Monday, 12 December 2011

Evaluation Question No. 4

How did you use media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages?
We used technology from the very start of the project. Before choosing our final song, we used the internet (Google) to research other music genres such as hip hop, pop, indie etc and decided to look at a few songs and videos (YouTube) within the genre to listen to the beats and look at their “traditional” music video ideas.
For example: RnB songs= slow cuts, lots of close ups and a narrative
Hip Hop songs= fast cuts, no narrative and lots of dancing


After picking our genre (Soul/ Pop) and looking at a popular artist (Adele) we decided to look at a few of her music videos to note down specific techniques that her directors have used. (wide range of close ups, no narratives and slow pace editing)

Other uses of the internet (Mostly Google and YouTube):
To look up Adele’s background information and achievements
Meaning behind “Set Fire to The Rain” lyrics- so we could analyse them and give us ideas for our own video
Location research
Costume research
Examples of other artist’s digi pak and posters
By using the internet, it has enabled us to take inspiration from other artists and create our own unique ideas.

Hand held camera:
We were given a hand held camera which was useful to us, due to the fact that it’s small, lightweight and easy to carry around, making it possible for the group to film in different locations and achieve great shots.
Even though the camera was small, it also had “Auto Focus” built in. This was helpful as it focused on what we wanted it to focus on, and make the background blurry, adding an interesting effect and less hassle in editing the clips on the computer later. The only disadvantage is that sometimes the quality can be bad.

Professional Cameras:
We had the chance to record in the Media Studio and use the professional cameras, which gave us the advantage of filming scenes with a great and better quality than the handheld camera. We used all three cameras so we could get a wide range of shots from different angles and shots itself (Close ups, extreme close-ups, wide angles).

Control Panels:
We also got the chance to experiment with the control panel aswell. We were able to add effects and switch from camera to camera while shooting, this also made it easier for us when editing the final clips, as they have already been edited using the control panel.

SLR Camera:
Using an SLR Camera for our photo shoot (album cover and poster), we were able to have an outstanding quality of pictures that we could use for our digi pak and poster. Most, if not, all digi paks and posters are taken with a professional camera to achieve the high quality and blurred backgrounds. We wanted our print based work to look as professional as other artists, therefore we decided to use an SLR. We did achieve the blurred and high quality images for our final print based work making them look almost professional.

Final Cut Pro:
We used a program called “Final Cut Pro” on the Apple Mac to edit our music video.Because we had a little over 180 clips, it was hard for us to find the best clips, we therefore decided to make three separate folders for each performer, and a separate folder for outside scenes. By having folders, it has helped us become organized making it easier to find all the good clips.
The most important use of Final Cut Pro was editing the actual clips and putting them together.We used the razor tool to cut down all the clips to make room for other ones. The pace of editing was slower as the song has a slow beat and also added effects such as slow motions to make it more interesting. We didn’t add a lot of effects as we wanted it to reflect to Adele’s previous music videos, which hardly has any effects other than slow motions. Fades were then added in between some of the clips to make a smoother transition, however, being influenced by other artists music video, we saw that they don’t have smooth transitions, however it just cuts to the next clip straight away- this is what we did in some clips when the beat of the song drops and become faster than the rest.


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Adobe Photoshop:
When making the CD panels and the magazine, we used a program called “Adobe Photoshop”. This software allows people to create and edit images to a professional standard. Using the best four pictures from our “photoshoot” we edited each one of them and set their saturation, brightness and contrasts to make them more appealing to the eyes. There are a lot of tools on Photoshop that we used to make it look more interesting, such as the crop tool, lasso tool, feathering tool etc..
After editing the pictures, we then added texts on them for more information about the CD and other information about the artist. All the work on Photoshop has helped our print based work look more professional.


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A website called Blogger helped us to gain more feedback from our teachers and other students about our video and posts. We upload posts about our stage-by-stage work leading up to our final piece. With this being open to our teachers, we are able to edit our posts to make them more detailed, gaining us a higher mark.

We used a program called "Preview" on the computers to print screen important pages, so we could put them on the blog and explain what and how we are editing everything.

