Media Technologies

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

research into my production pieces included looking up other music videos on Youtube. This was good, effective research as we could get good ideas about the transitions and SFX (special effects) that were being used in the music videos of the same genre of the band we had chosen our song from.

For the construction of the music video he used a Panasonic GS500 DV video camera to film footage. We hads the focus and the white balance set to automatic so that if we where inside or outside the camera would set its self so that we had the best quality light that the camera could perform.

In terms of the software we used, it wasd the iMac computer and the Premiere Pro program. We were able to put the footage together on to a video timeline to produce the video and add features such as cuts and text. This program also separated the visual footage from the audio, this was useful as the sound that had been picked up on the camera was unwanted because it was background noise.

In our video i played the narrative character and the lead singer in the band. When planning we knew that it would confuse the audience if there wasn't a specific change in appearence between the tweo characters, so another element was costume change.

The rest of the band members wore clothes that they liked and they also looked, for ideas at the band members in paramore to get a picture of the style they go for.

I used blogger to produce a production diary of what we were doing in our course and progress on our task.

My mobile phone was very useful when organising getting everybody together, it was the best form of communication.

Audience Feedback

What Have You Learnt From Audience Feedback?

Before we made any text for the course we researched our target audience by giving out a questionnaire. We gave this out to a specific age group of 17 to 18 years old. Their responses told us what they might expect in the texts we were going to produce.
Form this we were able to decide how much we were going to satisfy the audiences expectations and how much we intended to challenge them. We decided to accept what they expected of us and make our texts of a satisfactory level of our target audience.

For the screening of our music video we made some invitations and gave them to our friends but the same amount of boys and girls. Obviously we invited the cast that took part in our video because they asked if they could see the finished production.
For the invitation we had the information about when and where the screening would be taking part and as a background picture we had a sill shot of one of the practise performances we had.



There wasn’t really a set arrangement at the screening of our video, we just asked that the people stayed after the viewing so that could fill out a questionnaire we had made about our production. We also made sure that we didn’t talk to anyone while the video was playing because we wanted them to focus their full attention to what was going on in the video.



The responses we got back from our questionnaires over all was very positive, most of the rating we got from our audience was 3 out of 4 which is very good so our average was about 3.8.
Some quotes were positive and some quotes were not necessarily negative but, constructive criticism.

Research into CD covers, we decided we should have the normal style of having the band on the frontcover. We felt this would attract people to buy the album. We wanted to portray a young audience in the front cover which was our aim throughout the whole course for our target audience.

For our magazine advert we wanted the band name and the album name in the centre of the actual advert, obviously to stand out, then the release date and the rest of the information at the bottom. we decided to have a completly differnt style magazine advert so that it stood out from other adverts.

The Combination Of Main And Ancillary texts

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

Research into ideas for our album cover was an article featured in the Kerrang magazine about the band that we had chosen our song from. Some of the pictures that were included of the band members, they had covered their eyes with their hands but, the eye was on the back of their hands.
See below



We took this idea to use for out album cover and started to experiment ourselves by using Photoshop to remove the eye off the face and place it on the hand. We found this very difficult as some of our bands hands were paler than their faces making it hard to blend the eye into the hand and make it look realistic.



We decided that this wasn't going to work but we still really liked the idea so we decided to change it. We wanted the name of the band and the album name included on the front cover so knowing that we had five band members and we wanted, Par.A.Mour, Best So Far! We decided to present our album cover like this.



By photoshopping the images we got the negative effect. We decided to do this because it gives the cover more colour and makes it more appealing for the target audience.

There is a clear similarity between the CD cover and the magazine advert because of the font on the advert and on the front of the album cover. Also some of the still shots from the video have been used on the inside covers in the album. The use of the same font creates continuity and also reminds the audience of the CD cover when they see it and might attract them to buy it. The font is called Punk, possibly appealing to a younger audience for its scruffy look, the name of the font suggests rebellion which may appeal to our targeted audience.



The idea of displaying the magazine advert on an iPod relates to the young audience as they use iPods which might encourage them to download the video on their own iPods or listen to the song on their MP4 devices/iPods.



