Blog Closed.

Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation Question 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Audience feedback was one of the most important things that helped us develop our music video further, as through the audience feedback we were able to improve on our music video. The first task we had as a group was to develop an initial idea on what we wanted our music video be like, we decided that each and individual would develop their own idea, and from this we decided to present to each other and our teacher what our idea was, we then gave feedback and exclusive our teacher too, which helped extremely a lot as from this feedback we were able then to start constructing our music video.

Our second step was to create a questionnaire; this then allowed us to obtain information on what audience we were actually looking for, and where the highest votes in genre would go too. Looking at the results pop was definitely the most voted, so we opted to choose a pop music, this then allowed us to get the highest audience watch and get plenty of feedback, which we thought was one of the most important thing throughout the making of the music video as it allowed us to see if we were on target.

During the progress of making our music video, we decided to create a group twitter account, this then allowed us to communicate to our audience the progress of our music video, not only this, when we finished our rough cut, because the audience had followed our progress on making a music video, when we finished our rough cut we had people giving us feedback.

Not only shared on twitter we also shared on facebook, facebook was another useful network to gain feedback from our audience. This time we used our personal accounts to gain and develop more feedback from audience, exclusively for the first time we published our music video on social networks, we decided to share it first with the people who participated and token part in it. This was important as their opinion was very important to us, as they helped us and we wanted them to feel proud of what we had produced, so we knew by sharing with them, that they would give their honest opinion, from this we were able to make some changes until we were all satisfied with the outcome. Our second step was sharing with the rest of our audience, at this point we felt that we had done quite a bit of improvement, but there was still space for more. From this feedback we actually realised that, at the beginning we actually needed to re film that scene again because, we linked two different scenes together which did not match, so to improvise we re- filmed again.

Evaluation Question 2

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

Throughout the making of the digipack, music video and webpage, our main idea was to have Sabrina (the girl running with balloons at the start of the video) on the digipack cover, this also meant that the same picture would be displayed on the website main picture. But  soon changes since our plans didn't turn out the way we planned them, as when we filmed the first scene we kept being disturbed because we filmed at a rush hour. When we came to create the webpage, digipack and a music video they needed to be linked. However, we actually came to a conclusion that using same images could be too repetitive and therefore our audience would get bored quickly. So in order for this not happen we used similar pictures but tried to maintain the same weather/theme. We kept the colour scheme and the font  consistent within the three texts in an attempt to make the image more recognisable.

Images 

Our main links between all ancillary tasks would be the nature images. The nature images link with our theme of friendship. We chose  images that presented summer, which associated with socializing which then links with friendship. The nature images are settings shown  throughout the music video apart excluding the dance scene which in contrast, the character is shown in a dark setting.The scenes which are filmed in the setting is then linked with our digi pak where each side contained a nature image from the music video. We captured images which we used in the same setting which was then used for the digi pak.This then links with the website where the front of the digi pak is used for the  main design image of our website.

Font and Colour Scheme 

Another link between the ancillary tasks would be the font. For our website, we kept with a standard font in the colours black and white. Since we was used images of forests and nature scenery, we didn't want the font to contrast with the background so we though this font style would be most appropriate. The same font is then used in the digi pak where the font was shown on a image based background. We did not add any titles to our music video so therefore, doesn't link with the other two tasks. However, the same font presents a clear between the two tasks which the audience can identify with. This is the same with the colour theme. We kept with a forest green colour scheme with black and white details which is presented through all ancillary tasks. We chose background which contained green colours in our music video to follow the sterotypical convention of our genre. We then used the same colour theme to create a link between all tasks. he colour scheme for the digi pak and the website was both demostrated through the used of the images.

Evaluation Question 1

We have created 9 Frames to demonstrate our music video. We are going to analyse the codes and conventions of these frames and establish how they represent the genre of our song.

