Monday, 27 February 2012

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



Part 1










Part 2

                 
                               
                                            Part 3









The slideshow below is the powerpoint we had up during the videos above, to give us the points we needed to touch on.
Evaluation Q1

View more PowerPoint from whiteca

EVALUATION; What have you learned from your audience feedback?

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





FINAL; Target Audience Feedback


Cathy and I also decided a good way to receive feedback for our video was to create public a group on facebook asking members to watch the video and leave a comment. As web 2.0 is very popular with our target audience we felt it was the best way in which we could receive feedback. We added certain members on the basis of them being in the target age range and being female. The link in below. Overall we got good, solid feedback from our sample. They enjoyed the humour and on beat editing. However were less pleased with the dark shots and the 'provocative' clothing.
Further Feedback

Good
Bad
I like the variety of shots
I think the story is too simple and stereotypical. It could be made more entertaining
The on beat editing will be very effective and I like that there are different locations, I think it keeps the audience more entertained
The song puts me off the video
There are many close ups which are suitable for the genre
There are too many performance shots
I like the different frames of shots and the story being told
I don’t like the song so I have a biased view on the video. Personally, I think it is too girly and cheesy
Suits song well
I think more locations could be involved
I like the different shots and the fast pace at which they appear on the screen
It could have more to the story. The story is very simple
 


http://www.facebook.com/groups/230680220362586/









We also put the advert on the Facebook group so the members could not only give feedback for that product but also be shown the themes that run though all the products. We felt if the audience could see how out product would be portrayed then they were more likely to comment on it objectively. The comments we received for the advert were mostly succesful and a significant amount of people enjoyed the amount of bright colours and how they link back to the music video. However one comment showed how they had failed to see the light/ tackyness purposely put in the advert and commented on it looking untidy. Although it was purposely done, it was obviously not communicated as well as we would have liked and therefore something we could improve on in the future. 

Saturday, 25 February 2012

FINAL PRODUCT; Advertisement Poster




I edited the advert on to different places I would advertise my poster to exposed the majority of my target audience.



Bus advert














Bus Shelter

 Mobile phone apps
 HMV window
Hmv Shelf
 ITunes
London Billboards
 London tube advert



Social networking sites

FINAL PRODUCT; Digipack

                                           
                                                                   Front cover
Inside left cover                                                                  Inside right cover



Back cover


FINAL PRODUCT; Music Video


Thursday, 23 February 2012

PLANNING; Digipack, Poster and Music Video

Poster and Digipack

 We discussed our ideas for it as we wanted it to directly link to the music video. From our research we had both made it pretty clear that we didn’t want a performance shot because we felt they were less personal and failed to grasp attention on a shelf. After having a brainstorm with her (picture to the right) Cathy went away and drew up a couple of the ideas and then presented them to me for my opinion. Through all the sketches I felt a fairly plain shot with the artists full eye contact was the most effective. This is where a ‘mugshot’ style became our favourite of all the designs as it had all the aspects we individually wanted.



It has been clear from the start that Cathy would be the Artist as she is an attractive young female and has experience singing and therefore would find lip-syncing far easier than someone with no experience. She is also familiar with the song. This meant the poster and digipack would involve a photo shoot of Cathy in a mugshot theme position. I helped choose the background for which would be edited post the photoshoot and Cathy and I were fully prepared for it. I was unfortunately unavailable due to personal matters for the photoshoot but kept in contact with Cathy during and after and was assured it ran smoothly. The autograph (on the left) we felt had to actually be hand drawn instead of a fancy font on Word. So Cathy and I spent about 15 minutes drawing out different autographs in which we pick out favourite and had to scan it in through a printer and email it to our accounts.






The editing of the advert and digipack was done after we chose the best shots for our theme. This was using a standard editing software 'Photoshop' and 'Photofiltre'.  







Music video

From our experience at AS we decided to put our strengths to different uses. My main responsibility was the filming and post production because of my strength in making the ideas practical and effective in the most efficient ways. Cathy came up with the initial idea of a girl getting ready with her friends and after we had many discussions she drew up some storyboards. We both organised when and where for the shots in order to get the best conditions including weather and lighting. I was responsible for making the video more unique and relatable for the audience. I wanted the audience to be able to tell the storyline without relying on the music. I decided I wanted to use camera angles and mise en scene to portray this story, for example using specific colours like red to connote danger, passion and excitement, and camera angles looking up and down at characters in order to show power alinement. This is where my awareness to detail is to be shown. 







