Final Message To the Examiner

Hello,
Throughout the course there has been moments of highs and lows, but what we can all agree on is that we feel we have achieved much more than we first thought.Overall we have all enjoyed the course and have learnt many different skills. We are all particularly proud of the way our music video turned out and hopefull you will see the reasons why.
We hope you enjoy reading through our blog and through all our individual posts.
Thanks,
Tom, Jake and Jack

Our Final Music Video

Untitled from Jake Boswell on Vimeo.

Evaluation Question 4 - How Did You Use Media Technologies In The Construction And Research, Planning And Evaluation Stages?

Evaluation Question 3 - What Have You Learned From Your Audience Feedback?

Evaluation Question 2 - How Effective Is The Combination Of Your Main Product And Ancillary Texts?

Evaluation Question 1 - In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms And Conventions Of Real Media Products?

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


Directors commentary for music video

Music Video Questionaire Premiere

Questionaire for Music Video This is the questionaire I will be using to gain feedback from my form group who I will be presenting my music video to. I have designed it so that the questions are easy to understand which will make it straight foward and quick to fill in. I can then incorporate their feedback into my response to question 3.

Q4 (draft) How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Blogger
A technology that was critical to our course was the online blog service Blogger. This enabled us to post our progress from a varity of different sources or locations such as at school during lessons, or from the computer at home.  It also allowed our teachers and peers to leave comments much easier than it would be to give paper feedback which could be lost or accidentally thrown away. All of the group members used this service as it is used to track our progress throughout the course.

Animoto
I used this service to create a pitch for our coursework, as we were limited to 25 words for our pitch this service enabled us to upload images that best described the band and music video that we wanted to create.


Scribd
This service allowed me upload documents that I had created on my computer and enabled me to embed them directly onto the blog as an online scribd document. It was fast and simple to upload various different documents.


Vimeo
Vimeo is the name of the video sharing site that we used to upload our music videos draft/final versions, it was our alternative to using youtube (see reasons in youtube section). I think in some aspects vimeo is a more suitable site for uploading the video as the interface is easy to grasp and it was fairly simple to embed the videos onto blogger.


Bubblus
It allows me to create a spider diagram that served as our moodboard, we thought of it as a short of brainstorming site where our ideas can be mapped and branched out. It accompanied out pitch to give a more in depth insight to our ideas.


Facebook
Throughout the planning and research stage Facebook has allow us communicate effectively with all of our band members and group in a group chat session. It enabled everyone to discuss and talk as a group rather than on a phone messaging everyone individually. In the evaluation stage it has allowed us to share our media products such as our music video with our friends so they can give us feedback.


Twitter
We set up a twitter account for our band which will serve as a way of communicating with our fans. Twitter is a rapidly growing technology that is being used by more people, so it could serve well for attracting a fan base for a real band. It allowed us to update the progress through internet 'text like' messages.


iMovie
For editing our music video we used imovie which made sense to use as one of our group members Jake was familar with the software. As he had used it before to edit his own project on. We also had mac which is what the software was made for so it was a no brainer. The software featured a simple interface but had some powerful effects and features that we could make use of.


Macbook Pro
We used Jakes macbook for editing the music video as it had the imovie software installed on it.


Photoshop
For creating my auxiliary products i.e digipak and poster, photo shop was used to edit the photos that we took and allowed us add various effect and layers to the products.


Tube chop
When writing posts about videos we have watch we all used tube chop to split the music video we were watching into the relevant clip we were talking about. This helped use illustrate more clearly the point we were trying to make.


Nikon SLR
I used this camera to take the images for my digipak/poster and capture some photos when we were filming the final music video. I also allow Jake to use my camera to take some photos for his digipak.


HD Video camera
The video camera we used was Jakes which featured a hard drive disk instead of the footage being recorded onto a tape. This meant that transferring the footage across the device was simple and easy to do. When filming used the schools tripod that we had borrowed to stabilize the camera when I was filming.


Phones
Phones are now an everyday necessity so it was more than likely that the group had a phone on them. This meant that it was easy to contact one another and helped us arrange the days when we were filming. And allowed us to contact each other if there was problem. I also used my iphone take some pictures when we were filming the draft and to take pictures of the showing of our final music video to my form group.


Search engines (google, ask, yahoo)
These service help us immensely when it came to researching existing media products and video as it search for relevant sites for us to visit which saved us time. We could also download these images and upload them to our blog to provide evidence that we have researched.