Nine Frames

Frame 1 

Our first frame demonstrates our first scene our a tree scenery linking to the next scene.In the scene we have used the stereotypical conventions of filming in a bright atmosphere, supporting our 'happy theme'. This is demonstrated in music video such as 'Happy'/Pharrell Williams. Not only is this music video but the video also has a similar theme and a majority of the music video was filmed in sunny weather or a bright atmosphere to support the theme.However, we did go against the conventions and exclude a title in our first film. Originally we did include a title of the song at the start but found it didn't quite fit with the scene and distracted the audience from the purpose of the first scene so we axed it.








Frame 2

Our second frame is the second scene and links to the first one to ease into the happy/friendship theme we was trying to achieve.The scene demonstrates the character running down the road with the balloon. This scene was actually inspired by the introduction to the TV program as mentioned previously in blogger. This scenes does follow the conventions of pop by using several colours which is demonstrated in the balloon. The purpose of this scene was to present that a small thing can make someone happy demonstrated by the visual factors such as the bright colours and bright weather.

Frame 3 

The third frames demonstrates the dancer in a dark environment. To an extent, this does go against pop conventions due to the costume and the setting being dark and not contain much colour. This was intentional; we wanted this scene to contrast the other scenes so the audience isn't exposed to constant sun and colours. We wanted to be a break as we felt it would cause more of an effect. However, in this scene we used a spot light in addition to the lights across the floor.We asked the character to smile a few times as we felt this gestures in addition to the lights will shows the audience that the character is happy doing an activity of which they enjoy.

Frame 4 

The fourth frame demonstrates 2 characters on a  bridge which is own their own. The scene ends with both characters looking directly at each other before switching to the next scene. This separation of the characters at the start was inspired by 'Foundations'/Kate Nash which is also a pop rock song. We then thought of creating a semi narrative by showing the progression of the characters meeting each other. We thought the bridge would be a good idea as a bridge is something associated with romance and this could represent a potential romance between the two characters. This does split away from a friendship theme and more into a romance theme however it does still represent a happy theme.

Frame 5 

Frame 5 demonstrates 3 characters which are a group of friends which hold smile faces in front of their faces and follow a pattern which then let go. Again we used props we are associated with happiness and the visual clearly represents our happy theme.The characters held the cards down after the pattern which fit the lyrics "take it in but don't look down'. This supports Goodwin's theory. The reason we used 3 characters than opposed to one was that we wanted to demonstrate those friendships laughing and we hope that this would have that 'inspiring' effect we was trying to achieve. The characters was dressed in informal clothing, mostly in jeans, jumper and t shirts. The characters most of all dress normally.

Frame 6 

This frame shows the character walking towards each other and talking on the bridge. This shows the development of the narrative and the relationship of the two characters. The character are just making simple hand gestures to demonstrate that their chatting and laughing, supporting the friendship theme. The camera is at a fix angle which clearly shows the 2 characters relationship. The characters are dressed informally to keep the realistic element of it. These support the conventions of the genre.

Frame 7 

The second frame goes back to the dancer however we have presented him at a different angle. The purpose was to keep the music video interesting and not become too repetitive. Again, the scene shows the character with dark costume in a dark setting which still represents the same purpose as mentioned before. We think the dancer was a key part of the music video due to dancing be a key feature of pop music video. For example, the song 'Happy' by Pharrell Williams demonstrates the characters dancing.

Frame 8 

This frame demonstrates the group of friends jumping. This was inspired again by the introduction of the TV program. The purpose of using this was to demonstrate the friends messing around and just being happy in general. After the feedback we received from our audience, this certainly proved to be a key feature despite it being  a minor scene. We think this scene also add a slight element of freedom through jumping around, which fits perfectly within our main themes.This scene was introduced and existed through a straight cut which kept the music video clean and sharp.

