Coursework Evaluation Part 4

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

Throughout my initial research, I used programs such as Word, Powerpoint, Excel and the Internet to find the research and put everything I found into documentation. Some of the best websites in which I was able to find any music video I wished to see was the YouTube website. I also gathered many of my screenshots from YouTube in order to make my documents and powerpoints more visual and provided fkey proof and points about certain music videos e.g. the art-style music videos.

My planning stage consisted of every program that I had used during the research stage, as it required even more documentation and proof of planning.

My production stage required the use of many different programs, the most notable ones being Sony Vegas 9.0 to edit my multimedia music video footage and the image editor programs such as GIMP and Adobe Photoshop to edit my CD/DVD Digipak Design Covers. I've also created a mock up promotional website using the Moonfruit website, which helped me learn how to create a website from the layouts and templates that they offered.

For the evaluation stages, I used the program Paint to draw on where my video camcorder was placed during filming, Excel to evaluate my questionnaire results, Sony Vegas 9.0 to edit my Focus Group Feedback Video Interview and, of course, I have been using Blogger.com to document all my progress, development, designs, and audience feedback. For uploading all my original Word Documents without copying and pasting onto Blogger, I found a website called Scribd that lets you upload all your documents and instead I copied and pasted links to this website onto Blogger so my audience can see the document as how I had originally created it.

I have also helped other media students in creating their music videos when there were problems with permission to use the college cameras overnight. Everything worked itself out when I offered to let Vicky Steadman use my camera for filming, as well as Sam Carter, and helping out during the shoot. I have also used a digital camera to take pictures of signed permission letters, actors contracts and musician contracts for proof that everything that happened during this campaign was to the consent of the actors/musician and the permission from the council.

Coursework Evaluation Part 3

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

For my initial audience feedback, I created a focus group, a questionnaire on music and music videos and evaluated the results of these.

From what I gathered of these results, I managed to discover my target audience, their interests in music and music videos and what they expect from a well-made music video. This helped considerably to my initial research and made it easier to decide what would market best to my chosen target audience.

In my Multimedia Music Video Pitch, I brought in what my focus group had said when given certain questions to answer about what they like about music videos, what catches their interests and so on. Most of the answers were about style over substance, which helped in my decision to give the multimedia music video a surreal theme to it.

Once I had had finished the multimedia music video, I uploaded it to my YouTube account and showed another focus group and filmed their reactions to the music video and interviewed them for their opinions.

There were no negative comments about the music video, but this meant the feedback gave me nothing to reconsider about the product and what I could improve on. However, most of the comments given were made in consideration to the editing of the music video, which I was very pleased with, as I have practiced editing for over 2 years now and am glad that the audience would take notice of it.

For my website and my CD/DVD Digipak response, I have uploaded all the designs and links on this blog, ready for anyone who wishes to give feedback. For the CD/DVD Digipak, I got feedback from my fellow Media students who gave their opinions on the designs. It is from these opinions that I concluded on which design would be best for the cover, and continuing the theme of surrealism throughout the campaign.

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

My main product was a multimedia music video and the accompanying ancillary texts were a promotional website and a CD/DVD Digipak Design.

This combination made for an effective campaign to promote my chosen musician, Caspar Gilham. Not only did he provide the music track to promote, but also starred as the main actor for the multimedia music video, was included in the CD/DVD Digipak Design Photos and also provided an interview in my audience feedback.

The multimedia music video was shot entirely in backwards action and most of the clips have been edited to be shown in black and white. The reason for this chosen effect is explained in detail in The Editing Process, but as the music track itself has no lyrics and has a musical compilation that is quite surreal, the main reason for these effects is to retain that surrealism and complement the genre of music. Caspar Gilham starred in the multimedia music video, which would help in promoting him further and making his face recognisable to the audience who would be listening to his music. I took direct inspiration from my research into Backwards Action music videos, the most prominent example being Coldplay’s “The Scientist” music video, and shot my music video with the Reverse effect in mind for all the shots.

I created a CD/DVD Digipak as part of my combination of ancillary texts to promote the main product. The digipak was designed when I found a blank CD cover case in the Internet and did a photo shoot with the musician/actor Caspar Gilham. The designs were very similar to my original sketch ideas for the digipak, whilst also maintaining a surreal look to complement the main product in its surrealism. I am pleased with the final design I chose, it looks like a professional CD/DVD cover and I believe it would sell quite well to audiences.

I made a promotional mock-up website on a website called Moonfruit. I named it “Caspar Gilham Music” and it contains the multimedia music video, the music track, photos of Caspar and his guitar, photos of locations, production logo, CD Cover Designs and the final CD/DVD Cover Digipak. The website has quite a lot of material within and would keep the audience’s attention for exploration of the site.

