Harry Monan A2 Media
Wednesday, 19 March 2014
Evaluation 3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Our audience feedback throughout the course of creating the
music video and ancillary tasks became very useful to us by helping in our
decision making and determining what actually looked best in the final
products. During our audience feedback we wanted to make sure we received it
from the correct demographic of people as this was going to be most of our
audience therefore being the most influential people.
Nearer to the start of the project when we were doing
audience research we used ‘Survey Monkey’ which allowed us to post a survey
online and receive feedback from people who gave their age and then their
opinion on certain things, there are examples below. This allowed us to gain
feedback from the public and let us know if the video gets across the message
that we were going for. For example, we asked ‘What genre would you relate to
our band name Rogues Gallery’ and the majority chose Indie Rock therefore let
us know that we were following the correct conventions to fall into the Indie
rock genre. Also to complement this we posted a 1st draft of our
music video on YouTube whilst posting the link on twitter and Facebook, this
allowed us to see the comments and reactions of which we took in to
consideration to make our music video better as a whole.
Another way of receiving audience feedback was screening our
music video to a room mostly full of our demographic audience with some other
demographics as well which allowed us to see different points of views. This
was very advantageous as we received feedback sheets from the audience with
positive and negative aspects of the video they had written down therefore
letting us know what is successful about the video and what is unsuccessful.
Constructive criticism is very important because it allows for us to change
things that do not look as good therefore making the product much better.
However, some of the audience may be reluctant to give criticism because they
think it may offend us however you can argue criticism is more important than
the praise.
The general feedback we received from these screening was
that the audience enjoyed that we had a longer narrative of which is unusual
for an Indie rock band to do as the music videos are usually performance based.
Therefore, we challenged this convention which came out to be successful move
as it allowed us to be more creative and improve the music video as a whole.
Also a lot of the audience commented on the performance as even though we had a
long narrative we also had a strong performance which came together nicely
making the video interesting and it allows the audience to stay engaged for a
longer period of time. Also it was commented that the performance in our music
video linked with our genre very well making sure that the audience knew what
genre of music was being played by just watching the video. Other parts of the video which were prompted
by the Indie rock genre was our choice to edit the music video in black and white
which had good feedback as it gave the music video a dark feel to it. This also
linked in with the narrative of our music video as the black and white went
really well with in the fighting scenes as again gave it a dark feel. There are examples of the feedback sheets
below and as you can infer that there are ‘elements that work’ and ‘elements
that need developing’ this allowed us to keep what parts were successful and
let us know which parts to develop and improve. However, we did receive
constructive criticism which was that some shots in the fighting scene was too
dark and you wasn’t able to see the image correctly. This was because of the
lighting as it was late in the day due to a long shoot however we was able to
correct this in post-production in the editing stage as we used the colour corrector
and brought up the white and took the down the blacks a little.
Evaluation 2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
When in the process of
creating the ideas for the main task and ancillary texts I knew I wanted there
to be a clear link between the music video, digipak and poster. I did this by
making sure I kept key themes throughout the products such as the black and white
images and the use of the same fonts. I believe that this is important because
if I put all three products next to each other it is clear for the audience to
notice for example if a person sees a poster of the band and recognise the
colour scheme and then see the CD in store with the same colour scheme and
fonts then they would instantly identify it.
The thought process behind
creating my ideas came down to the research I done about the genre of Indie
Rock. Looking at the Indie Rock genre I found that the theme and the
conventions are quite dark compared to others genres such as Pop therefore I
decided to use a black and white theme throughout my products which was
inspired by bands such as Kasabian and Arctic Monkeys who use black and white
images frequently. Also when we were thinking of the brief for our band we
decided to make the band from London therefore I decided to make this clear
throughout my products by including images of the band at recognisable
locations and landmarks throughout London. Also from the research that I
conducted about indie rock bands I found that throughout their images and photo
shoots the band members are usually standing in the same positions. Therefore,
when we travelled to London to take the photograph I made sure we were always
in the same order. Also it is important that the lead singer is in the middle
of the photograph as the lead singer is usually the face of the band as there
are many close-ups of him.
