Below I have included two clips demonstrating how I used Final Cut Pro to change the speed for the final base track at the end of the music video and the other clips shows how I have used Photoshop to edit on the lights to my Digipak.
Thursday, 23 January 2014
Evaluation: Question 3
Below I have included two clips demonstrating how I used Final Cut Pro to change the speed for the final base track at the end of the music video and the other clips shows how I have used Photoshop to edit on the lights to my Digipak.
Evaluation Question 3
Evaluation Question 3: How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Camera :
We used brand new state of the art cameras to film our
videos. These cameras were able to hold two memory cards, which gave the camera
a lot of space to store our footage. The camera was fairly easy to use and the
things we needed to know about it were very basic such as changing the focus: manual
focus allowed us to focus the camera to our own standards and auto focus would focus
the camera automatically for us.
Additionally the footage on our memory cards were able to
fit in a memory card reader that allowed our footage to be transferred to our
Imacs, which we could easily then store on our hard drives, storing our footage
on our hard drive was very crucial because footage on a memory card could
easily be erased, not to mention misplacing the memory cards is very common and
easily done.
This is an image of me inserting the memory cards in the camera, and focusing the camera:
This is an image of me inserting the memory cards in the camera, and focusing the camera:
Blogger:
Blogger is a media technology we used at all times, it was
used for our research, planning and evaluation, without blogger each stage of
our research, planning and evaluation would have been made a lot harder. blogger
is so important because it was used to store all our research such as YouTube
videos, class activities, for example blogs about Carol Vernallis and Andrew
Goodwin and what kind of videos illustrate their ideas. We used blogger to keep
our work safe at all times and the fact that our blogs could be edited at any
time was really helpful, because when we got feedback from our teachers, it
allowed us to go back to existing blogs and improve them. Blogger allowed us to store images and this
was important because during our planning a lot of our research had to come
together to explain our ideas and what influences came with them. Blogger is
like a diary it is always kept up to date and allows us to view our blogs in
chronological order, which means our work will never be mixed up and if we're
looking for a specific blog it can be found quick and easily.
This is an example of how i used blogger to post images:
This is an example of how i used blogger to post images:
The below slideshow shows some images of my research and planning blogs:
Apps and Website:
There are many useful apps and websites that we were able to
use in conjunction with blogger to present our work. Prezie was a really
popular one because it allowed us to attach images and videos with it, which
made the work we were displaying more
interesting and eye catching, it allowed us to select different kind of design
and layouts to present our work. Prezie is quick and easy to put on blogger all
that needed to be done was to copy the correct URL link straight onto blogger.
Slideshare is also a useful website to present our work because we were able to
make presentations and just added them onto Slideshare, have the URL link
copied and directly pasted onto blogger. GIF Maker was a really valuable
website for displaying images, on GIF Maker you are able to present the images
in any position you like and the images also move by flicking in the order you
chose them too. Photo bucket and Kizoa are apps that I used to demonstrate different
images, on these apps I was able to add as many images as I wanted to and also
add transitions which made the images more dazzling.
How I Used Kizoa:
How I Used Kizoa:
How I Used Slideshare:
How i used GIF Maker:
YouTube:
We used the internet for many research purposes such as
YouTube which allowed us to access different kind of relevant videos. Watching
videos on YouTube helped us to analyse them in detail such as analysing what
genre each music video belonged to and what aspects of the video helped to make
this genre clear for example the visual look, which in turn helped us gain
ideas and become influenced by what we watched. Watching YouTube videos also
allowed us to identify key elements of different music videos such as how many base
tracks are used, how many costume changes the artist has and who may be there
target audience and how do we know this? YouTube allowed us to view different
songs by different artists and because we had a large variety of choice we were
able to listen to each song and figure out which song would best suit our idea
and help create and make our idea real.
Google:
We were able to
access Google through the internet which allowed us to find out all the
information needed for planning our video such as, to find out how existing
artists are promoted and how their music videos are promoted through social
media such as Twitter, Instagram and fan pages. We needed to make sure we chose
an appropriate production company that we were going to use for our promotion
and through research on Google we did this. Google gave us the opportunity to
collect pictures of what we were researching such as real ancillary products
for example Ellie Gouldings and be influenced by this work.
