Wednesday 25 April 2012

Music Video Evaluation

Question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?





Evaluation Question 1 from Lauren Gallagher on Vimeo.




  The concept of my music video, closely relates to the lyrics of the song, being that he regrets not kissing the girl and telling her how he feels about her. The narrative structure of my video was based around Todorov’s ideas about narrative. The video begins in the stage of ‘Equilibrium’, with my artist walking the girl home after a day out together. On his walk home he regrets not taking his chance so we learn this has become the ‘Disequilibrium Stage’, then there are flashbacks in between of all the chances he had. When he finds the Photo Strip they had taken together in his pocket, he thinks about that moment and this is the trigger which makes him decide to go back to her. According to Todorv’s narrative theory, this would have been the ‘Recognition Stage’ and the ‘Reparation Stage’ would be when afterwards he tells the girl how he feels using placards. I decided she would initially turn him down and leave it up to the audience to decide whether this was because she was tired of waiting around for him or that she believed they were just friends. However, she changes her mind and the video ends on their kiss, this being the ‘New Equilibrium’.

 The visual references in my video are sourced from cinema, as the narrative of my video follows the romance genre. Additionally, the ‘Placard Scene’ at the end, as well as referencing two other music videos, is more importantly an intertextual reference to the film ‘Love Actually’. Furthermore, the main genre of my music video extends from the genre of the song itself, as it is R&B and these songs are usually about love, allowing for a ‘romantic’ narrative similar to mine. There are many styles, icons and conventions of R&B music videos that I have both developed and challenged. As Rhythm and Blues music was usually in associated with Soul, Jazz, Hip-Hop and Rap, the majority of the successful R&B artist were of black origins. Therefore, I chose an actor who was Black British, so that it would abide by this regular convention. However, it is not often that Asian females are featured in male R&B songs, but I have portrayed my actress as a more modern day Asian female, as she is not wearing the traditional clothing or is subjected to engaging in a relationship with only a male of the same race, religion or culture. To add to this, R&B music videos usually feature women scantily clad and either portray them as; objects for men to look at or powerful and independent women. In my music video, I have challenged the conventions of the former, as my actress is not seen to be scantily clad or an object for desire. Whilst I have conformed to the ideas of the latter, as the girl is seen as independent when she is shown turning the artist down and then changing her mind. R&B music videos usually involve luxurious settings, references to money and a lot of expensive and eradicate clothing or possessions. This is an aspect which I had to challenge as it was inaccessible for me, so I decided to show my artist on the streets and reference his ‘regular city life’ before he came to fame; something which other stars have done before, to reflect their backgrounds. Many R&B music videos use ‘grey scale’ effect as it represents the emotional side of the music and lyrics, however instead of using this effect I decided to develop this and use desaturation when symbolizing my flashbacks.

  A common convention of all music videos is to involve close-ups of the artist to create recognition among the audience. This reflects the idea of the theorist Andrew Goodwin, who said that there is a demand from record companies for many close-ups of the main artist. Additionally, John Stewart stated that music videos have similar aesthetics (definition= the branch of philosophy dealing with such notions as the beautiful, the ugly, the sublime, the comic, etc., as applicable to the fine arts, with a view to establishing the meaning and validity of critical judgments concerning works of art, and the principles underlying or justifying such judgments.) of TV Commercials, therefore there must be close-ups, as well as lighting, to develop a focus on the face of the star.
 R&B music videos regularly have parts, usually at the beginning or end, where the song is not playing or there is an extra instrumental. E.g. Rihanna – Unfaithful the song isn’t playing, Mario – Let Me Love You there is instrumental and talking.  However, in the music video to Beyonce’s song ‘If I Were A Boy’, there is a section three quarters of the way through where the song stops and there is a conversation between the artist and the main male character. In my music video, around three quarters of the way through, I have a section where the music dims down and there is silence. This marks the stage of ‘Reparation’, as the artist is about to try and amend his mistake. Then, referencing the section to the ‘Love Actually’ film, the artist turns the music back on when he presses play on the CD player.

