Friday, 10 December 2010
Monday, 6 December 2010
Evaluation question 4c
How did you use media technologies during the evaluation stages?
We used media technologies in a number of ways throughout the evaluation stages of our project, one of these was the camera for filming our audience feedback. We used the camera to record this footage to a high standard.
We then used the fire wire to transfer this footage from the camera onto the mac.
After this we uploaded this footage using the mac onto YouTube as we did with our completed music video, so that it could be accessed quickly and easily and then placed onto our blogs.
Friday, 3 December 2010
Our completed music video :)
After uploading our completed music video onto YouTube, I was then able to put it onto my blog. Here is our final completed music video.
Other music videos of the punk rock genre, such as our music video, although conform to certain aspects of the genre, for example including live band performances, also embrace many aspects from other media genres for example animation and documentaries, most often to create a comic effect. In our video we have tried to echo this kind of idea through the use of live band performances and so adhering to the rock genre, but also by referencing to another genre - the stereotypical teen drama, where everything goes badly for the protagonist, we did this to add humour to our video.
However, this kind of humour may make the representations within the music video arguable or harder to distinguish, for example by using humour as a theme, our video would not be taken very seriously, and so if we were to tackle some more serious issues, it may not make a lot of sense to the viewer.
Some of the key shots we have used in our music video are:
Match on action was used when we created a fluid sequence using different camera angles, for example when we filmed our main character running up the steps, then we filmed him from a different angle going onward once he had reached the top.
The pace of our narrative, both the narrative shots and the band shots matches the speed of the music, which is also another example of match on action.
We used a variety of different camera angles and movement, including low angle shots when filming the band, in particular the singer, to remind the audience that they are the main purpose for the video and the creators of the song.
We also used close ups, for example of our protagonist to make the messages we portrayed very clear and understandable.
An over the shoulder shot was used when filming the drummer, to show the audience what he was doing and showing how it fits with the music. This is also an example of match on action.
We used a tilt shot when scanning the band's lead singer vertically, from them singing down to their feet when the band have a unique dance to this song. This gives a realistic effect and gives a direct focus on the band members themselves.
Finally we used lots of short shots because this helps to keep the pace with our music synchronized and fast, which fits in with our chosen music genre.
Evaluation Question 2
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
We have tried to use similar themes throughout both our print work and our completed music video, to make all three media pieces cohesive. We have done this in many different ways.
A key example that makes our main product cohesive with our ancillary texts is the main character used, for example the 'nerd' from our music video is also included in the one of the inserts for our final printed product. This makes the direct connection between the character in the video and his photo in our print work, allowing the audience to make the link between the similar themes and ideas we have presented. The audience would have had to watch our music video to make this link with the character in print, which connects the different pieces of media work together. The protagonist from our music video gives a key portrayal of the lyrics in the song, and the way we have interpreted them. For example, he has no real friends, and he gets all his power in life through the Internet and the abilities he has with it. So the themes he presents, through showing him in both the music video and in one of our inserts is fantasy vs reality, and being a stereotypical teenager and the everyday problems they would face, i.e. social rejection and isolation.
Our video is also cohesive with our ancillary texts as it uses visuals of the band, for example in the basement, which is where we filmed the band for the non-narrative parts of our music video. This therefore keeps the themes involved within our chosen music genre, punk-rock. By using these particular band visuals we are also making it clear to the audience that the band are the focus of our media products, and that our portrayal of them and their songs is key to representing them in a certain way, a way that would be seen as correct and appealing. These kind of ideas would be that the band are real people and easy to relate to, through the fact that they are performing in a basement, this shows that they are willing to work hard and also seem isolated, as they are not performing to an audience, which means they are not as popular as well known bands would be. This overall theme creates realism, that the band are honest and true to themselves, and do not need the approval of others. So the use of these images in both our music video and our print work emphasizes these themes and ideas.
In our print work we have also included some of the postmodern references used in our music video, for example 'Call of duty', in one of our particular inserts we have introduced the theme of fantasy versus reality, a theme that is touched upon within our chosen song and our music video. The fact that the protagonist in our video sees himself in a different way to the way other people see him is a key theme we have worked with throughout both our music video and our ancillary texts. This reference to 'Call of duty' also links to the main song on our CD, the one that we have focused our music video on (Internet) this makes it known that this is the main song within our media project, and therefore the CD print work is cohesive with our music video through this reference.
Therefore we have made our three different media works cohesive with each other, to portray the overall themes and ideas behind our completed media products and emphasize what we are most importantly trying to portray through our work.
We have tried to use similar themes throughout both our print work and our completed music video, to make all three media pieces cohesive. We have done this in many different ways.
