Music Video

Here is my final video.

Website

Here is my final website.

Click for website

Digipak

Here is my final digipak

Rough Script Evaluation Task 4

Callum and I began writing the script for our Evaluation Task 4 which will be completed next week, it hasn't yet been completed and it is still a rough version of what we wish to eventually execute. 

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

Throughout the shoot we used various technologies to film our video.  We used an iPad to act as a clapper board, this then enabled us to know when to cut the video in order to keep the visuals in time with the song during the editing stage. We held the iPad in front of the camera lens for four seconds until a beep came on the track that signified the song commencing. After we heard this we took the iPad out of the frame and prepared for the take.

For the filming of the video we used a black magic URSA mini camera which is a semi professional cinematography camera which enabled us to create a more professional and visually intriguing product. We switched between a variety of different lenses throughout the shoot in order to get different framing sizes and the sizes we used were 18mm lenses up to an 85mm lenses, the use of the 18m lens was used to shoot the wide shots of the artist and the dancers and the 50mm lens was used for mid shots to show costume and other symbolic conventions in the video, and the 85mm lens was used to extreme close ups which shows a sharp image of the artist in the foreground and an out of focus background. This ensured that the audience were able to focues entirely on the star image and the unique selling points (USP). We adjusted the shutter speed in the camera in order to portray an agitated and strobe-like effect as it backed up the club theme in order to abide by the genre of the music we were representing. In order to achieve this we incorporated lighting that was programmed prior to the shoot. The lights were an aspect of the mise en scene of the electronic genre we wanted to portray. Thus incorporating technical conventions to make the video a more accurate representation of the artist.

As we were filming, each member of the group would take turns operating the camera the others would watch the TV in the studio that was linked directly to the camera feed. This allowed the observers to make judgements on the framing and ensured that the footage was always appropriate and aesthetically pleasing, this in turn the whole process a lot more efficient in the sense that if a shot wasn’t working we could immediately see this and change it. Occasionally we were able to turn the TV to face Jonty so he was able to see himself as this enabled him to visualise what we wanted him to do, ensuring that he could deliver a realistic DJ performance which according to Keith Negus is a fundamental element that should be incorporated in music videos.

Once the production shoot was finished, we began editing the clips together in an offline edit. The editing process began with naming all the clips and arranging them into an easily accessible order. We did this on Adobe Premier Pro which is an ‘off the shelf’ consumer software which enables people to create semi professional products. We began by attempting to create a rough performance cut of the video to play around with clips and see what worked in certain orders. We agreed that the video had to be edited through the use of a rhythmic editing style which simply means cutting to the beat of the song. We then found that because of the pace of the song due to hidden accents and off beats, we found that the use of the blade tool would be beneficial to use. We utilised the arrow keys on the keyboard to enable a second by second preview of shots, which was crucial as our track was so quick and accented so we needed to make accurate cuts in order to present the energetic aspect of the electronic genre. We were encouraged to focus more on the final edit, which meant paying attention to detail, rather than making a rough cut that would eventually be scrapped and re-made. This advice enabled the process to be a lot less time consuming and enabled us all to focus on the small details in every shot. After we had finished the product we began to do an online edit which consisted of adjusting and correcting until we felt it was fit for purpose. Once the product was green lit, we were able to export it and upload it to YouTube which was used as a tool for us to document and expose our music video, as well as a platform for inspiration in the research and planning stage.

Evaluation Task 4

In  class we discussed and went through all of the digital technologies we have used within our A2 year, this consisted of hardware, software and online technology. The most important aspect of the hardware was the Canon 5D as this is what we filmed on and it enabled us to actually, physically film our music video to the best of our ability.  software enabled us to edit our music video together using offline and online edits. This allowed us to sync up the lips of the artist with the music itself. We used online technologies such as YouTube in order to upload our video, as well as to research other media texts in order to gain inspiration. In my A2 year I have learnt a vast array of techniques which allowed me to create a music video to the best standard I could have.

I have learned from my audience feedback that I have constructed an intended star image and an effective campaign.  My target audience has informed me what went well, for example, through the audience feedback I learnt that some people were finding the video quite difficult to follow as there is so much going on. If I was to make any future changes to the campaign I would edit seeing the star image as more synthetic, and as a result of this we learnt to make it obvious that our artist was focused on his music rather than his image. .

Taking note of the audience feedback I understand how the audience inform me the success of  the campaign is and indeed allowed me time to make adjustments to the campaign before it went to distribution.  Audience feedback is important market testing in post-production to see if I created the right star image and marketed this purposefully.  As Henry Jenkins informs us that we live in a ‘participatory culture’,  where fans and audiences are important in circulating meaning and the strength of media messages.

