A2 media

Friday 7 May 2010

Final Music video

The quality of the original movie file is alot higher quality when not uploaded onto blogger.com

Evaluation

Evaluation

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

From my understandings of real media texts every genre of music has a certain set of codes and conventions in which it adheres to. Some of these have been subverted by various directors and artists whilst others strictly follow the generic guidelines. After analyzing music videos, and comparing conventions to similar texts, patterns became clear through all music videos with other smaller conventions then running through each genre. For example, rock music videos often portray rebellion by the use of mise-en-scene and pace of editing, often provoking an attitude or ideology to be portrayed and amplified within the audience. Nirvana's "Smells like teen spirit" video is a prime example of this, although the video provokes rebellion and chaos it still strictly follows the same conventions of rock music videos. I feel my finished media product an animated music video, DVD cover and advert for its release, all use ideas from real media products aswell as challenging and subverting others. For my video I chose to take a different approach and create something new and unique. I intended to create an animated dual narrative music video with limited colour use. I didn't want to completely subvert everything, however did not feel comfortable with creating a generic music video, one which there will already be several similar videos around. For this reason I chose the genre "indie" ( derived from "individual" ) which not only is a personal favourite but I feel will suit the style of animated video I wanted to create. I knew a local unsigned band who were also good friends and I got there permission to create the video for one of their acoustic songs. Once I chose the song 'Complacent' I felt it vital to start gathering ideas and influences by looking at similar artists of the same genre analyzing how they met or subverted the conventions of the genre. As my target audience were mainly males aged under 19, I used similar codes and conventions from other Indie videos aimed at this group to attract them. I focused the story around relationships which although seems a feminine topic is clearly a subject that is very relevant in teenagers and young adults lives and featured in many music videos. This would be further reinforced by the slow paced and lonely feel to the track I'm using. In my blog post (initial ideas for storyboard) this is further expressed further. My product further uses codes and conventions of traditional music videos in the form of its narrative structure. My 'Complacent' music video follows a dual narrative structure of a performance based section combined with a narrative, which is seen in many other Indie music videos but not as much in animated music videos. The majority of animated music videos simply feature a narrative possibly with a character singing within such as Radiohead's video to “Creep” or Nizlopi's video to “JCB song”. I chose to subvert this and feature an animated version of the band developing similar conventions to the band “Gorillaz” and entirely virtual and animated band. This I feel will show the auidence that instead of the video being more of an art based animation it is focused on the band.

Similar to the “JCB song” my product also uses limited colour, this is used to draw attention onto and away from specific subjects on screen to direct the audiences attention. For example 1:28 in my product shows this use as the hearts float upward. This has lead to a final product that both uses forms of real media products in terms of its use of narrative structure and animation style, as well as subverting conventions by producing an animated version of the band and narrative in a dual narrative structure which is usually done in traditional film based music videos, rather than animated ones.

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

I created a DVD for the music video's release on DVD form and an advert to advertise the sale of this DVD in stores: Both to promote and market my music video. During the creation of these ancillary tasks I researched into similar products in order to create mine. I decided to follow closely the codes and conventions of similar products in order to attract my audience with my advert and DVD resonating with them through similar conventions so they feel confident and comfortable in what they are buying.

From my blog posts ( “Auxiliary tasks first drafts”, “Developed DVD cover and poster” and “Final auxiliary tasks” ) the process of following codes and conventions to create continuity and synergy between my main product and ancillary products is clear.

The use of limited colour is a key factor in all of my productions. The use of limited colour and fine line used in my final video I have continued into ancillary tasks, this is further reinforced by the similar fonts, titles and mainly the use of the main animated characters throughout. By doing this a sense of continuity is created between all the pieces. This synergy helps the audience to interact with the products and gives them an idea of what the main product is like just from viewing the ancillary tasks. The ancillary tasks are even, I feel, on their own very effective in terms of attracting and informing. I also feel that by having this number of tasks enabled me to reach out to a wider audience through different media, eg. The music video through television, the advert through magazines and billboards and the DVD through stores both online and physical.

Overall I’m happy with the outcome of the DVD cover and advertisement. I feel they meet the look and need of the band and their audience and follow the style I wished to create throughout and reinforce the main task itself. They are both eye catching whilst not being over done, yet still maintain the image and style of the band that is reflected by the images, text and colour pallet that I’ve chosen.

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

Media technologies played a crucial role during the preparation and research section of my project in which I used a large varity of various media technologies to help me further develop and improve my ideas, ranging from internet based research to viewing the television. The internet was most efficient as I could easily search for appropriate websites to help find my band Against Spoken Words on Myspace to finding existing Album covers for inspiration, simply by typing into Google search engine which delivers suitable sites quickly and efficiently. www.myspace.com was extremely helpful for the search of my unsigned band as it plays the artists music, gives a general description of the band, has photos of the bands which helps gain a general understanding of their look and style, and contact options to contact the band and their management if needed. As I knew the band Against Spoken Words and was not only a fan but close friends with the members I chose them almost immediately. I knew this would have advantages as I could work with the band and get further ideas and co-operation. This helped a lot throughout the project especially during the character design stages.

After choosing my band, I was then able to decide with them the song on which to create the video and of course get the official permission to do so:

To help develop ideas and gain inspiration from existing artists I used the website youtube.com, which enables you to search got any video on the net, allowing me to view any music video I wanted at my own time and leisure. To continue with this research into different music videos, I watched music channels on sky TV, such as MTV2 and NME TV to broaden my knowledge of new coming artists and the current videos that are being made, helping me understand what modern audiences expect to see. To help me further with my understanding of what my target audience would want to see in a music video, I created a questionnaire which I handed out to better gauge what audience I was targeting and what attracts them.