 In the ‘Photo Booth’ scene, I created the illusion of the video camera actually filming inside the Photo Booth which I had been questioned on many times by viewers, as they believed I was filming from inside. When actually staging the ‘inside’ of the Photo Booth, I set up two portable stage lights which I directed at my artist, to create focus on him and my actress, but also to create the effect of a real Photo Booth, which I believe was successful. The ‘photo flashes’ were added later on, during the editing process on Final Cut Express. I did this by making a still image of the moment in the footage where I wanted the photo to be taken; I then brightened this image so its appearance would seem like a flash. Using the four still images I chose, I made a classic Photo Strip - which I liked after seeing one from the 70’s (remember to get a copy of my mums photo strip), as it had a romantic appearance to it, suiting the genre of my video – using Adobe Illustrator. Making all the images identical in size and placing them vertically in the order they were ‘taken’. The whole ‘Photo Booth’ scene itself, is a reference to voyeurism, which is the concept of a screen within a screen and the notion of looking; for example a camera. Initially, when considering how to include voyeurism, I aimed to use a mobile camera but I found the Photo Booth idea to be more effective, and coincidently, this was featured in the music video to Justin Bieber’s song ‘Mistletoe’.

 It is always important to develop relationships; between the artist and the audience, between the lyrics and the visuals and between the music and the visuals. I have developed a relationship between my audience and the main artist, when my artist is singing to the camera. Along with the videos concept, that he is unable to show or tell the girl how he feels, instead he tells the audience when singing, giving the effect of a diary. Therefore, the audience would feel there is a connection between them as it appears the artist is confessing his feelings. There is a strong relationship between my lyrics and visuals, as the essence of my synopsis being that he should’ve kissed her or told her how he felt, is also the songs literal meaning. Examples of this would be; on the line ‘I left you standing there’, I had a long shot of my artist walking away from the girl. In the second bridge/hook, on the line ‘I lose my cool and I blow it’, there is a handheld shot of my artist failing to hold the girls hand. Again, in the last bridge/hook, I have my artist staring at the Photo Strip as it turns into the flashback of them together in the Photo Booth on the line ‘I’m a fool, and I know it’. This can also refer to Erik Davis’ theory of Illustration; when a simple narrative music video would involve visuals which portrayed the meaning of the lyrics. The visuals in my video sort of challenge the music, as my editing does not rely on the beat. However, the use of slow paced editing illustrates the speed of the song itself.
  John Stewart said; that if you incorporated something that is recognizable and reconstructed it so that it is still familiar, it would generate nostalgic associations among the audience. I have applied this idea at the end of my music video, in the ‘Placard Scene’. This is an intertextual reference to the 2003 film Love Actually, which I used the original clip of in my music video draft. I also associated this scene with Taylor Swift’s music video ‘You Belong With Me’, using the idea that they communicate through placards. This is what my artist has had to do in the video, so that he can let the girl know how he feels. Additionally, in the music video to the song ‘Paradise’ by Coldplay, they have used placards that read off the lyrics off the song. I decided to combine this into my ‘Placard Scene’, using the chorus, as the lyrics convey the point of the narrative. Therefore, I would have created a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals. 




Question 2


How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?





Evaluation Question 2 from Lauren Gallagher on Vimeo.
(the two images of my artist against the green screen are meant to appear at 00:09, instead they appear at 00:30, this problem occurred when transferring and converting my videos.)



 I have attempted to present a similar representation of my artist across both my main product and ancillary texts. One way I have done this is through his appearance, as the outfit he wears in the music video is much the same as what he wears in the ancillary text. 





 His style of clothing is a convention of the ‘urban street style’ clothing worn by contemporary R&B male artists, such as Trey Songz and Chris Brown himself. Due to the location of my music video, I had to keep my artists outfit casual. This would create a stronger connection between the artist and the audience, as the artist would look more down to earth and reachable.

