Thursday 28 March 2013
Evaluation:In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
We decided to use forms and conventions of existing metal
music videos when creating our own so that the audience can instantly recognise
it as such. We used mainly a performance based narrative as this fits with the
artist being focused on the music, and the fact that they actually play their
own instruments.
We used the conventions of setting our music video in a wood
as this is quite common in metal music videos such as Miss May I-Masses of a
Dying Breed
We also used strobe lights as a way of using conventions, another video that does this is Bullet for my Valentine-Riot. This reflects the aggressive nature of the music and makes the video appear faster paced.
We dressed our actors mainly in black and they wore t-shirts
and jumpers with other bands logos on them as we found this was a common
convention used in music videos of the heavy metal genre. This can be seen in
Papa Roach- Where did the Angles go
Goodwins theories:
A particular music genre may have their own music video
style and iconography (such as a live stage performance in heavy rock)
We applied this by having a largely performance based video,
however we set it in a car park which had harsh florescent lights as we thought
this went with the ‘end of the world’ theme.
There is a demand on the part of the record company for lots
of close-ups of the main artist.
We did use this, such as for the close up on the vocalists
face but we also used close ups of the instruments such as the hand as they
play guitar as this means that although we are marketing them we are also
focused on the music and not their appearance.
Evaluation:What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
To conduct audience feedback we used the website Survey
Monkey to create a survey for people to answer after they've watched our music
video and we also filmed people watching our video and talking through what
they did and didn't like.
From our research we have found that a majority of people
who listen to music like Rock/Punk/Metal understood our video and generally
they liked it, giving it an average rating of four. Whilst people who prefer
pop/indie/chart music said they didn't really ‘get’ the video and gave it an
average rating of 3.5. I think this shows that we have produced an effective
video as our target market seem to like it and although pop listeners may not
have thought so highly of the video I think this is to be expected.
Our video was watched by a vast range of different people
and we collected data from people aged 16-53. Although we had targeted our
video at teenagers we were not overly specific and we hoped that people of all
ages would enjoy it. I think this is definitely reflected in our feedback as
nobody has said it was too mature/immature for them. Metal music is obviously
listened to by people of all ages and we wanted to make sure that we recognized
this in our video, whilst making sure that it appealed to teenagers.
We've also learnt that a majority of our own thoughts and
feelings about the video are reflected in our audience feedback. People have
said that they enjoyed how our video circled back by using the same opening and
closing shot, that they liked the fast paced editing and the strobe lighting
whilst raising issues about our blocking of the band and the lack of a story
narrative. However we learnt that people really liked the scenes shot in the
wood which was something I had not thought would be a favourite bit.
Overall people rated our video as 3.8 which is very good and
I am pleased with this.
Audience feedback-1
Audience Feedback-2
Audience Feedback-3
Screen shots from the replies to our survey.
Evaluation: How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Social Media
This video shows how we used democratic, web 2.0, social media during all stages of production to help us. We found the artist through Facebook and then went on to contact them and acquire copyright for the song. In the evaluation stages we used Facebook as a platform to advertise our product and to try and gain some audience feedback.
This video shows how we used democratic, web 2.0, social media during all stages of production to help us. We found the artist through Facebook and then went on to contact them and acquire copyright for the song. In the evaluation stages we used Facebook as a platform to advertise our product and to try and gain some audience feedback.
For our audience feedback we used Survey Monkey to create a
survey with relevant questions, this was a lot easier than it would have been
in the past because there was no need to print out many copies of the survey
and physically hand them to people for them to complete. As we were able to
post this link online it meant we could access a wider demographic of people.
This was good as we wanted to get as much feedback from as many different types
of people as possible.
Coming back to Facebook we were also able to access their
band profile on Reverbnation through their page and so we could listen to all
their songs and decide which we should make a video for.
We used YouTube in the research and planning stages to look
up similar bands and watch their music videos to try and gain an understanding
of codes and conventions. We also then used it to upload our finished product
so that it was easily found by our audience.
We again used YouTube in our evaluation to upload the various videos we
had created.
As well as this we used Blogger throughout the whole process
to keep a documented account of all the work we were doing and as a place to
share our products. This was good as Blogger allows the user to post a range of
multimedia such as images, video and hyperlinks which kept our blog interesting
and expanded upon our writing to give a visual element. It also meant that we
could receive feedback via comments from anyone who had accessed our blog
through google or other means.