Frame 9

This frame is our final scene. This is the only part of the music video where was have shown the same part of the clip however we reversed the scene to show the glimpse of the scenery backward. This was our key plan as we wanted it to present and opening and ending element similar to a story. The only thing we didn't use was the second scene of the character running backwards with the balloons. At first we did try this however we thought it would become too repetitive and kept the scenes how it was. This scene has also been the theme for a website and digi pak. For our website, we created our background with a forest image very similar to the shot we took. Likewise with our digi pak, all 6 images was based on nature scenery. The purpose was that the images are associated with summer which are associated with friendship and sociolizing

Website

We created our website based on the researched carried out to discover the sterotypical conventions of websites. The site we used to create our website was Weebly.  Below are some picture shots:

The website can be viewed from the following link

http://imaginedragonss.weebly.com/

When we published the website, we noticed not all content was being shown. We discovered that we was required to pay money in order to update so all content can be viewed. We did not update however, we have shown some pictures to prove of all content we created however it may not be shown when viewing the website.

Digi Pack

We made the digipack inspired by our music video, our music video

was mostly filmed on the outside in nature scenery places to demonstrate freedom.

We also specifically choose sunny days to represent summer. We choose

this specific season as this is the time when teenagers are off school, and have

more freedom and time to go out and make friends. Not only this, but this is the time

when we are revealed from the stress from work and people look

much happier.

In our Digipack we decided not to use the images from our video clip,as this would be

too repetitive.But we choose to  take pictures of images that we would still fit in

with the music video theme.

 On our digipack we included a section about the band, this would

be an opportunity for the audience  to read and find out new facts about their favourite

artist. The second section, we decided to add in the lyrics of the choosen song of our

music video, this was decided so that the audience could join in when the song would

be played. Our third section, is where  the CD would be placed we decided to keep it

quite simple as when the CD is placed it would make that section stand out.

Fourth section shows our track list, for this section we added symbolic things that would

represent a real digipack, this is thing like: a bar code, a website for audience to visit,

the play list, and at the top social net works that our audience can follow the group on.

Our Fifth section, shows an opportunity for the fans to meet the band, this is the tours.

Finally our last section is the  front cover, the front cover is the most important thing on a

digipack, as this is where everything starts, the cover has to stand out in order for the

audience to buy. For the cover we decided to keep it quite simple, as this goes with the

them of the music video, simple is nice.

Final Music Video

After the feedback we received, we did try and re film some scenes to get more angels and movements in the scenes as suggested to make the video seem a little less slow paced. We did have a date planned and we also arranged to have another dancer which was female however the character could not make the arranged date and there was a time limitation so we was unable to re film those scene. The scene we did manage to film was the second scene were the weather was much more brighter and fitted with our theme more. At this time, we also re filmed the first scene of the viewing of the trees. We looked back at the first scene in our rough copy and found the camera to be a little shaky in addition to the weather looking cloudy. After filming these 2 scenes and editing the those last two scenes, we have finished our music video.

Rough Cut and Feedback

We have finished filming an editing our rough cut.

Reflection

When watching back our rough cut, we did detect a few errors which can be adjusted to enhance the final production. For example the second scene where the character was running down the path with balloons. We noticed the weather in that scene we cloudy and quite grey which opposed to the sunny theme we was trying to present. Also we noticed on the first bridge scene, that the shot was taken quite far away and the audience may not be aware that the characters are looking back and fourth one another. We did think filming the dance scene went well. We managed to film the character from different angles and present a clear view to show the dancing. We also managed to get the setting how we imagined it, especially with the weather for most scenes excluding the second scene.



Feedback

We presented the rough cut to our media teacher and to characters which participated in the music video. From the feedback we received from our teacher, we was advised to created more shots in the scenes to present the characters from different angles to make the visual seems more quick and interesting. Our media teacher did pick out a specific scene where the group of friends are jumping in the air and suggested that the scene cuts straight away when the character fall back down on the floor. From the feedback we received from the dancer who was also apart of the bridge scene, he said that he found the video to be a bit slow paced and suggested that there should be more edits. We have taken this feedback into account and are currently attempting to arrange dates with characters to re film some scenes to meet their feedback.

