Evaluation

I have decided to put my evaluation on a different blog. I have chosen to do this because I see it as the best way to present it. It can be found at http://jamreaymedia.blogspot.co.uk/

Music Video Deconstructions

Toy - Motoring https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDYMjvdCWpc
This is a music video that I enjoy watching. It is a video that is made to look quite old due to the effects  (flicking lines and dots) that are placed on top of the video. The effects placed onto the people also look quite retro. The colours in this video are very bright and eye catching and are almost too bright. The content of the video is a performance video in front of a blank background. I feel that the background needed to be blank for the video effects to work the best. Throughout the video the focus depth changes; when singing is introduced the singer becomes the only thing that is in focus. It is almost a visual direction to focus on the words. The shift to different visual effects and camera shots as the video goes on keeps the viewer actively engaged in the video and work really well.

The Rolling Stones - Doom and Gloom https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Fn8BQPBir0

This video has a high contrast in shot quality; they have chosen to vary the shots from low quality world war footage to modern high quality camera's.The video also varies in colours; the band are shot in black and white but the main actress and the action relating to her is in full colour. The content of the video is very explicit and aggressive; some of the content has had to be blocked out because of this. As with the previous video it evolves the conventions that were set out in the first half. The additions of new colour filters and effects have changed the tone of some of the video. The green overlay seems to replicate what you would see on a war room sonar scope. The actresses in this video are displaying what many would consider modern capitalism. The cut speed throughout this piece is quite quick; this has been done to match the pace of the song. 

The Verve - Bitter Sweet Symphony https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lyu1KKwC74

Throughout this video there is one main shot which is returned to on a regular basis. Cuts are made to other shots in this video, some are close up shots of other items and others are POV (Point of view) shots. These shot variations keep the viewer entertained as does the music. There are very few performance aspects in this video, which is something I would consider unconventional for an indie music video, apart from the fact that the lead singer is miming to the words. I am a fan of the fact that the whole video is based around one idea of a man walking down a street; it is a simple concept but you have a really engaging video out of it. The close up of the singer miming the words is almost like he is saying these words to you are only you; it is a very personally engagement. 

The Cure - Friday Im In Lovehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa2nLEhUcZ0

The first thing I see when I look at this video is that is it in the 4:3 aspect ratio, this is becuase of the date the video was produced. As far as content is concerned, this video is very fun; it features all of the band loosely performing the song in question while performing what appewars to be some kind of stage show. It has all of themes that you would expect in a show of this nature; props, stage helps and curtains for the change of scene. The colours are very vibrant and are intentionally so that it works with the play feel of the video. This video as with many I have seen have one main shot which is returned to throughtout the video; cuts are made show close the musicians as well as the stage helps who are dressed up in costumes to match the theme; one is dressed are Charlie chaplin. The cuts are fast to match the pace of the video.

Feedback from Target Audience

"Love the superimposition of your singer and the music instruments, as well as the exteriors. I think it was a great idea to do that, very imaginative!"

"I love the shot at the end of the sunset of the beach! Well done James"
 
"It's really good James"

"Well, overall enjoyed the vid. Loved the overlay of some of the scenic images on the band members but felt the river footage had too much sun reflection (sun spot) that could perhaps have been edited out. The beach footage was a little juddery in places and at the end of the panorama when panning back it was a very sudden move, perhaps a fade out and back would seem less sudden. As for the music, really enjoyed it." 
- I tired to edit my video to adjust my story to these claims but it was not possible to edit them and since this opinion was in the minority I considered it to be almost irrelevant due to it being out numbered. 

Feminism

My music contains no women becuase there are no women in the band that the song is for. It was always my plan for my video to contain exclusively band members becuase in the context of my song there was never going to be a role for a female. A feminism who see this as being sexist towards them but I would argue that it would not fit the genre of the song or the style of video to include a female charcter.

Storyboard

Above you can see my pages of storyboards. I constructed these to give me a rough idea of what my video construct will look like. From what I have learnt; the story board does not always look like the final product. The drawings and the idea's are my very first thoughts so if they were to change, I would say that it was an evolution of the product.Some include arrows to show very important camera movements and some of the screens have been left blank but the reasons for doing so can be read underneath the box. Creating a story board helped me with my action plan; it help me plan which locations I needed and what time of the day that it would be best to go to them. 

Action Plan

Prior to the construction of any plan I created an action plan for myself. This included activities and when they were gonna be completed by. I completed this activity in a word documents and the contents of this document can be seen below.

