Evaluation: 4) How did you use technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages?

During construction, research, planning and evaluation stages, I have used a variety of new media technologies in order to create a successful and high quality promotional package. Some of these technologies I have used before in AS, however a long the way I have used some newer ones. The skills I learned in AS have developed as my work now looks attracting, professional and superior.

Dropbox is a free service that lets you bring your photos, documents, and videos anywhere and share them easily, this was an effective and easy way to share our work with one member of your group group as we would use all the same images. By using Dropbox it saved a lot of time as we wasn't passing USB's back and forth.

This is the Dropbox account I set up and I also suggested that the other members of the group did as well so that we could create a shared folder to view all the work such as, images and logos.

During our research I used the a new technology to help me through this process as I able to look Google for existing digi packs, album release adverts, band shots and existing logos. Research was a key process as without this I wouldn't of been able to gain influentual ideas in order to create my promotional package.

This is an image to show how I used technologies within the research processs.

Youtube was a technology used within planning our song choice right at the start when the project was set, we searched music videos of the same genre and that of contrasting genres in order to make sure we had the right song choice for our music video. Not only was it for planning but also to research music videos so we could understand what camera shots they use, mise-en-scene, codes and conventions, props and setting. After constructing the music video this was our source of where we would upload our final videos, pitches and feedback.

Our main task was to create a music video and with to make a professional video we used technologies such as, a hand held camera to film all of our footage in locations such as an isolated studio, someone's house, a car and Mick Jagger Center but the hand held camera also was effective as this is when the audience could feel like their in their shoes. Other equipment that helped us to create the video was equipped a jib,dolly, tripod and a tracking system to create movement and  different heights/levels to our video. We used different lighting for the video such as dark then low key lighting(main spotlight) when filming the band shots as this emphased an isolated environment. We also used a a hand held camera when taking footage of the creative arts evening and audienc's feedback.

As we started the construction process this is when the technology, Photoshop was used so that we was able to uload our images and then adjust and edit them to how we wished. Photoshop specialises in images as I was able to use the magic wand tool, hue and saturation, brightness and contrast, crop, solid color, rasterize, layers to create more professional and effective images. Photoshop was also used to create our band logo as well as the bands name logo.

Indesign was a technology that I used to contruct my my digi pack and album release advert as well as the tray card and CD. I found Indesign is the best software to use when creating these tasks as they have all the tools you need, cropping, text, enlarging, layering, drop shadow, rotation, masking, opacity etc. All of these are tools that I used within my final ancillary tasks. Indesign was very helpful when creating my tray card and cd as they had borders, measurements and instructions templated onto it for me to follow for my work to look professional. However, I developed more skills as I learned how to make an image transparent so the image blends in with the background, which made my tray card look effective. To learn these skills I used a tutorial from YouTube to teach myself how to make the image transparent.

 This is what I was able to create in Indesign as I learned the skill to transparent an image with the tutorial that I found in Youtube.

Premier Pro was the newest media technology I have used. This was used to place and edit our footage of constructing a 'real' music video. We had very little experience with this media technology, however we did test it out when we was set a short tasks of creating an open day video. Premier Pro allowed us to place a song onto premier pro and layer the footage over(removing footage sound) it. We cut down all of the footage so that the lip syncing was in time with the music so that it looked realistic. Effects and transitions we used were cross dissolve, zoom, blur, black and white effect and ghosting.

Evaluation: 3) What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Throughout this advanced project, I have regularly gained audience feedback which has enabled me to progress within the development of the project. The audience feedback has helped me from start to finish as I received constructed criticism that has made me change elements in my product to make it more professional and superior. Without the feedback our final tasks wouldn't have been half as good. 

Our teachers helped us by regularly having group discussions to see our progress within our ancillary’s and music videos. As a group we focused on the criticism that was giving to us for the music video as creating a music video was very new to us. But also giving us advice on things like ghosting effect, this helped us develop a better video. As the narrative just flowed straight through we was given criticism as to this being very boring so the teachers advised us to use jump cuts which would look more effective.

Here is audience feedback:



Narrative: It was clear through feedback from audience that the narrative was intriguing for the audience as one of the comments was how realistic it was portrayed. They were lured in by the effectiveness of the narrative and how they thought about the song in a completely different context for example; the pregnancy. As the audience we either school students or adults they understood that the narrative was about separation and the audience said that they were moved by this as they could relate to every aspect. 

Camera Shots/Editing:The ghosting effect was mentioned from the audience and said how effective this looked throughout the whole music video. The jump cuts was also mentioned by the audience as they said   it helped to break up the band shots to the narrative so that there was more of a mixture but it also gave you time to think about the narrative. It was mentioned how the shots of the band  were dark which emphasised the mood and feeling of what was going on in the narritive. Lastly, it was said how the use of camera shots such as close-ups and zooms out of the band worked will with the genre and got it 'Bang on'.

