Animatics from fahminaali on Vimeo.
Wednesday 31 March 2010
Animatics Of Music Video
Friday 26 March 2010
Final Cut
FINAL CUT from Lucy Simonds on Vimeo.
Thursday 25 March 2010
Feedback - Social Networking Site
This is the feedback which I received:Overall I was really happy with all the valuable feedback which I received. The one criticism we got back was about some of the timing of the quick cuts within the video which we then rectified. My family were very proud of what I had achieved and thought the video was amazing!
Tuesday 23 March 2010
Initial Audience Feedback
The feedback we received from them about our rough cut is that they found it very repetitive and they therefore felt it was too predictable as to what was going to happen next.
The feedback we got for the website was positive. However, some people felt as if the images used could be changed from colour to black and white so that they related more to the music video.
The feedback we gained about the initial digipak was that it did not include the conventions of a real life digipak as it looked very messy and the pictures did not relate to the music video and the website.
Rough Cut
ROUGH CUT from Lucy Simonds on Vimeo.
Sunday 21 March 2010
Moodboard
Saturday 13 March 2010
Evaluation Question 4 - How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
MUSIC VIDEO
To create our music video we used Final Cut express.
Within this particular programme, we was able to use many of the different tools and was therefore able to create many of the different effects in which we wanted to create such as the Sin City effect.
To create this specific effect, we used Youtube as we found many different tutorials on how to do so.
This slide show shows some of the different tools and functions we used whilst editing our music video.
WEBSITE
To create the Band Homepage, I used Adobe Dreamweaver as I felt this was the programme that would be most suitable for me to design what I wanted to design as I had previous experience in using the programme. I also used Photoshop to edit and create some of the images that I had included within the homepage as I felt some of these particular images needed the contrasts changed or the images all together needed cropping.
This slide show shows some of the different tools in which I used whilst creating my website homepage.
DIGIPAK
To create our digipak, we used Photoshop of which we have had previous experience in using.By using this particular product, we was able to use many of the different tools and functions which allowed us to create the digipak to how we wanted.
Other tools and facilities used throughout this task include:
YouTube - We used YouTube at the start of this task to analyse different music videos. We was also able to use YouTube when helping us to create effects on our music video such as the Sin City effect as this website contained helpful tutorials of how to do so.Apple Mac - The Apple Macs were the computers in which we used throughout this whole project for both editing our music video and creating our ancillary tasks. Although we had some experience in using these computers, we spent more and more time on them as time went on and eventually adjusted to being able to work them fully to achieve the maximum potential for our products.Sony Handy Cam - We used a Song Handy Cam for filming our music video. We was also able to use the playback function on this particular camera which helped us to see the shots in which we had already done and what shots we needed to improve.
Internet Explorer/Safari - We used the Internet and Safari to help us search when looking at research for existing products.
Vimeo - Vimeo was the video hosting website in which we used to host our music videos and animatics. Fahmina and I made separate accounts as we was unable to host all of the different videos on 1 individual account due to the file sizes of our videos.
Facebook - Facebook was the social networking website in which we used to help receive feedback about our products from our peers.Blogger - Blogger was the website in which we have produced our whole coursework and kept records of exactly what we have done and how we have done it.
Evaluation Question 3 - What have you learned from your audience feedback?
The audience feedback we received throughout these tasks helped us greatly in improving our products to meet the target audience's standards and interests.
We realised together that there was 2 ways in which we could go about audience feedback.
The first way we got feedback was by asking our media teacher as we felt that she was the most likely person to be the most honest about all of our products.
After showing her as well as other people in our media class our rough cut of the music video, the general feedback was that it was too repetitive as a lot of the same shots had been used. As it was said to be too repetitive, these viewers then found that they thought the video because predictable too which was something that we then realised we had to change.
Another criticism of our rough cut that we got from this particular group of people was that many of our shots were in black and white, yet others were not. This therefore made a lot of the viewers loose interest as they did not really understand why the shots were done like this. We therefore realised we had to change this too as well as play around with the saturation and exposure of specific clips too to create the kind of effect we wanted.
Initial Feedback - Digipak
We also decided we would ask for feedback from the same group of people for our ancillary tasks.
When showing them our initial digipak, many people felt it didn't represent or have the conventions that a real life digipak would include.
Our teacher didn't like the fact that every page included an image and that all of the images were in colour when our music video was in black and white.
