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

Above are 9 screen shots that I have taken from our finished music video.

Shot 1- This shot is linked to the lyrics "I'm haunted by your eyes". We took shots of the eyes, when the character was dressed in Alice in Wonderland style clothes, and another shot where our performer was in her 'normal' clothes. We wanted to make this lyric stand out.

Shot 2- This shot typifies how the record label may want their artist to be portrayed, because this is how the artist looks, without all the costume and make-up on.

Shot 3- This shot helps to illustrate the genre of music, because the song is electro-pop, but the sound has a gothic feel to it, which I feel the church helps to portray. Churches are normally thought to be a gothic symbol.

Shot 4- This shot shows an intertextual reference to Alice in Wonderland, because our performer is wearing this style of clothing, and the blonde wig also suggests Alice in Wonderland, which is the idea we had for the video.

Shot 5- This shot demonstrates how we can use the camera, to create different shots via using the camera, handheld. We used the lighting really well in this shot, from shooting it handheld.

Shot 6- This shot demonstrates how we used natural lighting well in our video.

Shot 7- This shot shows the mise-on-scene that we used through-out the video, which is Alice in Wonderland and the gothic feel.

Shot 8/9- I feel these two shots demonstrate that we have looked at other videos to help us gain ideas for our video, because of the different types of shots we have used, and the shot setup. Also the rule of thirds has been used well in these two shots.

1. Continued...

Analysis of other music videos
I looked at 3 professional music videos for this part, to see how they use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products in their videos.

Shot 1- This shot is from La Roux- 'Bulletproof'. The lyrics "tick, tick, tick, tick, on the watch", link with the performer getting up, and the shot turning in time with the beat of the music.
Shot 2- This shot is from Calvin Harris-'Acceptable in the 80's'. This shows how the record company would want their artist to look, because.
Shot 3- This is also from 'Acceptable in the 80's'. This shot helps to illustrate the music genre, because it suggests that the music is going to be electro, or 80's style music, due to the style of the clothes the performers' are wearing, and the colours in the video.

Shot 4- This shot is from Caro Emerald- 'Back It Up'. It shows intertextual reference, because the bottle is in the same style of a 'Jack Daniels' bottle. The lyrics from the song, and also the song title and band name are printed on the bottle, instead of the 'Jack Daniels' information.

Shot 5- This is another shot from 'Back It Up'. This shot demonstrates different ways the camera can be used. This shot makes the viewer feel as if they are at the bar being served by the performer.

Shot 6- This shot is taken from the video 'Bulletproof' by La Roux. This shot demonstrates the use of lighting. It shows that they have used artificial lighting, which is different to our music video, where we used natural lighting all the way through. This was due to us shooting all of our footage in outside locations.
Shot 7- This shot is another from 'Back It Up'. It shows the mise-en-scene of the video. It shows the bar, with all the punters' sitting around the table. It also shows the lighting that they have used and the costumes that the performers' are all wearing.

Shot 8- This shot is another from 'Bulletproof'. I chose to put this shot in my grid, because I find the shot interesting. The costume the performer is wearing, the make-up, the location and the lighting also make the shot interesting.

Shot 9- This a third shot that I have taken from Calvin Harris- 'Acceptable In The 80's'. I thought this was another interesting shot, because the colours used, all contrast each other. The clothes she is wearing, stand out from the background, because the colours contrast with the purple wall behind her.

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

Below I have compared my digipak, with my magazine advert. I have written about typography, photography, genre, colours and also I have looked at a real digipak and magazine advert for the band, Keane, which I have written about.

This first page, I have looked at mostly the imagery of the digipak and magazine advert and the genre of the music video.

On this page, I have looked at the typography, colours and imagery.

On this final page, I have looked at a real magazine advert and digipak, and written about consistency, and compared the magazine advert to mine.

3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Class feedback in initial treatment idea

This is the feedback that we were given for our original treatment idea, before we knew that we would be using 'Shadows' for our music video. Most of the feedback is asking about the rabbit and the location. This was only our first idea, and we decided not to use the rabbit in the end, because it would have been difficult to film with an animal. Also we didn't say what locations we would be filming at, because we were not sure whether or not we were going to get the song.

Class rough-cut feedback

This is the feedback we were given for the rough-cut of our music video. There were lots of positive comments, aswell as some suggestions for improvement. The most common one, was that there was too much spinning, which we cut down a bit, and added other shots into the spinning section, to cut it up a bit. People were watching our video on Vimeo, which was being slow, and the lip-syncing didn't look correct. We also added more cut-aways into our final music video. The majority of the positive comments were about our costume and location, and also about the camera shots we used.