When filming we used a Cannon legria HV40 video camera. This
records high quality images which was essential for some of our shots. We used
the focus button a lot during filming so that the foreground was in focus
whilst blurring the background as we thought this made it look a lot more
dramatic as the detail was clean and clear. We recorded all our footage onto a
tape which we could then import later using a firewire.
We used an Apple Mac equipped with the industry standard
editing software Final Cut Pro to do our editing. This meant we were able to
make our video look as professional as possible by using effects such as colour
enhancements, strobe lighting and transitions like dip to colour dissolve for
the montage at the start of the song. We were also able to add the bands
details at the start and end of the song as well as the Scuzz logo to the top
left corner which made it look professional.
In reference to audio we bought and downloaded the song of
iTunes and we were then able to import this into Final Cut pro. We used audio
software Audacity to cut the end of the song as we just felt that the instrumental
went on for a bit long and that our video would be more dramatic if we didn’t draw
it out to much.
For the Digipak and magazine advert we used photoshop to
edit the drawn pictures and to add text over the top. Although, as it was hand
drawn, we did not use it an overt amount.
For the evaluation we also used online presentation device
Prezi to make an interesting and interactive presentation that answers question
two.
Monday 14 January 2013
Main Task: Reflecting on our first cut.
After reviewing our music video we have realised that in
some parts of it our variety of shot distances and angles were not appropriate.
For example at 0:14 these is a shot of the guitarist strumming one not on his guitar, this is the first shot the audience will see of the band and there are a few things that could be improved. As we have used Final Cut Pro to zoom in on this shot in post-production the shotis more blurry and grainy than other, non zoomed in on, shots and it takes away from the overall effect. We also originally shot in straight on and this does not make it look very dramatic. When we reshoot we will use a lower angle to make the subject appear more powerful. This is also true of the whole band shots at 0:17, 0:23, 0:53, 1:00, 1:04, 1:13, 1:17, 1:37 and 2:06. At 0:39 the angle is okay, however it has been zoomed in on in post production and this makes it too blurry.
By reshooting these shots we can make the music video more professional as a convention of metal music videos is to make the band look big and powerful, which will be accomplished by changing some of the angles we have used.
For example at 0:14 these is a shot of the guitarist strumming one not on his guitar, this is the first shot the audience will see of the band and there are a few things that could be improved. As we have used Final Cut Pro to zoom in on this shot in post-production the shotis more blurry and grainy than other, non zoomed in on, shots and it takes away from the overall effect. We also originally shot in straight on and this does not make it look very dramatic. When we reshoot we will use a lower angle to make the subject appear more powerful. This is also true of the whole band shots at 0:17, 0:23, 0:53, 1:00, 1:04, 1:13, 1:17, 1:37 and 2:06. At 0:39 the angle is okay, however it has been zoomed in on in post production and this makes it too blurry.
By reshooting these shots we can make the music video more professional as a convention of metal music videos is to make the band look big and powerful, which will be accomplished by changing some of the angles we have used.
Another aspect we have chosen to focus on is framing a shot,
including and excluding elements as appropriate.
We filmed in a car park as there was one part of it with stone walls and harsh lighting, which we thought would look good for our music video idea but as we filmed here it was hard to keep cars from the shot as we were surrounded by them due to the fact that we were filming at peak time and it was busier than it was when we first went location scouting. We do not want cars in shot as we think this makes it look low-budget and the cars do not fit with the rest of the music video.
So, at 0:49, 1:25 and 1:28 we have to reshoot to make sure these cars are not included. Also at 1:06 there is a reflection of the cars in the bass drum, which is not as obvious as the other shots but ideally we would still refilm this as it is these small details that will make our video look professional.
We filmed in a car park as there was one part of it with stone walls and harsh lighting, which we thought would look good for our music video idea but as we filmed here it was hard to keep cars from the shot as we were surrounded by them due to the fact that we were filming at peak time and it was busier than it was when we first went location scouting. We do not want cars in shot as we think this makes it look low-budget and the cars do not fit with the rest of the music video.
So, at 0:49, 1:25 and 1:28 we have to reshoot to make sure these cars are not included. Also at 1:06 there is a reflection of the cars in the bass drum, which is not as obvious as the other shots but ideally we would still refilm this as it is these small details that will make our video look professional.
In post production we also need to work on our mise-en-scene
including colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting. The main thing we need
to focus on is the lighting.