I also recognise that my audience has engaged with the meanings in my music video in different ways, bringing their own contexts to the reading of the star image – what Hall argues is reception theory.  I can understand how my audience can either reinforce or challenge intended meanings in the text. 

Evaluation Task 3 Part 4

Focus Group

Evaluation Task 3 Part 2

This displays the YouTube stats for my video. From this I can see that the number of views on my video is rapidly growing and has already been viewed over 1500 times. This also tells me that the average time in which people stop watching is at 1.04 seconds. This exhibits that perhaps the video is a bit too long and too repetitive and we should have made it either shorter or began to use more creative shots further into the beginning, as we tended to save them until the end. Despite this, our target audience believes our video to be "visually enticing." It also displays how there is more of a female audience rather than male, this is probably due to the amount of female dancers within the video who they can relate to and idolise, as well as the main artist being an attractive male which they can appreciate. Furthermore, the majority of the views are bang on our target audience of 18-24 which means our campaigning and designing of the video was one well considering what we were aiming for, we were successful.

Evaluation Task 3- Part 1

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

When making a music video campaign the most important aspect is, arguably, the target audience. This is because the whole point of making the music video campaign is to market and help sell the artist and their music, and you are less able to do this if you are unaware of who it is you are targeting and marketing for. For out music campaign we wished to target people aged 18-24, though in order to be able to do this we had to pitch to Luke, a creative director and get his input on the whole idea. In order to gather out audeince feedback we pitched our idea to the creative director within school.
Here is the pitch with Luke:

]

This pitch is what enabled us to eliminate our unrealistic ideas (Callum's underwater poker game idea), develop our idea further into something feasible and eligible and in doing so we came up with more ideas which I then pitched to a few people in school, fitting into the target audience age range. 



This feedback was overall extremely positive and everyone liked the idea though we were not so sure on it, so we went back and made some changes. In doing so we then pitched it again to another group of people in the same age range as the target audience.

 

Here we got some positive feedback again and decided to continue on with this idea and drive it forward to the final product. In conclusion, the audience feedback was very helpful in terms of enabling us to drive our ideas forward and even in pitching the idea ourselves, we are able to realise if this is something we want to do. For example in pitching the idea to the three girls, I thought while doing it that perhaps we could make this something better and even through that act of telling an audience, we know whether or not this is something we want to continue with. The creative director and some of our friends seemed to engage in the idea of colour and felt as though this should be something we wish on with, so we did and it was this positive feedback that allowed us to elaborate on our ideas and make things better than they were.

Evaluation Task 2 - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

In order to judge how effective the combination of my main product, my music promotional video, along with my ancillary texts, the website and digipak, it is important to consider how these worked well together and whether or not the combination of them all is something that worked well and reflected the sort of image we wished to portray. 

Keith Negus argues that a "pop music video is used as a promotional tool" and the branding of a product is produced through the formation of a star image. Subsequently, branding is also used by the music industry to create a range of products fitting into a wide range of different genres and musical styles. 

The aim of the three products was for them to all coincide and help to produce an overall image which we wished to portray for our artist. 

Organising the Focus Group

Organisation of the Focus Group

Focus Group

Harvey, Henry, Louisa, Maddy

Questions

Does everything work together aesthetically? Do you think we are trying to present Fragment in an organic way or in a synthetic way?

Do you feel the organic, natural appearance of the digipak compliments or contrasts the more manufactured look of music video itself? Do you think the music video and digipak work well together along with the website?

Do you feel the digipak is enticing? Does it stand out? What is your favourite element of the digipak?

Do you feel the music video is enticing? Does it get boring/too repetitive? (stats people stopping viewing at 1.04) What is your favourite element of the music video?

Do you feel the website is enticing? What is your favourite element of the website?

Do you feel we have used or challenged conventions in our campaign? Is there any aspect in particular you feel this is particularly strong?

Do you have any suggestions on what you would change if you were able to?

Evaluation Task 1- Conclusion

Conventions are the typical, or traditional way of doing things, these can be used, developed or challenged in a myriad of ways and through my music video I feel I have used and developed these conventions to my own advantage, in order to make the media products fit in and become accepted within the society of the media world, as if it were too whacky and different it could be too much and get ignored, or not fit the profile of the campaign I was trying to portray. Despite having to stick to certain conventions, I also wanted to give Fragment his own uniqueness by allowing him his own style, giving him dreadlocks and wearing unusual, but exciting clothes in order to make him appear more free and creative. The dancers within my music video also challenge this in the sense that they each have their own colour and in doing so stand out for themselves, where usually the dancers in a music video would typically be portrayed as one, rather than individuals. The conventions however, are entirely necessary in order to put across a specific star image and to draw an audience in. You rely on the conventions in order to create some sort of relationship between the artist and their fans, though this does not mean you are unable to deviate slightly from these conventions in order to portray a specific image you think may work.