Photoshop:
Final Cut Pro:
Speeding up footage:
Final Cut pro is an important media technology that we
used for editing our music videos, an example of why we used final cut pro is
to speed up our footage and in the above clip I have shown you an example of
how this was done. Changing the pace of movement on a certain shot makes it
more exciting and appealing, it also follows Carol Vernallis's theory - the
camera movement and speed tend to move in time with the beat of the song. In
our music video we also have slow motion, and this is also done in the same way
as speeding up the footage only your decrease the pace.
Fade:
The video above is an example of a transition we used in our music video which allowed us to fade two shots together, I think this effect is really attractive because it's a more existing way to go into a new shots, it is also a good way to finish a certain shot, which is why we added a fade at the end of our music video when Umar recognises Farha but she walks away and we were able to combine this with slow motion.
Base Tracks:
Final Cut Pro allowed us to
put many base tracks together, and in the order of our choice, it allowed us to
cut certain parts of each shot and arrange them in the best suitable order. All
the edits, including jump cuts were ordered through the base tracks, which made it
easier to erase parts of the video that was not needed. By using base tracks we were able to structure the whole music video as it allowed us to show our audience shots from day to night.
evaluation question 2
As the Song is called the lights and the main theme of the music video was based around the theme of lights, it was only right for the theme to continue in the ancillary products that i created. the reference of lights have been continued in the synergy of all three products.Not only did the theme of lights relate to the video and ancillary products for connection and recognition, but also to create a beautiful scenery and effect in both the music video and ancillary products.
The main focus of synergy revolved aound the idea of lights. For example, in the music video, the first sight of light is the day light in the beautiful scenery of the barbican. Although this is a natural source of light rather than a sort of technology, it is the start of an implication to do with the idea of lights. Furthermore, later on in the video as the time of the day gets later and darker, the light theme could not be created by day light as this source of light was not as effective through out. however, in the night time, electrical lights look far more effective than lights during the day time. For instance, the lights that flicker of the cars, the city lights and also the lights that are seen in the background and wide shot of the master shot taken at the millennium bridge.
The idea of the flickering lights that we carried out in the music video was an idea that influenced me whilst making the digipak and advertisement for the music video.
How does the digipak link to the music video?
The main idea that continuously popped up in my mind whilst doing the mock up of the digipak was the idea of flickering lights. The flickering lights of the cars and city lights in the music video is what i wanted to carry out in the creation of the digipak. I planned to do this by using the elements of Photoshop, rather than using a picture that consists of lights. I decided to do this not only to be creative, but also to carry out the theme of the flickering lights in a way that the audience could recognise the link between the digipak and the music video. As the lights in the music video were mainly seen during the main shots of the artist, i believed that the audience would be able to recognise the link between the music video and the digipak if a close up of the artist would be used with lights around her. This instantly gives a sense of synergy and recognition not only of the product link, but also of the artist. Also, the use of bright colours that i used in the digipak, such as purple and blue which i used a lot are colours that bright up and create a soothing feel, similar to the feel given off from the music video.
I think that the way that the digipak and music video connects through the idea and visuals of lights was successfully done in terms of promotion. If the design i chose did not refer to light but referred to something else such as love by using colours such as red and designs such as love hearts or something along the lines, the response from the synergy would not be as effective from the audience. The fact that not only does the visual elements of Lights match, but also match to the name of the song and album is what makes it more effective. It is effective because as an audience, we can instantly gather that the name on the album which says in big letters "lights" and the flickering lights have a major link.
How does the advertisement link to the music video?
