Wednesday 25 March 2015
Our Final Music Video
Our music video is finally finished and is up on youtube. I am very pleased with the way it turned out.
Tuesday 24 March 2015
Our Final Website
Our website took a long time to get up and running by eventually finalising all of the colours and the balance of colour and white and black.
Here is the link!
Here is a screenshot of the homepage of our website:
Here is the link!
Here is a screenshot of the homepage of our website:
Evaluation Task Four: Conclusion
By using digital media technologies, I have used technological convergence to ensure that I have produced three products as a part of a successful campaign. My use of of the Sony NX5 during the production of my music video and the use of Adobe Premier has enabled me to become a prosumer, which is a creator of media products to near a professional standard. The use of Final Cut Pro as a piece of editing software has taught me how to select and organise a music video to a very high standard using semi-professional media equipment. I have also bee able to share ideas and research global and industry standard products. Digital technology has made available to me opportunities to upload, share and distribute my products using YouTube as a free broadcast platform. It is also interactive - audiences have been able to feedback, like and comment on my products using features as Survey Monkey and other online tools. These we skills learned on this course have enabled me to gained experience not only as a user of digital technology but also to become a producer as this is important to understanding the media in an online age.
Henry Jenkins seemed very interested in examining this 'participatory culture' and most specifically how the internet has brought it to the forefront through offering opportunities for regular audience members to produce and upload their own products. This I have achieved by creating my own music video and editing, producing etc this all in a group of prosumers all my age.
Monday 23 March 2015
Friday 13 March 2015
Evaluation Task Four: Transcript
Describe the cameras used.
Lulu: Throughout the A Level Media course we used two cameras. One was called the Sony NX5 which we used in our AS year and the other was the Sony FX100.
Did you use a lens change?
Katie: We used a few different lenses for our music video. We used a slow motion lens in order to get the effective slow motion shots of the powder paint. We used the 85mm Carl Zeist lenses for the close up shots, 50mm for mid-shots, 35mm for long shots and 21mm for wide shots.
Explain the post-production process.
Claudia: After we filmed everything on the shoot day, all our footage was then transferred to a Mac computer and then edited by the Adobe Premier software. This was convergently transferred from the camera to the computer very easily and efficiently.
How have you arranged the shots using digital software?
Lulu: We used Adobe Premier to edit all of the shots together using the blade tool. We also used this software to its full potential by adding in wipes to our music video which give off a the clean-cut image we were going for.
Did you use any tools in the editing software?
Katie: We used the blade tool to make the shots seamlessly flow together and maintain continuity throughout the video. We used the render tool to link all of the shots together with the music and in order to sync up the music, we used the digital clapperboard to make syncing up the video simple and easy.
Lulu: Throughout the A Level Media course we used two cameras. One was called the Sony NX5 which we used in our AS year and the other was the Sony FX100.
Did you use a lens change?
Katie: We used a few different lenses for our music video. We used a slow motion lens in order to get the effective slow motion shots of the powder paint. We used the 85mm Carl Zeist lenses for the close up shots, 50mm for mid-shots, 35mm for long shots and 21mm for wide shots.
Explain the post-production process.
Claudia: After we filmed everything on the shoot day, all our footage was then transferred to a Mac computer and then edited by the Adobe Premier software. This was convergently transferred from the camera to the computer very easily and efficiently.
How have you arranged the shots using digital software?
Lulu: We used Adobe Premier to edit all of the shots together using the blade tool. We also used this software to its full potential by adding in wipes to our music video which give off a the clean-cut image we were going for.
Did you use any tools in the editing software?
Katie: We used the blade tool to make the shots seamlessly flow together and maintain continuity throughout the video. We used the render tool to link all of the shots together with the music and in order to sync up the music, we used the digital clapperboard to make syncing up the video simple and easy.
Thursday 5 March 2015
Evaluation Task Four: Introduction
How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
The first technology I used was the Sony NX5 and after doing some filming, I then started to use Final Cut Pro to edit my opening title sequence. In the AS course we used a lot less modern technologies with Prezi, Blogger and YouTube being the main features. In the A2 year, I have expanded my horizons and started using new and innovative technologies such as Adobe Premiere, Emaze, Wix and Soundcloud which have opened up my perspective and improved my skills within Media.
