Saturday, 22 February 2014

Evaluation: Question One



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









Typical Conventions of a music video:

  • Camera shots; tend to include long shots, mid shots  and close ups to create emphasis on the artist location and emotions.
  • Lighting: uses artificial lighting to enhance the artist.
  • Props: vital aiding to set the scene and significant to people and objects
  • Colours: brightly coloured to set he mood, loud and bold
  • Costume: reflects the genre and influences the audience.
  • Fast pace editing


Firstly before ever producing a music video or any product of media we have to have knowledge. Theorist Steve Neale says  genre= 'instances of repetition and difference' and what he means by this is that whatever you're creating it has to have conventions of the genre it falls into to be recognisable to the audience but also have to be unique in some way so it sells. Nicholas Abercrombie view on media products are' television producers set out to exploit genre conventions...it... makes sound economic sense. sets, properties and costumes can be used over and over again. Team of stars, writers and directors and technicians can be built up giving economies of scale' although is  mainly applied to television what he is saying is that  is having generic knowledge saves a lot to time when you have to create or do something .


Here is the mood board which i  began when researching ideas for my music video:


looking at my mood board I can see that I have included some of my original ideas such as grease, iconic dance moves, a lot of dancing and females featuring. Although I've included few from my mood board, this was only a starting point which inspired my later thoughts and ideas.



I had many ideas at the start and my first idea was to create something that goes through time eras. However I moved on from that  idea as I felt it wouldn't be achievable, ironically I  ended up doing something similar which was iconic movies. Below shows how I explored the ideas of  different movies and how I tried to replicate them to be obvious to the audience.

 
 
 
 
Comparing my work to real media products I would say my work is entropic and has originality. Although from research and planning I learnt that having a pre introduction is quite redundant in pop  and I very common. so I wanted to include this as it's now recently a generic  convention but also keep it original so there for I decided to create a stop motion animation as I have never seen this featured in a Pop music video. When gathering feedback I learnt that taking this risk and doing something entropic was successful and no-one dis liked the idea. I was nervous when using a stop motion as an introduction as I hadn't personally seen this before and I wasn't sure about the combination of the  real life video and the animation and whether it they would compliment each other.
 
 
 Audience I a major part when creating media products as you are producing something for there pleasure . So you would have to bare in mind that what you're producing will have to be consists of the typical conventions of the genre so the target audience will know that this product is something that would appeal to them; there has to be a level of predictability of the product. However you must be careful  to what extent you use  typical conventions and how redundant your music video will be because if it's to similar and not any different from the normal media texts produced then it wont have a selling point and lose it's appeal to the audience, being labelled ' nothing new or special'. The Audience research had a massive effect on what I created as I had to produce something that would appeal to a specific market. My genre was mainly pop and pop tend to be linked with mainstream so therefore I thought that iconic and famous movies would be perfect for this type of target audience. However  The artist Tommy Sparks doesn't only fall into the genre of Pop but also Disco/Indie and this is were I took the opportunity to create something that was entropic, hence the animation.


I also looked at different artist such as Rihanna, Lady Gaga  and Ke$ha to see how they differ and whether they consist of the same generic convention. The Music Video below is Rihanna 'Who's that Chick' It also follows the trend of opening with a pre introduction setting the scene however it doesn't have a story or narrative, if consist of more a performance, editing skills and flashing images ad lights which I decided not to include in my music as my target audience aren't purely Pop fans the artist Tommy sparks also falls into the Disco/Indie  genre so therefore I would need to cater for audience that not only have an interest in pop . I also felt that creating something similar to the music video below wouldn't introduce anything entropic and would be very redundant and not interesting so therefore I decied to stray from a music video like this, However keeping basic generic conventions.

 
 

Looking at my Advert and Digi Pak they were majorly influenced by real media products however I wanted it to consists of something entropic which was adding my own hand drawn images into the advert creating this scrap book like feel which links with how the a story and narrative is the main element of the Music Video. My first ideas for the advert were based on lady Gaga's Dig Pak advert and how it was divided into three rows. Although I liked this idea I didn't want to create something that was an exact copy; as I learned that you need to create something different for it to sell. I choose not to do this and actually base it of the original Tommy sparks advert using the colour scheme but  also collaborating Katy Perry's boldness.


Friday, 21 February 2014

Evaluation: Question Two

When researching artist similar to Tommy Sparks who produces music that fall into the genre of Disco/ Pop/ Indie  a band that was strongly found were The Hot Melts. I also looked as the Pop Queen Katy Perry work too and the CD covers below influenced my work.
  From these inspirations ive taken the drawing from the hot melts cd cover and added this ideas to my advert with the drink me bottle and the silhouettes . Looking at Katy Perry's digi pak we see dark backgrounds featuring one close up and bold bright contrasting colours which i have tried to included when creating my own Digi pack.