Wednesday, 7 December 2011

Evaluation Question No. 3

After we finished the Adele 'Set fire to the rain' Music video, we decided as a group to publish the final music video onto 'Youtube' which is a worldwide video-sharing website and we also put in onto a social networking service and website known as 'Facebook'. We decided that we want to publish it onto these two sites because we thought it would be the best place in order to get a range of people to give us feedback for our music video, and also fit our specific target audience (14-30) We asked the audience to give feedback on our finished music video. We asked them what there overall response to the video was any positives or negatives about the video and why? Here is what was said:

Audience Feedback from Facebook:
Overall responses to the video:
Lip syncing was really good
Good ideas used - Locations
The creativity of the video.
Great body movement
Excellent costumes and makeup
Starting of all three characters
Great ending of all three girls

Strenghts and Weaknesses:
Feedback by Abu:
"The camera use of close ups, long shots and use of hand held effect was great as it made it look realistic and very professional!"

Feedback by Ateeka:
"The acting was really convincing, credit must be given to your studio shots and to your excellent choice in location.Well done it's brilliant ♥"

Feedback by Najma:
"I thoroughly liked the use of slow motions three times in the music video"

Feedback by Sabrin:
"OMG i love this song & great work."

Feedback by Kwame:
"Lip sync pretty good, good close ups, good range of locations. Pretty amazing overall and the hand held aint bad neither the scenes seem to repeat"

Feedback by Nikola:
"Looks great, only critisism I would give is that the lip syncing wasnt always in place"

Audience feedback from Youtube
Feedback by GAthIV:
"Very well done, it is a very good video for a start. I really liked how you guys filmed in different locations. However, the camera quality sometimes reminded me of
my first Nokia camera."

Feedback by Anwarboy786:
"Great video! love the trio here, so emotional :'( ! =D"

After requesting feedback from Facebook audience, our music video received really positive feedback. Most of our feedbacks pointed out the acting skills which look realistic and professional, and this immediately stimulated interest. Also the use of the slow motion, which we used three times in the video, also seemed to get really good feedback.
On the negative side, one comment was made that the lips sync was out of place twice in the music video, but other than that they thought it was excellent.

The audience’s overall response from the video was that we had used a wide range of different shots, from close up shots to location shots; which was eye catching and made it very interesting. The use of different types of shots encourages the audience watching the music video to perceive it in different ways, and also creates a successful and professional feel towards the music video.
Another response to the video was that the shots were changed to match the beat/rhythm of the song. Yet another positive comment which was made was about the final scene, many of
the audience thought it was a really creative idea, when the three characters walked down the alley way, which then faded into black. They also enjoyed the fun theme that ran throughout our video as it linked with the genre of the song.

Other positive comments which we received were about the use of costumes and makeup which we did for the music video. We made a decision within the group what we thought would look best for the music video because the storyboard has changed, we decided to wear different styles of clothes (Blazers, dresses, floral tops, fur coats etc). We decided these as we thought they could relate back to our targeted audience and matched it to the type of clothes they would wear, and we wanted to do something which was creative and stylish. Another strength that was given was the lip-syncing, apart from one clip, when 'Nikola' thought that the lip-syncing was sometimes out of place in the music video, therefore suggestion for improvement was on the lip syncing as it was off in some parts of the song only by a split second. Kwame commented saying we repeated some scenes throughout the music video, so if we could do it again, we would choose more locations.

Overall, the feedback we were given was generally positive, as the audience particularly like the continuity of shots, the slow motion, acting, and the creativity we used made it looked professional throughout the video. Another feature the audience seemed to like was the locations used, which gave the video an authenticity that suited the genre of the video From our audience feedback we have learnt a lot, the audience feedback picks out both positives and negatives about the music video and it allows us to get an idea of what people think of it, and what can be done to improve it.
By looking on our youtube account we can see the feedback from our music video by looking at our views. It is clear that we have attracted the right audience that we set out to. So far 69.2% females and 30.8% males have viewed our music video, with 51.6% within the age group of 13-17. The ratings continue to go down the higher the age group. This tells us that we have succeeded with reaching the target audience for our music video.

