Evaluation Question 4

In this question I will be discussing how I used media technologies in the construction of the research and planning as well as the evaluation stages. Above are images of the media technologies that I used with a brief summary how I used it, below I shall be explaining them in more detail.

YouTube - I used YouTube to upload my music video, so that my teacher as well as other audience members were able to watch it. Not only was it used for that but I also used it to watch a variety of different other music videos in the RnB genre. This enabled me to be aware of the type of shots that are used in RnB videos, in addition to that I was able to be more aware of the conventions that take place in them.

Survey Monkey - The website survey monkey allowed me to create and online questionnaire for my audience, this questionnaire helped me understand my audience more it also enabled me to know what kind of things they would like to see in an RnB music video, these results were used in the making of my music video to suit some of the needs of the audience.

Blogger - I used blogger (my blog) to upload all of the relevant research that had been done during the stages leading up to creating my music video. I would continuously write down all the progress I was making on my blog, I also used it to discuss my ancillary tasks.

Google - Google was a vital tool used once I started researching the conventions used in a RnB music video, also the things that make a successful music video. This was very helpful for me as I was able to gather a lot of important and relevant information that was then applied to the making of my own music video.

Final Cut - Final cut allowed me to edit my music video, I was able to to edit all of my clips effectively whilst being able to add things such as a slow motion effect, different transitions etc.Being able to use final cut whilst editing my video allowed me to have a final outcome of my music video, as I wanted it to be.

Photoshop - Using Photoshop allowed me to be very creative as I had to create my CD advert as well as my digipak for the album 'The Diary of Alicia Keys' from scratch.It was my first time using Photoshop and I was able to get a good understanding of creating a digipak and CD advert to suit the themes and conventions of the album.

Evaluation Question 3

During the process of editing my music video I received feedback from my classmates and my teacher on ways I can improve my video before the final outcome was complete. Some of the things I got told is that I had to ensure that the footage I filmed was not shaky so that meant that I had to re film some footage so that it was nice and stable. Another piece of feedback that I received was to make sure that the music was in sync with the lip singing due to the fact that at some moments it didn't quite match. So I had to watch my video and look out for parts in which the lip syncing didn't match the music and made sure to edit the lip syncing as precisely as possible to the music.

After I had finished editing my video and had the final product, I showed it to my class as well as friends and family. The feedback I that i was given was generally positive, although there were a few comments for room of improvement.

Some of the positive feedback I received is that the viewers enjoyed my use of fairy lights as they thought it gave a nicer atmosphere to the setting of the scene when Marina (Alicia Keys) was in her room, they thought it made it look more realistic and like a typical setting of a young girls room. Another thing that the viewers liked is that we had a wide variety and a good use of shots and camera angles that made it more interesting for them to watch.

More positive feedback that I received is that my use of editing was good to create meaning, in addition to that the use of different scenes helped to make the video more refreshing to look at, also there was a good order of scenes. A member also said that shots were clear and concise and that it all flowed well together.

In addition to that another member of the audience said that the music was very in sync with the lip singing, I was pleased to hear this feedback as it was a factor I struggled with to make it as precise as possible whilst I was editing.

Some of the criticisms that I received is that most people thought it was rather difficult to understand that a dream was taking place when Marina was on the phone, so for future purposes I will ensure that editing is done well so that meanings are very clear for the viewer, more criticisms I received is that in some shots the lighting wasn't bright enough, if I was to do this again I would make sure that the lighting is as bright as I need it to be for that shot so that audience members don't struggle with watching the video.
Below is a variety of key words that came up often from the feedback I received, Good is in bold and bigger than the rest as it came up the most.

Evaluation Question 1

Shot 1: In this shot we decided to have Marina (Alicia Keys) dressed in white, white is a colour which symbolize's purity and innocence, and this is how we wanted her to be portrayed. We then had colorful beautiful flowers placed in her hair. The reason we did this was not to only show her more or less 'happy' emotions in the video but to yet follow the conventions of an RnB video when it gets to that point in which the main artist looks at  their best.

Shot 2: In this shot again we decided to dress Marina in white again to present her as more calm, relaxed and innocent. We had her swinging on a rocking chair as she has her eyes not looking at the camera and shes constantly swinging, the reason as to why we decided to do this was to show that she is lost in her own world and cant't stop thinking about this boy.