The biggest bit of criticism we got from the group was about the images included on the digipak as they didn't understand why they were in colour when most of our music video was in black and white. Also, another criticism we got was that the images used throughout the digipak on every page made the digipak look too cluttered, and therefore did not look how they would expect a real digipak to look like.
Along with our teachers help, we was able to come up with many different ideas as to how we could change our digipak so that it represented and looked more like a real life digipak and we was therefore able to change it and design it differently to come up with our final product that would hopefully meet the target audiences expectations.
Initial Feedback - Website
Again, we asked the same group of people to give us feedback on our band homepage. This product of ours got a lot of good feedback and generally went down with the people in which we asked. Although, we didn't get a lot of criticism for this particular product, one piece we did get from our teacher is that she didn't like the fact that the thumbnail images of shots taken from the music video were in colour. We therefore took this piece of criticism and changed the images in the website to black and white which then made our final website homepage that we became really proud of.
Actions
From the feedback we got for each of our different products, we decided we would take some kind of action to change these products so that they became of more interest to our target audience.
We worked hard as a group to change all of the different individual bits within our products that were given some kind of criticism. We also added in our own criticisms and gave advice as to how we could make them even better.
Eventually we came up with our final products of which we became really proud of.
Feedback of final products
After we was happy with the final products in which we had made, we posted our music video onto facebook to see what feedback we could get from our target audience. Although a lot of our friends on facebook are not exactly 'emos' or 'skaters', the age group in which we was hoping to reach is roughly similar to many of the people on our facebooks as they are our ages.
We didn't quite expect the feedback that we got and this therefore made us really happy as we got many positive comments. Many people picked up on the slightly explicit cutting of the wrist that we featured within our music video, however by using this type of shot, this was the reaction we was hoping to achieve.
We did get some criticism about the timings not being exact on our music video, and we therefore went back and changed that so that all of the timing was correct.
From getting this audience feedback from different groups of people, we was able to take peoples different ideas and work on them to create our final products. Without, this feedback, the little things that people picked up on we may not have ever even realised, and so we benefited from this feedback in order for us to make our products a lot better for our target audience.Evaluation Question 2 - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
Both of these products, as well as our music video had to somehow all link together, so that they become believable that they were promoting this particular band. The way in which we felt this was best achievable was by creating a coherent house style which would then be displayed within all of our 3 products.
In order for our products to create a maximum effect, it needed to target and meet the needs of the target audience. However, for our products to meet the target audience's needs, we needed to research further into what kind of things our target audience enjoy and do.
After looking at the UK tribe website, we soon found how our music video would fit more into the 'Alternative' segment which included stereotypes such as emos, when compared to the 'Mainstream' segment which included stereotypes of chavs. Therefore, as a group we researched into our target audience into what kind of things they enjoy and soon thought about how we would create our music video in black and white, however would include some effects so that there is some slight colour within some of the shots.
Images
Once the music video rough cut had been created, we was therefore able to look in more depth as to what kinds of effects and colours we liked and what we thought our target audience would like. We was also able to examine the shots in which were featured in the music video as we therefore was able to take some of these shots to use as images within our ancillary tasks.
Using shots that had been featured within our music video as images within our ancillary tasks easily combined all 3 of the products together as the shots become visible as to where they had come from. This therefore meant that 'random' images were not used for our tasks which could have made the products look completely separate from one another.
As we made our music video, we changed the different shots and scenes into a black and white colour as we went along, however we was also able to screenshot many of the images so that we had copies of them to use.
Originally, we decided to use colour images as the images within our ancillary tasks so that we could try to make the products look slightly different to the music video. However, once we had created first drafts of these tasks, we received some feedback that the images used throughout these tasks did not match the music video well due to the fact that they were in colour. We therefore changed these images in both the website homepage and the digipak so that all the images were in black and white and therefore this made our products link together well.
Font
When decided on what fonts we would use throughout the products, we already realised that to meet the needs of our target audience, we would have to use a font that would be enough to grab their attentions. We therefore realised that whatever type of font we would use, it would have to be 'weird', yet eye catching at the same time.
We experimented with many different fonts, however as we looked into them further, we realised how none of them matched up to what we really wanted which was big and bold.