For the bands outfits, there is a mixture of genres. We decided to let the members of the band decide what they wanted to wear because they all have different tastes in clothing and this is good for the audience because they can find their own identity by how the band members dress.

The concentration on the look of the ancillary texts reflects and explains the close links between these two texts and my main text.
Therefore in my view there is a highly satisfactory link between the three texts.

Forms And Conventions Of Media Products

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

Our music video uses the same forms and conventions as real music videos. We did this by researching real music videos on a user generated website, such as, Youtube to have a look and get some ideas of how music videos from different genres of music are constructed to suit the style of the lyrics. To do this, we focused our research on music videos that our chosen band, Paramore, have to see how they have constructed their performance, whether it is just band performance or whether they have included a narrative into their video.

We were able to establish a pattern in many music videos as there is a link between the lyric and the narrative on-screen to support the band playing the song. we decided to follow this pattern for our own video as it was a clear way to present it and makes the video as a whole easier for the audience to follow.

We broke our video up into narrative and performance sections, making it easier visually to understand what is going on. Introducing narrative into the video also helped the audience to make sense of the lyrics. Earlier in my blog i have gone into more detail about this process, from the 17th September onwards.

Going on to the aspect of narrative theory, Althusser, focuses on specific target audiences. For our video we have tried to make our video similar to the bands previous videos but also unique in that, the song is a different style to the rest of their songs and if the song videos are too similar the audience will lose interest.

Encoding meaning of the video, we have specifically produced our video so that it is very clear for the audience to make meaning of it, we want it to be easy for the audience to understand that the song is about a young girl who is torn between whether she wants to be with her boyfriend or not anymore and through out the song it is her trying to make up her mind, her final decision being made at the end of the song.

Challenging forms and conventions, we have done this with our magazine advert.



We have produced our magazine advert in a completely different style to most advertisements. We have made our advert seem like it is a picture within a picture, as you are looking at the information on the screen of an iPod. The picture is an iPod hanging out of a jean pocket, so this is more likely to attract the attention of a younger audience rather than older as this generation is more up to date with new technology and that is what we are aiming for.

Updated Photo For Advert

Prviously we were intending to use this image for our magazine advert, but recent changes have taken place. We have added detail to the corners of the picture, we have edited the image so that it look like pins are holding the picture onto a background.



The reason behind doing this to the image is so that it looks more like a magazine advert rather than just an individual photograph. Another reason for us changing the image is because our CD cover has been created to have a very chaotic feel to it and we wanted to recreate that feeling in the magazine advert.

Back Album Cover

For our album cover, we have made the back cover after finishing the other parts. It features a track list, a compliation of tracks that have been released as singles, making this album a greatest hits album that most record companies want bands to produce every few years.

Magazine Advert

Our magazine advert is displayed on an ipod, we have chosen to show our advert this way as it reflects the consumer's consumption of media and music. This is done in the way that music is often downloaded on to mp4 players and this is reflecting the consumption of media becasue our advert is displayed on the screen of an mp4 player.
We liked the idea of showing our advert this way because it is a different style of advertising for a new album that is being released.

The background that has been used in our advert is a corkboard that we have used previously for the album cover. We have agreed between us to use the same background again for continuity, also the information on the advert is in the same font.We thought it would look more professionl if we stuck to one font style.

In our advertisement we have included an image of the front cover for our CD, in that image we have jagged edges round the band members and we have decided to continue the jagged motif on the advertisemnt to contain the information within it.

I like the idea of our magazine advert because its different in the way that it is a photo within a photo and it breaks the expectations of a normal magazine advert.

Change In The Magazine Advert

For our magazine advert, originally we were going to advertise our cd on a billboard. we have experienced problems with this due to the weather. we have therefore decided to display our advert on the screen of an ipod.

To do this, we will take a close up picture of the ipod and then photoshop the picture that we want to use on to the screen of the ipod.

We came up with this idea because last week we were editing pictures in photoshop and one of the images we were using was the photo of the ipod. We really liked this idea so we decided to recreate it.





The second image is an edited version of the original image of the ipod. We are going to place the second image behind the original so that to viewers it looks like our advert is on the ipod.