Their response supported my idea and plans, which made me feel confident in my decision. I decided to create my animation similar to the JCB style of animation as this proved very popular. First I created the first drafts of character designs for the band. I began the construction of my first idea, which didn't have a storyboard just a rough plot idea. From here I further developed my ideas, using information from my questionnaire to develop the prop, location and narrative to one that would attract the audience. I had concluded that a flash based animation was the best format.

Three main pieces of software were used for making my products:

Adobe Flash CS3

Adobe Photoshop CS3

Adobe Premier Pro

I feel this worked successfully and gave a professional finish to my piece.

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

During the planning stages of the music video, I a questionnaire to find my target audience and to give me a broader view on ideas, influences and generally what they would be attracted too in a music video. In the facebook group that I made I added a questionnaire as it was an easy way to gather results, these are the following questions I asked:

1: Gender

M/F

2:Age

19 and below 20 -29 30 - 39 40+

3:What type of music do you prefer

Metal Rock Indie Pop RnB Hip Hop Rap Dance other

4:When watching an animated music video what musical genre do you expect it to be on.

Metal Rock Indie Pop RnB Hip Hop Rap Dance other

4b:If it was that genre what props would you expect to see

........................................................................................................................

5:What effects do you like to see in animated music videos

....................................................................................................

6: What narrative style do you prefer in music videos

Narrative Dual Narrative No Narrative

6b: Give reasons for this choice

...................................................................................................

After collecting my responses I know what genre and style of music video I should create, overall the answers I gained where very useful.

Wednesday 10 February 2010

Current progress - behind schedule

With very little time left I am currently behind schedule. Here is my music video in its current format. There are several major errors and countless small ones aswell as close up shots of the singer singing missing but this shows roughly how I want it to turn out. The quality of this video is very poor as this was a test export version.

Final auxiliary tasks

Final DVD cover:

Final Poster/Advert:

Thursday 21 January 2010

Developed DvD cover and Poster

This is my developed DVD cover. The first one I realized was too simple and looked more like a CD case cover and lacked information. This was a problem because it didn't meet the codes and conventions of DVD covers. To overcome this I created a second draft or a developed idea for my DVD cover. This version was made in a net format so you can see how it would fit around the DVD case.

This is my developed poster. The first one I realized was way too simple and didn't have a good composition. This was a problem because it didn't follow the codes and conventions of a magazine advert/poster at all and in my opinion looked very amateur.

To overcome this I created a second draft/developed idea for my advert/poster cover. This version was much better than my first and follows the codes and conventions much better than my first. Both of these however will undergo slight changes before made into the final products.

Research into auxiliary tasks

After careful analysis I realised I could improve my auxiliary tasks be researching further into music video DVD covers and music promotional posters. Therefore I chose to analysis several music video DVD covers and music promotional posters and specify the codes and conventions of these. Once the codes and conventions are highlighted I can use these to help better create my own products.

Magazine Adverts/Posters :

Magazine ad 1

Band/Artist: Gnarls Barkley

Music Genre: Pop, Blues,

This poster is a poster advertising Gnarls Barkley's new album St.Elsewhere.

The image appears to be a large black and white mushroom cloud as seen after bombs explode. This is then juxtoposed to bright and vibrate coloured images in the top of the cloud that are slightly war related.

The images in the cloud are very vibrant colours and are of a cartoonist nature and include, a tiger, a gasmask, a bomb and a cityscape. These reinforce the theme of conflict in this composition however juxtapose the rest if the image which is desaturated.

The artist name and album name are in the top left in a plain, italic but effort font similar to the 'impact' font. The mushroom cloud dominates the cover, and the limited information is kept small and placed in the corner. Through looking at the whole image, it is apparent that the large central composition is the main focus of the frame. This possibly shows some significance to the narrative or subject of the album or song. There is also very good use of negative space used in conjunction with the images to further draw attention to the central image.

Magazine ad 2

Band/Artist: Sway

Music Genre: Grime, Rap

This poster is a poster advertising Sway's new album St.Elsewhere.

On the poster appears to be a large shot of the artist dressed completely in white, similar to the plain white background. This is juxtoposed to the bright superimposed text and the vibrant balaclava printed with the Union Jack upon it, symbolizing his British nationality and also reinforcing the 'London' rap style music.

The use of colour in the advert is crucial as all the coloured aspects are vibrant an eye catching. This draws attention to specific areas of the image for example the important text and the face of the artist. The font is constant throughout in its style and font. The artist name is located in the top left, just like the Gnarls Barkley poster. Its large red font is eye catching but at the same time doesn't dominate too much of the main composition.

Magazine ad 3

Band/Artist: Stone roses

Music Genre: Rock, alternative

This poster is advertising the Stone Roses new LP album.

The image appears to be much simpler than the other images I analyzed. A bold eye catching title is centered at the top of the advert. The font is very simply and sharp in form, with a plain black colour. Below this is then a large, vibrant and dominating image of a slice of lemon. The image has been edited with effects similar to the posterize effect in photoshop.

This lemon image stands out significantly due to its high saturation, and dominance of the space on screen. Unlike the previous posters the band name on this is much larger, and this seems to be the only main information here. This possibly connotes brand confidence from this group as the feel they only need to show their band name and already viewers will want to buy the product.

The album name in the bottom left in a plain, black font the same as the title font. Through looking at the whole image, it is apparent that the large central composition of the lemon slice is the main focus of the frame and almost significant. This possibly shows some link to the narrative, subject or visual style of the album or song. Simplicity is the key aspect used in this advert to create impact.

Music video DVD covers: