Change of plan

The plan for our music video had to be changed slightly. Originally we had decided to film a group of people, however we felt that with the time we had it would be more realistic to use one actor who is part of our group. By doing so it has meant that we have not had to rely on other people who may have their own commitments or may not have been available on the times that we needed to film.

Evaluation and Feedback of video

My evaluation will be focused around the following four questions:

• In what ways does your video use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?


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


• What have you learned from your audience feedback?


• How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages of all your products?

I have presented my response to the first question, In what ways does your video use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?, as a PowerPoint presentation:

I have uploaded a brief video of myself talking about question two 'How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?':

For question number three 'What have you learned from your audience feedback?' my group ran a focus group and published the finished video on Facebook to gain as much feedback as possible. We felt that the feedback we gained from the focus group was invaluable and if having to do the project again we would have a clear and concise idea on things which may need re-thinking or re-working. This is a video link to the group interview: First of all we showed our final music video to everyone in the focus group. We asked questions on the following subjects:

• Choice of location for our video - what was good? what was bad?


• The story line - what did you think it was about? did you like the idea?


• Costume - do you think it reflects our genre?


• Overall strengths of the music video?


• Overall improvements that could be made?

Feedback that can be taken from the focus group is that the text at the beginning of the story wasn't clear so the narrative became confusing. A suggestion on how to improve the music video was to include more people/ characters in the video, this might also improve the clarity of the narrative. For example filming a couple breaking up etc. One person commented that they enjoyed the wide range of shots, however it could have been more interesting if more effects were added during editing.

People also commented on the video we uploaded to Facebook. One person said that they liked the creative camera shots where we layered footage and increased the transparency to give the video a ghostly effect.

Another comment was that 'the lighting at about 2 and a bit minuets was a bit harsh - couldn't see much' because the footage was so bright it has effected the quality of our footage. Improvements that you could make to lighting would be to adjust the composition of the camera on set getting the right balance so it does not affect the final footage. Film in more shaded areas, highly exposed areas are likely to be bright on sunny days, by opting for a more shaded area this should help minimise this problem. Finally re-shoot the shot on a less bright day, during editing if the shot does not look quit right, make a note of the problem and re take the shot.

Other feedback was that the writing on the text at the start of the film was hard to see. The text explains that the girls relationship is over and therefore it is important for the progression of our narrative. If the text can not be clearly read that might mean that the story line has not been properly understood. One way that this could be improved would be to think of other ways to present the message for example finding a letter or an email, these might show up better on the video once filmed.

The last question 'How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages of all your products?' relates the the software and equipment that I have used throughout this coursework task.

Almost every element of this coursework task has been IT based. My computer skills have vastly improved and I now confidently know how to use complex editing programs such as Final Cut Pro. and even my basic knowledge from AS of Adobe Photoshop, Google documents and Blogger have all majorly improved.

I had only used Final cut pro once or twice before and at first was extremely taken away with how complicated it was. However, our initial class task of copying an existing music video meant that we had a lot of practice with the program before having to use it for ourselves and became quite comfortable with it quite quickly. As we progressed through our editing lessons we picked up new editing techniques which allowed us to be creative with parts of our footage, for example we learnt how to layer two clips and increase the transparency which gave the effect of the same person walking in different directions but at the same time. If given more time this would be something i would defiantly like to look into further. Using Final cut pro we stored all the footage that we had filmed, by dragged the clips onto the time line it gave us a clearer picture of all of our footage we had. Using the razor tool we could chop long pieces of footage into parts, delete the rejected footage piece together the rest of the footage that created our final video.

The Digipack and Advert were both created using Photoshop. I learnt how to place photographs and edit the brightness and contrast of the images creating stronger bolder images. I learnt how to use the colour picking tool to select a colour from an image and drop that colour into a created box. This meant that the image had a natural coherent feel. After creating the documents we then had to save them as JPEG files.

Although I do have great experience from using Blogger last year, I have had to refresh my knowledge on how to upload videos and images and input URL's. When displaying work in a PowerPoint format, the PowerPoint has to be uploaded to Google Documents and transferred into a URL to embedded on your blog or retrievable through a link, these are all skills which I have had to re remind my self of from last year.

