Amiee Austin 4205
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Friday, January 17, 2014
Evaluation.
Media Evaluation
Amiee Austin 13AG
Brief?
After doing some research
into the history of music videos, we was told to pick members of our class to
work with to make a music video and digi pak. We was then told to pick a song
and identify its genre to make a music video to, we was asked to make sure the
song we picked wasn't from the rap, r&b or hip hop genre. After discovering
the genre we then started to research into the music conventions and its
current music video for ideas for our own.
Introduce group member?
In my group was myself,
Amy Fountain, George Hoy and Jake Poulter.
Explain what your role was
and what you were responsible for and what you learnt from it?
We all took on very
similar roles as we wanted to share the work load evenly between us. My main
job roles in the group was to film, conduct the story boards and help arrange
meeting times, from taking these job roles I had to learn to be organised in
order to make arrangements for the group to meet up as everyone had their own
after school activities and free periods, so after we discussed what times we
could meet, we needed to make sure that we stuck to the set arrangements if any
problems came across as to why someone could not come to a set meeting, we then
needed to re-arrange to do so. I had to make storyboards so that my group would
have a guideline as to what we need to film, the storyboards included the
camera shot, location, iconography, lighting, actors, sound, editing and a full
description. By doing this beforehand it allowed us to get as many marks as we
can, it gave us a clear view of what we needed to film and know second for
second what needed to be included. Filming I found quite difficult as I am not
very steady with the camera and quite a few parts needed to be hand held so it
took a bit of practice to steady the camera and get the best shots I could. I
enjoyed using the tripod as it was easier to manoeuvre. We had a few issues
though whilst up London we had to get a permit in order to film using a tripod
so a lot of the camera shots were done by hand holding the camera.
Did your group work well
within a group?
I think my group worked
really well together until the end of making the music video as we all was
under a lot of stress and pressure to do well and it became very stressful.
However throughout the production of the video we got on really well. While
filming in London we managed to get a lot done, we decided to take a day trip
up there in case we found it difficult to get certain shots and to make sure we
got the sun rise in the morning because of our plans to make our lyrics match
our visuals. We got on well as we all took our job roles on board really well
and made sure that no-one had a bigger work load than anyone. We was all
friends so it was easy to make decisions between us as we was good at picking
and choosing whose ideas we will use for each part of the task ahead of us.
Explain if you think you
have made a successful music video and ancillary texts
I think my group have made
a good music video for our music genre. We chose 'Wake me up' by Avicci. This
song comes under the genre of 'house music'. We identified our target audience
firstly by handing out some questionnaires to students at our school and then
did some further analysis into what our audiences would expect from our music
video, for example what they would see in a typical house music video. Most
answers lead to flashing lights, lasers, crowds full of people, alcohol, low
lighting, club scenes, close ups of dancing women, Dj's, mess etc. By following
these typical conventions we knew we was going to be on the right track to
making a good music video, our teacher then gave us a sheet of camera shots to
look at which we then looked at and picked which ones we wanted to use, our
music video contained a lot of mid-shots and long shots, this was mainly
because with larger shots you can see the setting and iconography more and it
enabled us to set a vibe to our video. After finishing our music video we was
asked to make our ancillary products we made these by looking at other house
music products and mixed them into making our own. We all had very similar
ideas for this so we found it difficult to choose the end product but also it
showed that we was all on the right track because the outcomes were practically
the same from all 4 of us.
1. In what ways does your media
products use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?
Brief - what was your
production brief? What were you asked to create?
When starting this project
we was asked to get into groups of maximum groups of four and choose a song to
make a music video and ancillary products for. As a group we then had to
research into our chosen song to find out its genre and conventions in order to
make a successful video, after completing the video to the best standard we
could in our time limit we then began to research products and their appearance
to get ideas for our own. This was my favorite part of the project as it
allowed us to be a bit more creative.
What is a music video?
(explain what a music video is and explain your understanding of one - this can
be the same one as your blog - include the styles and conventions)
Music videos are short
films that accompany an artist’s song. They are primarily used to help increase
the market and sales of the music recordings, although some musicians do make
them to help audiences understand their song and are purely for artistic
purposes. Music videos are usually categorized into three main terms of style
which are, performance based, narrative based or concept based. Specific genres
usually conform to one type of style and it then becomes a convention because
of the sounds and lyrics the songs are based on. For example a rock or pop song
would usually fall under the performance category because of the 'dance like'
sounds and minimal meaning to their songs, these types of songs are mostly for
good vibes so their music videos are aimed to get you excited and most likely
promote for you to go see the artist in concert. In contrast to this a soul or
indie song would most likely be more narrative/story based because of the
deeper background to the songs. Most of these artists would rather the
audiences know the deeper meanings to their songs, however they will still be
promoting themselves in order to get more fans and buyers. Music videos can be
viewed by a variety of different devises in this day and age which makes it a
lot easier for fans and potential fans to view music on the go. Devices such as
tablets & mobile phones have risen views on YouTube massively over the past
few years.
