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

The media technologies in which we took to construct our product.

Planning Stages-
Before starting my researching I decided to construct a mind map of ideas of songs and genre for our music video that I thought could work well. This supported the development of the idea for the music video. Following the mind mapping exercise we put together a story board which as a group chronologically constructed a movie, adding duration of clips, angle and techniques used in each section this helped form the basis of the movie. After downloading our story board onto the Imovies we made a mini video from our drawn images to see if the movie sequences would work with actions and sound. Finally we designed a time schedule to plan all the remaining factors such as; props required, dates for filming, shooting for the digipak and the characters needed for the movie.

Research Stages-
We used both primary and secondary sources of research to find out as much as we could about our selected genre. I used Google images to develop a mood board on country music and researched into what popular artists used as their themes and trends.



When researching into other music videos I used 'YouTube' to deconstruct other videos and helped me find generic features. This helped me widen my knowledge on this genre of music and make improvements to my music video.

Within the digipak I had to research into how other artists advertised in music magazines and music websites and made notes on what common features must be included.

I used a range of internet sites to help with my research and planning for the video:-

• You Tube- researching other video


• Google
• Hotmail- for emailing
  
• Blogger- To hold all information and the process of my coursework
  
• Facebook- feedback
  
• MTV magazine site- deconstruct for digipak


• VIVA music channel- digipak and music video ideas
  
  Construction Stages:-
  
  We edited our movie on Imac computers, using a software called IMovie, before editing and filming our final music video we shot a preliminary take which was like a trail run, this helped to develop our skills using the IMovie before actually producing our final piece. We cut and edited each section of filming carefully and added techniques and effects that we felt made the video more professional. After putting the video together I synchronised the music to the action shots to complete the video. The digipak and the advert to promote the album was developed using Publisher and iphoto. We edited all the photos using photoshop and blended the images together.

Equipment used throughtout constructing the music video:-

• Sony HD camcorder
  
• Tripod


• Dolly Wheels


• Canon HD semi-pro camara

The computer software used to constructing the music video:-

• IMovie


• I PhotoBooth


• Publisher
  
• Abode Photoshop
  

Evaluation-

Throughout my research and the development of my product I've developed a blogger account
which has allowed me record thoughts and research gathered to produce my final piece.

Some of the technologies used to construct the music video were new to me, therefore this involved me learning new skills and gaining a understanding for the way this technology could be used to enhance the production of the video. An example of this was the use of Abode Photoshop. Abode Photoshop functions supported the editing and enhancing of the pictures used within the digipak allowed us to add effects.

In producing the digipak and advert we started using Publisher however we soon realised that the pixel quality of this software didn't give us the resolution that we required. We substituted Publisher for iphoto and photobooth. This software allowed us to enlarge and reduce images with keeping the quality of the images we needed.

Lighting technology using the editing on Abode Photoshop-

Before and after editing the contrast for lighting within the digipak ->

3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

For our audience feedback we set up a focus group to watch the video and analyse what was effective and where they felt improvements could be made. Through the interview and observing responses undertaken as the audience focus group watched the video we were able to gain instant and honest feedback gauging each persons personal response to the video.

Some of the comments through feedback focus group:
Good Points-
'Excellent use of angles'
'The way it changes colour when the girl is left alone and when the girl is with the characters'
'How it makes you feel happy while watching it and make you feel like a child again when you have imaginary friends'
'Great use of short clips'
'Jumps out at you and makes you want to see it again'

Points to improve on-
'When the singer leaves the shot the top of her head is chopped off'
'The section where it was a home movie and the box watched the characters escape could of being filmed better'
'All locations where outside'


VIDEO CLIP- of one from focus group-


VIDEO CLIP- What we have learnt from feedback-






By doing this it enabled me to reflect on my project and view it from the audiences point of view and their thoughts. This helped me evaluate the project and understand which areas I could improve.

2.How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary text?

VIDEO CLIP


Links between product and ancillary text

• Location- In the video we filmed outdoors within the countryside and in the digipak we followed this theme by taking all the shots outside for out final piece. This gave a strong link between the film and the CD digipak by giving the product a nature theme.
• Colour -In the music video we decided to use a bright colour scheme while the singer was with the animated charaters (cow, clown, cheerleader and rabbit) we thought this was the best idea because we wanted the product to have a magical feel and bright colours makes people feel happy which is the emotion we wanted to portray.
• Box- Within our media product the box plays a major part as its the life to all the fun in the videos. We kept the theme of the box running throughtout the movie and the digipak as its a very signifcant event.
• Non charaters- Within the digipak we did not include the charaters, this is because we wanted the album to be based on the singer and not the animation also the target age range we wanted to keep as mixed so included the charaters on the CD digipak could of made adults think it's a childs CD rather than listerning to the song first.
• Same writting - Throughtout the digipak we developed a design logo for the artists name we used the same text throught the digpak to let it flow and seem as a professional artist album would.

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

Within the music video it uses the conventions of real media products. Before starting the project I researched into the generic features of my music genre. I tried to follow the country music genre features which were most evident in the examples I explored.

