Wednesday 3rd February 2010
Wednesday, 3 February 2010
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
Evaluation Question (4)
Evaluation Question 4.
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Main Task:
Research
In order to gain an understanding of what the music industry, in regards to music videos actually entail, I firstly began to use the Internet as a tool to research various sites where it explained the origins of music videos:
MTV is an American cable television network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981 with the original purpose of MTV being a "Music Television," playing music videos 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
After gaining some knowledge regarding music videos I started to use sites such as Youtube.com which allowed me to search for artists and watch their videos. It was actually due to the website YouTube, that young pop sensation 'Justin Bieber' was found and now is signed and currently making an album with Usher's label, this just simply shows how people are using this almost D.I.Y culture and how technology is ever developing.
YouTube proved to be a vital site in regards to case studies as I was able to show how I accessed and screen shot clips that inspired my own music video during the planning stages of the production.
Using the search engine Google.com I was able to research various genres and got a detailed vast amount of information concerning each genre. It was due to the amount of information I was saturated with that my partner and I came to the conclusion to select the genre ‘Pop’ as the style of music we wanted to create a music video to. We also found the artist to the song we had selected to use for our production and downloaded the song by the use of iTunes onto computers and iPods. We searched Stacie Orrico’s website for her agent’s details in order to contact him and ask permission to use the song, ‘So Simple’.
Above is a copy of the email I sent to Bryan Myers, the agent of Stacie Orrico, asking for permission to use the track. I composed this email using my hotmail.com account which time effectively delivers your email within a matter of seconds, a procedure made easy due to the advancement in technology.
Planning
The use of Blogspot.com allowed us to note down all the crucial details that were essential for instance dates of filming. The blog allowed us to upload, edit and change our information at any time where we had Internet connection. We had the ability to individually post information concerning the planning of our music video, for instance I was able to plan the beginnings of my essays which helped a great deal and showed my progress as I was able to keep the plan posted which working from it also.
Construction
During the construction stages of my music video we used Adobe Premiere Pro to edit the footage that we had filmed. We used a Panasonic HD camera to film and due to the high definition of the camera the footage was extremely clear and aided to portray a professional feel. During the editing stages of our production my partner I used a variety of editing features, for instance the ‘Channel Mixer’ and the ‘Fast Colour Correction’ to change and alter the clips natural colour.
We collectively thought that slightly altering the colour would appeal to our intended audience and help to reinforce her femininity which overall helps portray her star persona and the genre of music. We also added ‘Edge Feather’ to a number of our clips as we thought this added a sense of glamour as it looked as though our artist ‘LaBelle’ was in a frame on a some sort of film set.
A main section of our music video that required a great deal of editing was the use of the split screen. We had to merge and crop three separate sections of footage in order for all to be seen and played at the same time.
Ancillary Task:
In order to create the Digi pack predominantly used Microsoft PowerPoint and publisher. Firstly I chose my image then digitally manipulated it, for instance turning up the contrast, using Adobe Photoshop, the leading software for digital manipulation. I used the lasso tool all around the artist’s body then erased the background until I was left with a white plain background. I then simply gathered images from various websites and started to build and create my digi pack.
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Main Task:
Research
In order to gain an understanding of what the music industry, in regards to music videos actually entail, I firstly began to use the Internet as a tool to research various sites where it explained the origins of music videos:
MTV is an American cable television network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981 with the original purpose of MTV being a "Music Television," playing music videos 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
After gaining some knowledge regarding music videos I started to use sites such as Youtube.com which allowed me to search for artists and watch their videos. It was actually due to the website YouTube, that young pop sensation 'Justin Bieber' was found and now is signed and currently making an album with Usher's label, this just simply shows how people are using this almost D.I.Y culture and how technology is ever developing.
YouTube proved to be a vital site in regards to case studies as I was able to show how I accessed and screen shot clips that inspired my own music video during the planning stages of the production.
