Music Video

CD Digi-pack

Website

http://indiaredwards.wix.com/nevaeh

Evaluation Task Four : How did you use new Media Technology in the Construction of the Research Planning and Evaluation.

In this Evaluation, I shall recap the range of technologies throughout the production process of my A2 Coursework.  The process involved all the production stages, requiring me to use a wide variety of tools, both online and physical technologies, editing tools and camera equipment.

Sony FS100 used in the second year, has interchangeable
lenses, unlike the NX5 used at AS. This camera has a higher
quality. 

Using the FS-100, for filming the animatic, this was the
first time we got to practise using this technology. 

Filming with the FS-100, for the official shoot of the music video

Transcript for Task 4

1. For our A level coursework we made a promotional campaign which consisted of a digitally edited music video, a photoshop design Cd digipak and Wix web homepage for the artist Neveah. This commentary will focus on the use of digital technology we used in the production day for our music video and the post- production editing process. At the beginning of the shoot day we had to create the set by draping large sheets for the top of the studio, as well as prepare the digital image projectors, so that they were positioned correctly, in focus, and were able to project the images with good image quality and resolution. For the images of earth water, fire and air, we found footage on a specialized stock website. These images were sourced using the website called Video Hive. These images were high-quality 720-pixel quality – good enough for a semi-professional music video shoot. These copyrighted images were purchased and downloaded prior to the shoot day.
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3. The camera we used for the shoot was the Sony FS-100 HD camcorder, which was filming at 50fps, so if we wanted to in post- production, we could create the slow motion effect – which we, later on, decided not to. The camera had an interchangeable lens system, so we used an 18mm for wide shots and a 25 mm for mid shots. We also had a 50mm for close-ups and extreme close-ups. At the start of each take we had a playback, used to help match the audio with the footage in post-production. This was a time-saving device which enabled us to match the visual to the beat of the song. Grace: In post- production the first step that we made was uploading the footage to computers with Mac software installed. The editing software we used was called Adobe Premiere Pro. 
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5. We transferred the footage onto Premiere Pro via a Sd card and sorted through what we got. We decided to put the footage we got into folders (Bins) and this lets us organise them-them into shot types (e.g wide shot, close up, mid shot and tracking shot) to start an offline edit. We also organised them into what elements they were (e.g fire, water, air and earth), this would help us when we needed to edit the video and find shots quickly. The selected shots were then laid onto a timeline and these matched the time code on the digital clapperboard in the shot on each clip to the same time code imported with the track into the project. We also created markers, allowing us to cut our song to the beat. Using the razor tool we could effectively trim and cut footage in a very precise way matching action and lip syncing the video –for example on the chorus when we had a close up. The use of the timeline and different layers in editing enabled us to cross-cut between a dance performance and the artist –an important technical convention of the music video. The offline edit was a way to be creative and disciplined at the same time – cutting a wide imagination of shots technically to the beat of the song – a truly digital innovation! Premiere Pro enabled us to easily edit out the video and put the footage to the music, we were able to easily sync up the footage because of the clapper we used (which was an iPad) in production.
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7. In editing we also had to color balance this was to make sure all the shots looked the same, we put a blue tint on our video and upped the contrast so the projections stood out more. This provided consistency to the overall look of the video. Using the color selecting tool we were able to grade across different shots – making the product fit for purpose. This process has enabled us to become more confident prosumers of media texts, we can see this by the fact we were then able to export the file and upload it onto YouTube for our audience to see. Through the process our creativity had developed through some of the decisions that we had to make when it came to set; costume, lighting, as well as trying to incorporate the star image thought-out. We feel that all of us have become more technically skilled are now more comfortable with the concept of being a prosumer.

Evaluation Task Three : Conclusion

Evaluation Task Three : What have i learned from my audience feedback? (Part 3, Questionnaire)

Evaluation Task Three : What have i learned from my audience feedback? (Part 2, Focus Groups)

Music Video 

Point to take away...

For the focus group on the music video, we asked 3 simple questions to a group of mixed gender teenagers, aged 16-18 (the mid range of our target audience 13-24).

What aspects of the video did you like?

Most people made remarks on the projections, they found that they looked very stylistic, and immediately understood the four different elements, as the topic of the Music video. They understood the idea 5th element (white light) being our artist and over all liked the video.

One person in the focus group mentioned that "It was boring, but now that i understand it..." he implied that he had to concentrate on the conventions in order to understand, and ask others. He was deliberately chosen for the focus group as someone who would not like the genere, and was not part of the target audience. however, some male members of the focus group did enjoy the video.

What aspects didn't you understand?

The same focus group member from before didn't understand why there where dancers. However the majority in the focus group enjoyed them as a part of the video, as they jokingly asked what his tel. number was. 

Did the music video encourage  you to find out more?

Despite the negative views, all of the focus group wanted to find out more about the artist...

Website

For this part , I allowed the focus group to explore on their own Macbook's and computers, whilst I had a larger version, playing on a projector, it was very informal, as you can tell, but this was so that i could get an honest response and reliable feedback.

When they saw something interesting, we would turn to the main screen and view it from there, so that everyone could remark on that specific thing...

Evaluation Task Three : What have i learned from my audience feedback? (Part 1, YouTube Statistics)

It's important to get feedback in detail about your campaign, so that you understand the demographic of the target audience, and how well you where able to supply what they wanted.