Camera Placements

There are 2 separate camera shots being placed in this picture. The first shot is circled in red, second in yellow.

Coursework Evaluation - Part 1

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

I found many various examples, including music video that are produced solely as an art form, for a contemporary example: Lady Gaga - Paparazzi and Bad Romance and for an independent example: Oren Lavie - Her Morning Elegance.

I carried on research of the types of music videos and found "Backwards Action", which was prominent in Coldplay's music video: The Scientist. The overall look of these music videos is quite strange and surreal- not what you'd usually see in a real-life situation. The way it has been used is to engage the audience into the narrative side of the music video, when a story is told backwards, the consequences come first and the reasons come last, giving the audience a reason to watch the video till the very end. This is very good selling point.

This is when I decided that Caspar's music would best suit a Backwards Narrative, complementing the surreal feel to the music and the video.

I also studied another music video but for an entirely different reason. Beyonce's "If I Were a Boy" music video was studied by me in order to decipher what stereotypes and representations music videos seemed to have. To back up my study of this video, I also studied 50 Cent's "Candy Shop" music video, which was entirely marketed for the male gaze. Instead of passing on the representations of women into my own product, I used the style of Beyonce's video instead. The simple use of black and white within the music video has purpose to it, and I developed the use of colour and lack of colour within my own product.

Completed Moonfruit Promotional Website

Moonfruit is quite a difficult website to figure out. It will allow you very limited space to upload photos, videos and other things without upgrading. Luckily, I've managed to complete the website and add enough photos and links to the music and music videos for it to look quite good :)

Here are some screenshots:

Final CD/DVD Digipak Design

Final Design for my CD/DVD Digipak.

I added the text and the sticker containing all the information a CD/DVD cover would include, giving it a professional look. I'm very pleased how the cover art turned out, I feel it matches the musician and music video perfectly and would clearly indicate to the audience what genre of music it is.

Focus Group Response

I filmed the response from Caspar Gilham, the musician and actor of my campaign, Toby Dale, an original member of my focus group and Nate Nunn, Laura Playford and Hannah Evans as 3 extra college students for a general opinion.

As Caspar was the musician and actor of my music video, I was very pleased that he was happy with the outcome.

Toby had said in his original interview that he preferred music videos that included heavy metal music and a band he recognised, my music video did not have any of these things, but he said that he thought the effects were quite good.

Link to the video interview and response can be found here:

Focus Group

The Editing Process

The editing process of "Lisbon Air".
I have taken screenshots of myself editing the music video, explained the desicions I made, why I made them, the effects of these desicions, what editing software I used etc.

I used Sony Vegas 9.0 to edit my music video, as opposed to iMovie. This desicion made it easier for me to edit with a software I'm more familiar with, giving me more leeway to be creative with my clips.

Link to the document can be found here: The Editing Process

Making of... "Lisbon Air"

Put together a short "Making of" video with clips filmed by the producer of the shoot.

Its very short people, I had originally intended for it to be a bit longer with more interviews with the crew members and more of an interview with Caspar Gilham. However, I will put together a Focus Group Interview reaction video when I screen my music video to my original focus group, and film the interviews I have with each of them.

Video has been uploaded to YouTube, link can be found here: Making of "Lisbon Air"

"Lisbon Air" Music Video

Finally my finished music video is here!

Was shot on the 11th March 2011.

Music video has been uploaded on YouTube, here's the link: "Lisbon Air"

Digipack Initial Ideas

Here are the photoshopped images that are being considered for my CD Cover Digipack that accompanies my Multimedia Music Video and Website. There are also the JPEG images of the Initial Ideas document, including placing the images onto a blank CD Cover to see what it would look like.

Update - 19th March 2011

Just returned from helping Vicky with her filming.

Very, very tired, but really happy how everything turned out.

The location Vicky chose was in a nearby forest in Robertsbridge, due to the sunny weather, all the shots we took were very pretty :)

Since we used my camera to film everything, I will import all the clips onto my memory stick and give Vicky the clips on Monday morning for her to edit.

Good luck to her, hope the music video turns out great :)

Focus Group Interview and Evaluation

This focus group interview helped considerably in deciding what my audience wanted to see from a music video. The focus group itself was diverse in their interests and taste in music, but I managed to come to a conclusion of what was popular with this group and some good points about music videos.

Link to the Focus Group Interview and Evaluation can be found here: Interview and Evaluation.