 The concept of my music video revolves around the idea that the artist is never able to communicate his feelings to the girl and always finds he is full of regret afterwards. Therefore, I decided to play with this idea of communication when creating my Digipak.


 On the front cover, there is no direct mode of address - which is a usual convention of album covers - instead the artist is looking away. He is shown to be looking towards the title of the album, ‘A Million Reasons’ – coincidently is a lyric in the song I used for my music video – suggestive that he is relying on ‘ million reasons’ not to create eye contact and is already regretful. Although, I have used a close-up to try and establish audience recognition in order to create a relationship, which is a common aspect of album covers.



 On the back cover, he is still looking to the side but facing slightly more forwards. However, this time he is wearing glasses so that the audience cannot see his eyes, therefore hiding his emotional state. This reinforces the idea conveyed in the music video, that he doesn’t show his feelings sufficiently. This long-shot will enable the audience to recognise the similarity in his style, between this image and the clothing he wore during the music video.


 Again, on the left inside of the Digipak, he is seen wearing his glasses. Although this time, he has hands on them as if he has just put them on or about to take them off. This ambiguity portrays two ideas; if he has just put them on it appears he is attempting to hide his true feelings, as similar to the video he is unsure of how to reveal them, or if it is the latter and he is about to take them off, this could be that he is ready to connect with his audience.



 Finally, on the inside right image, under where the actual CD would be positioned, there is a direct mode of address. The idea that it is not until you lift the CD that you will completely see the artists face, is a suggestion that you will not fully know the artist, until you have purchased and played his music. The pose in this photo, is made to appear that he is contemplating. Reflective of the songs the audience would be hearing, or even their feedback.



 The image I used for the magazine advert is the same as the image on the inside left of the Digipak, so that it gives the audience an insight to whats inside the album. The text which gives information about the album and its release, I decided to put in the same font and style as the tracklist on the back of the album, to create a link obvious to the audience. Also, the font of the album title and the artists name, I have kept the same on the advert as on the Digipak, to create a connection between the two. To further audience recognition, I have included a small image of the Digipak front cover on the Advert so the audience would know what product they are buying.

 In my music video, I had the girl wear a coat which was a shade of red, in order for the colour to stand out and convey that she is who the artist loves. Additionally, the flashback which acts as a trigger is the ‘Photo Booth Scene’, where again I have included the colour red, as the back drop in the Photo Booth. The colour red has many symbolisms; it is mainly associated with strong emotions. This is why I chose to incorporate this colour into the video, to reflect love as well as infatuation. Red is also looked upon as a sensual colour, and can be associated with man's most profound urges and impulses. On the Digipak and album cover, I had the artist wear a red watch and a pale red coloured top, to reflect how the album is mostly love songs. As well as showing how the artist has or will succeed in love, just like at the end of the music video. Additionally, the font used on both the Advert and the Digipak for the album title and artists name - even though the fonts are different – I have included little specs of red, to add to the reflection of the love and passion in his album.


 The font I used for the artist name appears to be rough stitching, as it consists of many thin straight lines with a few gaps in areas. Whilst the font used I used for the album title looks as if it is ripped or that it has been splattered like paint. Therefore, these fonts seem to be jagged, which reflects the ‘gritty’ side of the R&B genre, something the artist Rihanna has had a large focus on in some of her albums. Additionally, the rugged look of the font reflects the ‘urban street style’ that I have developed for my artist in the video and the images.