Goodwin's Theory suggested you need to use close up shots of the artist throughout the video, we tried to follow this and each time the singer was alone we included a close-up shot of the artists head.

Another way my media music video develops real media product by the mise-en-scene, we dressed the characters in specific clothing. The main singer was dressed in country and western
attire. Discovering what country and western singers wear as seen in videos, advertisements and posters etc made a huge impact on our video with; red lipstick, big hair, fur coats and over sized jumpers and boots.

The main key generic feature which we challenged were the boots, we followed this trend throughout the whole video and digipak this allowed us to use the boots as the singers brand signature item which we found most celebrities have.


The close up on the singer playing the guitar was another convention of real media products, we used a range of shots with her playing the guitar in a relaxed way to give the audience a feel of real life media products. The singer not looking directly into the camera.



<-- real life celebrity playing guitar our media video with playing guitar-->















Within the music industry the artists have to appear nice to the eye, and look attractive we tried to follow this by picking a singer we thought would fit the celebrity trend.

Celebrity > Celebrity > Our singer



Forms of Equipment

The equipment used helped use develop a media product which appeared to be real. We used Photoshop to edit the pictures of our digipak. Photoshop, is a graphics editing program developed and published by Adobe Systems. This let our digipak appear to be as good as any leading media product. Photoshop is the number one leading graphics software.

The equipment we used for filming didn't differ from real music video, I used a HD Sony camcorder to film the movie, and used dolly wheels and tripod to make the video steadier and therefore more professional.

The main convention we challenged in our media product was the usual country western singers are usually supported by 3 other members often instrumentalists. We decided to only have one singer instead of developing a band, we decided to do this to keep the music product contemporary and not make it appear the like a folk group.

(The Band Perry- An American Country and Western Group)

Justification of video

We filmed the video on two separate days, one with the singer by herself and the other with the characters. We made the choice to film the singer on a dull, lifeless day in order to portray a sense of loneliness and abandonment. The day had grey skies and low light levels this is clearly shown in the video and due to the time of year it was very cold which presented the filming team with issues. This meant that filming had to be done in short bursts and the continuity that the organisational structure gave us ensured filming worked. In contrast to this was the filming of the characters; cow, clown, rabbit and cheerleader. We wanted to convey a happy, magical sensation with blue skies and sun.

The first scene was of the singer skipping between the trees in isolation to give a sense of her being alone searching for the characters, with no sound in her head or preconceived ideas in her head of what she wanted to achieve. We decided not to sink the beat of the skipping to the music to make her seem in her own world.

It worked well with only two in a group, this way we took it in turn to undertake the roles; one directing while the other filming we kept switching roles throughout filming. With being in a partnership decision making was easier, having to experience both roles throughout the filming the video let us become skilled at both directing and filming. This experienced added to the dialoge between us.

The camera shots in the sequence portraying the characters leaving the security of their box to explore the excitement of the tea party this was shot to give a impression of a home movie capturing a event as it happens allowing the characters and giving an impression that the others will watch it later and reminisce about the adventure that unfolded.

creating the video- filming

Before filming we had to prepare a time management schedule this gave us an organisational structure and time line for the production of our music video. I developed a equipment list and dates for each part of filming.
We found filming very difficult as the weather did not suit how we wanted the music video as we wanted the video to be bright and sunny and then dull and dark. The first attempt at filming fell through as the weather was snowy and it didn't suit what we wanted. We planned to film on a brighter day, this showed that we took everything into detail to develop our video to the best standard possible.

Before filming I developed a shot list to remember to include the specific techniques and angles throughout filming.

In the group we took it in turn to film each section, I filmed most of the singer by herself, using a rang of angles from low shot, side shot, high angle and close up developing my range of filming skills helped me within later filming.I developed a prop list, to assist us in ensuring that the filming ran smoothly and all props were available for the filming each scene providing continuity.

Each individual character was scripted to represents and evoke images and feelings that portrayed rural setting. The rabbit a animal in abundance in the country side, the cow idyllic rural farming setting to convey a attachment to the music used (genre:country). The clown and cheerleader are in the film to give a sense of fun and frivolity giving a contrast between the calm of the countryside and the fun and joys of the outdoors.

creating the video- editing

To edit our film we used the imacs and a software called imovie from Apple which enabled us to add the best effects and sink the music in time with the filming. Removing all the unwanted film footage and putting together the base of the music video. As a group we decided due to previous research into videos we wanted short clips throughout the movie but still to retain the sense of a story. Through the editing we included clips of the main singer, singing by herself. While filming we had some clips of her strumming the guitar while singing and others with her holding the guitar as a prop. We decided to do this to let the audience focus on the singers lips moving, highlighting the song rather than the guitar.

We split the scene into two colour pallets on the imacs when she sang by herself we decided to tone the lighting down and make it seem darker and duller to give an affect of loneliness and when the characters in the film come into view we add a brighter colours to lighten the mood. Our aim was too lead the audience to gain a sense of emotion towards the video.
The screen shot above shows us cropping the scence and changing the lighting to the video.