Printscreens:
YouTube:
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Other Facebook feedbacks:
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Evaluation Question No. 2


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

The techniques in the various media used in both the music video and digi-pack are consistent. Many of our ideas have been carried out from the main product to the supporting magazine poster and CD cover. Ultimately the song is very strong, we had to be quite consistent with what we were doing in the music video and ancillary texts in order to produce a successful piece of work. We carried similar ideas throughout the music video and put it into our magazine poster and CD covers this shows that we have kept the ideas/themes consistent and strong even whilst producing our promotional packages etc. When designing the poster, we got idea's from our chosen artist Adele's album covers and posters were designed and from there created something similar. After creating a number of posters, we asked decided as a group with poster best fitted our target audience (14-30), which best suited our chosen theme.

The almost transparent black layer around the page of the magazine poster highlights the image of the three main characters on the poster, it also contrasts with the colour scheme used white and grey for the font text this is so that the audience can gain a vintage dimension to the artists musical abilities. The variety of font size is important as it accentuates the 'OUT NOW TO BUY IN STORES & AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD', which entices the consumer with persuasive language and also a key sales tactic, leading to the box with our front CD panel to our album over, with 'Adele 21' written on top of the cover. We chose to put the number 21 as its relating back to Adele. however the text is put in lime green to emphasize the importance of the age - it reflects her age at the beginning of production. The color green also shows a side to the album that is yet to be explored.

As a group we tried to keep the CD panels, posters etc all consistent, we achieved this by making sure there were similarities to colour pallet and the use of the striking font colour used (white, grey) to blend in with the costumes of the characters (gold, red,black) to create instinctive connotations. The front cover consists of a still image taken from the location trinity bridge which was one of our main mise en scene used throughout our music video therefore we took the image during the night to make it look effective. The background used for both our CD panels and magazine poster was black, so that the images and fonts could stand out, because we used such vibrant colours, therefore this creates a sense of realism, the fact that we aren't paying attention to the camera, creating a natural image.

The strong themes and relations between the ancillary text and main product help advertise the overall feel of the product to the audience.the central theme has kept constant throughout our project and that the main characters of the music video (the three girls) were presented on the CD casein a similar light to the character in the main product, so the audience can create a link between the two. The same theme is used on the magazine advertisement as this is the most appropriate thing to do when promoting the CD. Overall we feel the range of techniques used across our poster and CD covers are used cleverly.

The back cover is essentially a image of the three girls standing which is an enlarged version, however applying the songs which are available on the album are wrote on the back whilst
applying continuity to the theme of the fonts, symbols and conventions of a digi-pack overall.

Evaluation Question No 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Our music video is of heartache portrayed by the performers from our group. This was influenced by many artists in the music industry that also represent this emotion in their music and music videos. Adele herself was one of our biggest influences; although she did not have a music video for “Set Fire to the Rain” We looked at some of her other music videos as most of them show the same kind of emotion and are heartfelt too. We looked into what different kinds of shots were used in her music videos to show motion and to put across the particular message across; for example, we decided to use the Sofa and the antique table as props because in Adele’s music video to “Rolling in the Deep” she is sat down and looking away from the camera which looked really effective as if she was really traumatised by the emotions she was feeling, this way the viewers can see more of the emotion she is portraying through her face and not be distracted by anything else. We also looked at how she acted in her other music videos; this gave us an idea of how to make our own video look more realistic for the type of genre and song. We decided to shoot on lots of different locations, a variety in the studio and many in Manchester too, with both night and day scenes, we decided this was best because most music videos in general – like the ones we reviewed at the beginning had a mixture of many scenes, and kept switching to and from them.
We developed different forms and conventions from other videos, however used many our own ideas too. The theme for the music video was that the three performers were being “played” by a male character. However, through different circumstances, we were not able to do this. This gave us a chance to let the viewer make their own mind up of what is going on in the video and let them use their imagination to what is happening, and decide for themselves why the performers are so heartbroken. It doesn’t give a clear view on what has happened to the characters, so we steered away from linear narrative. Most music videos of this genre would have narrative parts, although we didn’t include direct narrative, we added scenes of the performers in town where they weren’t lip synching and paying no attention to the camera, these for example include all three girls walking on their own giving a feeling of loneliness. This happens in most of Adele's music videos by keeping to the "emotional"side of things and sticking to studio scenes, which we also did.