Final Scenes Filmed

We had two final scenes to film until filming was completed and we could proceed with filming. One of the scenes was last minute.In class the other group member bought the camera with them, the weather was sunny which is what we needed and someone could film with us at the time. We also knew we needed to fill the music video with more content to fit the time limit with the song so we thought tit would be a good time to film. This scene consisted of two character standing on a bridge at different ends, which progresses to them meeting and developing a friendship which links to the theme of the music video. We did experience some difficulties filming as members of the public was walking over and we took some time deciding on the best angle to capture. This scene had no plan, it was a last minute idea so there was no setting or costume plan.

The other scene consisted of 3 friends on a field laughing and chatting, a typical thing to do when with a group of friends. The 3 character also held yellow cards with drawn smile faces and held it against their faces and the timing of the bridge of the song. The characters was all dressed in casual clothing; there was no plan as they would normally dress as what we needed so therefore didn't need to plan costume.We did plan the location on the setting. We decided the field next to the school as it was a location that everyone could attend and it fits with the theme of the music video. 

Editing

We have now collected all the scenes we needed and have started to edit. We are using the schools software Adobe CS4 Premiere Pro. We have followed the storyboard by each second and finished adding all the scenes to the song. We found that the switch from one scene to the other could have fitted better with the timing of the music, we did over estimate on the storyboard and found we was a few seconds behind that what we hoped. To cover this up, we just repeated the first 2 scenes from then opening as this could act as a beginning and ending story.  We are going back to editing after the holidays.

Website Analysis

Image Dragons Website 

Imagine dragons website contains a menu bar at the top in addition to their links to all of their social media pages.  The two features act for band awareness, linking the browser to sites and links of information of the band, their songs and merchandise. The website contains posts from previous events such as live shows, competitions and festivals. The right side contains a sign up button which appears to be noticeable for browsers to see, encouraging them to sign up.

The website home page also contains an image on their recent album, followed by a playlist of all the songs on that album. The purpose of that after listening to the songs on the album, it will encourage the browser to buy the album, providing that they like the songs.

Foo Fighters Website

The structure of the homepage differs from Imagine Dragons - the content is fitted onto three pages in the format of a playlist. There are arrows directing the browser to the next page which makes it easier for the view as there are no drop down bars. At the top again, contains a menu bar which links the browsers to other pages about the band. The top also contains their logo and their social media acting in a manner of awareness so browsers know who the band is, what music they produce, their song list etc. The other pages contains the same content as Imagine Dragons - images on recent and upcoming event, images of their recent album and links to some of their music videos. The background contains a image of the band, which is blended into the colour scheme.

Chase and Status Website

The website homepage contains 5 different section, clearly outlined by the colour scheme - e.g the first section in black background, white font and orange highlighting followed by the next section which contains an orange background, white font and black highlighting. The content on the first section contains the image of the bands recent album, in addition to their logo, their links to their social media and a menu bar at the bottom of the section. The second sections linking the browser to different links containing information regarding recent and upbringing events. The third section. The third section contains a list of their recent gigs; the places and time of the concert with links for browsers to buy tickets. The fourth section contains a list with all of their album, using the same arrow buttons to show all the albums as demonstrated on Foo Fighters home page. The final section contains links to pages of their photos, their videos and their merchandise store.

Filming/ Scene 2

We filmed our second scene which actually had more difficulties than thought due to members of the public walking down the path we needed as it was a public area. We waiting around 20 minutes before filming. The other problem which occurred was that a white shirt was used instead of a red shirt which was planned. We still filmed the scene to see how it will turn out during editing as there was always the option of re filming the scene. We did not capture any photos of the filming of the other scene however if we managed to film that scene with far less complications. 