Using the search engine Google.com I was able to research various genres and got a detailed vast amount of information concerning each genre. It was due to the amount of information I was saturated with that my partner and I came to the conclusion to select the genre ‘Pop’ as the style of music we wanted to create a music video to. We also found the artist to the song we had selected to use for our production and downloaded the song by the use of iTunes onto computers and iPods. We searched Stacie Orrico’s website for her agent’s details in order to contact him and ask permission to use the song, ‘So Simple’.
Above is a copy of the email I sent to Bryan Myers, the agent of Stacie Orrico, asking for permission to use the track. I composed this email using my hotmail.com account which time effectively delivers your email within a matter of seconds, a procedure made easy due to the advancement in technology.
Planning
The use of Blogspot.com allowed us to note down all the crucial details that were essential for instance dates of filming. The blog allowed us to upload, edit and change our information at any time where we had Internet connection. We had the ability to individually post information concerning the planning of our music video, for instance I was able to plan the beginnings of my essays which helped a great deal and showed my progress as I was able to keep the plan posted which working from it also.
Construction
During the construction stages of my music video we used Adobe Premiere Pro to edit the footage that we had filmed. We used a Panasonic HD camera to film and due to the high definition of the camera the footage was extremely clear and aided to portray a professional feel. During the editing stages of our production my partner I used a variety of editing features, for instance the ‘Channel Mixer’ and the ‘Fast Colour Correction’ to change and alter the clips natural colour.
We collectively thought that slightly altering the colour would appeal to our intended audience and help to reinforce her femininity which overall helps portray her star persona and the genre of music. We also added ‘Edge Feather’ to a number of our clips as we thought this added a sense of glamour as it looked as though our artist ‘LaBelle’ was in a frame on a some sort of film set.
A main section of our music video that required a great deal of editing was the use of the split screen. We had to merge and crop three separate sections of footage in order for all to be seen and played at the same time.
Ancillary Task:
In order to create the Digi pack predominantly used Microsoft PowerPoint and publisher. Firstly I chose my image then digitally manipulated it, for instance turning up the contrast, using Adobe Photoshop, the leading software for digital manipulation. I used the lasso tool all around the artist’s body then erased the background until I was left with a white plain background. I then simply gathered images from various websites and started to build and create my digi pack.
Evaluation Question (3)
Evauation Question 3.
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
The main intention for audience feedback is to see if your media product appeals to your intended target audience. My partner and I had initially planned for our music video to appeal to younger girls ranging from the age of thirteen plus, as this is a prime time in their life when they are attempting to construct their identity and are flooded with numerous images from the media depicting ideas of beauty.
We composed a questionnaire that asked the audience various questions ranging from simply selecting the genre to why the video would appeal to someone their age and gender. Firstly, I gave my questionnaire to females aged ten to fifteen and received some very positive feedback in regards to visual style, coherent narrative and overall cultural relevance. The main points we received were that the use of the split screen and the three half made up faces really captured and portrayed the current conflict women face in relations to the Medias present existing ideas of beauty and identity. However, the male feedback in regards to costume and the relevance of the costume really contrasted with the females. The male audience were not able to explain the meaning of why they thought we had used such costumes but merely said it looked visually good. Nonetheless, as we did follow the conventions of our chosen genre both genders were successfully able to identify that our media product belongs to the pop genre.
Age and gender
In our questionnaire we asked for the audience to fill out their age and gender as this would clearly allow us to understand which age group and gender responded best to our music video and if our intended target audience fall into that category. Our intended target audience was young females ranging from the age of thirteen plus and it was indeed young girls who responded best.
Costume and make up
The female audience responded very well to the use of costume and make up and correctly were able to understand why we chose to include such items of costume and even commented on how this played a vital role in depicting the star persona. However, the make response was not as accurate. They appreciated the costume and make up style yet unfortunately could not explain what they represented.
Lip synchronising
Both male and females responded well to the lip syncing although only one female pointed out the slight delay of the lip syncing in the first chorus in the music video. However, both genders did comment that the use of lip syncing was effective and believable especially the scene with the split screen.
Narrative
Both the male and female audience were able to understand the basic narrative that was depicted through lyrics and visuals, although again it was the female audience who responded better and understood the under lying messages of the music video.