I have gained a lot of experience and knowledge in photography and also filming using a Canon XM2 camera and Mini DV tape to record our footage. We were taught how to use the cameras for example how to alter the white balance and exposure, and also taught about their many features such as zooms and how to adjust them accordingly to the shot you desire. I have also learnt how to use camera equipment to get the best shots, for example for the majority of our footage where possible we used a tripod, this was because we were confident in knowing that we would have the stillest, smoothest footage possible.

Finished Video

http://youtu.be/PiuBM3InauM This is the link to my groups music video Sweet Disposition by Temper Trap

Creative camera use

In this blog I have print screened particular moments in the final video where our group has used creative techniques which emphasise the characters drunk, delusional, confused state of mind.

In this part of the video (2mins 30secs) we set up a tripod and recorded a shot of the actor walking towards the camera. We cut the shot into sections and deleted parts of the actor walking which meant that as

the actor walked they jumped closer to the camera. We used the editing creatively to speed up the footage to match the pace of the song.

In this second part of the video (2mins 43secs) we recorded the actor walking away from the camera, using a tripod it enabled us to keep the positioning of the camera the same so that when the actor turned around and walked in the other direction the same type of shot would be filmed. By changing the transparency of the footage and layering the two different shots it gave the video a ghostly effect and enforced one of the themes in our narrative of a girl 'finding her self''.

Rejected Footage

Theses are a few examples of rejected footage: We found that this footage was too dark to use. It had rained the day before and the weather was extremely over cast. Because of the rain the day before it made the mud extremely slippery and water logged so filming the actors lines was near impossible. We re shot this footage on a sunnier day, the ground was a lot firmer and less slippery and also meant that the footage was brighter.

Our idea for this shot was to have a a time lapse of the stream, during editing we decided to reject the footage because there was not enough movement in the shot to make make a good quality time lapse. Also the footage was too dark amongst the rest of the footage in the video.

This was a tracking shot we attempted, we decided to reject the footage because the camera movements were too poor quality and out of focus. The rest of the footage that we filmed using a tripod was smooth and of a high quality, so by using a slow zoom we managed to create a similar effect of a tracking shot but with the quality of a tripod.

Advert

We created an advert to promote the Digipack, the advert size i have chosen is A5, i felt anything that anything smaller would be too small and would not be noticed. I have researched other Digipack to give me ideas for my own one, I looked at Digipacks that are the same genre as my chosen artist and also one from a different genre to give me a range of ideas.

The first advert is for Lady Hawkes single 'dusk till dawn' the advert is colourless and uses white and grey. I think the simplicity of the advert adds to its effectiveness, sometimes less can be more. Although there is a lot of white space on the advert, I think in this case it gives a minimalistic, professional look. The background colour looks slightly textured which makes the advert seem less empty than if they used a monotone background colour. The small image in the right hand corner is enough to make the advert seem as all writing and again compliments the minimalistic theme. The fonts used are bold, clear and easy to read. I like how the artists name has a different outlined font to the rest of the information, this exaggerates the most important information the artists name. Different letter sizing has also been used to highlight the most important information on the page, the artist, the singles name and 'OUT NOW'.

The second advert I looked at was Katy Perry one of the boys. Un-like to the first advert a photograph has been used as the background for the advert. This is something that I would like to apply to my advert as I think the image captures attention and imagination and also means there is not any empty white space on the page. The font used for 'Katy Perry' is the same font used on her album cover, I like this idea as it creates links between both the album and the advert. Again the advert includes all the important information in a bold, white text that is clear to read. The photo also has the singer on the front cover, I think this is effective as she is instantly recognisable so people will automatically associate the advert with the artist.

These are the flat plans that I created to help me with my final design:

The first flat plan I created is influenced by one of the already existing adverts that I analysed. I would keep the advert very minimalist, perhaps having a very neutral colour for the background and using the same black box around white writing text that i have used on the cover of my Digipack. I would ensure to include the artist and album name in the largest size font, followed by the release date and would also try to include a few reviews from newspapers which are going to encourage people to buy the album. I would also have a small image on the left hand side of the advert, perhaps the Digipack cover so people can see what the product looks like.

