Final Music Video...

This is our final music video:

Death of the Music Video...

To end my research, planning, production and evaluation about Music Video's, I thought it would be good to show two opposite ideas concerning them.

One article commented on an idea that the Internet has saved Music Videos, as it has "rebirthed the art and practice of music-video making" while another commented that Music Video's are only made to be monetized, as they feature so many product placements. The writer said that the band, The Script "regard theirs (fans) not as passionate supporters but rather bovine, coin-eyed consumers".

I believe that the Internet does give creators of Music Videos more unique and quirky ways to present their ideas, but on the other hand Music Video's recently seem to take the limelight of the artist/s and focus on the product placements.

 "There's a fundamental difference between being sold a band, and the band selling you stuff"

What I've Learnt...

Over the 2 years that I've been studying media, the two most valuable things I've learnt are:

Be Organised:

Never leave things to the last minute, as your blog work will pile up and you'll have to race to finish it on time! Also it is a nice feeling when you publish a post thats been there for more than two weeks!

Teamwork:

Always be open to other people's ideas and never get annoyed or frustrated if your idea isn't accepted straight away! If you've finished your work, help somebody else with theres, so that your work is all complete! Lastly, don't think that you can take on all the tasks yourself, as you have others who can help you.

What I Need To Get Better At...

I feel that I need to get better at communicating with my group and working harder on sole tasks so that I don't have a lot of work to do at home. I also think that I need to be more open minded to everyones ideas, as sometimes I tend to get annoyed or frustrated if no one likes my idea as much as I do. All in all, I feel I have come along way since Year 12, as I am not as stubborn as I used to be!

What I've Enjoyed...

Over the past two years, I've learnt a lot of new techniques and names, but most of all I enjoyed using the camera and seeing my own ideas come to fruition in the music video and a little in the opening sequence. I've also enjoyed using the Macs and the software on them, as before I used mainly PC's to do my work. I've really enjoyed working with different types of people, as it has made me more aware of what type of people I work best with. Lastly, I've enjoyed seeing myself putting more effort into my work, in terms of my blog posts and my it shows my reflection of last years work compared to this years.

Evaluation: Question Four...

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

Vox Pops:

Adobe Photoshop:

 

Evaluation:

 2014
 Music Video
















 2013
Opening Sequence

Camera's:

 

 

  Sony Red Camera

 

- Canon DSLR Camera

Evaluation: Question Three...

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Evaluation: Question Two...

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

(Please pause if it's too fast)

Evalution Question One (2)

Evaluation: Question One (1)

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

Music Video:

We used YouTube to present our music video, as it's the quickest way to upload different types of media and it's simple to use.
Our music video consists of traditional romance story, in which the girl is in a steady but unpredictable relationship with her boyfriend. We've tried to convey this to the reader by using Goodwin's theory of the relationship between lyrics and visuals. This is done when Chloe types 'I need to be everything' in a text form to her boyfriend to show their struggle.
To improve the shot,the camera could be closer to the phone, that way the viewer would be able tosee the words clearer.
 The statue in the shot connotes togetherness as a couple and is an enigmatic code, as the viewer should be wondering how the relationship is going. To improve on this shot, we could of used a brighter light so that the colours in the room didn't go from variations of brown to black because of the artificial light.
We did use some of the genres original conventions, such as the pink of her nails, connoting romance (seen in Nicki Minaj's 'Superbass') and the beginning shot that involved the letters spelling out
'Love' and 'Dream' which not only told the viewers what the music video was about but introduced them to it as well. The props helped massively in our music video, as they looked authentic and seemed like a professional way to film the first panning shot to the artist. To improve, the letters could of been spun so they all faced the right way.


This could be linked to Owl Cities 'Fireflies', which also features the title in the music video. They do so seconds into the music video, as the artist says the lyrics, so it's synched. Again using Andrew Goodwins theory.

Like most R&B romance genres, our music video featured a girl and boy, both in love with each other but struggling with their relationship. We then developed the main character/artist by showing her alone, planning to meet him, which shows how much he means to her. This is seen in Usher and Alicia Keys 'My Boo' when there are both singing and thinking about each other. I don't think we have anything to improve, as the scene where the male finally comes into shot, the music builds up, implying that this is who the artist was singing about and the one she was waiting for.