With the amount of time we had to produce our video, in my opinion we did well to produce out music video, as it is shows many conventions of a real media product. We have made precise transitions in the editing process to help the video run smoothly, like cutting to the beat for example. We felt that this was very important to make our video look realistic and run smooth like a real music video. For example, when the beat is slow at the beginning of the song, the editing is slow pace, and when the song fastens up toward the chorus, the editing is faster to build more tension. This is seen in nearly every music video, so we knew this would be an important factor.

During the process of planning and filming our video, we needed to make sure that we kept a relationship between the lyrics, music and visuals; this is seen through the actions of the performers and the facial expressions as well as the narrative scenes in the screenshots above.




Although our music video relates to real music videos, we wanted ours to be origional, this is partly why we chose three persormers to lip sync to the voice of Adele, this is very unique within the music industry.

Magazine Advert Analysis

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This magazine advert is basic and simple. But as a group we believe that it serves its purpose to advertise the artists new single, in this case is ‘set fire to the rain’. The colour scheme is black, white, gold and red, which contrasts with each other, which makes the poster appealing to the eye. The artists name is at the bottom left hand side of the page, which is conventional as people would most definitely expect it to be there. We have tried to keep the font style simple just like the original album cover, however we have kept the size reasonably big, so it attracts our audience. The image is a long shot of all three girls to show who the main characters are in the music video. Their style refers to the modern style, which directly tells the audience that it is a modern song. Their posture emphasizes the emotion through out the song, which is unhappy. It is obvious that this magazine advert appeals to both genders, because of the colours used in the text, doesn’t target one specific gender as the font colour used is neutral therefore its eye catching to both genders. It has the important information written in a bigger font to make it stand out. Audiences are informed immediately that the album is ready to buy in stores and

Distribution and Marketing
Technological convergence:
It includes website links that audiences can look out for Adele's latest new, eg new songs, interviews and videos.
Aswell as having links to the artists' sites, it also has a Facebook page, which targets more people as it is a social networking site, and the popularity of the targeted audience (13-45) already have a Facebook account, this widens the popularity of the artist.
Another modern technological convergence is the Blackberry Code on the actual poster. People who own the smartphone will be able to scan the bar code, which then gives them news about the song and the artist.

Monday, 5 December 2011

Album Cover -Altogether-

Album Cover:
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The inside right of digipak

Final Design:
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We wanted the inside right cover to look simple, however, still keeping a picture on it would make it more interesting.
Past Designs:
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The inside left of digipak

Final Design:
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After thinking that the ratings look tacky and cheap, we decided to get rid of it, however we wanted to keep the quote to add a little touch from the artist.
-This was edited from Picnik

Past Designs:
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We then decided to add more details, as we felt that leaving it blank was too plain.
We added stuff like real ratings from newspapers, and one of Adele's quote. However, we thought that the ratings looked a bit tacky.

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We have put all the tracklist from the album "21" in transparent so the buyer can see how the lyrics reflects the artists inner feelings on the songs.

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We first wanted to leave the left inside panel simple, as it already looks effective and appealing to the eyes.

The back panel of digipak

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Our back panel has the three performers on it, to show the audience who and what the singer(s) look like. Their facial expressions are made to emphasize their feelings and their strong individuals. They could also resemble their strength and determination to make a comeback after being affected by some aspects that have occurred described in the lyrics, which shows power and evoking.

The font used is very similar to Adele’s font in her “21” album, we kept it white and simple because we wanted to reflects our chosen artists’ original cover. Also, by keeping the lettering simple, the attention of the audience is drawn directly to back to the eye- catching image of the main star(s).

By adding the production and institutional information including the barcode, official artist’s site and logos enables the back cover of the CD panel makes it look realistic, and at the same time informative to the audience, as it has Adele’s own website so they can be updated with her.

