Closing

My Blog is now complete and ready for assessment. Thank you.

Evaluation question 4

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

I have used a range of different technologies to help me during the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages of making my music video.

When making my digipack and advert I used a Nikon D60 DSLR camera to take pictures, which I then edited in Adobe Photoshop.

I found the cameras very useful as they take very good quality photos and have a variety of settings. For example I used the shallow depth setting when taking some of the pictures, for example, the back cover, to achieve sharp images in the foreground and blurred ones in the background. I think this looks really effective and interesting and fits in well with the genre of music I chose.

I felt using Photoshop was very effective when it came to editing my advert and digipack, using the numerous different effects made my print work look much more effective and individual which is what I wanted as it fits with the genre. For example I used the smudge tool when editing the picture on the inside right of the digipack, this gives the effect of making my actor look bolder against the background, it also connotes and unusual, indie style. Another technique I used was making parts of the picture in black and white and parts in colour, for example on the back cover, this was very easily achieved and is very typical of the genre I was working in, I also think that it looks very effective and eye catching. I also used some of the effects available on Photoshop such as the distortion or the artistic brush filters, these create very visually interesting effects the images and are also quite typical of the genre. I found all of these technique and effects very useful when creating my digipack and very easy to use.

I used Facebook to get feedback on my digipack and advert, I created a group and added members of my target audience so I could get feedback from specific people. Then I uploaded my digipack and advert and people in the group commented on them. I found this very useful as it was an easy way to get feedback from my target audience, if I had not used Facebook then I would have had to go out and find members of my target audience and show them my print work, this would have been very time consuming and would have limited the amount of people who I could have got information from.

I also used a website called Deviant Art, this is a site that is used to specifically show artwork, I uploaded my pictures to this site and people left comments in a very similar way to the Facebook group.

When it came to filming my video I used a Panasonic HD DV camera, I found this camera very useful as it was easy to use and manoeuvre and offered some features that where useful when filming, for example the zoom feature made it easier to get some of the shots I needed because it allowed me to place the camera in a more appropriate place then choose the correct angle I needed afterwards.

I edited my music video in  Adobe Premiere Pro. I find using Premiere Pro very effect when editing videos as it is fairly easy to use and makes it much easier to manipulate the video. It also has lots of different effects that I think really helped me when making my music video. For example I used the ghosting effect to make my video more surreal and to give the audience a more clear idea that the main character is a ghost. I also made my video black and white in places to create a sad, indie feel to it, this was very easily achieved in Premiere Pro. I also changed the duration of the footage, speeding it up to create a time lapse effect and put some of my shots in reverse to create a backwards filming effect, this was very easily done in Premiere Pro and made my video look much more effective and fit in with the indie genre better.

When I had finished my video I uploaded it to YouTube, this was an easy process and was very useful, it made it possible for people to see my video and leave feedback on it, it also made it easier to embed the video into my blog and put a link to it in my Facebook group. This means I can get feedback from my target audience (the people I added to the group) and the general public (people leaving comments on YouTube.)
I have used Blogger throughout the entire process of researching, making and evaluation my work. It was been an easy, effective and time saving way to document what I have done and to have all my work in one place that I can access easily and refer to at any time made it much easier to complete this project.

If I had been able to use different technologies I would have been able to make my filming and editing a bit smoother and more professional, for example I would have liked to have been able to use a camera dolly to get some shot where the camera was moving. I wouldn't change too much however because my video is indie music it works well that it looks slightly rough and quite low budget. The main thing that would have improved my film is if I had had more time filming and editing, then I would have been able to make it look slightly less rough.

One theory concerning technology is technological determinism. This is the theory that presumes that a society's technology drives the development of it's social structure and cultural values. I think to an extent this is true, modern technology plays a big part in determining the different genres of music through social networking sites and sites like YouTube. I feel that the technology that I had available was a major factor in determining what I could and couldn't do when filming my video, I feel that the choice I made for my music video where based on what I knew I could achieve from the technology that was available to me. However I am still happy with what I managed to create.

I think there is a strong relationship between creativity and new media technology. I think one of the most difficult things about being creative is that new media technology has made it very difficult to be original when being creative because nearly everything has been done before in some form. It also allows people to judge other people work easily and very critically over the internet. However it has been very help when creating an audience profile and getting feedback on my work. If I couldn't have used new technologies in my work I would not have been able to get as much feedback, I would have had to go out and ask people individually, which would have been very time consuming and I wouldn't have been able to get as much feedback as I did. Media 2.0 technologies have been very useful when it come to communicating with my target audience, using Facebook means that I can control who I speak to and get responses from to a specific audience. It also means that I can ask questions whenever I want and the people in the group can answer them whenever they want so I didn't need to arrange a time where we were both free so we could meet. Overall it has been very useful for conducting research and receiving feedback on my work. It also allowed me to respond to comments made and pushed me in new directions with my work. I also used technology to contact my artist to ask permission to use the song I chose, I sent them an email via their official website 

Evaluation question 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback?


