Advanced Portfolio A2 Media Studies: April 2013

I chose to create a promotion package for the release of an album, including a music promo video, a Digipak and a magazine advertisement for the release of the Digipak.
After researching different Music videos and considering what types of video narrative I could create with different songs I decided upon a song that fitted into the genre Indie/rock.

This song already had an exhisting music video, however I saw different meanings to those which the video had portrayed. I saw potential with the song, because of the strong chorus and powerful vocals also the beat at the end of each line, I realised that images and pieces of film could work well fitted to each of the beats. I really enjoyed analysing the lyrics and thinking about what they meant. I also enjoyed focusing on the emotions within the song and picturing in my head how I could format these emotions into a video.
We were asked work in a group to create a video at the beginning of the project, I enjoyed working in a group, however I found it hard to incorporate everyones ideas, I think that even though it is effective having lots of different ideas, I like using my own, I feel I thought creatively when making each Video but enjoyed it more working as an individual.

I researched Florence's exhisting Music Videos and realised that most of them were abstract and highly theatrical. I looked at videos from all different subgenres some R'n'B , some Pop. I liked Music Videos that were most eye-catching and abstract. I liked the idea of using the editing suite to reverse the video and play it backwards. I had begun thinking about lots of different ideas for this editing technique. I had created a Poll on the right hand side of my blog for the public to fill in. This was a way of finding out what my Audience actually wanted from my Music Video.

POLL RESULTS

These Results indicate that the majority of people voting on my blog were female, aged 16-19 and from the area of West Hull. Age and sex could have an impact on the voting.

The results indicate that most people are interested in R'n'B, House or Indie Music, I chose indie as my music choice which seems to be liked aswell. Least popular was Pop and Classical Music.

This illustrates that most people view Music Videos using Youtube. My Music Video has been psted to Youtube so hopefully will have more views from the world every day.

STORYBOARD

I found the storyboarding at the beginning difficult, because I knew that I wanted the video to convey an abstract feel and a sense of dreaming. I also knew some of the scenes and locations I wanted to put into the video, however I found it difficult to put them together in the right order as I felt it did not make any sense. After continual drafting and thinking up ideas and locations that would fit well with the song I was finally able to create the Animatic.

After comparing this to my final edited music video, I began to notice the similarities and differences of ideas that I have had throughout the whole journey of creating the video and things which I had wanted to include but for some reason had failed or become lost throughout the journey.

I feel that the Animatic I had created prior to completing my Music Video illustrates that I have realised my intentions and changed some of my original thought processes along the way.

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

There are many different codes and conventions for Music Videos. Some Music Videos have previously challenged these conventions so that their video doesn't conform with typical regulations and in a way 'stands out'.

After Researching the codes and conventions of Music Videos in general and also the the codes and conventions of my chosen artist Florence and the Machine's videos, I realised that I would be incorporating these into my Music Video. I noticed that Florence's videos use a lot of close -up shots, focusing on body parts i.e eyes, lips, hands, feet. This became a strong focus during filming.

Close-up of watch on wrist.

Close-up of face.

Layering and blurring.

I edited a lot of my Music Video using the Gaussian blur tool on the editing suite and layering one image over the top of another. I really enjoyed this technique and feel that this is what made my video different from any others. I experimented a lot with the editing suite using the mirror image tool. I wanted to create something that was full of life and busy so that the audience always had something to look at.

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

The Ancillary texts are there to 'sell' the Music Video I have created to the public. They form an interest to the public through the aesthetics and look of the overall Digipak and advertisement. It is really important that the Ancillary texts give the audience a true idea of what the video will consist of. My main focus whilst creating the Ancillary texts was to create a sense of meaning and illustrate emotions for example, a sense of freedom/escapism through the images. I think that the underwater images really capture the essence of what I wanted to communicate through the images.

The images on the Digipak and Advertisement are there to allow the audience to think and wonder what the video will be about. I tried to use strong images on the Digipak from all different parts of the video.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?
I created two forms of Audience Feeback after completing the Music Video, a questionnaire and a video. I feel that the Audience Feedback was effective because it gave me an understanding of the strong and weak points in my product and things that I could improve on in the video and ancillary texts if I had more time.

Looking at the Questionnaires I have handed out I believe the three I recieved were positive answers and allowed me to realise the good and bad points about my final Music Video.

In question 1, the answers illustrated that because I had used the same colour scheme, font and pictures it was clear that the ancillary texts matched the Music Video.

All three seemed

to understand that the themes of my music video were trying to portray dreams and freedom, which I have illustrated I wanted my video to portray in the planning and research.

In question 3, it is obvious that people are aware of the genre. Someone commented saying that it is similar to Florence and the Machine, which were my intentions at the beginning of the project.

The answers in question 4 suggest that the audience enjoyed the Mise-en-scene of the video, the underwater filming and the layering. I was pleased with this feedback because I had thought a lot about the abstract mise-en-scene I had wanted to create and I believe this was illustrated correctly to the audience.