Shot 3: In this shot we wanted to present Marina as more sad and depressed, also to show that she is more caught up in her emotion we did this by dressing her in all black. This also helped to show the story of the video because the main point is throughout the video that the boy she has fallen in love with doesn't know her name. This shot focus on Marina only as well as the way she is feeling, this is a convention that would you tend to see in an RnB video as the shot just focuses on the main artist.

Shot 4: In this shot Marina is surrounded by beautiful red flowers, flowers help to symbolise things such as love & peace, these are themes that we wanted to make evident throughout the video. In addition to that this is the part in the video when she blows the flower petals into the camera, in slow motion to show that a dream is about to take place, this helped to make it look more dreamlike and made it clear to the audience that we are enter something some what not in our world.

Shot 5: In this shot we wanted to get a sense of location, the first time that Marina meets this boy was in a supermarket. I feel this some what challenges the conventions of a RnB music video as we more often than less will have the first time the 'lovers' meet in a bar or maybe a restaurant. But we decided to chose a restaurant as we re-created the video in our own style and how we wanted it to be.

Shot 6: In this shot we were trying to focus on the camera work as well as editing, we made sure that we could see the whole of Marinas body in this shot as she was spinning around, we then edited it in slow motion. We decided to do this to show how Marina is  feeling as her emotions are going all over the place.

Shot 7: In this shot we were aware of the location, camera work as well as the was the way we presented Marina to the audience. The location was a lovely green park which had a variety of flowers around which relates to the themes of love that we were aiming to make apparent throughout the duration of the music video. We have dressed in all black, this color was chosen to reflect her mood and also had her hair out of her face.

Shot 8: This shot is one of the key moments of our music video, as it is that part we see Marina dreaming that she is on the phone to the boy she fell in love with. She is smiling and we see her at her happiest point throughout the duration of the music video. This is a typical convention that would be seen in an RnB music video, just a girl and boy on phone in a bedroom in love and very happy laughing and smiling as they speak to each other.

Shot 9: In shot 9 we decided to have Marina against a black background and she is also dressed in black, we decided to dress Marina in black to reflect her sad and dull mood that she sometimes has during the song. We also have her looking away from the camera in this part of the video we did this as a way of showing that she is afraid to show how she really feels and to hide her true emotions.

Evaluation Question 2

CD Advert Cover

As a part of our ancillary task we had to create a  CD advert cover for our chosen ablum which was ' The Diary of Alicia Keys' When I was creating this advert cover I made sure I followed the typical conventions of  a CD advert cover. I put a picture of the artist in the middle as the ablum is hers and also the image is linked to my digipak. I also put in bold that the album is out now so that fans are aware and able to go and purchase it. I have the name of the artist and the name of the album in the center in bold so that the audiences attention is immediately drawn to this.I also put a website for any audience members that want to get to know more about the artist as well as a her music. I decided to use a well known song to help promote the album so that it will get the attention of audience members that are fans of that song, making it more likely for them to buy the whole album. I have the company logo at the bottom of the advert as that is a key convention to have in a CD advert. Below you will see an image of my CD advert cover. 

digipak

Digipak Advert

As a part of our ancillary task we had to complete a digipak advert. To promote the artist and their music. Before creating my own Digipak I looked at a variety of already made digipaks from different artist and also gained more of an insight to the conventions needed to have a successful digipak, which consist of things such as: the name of the artist, the album name, an image that relates to the digipak, the name of the record company and the release date.

On my digipak advert I am going to have a white background which helps to symbolism purity and innocence as well as the writing in bold black font so it stands out. I deiced to put a close up image of her face in the center of the digipak advert, this is due to the fact that it is a very emotional album and I feel that the close up image of her face helps to relate to the content in the album well as you are able to see the actual emotion in her face. I also put that the album is out now and available for purchase.
Below is an image of my digipak advert.

Digipak

As part of our ancillary task we had to create a Digipak for our chosen song which is Alicia Keys - You Don't Know My Name. My digipak consisted of things that related to the album as well as themes raised within the album such as love and lust. One part of my digipak contains lyrics from one of the songs 'You Don't Know My Name', the reason as to why I choose to do this is because those lyrics hold a lot of meaning to that particular song as it talks about the first time she saw this boy and how she is constantly longing for his presence.

