Evaluation - Question Four

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

I used various different technologies throughout the planning, research, construction and evaluation stages. I used photoshop, non-linear editing, blogger, prezi and goanimate. I had used the majority of these technologies before I started making my music video. The only ones I hadn’t used were non-linear editing and goanimate.

The hardest one which I struggled with at first until I got the necessary help was the non-linear editing on the editing suite. I wasn’t sure how to work it but once I got my head around it, I could do it. Once I had got all my clips on there and my song it was easy and I could do it. To get us used to it we did a preliminary task which was recreating 30 seconds of a music video and we used Lana Del Ray’s Summertime Sadness. I didn’t really do a lot of editing because I was the director and I didn’t have my free lessons with the other girls so I was still quite new to the editing suite when it was time to construct my music video.

Even though I didn't specifically do the editing of this preliminary task it helped me realise how much work had to go into the whole music video construction.

The first thing I had to do when I decided what song I was reconstructing I had to research different music videos that had been in that genre of music and I concentrated on what other music videos Demoraliser had done. Demoraliser's videos are just them performing so I wanted something a bit different. When I had decided I was doing a narrative for the music video alongside the narrative I had to decide what I wanted to happen and also associate it with the lyrics. When I had decided what I was going to do I made an animation of all my storyboards on windows movie maker and put them all together.



 My storyboard showed what I wanted to achieve over the course and also how long each slide would last etc. It took me quite a while to get used to using windows movie maker because I had never used it before but when I got my head around it I had my animatic finished quite quickly.

The next step after this was starting to film my music video. I used one of college's digital cameras and got on with filming. I carried my storyboards around with me to make sure I knew exactly what I was doing. I filmed almost most of it in my media lessons when we had time dedicated in our timetable lessons for our media coursework. I also borrowed a camera for a weekend so I could take it to Ringside so I could film. The reason I filmed at Ringside is because the Demoraliser (band who sing the song I did) was doing a live performance. This did not really work because the lightning was really dark. I contacted the band to see if they was coming to Hull again but unfortunately they wasn't. I also got permission off the band to film. When all the filming was done I put all my files onto the editing suite and started putting them in order and placing them. Once my music video was done I had to put my name, candidate number etc at the front of the video.

Once my music video I was complete I started to move onto my ancillary text which I used photo shop for. I got my digipack template off moodle and copied it onto photo shop. I opened up the files with my original ancillary text photographs and started to edit them. I decided to do them in black and white because I personally believed that they looked better than colour images. Once they was edited I saved them all as jpeg files and started to move them on to my template. I decided to make a sequence at the top of the digipak and the front cover and front cover had minimal text on them.

I also made a prezi earlier on the year in my research stages. I have done prezi's on my music genre which I have chosen and also the codes and conventions of the Hardcore genre. I made a prezi last year so it wasn't something I had to learn new this year.


All of this process from the research to the final edit has been posted on to my blog. I used blogger in media last year so I knew how to use it even though I am still learning certain aspects of blogger. I learnt how to put a link to some sort of media whether it was a video or an image. The link goes over some text, I have used it in some of my questions. Overall, I have learnt alot of things from how to edit to how to film a music video and manipulate it all together. Its been a long, tiring and stressfull period but the outcome was worth it.

Evaluation - Question Three

Question Three: What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

For my audience feedback I  have learnt that my music video works well with my song. The first question I asked was do you think that the narrative to my music video works well with the song? From the audience feedback I received the comments said that the music video works well with the song because 'it portrays anger and worry' and the other feedback I was given with an explanation said that it works well 'because you can tell he is ashamed of something'. The feedback was good because I aimed to make it look like the male actor was ashamed and also angry at what he had done.

For my second question I asked do you think that the shots in black and white would look better in colour? All three replies said no and they all give a reason. The first reason was that it gives it a different meaning in black and white. One of my other feedbacks said that it gives a feeling of sadness and the other one said it looks better than the shots in colour. My aim in making some of the shots in black and white was to create a sense of sadness so I have managed to create a sense of sadness throughout the video if people are realising.

My third question I asked was taking the genre of music into consideration, do you think I chose the best actors? All three of the feedback forms said that I had the right actors to the music genre. All three of the replies had a positive comment on the genre and how the actors fitted into it. The replies said 'all fits well' and 'that the like the genre' and 'that they look the part'. I am happy that the feedback I got was positive and that they thought that the actors belonged in the video and also the genre of music in which the song is from.