Personal Laptop
I used this at home to access the blog and complete the tasks that needed to be completed at various stages throughout the planning and research process all the way through to answering the evaluation questions.

Youtube
In our research and planning we searched and watch the various different music video that inspired us and helped us think of ideas for our own product. We also intended to upload our music video to the video sharing site however due to copyright litigation's our video kept getting taken down by the site.

Q3 (Draft) What have you learned from your audience feedback?

To gain feedback I posted various times on facebook our groups finished video and my accompanying products. I ask my friends to leave feedback via a comment on the statues, this didnt work very well as not many people commented on the link so I was left with not much feedback. I did however get some feedback for my digipak and  from a friend called alex who left a comment he also highlight possible improvements that could be made. Althought he commented on my final versions so this would not be possible. The comment he left was fairly positive though and highlighted that he thought the main image was effective for the bands genre. The feedback I recieved for my draft versions helped me establish what improvments needed to be made for the final versions. As I didn't not get much response from posting on facebook I decided to host a 'premier' for my music video for my form group. I designed an accompanying questionaire that I asked them to fill in after watching the video twice. This helped me establish more detailed feedback as they answered pre determined questions.
Those that filled in my questionnaire were between the ages of 14 and 18, as some were quite young they did not fit into our target audience which was 16-25 year olds although it showed us how different age groups reacted to our music video.
Some of the people that were asked listened to the indie rock genre which meant they were aware of the common conventions that a indie performance video followed. Overall most who were surveyed thought our video was professional which was good to hear as it meant that they thought it looked like a real music video that could appear on a music channel. A few stated that they would possibly see the video on an MTV music channel. The aspects that they enjoyed the most was the variety of different shots that were used and the close ups of the band members. However the least enjoyed aspects were that it was only set in one specific location if we were shooting again we would shoot in multiple locations to make it more interesting for the audience. Another also pointed out that it looked as though the band was performing live even though only two of the band members were playing live instruments which means the bands miming was convincing.
One other mentioned aspect was our lead singer who some felt was not featured enough. They were also asked the question what does our bands does our band remind them of for which there was a mixed response. The rapture, Mcfly, Busted, Kasabien, Little Comets, The Wombats were some of the bands that were mentioned the Mcfly and Busted response surprised me at first but It makes sense as I will explain. The likeness to Mcfly/Busted comes from these bands try to look as cool as other established bands and hope that some success will rub off on them. Which is what our band basically did in the music video so its more of a complement as it means they thought our band was like real life counter parts and believable as a real band. I was please when I saw the comment about being compared to Kasabien as that is one of the band we were trying to emulate their performance style The ending was also mentioned as a point for possible improvement as it lasted longer than it should of which I also agree with.
Overall I think that my form group enjoyed our video as their rating out of 10 was on average 7/10 I thought that I might have got some better written response but due to them not have studying music video in a much detail as I have done as it is my chosen subject this could have limited on what they could talk about.

Q2 (draft) How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

When designing my digipak it was based on the concept that was inspired by the rolling stones Let it Bleed album. The focus was on the cake which had an abstract meaning that I want to incorporate into my version. However my draft design did not turn out as well as I thought it would so I scrapped the idea and started again. So I feel that my final products have developed substantially from the first draft.

For the final version I needed to think of a new approach and needed to rethink my ideas. I still wanted to create an abstract concept and incorporate some ideas from my first draft. So I thought out a concept that would show the bands party personality, it would also show how they are a different non generic indie band. This would be more appealing to the audience as the more different a band is from the rest makes them stand out more in the crowd. I positioned on my dining table various items you would expect at a house party. But as an added twist some items such as a cake stand which was inspired from the first draft was incorporated into the shots the table was also dressed as though it was a tea party. I tried various effects using the SLR cameras features and ended up with my final image. How I took the image was by increasing the lens exposure so that more light was taken in and moved the camera slightly which resulted in the blurred effect in the image.  As it is a different image you would not expect on a album cover I felt that this made the cover more appealing and gives it unique brand.

The party atmosphere is also partly shown in the music video in the way that the lead singer max acts as a showman displaying an energetic side. The font colour and style was partly inspired by Vampire weekends album contra this would mean that fans of vampire weekend would get a feeling of familiarity. How the band was dressed was typical for an indie genre band, the costumes for some of the band was changed from the draft as the feedback we received was that it just didn't quite fit so the costumes were adjust slightly. Alterations included the drummer Jake wearing a hoody instead of just a white t shirt, the lead guitarist guy wore a polo shirt rather than a coat. We also had the addition of our the lead singer max compared to guy who was the lead singer in the first draft. Max as we found out was the much better choice as he acted like the lead singers from other bands such as Kasabien inferring some similarity between other established bands.