As Cathy came up with the initial idea of the music video we both felt she should create the Directors pitch. I created a list of props that I would need and sent them to Cathy in which she created a props list with both the props she needed as well as I. Once Cathy had drew up the storyboards, she then showed me them and I gave my feedback depending on how productive they would be and put forward my alterations and ideas to make them more effective to the audience. Cathy then took them away again and produced the final storyboards in which we were both very pleased with.  

As Cathy is the artist, I had more control over the filming which we both felt was my strength last year and I wanted control of the types of shots and camera movements. This gave me the final look at the sets for the shots and the ability to examine if they truly captured all that we want. As a lot of the shots are around my house I was able to control the mise en scene and find the best angles for the camera to receive the best lighting and the best position for subliminal messages e.g capturing the animal bed covers, to connote freedom and hairspray can to not only be another important aerosol in the video but also connote big hair lots of confidence, the lighting from the dressing table and also the bed lights to create an artificial glow even during day time giving the effect of night time. After studying the song we felt that the majority of the shots cannot be stationary because the music is too upbeat for it. This justifies my reason for using the handheld technique significantly in my music video. However there are shots in this video where I cannot be the primary camera person because either I am in the shot as a character or I am not old enough to legally be in a club yet. The shots that I am in we will use a tripod (or something giving the same effect) or Cathy will handhold the camera. Cathy also will do the club shots that I won't be able to and as we don't want them to be too staged she won't have to worry about the exact angles and movement of the camera. Thankfully there is not many shots I won't be able to film myself.




                                                       (Improvisation when lacking a tripod)
                                                                                >>>>>>

As Cathy and I both know how we want our artist to be portrayed and the brand image we want her recognised for, we split the the job of creating the artists signature 'look'. Cathy has created the make up design as we both decided we wanted it to be a big and bold statement. As we had decided earlier that our artist would wear a variety of wigs it was my job to get hold of a mixture to vary the shots. This has consisted of red/purple long, black cleopatra shape, blonde curls, blond afro, black Ozzy Osborne, and a light brown bob wig. Realistically we are likely not to use all of them but it was important to get a selection. Cathy created the basis of each outfit for the artist which consists of;

Outfit 1 - Fitted black lace leotard top, suspender style tights, denim jacket
Outfit 2 - Orange boob tube, denim shorts, denim shorts
Outfit 3 - Pink lace sleepwear
Outfit 4 - Dressing gown
Outfit 5 - fitted black top, black and white shorts, black tights, heels

We then have both added lots of accessories for example Cathy added five crucifix necklaces  and I matched belts and nail varnish to the wig colours. The other characters outfits haven't taken as long to organise. The parents I want to be wearing the same or very similar tops to connote a unity between them. The angry neighbour we want to be in fairly boring clothing to contrast against the vibrant clothing of the artist. The friends clothing we want to have elements of fun and enjoyment but not too much as we don't want them to outshine the artist.























The editing of the music video is mainly my responsibility. I will have the storyboards for guidance however you can never be sure which shots may actually work better than the original plan. I will make a snip of the music video and show it to Cathy for her opinion and also show it to some of my target audience in order for them to give me feedback on how to improve. Using the variety of skills I absorbed through AS and my preliminary product, including using effects, on beat editing, adding soundtrack, trimming and cropping shots, speed alterations and many more I will hopefully create and immersive and captivating video that will attract my target audience as well as a wider audience. 








PLANNING; Camera Angles

We wanted our video to have many different styles of shots; Close ups, long shots, dynamic shots, still shots, cantered angle shots, hand held shots, high shots and low shots. To get the best positions for the camera we had to plan where we would put the camera before we started filming as we knew it would just waste valuable filming time. Here is a video of a few of the different shots we did. Some worked, some didn't.



PLANNING; Weather Reports

We were concerned that the weather would limit our filming abilities because most of the shots outside could not have been done in rain. Therefore we checked the weather report for the whole week to find the best days to film. 




PLANNING; Shooting Schedule

This was the shooting schedule we used, it was important that we stuck to the times we had allocated. This was important especially with the shots in Mkt Harborough because we need it to be late enough for all of the workers to have gone home but early enough that all the people going clubbing weren't going to crowd the shots  or disturb us. 

PLANNING; Storyboard of proposed video