My next flat plan features a girl leaning against a tree, this idea has been influenced by the second advert that I analysed. I think having a photograph as the background for the advert is possibly better than having a colour as people are going to be more interested. I also think that by using similar pictures on the advert and Digipack clear links can be made with these and also the video. Again using the same fonts as used on the Digipack and including all the important information. This will be the final design for my advert.

The last flat plan for the advert shows more of the videos setting as well as the actor. I like the idea that the advert establishes the setting for the song. I tried different fonts on the last Digipack however I think that by using the same font you are further advertising the Digipack in the advert.

This is my final advert:

For my final advert I have used a photograph as the background image. The long shot also incorporates elements of the setting without detracting the focus being put upon the character. I have used the same text as on the front of the Digipack and positioned it at opposite slants. I have also included reviews of the album, information about the songs it features and which songs have accompanying videos. I have used a bold, large font for the release date as this is one of the most important pieces of information that needs to stand out.

The character is also wearing the same costume that is in the film and also in the Digipack images.

Evaluation of my Advert:

I was happy with the outcome of the advert. I think it reflected other adverts in the same genre as my artist (alternative rock) and all the important information was well highlighted. The image used reflected the Digipack and the final video well and it is clear to the audience exactly what is being advertised. Again to gain feedback from other people I changed the format of the documents in to JPEG's and uploaded them onto Facebook. I have again print screened a few of the comments that people had left.

One person commented that they liked the reviews from NME, by using a magazine that reflects the genre of our chosen artist the good review really works in the adverts favour.

Another person also said that the advert 'fits in well with the Digipack and video' keeping images and texts the same each part of the project is recognisable.

The majority of people have commented that they like the choice of the labeling font, that it is clear and easy to read. Also the positioning of the font is effective and interesting. However people have commented saying that the other black writing again is difficult to read in places, so perhaps keeping to something clearer or using boxes behind the writing would improve this problem.

Finally someone noted that they liked the characters sense of seriousness, the storyline behind the song is loneliness, desolation, trying to find yourself and a identity so the characters emotions in the photograph mirror this well.

Digipack

These are Digipack examples 'The Smiths' - The complete Picture and 'Kanye West' - Late Orchestration. The link below will take you to a PowerPoint, explaining all about Digipacks and Promotional packs, evaluation of the above Digipack covers and also ideas for my own https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0BxKLKsQUugutMGYwYjIxMmEtMjAwYi00ODQ1LThhMjAtZTc1MTJiYTJjMDE1&hl=ena=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0BxKLKsQUugutMGYwYjIxMmEtMjAwYi00ODQ1LThhMjAtZTc1MTJiYTJjMDE1&hl=enMGYwYjIxMmEtMjAwYi00ODQ1LThhMjAtZTc1MTJiYTJjMDE1&hl=en Flat Plans

These are the designs for the front cover of my Digipack.

The first design features a long shot of a girl looking into a forest. I liked this idea as it illuminates the emotions in our story of loneliness and desolation. Its also a good shot as it shows both setting and a full length picture of the character. This could be easily shot as our setting that our video is filmed in is a desolate forest. I like the idea of the two already existing Digipack that I have analysed of using capital letters. The capital letters in the font make the important information striking and eye catching. The colours I would try to capture would be earthy natural colours like greens and browns.

My second flat plan idea that I had was a profile shot, close up of the actors face. I would shoot the character in the same costume that she wears for the film to insure continuity for all aspects of the of the project. I would keep the make up minimal to keep with a natural feel all throughout the video. I have tried a fluid more decorative font in this flat plan although i think the bolder capital font works better from the first flat plan.