Explain what the codes and
conventions of a 'house music' music video, include detailed examples, to
support the points that you have made.
Music videos for house
music tend to have messages about dancing, love, sexuality, alcohol, drugs and
all underpinned with repetitive arrangements and a steady bass. There are
usually women dancing erotically and under dressed. They usually contain groups
of people dancing together in a club or party setting with alcohol and
sometimes show brief views of the Dj. The club scenes tend to have flashing
lights and bright colours. Typical conventions are the following: flashing
lights, lasers, crowds full of people, alcohol, low lighting, club scenes,
close ups of dancing women, Dj's, mess etc. In our music video we used flashing
lights in the club to make the scenes more intense, it was filmed at Jake
Poulters 18th so we was able to get loads of shots of crowds of people dancing
and alcohol being drunk. It had low lighting and had close-ups of girls dancing
because this video was for a school project we thought it would be
inappropriate of us to have under-dressed girls otherwise we would have
conformed to the conventions exactly. When filming the end of the music video
we showed Jake's apartment which was covered in mess and during the party about
mid-way through the video we showed a table full of drinks and mess also. The
aim of this was to show the teens/young adults views on life as being careless
and destructive. Most house music videos are all performance based but
considering the song that myself and my group picked we decided to add some
narrative to our music video because the original video was all narrative which
made it more appealing as it was different to your typical house music video,
there was meaning behind the lyrics in the song and we wanted the audience to
know that so we discussed possible outcomes and eventually George and Jake
decided that they would be actors in the videos story. We conformed to the
typical conventions because we didn't want our music video to be over looked we
wanted people to be able to watch it and understand the meaning behind the
lyrics and know that its not just another repetitive base drum house music
video.
Explain if your finished
music and ancillary texts, develops or challenges your chosen music
genre.
Throughout the whole
production of our music video and ancillary products we tried to stick to the
music genres typical elements so we definitely developed rather than change our
chosen genre. We tried to stick to the colour scheme of our club scene in our
music video in order to make our Digi Pak and poster to make sure that our
products matched one another. However most music videos usually give off happy
positive vibes and I believe our music video gives off a fun vibe with a hidden
message. This is because of our slightly more narrative based video.
2. How effective is the
combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
Explain why you think your
ancillary products are successful (advert, digipak) ? Research (annotations and
real products) planning (decisions) construction (making) reflection (which
finished product is the most beneficial
X
Which digipak advert, did
you and your group decide to submit and why?
X
How does your ancillary
tasks work alongside your music video and why?
X
3. What have you learnt from
your audience feedback?
Explain why you think it's
important to evaluate your work
I think it’s important to evaluate
your work because you can see it with a fresh pair of eyes, rather than
watching your work over while making the video and looking over the digi pak
when you evaluate you can notice elements you wouldn't normally notice. It is
important that you are aware of unintended outcomes, because not everything you
do is going to come out exactly how you planned so you can focus on the parts
you feel like you need/want to change.
Explain why you picked
YouTube to showcase your video.
We picked YouTube because
its free first of all. The uploading process is simple and can be done quite
quickly. It can be viewed using a mobile device which in comparison to any
other video site makes it much more accessible, there is even an application
for apple products. By using YouTube we was reaching a global audience which
was important to collect feedback from.
Include 3 to 4 audience
comments that you received as feedback of your products
X
How did the comments make
you feel as a media producer?
X
Did you take on board the
audience comments/change anything?
X
How would your feedback help
you if you were working in the music industry?
If you was working in the
media industry feedback good or bad would be useful, because the work will need
a balance. The good feedback will enable you to know what works well and what
appeals to audiences so that it can be used for future reference. The negative
comments will help you improve the work so that it can be a better overall
package.
How did you use new media
technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation
stages?
Research- YouTube, Blogger,
Mac, Google, Artist Homepage, Downloads, iTunes
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Copyright
1) Introduction
Explain what the copy right law is and how it is used within the music industry
2) Applying for copyright
- Explain why you had to apply for copyright
- Discuss in detail what you did. Identify the record label, email, phone, etc (step by step account)
- Response - did you get a response from the record label, how many times did you contacts them, are you still waiting a response?
My group had to apply for copyright so that the company didn't sue us for using their material. Copyright gives the creators of the origional piece of work legal rights to own our work. The copyright holder to a song can therefore take credit for our work allowing them to sell, reproduce and display it to an audience.