Costume/ Scene 2

Plan 

We are planning to start filming our second scene. We plan on filming 2 scene : the scene where the character is down the road with balloons and the starting scene showing the different angels of trees.
We plan on filming on Monday as the weather forecast will be appropriate for filming. Filming should not take any longer than 45 minutes.

Costume 

The tree scene involved no characters so no costume is required. The balloon scene, we plan the character wearing the following red shirt and black skinny jeans.

First Scene Filmed

We have filmed our first scene, which did seem quite successful as we managed to collect the footage we needed. The scene we filmed was inn the drama studio filming one of the dancers. The only only equipment we needed was the camera, lights and tripod. The camera and lights we provided ourselves but we borrowed the tripod from the school, which they needed back before 16:00, giving us a 45 minute time limit. The only issue we had when filming was going over that time limit about 30 minutes extra as we needed to secure we filmed everything we required. Fortunately, we spoke to the IT department as agreed we could use it for extra time so serious problems occurred.

Costume/ Filming 1

We are going to to start filming shortly for the dance scene which requires only 1 character.
This character will be wearing dark to black clothing including shoes and dancing in a dark setting with lights. We have asked the person to wear something similar to the following:

Settings

We discussed the settings required for filming and established that we will be filming in the following settings:

The field and path way next to the school can be used to film the following scenes:

•  Walking along the field
• Friends in a circle

This setting is one of the most vital setting since a majority of our scenes will be filmed in this setting; plus this setting is the most easiest to access to. 

We will also need to the schools drama studio to film the dance scene. We will need to ask head of drama, Miss Wallace, if we can use it after school and then arrange a time for filming. We will only need to the drama studio for one scene.

Storyboard

We have filmed all our scenes however we didn't make a storyboard for the music video. We based our filming on the key ideas and our main influenced and created a storyboard after the filming so we could structure the video and decided where the scenes would be placed. We attempted to structure it through each second by replaying the part of scene we wanted to the timing of the song so we had to record each second of the scene we needed.

Artist Research

Profile 

The artist for our chosen song is Imagine Dragons. Imagine Dragons is an alternative rock band based in Las Vegas. After the release of their studio album 'Night Visions' September 2012, which made number 2 of the Billboard 200 chart, the band became more notable in the media eye and embarked on a world tour. The Billboard company ranked  Imagine Dragons first for rock rankings in 2013, naming them 'the breakthrough band of 2013'. The band Dan Reynolds known as the vocalist, Wayne Sermon who si the guitarist, Ben McKee who is bassist and Denial Platzma who is the drummer.

Imagine Dragons producer was Alex da Kid who recorded their first label release at Westlake Recording Studios in California. The band released 'it's Time' which reached 15 on Billboard Hot 100 and also held the record for the longest run single of 2012 on the 2012 Alternative Top 10 Charts.  The band recorded Night Visions in 2012 inside Palms Casino Resort, the day after Labor Day. The album reached number two on Billboard 200 within the first week which sold over 83,000 copies in addition to reaching number one on thr Billboard Alternative and Rock Album chart as well as the top ten in several countries including The Netherlands, Norway and Germany.

Radioactive 

Mis en Scene 

The band are all dressed in dark clothing, which appears to be t shirts and jeans. This present the genre of their music which is rock with a pop element. The other character who are betting also are also in t shirt, jeans and hats yet the colour is slightly more colourful and brighter than the band which distinguishes them as a crowd. The main character is that crowd would be the character which could be considered the 'boss' who is dressed in a formal white suit. This demonstrates the difference between himself and the band, that they're on different side. Props used was money in the crowd, throwing in down into the arena demonstrating they're betting. The main prop for the boss was the cigarette; his hair was pushed back; he looked very slick through the stereotypical conventions, causing the audience to perceive his as a the 'bad guy'.