After a lot more researching and experimenting with fonts, we soon found one named 'vampyrish' which was big and bold - exactly what we was looking for! However, this one looked more appealing to us as at the bottom of this particular font, it almost looked as if blood was dripping from the letters.
This font we therefore used as our main title for all of the individual products.
We wanted to separate the main title from the other titles within the products, such as the song title. However, after more searching we found other fonts that did not over shadow the main title and we therefore decided to use these as they would stand out to the target audience as well as the title.
Font Colours
Other colours in which we used throughout these products was grey. This is because we felt a grey colour would fit in well with the black and white theme as it is quite a dreary colour too.
Overall, I am really pleased with the products in which us 3 as a group have come up with as i feel they all include the coherent house style in which we wanted to create to link the products together. I feel they work well together as they clear as to what they are and who they are made for.
Evaluation Question 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
MUSIC: Tempo often drives the editing.
GENRE: Might be reflected in types of misè-en-scene, themes, performance, camera and editing styles.
CAMERAWORK: Has an impact on meaning. Movement, angle and shot distance all play a part in the representation of the artist/band (close-ups dominate).
EDITING: The most common form is fast-cut montage, rendering many of the images impossible to grasp on first viewing, so ensuring multiple viewing, so ensuring multiple viewing.
Often enhancing the editing are digital effects, which play with the original images to offer different kinds of pleasure for the audience.
INTERTEXTUALITY: Not all audiences will spot a reference, which would not significantly detract from their pleasure in the text itself, but greater pleasure might be derived by those who recognise the reference and feel flattered by this. It also increases the audience's engagement with, and attentiveness to the product.
EXHIBITIONISM: The apparent more powerful independent female artists of recent years have added to the complexity of the politics of looking and gender/cultural debates, by being at once sexually provocative and apparently in control of, and inviting, a sexualised gaze.
Lyrics: Many of the lyrics used within the song create a mood and and atmosphere that is quite shocking, yet mysterious at the same time.
'Well it covered your body it was pulling you in, so i kicked an i screamed and i sank my teeth in. You cried get off me, get off me, get off me please, but i drowned you out i was trapped'
This is a line from the song that I feel is very visual. By just reading these, a picture can easily be created in peoples mind from these particular lyrics and they also tell exactly what kind of music video would be created to this song.
Music: The music contains a beat the whole way throughout the song which helped to drive the majority of our editing. It meant that we was able to do quick cuts throughout our music video that created an element of surprise for the viewers.
Genre: Although the song is a very upbeat song, the choice of lyrics within it are more picturesque of which is what we decided to concentrate on. By using different scenes for different parts of the music video, it created a sense of 'what happened next' within our viewers. The graveyard was our main location as we wanted the viewer to think about why the characters are there and how they got there so that they had that question in their mind when watching the video.We also wanted to create a sense of awkwardness withing our viewers, so added in disturbing shots that would shock the viewers. These shots included:
Camerawork: Within our music video, we used many 'awkward' that would help create the scary element within the music video. These 'awkward' shots include:Main character waking up. Medium close-up. We felt as if this shot was an 'awkward' shot as the camera is looking face down on the character waking up. This shot works well as it shows the emotions of this character whilst she is waking up, or fidgeting in her sleep. When watching this video, we know that this shot shows the character opening her eyes quite quickly and from this, we do not quite know whether she is waking up as a person, or whether a 'demon' like character has taken over her in her sleep. This shot to us was very powerful as you can see the facial expressions in which the character has which creates a sense of shock and an element of questioning as to what is going on.
Main character sitting on the floor with candles around. 'Awkward angle'. This shot I feel is really interesting as to me, it almost creates the sense that the camera is just recording the character sitting there. The candles surrounding the character almost appear as if they are some kind of spirit from her, yet we do not know the reasons as to why she is sitting there surrounded by these candles. This again adds to the element of questioning that we wanted our viewers to have.
This is very similar to a shot within the film 'Paranormal Activity' where the character is sitting on the floor in her bedroom and the camera follows her, and carries on recording. This particular shot within the film was right at the end and i know many people got 'freaked' out by it due to the scary nature of this film. However, with the scary nature in which we have shot and made our music video, we hope this type of shot creates the same sort of reaction as the particular one in the film did.