Evaluation of Multimedia Music Video Pitch

A lot of research I've done should have been posted at the start. For this I can only apologize and upload everything anyway, despite being in a mixed up order, I can't rearrange the posts because they're shown by order of date and time.

Here is my Evaluation of my Music Video Pitch Presentation, the link can be found here: Pitch.

Update - 17th March 2011

Managed to get quite a lot done today.

I helped Sam Carter with the filming of his music video. He used my camera and tripod to shoot the footage and I imported the clips onto my memory stick. We had originally shot another music video, but the clips couldn't be opened or edited in iMovie.

However, with the editing software on my laptop, I can convert the original music video clips and the music video we shot today- giving Sam more clips to work with when he edits everything together.

I also uploaded photographic proof of the signed contracts of the actors and musician. Look at my previous posts and you'll see them there.

I offered Vicky Steadman, a fellow A2 Media student, some help with the filming of her music video. There have been issues following the inability to loan a college camera overnight, as Vicky lives so far away from the college, this has prevented her from finding the right time to film without breaking college rules.

I offered to lend her my camera and tripod and help out with the overall shooting of the music video, as I have already filmed and edited my own.

The filming should take place this Saturday, looking forward to it :)

Signed Musician Contract by Caspar Gilham

Musician Contract signed by Caspar Gilham.

Signed Contract by Caspar Gilham

JPEG Image of the Actor's Contract signed by Caspar Gilham.

Signed Contract from Sam Carter

JPEG Image of the Actor's Contract signed by Sam Carter.

Photographic Storyboards

There are, in total, 3 pages of storyboards I have created for the multimedia music video.
Each shot contains a caption underneath explaining the camera shot, angle and movement that will be used.

Links to the storyboards can be found here:

Storyboard page 1

Storyboard page 2

Storyboard page 3

EDIT:
I'm not entirely sure why the pictures have almost overlapped each other when you click on the link- the word document I put them on have shown them to be perfectly angled in the storyboard boxes. It maybe the way Scribd uploads documents containing pictures...

Call Sheet

I created a call sheet for my cast and crew, giving all information about dates, times, addresses, emails, crew roles, equipment being used and attached maps.

Link can be found here: Call Sheet.

Actor's Contract - Extra Actor

I have decided that I will be needing an extra actor to participate in my music video, but only for a single shot and his face will not be displayed in the shot.



Nonetheless, I have created another actor's contract for the actor. The link to this new contract can be found here: Extra Contract.

Update: Filming has been given permission

Quick update.

I originally thought that the car park I intended to film in belonged to ESK Wholesale Ltd. Store, so I printed off my permission letter and went into the store and asked for the manager.

The manager told me that the car park didn't belong to them and they could not give me permission to film.

I then went to the Hastings Citizen Advice Bureau 1066, which was also situated next to the car park. They also told me that the car park did not belong to them and told me to go to the Town Hall and see if the car park was Council-owned.

I went to the Hastings Borough Council Town Hall in Priory Meadow Shopping Centre and finally managed to find Debbie Clifford, who was in charge of giving permission to film in Hastings.
I gave Debbie my permission letter and explained what I wished to film and where.
She gave me a sheet to fill out containing questions about details of the filming:
Hastings Council Filming Sheet
Production company name

Address, Email and Telephone numbers

How many crew members and actors

Dates and Times of Arrival

I filled out the form and Debbie then gave me permission. Quite a lot of effort just to be able to film in a car park...

Shooting Script

This is the script I created for my Music Video Production. It outlines everything the actors, the crew and that I would need to know when filming the scenes.

The script is pretty lengthy- 9 pages long.

But it does go into good detail about the camera shots, angles, movements, placement of the actors etc.

Link to the script can be found here: Script

Research on Music Video Examples

My primary research on music videos.
I have researched many different examples of music videos, their techniques and how effective and popular they are.

Link to Research document: Document and Powerpoint.

Research on Music Video Hosting Websites

Research on the various video hosting websites and the "music video" sections.
I felt this research was necessary because, when asked in my questionaire, the most popular way of watching music videos was by watching them on Youtube. I discovered 2 other video hosting websites that are used when distributing music videos.

Link to research document can be found here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/50456417/Research-on-Music-Video-content

Media Treatment

Treatment that I completed at the end of my research.



Link can be found here: Media Treatment

Actors Contract

Contract created for actor being used within the production.

With this contract, the music artist Caspar Gilham who also created the song that will be used in the multimedia music video, is also going to be featured as the actor of the multimedia music video.

Contract can be found at this link:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/49947211/ACTORS-CONTRACT

Proposal Form

I have filled out a project proposal form for my production.

The form can be found here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/49943678/Project-proposal-form