My fourth question that I asked on my feedback form was do you think that the music video looks like it belongs in the genre of music it is associated too? All three of the feedback forms said that my music video belongs in the genre of music. One of the comments I had was saying that the band performing fits in well and the other reply I had was saying that the actors looked the part to be in the music video. This was another positive comment about my music video because I had managed to make the video look like one that would be associated with that genre of music.

The last question I asked on my audience feedback was what improvements could I have made to make the music video better? I had mixed responses for this question and all three gave possible improvements. One of the responses was make it a bit lighter. This is an improvement which could be made and I am aware of that. The reason why it was so dark is because it was filmed at Ringside when Demoraliser were playing. One of the other responses was to make the full video into black and white. I didn’t want to make the full video into black and white. I did not want to make my full video into black and white because it wouldn’t have the same effect. The last improvement which could be made is making the shots match the song lyrics. I should have put lip syncing into the music video but I wanted to do a narrative and I didn’t want to put any more in due to me having the live performance in my video.

The next set of questions I asked were about my ancillary text:

The first question I asked about my ancillary text was do you think my ancillary text works well with my music video? All three responses said yes and I got two comments on why it works well with my music video. One of the responses was because the images are taken from the narrative. The images I took were taken in the same place and he also had the same clothing on but the images were taken on another day after the filming. The other comment was that they worked well together because the images are taken at the same location as the music video was filmed.

The next question I asked was do you think my ancillary text would look better in more detail? All three of the answers came back as no. This is because no more detail is needed on either of the ancillary texts and also that too much would ruin it. The next question run alongside this one and it was do you think my ancillary text could be improved? One of the answers was no and no comment was left but the other two answers both said yes. And the reason for improving my ancillary would just be changing the font.

The second to last question was do you think my ancillary text looks good in black and white alongside my music video? All three of the answers were yes again. The comments ranged from it works well to the continuity is good.

The last question I asked was overall, what is your opinion on my music video and ancillary texts? I got two responses for this question and the responses said that the music video would look better if it was black and white and that the ancillary text works well alongside the music video and that the other participant of my audience feedback said she liked it and it looked good.

 

Overall, even though I know there is a lot of improving I could do to my music video to make it better there has been a lot of positive feedback from the people who participated in watching my video and replying through the audience feedback form. I am happy with the feedback I have received and that also the music video represents the genre of music which the song belongs to because that was the one thing I was worried about throughout the making of my music video.

Audience Feedback by Fitzy! on GoAnimate

Animation Software - Powered by GoAnimate.

Evaluation - Question Two

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

My music video can be seen as quite effective because of the way some shots are in colour and and also that some are in black and white. I did this to create an effect towards the audience that are watching it. With some shots been in colour whilst others are in black and white it creates a sense of the unknown because people do not know whether the shot is going to be in colour or not. My ancillary text is all in black and white. I made all of my ancillary text into black and white because I wanted it to be different to a lot of bands which have theirs in colour. Even though CD covers stand out in colour I wanted it to be different and to also stand out from others because of it been different.

My ancillary text does not have any colour in it and it is all in black and white. My text which is used for "Abandon Ship" and "Set Sail" was off dafont. I get my font off here instead of using one which was on photoshop because it looked better on my ancillary text and it went with the theme better than the other ones. The song that I used for my music video is by Demoraliser and their first album release "A Living Nightmare" digipak is in colour and I wanted to challenge that. The album cover does not have any images of the band on it, it only has the logo on the front cover and and a few hands which are reaching up from the bottom. I think that even though Demoraliser's "A Living Nightmare" album digipak is effective I also believe that my album front cover is effective.

The combination of the two is quite effective because only half of the music video is in black and white whereas the other half is in colour. With my digipak been in colour its not as in your face as other album covers yet it is still effective. My front cover does not have a lot of detail to it, it just has a main image, band name and the name of the CD. The imagery works well because it is just a photograph which is simple but yet it works effectively. I decided to put the picture of the Gallion on the front cover because of the name of the band I chose and also the name of the CD. The image on the front cover is not of a Gallion in water, I took the image of the male actor intentially so I got the water within the image. These images were taken at Wyke College in the Rose Garden.

