Evaluation and Feedback of the Video

Initially I was working in a group of three other people, but due to differences in the group we split up just before we were about to start shooting the video. Because of this me and my partner Jonathan had to come up with a new idea, create a shooting script, screenplay and shooting diary. Because of this we fell a little bit behind and therefore didn't have as much time to film our footage. However, given these restraints I feel we done quite well and gained a lot of experience in not only camera and editing skills but in organisation and preparation.
Before we started filming I learnt the importance of storyboarding your music video, as wells as making a shooting script to you keep you on schedule when filming. I also learnt how to set up and use a camera, for example how to focus the camera an attach it to a tripod. During the filming process I learnt how to achieve certain camera shots and movements, for example high angle shots, tracking and panning. Once the filming was completed I learnt how to recapture footage onto a computer, how to edit the footage using Final Cut Pro, and finally export the completed music video and upload it to Youtube.
Unfortunately I was unable to upload the video to facebook to get peoples comments so I sent them links to the youttube page. Most people said it was good but felt the first verse was quite repetitve in terms of the shots we used. However, towards the end it picked up as there we used many different shots. They also said that they enjoyed the end of the video.

In what ways does your video use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Link to my presentation:
https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AbhCr4ttDC-rZHI5ODM1aF8xaHRnOTYyZDk&hl=en&authkey=CM2F1Y8D

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
I think my digi pack and my advert work well together as they both have similar images, fonts and colours. Having shown both the digi pack and advert to people they have said that it is clear the two products are part of the same thing. My advert would be used to sell the digi pack if this were a real product.
I think my digi pack and advert are similar to the ones i analysed - they have a large image of the featured artist as well as song information, the artists name, album name and record label. The advert also have a release date and facebook and twitter logos which is something I noticed other adverts often have.

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
To get feedback for my digi pack and my advert I uploaded the finished images onto facebook to allow people to comment on them. Most singers or bands now have a facebook page and often put up images or posters of their new releases, whether its a new album, single or video to create interest among their fans.
Having read what people have said I would possibly change the background colour of my digi pack cover. people commented that black looked too dark and not like a pop album. I would also change the colour of the writing on the advert as people said the yellow wasn't very clear in some places. Having looked at the image again now it's smaller rather than on Photoshop I agree that the writing that goes over her hair isn't easy to read so I would change it to a darker colour. I only chose yellow originally to keep it the same as the digi pack.
I tried to upload the finale video onto facebook, but for some reason was unable to so instead I uploaded it to Youtube so people could watch it. When I have shown it people they mostly say that the first chorus seems a bit repetitive in terms of the shots used, but said it picked up at the end. If I were to change the video I would add in different shots at the beginning maybe even introduce a different location to make it more interesting.

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages of all your products?
The first piece of equipment I learnt how to use was the camera and tripod. Knowing how to attach the camera to the tripod helped us to film steady shots the characters as well as smooth pans and zooms.
The most important piece of software I used was Photoshop as it allowed me to create my digi pack and advert. This software allowed me to upload and crop photos as well as place fonts and images. I found this software difficult to use at first and as a result of this I personally think my advert looks better than my digi pack because I had more experience in using Photoshop when making the advert. However, once I got used to using it I found it really useful in creating what I wanted to.
Final Cut Pro was the software I used on a Mac computer to upload and edit the footage we shot. Again, this footage took some getting used to as there was a lot of features we had the opportunity of using. This software was helpful in cutting out any unwanted footage as well as putting together all the footage we needed. We could also cut the shots to the length we wanted and move the shots around to put them in the order we wanted them to be in.

Finished Video

Once our video was filmed and edited we downloaded it so we could then post it onto our youtube accounts.
Link to our finale video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1Nw8W9GkMM

Creative Camera Use

For our video we decided not to use and special effects as we felt it would take away from the video's narrative, instead we felt it would be better if we kept it simple. At first we did plan to use a fade at the end of the video but after watching it with and without a fade we thought it looked better just to cut.
We had planned to create a time lapse using clouds floating over the sky but unfortunately we ran out of time.

Rejected Footage

Our music video finishes at 03:16 followed by our rejected footage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1Nw8W9GkMM

We decided not to the chours at the end because her miming didn't fit with the lyrics of the song. The other unused footage was simply because we had enough shots for the video.

Advert

Before I designed my own adverts I analysed other music adverts in the same genre so I knew what was usually included.

Analysis of other music adverts

This Madonna advertisement ‘Celebration The Ultimate Collection’ is for a album that  includs two of her previous cd'S ‘The Immaculate Collection’ and ‘The Video Collection 93:99’. The photo on the advertisment is clearly influence by pop art. The effect of using this style of art and the iconic image of Madonna together show the audience that the album is based on the success she has had over the years. The criticism pop art first had could also be a reference to the controversy Madonna received in her younger years  This creates chesion between the art and Madonna. The pop art is also very eye catching and would stand out to passers by.At the top of the poster there is a masthead 'MADONNA' and a subheading 'CELEBRATION'.The masthead tells the audience who the advertisement is for and the subheading establishes the title of the album. The font gives the impression that it has been stamped on, possibly to emphasis how Madonna stamped her influence on pop culture. The letters are also with the subheading letters in a bright pink colour  to maintain the theme of pop culture. Underneath the image is a subheading 'the ultimate hits collection' and below in yellow, pink and blue boxes ‘2 x CD, DOWNLOAD 2XCD’. Again these colours make the writing stand out and match the colours of the 'CELEBRATION' subheading and Madonna's eye shadow.  The poster also lists other songs that are featured in the album.

This is the Katy Perry advert for her 'One of the Boys' CD. The photo for this advert is done in a similar theme to that fo her album cover, making it immediately recognisable to her fans. 'Katy Perry' is written in large bubble writing in a bright colour to make it eye catching to passers by. The advert provides details on when the album is going to be released  as well as information that her number one single is featured on there in order to attract more people.



My Advert Flat Plans

1)

2)

3)

I ended up creating my advert based on a combination of my first and second flat plan as i felt they were the two most affective. My third flat plan, although eye catching has no picture of Rihanna and i don't feel that the layout is as clear as the other two flat plans. Because each line of information gets bigger and they are so close together the information isn't as easy to read.

Link to my advert:
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B7hCr4ttDC-rOTgyZjdjMDktZmM1ZC00YWIxLTgxMmQtZTJlZjcxNzgyZmRh&hl=en&authkey=CK6fsqkM

From this task I increased my knowledge of Photoshop and how to use the features avaliable. I also learnt what is neccessary on an advert as well as the importance of creating flat plans.

Feedback
To get feedback for my advert I put the finale thing onto facebook so people could comment on what they thought I should improve. The one thing that everyone said I should change was the font colour as it was hard to read in certain places.