Parts Of The Cover

Over the past couple of weeks, we have been experimenting with different ideas for parts of the CD cover.

For our front cover, we have taken a picture of these following photos with the pinboard as the background.











We arranged the last four into a square and then placed the first photo in the centre. This is because the first photo has the name of the band.



We liked this image because the cork background makes the colours of the original images stand out. Due to one of the photos having light it, we had to redo the text on the photo for two of the photos so that the writing was clearer.

Aswell as this, we made the inside of the front cover and carried on the theme of the corkboard that was used on the front cover and used the photo of the pinboard, covered in a range of images. We used one half of the image for the inside front cover and we intended to use the other half on the inside back cover, underneath where the disc sits.



For the other side of the inside cover, we have used the other half of the photo. We also added edges to either side of the cover to cover for the sides of the CD case when we folded them up. We liked this image as it continued our corkboard theme from other parts.



We have made one version of our back cover which bears a track list with a photobooth strip we have created. Having taken the photo, we cropped it down to the chosen size and added edges to either side and placed the CD name on each edge. We didn't like this image as it isn't as chaotic as the others so it doesn't carry on one of our themes. To improve this, we will reshoot for the back cover.

Pinboard For Album Cover

For our album cover, we have gathered together a selection of photographs and arranged them on a pinboard. We have then taken a picture of it.



We have placed group/band shots around the edge of the pinboard and couple and narrative shots in the centre making the pinboard more busy.

Production Logo

For the back of our CD cover, we have created a logo for a production company. We used Stef's initials and the first letter of my name and used the same font that is going to be used on the front and back cover.

Size Of Cover

We have decided to use a CD sized case as we wanted to have two seperate photos inside the case that still made one photo so the viewer can take in each part seperately.

We are aware that the back covers will be a different size so we are taking this into account when we are designing them.

Invite For Screening

We have now finished our video to a good standard after cutting bits and adding other parts in and are getting ready to show it to a select audience. We have created an invite for this audience using a photo of the band performing on Photoshop.

Photoboth Process

To do our images for the photobooth, we used a blue bedsheet, a tripod, a camera, and a remote to the camera. We set the sheet up on a door or on two windows so that it provided a curtain like background for the photos.

We then put the camera onto the tripod and set it up so that it took a photo by remote instead of the button on the camera. We then asked each band member/the narrative characters to sit with their backs near the background and we then positioned opposite them so they were within the frame.

We then captured the images we wanted as each character did a random face and so on (pictures shown previosuly). They were unsure when the camera was going to take their photo as we used a remote so they couldn't see clearly when we were taking the photo. This made the photos more spontaneous.

We finished these quickly and smoothly and we started the photo choosing process.

To make the photobooth strip, we used the Paint program and shrunk the photo down so they were a desired size and then placed them in a line so they made a sequence. We made sure they were the same distance apart and then filled the white background with a pale grey then saved each image.

We created different versions, some with each band member with a different person and all of the band members had another version that had them with their own piece of the album title.

Photobooth Creations

We have created different style photobooth images that are goin to be placed on the pinboard and used on the album cover.

Danny and I for the narrative shot.

Photobooth Shots

We have taken most of the band member's photos in our photobooth style and has chosen five of each of them, including one on them holding part of the title/band name, and one more of them with someone else.






We still have Steve's photos to take after we have got in contact with him.

Digipak 2

Front Cover

We have decided that the band members will hold the individual album name pieces that we have created previously and are placing them in a square then placing the band name piece over the centre.

Inside Front and Back Cover

This will have a photo of the corkboard/whiteboard that displays the photos spread across the two inside covers.

Back Cover

We have created a track list to feature on the back like it is an actual CD album which we are going to print out in our chosen font and we are placing another photobooth style photo strip on the corkboard/whiteboard that features an individual band member in each frame, pulling faces and such.

The Beginning Of The Photobooth Shots

We have started the photobooth shots, but at the moment we are testing the technique to see if it will suit our needs.
We have taken some of the lead singer and the bassist for examples.