The images within my digipak work well with my music video because the narrative side of my music video was filmed in the same location as the photographs for my ancillary text were taken. The only difference is the clothes the male actor is wearing (even though it is still the same style) and the fact that the location has a large puddle due to a lot of rain in the previous days to the photoshoot. The images were taken with the intention of the water been in the background of the image and that is why the male actor (Rob Maciver) was framed and positioned in the particular way. To take these images I used my Nikon D80 DSLR camera. I think that these images which are used for my ancillary text are more effective than my music video. This is because they go with the name of the band better and they generally just look better than some of the shots in my video because of the way the actor is positioned, the clothes he is wearing and also the way he is framed within the image. The images were manipulated using photoshop and I changed the levels to make the actor and his clothing look darker than they was. I wanted to do this because the mood of the narrative is like he is a bad person and he is ashamed of what he has done. All of these images are in a row in my digipak to create a sense of that he is moving. This is shown by the way he is looking down it shows that he is thinking about something and also that he has turned his back away from the problem.

With my music video been shot in the same area as the images for my ancillary text were taken it is quite effective because I have stayed in the same location. I wanted to do this to show continuity throughout my advanced portfolio. The images for my ancillary text were taken at a different part in the rose garden so I could get the water in. My music video was shot further into the rose garden so there was more places for the actors to walk etc. This image shows that my music video was filmed in the same location as the ancillary text. This is shown by the fencing which is towards the back on both my music video and also my ancillary text and also the stones that are scattered all over.

The majority of my music video is in black and white which is why I made my ancillary text black and white. There are only a few selected shots which are still in colour (Demoraliser's live performance at Ringside). Further on in my music video the sequence at the begining of my music video is repeated and that is in colour.

In my music video there is a shot of the male actor looking down which again is in black and white and I think that it is effective because the front cover of my digipak is in black and white and it is also an image which shows Rob looking down at the floor just like the front cover of my digipak is doing. The only differences between this shot and the front cover in my digipak is that Rob is wearing different clothes and that the levels was manipulated in photoshop for the ancillary text.




Overall, I think that if my music video was in full colour and the ancillary text was in black and white I don't think they would work effectively with each other. But, because I have done the majority of my narrative in black and white I think that they both work well together. Also, if I had the music video and the ancillary text the same tone of black and white I do not think it would have looked as effective because the lighter tone throughout my video works well as when the ancillary text was a lighter tone it did not look as well, it looked better manipulated.

Evaluation - Question One

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

Hardcore music is a sub-genre that has a combination of several different genres. Punk, rap and metal are infused into one genre to make the sound of hardcore. There are several different codes and conventions within the genre which makes the music what it is. The hardcore music genre is an upcoming genre and it is getting more popular.

The sub-genre of hardcore has its own branches of sub-genres, such as; pop punk, post hardcore and metal core. Hardcore music has been taken on by many local bands such as; Demoraliser, Odessa, Martyr Defiled and The Departed. The majority of hardcore bands now have started out in smaller venues such as the Lamp and Ringside and have worked their way up from the bottom to achieve a higher status.

The dominance throughout the smaller shows is easily visible because of the appearance of the band members. The band members are usually stereotyped to have tattoo's (Frankie Palmeri from Emmure) and also have a certain stage presence of themselves. The essence of the band members when on stage performing is arrogant and cocky which is like the genre of rap. 

Hardcore isn't only from England some of the bands are from North America, South America, Australia and even Asian countries and these bands are starting to show a promising upcoming. Deez Nuts are one of the Australian hardcore bands and like most bands they have their own distinctive sound. The front man JJ Peters was previously in a band called ‘I Killed A Prom Queen’ then left to form his own band with his distinctive assets like rap style vocals and low bass solos.

Music videos contain different camera shots which are the conventions throughout a music video. Music videos tend to include many long shots, close ups and also mid shots. These shots are used to create emphasis on the artist, location and emotions. Also, the close ups are used not only to show emotions but they also reflect the words of the song with the movement of the lips of the artist which is also known as lip syncing. Throughout my music video I used various shots such as long shots, close ups and also mid shots. I did this to have a range of different of effects which the shots would have given me. I also started to challenge the camera shot conventions for a music video. The convention which I challenged was the artist was lip syncing. This is because I didn’t want my music video to use the usual conventions because I wanted my music video to be different to the usual music videos throughout the genre of music I chose. The long shots were generally used in my music video when either of the actors was walking away. This is because it would have created a sense of betrayal because it usually included one of the actors walking away from the other actor. There was one shot which was the male actor walking away and it was a long shot. I did this so it looked like the actor was smaller than he was because of the lyrics “well I should have treated you as a fucking cockroach”. The reason why I chose to do a long shot is because I wanted to relate the music video to the lyrics as much as I could and I thought that the long shot worked well against the lyrics.

