Looking back at our storyboard

After finishing our project, we re-looked at our storyboard to compare how far we stuck to our original idea for the video.

We stuck to the head shots of the people in the video but certain things changed as they were all holding a piece of food instead of things to play with like the bubbles. We still used many long shots of the group all together but we used more close up shots on the action. We couldn't stick to some shots as we couldn't find a parachute.

I think that we did stick to our idea well but some shots we couldn't do due to not having the correct equipment.

Editing of our Music Video

These are screen shots of our project in final cut, we used different lines as we felt this was a lot easier to move about and everything wasn't squashed together.

Directors Commentary/behind the scenes - Professor Green.

This is the directors commentary/behind the scenes footage for one of Professor Green's latest videos. The way it has been done is very effective. There seems to always be the track playing the the background, which then goes quieter when people are talking about the video to the camera.
The video interviews all the main people involved in the video with them explaining different parts of the video. A lot of the commentary is done from the artist himself, Professor Green, as it is his video that they are creating. There is also footage of how the director thought of, wanted to do the video so that you can see how the video came about.

Our Music Video Commentary

This is our final commentary for our music video. 

Analyzing Real Music digipaks.

Jack Johnson

This is Jack Johnson's digipak for his last album. He has carried out a theme of using the colour yellow so everything matches well. From the images on the front and on the inside it gives you a mellow feel to it all. This links to the genre of his music, which is acoustic. The image on the outside is a silhouette of a tree with who i imagine to be Jack Johnson picking a leaf and his guitar is clearly visible. A very simple cover which reflects in his music as it is often him singing with his guitar and maybe a slight drum beat. On the inside there s a picture of him with his guitar in front of him covering up most of his body. He is trying to make the emphasis on the guitar as this is his main source for the music. 

Analyzing Real Music digipaks.

Noah and the Whale.

This is Noah and the Whale's current album cover, which is art of their digipak. By looking at the design you can tell what kind of band they are going to be as very soft images and colours are used. You get a very relaxed feel about the album cover, which is the same kind of genre as their music. Their music is indie/acoustic and this is shown quite well with the image that they have chosen. The way they are dressed in smart-casual clothes and with mid-long to long hair ties in with the indie image. A nice effect has been used to integrate two images so you can see one through the other. The image is of a street at night, which links to the title of the album as it is called 'Last Night on Earth'. This shows they have thought about the images that have been chosen for the album cover.

Analysing previous students digipack.

Group 13S2-26

This group have achieved a good digipack to go alongside their music video. It all ties in well with the genre as it is quite dark and mysterious. This is shown with a dark background and a big focus on the guy in the costume lieing down on a very dull couch with a light shining on him/her. The background is very dark so that you know what you should be focusing on. They have thought about the text, which matches the genre. It stays with the dark theme and is eye catching, so will draw the audience to it.

This is the groups magazine advert which again works well with their music video. The image is of the same location as in part of their video so that there is a direct link betweent the two. The text is the same as their DVD case so there is also a link within the digipack. I like the way they have done their text, as it looks like someone has written it on the bus shelter window. It stands out as an advert so will catch views attention but is also interesting to look at. You want to read the text rather than moving onto the next page.

Analysing previous students digipack.

Group 13R1-19 2010/2011

This is a previous students DVD cover for their digipack. The artist that they have chosen is JLS, which is an upbeat pop group. However the DVD case doesn't suggest this when looking at it. The images are very relaxing and use calming colours, bar the spine of the case which doesn't match the front and back. They haven't thought about the genre to this band, therefore creating the wrong impression. The text is also rather boring and it doesn't catch your eye. I don't think this group have thought about their digipack very well.

This is the groups magazine advert for their song/album. It is very eye catching due to the bright colours but lacks imagination and technical skill. They have chosen a very simple layout, not trying to think about how they could make the advert more appealing to their target audience. The text is very basic and due to it all being in similar front and size, makes it hard to want to read it. Again this group have not thought through this digipack well.

Filming our commentary

We filmed our commentary in pairs and a group of three in order for us to concentrate and focus on the points that we were each making. We only had 35 minutes to film our commentary which we found not a lot of time as there was a lot of information to cover between all 5 of us. We did not get chance to film a small section of our commentary due to this and will therefore use a voice over for the remaining information that we need to include. The information included in the rest of our commentary was successful.

