Evaluation Question 4

HOW DID YOU USE NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES IN THE CONSTRUCTION, RESEARCH AND PLANNING AND EVALUATION STAGES?

Without the use of Media Technolgoies this project I think would have been near on impossible. When I try and think about a part of our project which hasn't used media technolgoies, it's pretty much impossible to do!

Our use of media technologies started early in the year September when we were asked to look through several music videos on YouTube to get inspirations for our own products. YouTube was a huge help to our music video, not only for getting inspiration for it but also for the research and planning and production stages as well. Without it, we would never have been able to distribute the video to our friends and family so that they could watch it. As well as YouTube, social media like Facebook and Twitter were hugely beneficial to us as well, as it helped us keep our fan base (albeit small!) up to date with what was going on with the music video and how we were progressing. Without these two bases, we wouldn't have had any way of letting our friends and family know that the video was completed, and would never have got as any views on our YouTube video as we did.

In terms of producing the actual video, media technologies became crucial to use once again, with our editing software iMovie being used more than anything, as this is what we did absolutely everything on. We uploaded the video onto there, edited it, added special effects, rendered it, cut it, stabilised it to name but a few. Without iMovie it would have been a disaster, and I think we took it for granted at times as we sometimes complained when it was being slow! As well as this, we had to log our progress on Blogger. I think Blogger is brilliant, it engages us to want to update the blog and is far it's far easier and more interactive than just handwriting our progress into a book. Information in the blog looks far more organised and smarter as well and just gives off a more aesthetically pleasing product.

Of course, it comes to even simpler things than that as well, as everything we did from the editing to the research to the blogging, was done on our MacBook Pro's, which was essentially the main hub for our project, as we literally did everything on it. All of the media technologies I have listed above were used on the MacBook, which just goes to show how much we took that for granted as well. Lastly, we had the camera, of which we used two, the Canon EOS 7D and my mobile phone, the Samsung Galaxy S3. Both were used to good effect and were massively influential to us, as they both have the ability to choose in HD 1080p video, which obviously makes the whole project a lot better. As well as being able to film on my mobile, it also allowed me to update Twitter, Facebook, Blogger and YouTube. So similar to the MacBook Pro, it was like a second media hub for me to work from.

Last, but by no means least is the use of the Green Screen, which for me is arguably the best part of the video. We used it twice in the whole process. Once when were just experimenting with the green screen, and second in the beginning of the video when we used the puzzle effect. This time last year there was no way we could have have the ability to use it, as I don't think our knowledge would be broad enough. It was a massive learning curve for me and only made me want to explore special effects similar to the green screen further, Although the greens creen was not crucial to use, i.e. we could have gone without it, I still think it's a massive asset to our final product.

Overall, you can see that media technologies were massively influential to our final product, from start to finish, and to be honest I don't know what we would have down without any of the things I have listed above. It would be interesting to see how our product would have turned out if we were forbidden from using media technologies, as I think it would have been very different indeed.

Evaluation Question 3

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM YOUR AUDIENCE FEEDBACK?

When we first set about planning what sort of target audience we wanted to target, we wanted to make sure that we got it spot on. Our intende target audience was at first young girls aged 12-20. But when we chose to change our song choice this changed to a much more diverse/older group. With Michael Buble as our inspiration, we discovered that his target audience was women between the ages of 35-55. But seeing as our artist James Thompson was younger than Buble, so we knew that we could stretch this age band a bit further, and decided that our target audience should be for women (and possibly men) aged 20-50.

In terms of audience feedback, we knew that it would be hugely important to the overall finished product, as if our audience feedback was bad, the whole thing would be a complete disaster, and the whole product and brand identity would be effectively ruined. However we also knew that family and friends would be nice whatever they thought of it, so it was important that we made sure they gave their absolute honest opinion about the music video. Have a watch of the video again to refresh your mind and then I've given a couple of examples of our feedback and responses we got below.

Our video now has over 300 views on YouTube, which I think is amazing, as we are only a small school with less than 300 students so the fact that within only a few days of it being online we have that many views is brilliant, and we are so so happy with it. I got a fair few text messages and tweets and messages on Facebook from people praising the video. Take a look below at a couple of screen grabs I took.

As you can see, a lot of our audience feedback was really good, and we also had a lot of verbal feedback as well. We had some comments on the YouTube video as well which praised the video, some from people that we don't even know, so that's even better!

Overall, I have learnt a lot form my audience feedback, as there were a lot of comments with people suggesting where we could make improvements. For example, one or two people spotted that the lip syncing was slightly out of sync on the first couple of shots, but this quickly corrected itself for the rest of the video. So we learnt that we should have gone over our video more when it was finalised and exported from iMovie, as when we did we more or less put it straight on YouTube. This was probably quite a careless thing for us to do, bit we were lucky that that was the only problem with the video. Audience feedback would obviously be even more important if we had to make another music video, so we acted as if we did, and conducted a focus group interviews with a Media Studies class form the lower school, and they were quite difficult to get answers out of, but once we did we got some good comments out of them, with some saying that they could definitely see a strong relationship beween the lyrics and the visuals, which was a massive compliment to be made, as I myself didn't see it, but this may have been because I watched the video over and over again!