The advertisement and the digipak have a large link in terms of synergy. Both contribute to the link of the music video. However, the advertisement itself links to the music video, very similarly to the the way the digipak links to the music video. The theme of lights carried from the music video to the digipak is also the exact same theme that contributes to the theme in the advertisement. This includes the designs used, the colours, images and text. The image is an image of the artist facing towards the camera. In the digipak, the image is a close up of the artist and i thought that a medium shot of the artist would give further recognition of the artist as it allows the audience to see her from a different view. Other than the image, the design is very similar and links to the music video in the exact same way that the digipak would. This comes to show that there is a good use of synergy, as the link between the music video, digipak and the advertisement is strong.
How successful is this in appealing to the target audience?
The taget audience that we intended our video and ancillary products to appeal to is a young female audience. There is not a specific group of females that it peals to, such as mainstreamers, aspirers etc. There are many ways in which the products have appealed to the female audience specifically. For instance, the music video itself is a song that is done by a female artist, which instantly appeals to the female audience. Moreover, the scenery that we chose, such as the river side in the barbican and the lights at millennium bridge are places that create a friend, soft atmosphere which reflects the interests and personalities of the audience that we have chosen.
The digipak that i created has also crated many ways in which the target audience can appeal to it. For example, the colour scheme of feminine colours such as purple, light blue, yellow, pink etc are colours that attract the eye of the female audience, as colours such as grey, dark blue and any other darker colours are colours that would appeal to a male audience. Furthermore, the design of flickering lights by using the tools in photoshop elements are simple and neatly set out, rather than it being unorganised which would appeal to a male audience. Also, designs such as stars and the pink text are also factors that would catch the eye of the female audience.
Lastly, the advertisement, which has many similarities to the the digipak has also contributed to the appeal o our intended target audience. as the digipak and advertisement are largely related in terms of design, colour scheme and font, it also gives of the same effect that the digipak would. The only difference is the text that promote the album, such as "Out Now" and "Available on iTunes" etc are types of promotional text that would be seen on any album advertisement whether the genre be pop, R&B or any other.
A Media product that has influenced me and we have compared to is Ellie Goulding - The Lights.
The media product that influenced all the ideas of my ancillary products and synergy are the ancillary products of Ellie Goulding.
The main focus of synergy revolved aound the idea of lights. For example, in the music video, the first sight of light is the day light in the beautiful scenery of the barbican. Although this is a natural source of light rather than a sort of technology, it is the start of an implication to do with the idea of lights. Furthermore, later on in the video as the time of the day gets later and darker, the light theme could not be created by day light as this source of light was not as effective through out. however, in the night time, electrical lights look far more effective than lights during the day time. For instance, the lights that flicker of the cars, the city lights and also the lights that are seen in the background and wide shot of the master shot taken at the millennium bridge.
The idea of the flickering lights that we carried out in the music video was an idea that influenced me whilst making the digipak and advertisement for the music video.
How does the digipak link to the music video?
The main idea that continuously popped up in my mind whilst doing the mock up of the digipak was the idea of flickering lights. The flickering lights of the cars and city lights in the music video is what i wanted to carry out in the creation of the digipak. I planned to do this by using the elements of Photoshop, rather than using a picture that consists of lights. I decided to do this not only to be creative, but also to carry out the theme of the flickering lights in a way that the audience could recognise the link between the digipak and the music video. As the lights in the music video were mainly seen during the main shots of the artist, i believed that the audience would be able to recognise the link between the music video and the digipak if a close up of the artist would be used with lights around her. This instantly gives a sense of synergy and recognition not only of the product link, but also of the artist. Also, the use of bright colours that i used in the digipak, such as purple and blue which i used a lot are colours that bright up and create a soothing feel, similar to the feel given off from the music video.
How does the advertisement link to the music video?
The advertisement and the digipak have a large link in terms of synergy. Both contribute to the link of the music video. However, the advertisement itself links to the music video, very similarly to the the way the digipak links to the music video. The theme of lights carried from the music video to the digipak is also the exact same theme that contributes to the theme in the advertisement. This includes the designs used, the colours, images and text. The image is an image of the artist facing towards the camera. In the digipak, the image is a close up of the artist and i thought that a medium shot of the artist would give further recognition of the artist as it allows the audience to see her from a different view. Other than the image, the design is very similar and links to the music video in the exact same way that the digipak would. This comes to show that there is a good use of synergy, as the link between the music video, digipak and the advertisement is strong.