Q1 (draft) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

In the planning stages of designing our story board we watched a variety of different music video that gave us different ideas for our video. I looked at the video for banquet which inspired some of the shots that made it into our video. Artic monkeys, Klaxons, Oasis and Kasabien's music video also had an effect on what shots we included, this ensured that our video follow conventions that have been set by existing Indie rock bands. One key example of a music video that inspired some of our shots is Hey Scenesters by The Cribs we liked how the video was edited and some shots such as the close ups on the neck of the guitars that are used. We incorporated these shots into our video as we thought that these added to the variety different angled shot we could film. I also thought that the shots added some more depth to the performance side as it is focusing soly on the musican and their instrument.

The start of our video was inspired by online music videos that we watched that included a montage of different shots that are from a film, it added a didfferent approach for the way that we could start the video with this would establish the location to the audience in a quick and different fashion. When filming I also ensure that each shot was framed correctly. We used a variety of different panning shots to make sure that the shots flow smoothly, this also meant that the beat was kept to and in sync. Compliance would make sure that our video would appeal more with our target audience.
The main focus of our video is the lead singer, max was told to act as much as possible as the lead singer Kasabian and have a sense of showmanship. Which we all felt worked fairly well and made the video more entertaining and realistic. This would also follow the conventions set for the lead singer to drive the whole band as a whole. As he is the main person in the band a sense of familiarity can be drawn from the audience as he is featured prominently.

Our video comes under the narrative cultural code which means that some cultures would not understand the  meaning behind something media related. This would therefore restrict our worldwide audience as they would not understand the indie theme of our products. Although this would not be much of a problem in Britain due to the Indie genre becoming more mainstream in the last few years. It would also make them more recognisable from the place they originate from which is Leicester.

How we challenged conventions set out by our genre however was how my digpak and poster was completly abstract and had a hidden meaning. Although abstract artwork is becoming a much more common thing when it comes to album artwork. My colour scheme for the font on my digipak and poster was inspired by Vampire Weekends album Contra. I also found a font that was similar as it would create some familarity for the audience as they would most likely have heard of vampire weekend as they are in the same music genre. The first draft of the auxiliary products I attempted and didnt succeed at recreating a 70s rock inspired cover and poster. I felt that I had to think of a more orginal idea that would make the products stand out so this Idea was scrapped due to feedback I recieved from by peers and teacher. The digipak and posters hidden message was to try and show the bands personality outside performing, and to demonstrate they arent the normal genric indie band they are different. This also makes the album cover stand out from the normal cover which features the band members. Furthermore it shows character from the band and some creativity and thought has gone into creating a different abstract concept.

Media Evaluation planning question 2

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

To creatively answer this question  I will analyse in depth my final digipak and poster using Photoshop. The product will be in the center of the page with text boxes explaining the different aspects. For the draft version however I shall just explain the various stages and reasons for why I think my product went well.

Draft designs

For my first attempt of producing my digipak and poster I feel I did not recreate the concept I was trying to emulate from what inspire me. Which was the album cover for let it bleed by the Rolling Stones, the cake idea was focused on and I only had a basic cake that was accessible at the time. The idea just basically didn't work which is why I only received a 2/10 for my digpak and a 2/10 for the poster. It an abstract concept that I felt had potential which is why I still kept some ideas for the draft saved for the final version

Final designs

My final products drastically changed from the first idea mainly due to me taking a different approach and going for a abstract party the morning after. Which strangely enough I thought made a perfect album name so I called it 'The Morning After', the picture I took was achieved through using an SLR camera with an extended amount of exposure to the light by the lens which caused the bright effect. I set out various different objects on the table which also included a cake stand to show some progress from

the first draft. I felt that I achieved a much better concept but the original idea changed and develop quite substantially from the first draft. I like how it doesnt link in with the music video at all to continue the message that our band is different from others in the same genre.

The posters for both the draft and the final designs used the main image from digipak to show continuity between both products. This is common for posters as they are created to advertise the new album this would  create a sense of similarity between both products.  How this links from our music video is that we wanted to show the social side of the band, from their enegetic performance you could get a sense that the band like to party hard. The blurring effect of the images on the digipak and poster has the mise en scene of a persons druken vision after they have just woken up in the morning.