The final flat plan design will be the one I use. I have visited the location that I intend to take my photographs so I know my ideas will be accessible. The image will be a long shot that will also include elements of the setting. The location which the photographs will be taken will also be one of the settings in our music video which again reinforces the continuity throughout the project. The actor will be directly addressing the camera making full eye contact. One of the main ideas behind choosing this idea for the front cover was to have a opposite image on the inside of the Digipack for example an in front and behind shot so when you turn the page it creates the idea of a 360 degree image. (see below for details on the inside images for the Digipack) These are the flat plans for the back cover of the Digipack:

My first flat plan design was to have the song titles written on the branches of a tree. For this I would need a bare tree so that the branches are distinguishable. I would use a long shot to capture the tree and edit the image in Photo Shop. By selecting a curved, decorative font the lettering would follow the pattern of the trees branches creating a overall natural feel to the photograph.

My second flat plan is an image of the actor in the final third of the photograph, by placing the actor in the final third attention will be placed upon the actor. In the background of the photograph will be the forest setting. I would try and edit the photo so the background was slightly out of focus yet still recognisable to again enforce the importance of the actor. I experimented using a capitalised font for the track list, numbered from 1-10 on the left hand side of the photo. The texts stands out and would be clear to read.

My final flat plan is a mid shot photograph of the actor singing . I will use a speech bubble coming out of the actors mouth as positioning of the track list. This gives the image that the actor is singing the songs of the album. The mid shot photograph will show body language as well as the costume of the character. By capturing the picture against a white screen the image would be minimalist and effective.

Flat Plans for inside the Digipack:

These flat plans are of the inside of the Digipack cover, the image would be placed behind the C.D/ D.V.D. The most effective background would be something simple and a complicated image or a photo that has many different elements to it would be hard to be seen. My first idea would be black and white stripes, although extremely simple I believe the idea would be very effective. The actor in our music video will be wearing a black and white stripy top in every scene so this would link directly to our videos mise-en-scene. The second flat plan idea for beginning the DVD would be a photograph of the sky with clouds. A striking image of a bright blue sky and a few clouds would portray spiritual images of 'being free' and 'finding your self' again mirroring the story line of our video. Although the image would again be simple, the right shot edited well would be very effective The third flat plan idea was to use a close up image of a tree branch. By altering the brightness and contrast of the image I would intend to create a dark silhouette of the trees branches against a bright blue sky. This is the chosen plan for my final inside design, a vast amount of images on my Digipack will be shot in the forest to convey a naturalistic feel so this design will be in-keeping with that theme. This part of the Digipack will not include any text as it will be difficult to read behind a DVD.

These are the flat plans for the left-inside of the Digipack:

The first flat plan is a close up, portrait shot. The idea behind this shot was to use an image of the actor day dreaming and use related lyrics from the song above her head. I would use a more curvy, italicised decorative font to enforce the ideas of a day dream. The second flat plan design is an extreme close up of the actors eye, with the lyrics arranged over the eyebrow. Again I would chose a decorative, italicised font to follow the shape of the eyebrow. I would keep the colours of the overall image subtle and pick out the colours of the eye for the text for a final touch. The final and favorite flat plan design is the opposite image of the front cover image. As I have stated earlier this will be the plan that I chose as it creates a 360 degree image when the Digipack is opened and closed. I would create the shot by positioning that actor directly in the middle of the shot and insure that when the image is taken I am in line with the actor. I would have to pay particular attention in editing to reduce the risk of any differences in the images, for example the brightness on one picture would have to be identical to the other.

This is my final cover of my Digipack, the back and front cover:

My Digipack was inspired by our filming, we wanted a nature setting for our video (the forest) and I wanted my Digipack to reflect our final music video.

On the front cover I directed the actor to sit on log with her hands in her lap, closed body language, yet keeping eye contact with the camera and relatively smiley.

Her body language suggests venerability and the use of the desolate setting suggests the actors loneliness.

I have used a white text that is surrounded by a black box. I experimented with different styles of texts but i felt that this 'label' looking font portrays the alternative genre style and also is clear and simple to read. The black boxes also stand out on the background image, which again make the text stands out. I have used the same text on the front image in the spine of the Digipack, this is because the bands and songs name is arguably the most important information on a Digipack or CD cover. I used a more decorative italicised font for the back cover. I have positioned the text in between the branches of the trees and the use of the italic, decorative font reflects the branches of the trees. I blurred the image around the text to make the text stand out against the branches.