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The front panel of digipak

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The front cover for our album is a very basic, but is also interesting to the audience as it allows them to see the three main characters starring in the music video looking very feminine.
The reason being for the front album cover being simple, is that we wanted it to connect to Adele's real album cover, which is very plain and similar to ours.
Having the background being black, makes the album look dull and depressing which could reflect back to the lyrics, which are also depressing and can also project the loneliness after the breakup.
‘Adele 21’ appears on the front cover of the album written in lighter colours and in a simple font, which reflects the artists (Adele’s) original album cover.
adele 21 Pictures, Images and Photos

Our Finished CD Panels

Our finished CD panels
As a group we have completed our CD panels for part of our digipak, however within our panels we have kept the theme of keeping it simple throughout the creative process when designing the panels, As a group we feel certain about the designs of the panels. We feel as though we have met the targets of what we were looking to do by creating CD panels which were creative and very imaginative. Therefore in the next blog posts we will upload our completed images for our digipak.

Photoshoot for magazine advert and CD panels

Here are a few pictures that we have taken around Trinity Bridge in town for our magazine advert and CD panels, but decided not to use for our final designs. We took these picture with an SLR camera to have a better quality, making it more realistic.

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Saturday, 3 December 2011

Adele - Set Fire To the rain A2 Music Video



Questionnaire:
1. Do you think this is acceptable and represents a pop music video?
2. What are the most positive points about the video?
3. What are the most negative points about the video and how can it be improved?
3. Do you think the overall feel of the video represents the song?
4. Do you think the locations are right for the music video?
5. Do you think the costumes fit with the song and video?
6. Do you think there is enough variety of shots used?
7. What do you think of the effects used in the video?
8. What is your overall view on the music video?

Wednesday, 30 November 2011

Changes between original plans and final piece

The dramatic changes were having a narrative and going to Blackpool.

•Narrative:
We was originally going to have a narrative in our music video, however due to the short filming time, we was unable to achieve that. Looking back at Adele's previous music videos, we noticed that she doesn't have any narratives, instead there was alot of performance. We thought of leaving it without a narrative didn't matter as much, as our own artist didn't have them either.

•Blackpool:
We wanted to go to Blackpool as the scenery was really nice, and we thought we could get really good shots on the beach. However, the filming days were too short, we then realised that we already had more than 180 clips, with excellent locations in them, so going to Blackpool and adding more clips would be too much hassle.

Comparing AS to A2; JUGGLING EVERYTHING

In A2 media, we separated our group to balance things out.
Two of the students working on the video editing, one student working on the blog, and the other student working on the print based work.
However, we all got together for a few minutes each lesson to discuss if something should be added to each others work.

• Video work
Because our deadline was a little sooner than last year's, we had to film in a short period of time, therefore it was stressful to get all the filming done in the amount of time we have originally planed. Because we had a copy of dates of when to film, what types of shots and the locations, we was organized, and therefore we completed all the filming the time set.
AS media last year was less stressful as we had to finish all the blog work before we started filming, also there wasn't any print based work to be done, making it easier and faster for us to complete the project.
One similarity in both years is the group work and communication.

• Print based
We separated our group to balance the print based work and the blog work.
We have one student who does photography in our group, and we all came to an agreement that he should edit the poster and the album cover. However, everyone always got together for a few minutes each lesson, to discuss if there's anything that could be done to make the print based work look professional as possible.
There wasn't any print based work to be done in AS.

• Blog
In A2, there had to be more blog work to be done, and we had a target set to how many posts we should have done by the end of the project. Because we had to do more posts, we looked into more of last years work and took ideas from their posts and interpreted them into ours. It was more stressful than AS media as we had to be more creative to add interesting and useful posts to our blog.
In AS, the blog work had to be done before we started filming. There wasn't a lot of posts that had to be done except for the helpful ones such as, story board, shot list and location research... etc.
One similarity between the two years is that we still worked together and commented on each others posts, to see if any work can be improved.

Comparing AS to A2; EDITING PROCESS

• Style of editing
Editing the videos in AS was easier, because there wasn't a lot of clips and the background music wasn't too hard to match the short film. In sense of cutting the clips to the right moment of the music, where the tension builds up, and the clip has to change.
However, with A2, there has to be the music that we have chosen. Because we have included performance in our video, it was a little bit harder and complicated to edit, as the lip syncing of our performers and the words on the song had to be in sync with each other in order to produce a video that's almost professional looking. Also, because we have chosen a slower song, our editing (cuts) have to be slower, or otherwise, it would look out of place, because the change of shots wouldn't match slow beats of the song.
One similarity on editing the short film and the video is that, we still used some effects such as slow motion and fades. We carried on using effects to add more texture and make our clips more interesting, and also to set the right mood of genre of the music and film.

