Question 4- What have you learned from your audience feedback?

                                             
                                               

After receiving feedback from my peers and my teachers I have identified the main feedback...

1. Strong narrative
2. sometimes narrative was unclear
3. good use of shots
4. lighting was too dark in some shots
5. liked the close ups of lips with added effect
6. liked split screening in particular body swapping

From audience feedback, I have learned that in some of the shots the lighting is quite dark which contributes to the narrative being unclear at some points, an example of unclear narrative that many people pointed out is the shot where the main artist is seen outside standing in front of a tree and a large veichle stops, so you are not able to see that the artist is then replaced with a different girl, to reinforce the male character's womanizing ways. Another point that people felt was unclear was the cinema shot (see below) where people felt the lighting was too dark to establish what was actually happening in the narrative.  Overall I've learned that the choice of location can largely effect the quality of the shot.

In light of the feedback, for future improvement, I would perhaps reconsider the location as it's naturally quite a dark environment which we didn't initially think would be an issue. As a result of the location we chose it was difficult to convey what was happening in that particular shot, and brightening the shot on the computer would have reduced the quality slightly, so to avoid this in future I would chose a different cinema location that is better lit, to increase the clarity and lighting of these shots.

In some parts of the video it was slightly out of sync. I have learned that the way that the person in front of the camera announciates the words has an effect on putting different shots in sync. As the main artist's announciation was not imitated to the exact way of the original artist's singing  it was difficult to sync it. In light of this feedback I would ensure that the artist is a

announciating the words propperly to ensure it's as similar as it can be to the original in order for the shots to look sharper and more clear cut.

This part of the video can be seen at 00:25 secs

Question 3- How did you use media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages

Construction

We used brand new state of the art camera's to film our work.

                

We saved our work on memory cards and hi-tec  hard drives, which was really efficient as it allowed us to gain access to our work quickly.

Research, Planning and evaluation

                                                

                    

I used the internet as a resource for research purposes and to collect screen shots. Such websites include the likes of google where in which I used it to find images of several album covers and advertisement's in order to establish conventions of adverts and digipaks and to gain inspiration. 

I used vimeo to collect screen shots from my video to use in my a number of my blog entries, and to look at past video's for ideas and for analysis. 

In addition to this I also used youtube, in the research stages to look for a song to do our video to and to gain inspiration. I also used it to collect screen shots to use in a number of my blog entries.

Construction of video

We constructed our video using final cut pro using a range of techniques and effects in order to generate our final product. 

This image is a screen shot from one of the shots in our video, originally this had a normal green screen background behind the artist. We opted to change the colour in order to add an element of fun to tie in to the fun vibrant fresh sound of the song. We also used bright colours as we felt they would be very striking and eye catching and would appeal to our target audience of indie pop teens.  We originally found it quite difficult to gage the right level of darkness without the image of the artist becoming distorted and so had to be patient in order to get the correct balance. We used the "chroma keyer" tool to get the right level of brightness and saturation for the green screen shots. We then selected the "colour picker" tool to change the background to a variety of colours, we did this by adding additional filters and changed the colour of these filters. We then added transisitions by selecting the too bar, going into tools and effects then selecting video transition between each colour to create a moving background in order to keep the video interesting and fun.

We toyed around with the brightness and contrast of this clip to increase the quality of the shot as the original clip was quite dark. We added an effect of "dazzle" to the lips. We did this by selecting effects and adding a video filter. We chose to have sweets on the lips because it added a girly and teen feel to it, which again added to the element of fun we tried to create for not only our video but the artist in general. 

Construction of ancillary texts

 I created my digipak in photoshop, to begin with I selected a two pannel template.  I then imported my chosen image and resized it and dragged it to the front pannel. Following this, I used the "magnetic lassoo" tool in order to cut out the silouhette of the artist, at first I attempted to use the magnetic wand, however I found it much more difficult to get an accurate cut out of the artist and so stuck to using the magnetic lassoo tool.  To change the colour of the background from white to pink I selected the "paint bucket" tool. I created the shapes of butterflies and musical notes by selecting the "custom shape" tool.  I then manipulated these shapes by selecting "colour picker" and changing the colours. To add text I selected the "text" tool in the option bar and selected chalk duster, I then added an effect to the text by going to styles and effects. After this I selected "layer styles" in the drop down menu and chose "wow plastic" for the effect.