I was also made aware of some of the points I could improve on my video in question 5. One of the answers metioned that the dimensions and framing of the video changed when it changed to the underwater shots. This is because I used 2 seperate cameras for the underwater and out of water scenes. I was unable to enlarge sections of the video to correct this without loosing most of the filming. I think that the video may have looked better if the frames were all at the same size, however I think that this made the video also seem more abstract, I also tried to blend the frame in with layers over the top so it was less noticable.

For the ancillary texts in the last question one of the answers mentioned that 'it was too over detailed' and they didn't know which image to look at. However, once this was not flat and in a digipak only the front will be visible at first sight so it would actually look better once put together. I had created the Digipak in a way so that it was captured by the eye of the audience if it was on a shop shelf, I wanted the Digipak to look as effective on the back and inside of the case.

VIDEO RESPONSE FEEDBACK

PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED

During the feedback I took from the video of Rachel. She made clear the problem with the framing on the underwater shots. At the time I took the filming underwater I wasn't aware/didn't realise that I had to keep the camera upright and that it would create a problem for me during the editing process if the camera was not straight. It actually created a black frame around the image in the outcome and I tried to overcome this by sometimes layering an image over the top so that the black frame was a little disguised. However I actually liked the look of this, and that sometimes the camera was on an angle as it illustrated the abstract lost idea of being free underwater, with the fact that the camera was free also. I think that the shots underwater looked so effective like this because of the mise-en-scene underwater like the flowers, netting and costume.

Rachel also metioned how some of the shots didnt quite over lap correctly when Jodie was singing on stage with the beach scene from Morrocco overlapping. If I had more time I believe I could have corrected this. However, the vocals were still in sync so I wasn't to unhappy with the outcome of this shot.

Overall I think that this was good knowledgable feedback on my Music Video. I feel if I had more time I could definately improve my video using this feedback.

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

The A-Level Task for Media Studies varied incredibly from the previous Task in AS. During this Task we had to learn and understand a whole new technical process on the Editing Suite. We also had to learn about how to experiment with filming from different angles and how long for.
The Foundation process seemed very simple compared to the Task this year, however the process of creating a Magazine cover, contents page and double page spread last year was able to get me in to the routine of understanding and using Photoshop in preparation for what we had to create this year with the Magazine advertisement and Digipak. I felt a lot more confident creating these this year because of what I had learned last year.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

After researching the meanings of the song 'Never Let Me Go'. I came up with themes and motifs I wanted to illustrate throughout the whole video.

I had illustrated this in my planning:

escaping reality/freedom
water
lonliness
dreams
abstract world
emotional/feelings
change
Beauty / Innocence
Time

I tried to illustrate these ideas through mise-en-scene, location and costume.

I feel that the outcome of my Video communicates these emotions I wanted to portray clearly to the audience.

PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED

I am dissapointed that I did not have time to carry out an idea that I had thought a lot about. I had really wanted the actress to walk across a Jeti and jump in and out of the lake before and after the under water scenes. I had the idea of filming her jumping into a lake facing the camera/falling backwards, and playing this in slow motion backwards to illustrate the illusion of the girl falling out of the water. I thought that this would be a strong point in my Video and shock the audience. However, I had arrived at the lake I wanted to shoot at and the waves had become vicious and unsafe, we then visited other lakes in the West Hull area towards North Cave, however did not have permission by the owner of the lake to carry out the shoot. I had found an abandoned fishing lake which was not as aesthetically pleasing as Welton Waters the previous lake however was much safer. I asked the actress to walk slowly into the lake and I filmed this which appears in my Music Video. I also asked her to walking around the outskirts of the lake on the grass to get some feet/leg shots and of the location. As the actress walked into the lake she told me that it was extremely cold and she actually found it difficult to hold her breath. So after thinking we had decided that it was not a good idea for her to jump in because it may send the body into shock and I did not want to risk this. I feel like the shots I had taken from the shoot lake were still good but would have liked to incorporate the Jeti scene in and the backwards motion scene of her jumping out of the water. If the location and weather had of been different I would have done this.

This Advertisement for Florence and the Machine is quite abstract. The main image is Florence in the center, with the name of the Album writen in black bold letters across the bottom of the page. 'Seeking the stars' written on the right hand corner underneath the artists name portrays the image as Florence is layed on a bed looking up. The writing illustrates a retro look. The advertisement sticks to a colour scheme of cream/pink tones and black. I think that this advertisement is extremely eye catching and fits the genre of the artist.

This advertisement promoting Ellie Goulding's new album 'Lights' works really well as it is a simple yet effective idea. The artists face is in the center of the image with strips of lights collaged in and around her hair. The writing is all kept in the same font and colour but enlarged for the artists name and album, which are written in the center of the mage underneath the artists face so that the main focus is on the artist.

There is also a star rating from 4 different magazines which encourages the reader to buy the album as they think it will be good from the ratings of others.