I feel happier about the finished product now that we've got audience feedback, as I don't just look as it as I'd see it, but I see it from other peoples points of views as well.

Evaluation Question 2

HOW EFFECTIVE IS THE COMBINATION OF YOUR MAIN AND ANCILLIARY TEXTS?

The ancillary products I chose to do were the digipak and the poster and in order to combine my music video with the digipak and the poster, I had to create a brand identity for my artist. To achieve this, and to try and be a bit different, Jack and I decided to create our own production company called Mitchell Cooper Productions. This meant that we could easily advertise through social media and make it look as if MC Productions were a record label of sorts.

When looking at the digipak and the music video and the poster it is clear to see that we have created a recognisable brand identity for James Thompson. He is a suave and sophisticated gentleman who cares for his appearance and reputation. When creating the digipak we wanted to use a font that we felt represented the personality of our artist. We must have searched through hundreds of fonts to find the right one for our digipak. We found Century Gophic and saw straight away that it was something that would suit James. Take a look at our poster below, and notice how we've use Century Gophic throughout it.

To create his identity, so to speak, we knew that it was important that we consistently used the same font throughout the digipak, the advert poster and the music video. In terms of selling out product to our audience, I think the smart layout and sophistication of the digipak effectively helps us do this. If we’d created a digipak that had lots of different fonts in it and was splashed with bright colours, it wouldn’t succeed, as it doesn’t suit our fan base, and they wouldn’t be pleased with a digipak like that. I hope that our audience associate a smart and suave gentleman with a simplistic, black and white styled digipak and poster. I think the combination of the three products really make a professional looking rounded product. Without creating a relationship between the video, digipak and poster makes it difficult for us to sell it as a package, so my using similar photos, the same font and the same style/wording throughout the whole product sells it all as one whole bundle, as appose to selling the music video, the digipak and the advert poster separately.  

Evaluation Question 1

 IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

 My music video was intended to use conventions from current and previous media in order to establish a recognisable image that would involve my intended audience instantly. For instance, from my research of inspiration for video, I had to gain an understanding of the basic forms and cobnetions used in a music video. When looking into theorists like Laura Mulvey (Male Gaze) and David Gauntlett.  I noticed that artists' music videos were either narrative or performance based, meaning that they either tell a stoey or a a performance in which the audience are directly involved. I chose to make a video that would be performance-based as it complemented my artist and his style of music. A narrative based video would contradict with my artist as he is more of a performer/entertainer rather than a vocalist with an instrument (Ed Sheeran).          

Music Video

In terms of conventions I used from real media products, there are several. Firstly, I used a black and white filter over the beginning of the video when the song was quite slow in tempo. A lot of inspiration came from the Michael Buble 'Feeling Good' video, as that also has low key lighting at the beginning. Take a look at the two screen grabs below.

I felt this was a very effective convention as it reflected the mood of the artist as the beginning of the song, and is sort of what you would expect to see given the tempo of the song, i.e. you wouldn't expect nor would you want to see big flashing lights and bright colours when the song is somewhat slow and solom.

Digipak

I also used conventions from real media texts when it came to the digipak. After analysing the Michael Buble’s ‘It’s Time’ album cover I knew that I wanted to make our digipak as simplistic as possible and I used Buble’s album cover as a drawing board to work from, and this massively helped me create the poster. One of the main coventions used throughout the digipak was the fact that we used the same font throughout the whole digipak. We especially used Buble as an inspiration when it came to the front cover of the album.Again, take a look at the screen grabs below and see the similarities between our front cover and that of Michael Bubles.

Like the 'It's Time' album cover, all we have to see is a picture of the artist, the name of the artist and the name of the album. I think this simplicity, which I've been talking about a lot, works really well. Not just for any digipak, but especially for that of this smart and sophisticated artist that we created. There are some differences as well however, where we do not conform with the conventions of the 'It;s Time' album. We decided not to cut out the artist and stick him on a white background as we wanted to let the audience know that he is a stage performer, and when looking at this you can see that he's on stage, as there is a haze of smoke behind him and he is holding a microphone. This we hope would attract the consumer in and make them look further into our artist, and hopefully purchase the album.

Poster

Again for the poster we kept it very simple, and used inspiration from the Michael Buble 'It's Time' album. Our poster is alongside Buble's below.

Notice how we used the convention of directly addressing the camera/audience. This is good for us as we are using the idea of a performance based video and product. We also kept everything in black and white, as does Buble in his poster. Buble has used the same font on the poster and all of it is in lower case. We challenged this convention somehwhat by making all of the text on our poster in capital letters.