Explain what the copy right law is and how it is used within the music industry
2) Applying for copyright
- Explain why you had to apply for copyright
- Discuss in detail what you did. Identify the record label, email, phone, etc (step by step account)
- Response - did you get a response from the record label, how many times did you contacts them, are you still waiting a response?
My group had to apply for copyright so that the company didn't sue us for using their material. Copyright gives the creators of the origional piece of work legal rights to own our work. The copyright holder to a song can therefore take credit for our work allowing them to sell, reproduce and display it to an audience.
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Initial planning ideas
My group memebers are myself Amy Fountain, George Hoy and Jake Poulter. The four of us have chose to work together because we are stronger in diffrent departments, as a whole we believe our group will work really well togeteher because we will be able to contribute our skills, so far we have come up with some really creative ideas for our narrative which the whole group seem to be happy with at the moment.
The style for my groups music video is based on around 20% performance, 20% concept and 60% narrative. This is because we believe our target audience will be more interested in the story behind the song, the dance part of the song will be left the same. Our target audience is mostly young adults and teenagers. We will use strobe lighting, dancing teens and highlight the use of alcohol throughout the video these codes and conventions are specifically used in dance videos. However we will be breaking the codes and conventions in our second half.
At the end of the music video the two male characters used (George and Jake) will walk home and go their separate ways. This is to highlight the concept of our music video. - Our concept being that although parties are good fun in the moment what you go home to afterwards is more important. Jake goes home to a messy apartment and George goes home to a loving family. Although being lost in the music is fun and exciting the reality is so much better.
Our music video will follow both Goodwin's and Dyer's theories. It will follow generic characteristics such as dancing, flashing lights, party atmosphere. Our music and visuals are in time with one another and our lyrics and visuals have a connection because of the highlighted words from the lyrics. We have slightly objectified the women's bodies within the party scenes. There will be slight intertexual references such as the apple logo and a brand of alcohol.
Our characters will wear normal party clothes and the lighting will be low-key throughout the party scene's and natural lighting will be used throughout the day-time scene's.
The style for my groups music video is based on around 20% performance, 20% concept and 60% narrative. This is because we believe our target audience will be more interested in the story behind the song, the dance part of the song will be left the same. Our target audience is mostly young adults and teenagers. We will use strobe lighting, dancing teens and highlight the use of alcohol throughout the video these codes and conventions are specifically used in dance videos. However we will be breaking the codes and conventions in our second half.
At the end of the music video the two male characters used (George and Jake) will walk home and go their separate ways. This is to highlight the concept of our music video. - Our concept being that although parties are good fun in the moment what you go home to afterwards is more important. Jake goes home to a messy apartment and George goes home to a loving family. Although being lost in the music is fun and exciting the reality is so much better.
Our music video will follow both Goodwin's and Dyer's theories. It will follow generic characteristics such as dancing, flashing lights, party atmosphere. Our music and visuals are in time with one another and our lyrics and visuals have a connection because of the highlighted words from the lyrics. We have slightly objectified the women's bodies within the party scenes. There will be slight intertexual references such as the apple logo and a brand of alcohol.
Our characters will wear normal party clothes and the lighting will be low-key throughout the party scene's and natural lighting will be used throughout the day-time scene's.
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
VOX POPS
1. What style of music do you like?
2. We have decided to create a music video for the song 'Wake me up' by Avicii do you know/like this song?
3. What attracts you to a music video?
4. Are you more interested in a performance based, narrative based or concept based music video?
5.What elements would you expect to see in our music video of the dance genre?
By asking these specific questions in allowed us to know what kind of people we should ask for advice. We found out what kind of people knew and liked the song of our choice and what kind of aspects attract what kind of audience. We was able to discuss the different opinions on what percentage our music video should be in terms of narrative, concept and performance. We was able to finalize what elements we would include and decide what would make our music video most successful.
Pie Charts
My media group decided to collect our results and put them into pie charts so they are easy to read and to apply to our music video.
Questionnaire
After deciding on my groups plan of action for our music video we knew we needed to have some sort of target audience to appeal to in order to make a successful music video. To find out what kind of target audience we was staging our music video for my group conducted a survey for people to fill out. By doing this it allowed us to tick all needs of our audience whether they be young or old or middle aged etc. This survey will enable us to know to include certain qualities. Knowing and having a certain target audience is important within the music industry as it is a competitive market so you need to know which age, gender etc are watching your music videos. We will use the results from these questionnaires to know what our audience enjoy, what they expect and what they want from us. By creating the questionnaire ourselves it allowed us to collect all the information we primarily needed. It benefited us massively as all of our questions for our audience were answered in comparison to using an online questionnaire where the results would vary and not be as useful. We used a variety of questions open and closed to retain the type of information that would help for our music video. We gave the surveys out equally between boys and girls to get a fair response.
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