For the inside left panel I used the elipse tool to create a circle, which acts as the place where the c.d would potentially go, following the same method as explained above to create shapes on both the inside right and inside left panel.

I created my advert in photoshop using the same methods in terms of tools as I did for my digipak. I took a screen shotted image of my artists digipak and incorporated it on my avertisement. 

This is my animatic story board, containing still images of our original ideas created in final cut pro.

Question 2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Question 1- In What ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Video influences


The original text of our video was The ting tings- 'That's mot my name'. The genre of the song falls categorically into indie/pop music. The sound of the video had a bold, fun feel to it and so therefore we tried to emulate and capture this by use of bright colour mostly and split screening. We opted to use these conventions as we didn't want our video to be to similar to the original. I personally feel that our video isn't similar to the original in any form as The ting tings video follows a narrative of disjuncture, however our video has a strong narrative and follows a narrative pattern of illustration.

 

We took the idea of body swapping by using split screening techniques taken from 'Example-Kickstarts'

in order to add an element of fun to the video. We also wanted to follolw media conventions as this technique is a common feature that can be seen across numeral urban music video's. However whilst this is quite a common convention, it can be argued that in fact this is quite an unconventional convention in that in most video's the artist is seen in a whole format as opposed to being chopped up into different sections. However, arguablly,  in the videos  that opt to incorporate this convention it seemsto work well. Other videos that use this convention include the likes of ' nothing on you' by B.O.B which can be seen below. 



                    



Our body swapping attempt



Initially we were aiming to have a different colour behind each figure for the back ground,

however there were issues with the chroma keying and so therefore we decided to leave the body swapping shots with the green screen as the background.

 

We were influenced by the idea of close ups of lips from 3OH!3's ' My first kiss' and Dizze Rascal's 'I luv u' and so used it to represent each individual girl and to add an element of  'sex appeal' without

appearing too degrading or appealing We wanted to challenge conventions of pop video's that commonly see women being dismembered and depicted as sex objects. Most commonly this convention is seen across hip hop and pop video's. We try to depict the main artist as being a strong independent female and so we did not want to confuse this by turning her into a sex object and so she is seen in the video fully clothed in a floral playsuit accomponeid by a leather jacket to avoid looking over sexualised. However we do follow conventions of pop video by allowing the male counterpart character to play the womanizer or the "player" which is a common convention seen across a number of musical genres, most commonly hip-hop.



We also used the concept of split screening for our video, inspired by example's 'kickstarts again'   another convention that is commonly seen across a number of music video's. We opted to use this convention as we felt that it looked effective opposed to just using the simple close up shots on their own all the time, creating a more interesting visual approach.

Digipak/advert influences

I took the butterfly theme for both my digipak and advertisement from the mariah carey album  to add an element of freedom and to show independence.

The girls aloud album cover influenced my colour scheme as I thought the costumes the girls were wearing complemented the colour scheme along with the text.

 I used the idea of the positioning of the image in the corner as opposed to a centred image as I felt that it looked more effective as it's a simpler and less common approach.

  
A number of album cover's inspired my final choice to have a close up image of the artist featured on the front cover, as through research I have identified that this is a common convention of not just indie artists but female artists. It is also a highly conevntional marketing device to have a close up image of a new artist, who isn't as established, as it is important for the audience to  be able to identify the artist. I opted for a close up image as I believe it creates a sensual and intimate connection with the audience aswell as following media conventions. I particularly like the fact that on my digipak cover the artist can be seen looking directly into the camera, this creates a direct connection with the audience as the artist is looking directly at them. 






Overall I feel that my digipak and advertisement follow basic media conventions as I incorporate barcodes, logos, and use the same text across both products. In addition to this I have used similar images in that the main image for the advertisement is taken from the inside left panel. Finally The artist is also seen wearing the same costume in all three products.

Screenshot of completed advertisement (production)

Screen shot of completed digipak (production)

Mock up for advertisement (planning)

Mock up for digipak (planning)

Front and back

inside left and inside right

Photo's that I'm planning on using for my digipak and Advertisement

Digipak pictures

I am going to use this close up image as the artist is new it is important for the audience to identify her easily. I am also considering using this image as through researching many digipaks I have seen that looking into the camera is a common convention of female artists. The image is also clear and edgey.

I am considering using this image as it represents the fun and girly/innocent side we were trying to convey for our artist.