• Complexity

• Time management
Time management was harder in A2 than in AS, as we had more filming, editing and blog work to do. Therefore we had to be more organized to balance things out. We each all had a copy of dates, to film, edit, and blog work to keep up to date.
However, in AS, time management was not as hard, because the deadline was further into the year, and we had more time for the production, including thinking of the short story.
One similarity between the two years, is that we all had dates of when to do the stuff, by doing so, it gave us a guideline and keep us on the track to meet our deadlines.

Comparing AS to A2; AMOUNT OF FILMING

The amount of filming in A2 differs alot from the filming in AS as there had to be more clips in the music video, because of the wide variety of scene locations and the three performers.

In order to produce a good music video, we wanted to film three shots each, of the girls in every location that we used, and from them shots, we took the best ones and included it in our video. The filming took a lot of time because for each and every shot that we did, we wanted them to be different from each other, so we can have more texture to our video.

In AS, filming didn't take as long, as we didn't need a lot of different locations and a lot of actors, however, filming the same scene more than once to get the perfect shot, is one of the similarities.

Comparing AS to A2; EQUIPMENT USED

In A2 media, we used the college studio, and because we wanted to make our final piece authentic, we used different light settings using the professional lightings that were already in the studio. Also, we thought of taking advantage of the professional cameras. We used all three of them because the quality was better, and we wanted the studio scenes to look realistic. We also had the chance experiencing the control panels in the studio, for example, controlling which cameras should be used during performing, (cutting between the three cameras) adding effects and controlling the volume, etc.

Most of the new equipments were from the media studio, and in AS media, we didn't use a wide variety of equipments because "studio scenes" were not necessary.

However, familiar equipments were used in both projects, such as the tripod, and the digital cameras.

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-Picture taken while recording
(Tripod and digital camera)

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-Picture taken while editing on the control panels

Comparing AS to A2; FILMING PROCESS

Media in AS is different from media in A2, as it is more complex, however, similarities can still be found such as the editing process and equipments.

Filming Process:
• There was more preparation that went into A2 than in AS.
We had to research more locations in A2 because we didn't want our music video to be set out in the same place and be plain, and most music videos are set in different locations. However, in AS, we didn't have to have a lot of locations as there was no need because it was just a short film that people would still be able to understand, therefore, one or two locations should be enough to tell the short film. Some similarities were using Google Maps to look at suitable locations, and looking at BBC Weather for the forecast, because we wanted the lighting to be the same, if not similar.

• The costume research was done most in A2, because just like music videos, there are a lot of costumes to make the performer(s) stand out, and we wanted to do the same. Also, in AS, we didn't have to worry about costume as much as in A2, because the short film didn't have a specific genre, in which we had to relate the costumes with. For example, if we did a hip hop music video, our costumes would be dancing clothes, but in a short film it doesn't matter as everything has to be realistic, and not too artificial. We used Google Images to search for outfits, and searching the artists' dress sense, so we could take inspiration from it for our own video.

• Overall, the filming process had more planning in A2 than AS, because this time we were making a longer video from start to finish, and we wanted it to look professional, so we had to plan everything out very carefully and step by step. However, in AS, we were just making a short trailer for a film, so every scene didn't have to relate, as they would have just been taken out from the "full" film footage. Using a storyboard in both projects helped alot, because we then had a guideline to help us plan out the scenes that were mostly needed to make our story/ video make sense.

• In A2, we were free to have any shots, scenes and story, as we had to come up with our own film, so it was easier. However, being free with our minds in A2 wasn't quite a good thing. Because this time we had a song, and everything we did had to relate to the singers' emotions and their song. For example, the story line, the editing (slow cuts/ fast cuts) the costumes and the locations. It was a little bit harder because we had to direct and film through someone else's emotions. But similarities were researching other videos on YouTube that had the same movie and music genre, and by doing so, it gave us more inspiration for our whole production. Also, we still had a chance to put our own ideas into it, in both AS and A2.