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
The main intention for audience feedback is to see if your media product appeals to your intended target audience. My partner and I had initially planned for our music video to appeal to younger girls ranging from the age of thirteen plus, as this is a prime time in their life when they are attempting to construct their identity and are flooded with numerous images from the media depicting ideas of beauty.
We composed a questionnaire that asked the audience various questions ranging from simply selecting the genre to why the video would appeal to someone their age and gender. Firstly, I gave my questionnaire to females aged ten to fifteen and received some very positive feedback in regards to visual style, coherent narrative and overall cultural relevance. The main points we received were that the use of the split screen and the three half made up faces really captured and portrayed the current conflict women face in relations to the Medias present existing ideas of beauty and identity. However, the male feedback in regards to costume and the relevance of the costume really contrasted with the females. The male audience were not able to explain the meaning of why they thought we had used such costumes but merely said it looked visually good. Nonetheless, as we did follow the conventions of our chosen genre both genders were successfully able to identify that our media product belongs to the pop genre.
Age and gender
In our questionnaire we asked for the audience to fill out their age and gender as this would clearly allow us to understand which age group and gender responded best to our music video and if our intended target audience fall into that category. Our intended target audience was young females ranging from the age of thirteen plus and it was indeed young girls who responded best.
Costume and make up
The female audience responded very well to the use of costume and make up and correctly were able to understand why we chose to include such items of costume and even commented on how this played a vital role in depicting the star persona. However, the make response was not as accurate. They appreciated the costume and make up style yet unfortunately could not explain what they represented.
Lip synchronising
Both male and females responded well to the lip syncing although only one female pointed out the slight delay of the lip syncing in the first chorus in the music video. However, both genders did comment that the use of lip syncing was effective and believable especially the scene with the split screen.
Narrative
Both the male and female audience were able to understand the basic narrative that was depicted through lyrics and visuals, although again it was the female audience who responded better and understood the under lying messages of the music video.
Evaluation Question (2)
Evaluation Question 2.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
The main intention for the combination of both my music video and ancillary texts are to ensure utmost promotion for my artist ‘LaBelle’. In order to do so I developed a theme visible in all three media products this allowed me to brand my artist making her more recognisable to the consumer target audience.
The major theme of flowers can be found in all three media products as they simply signify the natural beauty ‘LaBelle’ stands for, who’s identity is independent, free from current trends of over exaggerated manufactured femininity. Flowers have the ability to attract and enchant various insect animals and so bearing this in mind I overly utilised the concept of flowers in hope to enchant and attract human target consumers to the music of my artist ‘LaBelle’. Together my partner and I decided on the name ‘LaBelle’ as translated from French to English means pretty/beautiful which aids to portray the overall concept I have attempted to create. The use of a common concept is in fact very much needed in order to trademark and create awareness of ‘LaBelle’s’ star image so it become easily recognisable for the target audience.
There is scene during the music video where a sense of voyeurism is depicted through the use of a mirror which I also utilised and transferred to ‘LaBelle’s’ CD cover. I chose to make reference to the gold mirror on more than one occasion while attempting to brand ‘LaBelle’ as the incredible detail found in the mirror aids to portray her femininity and reveals a rather chic glamorous element to her character, one many young girls would perhaps aspire to have. Below I have cut out a section from the CD Cover where you are able to see how I have continued to overly use detail which enhances the beauty ‘LaBelle’ stands for while also looks visually pleasing for the eye.
In addition to a common concept, the use of the same font style and similar font colour in all three media products plays a significant role in the process of branding as this is what reinforces the link between the three media products and makes it easier for my artist ‘LaBelle’ to become more recognisable.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
The main intention for the combination of both my music video and ancillary texts are to ensure utmost promotion for my artist ‘LaBelle’. In order to do so I developed a theme visible in all three media products this allowed me to brand my artist making her more recognisable to the consumer target audience.