How successful is this in appealing to the target audience?
The taget audience that we intended our video and ancillary products to appeal to is a young female audience. There is not a specific group of females that it peals to, such as mainstreamers, aspirers etc. There are many ways in which the products have appealed to the female audience specifically. For instance, the music video itself is a song that is done by a female artist, which instantly appeals to the female audience. Moreover, the scenery that we chose, such as the river side in the barbican and the lights at millennium bridge are places that create a friend, soft atmosphere which reflects the interests and personalities of the audience that we have chosen.
The digipak that i created has also crated many ways in which the target audience can appeal to it. For example, the colour scheme of feminine colours such as purple, light blue, yellow, pink etc are colours that attract the eye of the female audience, as colours such as grey, dark blue and any other darker colours are colours that would appeal to a male audience. Furthermore, the design of flickering lights by using the tools in photoshop elements are simple and neatly set out, rather than it being unorganised which would appeal to a male audience. Also, designs such as stars and the pink text are also factors that would catch the eye of the female audience.Lastly, the advertisement, which has many similarities to the the digipak has also contributed to the appeal o our intended target audience. as the digipak and advertisement are largely related in terms of design, colour scheme and font, it also gives of the same effect that the digipak would. The only difference is the text that promote the album, such as "Out Now" and "Available on iTunes" etc are types of promotional text that would be seen on any album advertisement whether the genre be pop, R&B or any other.
A Media product that has influenced me and we have compared to is Ellie Goulding - The Lights.
The media product that influenced all the ideas of my ancillary products and synergy are the ancillary products of Ellie Goulding.
Ellie Goulding also based her theme of the music video and ancillary products around lights. Her theme of lights is carried out through the design of the digipak and advertisement. The front and back cover of her digipak is simple, with a close up of herself and a simple design of flickering lights. This theme is not only in the digipak, but also has a large similarity in the advertisement, as the design and use of colour continue the theme and ideas of ligh from the digipak to the advertisement. This automatically creates synergy. Furthermore, relating both ancillary products to the video, the very begining of the video visualises the same flickering light design as seen on the digipak. The effect of lights around her during the music video whilst holding the instrument is the same sort of light that is presented in the advertisement. the synergy is clear, as all three products link in some way.
This influenced me in many ways. I followed her theme and ideas in the music video and the ancillary products i created. The use of synergy in Ellie gouldings products have clear links by using simple effects, colours, pictures. The simplicity of all the products inspired me the most, as seen above i have based my synergy upon the simplicity of the products which allow the audience to identify all the products as one.
Evaluation Question 2
Evaluation Question 2: How effective is the combination of your main product (video) and ancillary texts (digipak and advertisement)?
Evaluation Question 1
My media products have followed many code and conventions of many other media products that fit into the same genre (pop). this is not only by the chosen song, but also by the ancillary product design that develop forms and conventions of real media products. However, not only have we followed the ideas of real media products, we have also challenged many ideas.
Theories that we have challenged
Andrew Goodwin
Ways that we have challenged Andrew Goodwins theory.
An idea that our media products have challenged are the ideas of Andrew Goodwins theory - Dancing in the distraction factory.
"Music videos ignore common narrative as they are essentially advertisements As consumers, we make up our own meaning of a song in our minds. A music video can anchor meaning and gives the record company a method of anchoring meaning"
-Quoted by Andrew Goodwin
Andrew Goodwin states that music videos ignore common narratives as they are essentially seen as advertisements However, our music video has opposed this statement. The lights (our music video) consist of a main narrative. Although it is unclear as the main the narrative revolves around a mystery man who's face is only revealed at the end, it is still within the narrative field. Moreover, as it is the debut album of the artist we are promoting, the music video is seen as just a music video product rather than an advertisment product, due to the fact that our ancillary work which includes a digipak and more specifically, an advertisment poster are what is promoting the artist and album, not the artist promoting herself or her debut album.