Regarding the links between
my digipak and my advert poster I have chosen to use the exact same colour
scheme which I created in Photoshop using the black and white tool by of which I
took down the yellow and put up the blues. Also I have chosen to be wearing the
same clothing throughout all of my pieces of text to make sure the audience
recognise the band members. It is important to do this as the band image will
be one of the selling points as it will stick in the consumers mind even if
they don’t realise it which links to the hypodermic needle theory. The font I chose
to use throughout my products was found using www.dafont.com,
I chose this specific font due to my research into other Indie Rock bands such
as Oasis and Arctic Monkeys who use serif fonts. Using the same font and font
colour throughout the texts creates and strong link between them making it
easier for the audience to recognise they are connected. I chose to use the
colour red for all my fonts because it gives off a good effect against the
black and white images. Also red connotes violence which is shown in our music
video therefore a smaller link between the two.
For my digipak, I wanted a
clear link between all panels and a link with the poster. The CD’s themselves are
images of iconic landmarks in London Big Ben and London Eye this again shows
the bands origin which links with the first panel of the band facing Tower Bridge.
Also I made the Cd’s into black and white to link with the rest of the panels including
the front panel with us in the studio as without the black and white there wouldn’t
be a link. The black and white aspect is very important for me as I have sued
it in all of my texts including the music video therefore being the strongest
link between them all. I wanted to be unique and try something different on the
inside panel to show that I wanted to develop a panel further. I did this by
using an image from the photo-shoot in London and placing a code on the front.
This panel is a raffle panel of which you have to enter the code online to see
if you win backstage tickets to see the band perform. This will keep the fans
engaged with the band and make them feel closer this is a clever way to keep
and gain fans as it gives them a chance to meet their idols. Another link
throughout my ancillary texts are the photo shoots that we completed we wanted
the band to be in a natural positions for example just walking which is shown
on my poster or looking at a view of Tower Bridge which is shown on the
digipak. This is a regular convention of indie rock bands such as Oasis’s album
‘definitely maybe’. It is pop stars that are usually posing for the camera
therefore it is more of an Indie Rock attitude to go against the usual hegemonic
values in society and be disobedient.
Overall, there is a clear
link between my main product and my ancillary tasks as I have made sure there
are clear relationships by following themes such as using images of London,
using a black and white colour scheme and keeping to the same appearance. The
relationship between them all is an important aspect as said before the audience
should know if they see a poster they could easily spot the album in a store.
Evaluation 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
In
what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
When
creating a music video it is important that you recognise that depending on
your genre of music there are different codes and conventions and it is up to
the creators to either follow, develop or challenge them. As a group we decided to use an Indie Rock
song as we came to an agreement that when looking at us as a group we look more
like an Indie Rock band than a rap group. Once we found a song that we all
liked Kasabian’s Club Foot I started to research many Indie rock bands
including Arctic Monkeys, the Kooks, Oasis and Kasabian. From this I found that
Indie rock band Music videos are very performance based and even though some
music videos had a small narrative the core of the music video was the band
performance therefore we felt that we had to include this in our music video.
The performance scene in our music video also followed codes and conventions as
nearly all the music videos I researched such as the Kasabian Club Foot music
video had a main singer which was the main focus in the performance scene as
there were many close ups of him. Therefore, we wanted to follow this
convention of the Indie rock genre as we felt it was important that we make
sure the audience knows what genre codes and convention we are following.
As mentioned
before the main convention that we followed was the performance within the
music video however as a group we did decide to follow more. When researching I
noticed that a lot of music videos were edited into black and white which are connotations
of the Indie Rock genre as it gives a dark feel to the video which complements
our video as there it features violence. Also all the band in our music video follow the common convention
of Indie Rock costumes by wearing casual, dark clothing such as black skinny
jeans and dark jackets. Regarding the Mise-en-scene in the music video we mostly
follow all conventions of an Indie Rock music video such as close-ups of the
lead singer and close-ups of instruments to make it explicitly clear that we
are an Indie Rock band and that we mostly concentrate on our music which is a
common attitude in this genre.
When thinking as a group about the codes and
conventions we decided that we wanted to challenge some, which in this case was
that we wanted a long narrative to feature. Even though we followed the convention
of including a performance, the most of the video is of the narrative. I
thought this was a good idea because as a group we enjoy filmmaking therefore this
was a big advantage for us as it allowed us to be more creative with the
narrative which think improved our music video. Also I feel that this improved
the music video as it engages the audience a lot more and leaves them wanting
to know what happens at the end.