Basic research into target audience and chose brief - by october half term
Planning for the filming (both in the context of contents and when it is going to happen) and what my product will look like - before Christmas break
Ancillary tasks such as Poster and digipack. Filming also be completed by this time - to be completed prior to February half term.
Editing and blog to be finished - by easter holidays.
Evaluation -  Prior to summer term

Previous Student Work

Eliza Blue - Read All About it Part 3
The shots in these video's are of a high quality; they are almost HD. This is really good as it shows care has been taken in the quality of the product.
The bleak colour palette works really well in this; it matches what could be described as a sad song.
I feel that the repetition could distract some viewers but Overall I thought that it was a great video and would watch it again.

Oasis -  The Meaning of Soul
The video is shot on a low quality camera, the production value is low with what I call cheesy transitions and the acting is very poor. The shaky camera makes it very very difficult to watch. The beat match is often very out of time. I will try to avoid create a video that looks like this because of all of these flaws.

Tammy - "Unknown Song title"
This is a low fi indie music video to suit the song. Some of the shots are blurry and some of the singing does not match; I will aim to avoid this as much as I can because it looks very unprofessional. In the whole I like this video the things that make it wrong, make it right in the context of this style of video.

The XX - Intro http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpTVOVJUMyM&&safe=active
This is another Lo fi video and the music suits this style. In a way this is a very confusing video as there is no distinct narrative to the piece and if there is meant to be one it is not apparent. The camera  quality is low but this is all part of the video. I would like to create a video in a similar vain to this one as indie music will be my genre.

Marxism

My video is not intended to be a marxist video. It features no materialistic items although the musical instruments could be considered this. The perceptions are that the video is seen as an average indie guitar band. I have done this so that they relate to the target audience. The independent aspect of my music video shows what an independent budget can afford. The society that views this will be well accustomed to this life style of living for what they can afford; ideal and materialistic items will be out of the price range. The style that the video is shot in is not meant to out shine other video's; the video is a lo-fi spectacle and was created with exclusively the target audience in mind. It does not exaggerate the special or the high value.

My Creative Project

For my creative project, I am going to create a music video for my band Back to Basics for the song that I wrote called "Good". It is a video that will feature the two musicians in the band as well as shots from what looks like a holiday. I will aslo create a CD digiapck for the single release of that song as well as this I will create a poster to promote the release of this single. All ogf which will have the same style to keep the promotion scheme the same. I will also create a record comapny logo to show who the video is produced for.

Characterisation

James Reay - Drummer
James Reay is a hard working graphics student who comes from an middle class background. He is a lover of most music and is a drummer in an indie rock and roll band. In his ideal world he wants to perform muic for a living but he realises this is very difficult so choses the option of a graphic designer. Got into music through his father's record collection and wanted to learn to play songs from that collection becuase he loved them so very much. James is usually a very insecure person and music is the way that he expresses himself best; it is outlet to the world, the way his opinions are carried to outsiders.

Phillip Reay - Singer and Guitarist
Phillip is a very intelligent secondary school student who one day wants to be a pharmacist. He is a strong lover of music and has spent mant years playing guitar. He plays guitar in two different bands and at one stage he wanted to be a full time musician/ music teacher. He is also of a middle class unbringing due to him being the younger brother of James. Phillip Learned to play guitar before he knew much about the music he was playing but learning the guitar has taught him so much about music and how to be in a band. Phillip is a strong character who very rarely says a lot until he is onstage and that's when you get to hear what he has to say.

Good images

|I created all 6 of these images so that I could chose just one to put on the inside of my digipack. All of the pieces are inspired by the work of Robert Indiana and his Love pieces but they are also inspired by the work that I have done previously. Only one could be chosen so I trialed all of the pieces in the context of my digipack. It is the piece to the left, that worked the best and the final image of this can be seen on the post for my digipack. I chose this image as it was the least complex of all of the images and looked the least out of place in the context of the pack; the extra repetitions of the word "Good" made it difficult to look at the images and they were also unreadable when printed out.

Mood Board

Pior to the creation of any product I created a mood board. The mood bard that you can see was created on a big sheet of paper and the inspiration that features on it is from copies of the New Musical Express (NME). It was a board that was completed in one lesson and then photographed by my phone camera so that it may be placed on my blog. Written next to everything is the reasoning behind why I like the pieces. These have been written in white board marker as I thought that this was a suitable way given the fact that if it was written in Biro pen it would not be very visible.