 In my music video, I have represented the artists emotions, as well as the mood of the narrative, through the use of light and dark, using the setting of the video. On the date, it is daylight and gradually becomes darker as it gets to the end. This gave me the opportunity to include of shot of them with the sunset, something associated as been romantic. Whereas, when he takes the girl home and when he is without her, it is dark. This contrast in brightness, reflects how when he was happy with the girl it was light and when he was alone and regretful, it was dark. I have done something similar with the Digipak. The front and back have a black background, portraying him as mysterious, also hinting to the cliché ‘tall, dark and handsome’, which is why I used a close up on the front and a long shot on the back. Inside the Digipak the backgrounds have completely changed to white, showing him in the light, reflecting on how the audience will be able to get to know him once they’ve opened the album. This contrast in colour – also concerning the text, black on white and white on black – shows how the artist has more than just one side to him. Additionally, this idea could also be reflective of his music.



Question 3
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
 Due to Web 2.0, allowing people to interact with the internet, we were able to upload our video online in order to show it to the public and gain feedback. So once we had finished our music video, I posted it onto YouTube using my media YouTube account. Afterwards, it was shared onto the social networking sites Facebook and Twitter, to increase the amount of my target audience who saw it. This was successful, it received over 100 views within the first 24 hours of posting and it currently has 636 views. The analytics provided from YouTube, enabled me to see who, where, how and when my video was watched. This confirmed my target audience was mainly female, something I suspected when planning my music video, which I focussed strongly on the appearance of my artist.

 As well as YouTube and the social networking sites, I posted my video onto my blog, which has been a record of all my research, planning and production. Blogger helped me improve my work, as teachers and other students commented on my pieces of work. This is also where I posted my surveys, which I created on survey monkey and has been the most helpful feedback, as I was able to ask specific questions to gain sufficient information. My first survey was on the synopsis of my music video; I found out that my audience preferred my new synopsis and even which of the main aspects and ideas they liked or didn’t like. In addition, I asked what R&B music video conventions they would expect to see to ensure I was involving them. In my second survey, I was asking my audience for advice on which font to use for the artists name on the Digipak. As it was close between two options, I decided to use them both. The third survey was my most helpful, as I learnt whether people enjoyed my music video and why, as well as it being rated out of ten. I also discovered whether people recognised things such as intertextual references and flashbacks in my video.


Question 4

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

When planning my music video, I watched other music videos on You Tube to get ideas for my own video. Initially, I liked the idea of parts of the video being rewinded, like in the ‘What If’ by Jason Derulo. However, once I’d changed my synopsis I got ideas from videos such as; Justin Bieber ‘Mistletoe’, Taylor Swift ‘You Belong With Me’ and Coldplay ‘Paradise’.
 All the research and planning I did, I recorded on my blog in chronological order; showing any ideas I had and when. I then used survey monkey to create a questionnaires; on my final synopsis and ideas for my video, on the font used on my Digipak and on the finished video itself. These surveys then went onto Blogger, and I sent the link to my Blog to people I knew and asked them to answer the surveys. Another search engine which I used when doing my research was Google, Google images and Google maps, to search for my locations. First I got a list of places from Google search, then I checked what they looked like on Google images and finally Google mapped them to see where they were and the nearest transport option.

 Another stage of my planning included researching the artist and genre of the song, as well as conventions of R&B music videos. In order to create my analysis work, I used mainly Google, IMDB, You Tube and Wikepedia for when researching, however another way I found the information was on SlideShare – a website which enables you to create slideshows, upload them onto the site and then share them across the internet - from looking at the slideshows other people had created and uploaded.

 When creating the plot of our music video, I first had to write the synopsis and then draw images of it all onto a storyboard.  Afterwards, we filmed the drawings and uploaded them onto imovie. We then continued using imovie to turn these video clips into an animatic storyboard. This was so much more beneficial than just having a storyboard, as we were able to watch the plan of our video before we made any decisions or started filming. After we created the animatic storyboard, I decided the plot was a little too complicated and that we would struggle to fit everything in time with the lyrics as well as having a good range of shots. Therefore, I made the synopsis less complicated by getting rid of the other male figure – who would have represented the villain – and made it so instead of showing them on various dates, I just showed them on one date. Additionally, when I created the first synopsis, it was in the summer so once it started getting close to winter, and I would be having my artist outside a lot, I decided I would try and incorporate a winter theme into the video as well.