The major theme of flowers can be found in all three media products as they simply signify the natural beauty ‘LaBelle’ stands for, who’s identity is independent, free from current trends of over exaggerated manufactured femininity. Flowers have the ability to attract and enchant various insect animals and so bearing this in mind I overly utilised the concept of flowers in hope to enchant and attract human target consumers to the music of my artist ‘LaBelle’. Together my partner and I decided on the name ‘LaBelle’ as translated from French to English means pretty/beautiful which aids to portray the overall concept I have attempted to create. The use of a common concept is in fact very much needed in order to trademark and create awareness of ‘LaBelle’s’ star image so it become easily recognisable for the target audience.
There is scene during the music video where a sense of voyeurism is depicted through the use of a mirror which I also utilised and transferred to ‘LaBelle’s’ CD cover. I chose to make reference to the gold mirror on more than one occasion while attempting to brand ‘LaBelle’ as the incredible detail found in the mirror aids to portray her femininity and reveals a rather chic glamorous element to her character, one many young girls would perhaps aspire to have. Below I have cut out a section from the CD Cover where you are able to see how I have continued to overly use detail which enhances the beauty ‘LaBelle’ stands for while also looks visually pleasing for the eye.
In addition to a common concept, the use of the same font style and similar font colour in all three media products plays a significant role in the process of branding as this is what reinforces the link between the three media products and makes it easier for my artist ‘LaBelle’ to become more recognisable.
Evaluation Question (1)
Evaluation Question 1.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Use
From the research into our selected genre, ‘Pop’ we found a number of conventions and characteristics that are regularly present in real media products used in the construction of our own music video. For instance, Andrew Goodwin, a media theorist, identified a number of key features that distinguish the music video as a form which I paid close attention to in hopes to incorporate into my own music video.
An illustration of this is how I utilised the common convention of ‘Close Ups’ as Goodwin indicated that it is through the use of close ups that the audience are able to identify and familiarise themselves with the artists face. Especially as this is the debut single for my artist ‘LaBelle’ you almost have to saturate your music video in an attempt to really advertise her face to your audience. In addition to this, it is also essential to include close ups of my artist ‘LaBelle’ as her lyrics are of an uplifting nature and so it is vital to capture her facial expressions in order for the audience to visibly observe and comprehend her genuine temperament.
Visibly the directors of Natasha Bedingfield's 'I bruise easily' video followed the same conventions as my partner and I.
Again, with reference to Goodwin’s theory, he suggests there should be a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, with the visuals illustrating or contradicting the lyrics. During the planning stages of our production we definitely took this board and decided that we would both use and challenge ourselves by filming scenes that do indeed illustrate and contradict the lyrics. We thought that by altering the expected visuals to the lyrics the audience would be put in a situation where they would really have to concentrate on the actual lyrics and attempt to perhaps understand why we placed the two together. We hoped by the audience doing so the lyrics would somehow subconsciously remain in their minds and leave room for further interpretation if the semiotics.
Illustrating lyrics:
‘Give me family, on a Sunday
And I'll be just fine’
Contradicting lyrics:
‘Don't need high heels
For a good feel’
Illustrating lyrics:
‘I'm gonna get in trouble
I wanna start a fight’
Contradicting lyrics:
‘I'm alright, I'm just fine’
With further reference to Goodwin’s theory, he purposes that there should be a sense of voyeurism portrayed, especially in the case of a female artist. Goodwin continues to state that the notion of looking should be considered within the duration of the music video and suggested this through screens within screens and mirrors. My partner and I managed to incorporate a mirror scene where our artist ‘LaBelle’ examines her reflection and eventually becomes displeased with the façade she has created with the use of sexually suggesting red lips, smoky grey eye shadow and larger fuller eye lashes. Through the notion of looking it appears as though the artist is looking directly into the audiences eyes which enhances and intensifies the message they are attempting to portray.
Examples of when my partner and I used voyeurism and current artists, Lily Allen and Pink have used elements of voyeurism in their music video.
With continual reference to Goodwin, he states that in order for your music video to have a professional feel the lip synchronising has to be accurate and overall believable. As we were filming for an artists debut single we used a number of close ups which meant we had to pay close consideration to the lip syncing so in order to attempt to successfully do we simultaneously filmed our artist while they listened to the track playing the background on speakers. This allowed our artist to mime and keep in the right tempo of the music.
