Evaluation- 4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Evaluation- 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products

Evaluation- 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products DRAFT

MUSIC VIDEO
By conducting research I learnt a lot about the conventions of music videos. I presented a brief summary of my findings in a post on my blog entitled "Conventions of  music videos". I also analysed the insanely popular music video for the song Roar by Katy Perry and I looked at what makes my favourite music video effective (Loner by Kali Uchis).
Effective features included:

• editing to the music
• a storyline/ narrative
• flash cuts
• a cohesive colour scheme
• the artist lip-syncing (performance scenes)
• multiple camera shots
•  appropriate costumes

Our music video fell into the Pop/ electronic genre which is why it follows some of the genre conventions as well as general conventions of all music videos. The conventions we used within our music video include: FIND EXAMPLES FOR THESE

• on beat editing
• close ups on the artist
• flash cuts
• a clear and interesting narrative*****
• lip-syncing scenes

We also followed some conventions that are more specific to our genre:

• opening title- this gives the video a more cinematic feel which seems to be the recent trend in popular music videos****** GIVE EXAMPLES drake
• Flash cut to black- this was highly effective in our video as it was done on the beat which made the music seem connected to the video instead of seeing them as two separate components.

DIGIPAK
In order to examine the conventions of a digipak, I conducted some research as well as looking at existing products I condensed my finding into a post on my blog called "Digipak Research". Not only this but I also looked at the structure of a digipak in a post I titled "Layout of a Digipak". From this I knew I needed to design:

• a front cover
• a back cover
• a Digipak spine
• 4-8 inside pages

This insured that from the start of the project that I understood that I would need take quite a few high quality images that I could throughout my product.
Some of the conventions of a successful digipak are:

• Artist name
• Album name
• Track list
• Barcode
• Record label
• Publisher

I also recreated the front cover of a popular digipak. From this I learnt that it might be better to have quite a simple one.


The conventions I conformed and subverted from:


A4 Advert
I did some research into digipak adverts in order to establish the conventions which I presented in a post on my blog entitled:  Investigation into magazine ads for albums.
The conventions are:

• an image of the artist
• necessary legal jargon
• information about the release (date)
• Where is it available from (Itunes, Hmv etc.)
• Image o digipak cover
• album and artist name

Conventions I have used:

• Album name
• album cover
• convergence
• production company
• release date
• artist name
• brief information on album.

Possible Influences?
Conventions I have used

• Album name
• Alb 

Evaluation- 4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? DRAFT

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? 

Research: PowerPoint, Google, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube
The use of social media what quite an important part of my coursework. I used it initially to gain inspiration about popular teen culture which I then used to create a mood board. Later in my planning process, I used social media to gain feedback on ideas for my products. I would post ideas and ask people to comment what thought.
I used the website YouTube to look at current music videos. I could gage how popular they are by the amount of views they had and whether or not they appeared on the popular music page. From this I looked at the common features of the popular videos and implemented theses ideas into my video

Planning
To avoid panicking and rushing my project I planned my weeks so that I could complete tasks by a certain time. In order to do this I used Google calendar to ensure I tracked when I had completed certain tasks like initial research and drafts were finished.

production

How phones helped the organisation 

The use of mobile phones were extremely important in all stages of the project but particularly in the planning and production. In the planning stages we used our phones to coordinate meeting times and places. Also, when visiting possible locations we took lots of photos and videos so that we could take them back and show them to our target audience for feedback but also so that we could plan in great detail our desired shots and ensure they could be met and if there were any limitations of the location.


Camera, SD USB reader 
I used the canon 750d to capture the images for my print products and also to film the music video. This was my first time working with a professional camera so it was a bit challenging getting accustomed to the functions.


I also had to use a SD USB reader. unfortunately our computers do not have an SD card reader so this tool allowed us to access and wrangle the footage.

Premier Pro was used in editing and colour correcting the music video.
This was the first time that I had ever used this program so it took some time to become familiar with it. In the research stage I created a video using iMovie to get used to editing a video. I could then use the skills I acquired in the exercise and apply them to Premier Pro  

Photoshop was used mostly in the creative of my print products.

I edited the images that I took to insure they liked exactly how I wanted them to look.

Ria for this image I firstly I separated the girl and the background by putting a copy of her onto a different layer so I could edit the two separately.

Using the brush tool, with a low opacity, I blurred parts of her skin to reduce the appearance of spots. I adjusted the brightness, contrast and exposure levels of the girl so the she stood out. I also increased the warmth of the image 

For the advert I started off by cropping the image. Again, I isolated the model from the image so I could edit the model separately from the rest of the image. On the model I again adjusted the brightness, contrast and exposure levels. Again I used the brush tool, with a low opacity but this time to edit a stain on the models clothes. I also separated the lights at the top of the image and put them on a different layer so I could mute the brightness so that the logo would clearly be seen. Finally, I created a purple gradient from the bottom of the image so that the text I put over it would be seen clearly.

tracking and the use of after effects 

For music video we created a logo separate from the one I made for my print products. We then saved it as a gif and imported it to After Effects. We then had to track the image to a certain point of the shot. This was a long process and we had to use YouTube videos in order to figure out the process.
I then had to create a logo for my print products. I had to ensure they looked similar but as I was working between two versions of Photoshop I was unable to use or find the exact same font. For this reason I had to search on font websites to find similar fonts. In the end I had to use a mix of two fonts to achieve my desired style, similar to that of the logo on the music video. For the "S" I used monotype Corsiva but for "kylar" I had to download the font Branboll F. This was quite challenging as I had to manipulate the appearance of the font to make them look similar.
Also, to create the curve of the word I had to use the eclipse to create the bend in the word that I desired and then add text to the outside of the shape. This was a skill I had never tried to use before this project and it was fun to use Photoshop in new ways.

Evaluation- 3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

add pic examples

Evaluation- 2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

How effective are the combination of your main product and ancillary texts from melekia123

add picture examples

Production- Digipak Final

DIGIPAK

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Production- Music video Final

Use this link incase youtube link doesn't have
Coursework Final video from Shane-Deon on Vimeo.

Production- A4 poster Final

Production- Digipak draft feedback

Yania, 19: I love the front, back and spine but simplify the inside pages. Remove the majority if the text. If there is going to be text, you will need to change the font. It just doesn't work. Maybe just have the logo? Also if you any stronger images for the inside, that would also be cool.

Production- Digipak draft