Another thing that I decided to put on this is the artist name 'Alicia Keys' in bold writing as well as a few flowers around her name, I did this because I wanted there to be some attention to the artist herself within the digipak as well as that I thought to add the flowers as they help to symbioses love and peace which is relates to the mood of the artist and the emotions raised throughout the album.

In addition to that I decided to add a image on my digipak which consisted of a close up of the artist face, I made this choice due to the fact that her face contains a lot of emotion that relates to the themes in the album and also helps to express to the audience how she is feeling.
Below is a image of my Digipak:

CD Adverts in Magazine

During our lesson we looked at a variety of CD adverts which were in magazines, from looking at the variety of different magazines I could gather many different conventions that the magazines consisted off. All of the magazines would have either the artist name or the name of the ablum in bold writing. This is obviously done to attract attention from the audience. Another thing that some of the adverts had were different ratings and comments from critics that rated the album. As well as that some of the adverts may contain other artist which are featuring in that album.The adverts also would contain a picture of the artisit or a picture of something that relates to their digipak. Another convention that was seen on the adverts is that they all had 'out now' on them or some type of release date to inform their audience when it is available to be purchased. In addition to that they all had the record label logo/name of whatever company that artist is signed to. Another thing I picked out on the adverts is that the colour scheme seemed to be very minilastic or would contain colours that relate to the theme of that ablum and digipak.
Below are some examples of CD adverts.
          

                                   
                                           
               

Final Music Video

During the last process of filming I came across some errors such having a few gaps in which I didn't know what footage I would have liked to put in it. To overcome this problem I had to write down the exact lyrics to the part of the song and filmed lip syncing to match it. That way I all of my small gaps were filled up and I had my finished music video. I also had to re film certain parts of my music video for example the part when she says 'Thursdays perfect man' in the original footage she didn't say 'man' at the end of the sentence this was really obvious when it came to the editing process so we had to refill that part, once that was completed all the editing was done and I had finished my music video.
Here is a link to my music video:
http://youtu.be/ub0QuYj-7Kg

Digipak

A digipak is a form of packing which is often used for CD singles and for special CD albums editions. Digipaks often consist of a gatefold in other words a book style with a paperboard packing. The purpose of a digipak is to to make the album and CD look more appealing and eye catching, it also helps to promote the album to the customers. It also gives the customers and insight to the musician and the meaning behind their music, as art and images and used to to express a message. Another purpose of a digipak is that it lists the content of an album, and includes things such as lyrics and the images of things that took place during the process of creating the album. a digipak helps to not just attract people that are part of the fan base but to reach out and attract a wider audience, which would then help to increase the sales of an artist/group as well as then possibly having an increase in their fan base.
Below are some images of digipaks from different artists.

In class we looked a variety of digipaks from different female artist as well as a variety of different bands.  There were a few things that i noticed whilst looking at these digipaks, for example all of the digipaks that belonged to a female artist had a close up of their face on the front cover in which we could clearly see their facial expression showing their emotions. In contrast to the bands, the digipaks of the bands didn't have any pictures of any of the members and mainly consisted of a variety of artwork. The backs of all the digipaks consisted of the listing of all the songs in that album as well as a barcode and the record label that the artist/band is under. The inside of the digipaks tended to contain the lyrics of the different songs in that album, as well as images of the artisit and different artwork that reflects the artist theme.

Music Video Progress

Over the past few weeks we have been filming our music video for Alicia Keys - You Don't Know My Name. We have experienced many obstacles in the process of our filming such as losing group members and having to start again with a new member also trying to find people to play the roles of Alicia Keys and the role of the male character in the music video.

Once we were able to find to people that play the roles of Alicia Keys and the male we made a schedule of what days we will be able to film and what scenes we would film as well, but obviously things such as the weather and whether or not people are available and if we have available houses to film in. We made sure we filmed all of the indoor scenes on days when the weather inst the best and outdoor scenes on days when the weather wasn't to bad.

Once we started filming we filmed most of the song we could on whatever day people were available and started editing whatever amount of footage we had, after a while we realized we didn't have enough footage of lip syncing which  meant we had to go back and do more filming of lip syncing. Then we would be able to continue editing with the new footage which has her lip syncing. 

We are currently in the process of still filming and editing whenever we get new footage.