Analysing previous students final evaluations (directors commentary).

13T1-32 year 2010/2011

Reading the question out at the start i think is a good idea as it makes it easier for the audience. The only thing about it that i don't like is the fact it stays on the same screen for a while, which if you're a fast reader, can be a bit boring. I like the way the guy on the left presented himself sitting quite openly at the camera whereas the guy on the right was quite hunched over. The guy on the right was looking away from the camera quite a bit and also holding the script so visible to the camera made it seem a bit less real and less of a natural response to the question. Having parts of the music video, digipack, Final Cut editing in the background was a nice touch, which made it seem like they had just been working on their video. However the only disadvantge to that was that you can get a bit side tracked if you end up concentrating on the computer screens in the background.
When they switched to the other members in the group, the environment had changed and it made it seem like those two guys were separate from the other two guys. It didn't feel like they were in the same group.

Directors Commentary script/notes.

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

Jack: Noah and the whale, The Vaccines, inspiration, hazy effect

Charlotte: Genre, indie/pop, summer fun, food fights, target audience

Olie: goodwins, lyrics + visuals, music + visuals

Jade: singing, food fight, indie genre

Alex: research into 'pop' video conventions


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

Charlotte: music video, food fight, preparation

Olie: digi pack, how we made it, screen shots, energetic

Jade: tins, wrappers of food in video, clear links, writing on tins

Alex: fonts similar/same, effect same as video

Jack: Tour dates poster

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Olie: initial pitch 'Jack Johnson', not great feedback

Jade: 'We're from Barcelona' heard lots of great ideas

Alex: rough cut, rushed, wasn't finished, no singing

Jack: final improvements, added shots, colour corrector, added singing

Charlotte: over all how feedback helped us.


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

Jade: final cut, rewind, fast, slow, colour corrector

Alex: photoshop, magazine ad, text, layers, easy to use

Jack: blogger, research, planning, easy to use 

Charlotte: HD cameras, tripod, stills camera

Olie: how everything helped our video to be amazing!! 

Evaluation.

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

Our media product that we have created has been inspired in different ways by real media products. Quite a big influence was that of the music videos by 'Noah and the Whale'. Their videos have a hazy effect over their footage, which was the same effect that we wanted to create.
With the genre of the music we neeed to make sure everything matched that style. the music is quite upbeat and happy so we needed to make sure that this was the message that our whole media product gave. We chose a summer picnic/food fight was we thought that this fitted in with the genre of the song. We didnt really show any visual/lyrics match but the visuals were very much at the same pace as the music, this made it all flow nicely together. The lip syncing we did was done effectively and worked well with the rest of the footage as the singer had food thrown at her, keeping the same theme all the way through the music video.

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

I think that all three products work very well as a promotional package. We also decided to add a fourth part to the promotional package, so we have; a music video, DVD case, a magazine advert and the tour dates poster.
The DVD case and tour poster have a picnic/food theme due to us using screen shots from our music video. The shots we have used give the impression of a relaxed atmosphere, fun with friends, nice summer days, etc. They are the main concepts that we were trying to create.
The magazine advert has gone with more of a food theme, due to the video being about a food fight. We took photographs of food that was used in the video to add a bit of continuity to the advert. We then changed the branding to information about the song like release date, website, artist and song, etc. This worked well as the image fitted in with the theme across all the promotional packages.
Our promotional package works to the audience that we are trying to attract. This is of young teenagers to young adults. The themes of our products appeal more to this kind of audience rather than the older generation.
We are pleased with our digipak but I feel there was room for improvement on it. To start with we spent a lot of time on the magazine advert, which took a lot of editing. This meant that when we got to the other products we didn't have as much time. Therefore they could've been better than they are.

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

We didn't get the original song that we pitched for as there were 3 groups pitching and our idea was too obvious and not very imaginative. This inspired and pushed us to think of a really good idea for our second pitch. We have then since expanded on the picnic/food fight idea to create our final product.
It was a bit hard with the feedback we got from our rough cut because we hadn't got a lot of the footage edited. Once we had tough we got some good feedback about the video. People liked the idea of the food fight and how we had edited it. Our teacher said that we needed to add more close up footage to get a bit more shot variation. We needed to add colour corrector over the clips too, which will make the video look more professional and less home made.
With colour corrector added over the top of the clips to give that hazy effect and a few more close up footage, we got a good response from our peers and teacher. The video looked a lot better with colour corrector over the top but would've liked a few more close up shots or reaction shots. We were also told how the singing fits well with the main footage, as food was being poured on the singer so it linked in with the other video footage.