A key example that makes our main product cohesive with our ancillary texts is the main character used, for example the 'nerd' from our music video is also included in the one of the inserts for our final printed product. This makes the direct connection between the character in the video and his photo in our print work, allowing the audience to make the link between the similar themes and ideas we have presented. The audience would have had to watch our music video to make this link with the character in print, which connects the different pieces of media work together. The protagonist from our music video gives a key portrayal of the lyrics in the song, and the way we have interpreted them. For example, he has no real friends, and he gets all his power in life through the Internet and the abilities he has with it. So the themes he presents, through showing him in both the music video and in one of our inserts is fantasy vs reality, and being a stereotypical teenager and the everyday problems they would face, i.e. social rejection and isolation.
Our video is also cohesive with our ancillary texts as it uses visuals of the band, for example in the basement, which is where we filmed the band for the non-narrative parts of our music video. This therefore keeps the themes involved within our chosen music genre, punk-rock. By using these particular band visuals we are also making it clear to the audience that the band are the focus of our media products, and that our portrayal of them and their songs is key to representing them in a certain way, a way that would be seen as correct and appealing. These kind of ideas would be that the band are real people and easy to relate to, through the fact that they are performing in a basement, this shows that they are willing to work hard and also seem isolated, as they are not performing to an audience, which means they are not as popular as well known bands would be. This overall theme creates realism, that the band are honest and true to themselves, and do not need the approval of others. So the use of these images in both our music video and our print work emphasizes these themes and ideas.
In our print work we have also included some of the postmodern references used in our music video, for example 'Call of duty', in one of our particular inserts we have introduced the theme of fantasy versus reality, a theme that is touched upon within our chosen song and our music video. The fact that the protagonist in our video sees himself in a different way to the way other people see him is a key theme we have worked with throughout both our music video and our ancillary texts. This reference to 'Call of duty' also links to the main song on our CD, the one that we have focused our music video on (Internet) this makes it known that this is the main song within our media project, and therefore the CD print work is cohesive with our music video through this reference.
Therefore we have made our three different media works cohesive with each other, to portray the overall themes and ideas behind our completed media products and emphasize what we are most importantly trying to portray through our work.
Evaluation Question 3
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
The first question we asked was our audience's favourite part of the video. We had a mixture of answers, from the band members playing and particular instruments for example the band, they said this because the music was in time with the action on screen. This shows that our synchronizing was successful.
Another favourite part from our audience was the effects we used, for example the speeded up clip of our character running up the steps. This was effective both as a postmodern reference and for entertainment purposes.
Our second question was what their least favourite part of the video was and why. Two of our female audience members claimed that it was too male orientated, this could be seen as correct as the main target audience for a punk rock video is teenage males, so perhaps if we wished to challenge the forms of our music genre more, we could have placed some other elements that would reach a wider audience i.e. females.
Another least favourite part was the repeated clips. However, we did choose to do this specifically. This was to emphasize certain parts of our video, and also because those particular clips match the lyrics, and therefore when the lyrics repeated, we repeated the shots.
A final least favourite part was at the very end, where our action was misinterpreted. Our character is supposed to have run a race and done badly, so the person timing the race stops his stopwatch and shakes his head. However, one of the audience members did not perceive this, they thought it was a spray can, therefore if we were to redo it, we would take extra care to make sure that each part was completely clear as to what we are showing.
Our third question was what could be improved in our video. One of the answers we received was the shakiness of the camera, sometimes it created a natural effect, but other times it just looked lacking. To improve on this we could have used the tripod more often whenever we could to make the filming more stable.
Another improvement that was mentioned was the lighting, that although we had changed the contrast on some of the clips, it was just not possible to do it on all of our clips, therefore some appeared lighter than others, making the video seem less real and professional.
Our fourth question was what is similar and what is different when comparing our music video with other's from the same genre. A difference was the overall quality of the video, for instance the lack of funding and equipment we had meant that our video lacked the professionalism that other punk rock videos have.
A similarity was the use of both narrative and band shots, which is a technique found in many other punk rock videos.
Our fifth question was whether our audience preferred the narrative or non-narrative action within our video.
3 of our audience members said that they preferred the band shots as it gave us a chance to use a range of different camera angles and movement, it also gave us the chance to use match on action. They also thought that the fact that the band were filmed in a basement went with the overall theme and music genre we had chosen.
However, one of our audience members said that they preferred the narrative because of its humour and relation the song lyrics themselves.
Our sixth question was the audience's favourite aspect of the video. One audience member said that they enjoyed the postmodern references and were able to identify with them, for example the reference to the film 'Rocky'. This meant that our postmodern references were obvious enough to be noticed without being too extravagant.
Another audience member liked the filming of the different instruments, especially the drums where it matched the music, again emphasizing the synchronizing we did.