Ways that we have followed Andrew goodwins theory
There is one thing that our music video is found to be similar to what Andrew Goodwin has said. He says that we make up our own meaning of a song in our mind, which is what was intended in the ideas and process of our planning. As the idea of the narrative is to be a mystery as the character is unknown, the idea of the narrative also remains a mystery as the end of the music video remains as almost a cliffhanger. Therefore, the way the audience interpret the video with their own minds through the sound and mis-en-scene is how it should be viewed, letting the audience interact with the video and also allowing the audience to be creative in the way they view the music video.
He identifies three way in which the music video can connect to the song itself. these three ways are:
- Pop videos are built around the song - Our music video is built around the song as the narrative gives implications of connection to the song. However, the narrative doe not give away it meaning, which relates to the form of amplification as the narrative and performance are connotations of its the meaning of the song.
- The main artist is usually the narrator and character - We challenged this as the artist is only the artist, separating herself from the character in the narrative.
- The singer breaks the fourth wall by directly looking into the camera - We have done this as the idea of the music video is to promote the artist as well as the album. Therefore, the best way in this sort of promotion and recognition is to for the artist to engage the audience.
Carol Vernallis - Experiencing a music video
The music video that my group and i created, The Lights has mainly followed the ideas that Carol Vernallis theorized about music videos. It follows Carol Vernallis's ideas about music videos further than the ideas that Andrew Goodwin had concerning the main aspects of a music video.
Reasons why The Lights follow Carol Vernallis's ideas
Firstly, She states that music videos are built up around a base track and a master shot. The base track is something that we used in order to help us sync the recorded videos in time with the music. Not only does it make it easier whilst editing and filming, it is a common way of creating music videos in the music industry. Also, the base track allows enough time for a perfect master shot which is crucial in a music video.
The base track helps a lot in the editing stage which Carol Vernallis bases her theory about. She suggests that a music video revolves around the editing and camera work. Her theory was something that we focused on as a group, as she mentions that a music video would tend to have a consistency in edits, such as jump cuts. Jump cuts is one form of editing that our product revolved around. For instance, a jump cut from the artist to the character in the narrative.
Lastly, the timing of the camera movement and edits can be in time with the beat of the music. This is similar to our media product because throughout the video the edits continuously match the beat. for it to have an effect and for it to be engaging to the audience. The distinctive camera type of framing is what makes our music video unique.
An example of a music video that follows the conventions of this theory is clearly show in Tinie Tempah - Pass Out. For instance, the editing effects at the start of the video is what engages the viewer, with an orbit ring surrounding the artists head in the master shot. Further more, the beat starts of slowly and the camera keeps the slow movement in time with the slowness of the beat. However, as the song gradually goes along, the tempo of the beat goes up aswell as the speed of the camera and edits, which prove that they have followed the ideas of this theory.
Although this video is not in the same genre, it contains many similarities of the pop video we created. The camera speed, movement, speed of the edits and other such things that are seen in Tinie Tempahs Pass Out is something that we also used whilst planning and during the process of filming and editing. This goes to show that the pop genre does not have its own style of editing and camera work, as the comparison of edits and camera work of our music video The Lights and Pass out can compare in many ways.
Have we challenged the genre in the music video?
The music video 'The Lights' did not challenge the conventions of the genre that it fits into (pop). We followed the typical style of a pop music video as research suggested that not only would a change be difficult, but would also change the style and theme of the video which would take it out of the pop genre field. The music video is rather simple, with simple edits, shots and effects which is usual of a pop video. Although it is simple, it is entertaining and does appeal to the audience like other pop videos would.
How conventional is my digipak and advertisement and how have i challenged the genre?
Ellie Gouldings ancillary products on the album Lights is the ancillary products that i based a majority of my research upon. As she is a famous pop singer, her products would tend to be typical of the pop genre. One thing i learnt from researching the ancillary products of her album 'Lights' and also an album by Pixie Lott 'Young foolish Happy' is that simplicity is the main concept of the genre. However, simplicity does not mean boring images and dull colours but means keeping the visual aspects simple for the human eye. Colours would tend to be bright and images would be simple and close up.
