect around the outline of the artist just to make it look more interesting.
Advertisement:
She praised me for having the album on the advertisement. While researching different types of advertisement for existing albums I found that some of them had a picture of the actual album but some had a different picture of the artist. I decided to go down the route of having a picture of the album because I wanted it to be clear as to what the poster is trying to advertise and so that the audience would know exactly what to look for if they decide to buy her album. She said there was good structure to the advert as there were no empty spaces and that I planned the sizing of different items well so that they all fitted together. She also said there was no improvement needed. If I had to change something I would move the album picture further to the right so that there is a clear separation for the rules of thirds as I feel that the poster borderlines from being separated into halves and thirds.
We asked a few students from our college for feedback on our music video. We asked what aspects of the video they liked and if we had to improve on anything what should we change.
- Audience member 1 (AM1)
- Audience member 2 (AM2)
We wanted to get feedback from both males and females to see if there is a difference in feedback to our music video as we have specifically created a music video that is targeted towards females. They both mentioned that they liked the camera angles. AM1 talked about how we always positioned our artist in the centre of the frame. I think that she liked this because the whole music video is about our artist and her connection to the mystery man and so by placing her in the centre it drew our audiences attention towards her. AM2 said he liked the panning shot at the beginning of our video. I think it is because it creates a more interesting way of presenting our establishing shot of our location. They both mentioned how the video has a target audience of females. AM1 mentions the fact that she liked our artists outfits and described them as being strong way of attracting a young female audience. She also commented on the bight clothes that worked well against the dark background of the night. I'm glad that this came across because we planned our costumes thoroughly so that it would appeal to our target audience and so that it would stand out at night. AM2 pointed out that the music video wouldn't appeal to guys but we played the love story well in order to attract a female audience. I think the is really good feedback because not only has he established who our target audience is but also how we have made our video specifically for females.
AM1 praised us for being able to film certain base tracks at night with good lighting but suggested that we could have made some shots clearer by increasing the light. AM2 also gave the same feedback. I think they were talking about the base track where we shot a high angle close up shot by the south bank trees. The reason why this shot was dark because we had to use the top light instead of the Dedo light. This was because I was standing on a platform to record from a high angle and we didn't want to balance the Dedo light stand on this for safety reasons. This caused the video to be darker and unclear but from acting from my teachers feedback it made the other base tracks at night clear and well lit.
Another positive feedback that we received that was the result of acting on the feedback from our teacher was about the chronological order of our music video. AM1 explained how she can see the journey from day to night through the travelling of the mystery man. I believe that by taking my teachers advice I made it clear about the change in time throughout the day and made it less confusing for the audience.
- Audience member 3 (AM3)
We then asked another female audience member for feedback on our music video and if she can identify what our synergy is. She said that our narrative worked well and that the camera work was also good because some of the clips were hard to film. I think she was referring to the scene where we shot a birds eye view of the mystery man looking for our artist. She also correctly identified our synergy as being lights and she discovered this through the amplification of the lights in our music video. I am pleased to hear that she was able to see that our synergy was lights because this means that we have made it clear in our music videos and our ancillary work.
My changes:
If I was able to do the music video again here are some changes that I would make.