Our seventh question was did the action match the song. All of our audience members commented on the fact that the action played out the lyrics, for example the references to myspace and the Internet as well as all the gaming references. They also commented on the fact that we have shots of the band's singer singing the lyrics along with our music, which gives the impression that he is singing the entire time, despite the fact that the song is recorded and playing over all the action.
We also received feedback for our print work. We were complimented on the use of the same photograph for two of our print images as it creates synergy between our different pieces. They also commented on one of our inserts where we have two photographs of the band that appear connected, although they are two separate images. They also liked the effect we used on this insert, having half of the insert in black and white and the other half in colour, this fits with our chosen music genre, involving dark and slightly sinister themes.
In our second insert the audience picked up on the theme, fantasy versus reality, showing our nerd realistically in his room, opposite an unnatural image portraying a fantasy world, where our main character has entered the game, this gives the impression of escapism, which was noted by our audience.
Finally they commented on the colour scheme we used, saying that it creates cohesion and makes direct links, tying our different pieces together.
The viewer also gave us some ways in which our print work could have been improved, for example if the audience had not seen our music video, then they may not be able to relate with one of our inserts, the one using our main character. Although it creates cohesion between our different media pieces, it would not be fully understood if the audience had not seen our music video.
From these results we can decipher ways in which both our video and print work can be improved as well as receiving comments that compliment our work and the effects we used.
The first question we asked was our audience's favourite part of the video. We had a mixture of answers, from the band members playing and particular instruments for example the band, they said this because the music was in time with the action on screen. This shows that our synchronizing was successful.
Another favourite part from our audience was the effects we used, for example the speeded up clip of our character running up the steps. This was effective both as a postmodern reference and for entertainment purposes.
Our second question was what their least favourite part of the video was and why. Two of our female audience members claimed that it was too male orientated, this could be seen as correct as the main target audience for a punk rock video is teenage males, so perhaps if we wished to challenge the forms of our music genre more, we could have placed some other elements that would reach a wider audience i.e. females.
Another least favourite part was the repeated clips. However, we did choose to do this specifically. This was to emphasize certain parts of our video, and also because those particular clips match the lyrics, and therefore when the lyrics repeated, we repeated the shots.
A final least favourite part was at the very end, where our action was misinterpreted. Our character is supposed to have run a race and done badly, so the person timing the race stops his stopwatch and shakes his head. However, one of the audience members did not perceive this, they thought it was a spray can, therefore if we were to redo it, we would take extra care to make sure that each part was completely clear as to what we are showing.
Our third question was what could be improved in our video. One of the answers we received was the shakiness of the camera, sometimes it created a natural effect, but other times it just looked lacking. To improve on this we could have used the tripod more often whenever we could to make the filming more stable.
Another improvement that was mentioned was the lighting, that although we had changed the contrast on some of the clips, it was just not possible to do it on all of our clips, therefore some appeared lighter than others, making the video seem less real and professional.
Our fourth question was what is similar and what is different when comparing our music video with other's from the same genre. A difference was the overall quality of the video, for instance the lack of funding and equipment we had meant that our video lacked the professionalism that other punk rock videos have.
A similarity was the use of both narrative and band shots, which is a technique found in many other punk rock videos.
Our fifth question was whether our audience preferred the narrative or non-narrative action within our video.
3 of our audience members said that they preferred the band shots as it gave us a chance to use a range of different camera angles and movement, it also gave us the chance to use match on action. They also thought that the fact that the band were filmed in a basement went with the overall theme and music genre we had chosen.
However, one of our audience members said that they preferred the narrative because of its humour and relation the song lyrics themselves.
Our sixth question was the audience's favourite aspect of the video. One audience member said that they enjoyed the postmodern references and were able to identify with them, for example the reference to the film 'Rocky'. This meant that our postmodern references were obvious enough to be noticed without being too extravagant.
Another audience member liked the filming of the different instruments, especially the drums where it matched the music, again emphasizing the synchronizing we did.
Our seventh question was did the action match the song. All of our audience members commented on the fact that the action played out the lyrics, for example the references to myspace and the Internet as well as all the gaming references. They also commented on the fact that we have shots of the band's singer singing the lyrics along with our music, which gives the impression that he is singing the entire time, despite the fact that the song is recorded and playing over all the action.
We also received feedback for our print work. We were complimented on the use of the same photograph for two of our print images as it creates synergy between our different pieces. They also commented on one of our inserts where we have two photographs of the band that appear connected, although they are two separate images. They also liked the effect we used on this insert, having half of the insert in black and white and the other half in colour, this fits with our chosen music genre, involving dark and slightly sinister themes.