 Looking at the original Advert for Tommy Sparks Album I've followed a the same grey white and black colour scheme but have also added my own house style of brighter colours and adding a narrative to the advert as i intended narrative to be a big part of my music video.


As both the advert and the digi pak are working as a promotion package they of course have to link and appearance as a partnership.  Below show some of the similarities:

  • they both consist of the same colour scheme (red purple black, wooden)
  • Have contrasting silhouettes
  • Lips  featured on the advert and down the seam of the digipak. 
  • used the same font throughout
  •  The wooden background is found on both but not as a background in the advert.
  • The same model appears in both the digipak and the advert
  • Have a purple rim at the top of each design. 
I also wanted to included elements of the promotion package  in the music video and my ideas where the girl in the red dress pictures frame and the Alice and wonderland introduction. however when it came to the production part it did change alot. we videoed some footage and i felt that the narrative wasn't strong enough so we kept the idea of  replicating movies within the music video also reduced the ideas of frames being a focal part of the music video and  just had frames as the background of the animation.

While i organised a focus group meeting i also showed the the promotion package and asked them there thoughts on it. Many liked the Digi Pack and thought it was fun and current as the motashue are in. Alot this trend was going to be included in the music video in the end result we scrapped the idea of this as we felt nearer the end of the age range of the target audience wouldn't appreciate the trend. They also thought the colour scheme was bold and bright but with a sophistication which would appeal to the older audiences as well ( audience target age 16-21).

What i don't like about my work is that due to the change in concept of the music video the promotional package dosn't quite if the mold in all aspects. I also felt that the digi pack was alot strong than the advert. I felt the advert didn't have the professional finish. I also thing i should of added slight shadows to the models in the background making it more realistic. 

The aim of the house style and branding was to create something that combines alot of different genres of music as 'She's got me Dancing' falls into many different types. I wanted to create something that was loud, fun quirky but also have a hint of sophistication so it meets the needs for all target audience. The house style is very important as this needs to be perfect so then your audience recognize and know what would appeal to them and i felt that i was successful in doing so.

Wednesday, 19 February 2014

Evaluation : Question Four


While planning I used a new technology known as facebook. I used this to create a facebook page to create a chat where people can view the ideas for the market package and comment their opinions on it. WE as host would have to spark conversation between the other users to gather information however we weren’t successful as many people invited to the page didn’t seem interested and would leave feedback such as ‘ cool idea’ ‘yeah that could work’. Many people didn’t expand when we further questioned them on their initial comments. Overall I don’t feel that it was as useful as there was much useful feedback which was a starting point for improvement. I felt that rather than using new technology such as facebook to gather audience feedback that traditional methods such as  a focus group was much more successful.


When constructing the digipak and advert I used the software Photoshop. Below I’ve annotated what tools i used while editing:





When planning i felt if i had a better phone such as an i phone i could post recent updates and ideas instantly rather than writing my ideas down and later revising them in a blog post. I also could of used an iphone to capture parts of the focus group interview and add them to my blog, introducing new technology method.

Looking at the production side of things, we could have improved on the quality to the video footage as the lighting wasn’t strong enough in parts which had an effect on the overall appearance of the music video. Lighting is one of the key aspects as it gives the professional finish without this  it doesn’t quite have the music video finish.  Although the lighting did questions the professional finish of my music video it was due to the lack of new technology (lighting kit) available, which is beyond our power. However i tried my best to solve this problem seeking other lighting kit which was available to use but not for all the shooting of the video footage.
 
 

http://prezi.com/eyse5sxp9nfs/how-have-you-used-media-20-to-influnece-your-work/#


Creativity played a major role throughout this piece of coursework. Media technology supports creativity and enables you to create something unique and fresh. While using Photoshop to create the digpak and advert i experimented with many different things such as layering, manipulating an image in various ways and even adding a drawing i composed myself to the advert.  When using Premier to edit the video footage honestly i didn’t make use of its full potential like some of the other members in my class had creating over exposed black and white footage as well as creating digital aspects on top of the original video . I used the basic editing such crop, light adjustments and spilt screens.
 