 

Although we didn’t use any influences from their song, the similarities show how much we strived to make it a conventional romantic R&B song. As the female character is usually giving herself a makeover for her lover and the male is ‘chilling’. To improve these shots we could of tried to match the lighting, eventhough we moved locations.

 

 

     Both music videos’ also show similarities to each other when both sides of the story meet up and express their love. This is in most music videos, as the majority of the song’s lyrics are about meeting the one you love or being with them in the future and I think we’ve conveyed that to the audience well. The ‘meet up’ also shows the romantic side of the genre, as the story often progresses from disharmony into harmony or vice versa.

 We also used the bright natural lighting of the park to connote that the relationshp has been healed.

 

It’s also considered a romantic scene because the ‘meet up’ might end in a kiss, which using an enigmatic code, causes the reader to want to find out more. This could link to the sign up option on the website, as it helps the fans to stay up to date with the artist. We have done this by ending the music video with a type of cliffhanger, as it is assumed that couple are together once and for all by the spinning shot. To improve, the spinning shot could of been less shaky, but I think it works well, as it connotes that the relationship is still a work in progress.

The fire in the scene connotes the passion or lust that you would see in most romantic music videos and most movies as well, as it denotes that the relationship is very emotional.

Evaluation Q1 Plan

 I'm going to do the 'Music Video' analysis seperately and the Digipak and Website together, I'm then going to to analyse it against other real media products and suggest improvements for our groups creations. I will then talk about challenging conventions, the success and my own contribution to the production.

Social Network Sites...

https://twitter.com/xxChLoECoLexx
http://instagram.com/p/kSpJroxqv4/#
https://www.facebook.com/chloe.cole.182

These are the social networking links for the website.

Website Link...

http://indyayasmine.wix.com/ancillarytask2

Improvements for Website...

 I used Wix, which is a website creator, I found the website easy to use at first, but when it came to uploading images or just maneovuring around the website it was a little tricky.
I think I could of put a lot more detail into the last pages of the website. However, I do think the whole thing has come together quite well and shows the groups teamwork, as we have each incorporated a little of each others work in our own. I think that the website could of had a lot more secondary colours on it rather than just pink to help it look less loud and bold. But I also think that everything on the pages goes together well.

Digipak Feedback...

This is some feedback on Facebook for the Digipak Abi made.

Digipak (2)

This is our final design for our digipak, we're using this one because we feel that it has more detail than the six panel digipak. In my opinion, it does look a lot better and it does resemble a real digipak, so I'm really please with the outcome.

Digipak (1)

This is our first 6 panel digipak. We liked this idea, because it showed shots from the video and there were enough panels to show the different scenes too. However, we found that the back of digipak looked quite bare compared to the rest of it, which is why we decided to go with a four panel digipak.
One thing we all agreed on was that the front page of the digipak looks really good because of the overlapping shots of Chloe and the signature in the middle.

Website: Tour...

For the 'Tour' page, again I kept the layout and colour scheme the same, but put the title in a bigger font. I did this because the tour is one of the most important things an artist has to promote, to get a bigger fan base and a bigger target audience.

Website: Latest News...

For the 'Latest News' page, I used the album cover to show that the album was being released, and the signature to show the photoshoot. I used these images because I've seen other websites do the same, as it makes the consumer more aware of the artists 'life'.

Website: Merchandise...

I had slight difficulties with the merchandise that Fatima made as some of them wouldn't upload, which was really annoying. The ones that did upload looked really good and worked well with the colours and the logo. When you click on the picture a shopping basket comes up and you have the choice of choosing more than, which looks really good.

Website: Gallery...

For the 'Gallery', I chose 9 pictures from the 'behind the scenes' photoshoot as they looked really good. They came with the option to label them so I came up with short, generic titles, that made looking through the Gallery enjoyable.
I chose the ones with Chloe in so that the consumer is mainly focused on her and the album release.

Website: About Me...

