Evaluation

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

The videos that have inspired our final video product consist of:


Eminem ft Rihanna- love the way you lie

                                                  Official Video                         Our Product

We decided to use this music video as inspiration because it conveyed a storyline which we though would suit the genre of our final song choice. The music video 'love the way you lie' portrays a similar concept to our video as both talk about the strains of relationships. The main aspects of the video which influenced us was the camerawork as there was a wide array  of different camera shots featured in the portrayal of the artists. Camera movements on establishing shots made the artist look godlike as the background he was in front of looked harmonious and we as the audiance could see the glare of the sun, all of these features we wanted to replicate in our video but instead of a harmonious location we would do it by the river which utilises the city skyline in exactly the same way.

  

Sugababes- About you now

                                                     Official Video                    Our Product

We were influenced by this videos concept as it matched our initial idea which came from 'love the way you lie'. The Sugababes video has an story interlinking with the artists singing the lyrics, this feature we really liked and decided to merge the two together which gave us the basic foundations for our storyline which was a couple meeting up. The aspects from this video that intrigued us was the style of editing, the editing was quick and skipped from the artists to the actors efficiently in specific places e.g. when the cores started the audience would be shown the artists.  

Tinie Tempah- Written in the Stars

                                                     Official Video                     Our Product


We were influenced by this video because it contained a wide variety of shots of the artist and used establishing shots frequently, we were influenced by the use of establishing shots as they created a harmonious location for the artist which made the artist look superior. Tinie Tempah partrayed his emotions to this song by being shot doing plenty of hand jestures and movements to show his anger on how unequal society is.  


We challenged the conventions of the 'grime' music genre by not using a stage which is common in most grime videos. In our product we did all the filming for our scenes outdoors which we though would be perfect as having the couple meeting up in a club would go along with mainstream grime videos. We wanted our product to be unique to the grime conventions but also portray the lyrics not only in sound but also in vision.


My digipak that i have produced conforms to the conventions of the ‘grime’ music genre, whereas our video is a mix of conventional and alternative styles. As each member of our group was familiar with grime music we all had the ability to experiment with different ideas and create something conventional to the 'grime' genre. The links between my digipak and advertisement are simple to recognize, everything from the colour scheme to the font and pictures is the same. I used an effect throughout my digipak which consisted of three dark grey lines swerving parallel with each other. My initial idea was to create this effect throughout my digipack but then it looked dull so i decided to put drops at the bottom which gave it a blood trail effect running down the digipak, this 'blood trail' effect conformed with the codes and conventions of grime music as it represents violence. In my ancillary products i decided to follow the conventions of the 'grime' music genre by putting a parental advisory logo on the front panel, however not all grime albums have this logo as the lyrics may not contain any violent, abusive or sexual content. in my decision on what record company to assign my artist to i decided to go with a prestigious and well known 'grime' record company like 'EMI'. In the ancillary products i featured store logos  where consumers can purchase the album digitally or in a CD format.    

Inside panels

                                                                     Front and back panels
2.
How effective is the main combination of your main product (video) and ancillary texts (digipak and advertisement)?

My initial idea for a digipak consisted of a plasma ball effect throughout my digipak as shown in the picture below, i decided to scrap this idea as the effect was too complicated to successfully make the digipak comply with the 'grime' genre conventions. From my preliminary digipak design i have decided to keep the font as it was conventional to the grime genre. I decided to name my digipak 'lure of my memories', this does not correlate with my main product (video) but i couldn't name the album after a single featured in the album because this is a album not a single.  

                               Back Panel        Front Panel                            Inside Panels

I decided to use related grime artist's digipaks for inspiration on my ancillary products. I analysed covers and adverts from the following artists:

The ideas acknowledged from through analysis of these related grime digipaks have inspired my ancillary products. My decision on what picture to use on the front panel of my digipak was inspired by 50 Cents debut album 'Curtis', the album cover shows the artist with his hands on this head with a frustrated look, i decided to use an image like this as grime music is considered to be extremely hyper and aggressive, i decided to use the connotations from the imagery to create a modern/ youth full effect. The design i used throughout my ancillary products was inspired by Roll Deep 'Return of the Big Money Sound', for their CD cover they use illuminating effects which made the CD stand out as a grime album as most modern grime albums extensively use effects, this has become a convention but not a necessity. For the back panel i decided to use J Spades 'MOET' CD as inspiration as it contained the same font i intended to use and it was a grime CD.