Accurate statists are one of the the best ways to get information, as unlike focus groups, they can provide more results with more details, such as nationality, age range, demographic and popularity.

The initial view count is a good indication of size of audience, and how far reaching the product has gone, the more views, the more effective the campaign has been and will be.

More specific details on international viewing numbers, give us a more precise idea of where in the world the campaign was the most popular. It also showed us how far reaching our campaign was, as it was viewed on a global scale.

Our target audience was predominantly for females,  aged 13-17 and 18-24, and the results on demographic will give us an idea of how successful we where, or how we can better reach our target audience in the future. Or who we should be reaching with the material we have created.

 This Gives us an idea of how people watch our video, if they have taken the time to watch it on their cellphone it means they are taking an interest, or if it has been viewed as a result of links to the material, it shows that people are liking our media, and taking the time to share it to the masses.

Evaluation Task Two : How well have all three pieces of Media come together, as a part of a promotional music campaign?

Evaluation Task One : In what ways do your media products use, develop or challenge forms and conventions or real media products?

For the Course work, we had to conceptualise three pieces of Media, a music video, a website and a digital / CD pack. All of the media texts had to have consistent material, i.e. fonts, image styles, colours, and appropriately refer to conventions of the Artists Genre.

This is because each text has to promote each other, the music video usually promotes the most, as it introduces a potential audience member to the artist, there style and genera of music, and of course the new single or album the music video accompanies.

Conventions have to be familiar to an audience in order to be taken in, new conventions have to be really good, in order to be taken on, and this can be very difficult to do, so to make things simple we followed the conventions of existing music videos and artists.


The Music video

The main theme of the video was the Elements, Earth, Fire wind and Water. We hadn't seen a music video that followed this topic, but we had seen music videos that used similar themes, or other art forms that did follow the topic...

We wanted to make the images for our music video quite visually striking, so filming on a location was ruled out, we wanted effects, so that the scene would have more of a surreal image, otherwise we would just be filming the artist and then the elements in the backdrop for example...

This is a shot from the music video for 'Sailor and I', this artist like
ours, belongs to the 'indi-pop' genere.... 

She has a similar star image, so we could take inspiration 
the conventions that we are trying to represent.

Its important to note, that our inspirations didn't just come

from pop videos, or videos of a similar genere. This screen shot is taken

from the song 'Famous Last Words', by My Chemical Romance, a Rock 

Band. Though the genere isn't the same, the imagery can be translated

 to match our genere and the conventions of an artist...

We new that we wanted to use fire as a image, the trick was to
convert its purpose, to match the conventions of our artist.

Close-up shots are always an important part of any music

 video, no matter the genere, as it establishes the main image of 

the campaign, the Artist....

 This is used many times in our music video, as she is
up and coming, this music video is a good opportunity for
the target audience to get familiar with her.

The Website

For the website, I believed that having to much going on in the home page would distract a potential audience member, and dissuade them from wanting to find out more about the artist. We found that websites that were poorly made or hard to navigate, were uninviting and seen a s a hassle to use, so we stayed clear.

This is the original website for the real artist, it only has the essentials, such as links to social media and music streaming sites. The minimalist design is something we aimed for, as it would show that we didn't need to have an extravagant and loud home page in order to get someone visiting the website interested.




CD Digi-Pack

The CD digi-pack, wether or not the artist it is promoting is well known, or up and coming. Involves the same amount of information and imagery. This is what sets it apart form websites and music videos as a promotion tool. Unlike this example form Rhianna, who is mainstream and well known, are artist, who is up and coming and synthetic, has more text, and even a personal message to the potential audience.  However, the use of imagery, is being used to portray the conventions in the same way, across both examples, the same would happen with most well thought out CD digi-pack's, no matter what the genere / sub-genere...

However, when it comes to comparing similar campaigns, Lana Del Ray's 'ULTRA-VIOLENCE' has a very similar feel. This is unconventional in terms of her campaign, considering this was her first album. The imagery is simple,  and it lacks the use of her name on the cover, just the album name.







What I have learned from my audience feedback, is that I was able to establish for my audience, the ideal star image.  Feedback from questionnaires, surveys and the focus group have suggested that all of the connotations of the artist were translated very well, through her imagery across all of the main pieces of media text, the Music video, website and CD digipack. Her young alternative image on thew website and Digipack, as well as her message to the audience in the music video. The feedback also indicated areas that required development.  If I was to make any future changes to the campaign I would edit Website, to include for links for the audience to explore. This would be important as the Website is an ongoing advertisement for our Artist's campaign now and if there were any, those in the future.


Audience feedback is the most important part of the distribution of any media text, as it can be used to indicate what areas of the campaign need to be revised and adjusted, in order to make the products fit for their purpose. Henry Jenkins theorizes, that we live in a ‘participatory culture’,  the audiences play an important part in circulating meaning and the strength of media messages. The audience has the opinions, and the means by which to express them, through social media or by other means, word of mouth, blogging reviews etc...
The feedback indicates that my audience has engaged with the meanings in my music video in different ways, bringing their own contexts to the reading of the star image – what Hall argues is reception theory.  I can understand how my audience can either reinforce or challenge intended meanings in the text.

Digi Pack and website

http://indiaredwards.wix.com/nevaeh