As this task continues, I will delve into how these technologies helped me and developed and honed my skills and eventually helped me in making my coursework, a music video, and the ancillary texts, a CD Digipak and website, to go with it.
Thursday 26 February 2015
Evaluation Task Three: Conclusion
What have I learned from my audience feedback?
I have learned from my audience feedback that I have constructed an intended star image and an effective campaign. My target audience of pre-teens and teenagers has informed me what went well, for example, they liked the parts of my video when the powder paint was in use. They also suggested areas for development such as not having long shots of the singers just singing as this can get boring. If I was to make any future changes, I would have more slow motion shots of the powder paint as this was the favourite part of my music video.
Taking note of the audience feedback I understand how the audience inform me of the success of the campaign is and allowed me time to make adjustments to the campaign before it went to distribution. Audience feedback is important market research in post-production to see if I created the right star image and marketed this purposefully. As Henry Jenkins informs us that we live in a participatory culture, where fans and audiences are important in circulating meaning and the strength of media message.
I also recognise that my audience has engaged with the meanings in my music videos in different ways, bringing their own contexts to the reading of the star image, as what Hall argues as reception theory. I can understand how my audience can either reinforce of challenge intended meanings in the text.
Tuesday 24 February 2015
Tuesday 10 February 2015
Friday 6 February 2015
Audience Feedback: YouTube Statisics
Although we got some good feedback from our survey, there is still the possibility that the respondents were trying to please us and be nice. So we decided to take a look at the YouTube statistics for our music video and found some interesting things.
We saw that the top place people were watching our video was in the United Kingdom which makes sense because that is where our band is from and where they are based. A lot of people from our college have watched the video and we noticed that it had received over 1,200 views on YouTube since it's release in December.
However, we did receive a lot of views from over 25 countries, suggesting that our image is a global image similarly to One Direction. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough views to find out what was the most popular age range that were watching our videos but we are pretty sure that it was our target audience which was 11-16 years old.
We also had a look at what devices our audience were watching our video on. Due to the proliferation of hardware and content, watching our video on a mobile phone was very popular and coincides with our target audience. A lot of younger people watch things nowadays on their smartphones instead of a computer although computers are still the number one way to watch things. I wouldn't be surprised if in a few years time the mobile phone views surpassed the computer views.
Similar to some of the responses we received on our survey, a lot of people stopped watching because it got too boring. A way we could improve this is to bring in the powder paint and maybe a different paint aspect sooner so the audience don't turn the video off. This could easily be improved with a higher budget, better cast and a better set.
We saw that the top place people were watching our video was in the United Kingdom which makes sense because that is where our band is from and where they are based. A lot of people from our college have watched the video and we noticed that it had received over 1,200 views on YouTube since it's release in December.
However, we did receive a lot of views from over 25 countries, suggesting that our image is a global image similarly to One Direction. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough views to find out what was the most popular age range that were watching our videos but we are pretty sure that it was our target audience which was 11-16 years old.
We also had a look at what devices our audience were watching our video on. Due to the proliferation of hardware and content, watching our video on a mobile phone was very popular and coincides with our target audience. A lot of younger people watch things nowadays on their smartphones instead of a computer although computers are still the number one way to watch things. I wouldn't be surprised if in a few years time the mobile phone views surpassed the computer views.
Similar to some of the responses we received on our survey, a lot of people stopped watching because it got too boring. A way we could improve this is to bring in the powder paint and maybe a different paint aspect sooner so the audience don't turn the video off. This could easily be improved with a higher budget, better cast and a better set.
Audience Feedback: Survey Monkey
In order to get optimum audience feedback, we decided to set up a survey on the website www.surveymonkey.com
This was a very useful website as it allowed us to ask multiple people up to ten questions for free. We decided to ask them about our music video and we would tackle the challenge of our ancillary texts later on in the feedback process.
The first question we asked was whether the viewer enjoyed the video. We were pleased to find out that everybody enjoyed the video and have received a 100% 'yes' rating for our video.
Our next question was What is your favourite aspect to our music video? And we overwhelmingly received comments about the powder paint element. This suggests that maybe we should have included more of this, or more different types of paint in order for the audience to not get bored until the paint comes in.