Finished product after thorough analysis of similar digipaks with the same genre.



           

For my advert i used the front panel of my digipak with the three lined wave effect expanding from the digipak picture to the advert. In the advert i included logos of retailers where the album can be purchased. I hierarchised the font size due to the importance of the information e.g. the artists name has the largest font size with the album name next, this is because the advert is promoting Y.Shockers album, the date is the next significant font size as the audience need to be informed about the release, which is the main purpose of the advert.


There are clear visual links between my music video and my ancillary products, these visual links are that the artist Y. Shocker is featured in the video and also features on the front panel of my digipak, in the video the artist is wearing all black clothing but there doesn't have to be a clear visual link between one song featured in the album and the album image. The audience can recognise that the video and the promotional packages are linked because the artist is featured in all three products. My personal opinion on my main and ancillary texts is that they work harmoniously together in the promotion of the album/ single (individual download). The styling and visual effects on the ancillary texts supports the grime conventions and the way the artist is shown on the front panel of my digipak suggests to the audience that this is grime as in the correlation between my picture and the picture from 'Curtis' have similar artist  expressions which  create a modern, youthful, exciting effect. My main product and ancillary texts have features in it which attracts the audience into finding out more about the artist, the way my products do this is the way they have been manipulated i.e. my ancillary texts have effects on them which makes them appealing to the audience and makes the album look modern and professional.

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

The media technologies that i have used in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages are all featured and explained in the video below.   

4. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

The audience at the cinema seemed to really enjoy our video as there was a loud roar when ours finished. The comments received during the class analysis of videos consisted mostly of positive features that they really liked about our product such as:

"The lighting was perfect"

"Really like the locations of the shots"

"wide variety of camera angles used"

"A* acting by the artist"  

However there were some comments which really made us more aware of how challenging making a full length music video can be. Comments on the negative aspects of our video were harder to spot when not paying attention but made a significant difference when someone noticed them:



"she starts of with a handbag and then she hasn't got it during the end"

"some scenes were blurry"

In relation to these comment the potential changes i could have made would have been to check when everybody is free and create filming sessions in which we can all agree to, this would have taken the handbag issue out of the way as organisation is the key feature which produces success in all types of scenarios. The second comment about the blurry scene could have been prevented if we we looked at the shots we had taken in depth and make decisions whether that is acceptable. 

From the audience feedback i have learnt that my product could have been a much better product if we were all organised as a group and planned all of the shots ahead of time not making things along as we went. Now that someone spotted out that hand bag i can never stop looking for it every time i watch the video. The quantity of feedback from the audience commenting on the locations used was huge as to capture the whole of west ends key attractants in one video in high detail, we made our video represent london baisically.   

          

Photos that I Intend to use on my Digipak

I have decided to use this photo because the artist is showing stress in his physical appearance which interlinks with the grime genre codes and conventions. The image itself makes the artist stand out and the audience don't really pay any attention to the background as the photo is luminated with a the color grey from the hoodie. the artists facial appearance show him distresses and about to explode.

Screenshot of Complete Advertisement

Screenshot of Complete Digipak

                                  Inside panels                                        Back Panel                      Front Cover 

Final Video Vimeo

Dennetta, Fabian, Miguel, Ira from 283goswell on Vimeo.

Short-List of fonts, colours, layout, and design ideas.

Fonts:

I am going to be using one font type throughout my digipak varying in size in different panels.

Colours:

Correlating with the image that I am going to use on the front of my digipak i am going to use a grayish theme throughout the digipak. I have decided to change my initial idea of the front as the wide array of colours made my digipak look too vivid and the artist wasn't really displayed adequately.