Due to filming at different times the lighting changes between shots and this makes it look jarring and draw the eye to the inaccuracies in colour instead of the shot itself, such as from 0:32-0:33 and 0:51-0:52. To change this we will edit it using final cut pro. We will do this by using the colour corrector wheel and finding a suitable lighting level for all the shots, we will then transfer this over to all the performance aspects of the video so that all shots have the same lighting and colour tones. This will improve on the flow of the video and stop it from looking so displaced.
We also feel that we could improve using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set.
This is because our song is heavy metal/metalcore and so there are certain expectations from the audience and the conventions of this genre are quite rigorous. Some of our shots, such as at 2:33 where there is a mushroom in harsh lighting and at 2:34, a teddy bear, don’t really match these conventions and expectations.
Whilst originally we used these shots as we thought they would add to the narrative we can now see that with the whole music video put together they do not match up with the rest of the mise-en-scene and this makes the audience confused and ask the wrong kind of questions. As they disrupt from the flow of the video we have decided to simply remove them. But to do this we must make sure we film more scenes to replace them.
Due to filming at different times the lighting changes between shots and this makes it look jarring and draw the eye to the inaccuracies in colour instead of the shot itself, such as from 0:32-0:33 and 0:51-0:52. To change this we will edit it using final cut pro. We will do this by using the colour corrector wheel and finding a suitable lighting level for all the shots, we will then transfer this over to all the performance aspects of the video so that all shots have the same lighting and colour tones. This will improve on the flow of the video and stop it from looking so displaced.
We also feel that we could improve using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set.
This is because our song is heavy metal/metalcore and so there are certain expectations from the audience and the conventions of this genre are quite rigorous. Some of our shots, such as at 2:33 where there is a mushroom in harsh lighting and at 2:34, a teddy bear, don’t really match these conventions and expectations.
Whilst originally we used these shots as we thought they would add to the narrative we can now see that with the whole music video put together they do not match up with the rest of the mise-en-scene and this makes the audience confused and ask the wrong kind of questions. As they disrupt from the flow of the video we have decided to simply remove them. But to do this we must make sure we film more scenes to replace them.
Using a varied shot transitions, captions and other effects selectively
and appropriately for the task set is something that overall we have done quite
well. On the other hand we could still improve upon our music video by using
these better.
For example at 1:38 we use the effect ‘blink’ to create an almost strobe light effect on the video and we have decided to cut down on our use of this and remove it from 2:05 onwards as we thought it was a bit too disorientating and took away focus from the actual shots we were using.
We have also decided to us the captions at the start/end over the music video saying the band name, name of the song and distributer as this will make it look more professional and will hopefully improve the viewing for the audience.
For example at 1:38 we use the effect ‘blink’ to create an almost strobe light effect on the video and we have decided to cut down on our use of this and remove it from 2:05 onwards as we thought it was a bit too disorientating and took away focus from the actual shots we were using.
We have also decided to us the captions at the start/end over the music video saying the band name, name of the song and distributer as this will make it look more professional and will hopefully improve the viewing for the audience.
Monday 7 January 2013
Wednesday 5 December 2012
Main Task: Filming log.
Today we re-filmed our scenes shot in the wood location and I feel like this went very well.
The lighting today was a lot better than it had been previously as there was a lot more sun which meant the camera could pick up on more intricate details. As we are going to be darkening all the shots to make it seem scarier anyway, it does not really matter about the actual sunlight however having it just means that when we do darken the shots it wont be grainy and unfocused.
The problem that this presents is that it may be difficult to match the wood scenes we have just filmed with the old ones, as some may be of a different quality, and this may ruin the continuity of the shots, which is really something we need to avoid.
To combat this we could put all of the wood scenes in black and white, or sepia. As well as being practical this could also enhance our video as both black and white and sepia connotes a different time period, or something a bit surreal and this would work with our apocalypse theme.
The lighting today was a lot better than it had been previously as there was a lot more sun which meant the camera could pick up on more intricate details. As we are going to be darkening all the shots to make it seem scarier anyway, it does not really matter about the actual sunlight however having it just means that when we do darken the shots it wont be grainy and unfocused.
The problem that this presents is that it may be difficult to match the wood scenes we have just filmed with the old ones, as some may be of a different quality, and this may ruin the continuity of the shots, which is really something we need to avoid.
To combat this we could put all of the wood scenes in black and white, or sepia. As well as being practical this could also enhance our video as both black and white and sepia connotes a different time period, or something a bit surreal and this would work with our apocalypse theme.
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