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

The software that we have used to create the video and the promotional package are Final Cut and Photoshop. We then recorded all our research onto our group blog on blogger.com. Our video was captured on a HD handheld video camera and we took photographs for our magazine advert using a stills camera.
Final Cut was used to edit the video, which felt fairly easy due to havi used Final Cut a lot in the past year. Final Cut had everything that we wanted to do to our music video, some of which we had to be shown like the rewinding effect. Once we knew how to do it we were able to use the effect well with our music video.
Photoshop was used for the promotional pack, helping us edit the images to give them certain styles and to add text. It gave us the look that we wanted our pack to have and allowed us to achieve this fairly easily.
Blogger.com is nice and simple to use, allowing us to record our research when we wanted.

Directors Commentary.

A directors commentary is a way of giving more information to viewers about the media product that they have created. It normally is video footage of the product that they have made with the director then answering  questions over the top. The questions will normally be about how they made certain parts of their product, what was challenging, what they are most pleased with, etc. This all helps the audience to engage with the media product more so than just watching it.

FINAL DIGI PACK AND MAGAZINE AD ITEMS

Tour Date Poster - Digi Pack Extra!

Final Digi Pack Ideas.

The theme for the whole digi pack is Summer with Food.

Magazine Ad:

For our magazine ad we are using a picture of some of the food used in the filming, that is set out well in front of a white background. The food takes up the top half of the picture the there is a white space in the bottom half which we are going to use for text of the magazine cover. We are blanking out the brand names of the food products and replacing them with information about the track such as release dates, where its available from, etc. 

DVD Case:

We are going to use a shot from our music video for the front of the case, which is of the group running away. There is a big clear blue sky that we can put the title of the album and name of the band. We are thinking of calling our album 'We're From Barcelona'. Many bands call their album by one of their main songs so we thought we could do the same. This way we can also use a photo from our video as it will relate to the album. For the back of the album we are going to use a till receipt as this is going with the idea of food as part of the theme. We will change the items on the receipt to track names and the prices changed to the track length. 

Tour Poster:

We are going to make a poster with all the tour dates on it as an extra leaflet inside the DVD/Album pack.

Digi-pack and Magazine Advert Concept

for our digi-pack we have chosen to have a shot of the band on the front of the cover using a shot that wasn't included in the filming to try and separate the digi-pack from the individual track, the inside of the pack will be a shot of the entire group shown in film stretching across both sides of the inside cover. the back cover will be a shot of a till receipt with the track information and other info printed onto it, the magazine ad will be a shot of food but with the album information printed onto well known food labels (e.g heinz beans.

Final Music Video

Feedback for rough cut from Andrea and Amar.

Positives: 

- You can sense a good vibe

- There are nice pans and a few zoom shots

- Good editing in time with the beat of the song

- Stereotypical, a fun song with a fun image to go with it; food fight

To Improve:

- Show each character at the beginning for longer so you can see who they are and what they are holding

- Have more close-ups to vary the shots, to get some reactions

- When shooting the performance footage get a lot of close-ups and try to make the background something other than green bushes. This is to make the audience establish that they are taking place in different places.

We are going to shoot the performance shots tomorrow, friday 4th November, and will use the guidance given to us by Andrea and Amar. We are also going to make the clips of people at the start longer so you can see what they are holding and recognize the character. We are going to look through the clips to see what close-ups we have then try to incorporate them into the video so we get a variation of shots.

Rough Cut Music Video Feedback

Goodwin feedback:
Music + visuals - image changes on the beat.
Lyrics + visuals - abstract, contrasting.
Voyerism - looking at the camera.
Colourful, upbeat, random.

Camerawork:
Good mid shots to introduce the characters.
Should include more shots.
Good natural feel, felt included.

Editing:
Good to introduce people but didn't get any of it?
Reverse stuff was good, but a bit pointless.
Transitions were ok and a good pace.

Mise en scene:
Costumes modern
Props - food fight, light hearted and humorous.
Colour - natural sunlight.
Feel of mise-en-scene correlates well with feel and genre of music.
A bit short.