Premiere Pro training

To open a new timeline in the program in question all that you have to do is open the program and then set up the screen size. I chose to set my screen to "DV PAL - Widescreen 48Hz"; this size is appropriate as it is a large scale so that it will work on a big screen and it will also mean that the size of the end product is reasonable. I found the importing process to be very easy; File>Import or shortcut "Ctrl i". After this the clips that I wanted to import were selected and then loaded into the program.

The trimming of video was done quite easily done. Using the split tool let me cut the video from a certain point and trimming was achieved by dragging one side of the clip toward the rest of the clip. Video transitions will not be used by myself in my music video but can be inputed via drag and drop. Where you have to drag and drop is between the clips.

Music can added by a very similar process but it has to be dragged to the audio channel instead of the video channel. Audio levels can be checked via the mixing window. In this panel they can be lowered or even raised if you feel that they are too low. Text can be added via the title function; still, rolling or crawling text can be added. The text is typed and then be placed over the video where ever you wish. Image filters are dragged and dropped on top of the video/image you wish to apply it to and can be edited by clicking on the videos drop down menu.

Exporting video footage is a simple process. First you must select all of the audio and video by Edit > Select All. After this exportation begins; File > Export > Movie, after dong this you must choose what you want to call it and where you would like it to go. Lastly you should chose what file type and then finally click save.

Digipacks

Digipacks vary in both size and shape. The number of panels can go from 4 panels all of the way up to 10. They are usually constructed of strong card and lined with plastic; where the CD goes. Designs feature on most panels to truly engage with the reader. The designs are usually linked to the set design of the album; if this was not done confusion would be rife amongst the audience. Most packs use the CD as the centre panel and base the rest of the design around this central location.

Soundtrack

Below is the soundtrack to my Music video. It is a piece of upbeat indie guitar rock music composed by my band; Back to Basics. It is a piece that was recorded in a professional music studio as part of our last album. It is a song that is only 1:39 in length; I wanted to a song that is short because I thought that it would be a challenge to fit a narrative into such a small space of time. I like a challenge.

Script/Lyrics

Below are the words that will be sung in my music video. The words were written by myself but in the video they are sung by my brother who is the lead singer of the band that recorded the song. No additional words will feature in this music video so this is all the words that re said. The lyrics within my video are to be sung on screen by the lead singer of the band. This will not be constant throughout the piece but will come around as one of the pain themes of the video.

Good - Words by James Reay. Music by Back to Basics

I Got up, Watched TV

Then I listened to an MP3

And that’s when I knew today

Would be a Good day

Got changed into swimwear jumped

In the pool after a dare

And that’s when I knew today

Would be a Good day

Because I‘m doing

These things on holiday

Yes, all these things

On holiday

Because I‘m doing

These things on holiday

Yes, all these things

On holiday

After the pool got out and had a drink

Then I asked my brother to play tennis

And he had a think

And that’s when I knew today

Would be a Good day

He decided to play tennis with me

Halfway though he it the ball as

Far as he see

And that’s when I knew today

Would be a Good day

Because I‘m doing

These things on holiday

Yes, all these things

On holiday

Because I‘m doing

These things on holiday

Yes, all these things

On holiday

Oh I wish it would stay

Stay like this for another day

Oh I wish it would stay

Stay like this for another day

Uses and Gratifications

Uses and Gratification is a theory that applies to media and it explains why audiences consume the media in the way that they do. It is an entirely audience orientated approach to understanding mass communication. It assumes that audience members are not passive but actively take part in the interpretation and integration of media texts.The basic model of this theory suggests that four branches are present; Identify, Educate, Entertain and Social interaction. All of these have there own reasoning behind it.

• Identify - The audience like being able to identify the people and the products that are put before them in the media text format. These people outline those who are most like them and they also outline who is the evil and who is meant to be the role model. Given the context of my music video; the audience will be able to identify who the people are within the video. They will be able to see who the drummer is and who the guitarist/ vocalist is.
• Educate - People consume the media in the hope that they will learn something from it or gain an understanding of something that they did not previously. Although the main point of a music video is not to educate the audience; those who are musically minded will be able to see from the footage of the music being played; what chords/ beats are being played. 
• Entertain - Entertainment plays a big role in the media that we consume; what we watch has to be enjoyable and also provide some form of a escapism. Escapism is present so that people can just forget the worries that they have in the life they have and escape into the fictional world where other people are worse off than them. Music video's are conventionally constructed to advertise the song and to get it promoted but another aim of the music video is to entertain. I have aimed to make my video and entertaining spectacle; the music is quite upbeat and I have tried to match this with the visuals.
• Social interaction - When people watch a product of the media it allows them to talk to people about it and spread the opinions they have on it. In some cases this interaction happens outside of the friend zone that they have; a public conversation on the bus, for example. The vocalist is communicating to the audience as the video shows him directly speaking to the camer and therefore talking to the audience.