For the 'About Me' page, I wanted to keep it simple, so I decided to keep everything the same. I wrote a little bit about the artist, which is always interesting for the consumer, as they like to know how they started off and the progression of unfamous to famous so that they can relate to the artist. This then gets the artists more fans. Using the signature, makes it seem more authentic to the consumer, as they feel like the artist cares about them.

Website: Front Page...

For the front page of the website, we needed to have a matching colour scheme throughout, so I tried to match the colour of the lips in the album cover to the rest of the 'pinks' for the logo and the various links. I think that the pink works well with the rest of website because it connotes romance and love, which then links to our music video and the genre.
I used an effect on the border of the logo, so that it looked as if it was sellotaped to the background, creating a rustic diary effect. I also angled it horizonatally, as it gave a really nice effect.
The social networks are all lined up so that the consumer can click on them if they need to, they're also all pink to continue with the theme.
I've placed the album cover on the front page because thats the first thing that the consumer has to see, so that they will buy it or let everyone else know.
At the bottom of the page, there is also option to sign up, I used this feature because it is part of most websites to give the consumer updates in any way they choose.
The buttons on the front page are also a main feature of the website as they are pink,but when they are hovered over they turn into a lighter pink and the text turns white. The font choice is 'Frederika the Great', I chose this font because it looks handwritten and rustic just like the logo's 'D'.
I chose the background because it lookslike a collection of 'doodles', which reflects the title and the genre of the song, with connotations of daydreaming and romance.

Rough Edit Feedback...

This is someof audience feedback, with this we now know what to work on with our final video.

Rough Edit...

This is our rough edit for our music video.

Production Diary Log (2) ...

This is our first production log for our music video. We were filming at Chloe's house while two of our friends helped with the music and filmed us filming the music video.

Our Website...

Our website has turnt out well for our music video.

However, one thing that annoyed me about it, was the fact that the background for the website would fade, even if you've adjusted it over and over again.

I chose a doodle background because it has connotations of daydreams and doodling when you're in love. I chose the colour scheme of pink because her lipstick is pink and so is the logo.

Deconstructing Websites...Male

Deconstructing Websites...Female

Production Diary Log (1)...

These are pictures from our first day of filming.

Chloe and I are pictured going through lyrics and asking if anything needs to be done to make her comfortable, such as the spotlights.


We initially started off filming in the green screen room, but later on, ideas changed and we decided to cut out the performing on a stage idea and keep performance/lip syncing to a minimum.

Casting...

These are our casting requirements for music video.

Representation of Women in the Media...

This video shows that women in the media have been objectified increasingly throughout last year. The video shows the progression of sexism to the point where male politics have expressed puzzling views over the subject of rape.
The video in my opinion makes you think in depth about how women are portrayed all around the world, it also makes you feel isolated if you haven't experienced or been aware of the problems in detail.

Photoshop Practice...

I used the Screen-O-Matic, to record myself creating the logo for our website, using Photoshop.

Logo Ideas...

This our Logo for our website and Digipak. It's the same idea from our font ideas. We like this because the font doesn't connote an over the top idea of love, the heart signifies the love and the fact that it looks weathered connotes that the relationship has been through hard times. The capitals also make it stand out, attracting the attention of the consumer.

This is our finished logo, using a font from 'Da Font'. 

Digipak Analysis...

In a lesson, we analysed a Digipak. Our Digipak was 'High School Musical', a children's romantic comedy.  This is the first thing you see, which attracts the audiences attention, due to its big capitalised title and the stage lights on the letters instantly tell the consumer that it is a musical. We will use this technique on our Digipak, by taking pictures of both Muka and Chloe in a romantic scene or a normal scene where they are seen interacting together. We will do this because we want the consumer to know what type of genre they will be buying. 

This is a six panel Digipak, this means it will have two CD holders and images on both sides of the Digipak. On the High School Musical Digipak, there are pictures of the characters and the names of who they are played by. One thing that puzzled me was that the main characters were underneath the CD on the right and the minor characters were on the left in plain view. There is another title that matches the CD that was in there, which is in the picture below. The colour scheme is the same throughout the Digipak, yellow and red. 

Treatment 2...

 Recently, our idea has changed due to whether we will get the work done on time. Our new idea for our music video is a lot more doable and they'll be less pressure put on us to complete things. However, we hope that the new idea will be just as good, since it has the same concept but not the same idea.