The first step I took when undergoing audience research for making this music video was to create a a Facebook group of my target audience, i decided my target audience by judging what genre of music the song I had chosen was then choosing people who liked that band or similar bands. I then asked them questions about what they liked and disliked to create an audience profile. I also created a focus group, this was a more specific group than the Facebook one, I asked them the basic questions to help me create me create the audience profile and also more detailed questions about what they thought about the song and what my music video should involve.


This is the response i received from my Facebook group which helped me to create my audience profile.

 This is a video of my focus group helping me to create an audience profile. 





This is the video of my focus group giving me feedback on my video.





This is the feedback from my Facebook group for my digipack and advert.





I have put my final video on my Facebook group, this is the response that I got:

I think that this feedback shows that my video had the effect that I intended it to have on the whole. My aim was to create an indie, slightly dark, sad feel to the video. These comments generally agree with this. One of the main comments in the feedback was that the audience like the use of the effects and found them very visually effective and enhancing. The audience seems to have been affected in the way I expected by my video. 
The general effect I expected my video to have on my audience was to feel that the images represented the music and the genre. I also wanted them feel involved with the text and related to the character. From the audience feedback I think it is clear that they reacted in the way I expected them to.


 I feel that the main thing the audience take out of this video is the entertainment, I think that the different effects are the main point of interest but the story line is also quite interesting. The response from the focus group also shows that they can empathise with the main character, indicating some emotional attachment to the text as well, although I did not expect or intend this I am pleased that people responded this way.   


I think the target audience are taking a preferred reading to my text, I intended it to be read as indie and quirky, with a slight darker, sadder side to it. The responses show that the audience got this impression from my work and also enjoyed the text. 


There is nothing specific in my work that requires the audience to previously be aware of a reference, although I have been influenced by other texts I have not taken anything specifically that would require them to use cultural capital to understand. In retrospect I would have liked to have added something like this in but  did not have the time while I was creating my work.   


I also got this response on my YouTube video:

After considering the feedback I received on my print work there are a few changes I would hypothetically make if I had the chance. Firstly I would change the style and possibly the positioning of the text on the advert as it could do with being bolder and more noticeable. I would also add more to it to make it look more authentic and official, for example more magazine reviews, more information e.g. website, price etc. I would also make some changes to my digipack, I would use some different images or edit the images in a slightly different way so they link together better. I would change the inside right image as I think that it is the least visually effective and a better image could be used in it's place. However overall I am pleased with my work and generally like how it turned out.


If I could make changes to my video the main thing I would change is the pace of editing, although indie music video traditionally have very few shots per minute I feel that my video would have benefited from more shots as it would have made it slightly more interesting to watch and would have enabled me to fit more of the story line in and possibly some more locations. It was also suggested that there could have been a bit more lip-sync in the video, if i had the chance i would put in more lip-syncing to create more of a contrast between the story line and the performance. I found that when I filmed my video I didn't stick as closely to the story board I created as I would have liked to, this is mainly to do with the fact that some of the idea i had in my story board turned out to be impractical and i found some better ideas when I was actually filming, however if i was to do this again i would try and stick more closely to the story board as I liked my original ideas. Overall the one thing I would do if I could change my video is spend more time editing it, be more careful with the effects and try a few different effects as well.   

Evaluation question 2

Question 2 - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

This feedback shows that my work has been coherent and that the audience have the same ideas as me when it comes to the band, the style, the message I have tried to convey and the marketing technique I would choose for them.

Evaluation question 1

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


I was influenced by several different texts. One of the main videos I took influence from was by the same band (City and Colour.) I chose to incorporate aspects of this video in my work because it's obviously the same genre of music and I wanted to achieve a similar style, if I achieved a similar style I knew I would have worked well with my video to make it appropriate for the genre.

These pictures show similarities between my video and the video by City and Colour. I think this shows that I have worked to the style of the genre well. I found the City and Colour video very inspiring as it gave me a clear idea of what direction I needed to take my work in and gave me ideas for different shots that would be effective in my video. 

I also took inspiration from Coldplay's 'The scientist' video, I thought that the reverse filming was a very visually interesting effect and I wanted to try and use that in my work. However i expanded on the original idea of reverse filming and added a ghosting effect, I feel that this makes the overall appearance work better with my song choice. 

