Evaluation Question 1- Final

Evaluation Question 1">

Evaluation Question 3- Final.

Evaluation Question 4- Final

Evaluation question 4

More presentations from Ben Wakeford

Evaluation question 1- Draft

Music video:

We wanted to make a narrative music video where the main story of the song is shown in an easy way for the audience to understand. We didn’t want to have instruments because we thought that the song would be better staged as a narrative than a performance. We are developing the conventional forms of media and what is perceived to be ‘normal’ in the music industry.

Traditionally the genre of music we are doing normally have a performance style video with the examples of the Oasis, Wonderwall where they are performing the video as a band. Other videos such as the Verve, Bitter Sweet Symphony is a video we looked at and likes the idea of having the lead singer walk down the street, but instead of having people around him have it just the band member.  

We developed this shot in the Verve video by doing a long walking shot of the main individual and developing it slightly as we decided to put shots in between it so it isn’t just one big continuous walk through of a large part of the song. We did many different types of shots which developed and challenged the forms and conventions of real media products, for example using the close ups, mid shots and long shots. This was so the audience could get a feel for the band and who the stars of the video are. Also having more shots of one of the artists will get the audience to recognise which of the artists is the most important to the band and the video.  

Digipak and advert:

When I researched what to put on my digipak and the ideas for it I struggled to find something that I would really like to use for my digipak. In the end I found something, it was the simplistic idea of the pet shop boys, actually. I really like this album cover because it is simplistic and easy to look at on the eye. If it is this then it is then better for the audience who are the people that are going to buy it. I feel like this idea challenges the conventions of real media products because normally bands have more going on within their CD covers but because mine is very bare and not very busy this means that there is more chance that people will like it. People will like it because there isn’t much of it to take in therefore it won’t make them think too much about it because there isn’t much too it, this simplistic idea gives my digipak an advantage against others because people who have used complex idea will have lots going on within their digipak, this means that the people who are going to purchase this digipak or album might not enjoy being bombarded with lots of different colours and designs. A good example of a simple digipak that fits in with the style of mine is the digipak for the Mumford and Sons album, Sigh No More.  There is a simplistic design to this but there is also a bit of writing on the back, where I have put my most writing.

While researching for the magazine advert I found lots of adverts for bands such as Kings of Leon, Kasabian and the Foo Fighters. They all are similar because they all have the same picture on the front as the album cover does when the album actually comes out. For example the Foo Fighters have the FF on the front surrounded by a red circle and in front of a metal sheet. In this case I think I have used the ideas from existing media products because for my magazine advert I decided to use the front cover picture of my digipak as my magazine advert a long with having ‘OUT NOW’ below this. This gives the image of the digipak and album in the heads of readers of the magazines which means that if they see it In a shop then they will recognise it and pick it up to look at it. This is why lots of famous bands and artists use the same image from the album cover on the magazine advert to make it look like the album and make it look recognisable for potential buyers and fans.

Overall I feel that I developed different media products in the music video, using different ideas and shot types in order to gain a better grade and make a better video. This is different to the Digipak where I challenged but also used different ideas from already made digipaks in order to get the ideas and develop my own digipak. For the magazine advert I used the ideas from a few different magazine adverts that have excisted for a long time in order to get the best mark and to gain experience needed for the making of my own magazine advert which will show the band in the best and most individual way. 

Evaluation Question 4- Draft

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

For the planning stages of the video, I used some different methods in order to get the best ideas possible for the music video. For example to get ideas for the timings of the video I used YouTube on the internet in order to find the video we are doing, Undercover Martyn by two door cinema club, in order to get the right timing of the shots and the right kind of shots we need to do in order to make a certain successful and accurate video. We also did a storyboard in so we could order the shots and make a different kind of video to the original one. The story board was important for us because we needed to set out a basic plan of shot ideas and camera angles. To get the story across in a more animated style we have done an animatic which shows the story but into a digital format which will show a better interpretation of the video without having to actually see the way that the video is going to be shot and the way that it is ordered. Also I used the twitter and Facebook app in order to gain different inspiration from different sources.

I used blogger in order to keep up to date with progress that I had made in the research and planning stage of the video. Blogger allowed me to post different ideas, and to keep up with the information that I am getting from different media products. I found that blogger was an excellent way in order for me to keep organised in the process of going through the research and planning of my music video and digipak. I found that blogger was also a great way of me getting feedback, not just from the teacher but from my peers and classmates that wanted to comment on any work or any research that I have done.

For the construction stage of the music video, while we were filming we used the camera from an iPhone 6s Plus which shoots at 4k resolution also we used an app called FiLMiC Pro which gave us manual control for exposure and focus and other aspects of effects. This made the process of filming and editing more simplistic for us because it was easier to get the footage from the Phone onto the laptop, which is where we were doing the editing.  Also for the filming stage of the music video, we used a LED light which helped us because we did our filming in the dark; the light helped us to light up the area that we were using. The light also helped to show better facial expressions and change the atmosphere of the video and how the performers were reacting to the music. For the editing stage of constructing the music video, we used Final Cut Pro X which helped us to edit the video and get the best finish for the video.

For the planning stages of my digipak I used Google and Google images in order to get pictures and ideas of the different digipaks that are out there. The ideas I got are from the internet with research from Google and from different ideas I got from displays in the media classroom.

For the construction of my digipak and my advert I used a windows PC which featured the Photoshop software. This software allowed me to create a good and authentic digipak and magazine advert. There are professional tools and effects that can be used on the pictures. For my digipak I used the cut tools in order to cut out a photo of the three band members which then was my front cover and the main image on the magazine advert. I also used the rectangle tools In order to create white backgrounds which I then made completely white so that the digipak all looked professional. I also used the text tools which allowed my too write on the digipak.

Overall I believe that technology was vital for creating the music video and the digipak and magazine advert. Without these key pieces of technology then I wouldn’t have been able to create the kind of work that I did.