I followed the convention of simplicity by using one simple close up image of the artist, as done by Pixie Lott and Ellie Goulding in their digipaks. Both digipaks that influenced me consisted of simple texts which i also carried out in my production. Also, the advertisement tended to be similar to the digipak to form a use of synergy, which meant that a similarity between the digipak and the advertisement was common. I did not challenge the genre in any way through my ancillary products but stuck to the conventions of the genre to make it a pop video to be recognised, as challenging the genre could take the products out of its genre.
The music video that my group and i created, The Lights has mainly followed the ideas that Carol Vernallis theorized about music videos. It follows Carol Vernallis's ideas about music videos further than the ideas that Andrew Goodwin had concerning the main aspects of a music video.
Reasons why The Lights follow Carol Vernallis's ideas
Firstly, She states that music videos are built up around a base track and a master shot. The base track is something that we used in order to help us sync the recorded videos in time with the music. Not only does it make it easier whilst editing and filming, it is a common way of creating music videos in the music industry. Also, the base track allows enough time for a perfect master shot which is crucial in a music video.
The base track helps a lot in the editing stage which Carol Vernallis bases her theory about. She suggests that a music video revolves around the editing and camera work. Her theory was something that we focused on as a group, as she mentions that a music video would tend to have a consistency in edits, such as jump cuts. Jump cuts is one form of editing that our product revolved around. For instance, a jump cut from the artist to the character in the narrative.
Lastly, the timing of the camera movement and edits can be in time with the beat of the music. This is similar to our media product because throughout the video the edits continuously match the beat. for it to have an effect and for it to be engaging to the audience. The distinctive camera type of framing is what makes our music video unique.
An example of a music video that follows the conventions of this theory is clearly show in Tinie Tempah - Pass Out. For instance, the editing effects at the start of the video is what engages the viewer, with an orbit ring surrounding the artists head in the master shot. Further more, the beat starts of slowly and the camera keeps the slow movement in time with the slowness of the beat. However, as the song gradually goes along, the tempo of the beat goes up aswell as the speed of the camera and edits, which prove that they have followed the ideas of this theory.
Although this video is not in the same genre, it contains many similarities of the pop video we created. The camera speed, movement, speed of the edits and other such things that are seen in Tinie Tempahs Pass Out is something that we also used whilst planning and during the process of filming and editing. This goes to show that the pop genre does not have its own style of editing and camera work, as the comparison of edits and camera work of our music video The Lights and Pass out can compare in many ways.
Have we challenged the genre in the music video?
The music video 'The Lights' did not challenge the conventions of the genre that it fits into (pop). We followed the typical style of a pop music video as research suggested that not only would a change be difficult, but would also change the style and theme of the video which would take it out of the pop genre field. The music video is rather simple, with simple edits, shots and effects which is usual of a pop video. Although it is simple, it is entertaining and does appeal to the audience like other pop videos would.
How conventional is my digipak and advertisement and how have i challenged the genre?
Ellie Gouldings ancillary products on the album Lights is the ancillary products that i based a majority of my research upon. As she is a famous pop singer, her products would tend to be typical of the pop genre. One thing i learnt from researching the ancillary products of her album 'Lights' and also an album by Pixie Lott 'Young foolish Happy' is that simplicity is the main concept of the genre. However, simplicity does not mean boring images and dull colours but means keeping the visual aspects simple for the human eye. Colours would tend to be bright and images would be simple and close up.
I followed the convention of simplicity by using one simple close up image of the artist, as done by Pixie Lott and Ellie Goulding in their digipaks. Both digipaks that influenced me consisted of simple texts which i also carried out in my production. Also, the advertisement tended to be similar to the digipak to form a use of synergy, which meant that a similarity between the digipak and the advertisement was common. I did not challenge the genre in any way through my ancillary products but stuck to the conventions of the genre to make it a pop video to be recognised, as challenging the genre could take the products out of its genre.
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