I feel my audience research directly affected the direct I chose to take with my video, in my first focus group I played them the song and asked them to give me idea of what images they thought would work well with the music, This is the response I got, it can also be found in the original post:

Q: this is the song i have chosen to use for my music video, do you like it? What images come into your head when you listen to it?

A: I really like this song, I think it's a great choice to make a video out of and I think there's a lot you could do that would work really well with the music.

A: I think it's a great song, the kind of images I think of when I see it are black and white and quite sad, I could imagine someone walking around as a ghost, not realising they were dead.

A: I definitely get a sad feeling from it, I think a ghost or something similar would be a really good idea, he could go up to people but they wouldn't be able to see him.

Q: This is a moodboard I have created based on the style of the song I have chosen for my music video, do you think it is a good representation of you and the kind of things that you like?

A: I think it has a very individual and unique style, I think that represents me well as I try to be individual as well. I think that most of the things that I like are on there and it has captured the general idea of my style very well.

A: I think the images are very visually interesting and eye catching, I definitely think it's a good representation of the genre of the music and the people who follow it.

Q: What technical effects do you think would work well in this video? 


A: I think if you were going to use the idea of a ghost then you should make the rest of the people around him seem strange; maybe you could speed them up or slow the down or make them blurry?

A: Or maybe you could make them black and white and have the person playing the ghost in colour?

Q: What kind of locations do you think would work well for this video?

A: You could do something different to normal indie music video, so you could film somewhere other than in the countryside.

A: I think you should have some bits where the person is all on there own, some where lonely and sad looking.


I took these general ideas and created a more specific story line which I then used to create a storyboard and shot list. The main points I took from this feedback was the idea of the main character being a ghost and not being able to interact with people around him. I also used the idea of making some of the scenes black and white as I feel this adds to the sad, dark feel and fits well into the indie genre. I also used the idea of adding ghosting effects to make things seem more surreal and confusing.  

I think my media product is different to real projects is some ways; although a lot of indie music videos are low budget they still have professionals and more advanced equipment than I had access to, so in that respect I think it is easy to tell that my video is very low budget where as professional videos look slightly more clean than mine. However I that this can be seen to work in my favour as the low budget look does work for the style of song I chose. I feel that I have made some creative differences as well, for example it is very common for indie music videos to be set in the countryside, in fields or woods etc but I chose to film my video in the middle of a town, I thought that this would make an interesting and unusual contrast, which would make my video stand out from the crowd and be more memorable. 

I feel that I tried as best I could to make my post original, although it is obviously difficult to be entirely original. One of the main points, which I have already mentioned, is that I set my video in the town instead of the countryside, this makes in unusual and memorable. I also think that by combining different effects, e.g. the ghosting and reverse filming I have made my text slightly more original.  

I feel that the majority of my work, both my video and digipack are quite redundant, the images, text and music all connote the same kind of messages and are all very typical ideas and styles of the indie genre. In some ways I am happy about this because I was aiming to work quite tightly within the genre but in some way I would have liked to have been able to add a bit of entropy into my work to make it slightly more interesting. I think overall the effect of using redundancy in my work means that it is more likely to appeal to my specific target audience because it is very similar to what they would expect from album artwork and music videos, but I think that because it is so stereotypically indie and doesn't have a sense of entropy it will be less likely to appeal to a wider audience. 

Although I generally stuck to the conventions of my chosen genre, there were a few aspect that I felt challenged the conventions. These were not too major and the main one was the difference in location, from what I gathered from my audience feedback they still clearly recognised it as to be in the indie genre and the only comment made on location was that perhaps there could have been more variety.

Although I generally followed the conventions of my genre I tried to make some challenging aspects as to prevent it from being dull, uninteresting and generic. I feel that I managed to achieve this slightly with the change in location but I also think I relied too much on the effects to make it unusual and perhaps should have focused more on the storyline. Although I had no negative feedback from the audience regarding this matter I would personally have liked to have challenged the conventions of the genre a little more than I did.     


Steve Neale's theory of audiences and genre's states that 'audiences take pleasure from genre because of instances of repetition and difference'. I feel that this influenced me to work quite strictly within the genre but to had some minor changes. I feel that I limited my creativity to what would work for my target audience but added in a few things that may be less typical. 

Nicholas Abercrombie states that 'producers set out to exploit genre conventions... It... makes sound economic sense. Sets, properties and costumes can be used over and over again. Teams of stars, writers, directors and technicians can be built up, giving economies of scale'. I feel that this is a very valid point as sticking within a genre structures what you can and can't achieve with your work. I think that it made it a lot easier for me to create what I did by sticking to a specific genre as it meant that I was trying to please people with very similar tastes so I did not have to accommodate for too much individual difference.