Moving image analysis

Below are work sheets that have been completed to analyse several pieces of moving images. These vary in the content that they have; some are short films and some are documentaries. I chose to analyse them in table format because it is easy to read back to ones self and also for others to read. I have completed each table to the best of my ability and skill so that I get the most out of each video and therefore apply more to my product. You can click on each table to read each of them closer up.

http://youtu.be/PArM9atP6nE - Loop 

http://youtu.be/JVm7t1udP-g - Me and Orson Welles

http://youtu.be/LOMbySJTKpg - Zero

 

http://youtu.be/F_UxLEqd074 - Paranormal Activity

http://youtu.be/8cdBTGeJ2H0 - I am Butterfly

The Hypodermic Needle Model and the Two Step Flow

The hypodermic needle model is the theory that the message of the media is simply just accepted by the viewer of it and they believe everything that they see. This theory is rooted in the 1930s before mass media was developed as a concept and is considered obsolete today because more recent theories have distributed its findings. It would on'y work if all of the audience was considered passive and since the development of mass media we know not all of the audience are passive because we can read peoples opinions of media products online and in magazines. 

Two step flow is a media concept that was developed "post" the hypodermic needle model. It is widely accepted by the current media market as the way the system works. Two steps are present in this system ; first opinion leaders receive all of the information available and then they filter their interpretations of the stories through to the audience. This theory demonstrates that opinion leaders are very influential in changing people's attitudes and behaviour as they control the information flow that the general public receive. Opinion leaders can be from several groups of people; musicians, politicians and TV executives, all of these are examples of opinion leaders.

Ancillary task: Poster

Instead of creating a website, I made the decision to design a poster. This decision was taken on the basis that I did not have the knowledge to create a website and the time that it would take to construct would consume a lot of my time.
Early on in my construction, I chose to create a poster that advertised both an album and a single; the best posters that  have seen advertising music products have been advertising more than one product. The colour scheme of the poster was also set by this time. It was going to be the same as my digi-pack. This was done to keep the theme of the album campaign the same; consistency is key when dealing with designing an album campaign because without it the consumers will be confused. Essential information is present on my poster so that the audience know who the band and what the single/album is called. The font choice is consistent throughout; this is another way that I have kept theme consistent.  It is present in all three colours of the colour scheme to add another dimension to the piece and give it an almost 3D look. The background of the poster white so that the colours present contrast it. This (<Left) was nearly chosen as my final design until I made the decision, based on the advice I'd been given, that it was too text orientated; this lead to confusion so I changed it.

Above you can see three variations on the top design; these were produced but not chosen due to various design flaws that are present with them.

The Final Design

In stark contrast to the design above; this image is not visually confusing due to there being too many words. The colour palette that has been used is the same as that has been used above as it is the same as the digi-pack that I have created. The font is also the same as that on the digi-pack. This design advertises one thing; I chose to do this after the disaster that I saw above.  There is a solo image on this so that the poster has a focus; too many things on the previous design made people look in all of the wrong places.  The essential information is all present just variations in said information are present. A similar repeat pattern has been used to so that people recognise that the two products are linked. 

The Scenario

This is a short film that was created as a second round of editing practise but was also filming practise. It was a movie that was created for a specific brief but was shot and directed by a small group of us. As a group, we drew up a story board, a script and then shot it with one of us directing. Below you can see the script and the story board for the short film;

 The youtube link of the final product can be seen below. It is not identical to what we as a group first intended via the script/ storyboard but it is as close as we could get it with the time and resources that we had to film it. Slides were added with the actors names on as was a credits roll at the end. We thought that this was a suitable way to both start and end the film. The film was shot on the walk way beside the river next to our college on a sunny winters day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjn7jjEYbyY

This editing practise helped me understand the program and how it works. I learned how to use the tools within the program and how to export the video after it had been completed. I had a very little understanding of how the program worked prior to completion of this editing practise. I have a full working understanding after this. The main thing I learnt from this is how to manipulate the timeline; in earlier sessions I did not fully understand how to chop and change the video present on it but now I know more than I need.