When taking pictures for the Digipack I had to find a tree that did not have leaves for the text to work really well amongst the branches. I edited the images on both pages by increasing the contrast and brightness, by increasing the brightness and contrast the colours of the images are more striking and ascetically pleasing. I used the paint tool to pick out the same colour green of the bushes behind the actor to use for the spine of the Digipack to keep with a similar colour scheme throughout.

I have included important elements on the Digipack such as the DVD logo to recognise that some of the tracks have accompanying videos, and duration(Aprox 50mins), disc format(DVD), colour mode(colour), language(English), the bands record company logo 'Infectious', a copy right warning, the bands website address, a recycle symbol and a barcode.

This is the final inside of my Digipack the right side is where the C.D will go.

I increased the brightness and contrast on the right hand image, this made the branches appear black against a bright blue background. The final image is beautifully shot and aesthetically pleasing. The tree branches are a close up of the tree shot for the back cover of the Digipack again adding continuity throughout the Digipack.

For the inside left hand page of my Digipack I took a photo of behind the actor, this creates a 360 degree style image when the Digipack is opened. I used the same text on the inside of the Digipack as on the outside for the song listing. By using the same text it simplifies the look of the Digipack by keeping the outside relatively similar to the inside. The text is song lyrics from 'Sweet Disposition' that read 'A moment, a love, a dream, a laugh, a kiss, a cry, our rights, our wrongs...' which mirror the emotions of our narrative, a girl going through a break up, remembering the past and finding her identity.

Evaluation of the final Digipack

I really enjoyed the creative side of making the Digipack from taking the photographs to editing the pictures. I used Photo shop to create the Digipack, by using the cropping tool I could edit my pictures so that they fitted within the borders of the basic outline. I then learnt editing techniques such as how to increase the brightness and contrast of the photos to make the colours of the image stand out, because of the time of year the photos were taken increasing the brightness made a picture take on a overcast day look like it had been taken on a summers day. I also learnt how to use the blurring tool, I used this on the trees branches to make the text stand out and more legible. I was further taught how to use the paint dropper tool to select a colour from the picture and fill a box with the same colour. I used this in the spine of the Digipack so that all the colours of the Digipack looked similar.

I converted my final Digipack files from a photo shop document into JPEG file so that i could upload them onto Facebook and gain feedback from others as one way of evaluating my work. I tagged other peers from my media group into the photo as well as friends and asked them to comment on things that they liked and stood out to them and also things that they think could be improved. I have print screened peoples feedback that they have commented under the image.

For the inside of the Digipack everyone agreed that the font for the lyrics above the actors head was slightly unclear, I could improve this by using the same font as on the cover of my Digipack with the boxes framing the writing. Although the decorative writing adds a personal touch to the image portraying the actor as day dreaming etc. It may not have been as clear as using a more formal font. People commented that they liked the idea of having a front facing and back facing image on opposite sides of the Digipack one person commented saying 'It gives the sense that you really know where she is' one of the main themes of our narrative is a young girl trying to 'find herself' and regain an identity so this has been portrayed through the image. Another person liked the 'simplicity' of the extreme close up of the tree and further said that both images worked well together.

For the front and back cover people have commented on how creative and effective the track list in the tree branches looks. On criticism of the image however is that the song titles are slightly blurred at first glance. Again this could be improved by framing the text in boxes, however I think by doing so it would have ruined the overall image. The chosen font follows the shape of the tree's branches well and boxes behind the text may be too heavy for the overall image. People have also commented on the high contrast of the photos and their overall appearance saying that the images look bright and effective as well as 'professional'. People also like that the front cover image of the actor also establishes the setting of the video, by keeping all four Digipack images relevant to our music video this creates continuity throughout all areas of the project.

Overall the majority of the feedback does seem to be positive however improvements can be made to do with the clarity of fonts and information on the Digipack. By using a clearer font or even bleaching the image behind the text the important information would be easy to read.