Class digipak feedback

This was the feedback that I was given for my first draft 0f my digipak. I only had 3 comments back, but they were a mixture of positive things, and things that I could improve on. I had only done a small amount of my digipak at the time, so I didn't have much to change, and I could add the improvements as I was working through my digipak.

Final video feedback

This is the feedback that we were given for our final music video. One of the comments, was from a professional music video director, Ben Gee. The feedback was mainly positive, but there was also a couple of comments that suggested that there are still areas we could have improved on. There was one comment that said that the spinning still goes on for too long.

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

Equipment used

Above is a picture of me, with all the equipment that we used for our project. The camera is made by Sony.

Websites and programmes we used for the project

Above is all the websites and programmes that I have used throughout this project. I have written what I have used each one for.

What would I do, if we had more time to work on our music videos?

If we had, had more time to work on our music video, I would have liked to have been able to maybe shoot more footage of cut-aways and use different locations. Also I am pleased with the effects we put into our video, but I would have liked to have been able to use more effects in our video.

Finished music video

On Friday, we finished our music video. I am pleased with how it has turned out, and the effects we used. Below is our finished video.

ANGELICA, SOPHIE & LIAM - 'SHADOWS' FINAL VIDEO from cmdiploma on Vimeo.

Plan for today- Friday 12th March

Today is the deadline for our music video. We have all of the day to get our footage edited and our video finished.

Finished products

I have finished both my digipak, and magazine advert. I am pleased with the outcome of my work, and I feel that my digipak and magazine advert have good composition, and tie into the style of our music video.

This is my finished digipak design.

This is my magazine advert design.

Magazine Advert...

I have managed to complete my magazine advert in today's lessons. Below is a screen grab from Photoshop of me working on my magazine advert. The picture that I have used in this advert, is taken from my digipak.

Digipak...

Below are some more screen grabs from me working on my digipak in Photoshop. I feel I have nearly finished my digipak, I only have a few more things I would like to do with my digipak. All the pictures that I have used, I took myself whilst out on shoots, and when looking around for locations. Two of the pictures in this digipak, are of the performer who is in our music video.

Plan for today- Friday 11th March

Today is the deadline for our digipaks, and magazine adverts. We have two lessons this morning (which is 3 hours), in which to get the digipaks and posters finished. I have nearly finished my digipak, but I have yet to start my magazine advert. I think I will be able to get these tasks finished in time.

Plan for today-Wednesday 10th March

This morning, we are at Coleridge, so that we can carry on with our editing. We have 3 hours to edit today. I think that our editing is coming along well. We have nearly got all our footage in place, and we want to add some effects to it. We also have all of Friday here at Coleridge, to finish editing. The deadline for our finished music video is at the end of the day on Friday. Tomorrow (Thursday 11th March), is the deadline for our digipaks and magazine adverts. I still have quite a bit of work to do on my digipak, and I still have to start working on my magazine advert. We have 3 hours tomorrow to be able to finish these.

More Digipak...

In the lesson back at Long Road this afternoon, we are working on our digipaks. Below is another screen grab from me working on my digipak.

Above is a screen grab I have taken from Photoshop. I have decided that I am going to have my colour scheme black, white and red. This gives my digipak more consistency. The red text on my digipak stands out, but also the black and white pictures add atmosphere to my digipak design.

More editing...

This morning, we are editing our footage some more. Below is a screen grab of our project.

Feedback on our rough-cut

Yesterday, we watched everyone's rough-cuts, and we had to give them feedback on it. We got our feedback, back, which is below.

Positives

• Costume/nice set.
• The setting works really well with the song.
• Tension at start with girl in dress, at church/nice scenes and costume/spin
• Nice gothic feel/good use of effects.
• Nice use of location and variety of costume.
• Great shots/good use of rule of 3rds/very good lip-sync and acting.
• Good use of locations, especially like the greenhouse.
• I like each location you have used/moving shots work well.
• I like the contrast of the camera panning down the church, and then panning up the performer, but I think when you stop panning up, you should stop panning down aswell.
• Going down on church then up on performer/using the eyes to change costume/loads of locations.
• Church setting is good/transition between eyes is good.
• Locations are lovely/costumes are good.
• Costume/setting/lip-sync.

Areas for improvement

• Some of the shots last too long.
• A few clips in the first 10 seconds are too bright.
• More cut-aways/close-ups.
• Bland shots.
• Spinning shot held too long/lip-sync out in one shot.
• When singer spins around, it drags on a tiny bit.
• Lip-sync is sometimes not correct/spinning part goes on for a bit too long.
• Lip-syncing is a little out in some parts/spinning goes on for too long.
• Cut the spinning short/add more cut-aways.
• Spinning goes on too long/starting her at the end of the path, and not showing her walking down it/barn shots are a bit dark.
• More lip-syncing is needed/use more church shots.
• Too much spinning, but apart from that it's fine.
• Add more than just spinning.