Editing: Whilst editing our music video, we tended to use 'fast cut' editing as our music had a strong beat which we was able to use to our advantage to create our video. We also used many different tools within Final Cut that helped us to adapt the effects on particular shots within the video to help gain the viewers attention and create pleasure for them. An example of some of the shots in which we edited include:Main Character sitting on bench. Effect - Bad TV. This shot originally was of the main character sitting on a bench which was slightly slanted, in the middle of a graveyard. However, after we changed all of our shots into black and white, the shot became more distinctive when compared to other shots in which we had used, due to the bench appearing unstable and 'dodgy'.Main character standing in graveyard with glass of blood. Sin City effect. When editing our music video, we wanted to include blood that would stand out to the viewers. We therefore decided we would use the Sin City effect to separate the colours so that the blood in the individual shots were made to be colour, where the rest of the shots would remain in black and white.Main character fidgeting in bed. Shot sped up. When editing this particular clip, we decided that we wanted to speed it up otherwise the shot would be too long. After doing this, we found the shot fitted in well with the music and I started to realise how it had been edited and therefore looked similar to a specific shot in Rihanna's video for Disterbia where she is throwing her head around which again had been sped up during the editing.
ANDREW GOODWIN'S THEORY Visuals either illustrate, amplify or contradict the lyrics and music. Genres often have their own music style/iconography.
When looking at the two ancillary tasks, and comparing them to Andrew Goodwin's theory, I feel as if the visuals illustrate and amplify the way in which we are trying to introduce the band by including the different images that are included within the main music video.
Also by using only black and white images, as well as dreary colours, the band is being introduced within a different genre as not many other bands use the same type of colour that we decided to use.
Friday 12 March 2010
Ancillary Task - Website Homepage
This is the inital design of the website of which I created by myself. By creating this website, I was able to put a lot of time and effort into what I wanted it to look like as well what pictures, images and text I wanted to use.
Although I had had previous experience at using Dreamweaver, I also picked up and used other tools within the programme that I didn't know about before.
The feedback I received for this website was very positive which made me happy as I had spent an enormous amount of time and effort creating this.
The only piece of criticism I got for this design of the webpage is that people felt the image thumbnails should be in black and white like the music video. I took this into account and therefore changed these images as suggested and I felt they instantly made the website appear more realistic.
I thoroughly enjoyed utilising my skills in this area and am proud of what I have achieved.
Ancillary Task - Website Homepage Research
The homepage also included Tour Dates and Latest News, which I felt were good as people are most likely to be looking at the homepage particularly for this type of information.
When I saw the navigation bar, I felt as if it was slightly too simple as it was just text that once it was rolled over, a drop down would appear, however I felt that the links could have been made a slightly bit more interesting as they were of a simple font that could be found on Word.
I was really impressed with the way in which the homepage had been designed as it incorporated a live video of the band performing with links. This worked as the video was being played as a big screen, over 9 different little screens. As you scroll over one of these little boxes, the video turns to animation as if it was a TV screen with no single so it was therefore grey and fuzzy with speckles of black. This box then transformed to have a black background and a simple bit of text, which became a link. I thought this was really clever and really original, as I hadn’t seen anything like it throughout my research.
There was also a navigation bar at the bottom of these little boxes, which linked to each of the different pages too so that users didn’t have to use the fancy links if they didn’t want too.
The only thing I felt let the homepage down slightly is that the page didn’t include a header of the band, which is what I would have expected. This means that it is not entirely clear who the website is representing, however it is probably because if you are on the website initially, it is presumed that you would know what band the website is for.
Ancillary Task - Digipak Final Design
Ancillary Task - Initial Digipak
Ancillary Task - Digipak Paper Design
Ancillary Task - Digipak Research
The Hoosiers - The Trick To Life
I like the design used in this image and thought the colours contrasted well with one another. However, I didnt understand certain elements of the design and found it confusing. One of these features that I found confusing was that their appeared to be some kind of eyes everywhere throughout the CD cover. I did not quite understand why they were here, and what reference they had to the band or the CD/song.
Kings of Leon - Only By The Night
When first looking at this image, I was instantly drawn to it due to its individuality and uniqueness. The contrast of the colours made the image stand out and I wanted to look deeper into it to find out more about it.
However, I found the text to be too small and do not think it related well to the image itself.Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good On the Dancefloor
When I first looked at this, the first thing I noticed was how young the girl looked.
The colours worked well in the image but the mise-en-scene within the image felt as if it was quite a busy image with a lot going on.