Final Music Video

Below is our final submitted version of our music video, we all feel that it has hugely improved from our first draft. What contributed to this to the group as a whole being a lot more organised when it came to filming. An experienced lead singer (Max) who has been in other media projects added to the better, more professional video as a whole. Finally another key difference from the draft is that we all participated in the editing of the final video. When we edited the draft video, it was mostly edited by Jake which has not been the case for the final version. Overall myself and and everyone else in the group feel that we have produced a video that we are all proud of.

Untitled from Jake Boswell on Vimeo.
Feel free to post some feedback on our final video!

New shot schedule

For the final video shoot I made a more detailed shot list that would make it much easier when filming each different shot. They sorted into the lead singers shots with the lyrics which needed to be sung the shots duration and other notes. Lead guitarist, bassist drummer and whole band shots this made organising each individual shot for the shoot much easier than it was shooting the draft version. As we filmed each shot we ticked each shot this way we knew which shots we had left to film and what shots were done. This increased our overall efficiency whilst filming.
Shot Schedule

Final filming photos

We all took various photos when before, during and after filming it shows that a lot of effort has gone into the filming process and preparation before hand. We also tweeted about with Jake's costume which on the draft was just a white t shirt, in the final version the costume was a hoody which we adjusted by the strings being tied together we decided that it would be best for the hoody to be worn unzipped without the strings tied. Max also brought with him a trilby hat with him which we asked Jake to try on to see what it would look like. In the end we decide it was best not to wear it as it would change his identity too much from the draft.
Overall filming felt much less pressured as we had prepared much better and due to the more detailed shooting schedule it made each shot much easier to capture. The camera that we used to capture the pictures was my camera which is a Nikon SLR D60 it enabled us to capture a variety of different shots whilst filming.  Jake also needed some pictures for his Digipak so he took photos of Jack and I captured some of Jake playing the drums which he used in his final filming. Our front man max was easy to work with as you just needed to tell him what he needed to do  and he would do it without a problem so it was a lot easier to capture all of the lip syncing. Max had also been in some other music video so he had an idea of what he needed to do this meant his singing looked more believable.

Final Digipak and Poster submitted

Final Digipak and Poster changes

I have made some changes based on my teachers feedback changes include re positioning of the logos on the poster. Balancing the track listings and an alternative front cover. I have added a catalog code to the spine as well.  When I was implementing these changes it also occurred to me that a lot of albums next to each track list the track duration so I added this as well. I feel although these changes are small they have made much improvement to the final design. I also did a version of the poster with the hmv and itunes logo removed to see if that looked better without them. One more thing ive added is by including a front cover version that is similar to the vampire weekend album contra layout. The font is very similar and the layout is the same.

Final Digipak and Poster (Before Final Improvements)

Note - Feel free to leave feedback on what you think of my poster and digipak.

This is my final digipak I have drastically changed my idea from the first draft following feedback that was given to me by my teachers. The idea behind it is that its set out like a day after a banquet, I wanted to get a different abstract picture of the setting instead of a normal picture. I used a Nikon SLR to take photos with long exposure which means more light would be present in the image. I also slightly moved the camera so that a blurred effect would happen. This gives the narrative that its from a drunken persons eyes on what they are looking at. I've tried to keep the digipak as simple as possible which I think has made it turn out quite effective. I had to change the idea for what I was doing for the 3 inside panel due to me unable to capture the shot I was planning to use. What I intended to do was a close up shot of a beer glass with it focused on the residue on the inside to illustrate it has just been drunk. The shots I took however did not turn out that well so I scrapped that Idea. 

My poster also uses the main image which has turned out quite well I thought. Information such as where you can buy it (shown by the Itunes logo and HMV logo) and the release date of the album are clearly shown to make it as effective as possible. It follows the rules of thirds with each section split up into 3 different parts. So I have made sure it follows the layout of existing posters.

Draft Video Shoot

Our video shoot started at 4:30 and we finished at 7:30, what we have learnt from having a short time constraint is that we need more time to shoot each individual shot. This was because some time was lost when we were looking on the storyboard. We combatted this issue by Jack telling me where each individual shot needs to be filmed whilst I set the camera up for the next shot. It also became apparent whilst filming that it would be hard to film some shots with the tripod so I filmed with my phone to gain some extra wide shots that we can use in the draft.

Changes that we will make when filming our final version is a more detailed shooting schedule that will ensure that filming goes along smoothly and quickly and that we are not wasting time. Furthermore as an extra precaution  we will film extra shots that we wont necessarily use this footage can then be used as a backup in case some of the shots we film don't work in the final version.

Poster analysis's

Poster Analysis's