Music Video

Evaluation Part 5 - How did you use new media technologies in the research, planning, construction and evaluation stages?

Research

Youtube

Firstly, we used Youtube so that we could beachcomb for ideas. In this process, we looked at various music videos and gathered ideas on how we could make our music video. We used Youtube to see the conventions of rap music videos as this is the genre that our song fitted and so we looked at different costumes that were worn, lighting, props and colours. Using Youtube was very easy because I had been using it for many years and therefore I was very quick in finding what I wanted which made me be more effective with my time management.

Smartphones

We used smartphones during our research stage to film vox pops. During these vox pops we asked our audiences whether they enjoyed the song and liked our idea that went with it. Using a smartphone to do these vox pops was very successful because our smartphone gave us good quality in terms of sound and video. Also, because we are already used to using smartphones, we did not have any trouble in recording and also uploading.

Blogger

To record our progress we used Blogger. We used Blogger because it is very easy to use and because we already know how to work with it since we used it throughout last year. Blogger allows us to easily save our progress and as a result, a useful new media technology.

Planning

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Excel was used during planning to create our shooting script. We used Microsoft Excel because it was easy to organise our ideas since we could easily place our ideas in a neat table. Also, because I have been using Microsoft Excel for a very long period, we did not have many problems which made it easier to create a good shooting script.


Microsoft Powerpoint

Also, we used Microsoft Powerpoint to create presentations which we showed to the class. Using Microsoft Powerpoint was very helpful because it was easy to use since I am already used to it and therefore, allowed for me to make a good and simple presentation.

Production

Camcorder

During our production, the majority of our footage was filmed with a camcorder that was provided for by the school. We encountered many problems whilst producing the main product for example a lot of the times, the camera would run out of battery mid-way through filming as the batteries were very poor. This made the filming process very stressful and we were forced to repeat multiple scenes because of this. However, the quality of the camera was good which made filming easier and also, we had used the camera before and therefore we knew how to use it effectively.


Whatsapp

Whatsapp was a very useful method of communication since all members of our group had access to whatsapp. Whatsapp made it very easy to arrange times when we were going to film and also allowed for us to discuss what we needed to get done that day which in the end, allowed for smoother filming and a faster process.




Smartphone

Again we used a smartphone because of when the camera would not function. Having a good smartphone was an advantage to us because the quality of the footage would be almost identical to the one from the camcorder and therefore, made it less obvious that were using a phone and not a camera.

Post Production

Final cut pro

Our editing tool was Final Cut Pro. Final Cut Pro was very good to use because of our past experience since it was what we used last year to do our editing. During that year, we learned the basic tools such as blading and copying which we used this year and therefore made the editing part much less stressful and a lot more efficient. However, one issue that occurred to us sometimes was that Final Cut Pro would close down randomly which wasted our time and sometimes resulted in some work being lost.

Photoshop

To create our digipaks and magazine adverts, we used Photoshop. We used Photoshop because we believed that it would be the best tool since it is possible to create a lot of very good things with it. Also, a teacher at our school was fairly experienced with using Photoshop and thus he provided a lot of help to us on how to create our ancillary texts better. Despite this, we still had some trouble because not everyone in our group was good at Photoshop. We stumbled across many problems, some of which very simple to solve. However, I believe that I gained a lot of experience from using Photoshop as I learnt about different tools in Photoshop.

Evaluation Part 4 - What have you learned from your audience feedback?

This is my audience feedback. We asked any students that were available to watch our music video. When we had enough people we asked them questions about our music video.

Evaluation Part 3 - How effective is the combination of your main product and your ancillary texts?

Evaluation Part 2 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Week 15 Reflective Blog Post

For the past couple of weeks, we were filming our last couple of shots and re-filming those that we believed did not match the quality that we wanted.



This was our final shot. It is a close up of the artist rapping to the camera and we believed that this was a good way to end the music video because the audience will remember the artist's face due to the close up and therefore, they will be able to recognise the artist if they see him anywhere else. By having this happen in the tunnel that was largely used in our music video also helps the audience recognise the artist as the tunnel has now become a symbol of the character.

We also began doing our evaluations. Our first evaluation involved us doing a context of what we were asked to do as this would be a good way to introduce what we had to do and what we had done to fulfill this criteria.

Evaluation Part 1 - Brief

What brief were you working to?
At the start of the year, we were given a brief that had a set of specific tasks for us to complete which was: You have been hired by PL Records to manage the promotion of one of their new acts. You have been contracted to create 

- one music video package
- a 6 or 8 gate  cover for the artists digipak
- an A4 magazine advertisement promoting the digipak

We had to break these down into small steps so that they would be easier and I began by gathering ideas based upon the requests of the brief, which began with finding a copyright free song. When I found one, I followed the brief which said to beach comb for ideas so that I would have better knowledge on what I can include in my music video and how I can do it. The beach combing had me looking at music video conventions such as costume, intertextuality and others. By doing this, I found out more information on what kind of target audience can be targeted based on what the music video shows. When working on the digipaks and the magazine adverts, one task that we had to do was to analyse other magazine adverts and see what impact they had for example looking at the focal point and seeing what impact it would have on the target audience. Doing these tasks helped me gain a better understanding on what I should focus on and how I can make my products more appealing.

Who was the artist? How did you find them? How did you seek permission?

Before searching for an artist I had to think about what genre I wanted to make a music video for. After thinking about potential locations around me I decided to go for a song that had a grime/hip hop sort of tone to it. After researching mp3unsigned.com I found an artist which was quite interesting - V Dogg. V Dogg's songs had a clear meaning which meant that portraying the actual song wouldn't be too difficult and so I wanted to go for a interpretive music video. After researching, I found V Dogg's email and decided to contact him. He never replied. 

Explain the music genre and what attracted you to the artist.

The music genre of V Dogg's music is Hip Hop. His music is fairly quick paced which is what is usually seen in this genre. V Dogg's raps are mostly very vicious which means that he was trying to portray a fairly dangerous sort of persona. What attracted me to the artist was the song itself. I found it fairly catchy and as soon as I heard it, I got a bunch of ideas coming to mind such as who I would use and where I would shoot it. The lyrics were clear to understand which made it easier for me.