The new piece is now going to be a hybrid, combining both narrative and performance. The narrative scenes will reflect that which is going on within the song whereby the action will match the lyrics or connect with them in some form. The performance will simply be a stage like performance in which one female artist will sing the song. There will also be scenes where the artist is practicing her song with backing instruments to add more realism to the video and to ensure that the audience does not tire of seeing the same thing. Costumes will reflect that of the scene. For example, the performance costume will be a dress worn with heeled shoes to give the impression that she is a well – known and believable singer. The narrative pieces will require each character to wear normal everyday clothes so that the scene looks realistic and also allows the audience to put themselves into the shoes of the actors so that they can understand the scene.

What is A Digipak?

A Digipak is a type of CD packaging that includes more than one CD plastic holder. There are 2 types of digipak's, a four panel digipak and six panel digipak.
Digipak's can come with any form of booklet or notes that promote the artist in a different way. This could be in the form of cover art or postcards that feature the band's or solo artist's portraits. It could also have booklets on the characters or actors personal life or lyrics for the consumer to use if they're singing along etc.
There are many different uses for Digipak's, they can be used for display, there could be a bonus CD for karaoke or a special edition bonus track, it depends on the artist or production.

Chosen Exhibitionist...

My chosen exhibitionist would be YouTube because it has views from all over the world, it's easy to use and it would promote our music video to a mass audience.
As a teenager, I utilise YouTube quite a lot. This is because any free time that I have, I spend on the internet to find music videos or newly released audio tracks. This will help generate a larger audience, as the majority of the people who use YouTube are quite young.

Video Exhibition...

Originally established August 1st, 1981, MTV launched its name as 'The Music Television'. This has brought on a revolutionary change in appearance, interests and hobbies. MTV since then has become more popular since by producing their own TV shows such as 16 and Pregnant and hosting the MTV music awards,that bring in more than 1 million viewers each year. They are an undeniably successful company that uses their target audience to predict their target audience in a way. Whatever music video they air, they have the data from downloads, that they use to contribute to that choice. 

DropOut UK is a YouTube channel, much like SBTV that aims in exposing young and new artists to the music industry. They enable young singer/songwriters to promote their new EP or cover so that they can find success quicker with more views.  

YouTube was established February 14th 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim. The site is a way for people to watch videos that they like all over the world. YouTube also became a way for music artists to promote their tracks and increase profits. It is also available to unfamous people who just want to make normal video's in different categories like gaming and make movies, which is why it is so successful.

VEVO is a more updated version of YouTube, established December 8th 2009, which was jointly owned by Universal Music Group (UMG), Sony Music Entertainment (SME) and Abu Dhabi Media (ADM). Later UMG purchased the organisation in 2012, which is when it received more attention.  

SBTV is a world renown music channel, that rose to fame due to a recording of Ed Sheeran, who also rose to fame due to the exposure. The channel has been highly successful since then, recording artists such as Tori Kelly, who recently got signed too. They make it their aim to find a various amount of people with different ages and different performing styles.

Colour Choice...

Since our music genre is romance, we need to choose colours that reflect that genre. To do this we used  a website called Colour Scheme Designer, which helps decide a complimentary colour for the main colour you want to choose. They have six different choices: Mono, Complement, Triad, Tetrad, Analogic and Accented Analogic.
We initially chose a red colour scheme, then we decided that it was too bright and loud for a song that has soft lyrics. Also the combination of the red and green connotes more of Christmas than Love. For this colour scheme I used the 'Complement' choice.

So we settled for more delicate, candy colours like lilac or eggshell blue. For this colour scheme I used 'Triad' because it gives you three choices.

The Fuchsia in this colour scheme would be good for the main colour because it connotes maybe a pink lipstick, which is useful because a red is more seductive and pink is more playful. For the complimentary colours, we would chose 34CFBE, FFE273 and E165B9 because they're more colourful but not overpowering or solid.

This is the second colour scheme that we put together, we had an idea to for our Digipak to reflect different times of day when the clouds are stained with the sun. For example, sunset, sunrise etc and the use of colours like lilac and pink/orange would be a nice choice.