In order to succeed in the music industry, especially as a female artist, the star image and persona has to be easily recognisable and identifiable to the audience. Perhaps most importantly the star persona has to be one of creative individual uniqueness that strays away from the normal mundane predictable female star image idea, an example of an artist who does this perfectly is pop sensation, Lady Gaga. Controversial indeed she may be but Lady Gaga truly knows how to brand herself in a way that no one can escape from her outrageous costume and make up. Even though our artist, LaBelle is not of such a flamboyant nature I still found that my partner and I were inspired by aspects of Lady Gaga’s costumes and incorporated this into the creation and style of ‘LaBelle’.
Our artist ‘LaBelle’ has fun with make up and costume which can be seen a number of times throughout the video which represents her playful theatrical side yet by the end of the music video you see her at her natural state which represents her deeper more genuine self, a blank canvas free from distractions and false mirages, simply just ‘LaBelle’.
Develop
The method in which I attempted to develop the common codes and conventions of music videos was mainly through the use of photographs and lighting. My partner and I had aspired for our music video to indeed have a professional feel of a music video yet slightly developed it through the use of both moving image and still image as we had hoped for it to bring forth a unique sense of the theatricality of a celebrities life, constantly faced with numerous photographers on a daily basis.
Again, as mentioned above I developed usual conventions through the use of lighting. I took a normal coloured shot then totally revamped it by altering the colour correction using the programme Adobe Premiere Pro, and gave it a purple tone which was in an attempt to appeal to my target audience of female young girls.
Challenge
Challenging the codes and conventions firstly seemed as a daunting experience as we thought if we simply stuck to the usual conventions the outcome would be more of a success yet when my partner and I discussed ideas for the music video we actually became more confident in our choice of ideas and could not wait until we had the final outcome so we could get feedback from our audience and measure the success rate. As this was a promotional music video we agreed that in order to most successfully promote our new artist ‘LaBelle’ the video had to be centred purely on her with the exception of the two young girls. This was a challenge as we had to fix and sustain our audience attention on our artist for the duration of the video and so had to have some creative footage that would keep them engaged. Moreover, as frequently mentioned above this is a promotional video so my partner and I thought how could we possibly use this to our advantage? Then we shared a moment of genius. We started by discussing what part of a song we remember most and collectively agreed on the chorus, and then it all clicked into place. We would keep the same footage on each and every chorus and this would work as almost visual revision of our artist ‘LaBelle’s’ face, so every time an individual from our audience sings the lyrics of the chorus they would automatically imagine the visuals of ‘LaBelle’s’ face in their minds.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Use
From the research into our selected genre, ‘Pop’ we found a number of conventions and characteristics that are regularly present in real media products used in the construction of our own music video. For instance, Andrew Goodwin, a media theorist, identified a number of key features that distinguish the music video as a form which I paid close attention to in hopes to incorporate into my own music video.
An illustration of this is how I utilised the common convention of ‘Close Ups’ as Goodwin indicated that it is through the use of close ups that the audience are able to identify and familiarise themselves with the artists face. Especially as this is the debut single for my artist ‘LaBelle’ you almost have to saturate your music video in an attempt to really advertise her face to your audience. In addition to this, it is also essential to include close ups of my artist ‘LaBelle’ as her lyrics are of an uplifting nature and so it is vital to capture her facial expressions in order for the audience to visibly observe and comprehend her genuine temperament.
Visibly the directors of Natasha Bedingfield's 'I bruise easily' video followed the same conventions as my partner and I.
Again, with reference to Goodwin’s theory, he suggests there should be a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, with the visuals illustrating or contradicting the lyrics. During the planning stages of our production we definitely took this board and decided that we would both use and challenge ourselves by filming scenes that do indeed illustrate and contradict the lyrics. We thought that by altering the expected visuals to the lyrics the audience would be put in a situation where they would really have to concentrate on the actual lyrics and attempt to perhaps understand why we placed the two together. We hoped by the audience doing so the lyrics would somehow subconsciously remain in their minds and leave room for further interpretation if the semiotics.
