It Must Be The Music

Friday, 21 December 2012

Evaluation 5: How did I use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

I used many media technologies in order to research, plan and create my media products as well as evaluate them. These consisted of programmes such as Adobe Photoshop, Final Cut Express, Any Video Converter, and online sites such as Facebook and YouTube.

During the research stages of for my project I used YouTube to view popular Indie music videos; this included many songs of Ellie Goulding, Florence and the Machine and Lana Del Rey as well as lesser known bands such as the Vespers and the Looks. I picked out features that were congruent throughout the various videos that would suit my selected song.

This included Costumes:

Along with the results gathered from my synaesthesia research, my findings of Indie music videos, including 'The Writer' and 'Rabbit Heart', led me to dress my artist in a long flowing pale coloured dress.

Settings:

Wooded areas appeared in many Indie music videos, including 'Your Song' and 'Will You Love Me', this fitted with the responses from my synaesthesia test and so I decided to include this setting.

Camera Shots:

Typical of most music videos, I found that facial close-ups were used frequently during the performance shots, thus I included such shots.

The artists of Indie music often played their own music, this is highlighted in their music videos with close-ups of the instruments, this is why I decided to include many shots of the piano during my music video.

Whilst planning my music video and ancillary tasks I frequently gathered feedback from my target audience so that I could adjust my designs accordingly before I created them. I did this using the social networking site Facebook, allowing people to comment on the scanned in images of my DigiPak.

My main usage of new technologies came during the production stages when I used Final Cut Express to edit my music video, and Photoshop to edit my photos for my DigiPak and Magazine Advertisement.

When editing my photos I used many of Photoshop's tools, primarily to adjust the colour of the image so that the tones weren't too harsh or bright as this did not appeal to my target audience in my questionnaire. Therefore I frequently changed the:

Hue and Saturation

Contrast

Vibrancy

However, for the front and back cover images of my DigiPak I used more elaborate tools such as:

Black and White

Masking- this allowed me to transform the background, of the front cover into a brick wall, and to clear the window ledge.

Paint Tool - with this I blacked out the windows of the front cover image before referring back to the masking tool to add the bushes.

I used many aspects of Final Cut Express to create my final music video. Once each shot had been placed on the timeline and cropped to the required length using the 'sub-clip' tool, I began further editing of each individual clip.

I muted the video audio so that no background noises would distract from the song.

I slowed the speed of this shot to emphasise the moment when Cinderella does not get the Prince.

I added the titles at the beginning of my music video to state the artist and song name. I selected a font, Baskerville, size and colour, white as the scenes the text were overlaid upon were dark colours.

There is a wide choice of transitions in the programme, however, I kept to those that I found commonly in my research of Indie music videos; this consisted of cross dissolve transitions and fade to blacks. I used the fade transitions to open and close my music video, only including the dissolves between shots. Mostly I used these transitions to blend the narrative and performance scenes together because I wanted a seamless transition between the two. I also incorporated transitions into the titles texts, having them fade in and out so that their appearance was smooth rather than sudden as this would cause them to look out of place within the music video.

The final stage that I used such technologies was for gathering final feedback for my evaluation.

I used YouTube and Facebook to upload my music video and ancillary tasks in order to hear from my target audience as to what they thought of my products.

Evaluation 4: What have I learnt from my audience feedback?

Wednesday, 19 December 2012

Evaluation 1: How have I incorporated my research into my final products?

Although I planned my music video, DigiPak and magazine advertisement precisely, through storyboards and multiple designs, I still ended up altering my plans when it came to editing the shots and images together.

I decided not to conform to the typical male gaze style of music video; saying that, there are aspects of my music videos that may suggest otherwise. I deliberately avoided a seductive female actress sauntering through the music video as not only did I feel this was unsuitable for the representation of my artist, my target audience also felt that would have been distasteful. Instances where my artist fits the male gaze theory include the close up of the artist’s feet- although not a sexual area of the body, revealing the female character gradually is a feature of this theory. I deliberately cast my artist as someone who was not uncomfortably skinny, contrasting how the media often portrays ‘beauty’. This will present my artist as a role model to women of all colours and sizes.

I open my music video with by zooming into a fairytale book from a bird’s eye view shot. This zoom emerges the audience, suggesting they are entering the world presented in the music video. The intertextuality of the fairytale book introduces the Cinderella storyline as well as inferring connotations of the Cinderella tale such as love and happy endings, soon to be contrasted. I also use establishing panning shots to reveal the setting; the wooded area cross dissolves into the shot of buildings, implying the merging of nature and man-made (the theme present throughout my project). I have incorporated a large variety of camera angles in my music video. During the performance aspect of my music video I focus mainly on eye level mid shots. I chose this shot as it reveals the artist as well as framing her in shot with the piano. However, to restrain from a bland consistency I have also included the occasional high angle shot, as this angle beautifies the artist’s face as well as connoting vulnerability. I chose to represent this because the song portrays the life of a woman who loses her love, and is thus helpless- perhaps a damsel in distress. The shots of the piano being played are primarily angled from a bird’s eye view. This not only gives a clear framing of the piano, it also forces the audience to look down on the scene as though watching from above. I also make use of over the shoulder shots as this also dislocates the audience during the performance shots. I used these two camera angles when filming the piano because being the audience won’t relate to the performance scenes, unlike with the narrative, I wanted to position them as a voyeur rather than within the scene. The majority of my shots are edited together with quick cuts to keep a smooth run of shots yet I have included some cross dissolve transitions to blend the narrative and performance scenes of my music video; this creates a link between the song and story.

I incorporated various means of intertextuality to ensure the audience relates my music video to the story of Cinderella as this creates shock when the climax of Cinderella losing the Prince is revealed. I use explicit references to Cinderella such as the fairytale book and invitation addressed to Cinderella, as well as the subtler close up of the artist’s shoes- Cinderella losing her shoes is a key moment of the fairytale. However, I introduce the concept of a skewed fairytale by including a close up of Cinderella’s bare feet scenes before that of her in shoes; in the fairytale Cinderella loses her shoes toward the end of the story yet in my music video she is without shoes to begin with thus suggesting my music video is a twisted fairytale.