Photo's for Advertisement.

I am going to use this image as I plan on using it on my digipak and I want to show continuity and follow basic media conventions. It also reinforces the artists fun girly side as she is seen smiling.

I am going to screen shot my album cover and incorporate the album on the advertisement so the audience can quickly establish who the artist is due to the visual link and continuity between the digipak and the advertisement which again follows basic media conventions.

Short list of fonts, colours, layout and design idea's (planning).

As our artist is quite fresh, young and vibrant I want to this potray this as best as I can...below is a short list of my initial idea's. . .

Fonts

• Lucida Sans
• Chalk Duster
• Zapfino

Colour's

• Orange
• Yellow
• Pink
• Purple

I will use some of the colours listed above, as I want to stick to the colour theme but not all of them.


Layout

For the front cover I will have a large close up image of the artist in order to follow common digipak conventions and to establish an intimacy between the artist and the audience. In addition to this I will use the close up to convey the artist's edgy side. I will run a continued white background along all the pannels and will have a continued theme of either musical notes, butterflies or love hearts to establish the artists girly side and to contrast her two main characteristics, Girly and edgy.

Analysis of our final video

Overall I feel our video was very successful and had many strengths aswell as weaknessess. We incorporated many of the idea's we initially pitched and stuck to the planning accordingly. I feel that our video was very strong in a sense that we tried to incorporate various media elements, some of which include split screening. The video also had a strong narrative story that  differed completely from the original video. In general I particularly liked the parts in our video where we matched different faces with different bodies. To improve the quality of our video in the future I believe that the performance of the artist could be more energetic next time to convey the element of fun that we tried to project. We could also use more of a variety of shots and perhaps include some panning shots. In addition to this I feel that we should perhaps cut back on the narrative a bit more. And finnally after watching the video thouroughly I have concluded that some parts of the video are slightly out of synch which could also be perfected to a higher standard in the future.

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Overview's of Do's and Don'ts of design work (planning)




Do's


   


-Use a clear font
-Use an appropriate image in terms of both size and appearance of image
-Plan effectively
-Use time efficently
-Be creative
-Think carefully about postioning of image and text
-style of text should follow typical media conventions
-Possibly establish visual links to in order audience to identify with artist
-Act on feedback and constructive critiscism


Don'ts



- Use innapropriate images or fonts that do not represent the genre or follow basic media conventions
-Don't stretch images as it reduces the quality
-Don't spend too long on one thing, if it doesn't work move on and try somethingelse.
-Don't try to be too ambitious if it isn't feesable.
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Analysis of 3 digipaks that relate to your genre (research)

Marina and the diamonds is an Indie pop artist. The digipak for her debut album consists of bold italic text in white which consequently stands out. 'Marina' is larger then all the other text which shows dominance and level of importance. She is looking into the camera, a convention that I have learned is quite typical of female artists which along with the close up shot of her ensures a intimate effect. The background is a sandy colour which contrasts quite micely with her hair. The album is entitled family jewles which corresponds cleverly with the artist's name.

The back of the cover features only her filling the majority of the space  within the frame and theres a consistency of the white bold italics. She is seen looking into the camer once again.

 

Florence and the machine is another indie pop artist. This is conveyeed through the use of mise en sce i.e. the costume she is wearing and the flowers. This creates a visual link between her video and her digipak as these elements are seen in her video 'dog days'. The text again is in white bold italics which indicates a sense of free spirit. As the text of bold italics is quite prominent across various female artist digipak's I think I may opt for this type of text when producing my own digipak. Unlike the Marina and the diamonds digipak Florence is looking away from the camera and the shot used is a midshot. The digipak is also alot more busy then the marina and the diamonds which I think at the moment I prefer as it kind of brings the digipak to life.

The back of the cover doesn't have an image of her but continues the theme of the heart at the front. The background is black  and thus creates a dark and sinister effect.In my digipak I think I may chose to have my artist at the back as well as the front instead of just at the front.

  

This is Lilly Allen's digipak. Again we can see the background for the front cover is quite busy with lots of things going on. A medium shot is established and she is looking directly into the camera which again initiates an intimate feeling between her and her audience. This has a link between my artist as the images in the background indicate that she is fun and young and this is ultimately the message we were trying to project with '4 letter word'. Rather then simplu listing the track titles they are animated on the back cover which I personally like.