I hope that our use of conventions successfully appeals to our intended target audience, and that the simplicity and minimaslitic style of the digipak and the poster interests our audience. I hope the image of the James Bond /Michael Buble style gentleman opens up to a new type of fanbase, which is slightly younger than that of Buble/Bond. 

Music Video....DONE!

At last! We have FINALLY finished the music video after months and months of planning, research and tedious amounts of editing. We've uploaded the video onto our very own YouTube page and we have also spread the word on the MC Productions Facebook and Twitter page and on our personal social sites as well. I'm delighted with the finished product, and thing Jack and I have done a sterling job. We've already reached 100 views on YouTube which may not seem like a lot but I think it's a pretty impressive milestone given that it's only been online for a couple of days. So take a look at the video below, as we give you James Thompson with Feeling Good........

Poster - DONE!

As Jack was creating the digipak, it was my job to create the poster that would advertise the album. I used Microsoft Publisher to create the poster, as my skills with Photoshop aren't all that great. So, take a look below at the poster which advertises James Thompson's brand new album 'Wasted Love'.

Firstly, notice how the only colour i have used is in the bottom corners of the poster, with the MC Productions Logo and the Twitter, Facebook and Youtube advertisements This is because I wanted to keep the psoter as neutral as possible, and I didn't really want it to stand out a huge amount. So in  keeping with the Michael Buble convention of a lot of black and white, I decided to make the image of myself black and white and all of the text in just white.

In terms of the photo, it was one that we took on Brighton Pier, with me standing up against the white wall. I'm directly addressing the audience, which keeps with the theme of me making a performance based product/video. I also decided to make the text of 'James Thompson' the largest as I think it's the thing people want to know the most, as people walking past the poster in a train station or down a high street would see the picture of myself which they would know very well (as they would with Michael Buble) and the name of the artist as well, so they no straight away who it's for. This would hopefully make them stop and read more information on the poster.

Lastly, the consumer can find out more information about the artist and the album by going onto the website, the Twitter page, Facebook page or Youtube page. Overall I think this is a very simple yet effective poster which I am very happy with. The music video is very nearly done and will be uploaded on YouTube very soon.

Digipak - DONE!

Jack and I decided to share the work load when it came to creating the ancillary products. I opted to create the poster, and Jack decided to create the Digipak.

In this post I am going to analyse the Digipak that Jack created and discuss why he chose to do certain things he did with the digipak.

Front Cover

In keeping with Buble's 'It's Time' album, Jack chose to keep the front cover as simplistic as possible, and I think he's achieved this really well, and has done a good job of it. I really like the fact that there is a light shining onto him from behind almost placing him in a silhouette. I also like how there is no big colours distracting the consumers attention away from James in the centre of the picture. The font we used was also very simple as well (Century Gophic) and I like how it looks smart in is in keeping with the smartness of our artist.

As well as this, there is a light shining from the back of the text, much like there is in the middle of the front cover behind James as well. I like how there is a constant relationship between the visuals and the font on the front cover, which Jack has done a really good job on!

Back Cover

There's a lot more going on on this page than there is on the front cover, as the back cover has to provide information about track listings, legal information and other information about the artist. However, it is still in keep with the smart and formal look, as there are no big brash colours used. Once again there is a light shining from behind (in front of in this case) James which again makes him look as if he is in silhouette.

Jack also made sure he used the same font as well, which makes everything consistent and overall more aesthetically pleasing.

Inside Cover & Lyrics Page

We took this panorama image when we were at Leeds Castle as more of an experiment than anything. It was only when we looked back at it we realised that it would be a perfect addition to the digipak. Once again Jack made sure he used the same font as he had on the front and back covers. I think that this is one of my favourite parts of the digipak, as it uses a double page spread and I think we've been quite unique with using a panorama image, as not many digipaks that we looked at have panoramas in them. Again we've kept the simplicity running through the digipak, and again the only text we've used on this part is the name of the artist and the name of the album.

For the lyrics page Jack used one of the Leeds Castle photos again, and this again I think has worked really really well. Jack adjusted the depth of field to make me stand out more and the castle in the background blur out slightly. In keeping with the same font we put the lyrics of the song on the page, next to me, where I am directly addressing the camera/audience, in keeping with performance based narrative of the whole product.

CD

Lastly, we have the CD itself, and we go back to photos from the stage performance. Again, there is the light shining from behind the artist, placing him (me) in a silhouette again. There is also the track listing on the CD as well, and of course the same font as been used again, as it has been throughout the whole digipak.

Overall I think Jack has done a cracking job of the digipak, and if I were to go out and spend £10 on a CD and pulled out this digipak I would not ask any questions about it, as I think it looks very professional and smart. I'm glad the digipak has worked well, as I think it's just as important as the music video itself, as it creates the identity of James just as much as the video does.