 Continuing on imovie, once we had done our first set of filming – using a Sony HD video camera - we created a rough cut of our video. This enabled us to have a better idea of how our video would look and there were a few things we decided to change. Such as; when they first meet up - it took quite a bit of time and the crowds of people made it appear messy, the Photo Booth scene seemed a much better idea for displaying voyeurism than what we originally filmed so we changed that and as a lot of our shots had to be cut because of other people in the way a lot of our footage looked jumpy so I thought it would be better if we re-filmed, the same goes for the scene at the table as it was already dark and the lighting was sufficient.

 When editing the final video we moved onto Final Cut Express, as by this time we had learnt how to use it and it gives a much more professional finish with a greater variety of effects. In our music video, I had the music stop and restart, so it would match our intertextual reference to Love Actually, on final cut I was able to make the song stopping much smoother and longer so people didn’t think the video had finished and when the song restarted, it turned up to full volume quicker but still sounded smooth, like the volume had been turned up. In order to reflect a real photo booth; final cut also allowed us to make the flashes in the photo booth scene. Coinciding with the photo strip I had already created, I found the 4 points in the footage where I wanted a flash, I cut the clip and made a still shot where I wanted the flash. Then we brightened the image and added vivid light to appear like a flash had just gone off. When this played, the brightened still shot didn’t look like still shots at all. A lot of people said this part of the video was their favourite. Another way Final Cut was more beneficial was that it enabled us to use split screen, so our video had aspects of subjective character identity by showing her point of view, rather than it just being objective. In Final Cut, you can have several lines of video and audio, whilst in imovie you only have one of each, this is how we created the split screen by having the shot of her – in a separate line – on top of the shot of him, also when inserting the ‘button click’ sound, we had to put it – on a separate line – underneath the rest of the song, to prevent a gap between the sound and the start of the music.

 Finally, after our music video was finished, I uploaded it onto YouTube. It was then shared on twitter, facebook and blogger, in order to maximise our audience and the popularity.
 In order to create my ancillary texts – the Digi Pak and Music Advert – I used Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. When editing the images I had taken of my artist, I used Photoshop, has it has a larger range of effects and due to the use of layers, you are able to modify the image more. When putting my Digi Pak together; the pictures, the texts, the logos and the layout, I used Illustrator. It was much easier to use for this part than Photoshop, as I didn’t need any effect, I was just focussing on the layout and arrangement. As I changed my mind several times about the positioning of images and text, it was better to do on Illustrator as after you have placed an image or text, you can still move and change it without having to place it again. 

Monday 20 February 2012

Final Music Advert

When thinking of ways to make improvements to my advert, I looked over my advert analysis work and realised that a convention of music adverts was that they usually featured something which the album included, either any collaborating artists or well known singles. I decided to add a comment about the single which is the same song I made the music video for. As I am advertising a new artist, I chose to include another logo in the corner where the album or single is available for download, as I want to increase the accessibility of my artist to expand the audience.

Wednesday 1 February 2012

Music Advert Third Draft

This is the next version of my music advert. I've inserted the artist logo in the corner, also featured on the back of the Digipak. Now I've included the release date and a couple of music magazine reviews.



Tuesday 31 January 2012

Music Advert Second Draft

 This is the second draft of my music advert. I have used the same text for the name of the artist and the album as on the Digipak front cover, except this time the title is black and red. The image on my advert is the image on the inside left of the Digipak, giving the audience a view inside of his album, which they would realise after purchasing. I have also inserted a small image of the Digipak front cover, so the audience would know what to look for.