Evaluation: 2) How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

As this task was to create a promotional package I found it important that our products use and follow conventions. By following the same forms and conventions the audience are able to recognise that this is a part of a promotional package but not only they are then able to relate to the products, and still know that they come as 'one'. This was very important during the creating of the video and the ancillary tasks, below is an image of my promotional package and explanations of how each of the products created relate to each other.

 

I have used motifs within my media promotional package, as well as the members of my group who all used the same fonts for the band name and the album. The motif as you can see is the lyrics written across the digipack and adverts which has been used effectively for the audience to recognise this is one promotional package.

 

The font styles have been used effectively through the ancillary product because as you can see the fonts are exactly the same within each of the products. For example if I was emphasising 'For the First Time' I would use 'Mistral' and if I was using 'The Script' I would use 'Prestigue' throughout. But also to show that the main product e.g. the music video was related to the ancillary tasks we decide to include a sequence at the end with the same font style.

 

 

 

The images I have used throughout the package also have been used effectively in both main product and ancillary tasks as they both follow a consistent effect through the use of black and white. All the images in the promotional package are very dark as well as the band shots from the music video. However you could look at it in a different perspective for instance as the images/band shots are dark this has been done for a reason as the darkness of the images relate to the type of mood that the video is going to be.

 

It is evidentely shown that the combination of my main product and ancillary tasks have been used effectively so the audience are able to recognise this is a promotional package but however in person able to relate to the band but also the narrative that runs through the video.

 

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

Real media products are created and revealed in certain ways so that an audience can understand and interpret the codes and conventions of the media product.

I found it very important when creating my media products that I included the forms and conventions as I wanted to portray my products as ‘real’.

This blog post will show the ways I have developed and challenged forms and conventions of real media products in my advanced production.

Here are my ancillary tasks and I am going to the comparison with my work and real existing products to show how I challenged and developed forms and conventions.

 Here is clips of my video of where we have developed and challenged forms of conventions:

The first shot was incluenced from The Kings of Leon. The group decided to use a similar overlay effect. The convention was developed and challenged by appling it to a different genre, however by using the convention in a different way, the effect was able to suit the projects genre.

The next shot of the close-up of the main singer was influenced from the music video Sex is on Fire. The group decided to take a similar shot, a slow zoom from the side into the singer. The convention was slightly developed and challenged as the way the singer was standing and singer was different, so that the convention was now unique to the media product.

The shot of the close-up guitarist was from a Green Day music video. This influenced us to take similar shots to follow on the converntion especially as this is the same genre as our music video.

Lastly, the final shot was of memories that was shown in the narrative. We found this in quite a few different music videos. However the one that influence us was in the pop genre so we challenged the convention and used it for a completely different genre, alternative rock.

How I applied reception theory

Reception theory is based on the idea that no text has one single meaning. Instead it suggests that the individual members of the audience themselves help to create the meaning of the text. For example in our music video you could say that there is not one single meaning because

How I applied Uses and Gratification Theory

In order to target and appeal to my target audience I am going to apply the 'Uses and Gratification theory' to my music video. To gain my target audience I am going to have to use all four of Bulmer & Katz reasons.

Diversions – escape from everyday problems and routine – this is shown in my video through the narrative when the boy starts drink alcohol to forget all of his problems.

Personal relationships – using the media for emotional and other interaction – this is shown by  showing the emotions between two characters within the narrative, the audience is going to be able to relate to it and find it more appealing. The audience is going to be able to identify with sections of the relationship, and will accept it easily. I am going to show this through still shots of the two characters being close and happy and also using flashbacks of them doing the iconic relationship actions. 

Personal identity – constructing their own identity from characters in media text, and learning behaviour and values - This has been applied by the age of my actors, through the fashion and role models. I am going to have my actors and members of the band wear clothing that will represent and relate the genre. These means clothes that is similar to 'The Script,’ and other similar bands that fit into the alternative indie rock genre. By applying this reason of the theory to my video, it will allow the audience to link the video and themselves to the genre.

Surveillance – information gathering e.g. educational programmes, weather reports, news reports – this can be shown through the ‘message’ that we tried to portray to the audience as not everything is ‘perfect’ in real-life and by consuming alcohol doesn’t make everything better.

Digi Pack Development Draft 2

Here is some feedback from target audience's that will help me make a final succesful ancillary task:



Eden: The solo shots are very effective as they are all clear and making eye contact with the audience, however I think they could be placed differently as I feel they looked squashed.

Kieran: I like how the lyrics are layed out but I don't like how the images have been structured I think they look messy.

Harry: I think they follow conventions as you have put the lyrics in the right place as well as the images but I think it needs to be rearranged to make it look more professional.