My response to this feedback, is that I agree that the spinning in our rough-cut does go on for too long. We will shorten this part. Also people have suggested adding more cut-aways and close-ups. We will have to discuss this, and maybe add more. We do have a lot of footage, and we didn't use all of it in our rough-cut, but we will be able to for our final cut of the video.

Plan for today- Tuesday 9th March

This morning, we are at Coleridge for two lessons, where we will be editing our footage some more. We have 3 hours this morning to do more editing. This afternoon, we will be back at Long Road for an hour, where I will probably be working on my digipak/magazine advert.

Monday 8th

In the lesson this morning, we watched each others rough-cuts, and gave feedback on what we thought. We will get this feedback, back soon. I will blog this when we receive it.

Also in this lesson, I plan to work on my digipak some more, because the deadline is 12:20pm on Thursday. I still have to do my magazine advert.

Plan for next week

Next week, we have to continue editing our music video (adding effects, moving footage around, etc), which has to be complete by next Friday. Also I have to finish doing my Digipak, and also my magazine advert, which have to be complete by 12:20pm, on Thursday. I am confident that these tasks will be complete in time.

Rough Cut

The deadline for our rough-cut was today. We have not added any effects, and not all the footage is where we want it to be yet. We will do this next week. At the end of next week, we have to have our final cut of our music video complete. Below is the video of our rough-cut that we did today.

Shadows rough Cut Angelica Sophie Liam from cmdiploma on Vimeo.

Plan for today-Friday 5th March

We are at Coleridge from 9am until 4:10pm today, so that we can get loads of editing done. We have to have a rough-cut of our video done by the end of the day, and uploaded onto Vimeo, which I will then upload onto my blog. So far, I have been lip-syncing all the takes of the song we shot, so we can then edit our footage.

Below are some screen grabs from our editing.

These are screen grabs from where we have been lip-syncing all our footage, before we start to edit it.

Working on my Digipak continued

In today's lessons, I have been working on my Digipak. I have started making changes to it, from the feedback I was given. Below are some screen grabs of me working on my Digipak.

What have I learnt from looking at others work?

After looking at other people's work in my class, and giving them feedback, I have learnt about maybe using different technical tricks in Photoshop, such as colouring and effects, to help make my digipak and advert look more interesting visually. I have also learnt about composition from looking at other people's work.

Based on other pieces of work I have seen, I am planning on making a few changes to my digipak/advert. Changes include, adding more interesting colour, textures and effects.

Digipak/magazine advert feedback

The feedback I was given for my digipak and magazine advert was both positive and negative. Below is the feedback.

• Leafy. Maybe a bit bright for song choice.
• Red text sticks out. The composition of poster is good.
• The colours of the font used do not go with the imagery. Also the colouring is a bit dull. I like the draft for the poster however, the wording is great, but the imagery is again, a bit samey.

I both agree, and disagree with some of the feedback I have been given. I am also a bit confused, because some people have said that the digipak is to bright for the song choice, but others have said it is a bit dull. I have had quite a bit of positive feedback on my poster draft. Also I have not finished my digipak yet, so have not added all the images. I think getting feedback at this stage helps, because I can take it into account, before I add anything else to my digipak or start making my poster in Photoshop.

I think I should take into account what other people have said in their feedback, and maybe make some improvements, such as change the font colours, so they are not so bright or dull. I like the red text that I used in my track listing, because it goes with the leaf image, and is easily readable.

Plan for today-Thursday 4th March

In today's lessons, I am going to work on my digipak/magazine advert. In the first lesson, we are going to give each other feedback on our digipak so far. I will post the responses I get in another post.

Capturing/beginning to edit footage

We captured our footage, and then we started to edit and lip-sync it. Below is a screen grab of the editing.

Plan for today-Tuesday 2nd March

In this morning's lessons, we are at Coleridge, and are planning to upload the footage we shot on Saturday and yesterday. We then plan to start editing all of this footage. We have to have a rough-cut of our music video done by this Friday (5th). We then have next week (8th-12th March), to complete our final music video and also to finish our digipak and magazine advert. We have a tight schedule to keep to, but I am confident that our group will manage this.

The weather was good for our shoot yesterday, because it was warm and sunny. Angelica had to do yesterday's shoot on her own, because I had to go to a lesson and Liam had an exam.

Working on Digipak

Below are screen grabs from the Photoshop, of the digipak that I am working on.

Plan for today-Monday 1st March

We are planning on going out filming this afternoon hopefully. The weather is nice and sunny today, which will be nice if we do go out and film some more. We will be filming at Long Road, because our performer is free this afternoon.

In this morning's lesson, I am going to be working on making my digipak, that I drew over half term, in Photoshop.