Saturday, 19 November 2011

Analyse: Our own video

Music video demonstrates genre characteristics

Our music genre is soul/ rnb.

In most Soul/ rnb music videos there is a lot of studio scenes, where the main performer is all alone singing and showing his/ her reactions. As “Set Fire To The Rain” has no music video, we researched some of Adele’s songs and their music videos, and found that there isn’t really much narratives to the song, instead they only show studio cuts or just walking around with emotion. To keep tradition with Adele’s previous music videos, we decided to not do a narrative as most of her videos don’t and instead keeping the theme of walking around with emotion and a lot of studio scenes.

Relationship between lyrics and visuals

The relationship between the lyrics and visuals can be seen through the performer’s actions. They show their emotion by exaggerating their actions E.G. as if they’re almost about to cry. Because of the sad song, the performers sometimes hold their hands against their chest to show the audience and emphasize their heart ache. Also, the performers are seen walking around in different locations, this emphasizes their loneliness after their break up, as they walk through the areas in which the performer and her past lover had once enjoyed.

The relationship between music and visuals

The pace of our chosen song is slow, and therefore our editing is slowed down to match the beat of the song, effects such as black and white shows the difference between the past and present (black and white for when the performers walk around the sentimental locations). Slow motion is also used to add more texture to the video.


Visual style of artist

A lot of close ups has been used in our music video, again to emphasize the performers’ feelings and emotions, also to keep the themes of Adele’s previous music videos as they all have close ups due to the fact that they’re all sad songs, and the past directors also wants to highlight Adele’s feelings and emotions.


Reference to notion of looking

Females are most likely to be emotional than males. Our music video shows the three women overcome their fear of being mistreated emotionally and physically by the male. The lyrics is saying that the woman has noticed the man’s actions and that she is ready to let things go, however she can’t, as her love for him is too strong. Just like most females, they are very vulnerable, and especially when it comes to break ups. The audience can relate to our performers, as they all have vulnerable actions, for example:

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Sadness- shown through actions, looking down


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Heart ache- hands over chest


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Loneliness- alone in the studio and when walking around


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Reminiscing- walking through the locations where the couples had enjoyed their moments together

Intertextual Reference

Because we wanted to do a similar yet simple video, we took some ideas from Adele’s previous videos, such as no narration, a lot of close ups, loneliness of performer and studio scenes.

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Wednesday, 2 November 2011

Magazine advert design 1






ve Marina and The Diamonds 'The Family Jewels'

As Marina is a famale, the target audience seems to be female, her positioning in the album cover is quite possibly portrayed as being sexual, so the target audience could be Men as well. The font is quite quirky so is probably aimed at the younger generation of teenagers and younger adults; it is quite a femanin font aswell which would attract the female audience even more. The background is flowery and the colours would also suggest that it is aimed at females.

The font in the artists name and title is in a "hand written" font, it appears to be quite messy and natural. The large font makes it clear and easy to read for the viewer. This creates the message that she is imperfect. The font is also white, this means that the title and the artists name stand out from the rest of the dark background.

The image of marina covers the whole of the page, taking most of the attention. The fact that she is lying down, tilting her head backwards slightly. This gives an unusual feel to the artist. The viewer cannot see if Marina is wearing clothes or not, her facial expression and the way her head is tilted back may suggest that she is being promiscuous and being made to look like a sexual object. The background is quite girly yet old fashioned which is also quite quirky, however it is quite dull as well, this is a positive attribute as it helps her glowing face and the title stand out and grab more attention. The advert does seem to represent women in a negative way, as she looks quite promiscuous. Marina and The Diamond's music has quite a different style, this is represented in the advert with the unusual writing and her unusual positioning.