Chosen Track List For The Back OF Digipack

1.Misery Business
2.Ignorance
3.Misguided Ghosts
4.Pressure
5.I Caught Myself
6.Decode
7.Hallelujah
8.All We Know
9.Crushcrushcrush
10.Emergency
11.That's What You Get
12.Brick By Boring Brick

Bonus Tracks
13.I Caught Myself - Music Video

Digipack

We have come up with a number of ideas for our digipak and these have come from magazine articles and other digipak covers.
Recently, Paramore were featured in Kerrang promoting their new album. With the article, the pictures accompanied with the article had all of the band members coverintg either one or both eyes with their hands and their eye(s) photoshopped on the back of their hands.

We did our version of this as a experiment with our singer character but we didn't like this as most of the groups' hands were paler in comparison to their face.

We changed this to having writing on their hands on the back or the front but this looked unnatural and we didn't like the feel of it.

We have now made five designs of the band name and the name of the album as a collage on different coloured paper so every member has one word to hold to do with as they wish in their shot.

•Par.A.Mour - Me
•Best - Steve
•So - Mollie
•Far - Hollie
•! - Alex


We have also gathered together some equipment to make an old photobooth that produces a strip of five different photos after one session and we got this idea from photos on Flickr and we are going to start doing photos for this today.

After we have finished the photo strips, we are going to print a selection off along with narrative and band stills as well as photos of all of our actors together even if they don't interact with one another in the video such as Steve (our lead guitarist) with Danny (our male narrative character - Elliot). We are then going to place these on a pinboard or a whiteboard, depending on the amount we are going to print off.

Band Name

Over the past few days, we have been working out a band name for our work as we didn't want to use Paramore.

We used an anagram generator and typed in Paramore and were given a few options. These were the few we like best.

* Opera Mar
* Area Prom
* Area Romp
* Pare Roam
* A Rope Ram

We asked around and many of those we asked didn't like these, so we decided to play around with the names of those that worked on the video, typing in a range of combinations: Helena Atkinson, Stef Streatfield, Steve Ward, Mollie Hart, Hollie Heron-Stamp, Alex Dodds.

* Sixth Worm
* Six Swirl Volt

Again, we asked people what they thought of the names we came up with and none of them jumped off the page at them so we went back to working on the name and we eventually came up with Paramour, the original spelling that the band Paramore took their name from.

Definition Of Paramour - A lover, especially one in an adulterous relationship.

When we looked up the definition, the website presented it to us like this and we liked how they were dots between each syllable so we have now decided on....

Par.A.Mour

Footage We Really Wanted To Use But Couldn't

As mentioned previously, there was a fire at our location while filming our chosen bassist and we happened to capture part of it behind her head. This would add to our piece if we had more shots of her with the smoke and with the other members of the band but unfortunately we didn't have any of this so we are unable to use the smoke behind the bassist's head as it would look out of place.

Transitions

We have used two types of transitions in our piece called Dip To White and have made this short so it flashes rather than fading to white and goes straight into the next bit of footage; this used between narrative and band shots. We have also used one called Band Slide between seperate band shots as in the lyrics, it says You're pushing and pulling me down.

Editing 2

We've got on quickly with our editing and all of our decisions we have agreed on.

We have created another photo montage with the stills we've chosen and dispersed between the final bit of narrative that is going to be featured at the end. This shows the audience the relationship prior to the storyline.

We have also lined up parts of the narrative with the song that feature some of the lyrics. This shows a clear reference to the lyrics in the story and allows us to know where to put specific pieces of footage.

Crimson Effect

Yesterday, we were shown how to add a coloured filter over some of our piece that increased in opacity. We chose red as it showed anger and it suited that particular part of our piece as it was where we featured stills and they grew in to different points of anger.

However, looking back at it today, we decided to not use it as it became too red for us as it became solid colour so we took it out.

Editing

We are now in the editing of the production process and are learning about features we have not worked with before.

As we have taken stills of the two narrative characters together, we have used the ones we like within our music video, creating a photo montage which ends in a bit of footage as the Drew character pushes the Elliot character over.

We have also put all of our band footage in sync with the music. To do this, we used markers on each piece of footage when the drums come in on the track and then lined them up so everything was in time. This will allow us to get the band footage in time with the track.