Illustrating lyrics:
‘Give me family, on a Sunday
And I'll be just fine’
Contradicting lyrics:
‘Don't need high heels
For a good feel’
Illustrating lyrics:
‘I'm gonna get in trouble
I wanna start a fight’
Contradicting lyrics:
‘I'm alright, I'm just fine’
With further reference to Goodwin’s theory, he purposes that there should be a sense of voyeurism portrayed, especially in the case of a female artist. Goodwin continues to state that the notion of looking should be considered within the duration of the music video and suggested this through screens within screens and mirrors. My partner and I managed to incorporate a mirror scene where our artist ‘LaBelle’ examines her reflection and eventually becomes displeased with the façade she has created with the use of sexually suggesting red lips, smoky grey eye shadow and larger fuller eye lashes. Through the notion of looking it appears as though the artist is looking directly into the audiences eyes which enhances and intensifies the message they are attempting to portray.
Examples of when my partner and I used voyeurism and current artists, Lily Allen and Pink have used elements of voyeurism in their music video.
With continual reference to Goodwin, he states that in order for your music video to have a professional feel the lip synchronising has to be accurate and overall believable. As we were filming for an artists debut single we used a number of close ups which meant we had to pay close consideration to the lip syncing so in order to attempt to successfully do we simultaneously filmed our artist while they listened to the track playing the background on speakers. This allowed our artist to mime and keep in the right tempo of the music.
In order to succeed in the music industry, especially as a female artist, the star image and persona has to be easily recognisable and identifiable to the audience. Perhaps most importantly the star persona has to be one of creative individual uniqueness that strays away from the normal mundane predictable female star image idea, an example of an artist who does this perfectly is pop sensation, Lady Gaga. Controversial indeed she may be but Lady Gaga truly knows how to brand herself in a way that no one can escape from her outrageous costume and make up. Even though our artist, LaBelle is not of such a flamboyant nature I still found that my partner and I were inspired by aspects of Lady Gaga’s costumes and incorporated this into the creation and style of ‘LaBelle’.
Our artist ‘LaBelle’ has fun with make up and costume which can be seen a number of times throughout the video which represents her playful theatrical side yet by the end of the music video you see her at her natural state which represents her deeper more genuine self, a blank canvas free from distractions and false mirages, simply just ‘LaBelle’.
Develop
The method in which I attempted to develop the common codes and conventions of music videos was mainly through the use of photographs and lighting. My partner and I had aspired for our music video to indeed have a professional feel of a music video yet slightly developed it through the use of both moving image and still image as we had hoped for it to bring forth a unique sense of the theatricality of a celebrities life, constantly faced with numerous photographers on a daily basis.
Again, as mentioned above I developed usual conventions through the use of lighting. I took a normal coloured shot then totally revamped it by altering the colour correction using the programme Adobe Premiere Pro, and gave it a purple tone which was in an attempt to appeal to my target audience of female young girls.
Challenge
Challenging the codes and conventions firstly seemed as a daunting experience as we thought if we simply stuck to the usual conventions the outcome would be more of a success yet when my partner and I discussed ideas for the music video we actually became more confident in our choice of ideas and could not wait until we had the final outcome so we could get feedback from our audience and measure the success rate. As this was a promotional music video we agreed that in order to most successfully promote our new artist ‘LaBelle’ the video had to be centred purely on her with the exception of the two young girls. This was a challenge as we had to fix and sustain our audience attention on our artist for the duration of the video and so had to have some creative footage that would keep them engaged. Moreover, as frequently mentioned above this is a promotional video so my partner and I thought how could we possibly use this to our advantage? Then we shared a moment of genius. We started by discussing what part of a song we remember most and collectively agreed on the chorus, and then it all clicked into place. We would keep the same footage on each and every chorus and this would work as almost visual revision of our artist ‘LaBelle’s’ face, so every time an individual from our audience sings the lyrics of the chorus they would automatically imagine the visuals of ‘LaBelle’s’ face in their minds.
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