It is important when creating and researching about
music videos that you should acknowledge Andrew Goodwin who is an important
theorist within music videos as he states a list of rules that usually feature
in most music videos. We decided to follow some of the rules stated such as a relationship
between lyrics and visuals for example when the lyrics say ‘chase down an empty
street’ we have our main character running down a road. Another example is when
the lyrics mention ‘blood’ we show a close-up of the antagonist with blood on
his face. Also we followed the rule with the relationship between music and
visuals which we mainly did during the editing stage. This is due to having
certain cuts on when the beat changes. A key example of this is when the song
drops and a drum is heard we show Charlie the drummer hitting the drums on that
exact point. Andrew Goodwin also mentions that there are Intertextual
references throughout music videos therefore as a group we attempted to think
of an idea to do with the narrative of the music video which is to do with
fighting. In the end we thought of the idea of recreating the famous Rocky
scene where he runs up the stairs as part of his training.
As a group we also wanted to develop certain codes and
conventions that Goodwin states which we chose to develop voyeurism. We did
this by doing shots such as shooting through a car wing mirror of the main
character running. We explicitly developed voyeurism in the fighting scene at
the end of the video where it is shown through a CCTV camera which I feel that
we took the voyeurism element to a different level. This shot was difficult to
capture due to difficulties in getting the camera to a high point of view as we
didn’t have access to the appropriate equipment such as a crane shot.
Therefore, we had to adapt in which will used ladders and wooden planks to
balance the tripod on.
Overall, I feel that our music does use, develop and
challenge all different codes and conventions of music videos in the Indie Rock
genre. I feel that we have used the appropriate conventions of performance but
have also challenged certain conventions where it is necessary for us to be improved
such as having a longer narrative. Also I feel it developing a convention was
essential for making our music video more unique which intrigues the audience.
Digipak Final Piece
Above is my digipak final piece. I have made some changes since my last draft as I have moved the CD and the DVD into the correct places on the digipak and have turned them upside down. This is because when you put the digipak together the panels on the top would be up right as you have to fold them downwards. Also I have drastically changed my top right panel as I felt that he raffle ticket looked unprofessional however I still wanted the idea of interacting with the audience and giving the fans a chance to meet the band. Therefore instead of putting the code onto a raffle ticket I decided to put it in a box going across an image of the band. This allows it to be clearly understood and gives off a professional effect as I felt my second draft looked substandard. Also I have added spines to the digipak which I chose a grey colour by using the tool on Photoshop of which you can take colours from other images to get an exact colour. I took a grey colour form the track listing panel and used it as my spine.
Advert Poster- Final Piece
I haven't made any changes since my previous draft this is because I felt if I added more features to the poster the poster would be overrun and not give a clear image of the band. Our band strives through our band image and I felt it was important that we were the centre of the poster therefore I didn't want to distort our image. I have been attempting to improve the fonts on the poster however I feel that this is the appropriate font and font colour to use as it is the exact same as my digipak therefore I wanted to keep continuity so the audience can recognise that both products are connected.
Tuesday, 18 March 2014
Shoot 7
Shoot 7- Performance Part 2
The 7th shoot that we did was more band footage of us performing. As a group we knew we needed more performance as a whole band as most of the footage we had so far was close-ups and shots of me, the main singer, therefore we needed more of the guitarists and drummer. We again used the equipment supplied by the music department and the room supplied by the drama department. We definitely needed footage of the whole band as it is a key convention of an Indie rock band to show the band performing. As this was the second shoot we all knew what we was doing and got straight into it unlike the first shoot which we were unsure. Therefore, we developed our knowledge and knew what we wanted to capture.
In this shoot we decided to get more camera movements so the audience is more engaged. we used a trolley found in the drama department and a dolly and conducted a pan shot. Also I feel one of the most successful shots we did was the handheld camera as it gave the scene a different feel and gave the right affect of a band performance. also we felt that it was appropriate to get a shot of each member of the band performing just for editing purposes as you can hear certain instruments at certain times in the song and we want to use the Goodwin convention of relationship between music and visuals.
Overall, this shooting session was a success as it was a much quicker session and we accomplished a lot more in a shorter time period. Also I feel that we got a lot more interesting shots due to different movements such as panning and tracking. This gave the music video a different dimension which keeps the audience engaged.
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