In our second insert the audience picked up on the theme, fantasy versus reality, showing our nerd realistically in his room, opposite an unnatural image portraying a fantasy world, where our main character has entered the game, this gives the impression of escapism, which was noted by our audience.
Finally they commented on the colour scheme we used, saying that it creates cohesion and makes direct links, tying our different pieces together.
The viewer also gave us some ways in which our print work could have been improved, for example if the audience had not seen our music video, then they may not be able to relate with one of our inserts, the one using our main character. Although it creates cohesion between our different media pieces, it would not be fully understood if the audience had not seen our music video.
From these results we can decipher ways in which both our video and print work can be improved as well as receiving comments that compliment our work and the effects we used.
Friday, 19 November 2010
Our final completed advert, CD cover and inserts
Finished pictures after being photo shopped.This is the CD advert we created, using a picture of the band as the main focus therefore making it clear who the band is that we are promoting. Throughout all our print work, we have a cohesive colour scheme, the two main colours being black and green/grey. We used the paintbrush tool to create the 'paint splat' effect in the corner of the advert. We used this effect to make a link with the name 'Splutter' as it gives the impression of 'spluttering' and therefore having 'splats' across the page.
This is the front cover and the back of our CD album. We used the picture of the guitar and amp, as key iconography for our music genre. We used a photo of the band on the back cover to remind the buyer that the band are the creators of the songs on the CD. The name we have chosen for the album is 'White and nerdy' which is a postmodern reference to the song of the same name by Weird Al Yankovic, well known for his songs that promote humour and comedy, much of which has influenced our video and print work, so this is a key reference to make. It is also very relevant to our project as a whole, because our main character is white, and we've portrayed him 'nerdy'. We used the paintbrush tool to create the splat effect, and made the brush much larger to create the effect along the bottom of our front cover.
This is a picture of one of the double paged inserts we made. It depicts the band playing, making direct links to the music genre once again, for example playing in a basement/cellar, with dark lighting.We put the name of the band in the top right corner, so it can easily be found, we also put some information in the bottom left corner, such as the fact that they are an unsigned band and that they record all their own songs. This makes the band seem more genuine, and the audience would be more likely to relate to them as people. One of the effects we used when making this insert was the smoke paintbrush tool, which gave the picture on the right a mysterious and powerful effect. We also made one of the pictures black and white, whereas the other is in colour, this could show two different sides of the band, the dream and the reality, which is cohesive with our second insert.
Our second insert is cohesive with our first insert, following the idea of contrasting fantasy with reality. On the left hand side of the insert we see our main character sitting in his room playing on his laptop, this would be how he is generally perceived. However on the right hand side we have depicted him as being right into the action, how he sees himself in his own 'fantasy gaming world'. The effects we used on this insert were the paint brush using the colour white to 'fade' the picture of our 'nerd' into the animation picture of 'call of duty' and I set a photo from the Internet as the background as a basis for our insert. The right hand side of our insert also has darker connotations, which we have managed to portray through the lighting we used, connotations of violence and being trapped. This makes our CD seem edgy and extreme.
Thursday, 18 November 2010
Our photos before being photoshopped
These are the photos we took as ideas for what we could use when we visit CLC and use photo shop to create our CD cover and back, 4 inserts and our advert.
We took this picture as it portrays 2 key elements of the music genre we have focused on. Two main objects that are linked directly to the punk/rock genre, they are two of the defining factors of the genre we have chosen. This is why one of our photo ideas was to portray this, so that the consumer would make the direct link with this music genre and therefore know what exactly they are buying.
We also took a photo of just the guitar, without the amp, in case we decided to just use one, and use the space on the side to put something else in, for example a photo of the band or another link to our video, such as the myspace logo.
This photo shows our main character, the 'nerd' playing on his laptop in his bedroom. If we used this picture, it would link directly to our music video, as he is the character from it. It is also a very realistic picture, and I'm sure a lot of people, especially those within our target audience would be able to identify with it and what is being portrayed.
This picture shows our main character looking at Splutter's, (our band) Myspace page, through an over the shoulder shot. By using this photo, we would be connecting the main character from our music video, the band itself and the song our music video has focused on, by showing Myspace, as this is a postmodern reference within our music video and the song lyrics.
This photo shows Splutter, on YouTube. This would make it clear who our target audience is, because the reference to YouTube is not very widely known. Showing this picture of the band also gives an indication of what music genre they are in, showing them playing in a dark basement, and the amp and guitars can also be seen, this makes direct references to the punk/rock genre, and finally the use of this picture would prove to our audience that they are just regular people, not a rich, Hollywood band, as they are playing in a basement, rather than on some extravagant stage. This would mean that our audience could relate to them and would have a lot of respect for them as they worked hard to get themselves first noticed i.e. by broadcasting themselves on YouTube.
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