Magazine advert design 2

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Mariah Carey E=MC² Although there is quite a lot going on in this advert (Artists name, date, description, review/star rating, songs included, where you can buy etc ) The artist is centre of attention. Just like marina and the diamonds gig poster it seems to target females because she is a female herself, however due to the way she is positioned and the fact that she seems to be wearing nothing behind the fur she s holding against her, it would suggest that it is aimed at males too because she seems to be quite sexual and promiscuous. the black background makes the artist stand out more, even though she has a black and white tint the background contrasts against her and makes her look glowing, so she stands out more. The colours of the writing within the advert are bright pink which stands out from the black and white picture; this also attracts females and puts across that the album is quite girly. The font is quite simple; however the colours attract all of the attention. The font sizes are different throughout the advert, the words 'Mariah' and 'E=MC²' are bigger to attract the most attention, as they are the most important for the readers eyes to see.The advert is portrait, so the positioning of the artist standing up vertically draws you in and makes most of the space.There is a lot of information on this advert; the space is made use of with the positioning of the information. The information is kept to the left side of the advert and at the bottom to keep it looking organised and leaving the artist still the centre of the advert. The advert has as much information on it as possible, this ensures that the viewer can have as many ways to purchase the album and be informed as much as possible to increase sales.The titles of some of Mariah Carey’s hits are displayed to attract fans that have already heard them on the radio or downloaded them for example, to be persuaded to buy the whole album.

Tuesday, 1 November 2011

Analysis -album cover 3-

Selena Gomez - When The Sun Goes Down
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The album cover looks very elegant and classy with the use of old fashioned text style and the image used of the artist positioned at the center of the cover. The font used looks as though it is a modern type face as it was meant to replace the out dated look of the old style font with a newer, younger and more 'pop' image, which the artist has used as it can now be related back to her targeted audience, ages between (10-20) for the more newer generation in today's society. The black background is used to highlight the white coloured text, which enables it to be eye-catching to the audience. However The album cover looks quite creative as it features the artist dressed as though she has gone back to the 60's.

Analysis -album cover BACK-


CD Cover Analysis: Back of "21"
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The one thing that each CD's have on the back cover is that they all have codes, bar-codes as well as the logo of the record label for the artist. Additionally they will have a print on the bottom of the cover any relevant websites to do with the artist, labels or the artists Facebook page or either their Twitter page which the audience can view. There is also a small print of the copyright laws on the bottom of the page to reinforce to the audience that it is a legal concept. However the back cover of the CD's for each of these individual covers have similar context between the themes set on the front of the page and on the back, which makes it look professional.

Analysis -album cover 2-

Kesha - Cannibal
kesha-cannibal-cover
This album cover is another creative Cd cover as it uses vibrant colour's for the text therefore stands out from the black background. The font used is quite distinctive, it is very structured to express the mood of which artist is supposedly meant to be in, in this case its darkness and gloomy type of mood. Additionally the album cover features a close up image of the artist's face at the center of the cover there is also a "torn effect" going down the page to emphasize on the mood of the artist and it is also used to express the emotion and feeling the artist is going through however the use of colourful, vibrant colours such as yellow, gold and blue within the cover allows the image and the text attract attention to the targeted audience. Furthermore the target audience to this group would be those who are in there teens and older (14-30's)

Analysis -album cover 1-

Florence and the Machine
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The cover is an unusual, but creative album cover as it features the artist wearing a lung around her neck. The background colour is black, the only colour in the Cd cover is the artist herself as she is dressed in white, therefore this enables the artist to be able to stand out on the cover, as it stands out against the black background. The font used for the album cover gives it the hand written/script effect, which makes it look quite feminine therefore this can be related back to the artist as she is a female artist herself, Additionally the word 'Lungs' on front of the album is in white coloured large text style, which makes it eye catching to the audience as it stands out in the background. The targeted audience for this album cover isn't specific but by looking at the text styles and colour used, suggests that it is targeted at a more mature age group between the ages (15-30)

Saturday, 29 October 2011

DIARY: Saturday 29th October

Town
We have decided to dedicate our own time to film more scenes around Manchester. We have added a few more locations such as the Manchester Wheel, Personage Garden, Deansgate and Manchester Arndale's roof.
We have decided to film in the following locations in town:

Manchester Wheel: Used for a cut away to cut tension
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Manchester High Street: -No picture available- ;Used for another performer's location

Personage Garden: Trees were used to give a windy scene, and also performer singing in this location
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Deansgate: Used for cut away to add more texture to the video
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Manchester Arndale ROOF: Used for another cut away. An overview of Manchester town at night
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