Saturday 28 January 2012

Thursday 26 January 2012

Final Digi Pak

These are single images of my third draft for my Digi Pak

Front Cover


 Back Cover


Inside Left


Inside Right


The Cd



The Print Layout

Digi Pak Fonts

 These are a few of the fonts I liked for the front cover of my digi pak.

number one

 number two

 number three

 number four

This is what the fonts would look like on the front of my Digi Pak.

number one

number two

 number three

number four

Please take the survey below


Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

These are the results of my survey

People preferred option 2, therefore I will use that as the font for my artists name. However, as option one was very close behind in the results, I've decided I will use this font for my album title.



Thursday 19 January 2012

Music Video YouTube Analytics

These analytics, provided by YouTube, have allowed me to see when and what traffic my music video gained. As expected, due to the previous feedback I received from survey monkey, the majority of my audience were female. The video was originally uploaded to the internet via YouTube before it was posted onto Blogger, Twitter or Facebook, so it was inevitable that the top playback locations would be on YouTube. Additionally, with my target audience being teenagers and young adults, I did predict that a lot of viewings would be from mobile apps. However, the one aspect I didn't foresee was the amount of views, as the video received over 100views within the first 24hours. All these statistics have told me that the video was not only successfull, but also extremely liked among my target audience.

Music Video Feedback Results

This feedback confirms that my target audience are in fact older teenagers and young adults, aged between 17 and 24.


As expected, the majority of my audience were female, due to the genre of our video.


This question proves our music video was a success, as 100& of those who were surveyed enjoyed it.


This question tells us our video was understandable.


Most of my audience believed my video suited the R&B genre. I think those who answered 'sort of', were referring to just the modern R&B genre.


80% of the audience recognised the placard scene, and those who didn't most probably haven't seen the film.


Our flashbacks and the desaturation effect used to indicate them were effective, as 1/10 surveyed found that they were indicated sufficiently.


Again, this question confirms our video was successful, as it was rated mostly 10/10, and no less than 8/10.


100% of people said the video made them want to re-watch it, this is another aspect which proves we achieved our goal with the music video.




If we made the music video again, I would consider some of these changes, however thankfully they are only minor improvements.

Music Video Feedback

Please take this survey on my music video.


Music Video

 This is our final music video, 'Should've Kissed You', which was created on Final Cut Express.



 As most of the scene ideas were mine, I organised most of the locations because I knew how the video was meant to look. Then because I am friends with the two actors, I had to arrange the filming with them and Billy, to suit everyone's schedule.
 Both Billy and myself contributed to the filming of the video, over our six production days. For the still shots; Either I filmed them myself or sometimes I set up the camera - as I knew what angles or shots we needed and directed our actors - whilst Billy did the recording. However, for the camera movements such as pan - cos I was much steadier and aware of how the camera must move - I carried out this part of the filming. For example: in the final scene, when the camera circles the 'kiss', I had to do that to keep it as steady as possible.
 I edited most of the Music Video Draft on imovie, as well as the entire of the Final Music Video in final cut express. However, the photo booth scene we worked on together. After searching youtube for tutorials on how to create a flash, we found our own way by creating a freeze frame of where I chose the photo would be taken, then I brightened the freeze frame (still image) to appear like a camera flash.

Wednesday 18 January 2012

Production Day 6

Wednesday 18th January 2012
Wapping


 Today we re-filmed the final scenes of our music video, cos when we filmed before the camera was running out of charge so we rushed to finish, therefore the end scene - which is what the whole video has been working up to - wasn't that good. 

Magazine Advert First Draft

 This is the first draft of my magazine advert. I edited the photo on Photoshop and then created the poster on Photoshop too.


Tuesday 17 January 2012

Digi Pak Second Draft

 This is another draft of my Digi Pack, using the new photos of my artist.

                                               Front                                              Back
                                               Inside Left                              Inside Right

Images of the Artist

 When planning the final photo shoot of my artist, I decided to research the different album covers of other R&B male artists. I decided if I mimicked some of the poses and/or the outfits, then I would created a stronger recognition among my audience of the R&B genre.