Filming - Market Rasen - De Aston 4

Today was our final narrative shoot and our final shoot altogether for our piece and we are now in the editing process unless we need to re-shoot parts.

We filmed the final part of narrative which we were unable to do earlier in August. The light was different as the light decreases during autumn, which we were aware off but this created a particular mood as we wanted to get the feelings of the characters across as they are both upset during this part.

Shot Today
Shot 14 - Two Shot - [1.12] - Drew: [Shouts at Elliot] I should have never thought of you.
[This makes Elliot angry and he starts to pace, Drew tries to make him reply]
Shot 15 - Two Shot - [1.16] - Elliot: [He turns to Drew and pushes Drew away, angrily, then pulls her back towards him]
Shot 16 - Head and Shoulder Shot - [1.18] - You need to make up your mind.
Shot 17 - Head and Shoulder Shot - [1.20] - Drew: But I don't know what I want.

This went extremely well as Danny and Helena knew exactly what we were doing and they worked well together while I filmed.

Location Used

Costumes Used

Helena - Drew

Danny - Elliot

Pre-Filming 9

Filming for final narrative shoot tomorrow in the new location at De Aston for the remainder of our narrative.

Equipment
Video camera - Panasonic GS500 mini DV camera
Digital camera - Nikon D60
Tripod
Tape - TA020

Actors
Helena Atkinson
Danny Cooper

Filming - Hemswell Cliff 7

Earlier tonight, we did a small bit of filming with our rhythm guitarist, Mollie Hart, so we got the first minute of her playing close up as she comes in part way through and in our original storyboard, there is a close up of the guitar when it comes in, though at the time, we didn't realise we needed a second guitarist.

Filming - Market Rasen - De Aston 3

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On Saturday, We arranged with Steve to film his individual part for our piece so we agreed to do it during school hours on the field so no one would disrupt the shoot and we could use the locations we found.

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When Steve arrived, we went to the top field and set up. Steve had a practice with the music while we got the camera in position. After he was finished practising, we started to film him, changing the angle three times. We also did a handheld moving shot but we don't think this turned out well as we made the camera shake quite a bit.

Locations Used

Costume Used

Steve - Lead Guitar

Pre-Filming 8

Filming for sixth band shoot today in Market Rasen with our lead guitarist, Steve Ward as we have cancelled our narrative shoot and moved it to Thursday.

Equipment
Video camera - Panasonic GS500 mini DV camera
Digital camera - Nikon D60
Tripod
Tape - TA020
Guitar - Vintage

Actors
Steve Ward

Filming - Middle Rasen

This was our fifth band shoot; the first shoot that we've had every member of the band present which allowed us to do the entire band shot.

Early this morning, Stef and I were organising the times everyone was going to arrive and when Stef was going to pick Hollie up with her drum kit. We chose to use Hollie's drum kit as it shows changes in how the Drew character feels as they are reflected in her fellow band mates and their instruments as we used Mollie's originally.

When Hollie and Stef had packed the drum kit into the car, we took it to our filming location, my grandma's double car garage. Mollie and I were clearing out the garage when Hollie and Stef arrived so we could set up the band and the three cameras on tripods.

When the drum kit and cameras were set up, everyone had a run through of their part and the entire band had a practice together while Stef arranged them. The only two Stef couldn't move were Hollie and I so Stef made sure they were both seen in at least two of the cameras while Stef arranged Mollie, Alex, and Steve. Alex and Steve could see themselves in one of the cameras and made sure they stayed within frame throughout the shoot.





While filming, the iPod station which were using was losing power so we changed to a CD player with the CD the track is from. While we were waiting for the CD, Mollie, Alex, and Steve practised together while Hollie and I practised together so I learnt my cues to the drums rather than the music as the music wasn't loud enough for me to hear it.

However, when we had the CD player, the music was louder so all of the band could hear it and this made them more confident in their performance, allowing them to be more energetic.


Location Used

Costume Used
Helena - Singer



Alex - Bassist



Hollie - Drummer



Mollie - Rhythm Guitar



Steve - Lead Guitar