Results

Below are the results from my Facebook group questionnaire. It is a survey that I constructed to ask members of my target audience how they access the music that they consume and how they prefer the designs of the album sleeves. It is a survey that allowed me to make a judgement on how to construct my media products; album sleeve, video and advert. These results only provided a snapshot of the target audience because a small number of applicants responded. I still consider these results to be accurate and reliable because I trust all of the responses provided. 

I have presented my results in a graph format. I have done it this way as I thought that it was the most suitable method of doing this. The bars of the results are in red as this colour was part of my colour scheme so that I continued my my theme. I created these graphs on Microsoft excel as I thought that this was the most suitable program to create them on.

I have taken on board the results from my questionaire becuase I was gonna create a performance video but they said that they prefer a narative and that's what I did I changed my plan. Some of the pieces of feedback I did not take on board as I thought that it went against what I wanted to be in my video. Overall my product is balanced between what I wanted my product to be and what the audience wants.

I did a class poll, which was of a verbal nature, on which CD design I should choose. I created two design based around the theme of my CD digi-pack. The class ended up choosing the design that I did not personally feel was the strongest. But in fairness I will chose what the audience wanted. I aim to please the audience and not myself.

   

Moving Image Planning

My music video needs to have an uplifting tone to it as it is a song about having a good time and holiday and a dull video would not correspond well with this. I will portray happiness in this video by my bright use of colour and optimistic imagery. The tone of the music is also uplifting and this will asist the video in creating this sense of optimism. I will be filing the video as well as staring in it. My brother will also be staring in as well, as we are the band that the song is for. We will film scene that we are both in using a tripod directed towards us.We will we require a drum kit, a guitar, an amp and a microphone with stand.

  The colour of the outdoor scenes will be naturally vibrant due to what I will be shooting will be of that nature. The colours of the indoors scenes will not be enhanced visually to improve colour because it will make it look fake and that is not the aim of my video. Briefing of the additional people that I require will be done prior to the start of the filming. Natural light will be my only light source because the use of lamps and other
lights will make the image look fake and artificial. Fake is not the image that I want my holiday song to look.

My video will be shot in two different locations; the indoor shots will be shot inside my music room and the outdoor shots will be shot in and around the sea front area down the bottom of my street on a sunny day. No backdrops will be present in my video as this will look out of place because the main focus will be on the instruments and the scenes out side so you would not see it and it would be a waste of a prop.

No make up will be present as the genre of the music not dictate that it will need to be present; Glam rock musicians wore maeup to make them look extravagent and this does not need to be the case for this band. Costume will match the genre of music; shirts and jeans. The aim will be for smart casual as this is the style that the audience for this song often boost.

The ‘Recce’

My shots will take place in two different locations and both locations are very different paces; outside and inside. The exterior has potential hazards such as traffic in the streets, other people as well as the camera equipment that is being used to aid in the filming. The interior will consist of a music room. This location has more hazards than the out doors. The band that are playing require guitar and microphone cables, stands for that equipment and the actual equipment. People could trip on these items as well as be hi by them.
Risks will be minimised by maximum observation. the staff and band members will be informed that risks are present and to be very careful that people don't cause damage to other people or  things. It is very important that my shots are shot during a sunny day so that the impression that the scene is on holiday is given to the audience. This is done because my song is a song about being on holiday. My shots are going to be contrasting; the shots that are outside are going to be focused on space and the vastness of landscape and enjoyment. The shots that are going to be taken indoors, in the music room, are going to be shots that are quite confined and are going to focus closely on the guitar playing and drumming in the song as well as the singing.
I cannot control the lighting that I intend to use as it is natural; the time of day that I do film and the weather that I film in is the only way of controlling this. Flashes are very difficult things to control and make images/filming look unatural and that is not the aim of my filming. I want my footage to look and natural. I also fear that using a flash would reflect off of the guitar and that is another reason that I am not using it.
No permission will be required to film where I want to because it is outside in the public domain as well as being inside my house, which is a location that I own. A time will not be required for y shoot because I have access to the people that I require at any time during the day. People could pose a threat to my filming but I will just try to avoid them and if this is not possible I will kindly ask that they move for a temporary basis so that I get the shot and then they can move back.
All of the equipment that I require for my filming I own or is owned by by a member of my family. As for people I only require my brother and myself so both these people are regularly available. If my brother is unavailable because of serious illness or injury, I will step up and do his guitar and voice acting and use a tripod to film it. All eventualities have been thought of so that if something does go wrong that base is covered. No emails/ texts were exchanged to organise the filming of my video because it was all verbal. The main reason for this is I live with the band member that I had to do the filming with.