 

Tuesday, 19 November 2013

Risk Assessment : River Severn


River Severn - Risk Assessment
Risk
Description
L
I
P
Prevention
Acceptable
River
If an actor gets too close to the river they could fall in and drown. They could also fall in and have a severe injury. This risk is potentially fatal.
2
5
7
We will make Sure the actors are aware that they should stay a few feet away from the river at all times, Make sure we are by a public area, with life rings just in case.
Yes
Public
The public will be freely walking around by the river at the point of recording, this could mean that the public could knock equiptment, or move wires which could obstruct actors.   
2
3
5
We will put up little signs by the equipment so that the public do not touch it, We will also find a quiet area along the river to record, however still be near life rings for the river risk.
Yes
Cars
There are cars that drive along side the river where we could record, if an actor is not paying attention they could stumble into the road and get hit.
2
4
6
We will make sure that, if recording by the road, the actors are fully aware of the risk. This will minimise the chances of an accident occurring.
Yes

Risk Assessment Photography studio

Risk Assessment for media room


Risk Assessment - Media Room

Risk
Description
L
I
S
Prevention
Acceptable
Chairs
Inside the media room there are various chairs which are spread across the room. These chairs could block or obstruct the actors whilst recording the music video causing a Major safety hazard.
4
3
7
We could move all of the chairs out of the media room before recording, making sure the chairs are in an area wher they will cause no obstruction to the actors and the students at the Worcester Sixth Form.
Yes
Tables
There are a few tables inside the media room which occupy most of the space available, this could cause a major disruption to the music video and obstruct the actors during the recording.
4
3
7
In order to reduce the risk of injury to our actors we need to remove all of the tables out of the media room to make more of the space available to use. We need to make sure the tables are out of the way for the other students and that if there are any tables left in the room the actors are aware.
Yes
Computers
In the room there are computers that cannot be moved temporarily during the recording.  The computers also have wires which go under the desks, this could cause an injury to the actors.
2
4
6
Make sure the wires under the desk are pushed/ tucked as far away from the acting space, this will reduce the risk of an actor falling over or causing an injury. If possible tape the wires to the bottom of the desk/ wall.  Make sure the actors are aware of the wires.
Yes
Projector
On the roof of the classroom there is a projector which is used to beam PowerPoint on to the whiteboard. This projector could fall on to one of the actors during the rehearsals causing a fatal injury
2
5
7
Make sure that the projector is secure on the roof before the rehearsal. Make sure that the actors are aware of this risk and try to prevent any risk of it falling.  Make sure that the projector has been safety checked.
Yes

Monday, 18 November 2013

Final Sketches: Digipak and Advert

 This was the inside of the Digipak i wanted all three panels  to follow the same theme almost like it's on image covering the space. I'll use the three girls which will feature in the music video  on this page even though they aren't singers in the band.  I've done this to exaggerate the idea of a story and narrative.














With the inside cover i liked how in Katy Perry's digipak she featured a close up so therefore i've included this idea in my digipak. The back will feature a frame like it does on the cover and also will appear in the music video.  The Final advert is also found on this page and I've decided to stray from the typical artist and cd featuring on the advert and so therefore i'm only having the artist appearing as a silhouette. Again I'm using the narrative as the selling point rather than the 'name' of an artist. 

Time Management: Print Production

I have noticed that i've been very disorganised with the print production aspect and the deadline is coming  in quick. So from today i'll  make a timeline and plan everything that i need to do before the deadline so then i'll be more organised and hopefully get it done in time.

Sunday, 17 November 2013

Front Cover Sketches

Here i have came up with four possible designs for my front cover. I showed my friends and asked which on they felt was best suited. i briefly explained the concept of the music videos so they could pick the one which related to this.

 
They liked the last sketch as they felt it worked well with the Alice and wonderland theme with the drink me bottle however my concern with this was that the appearance would only appeal to the younger audience rather than the older ones. So therefore we felt that the best one to go for was the third idea with  the frames as it still fun but appeals to both audience and it's not too mature either.

Saturday, 16 November 2013

Thought bubble

Thinking about the advert and digipak design i want to create something fresh and different i think i'll stray away from the typical artist and text and create something with more a of narrative as not many adverts do this but also linking with the music video creating this uniform and theme throughout. I will still keep the some of the typical conventions of an advert and digipak so then it's regconisable to the audience. 

First sketch for Digipak advert

 this was my first idea for the digipak advert. i wanted to include the narrative and something fun. The design was inspired by Lady Gaga digipak advert which i researched earlier. I Incorporated the Alice in wonderland theme as i wanted to make a link between the advert and the music video. I showed it to some of my friends to get feedback and they said they liked the concept and different ideas but thought there was too much dead space and the three different sections made it quite distracting.  

Thursday, 14 November 2013

thought Bubble: Props & costumes

I now have most of the props and have purchased the Dresses i just need to make some of the dices which i will do in the next few weeks. We've faced no problems so far collecting all the props. The only thing is we need to get the male actors suit.

Wednesday, 13 November 2013

Sketches and Ideas

Today I was thinking about different ideas and came up with a few quick sketches. I wanted to create something fun and flirty, but not over the top. i had a few ideas and will later expand them coming up with a few final ideas.