Design Ideas:

I have decided to use an effect on the digipack which runs throughout the digipak.

Layout:

I am going the make the layout of the text simple and easy to read with minimal effects. I decided on this due to the quantity of digipak's i analysed with the same genre, none of them had stylish effects on the text or the images, they were plain, simple and effective.

Feedback from the Rough Cut

Initially due to the lack of shots that we had for our rough cut the teachers feedback was use full in making different scenes correlate with each other, the feedback from our animatic and pitch helped us design a plot for our music video. The way in which each actor is moving had to be filmed constant keeping with the 180 degree rule making it look as if both actors were actually meeting up, feedback such as this helped us make more sence of the plot we wanted our audience to see. 

Mock up of my Advert

Mock-up of my Digipak

  Front and Back Panels 

                                                                  
                                                                        Inside Panels

Overview of 'Do's and Dont' of design work

DO	DONT
·         Use a clear font	·         Stretch images, this will make them out of focus
·         Use appropriate sizes for: 1.       Images 2.       Font	·         Use layer styles
·         Use clear photos that are in focus	·         Use unnecessary effects. Any effects used must suit the genre
·         Use photos that are an appropriate shape for the page	·         Place text across artists face
·         Use a layer that follows the rule of thirds for composition	·         Use a font simply because you ‘like it’
·         Use an appropriate type face that follows: 1.       Genre conventions 2.       A house style	·         Feel you need a separate photo on every panel- be creative
·         Be clear on where to place the font , it must: 1.       Follow genre conventions 2.       Be clear from a distance
·         Follow the conventions of the 3 colour rule and use colour that is appropriate for: 1.       Images 2.       Font 3.       Background
·         think carefully about how you use and integrate: 1.       Font 2.       Text and language 3.       Image remember that placement of text next to an image will anchor specific meaning
·         use appropriate industry logos and conventions, properly positioned: 1.       Barcodes 2.       Date 3.       Copyright 4.       Titles 5.       Artist name

Introduction to Digipak's

We were introduced to digipaks at the beginning of the course where we learnt about the programs that would create a digipcak, these programs included photoshop and quark.

Digipaks are used by record companies to promote a artists album, the digipaks can vary in size, there are 4 and 6 panel digipaks. the contents of a digipak vary on the genre.

Photoshop has amazing altering features which allows users to cut an image out and add visual effects to a picture, text can be manipulated and altered to suit the users requirements.

Quark is specialist software which allows users to create simple digipaks. simple digipaks consist of a picture of the artist or a location, record company logo and bar code. Quark is perfect for novice users as it is simple to use with very few icons. 

In the creation of my digipak i intend to use photoshop as conventional 'grime' digipaks consist of a wide array of visual effects which make the album look more urban which intern draws in a specific audience

Anylisis of 3 Adverts

The two advertisements featured above both share the same features which are they both have a mini version of the CD cover, they both include the artists official web address for further information/ downloads, they both include the record company logo. and they both have the release date for the album. from this correlation i can see that all of the featured information about the adverts are necessities which all adverts must include. The 'UK MCs' advert includes additional information such as the retailers logo where the album can be purchased, in this poster they included three retailers 'ITunes', 'hmv' and 'play.com'.

In both adverts the background is dark with white text, this creates an illusion which draws in the audience and makes them want to read it. Due to the capabilities of the world wide web posters are now having to put online retailer logos where consumers can purchase the album from.

The advert above is from Dizzee Rascals new album 'boy in the corner', in this advert information about the venues are made significant and are written in bold capital letters which interlink with the same font as the album cover. The image on the advert correlates with the album name 'boy in the corner'. The advert also contains record company logos and distributors. The album web address is featured for more information on the new release and gigs.     