Throughout music videos the movement of the camera is used to follow and trace the artist or the band. The camera movements include tilts, pans, tracking and crane shots. Throughout my music video I challenged the camera movement conventions. This is because the genre of music the band Demoraliser belongs to is to be known as heavy and always fast paced. One of my shots in my music video is of the camera following the male actor whilst he was walking. When I filmed this shot I decided not to use a tracking device or a tripod because I liked the effect it created when I walked with the camera behind him.  This effect made it look unstable which can be related to my chosen song because some people feel unstable after they have been two stepping, in mosh pits or been at a local gig in general.

The mise-en-scene of music videos refers to the arrangement of performers and the props on stage or in a scene for a production of a music video. The mise-en-scene puts importance on the representation of something. The mise-en-scene throughout my music video portrays the genre of music and also how the band members dress. The image shows the way that someone who listens to the hardcore genre looks. The clothing usually consists of wearing band merchandise (for example, t-shirts). They usually wear skinny jeans/three quarter jeans with trainers such as Vans, New Balance and Nike Airs. In my music video the male actor wore a Dead Harts t-shirt, a denim jacket, a burgundy beanie hat, black skinny jeans and some Nike trainers.  


The editing techniques throughout music videos vary from video to video. Jump cuts are the predominant editing technique used in music videos. This is because this allows a sudden change from one scene to another. Similarly, transitions such as fade and dissolve are very common in music videos as they create a different effect to cuts. Throughout my music video I used several different editing techniques in my music video. I used fading so it flowed to the next shot fluently. I also used jump cuts quite a lot throughout my music video. This is because I wanted my music video to look like it belonged to the genre of music. The jump cuts enabled me to create a look which made it like other videos which are in the genre of music because of the type of music. 

Some music videos are black and white which helps emphasize a particular mood and some videos have artificial lightning which put the artist in an enhanced look. In my music video I didn't use any artificial lighting, all of it was natural lightning. This is because I filmed my music video outside during the day so all of the lightning was natural. I have also got some shots throughout my music video which are black and white. I did this so it mixed the video up a bit and so it also looked quite jumpy. 

Sound in a music video is mainly the vocals or the song but in some cases such as Michael Jackson - Thriller, the producers can make the music video into a short film. In my music video I only have the song. I think this was enough and didn't need any other sound throughout my video because of the heaviness of the song I chose, other noises would sound like they do not belong there. I also could not think of any other noises/sounds I could have put with my music video. 

Props are vital in aiding to add to the scene and also they create significance on particular objects or people. In my video with it been filmed out I did not really need any props. The only props that I used was tobacco and the mobile phone. The male actor used the tobacco throughout the making of the music video because the story line of the video made him feel upset because of how he treated the girl so he used to smoke to calm himself down. The mobile phone was used for the girl. The mobile phone was only in one shot of the music video and that was when she got a text message saying "I'm always watching you". I may not have used a lot of props but I like the way my video has worked.

Codes and Conventions of a Music Video

Camera Shots:
Music videos tend to include many long shots, close ups and mid shots. This is to create emphasis on the artist, location and emotions. Also, close ups are used not only to show emotions but to reflect the words of the song with the movement of the lips of the artist.

Camera Movement:
The movement of the camera is used to follow and trace the artist or band. Camera movements include tilts, pans, tracking and crane shots.

Mise-en-scene:
This refers to the arrangement of performers and props on stage or in a scene for a production of a music video or any other media text. Mise-en-scene puts importance on the representation of something.

Editing:
Jump cuts is the predominant editing technique used in music videos. This is because this allows a sudden change from one scene to another. Similarly, transitions such as fade and dissolve are very common in music videos as they create a different effect to cuts.

Lighting:
Some music videos are black and white which help emphasise a particular mood and some videos have artificial lighting which put the artist in an enhanced look.

Sound:
Sound is mainly the vocals or the song but in some cases such as Michael Jackson - Thriller, the producers can make the music video into a short film.

Props:
These are vital in aiding to add to the scene and create significance on particular objects or people.

Ancillary Text - Final

Ancillary Text Images - Edited

These are the images which I selected out of the shoot I did to edit for my ancillary text. These were the best images and they all worked well together when I put my ancillary text together on Photoshop. I decided to do the ancillary text in black and white because the images looked better in black and white and it also looked better in black and white than colour when I put it together on Photoshop.

Ancillary Text Images

 

 

 

These are the images I took throughout the making of my Ancillary text. These are the original images and not the edited ones. I only used a selection of them due to some of the photographs not been in focus and also the framing of the image wasn't what I wanted.