Camera Shots/Angles/Movements 

One main camera shot used was close ups and and extreme close ups on certain props. For example, at the start there was the close up on the bright flower in contrast to the grey background. It could be argued that the representation is a foreshadow of the narrative; the video will contain  a protagonist and antagonist and how the two characters will conflict. In addition, there are also plenty of medium shots which capture the the front on the band and the character, making it clear what the characters are doing. Tracking is a common camera movement in the music video; for example the scene where the camera was tracing upwards towards the character which gives a more edgy feels towards the fight. This allows the audience to track what the characters are doing and gives full view. High and Low angle are also used which helps establish the characters status. For example, a low angle is sued to view the 'boss' and the characters which are betting the money away. However, within the teddy like characters, a high angle is used which shows the audience looking down during the fights which establishes a hierarchy between the two groups.

Editing 

The main editing technique used ins straight cut, which keeps the video clear and more easily focused. The pace however is very fast. The pace increases specifically during the fight and during the turn back, creating tension in the narrative.  This demonstrates to the audience how quickly the hierarchy changes.

Genre Analysis

The genre for our chosen song is pop.

Definition

Pop rock is a sub genre of rock genre. Pop rock tends to use a pop conventions that is typically guitar based rock, which is why the genre is considered to be less authentic than rock music. Pop Rock is a collaboration of both rock and pop, which has been considered complete opposites by critics.Pop has known to be cynical and commercial in contrast to rock which is less commercial and more authentic.Pop rock has been represented through several artists including Imagine Dragons and Capital Cities .

Conventions 

The most common conventions for  is that the content usually contains a narrative and scene of the band, flicking between the two scenes. This will usually contain plenty of cut away and straight cuts to keep the video and clear and straightforward to the audience. The narrative in the video has often matches lyrics to the content, which is will then be followed by a scene which is irrelevant to the lyrics and narrative. The purpose of this may be to make the video more appealing;  ; having a match of different scenes will keep the video interesting. The clothing the band wear is usually ‘fashionable’ without revealing.  Pop which contains elements of rock, also known as pop rock, is more colourful and interesting in comparison to general rock which is more dark and heavy. The setting will usually be in high key lightening in addition to a variety of prop to fit the narrative.

Analysis of Kate Nash/ Foundations 

Kate Nash/ Foundations follows the stereotypical conventions of the genre to a certain extent - for example the audience is presented with a mixed dose of visuals that match the lyrics and then scenes which are irrelevant to the song. The difference in comparison to the stereotypical conventions is that the song is based on visuals matching lyrics and irrelevant scenes; the video is narrative based. The artists is presented in vintage style floral dresses in addition to filming all scene in high key lightening,  keeping the video bright form and in a positive light to fit the conventions of the genre.

The first line of the chorus: "finger tips are holding onto the cracks in our foundation, I know I should let go" is presented through as the artist is holding her fingertips onto her partners hands and slowly lets go to demonstrate the cracks in their relation and that she is letting go. The artist and the other character presenting her partner are not shown in the scene, just a close up of both their hands which really pay attention to the symbolic message the video is trying to present. Also, the first line of the second first "you say I should eat so many lemons" is presented when the artists is eating lemons, demonstrating the relation between the lyrics and the visual. The scene is presented through a medium shot, of the artist sitting down next to large bowls of lemons. The quantitative of the amount of lemons she's eating
shows a comical aspect in the video as it shows that she's mimicking his quote.

There are a lot of scenes showing objects which are complete opposites; this being symbolic to show that the artist and her partner are complete opposite. The different object are then drawn away from each other, showing that the couple are going their separate ways. For example, a scene shows a white and a blue sock intertwined with each other, shortly followed by another scene showing  the objects separating. Likewise with the breakfast trays, the scene shows the partner tray full on a traditional English breakfast then then artist tray full of more healthier options, followed by the scene where she draws a unhappy face.

Short Idea Clip

We created a short clip demonstrating the key idea for music video.