Analysis of 3 Digipaks

The three digipaks that i have decided to choose in relation to my genre are:


Roll Deep- Roll Deep are an Urban Music Awards-winning London-based grime music collective. They were founded in 2002, by a group of MCs including Wiley. The Roll Deep digipak includes graphics relating to their new single called 'green light' which was released in 2010, In correlation to the music video the digipack consists of a three color background which is red, amber and green. The name of the song and the group name are in different fonts, this is because the group name has always been advertised in that type of font which in turn attracts audiences who may have purchased a previous digipak. The digipak relates to my genre as they are both grime digipaks and that the artist performing in my song also features in Roll Deep.     

Dizzee Rascal- Dizzee Rascal is a popular British artist whose music consists of many genres including grime, the artist latest award was in the 2010 BRIT awards where he was awarded 'male solo artist'. The Dizzee Rascal digipak cover title correlates with his new singe 'bonkers'. The digipak relaters my my genre and audience as Dizzee Rascal produces grime singles, the digipak shows the artist on the corner looking up at this   'bonkers' style font. Dizzee Racal and Wiley are both members of Roll Deep as they were able to bring the genre of grime to the attention of the mainstream media.    

Tinie Tempah- Tinie Tempah is one of the newest british artists who has already had several #1s and is still going with his first album 'disc- overy'. the digipack cover relates to my audience and genre as the artist produces grime singles and that his digipack looks frisky and astrological as one of the songs featured in his album is 'written in the stars'.  

Improvement and Progress

In our video, there was one particular scene which was our romance scene in a bedroom which we had to re-shoot because of poor lighting. In the video below, it cuts forward and back to show to the difference of lighting between the shots we filmed. There is quite a huge difference and make the video even more effective!

Final Video - Never Be Your Woman

Photos from filming sessions

Rough Cut Video

Due to a lack of work done by the group, we did not have a solid rough cut video where there were enough pieces of work to give a good mark. All we had were bits of the female's journey, all of our male actor's journey, none of both vocalist's camerawork and the meeting point had not been filmed. This was quite a disaster and we had realised that we needed to get work done ASAP.


Feedback from our teachers were: 'Unorganised and need to get work finished immediately or you will not meet the deadline.' From this we have learnt that you mostly need to have group motivation and work together to achieve good work.

Location Pictures

To start off our journey finding locations to shoot our music video, we used a Bus Tour map which gave us a more detailed and larger view of tourist attractions such as 'The Embankment' and potential locations we would be interested in shooting. Also using a marker we then decided that we would start at two opposite sides of the map and make both actors gradually make their way to Hungerford Bridge which was the meeting point. Fortunately, it was a well thought out plan but yet it could take ages to do especially when our filming was in rival against the time of day since we had to be at the meeting point by twilight.

During class time, we hopped on a bus outside our college and stopped at random areas that looked attractive to us. (e.g. below we took pictures in Chinatown) We felt this would be a good place to shoot because it is well known and the idea of many people visiting and shopping around would make the video more real.

Our first location chosen was around the areas of a University nearby our college where two sets of open staircases looked appropriate to do stunts e.g. sliding down the rail banister (as seen below) The idea of beige/brown shade buildings behind behind the action looked quite effective since the sunlight hit the buildings in a nice way.

This is the view of the Embankment and the London Eye from the Hungerford Bridge which we felt would be a good landscape view for our female singer to look out to.

Pitch: (Planning)

Below shown is our Powerpoint presentation we pitched to our teachers about our ideas of concept, camera shots at mise-en-scene for our music video.

Personally our teachers were very keen on our concept which was a journey between two people where they meet at Hungerford Bridge. The one piece of useful advice that inspired us was to have both characters walk opposite ways across the screen which makes it more real that they are meeting together from two different places. 

Animatic Storyboard

Dennetta: Below is our group's animatic which I had patiently taken my time to create using programme Final Cut Pro which I found as a hard task. Using a mixture of medias such as photo still shots from a digital camera and hand-drawn pictures of our camera shots, I had put them together in sequence on a timeline bearing in mind that our group were not still 100% sure about our concept. I think this work really did pay off as it was '...very detailed and showed good thought of technique through the concept' according to my Media teacher. Other pupils in the class also claimed it was a great piece of work of which they were longinh to see in full completetion.