Overall, we got a fairly positive response to our casting choices although a few people felt that maybe some of the choices weren't great. This coincides with some of our YouTube comments who mentioned that the performers were a bit stiff and looked a bit bored.
After asking what could be improved in our music video, an overwhelming response was that the performers could have been more into it as it got boring at times. However, all of these problems would not occur if our band was real.
I feel like we conveyed the concept of the music video fairly well as most people understood that it was supposed to look like a boy band having fun. They seemed to understood the major emphasis on the 'pop' genre.
As we are currently looking at media in the online age, I decided to ask the question whether you would buy the song online. We got a resounding yes but not as many said they would download it illegally. This is interesting as it shows that maybe music culture offline isn't dying as quickly as we thought.
We got a very good response from everybody about the name of our boy band. Originally we were not so sure about the name but to know that it is appealing and fits with the indie/pop genre is comforting and makes us firm in our decision to name the band Quadratic Formula.
The audience understood that our target audience was pre-teens and teen girls although we got some responses saying that it would appeal to a lot of people as the image is so clean cut. This is what we wanted to hear because we want parents of young girls to be comfortable with them listening to Quadratic Formula's music.
Once again, we got some criticism on the casting choice for the band. We also discovered that the set was a bit bland so if we were to do this again, we would have a bigger, white box set where we can see the floor. We unfortunately did not have the budget for this originally.
After hearing the audience feedback, we feel we have achieved and overall positive approach to our music video. It was good to put the survey out there and get some feedback as some of the respondents were in our target audience range of 11-16. Most of the responses were positive and what we were expecting so I believe we have successfully conveyed the image and artist that we wanted to convey and this has been proven by the amount of positive feedback we have received.
This was a very useful website as it allowed us to ask multiple people up to ten questions for free. We decided to ask them about our music video and we would tackle the challenge of our ancillary texts later on in the feedback process.
The first question we asked was whether the viewer enjoyed the video. We were pleased to find out that everybody enjoyed the video and have received a 100% 'yes' rating for our video.
Our next question was What is your favourite aspect to our music video? And we overwhelmingly received comments about the powder paint element. This suggests that maybe we should have included more of this, or more different types of paint in order for the audience to not get bored until the paint comes in.
Overall, we got a fairly positive response to our casting choices although a few people felt that maybe some of the choices weren't great. This coincides with some of our YouTube comments who mentioned that the performers were a bit stiff and looked a bit bored.
After asking what could be improved in our music video, an overwhelming response was that the performers could have been more into it as it got boring at times. However, all of these problems would not occur if our band was real.
I feel like we conveyed the concept of the music video fairly well as most people understood that it was supposed to look like a boy band having fun. They seemed to understood the major emphasis on the 'pop' genre.
As we are currently looking at media in the online age, I decided to ask the question whether you would buy the song online. We got a resounding yes but not as many said they would download it illegally. This is interesting as it shows that maybe music culture offline isn't dying as quickly as we thought.
We got a very good response from everybody about the name of our boy band. Originally we were not so sure about the name but to know that it is appealing and fits with the indie/pop genre is comforting and makes us firm in our decision to name the band Quadratic Formula.
The audience understood that our target audience was pre-teens and teen girls although we got some responses saying that it would appeal to a lot of people as the image is so clean cut. This is what we wanted to hear because we want parents of young girls to be comfortable with them listening to Quadratic Formula's music.
Once again, we got some criticism on the casting choice for the band. We also discovered that the set was a bit bland so if we were to do this again, we would have a bigger, white box set where we can see the floor. We unfortunately did not have the budget for this originally.
After hearing the audience feedback, we feel we have achieved and overall positive approach to our music video. It was good to put the survey out there and get some feedback as some of the respondents were in our target audience range of 11-16. Most of the responses were positive and what we were expecting so I believe we have successfully conveyed the image and artist that we wanted to convey and this has been proven by the amount of positive feedback we have received.
Monday 2 February 2015
Evaluation Task Two: Conclusion
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
I have been effective in communicating the star image as a part of a campaign - considering the distribution of the product and the brand image. Ultimately the brand image I want to promote was a boy band of four boys with a clean-cut and fun-loving image. This is important for any campaign or concept. For example, my campaign could be linked to artists such as One Direction and Kodaline as they already have a large fanbase of my target audience, pre-teens and teenage girls. Emily Teadrake from Polydor records argues that the pitch for any concept had to be consistent and marketable which is what I hope I have produced through my ancillary texts and my main music video. For example, Emily said that the Ellie Goulding's music video wa key to the success of the song because that is the way the viewer sees what the artist looks like and is able to make a judgement. It also portrays the star image in the most positive light as the artist is in control of how she/he/they are portrayed.
Finally, I have technically delivered a coherent looking campaign through my ancillary texts and my music video through the use of image and online social media. The music video promotes a single that is released along with the album whilst the website acts as an effective online tool which helps distribute and promote meaning for a fan base. The circulation and spread of meaning by the intended audience helps with co-option, as argued by Boyd amongst the fans and aids me with the marketing and promotion of the album.
Sunday 1 February 2015
Monday 26 January 2015
Evaluation Task One: Conclusion
In what ways do your media products use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
Conventions are the generally accepted ways of doing something. Conventions can be used, supported and reiterated. However, they can also be challenged to deliberately broken to subvert the stereotypes.
In evaluation of the question set, I feel that I have drawn on the conventions of media products in my own campaign. This use of conventions is evident in the construction of my own products. For example in my use of the boy meets girl narrative, the performance/instrument element and close ups of all of the band members. This is supported by my own research into similar bands such as McFly and The 1975.
At the same time I have sought to develop and be able to challenge conventions. For example: I have included a new 'wipe' editing technique. The reason why I feel that I have achieved this is to differentiate my product in a competitive music industry market and I have attempted to challenge audience expectations and bring something new to the media forms.
Media conventions are ultimately relied upon for communicating the right message to the intended audience but also, to deviate from these expectations as it helps sell the star image that I wanted to promote. Audiences produce meaning from the interaction of the conventional material in a text, and their understanding of conventions is first nature.
Conventions are the generally accepted ways of doing something. Conventions can be used, supported and reiterated. However, they can also be challenged to deliberately broken to subvert the stereotypes.
In evaluation of the question set, I feel that I have drawn on the conventions of media products in my own campaign. This use of conventions is evident in the construction of my own products. For example in my use of the boy meets girl narrative, the performance/instrument element and close ups of all of the band members. This is supported by my own research into similar bands such as McFly and The 1975.
At the same time I have sought to develop and be able to challenge conventions. For example: I have included a new 'wipe' editing technique. The reason why I feel that I have achieved this is to differentiate my product in a competitive music industry market and I have attempted to challenge audience expectations and bring something new to the media forms.
Media conventions are ultimately relied upon for communicating the right message to the intended audience but also, to deviate from these expectations as it helps sell the star image that I wanted to promote. Audiences produce meaning from the interaction of the conventional material in a text, and their understanding of conventions is first nature.
Tuesday 20 January 2015
Evaluation Task One: Part Three
In what ways do your media products use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
This is the homepage to our website. As you can see, we have stuck with the convention of using close-ups of the faces of the members of the band as they are new and need to get their image out there to be successful. We went for the two block colours such as black and white as we didn't want the website to look too messy. This could actually be improved by adding more colour to go witht he young, care-free and vibrant feel of the band.
It is essential for the band's upcoming gigs and news to be shared on the website because there is nowhere else for it to reach a wide audience. Our target audience is 10-16 year old girls and as we are now in a highly online and technical era, a website is the best way to reach out to that audience. We also have links to social media sites such as Instagram and Facebook which are also very popular with our target audience.
This is the homepage to our website. As you can see, we have stuck with the convention of using close-ups of the faces of the members of the band as they are new and need to get their image out there to be successful. We went for the two block colours such as black and white as we didn't want the website to look too messy. This could actually be improved by adding more colour to go witht he young, care-free and vibrant feel of the band.
It is essential for the band's upcoming gigs and news to be shared on the website because there is nowhere else for it to reach a wide audience. Our target audience is 10-16 year old girls and as we are now in a highly online and technical era, a website is the best way to reach out to that audience. We also have links to social media sites such as Instagram and Facebook which are also very popular with our target audience.
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