Final Media Music Video // Alcazar Spark

Digipak Changes from Draft to Final - Michael

 This was my first completed draft. Originally I was pleased with this as I liked the continuity throughout. From feedback I received I was pleased with people's initial reactions. Many people commented on the  photography and said the inner stretched out photo worked very well alongisde the front cover. I also received a comment that stated the change in colour between the black and white collage and the inner two panels worked well. as it was a nice blend. 

 In my second draft, I decided I wasn't fond of the use of the collage as I believed it looked messy and less professional than it could, so I got rid of it and took another photo that fitted in and had a similar style to the photo on the first inside panel. Many people told me they liked this photo and it suited the overall digipak much more than the collage and that the layout still worked well.

In my third and final draft I decided to keep the same photo that I used in the second on the right inside panel. However, I also decided that this didn't fit with the theme that had continued throughout the rest of the digipak, as only one person is present in the picture. To fix this issue I went into Photoshop and duplicated the first figure. This then meant my final digipak was consistent, clean and appeared professional throughout. 

Final Digipak and Magazine Advert - Michael

Magazine Advert Changes from Draft to Final - Michael

Even when creating my first draft I was aware that I wanted to make a obvious visual link between my album cover and the advert that I would create. I decided I would do this by incorporating the image used on the front cover  onto the magazine advert. In my first draft i decided to put the image in the middle of a white border and used the band's name as a visual statement by making it bold, black and by locating it at the top of the poster. Originally I liked this advert as I believed it looked clean and simple but I was recommended, through feedback from a friend, to try a different design as this one may not look as good in a magazine, as the white border makes the page appear smaller.

In my second draft included all the same information, but instead of keeping the same layout, I moved it around. I focused the majority of the white space on the image and only left a small rectangular shape at the bottom for the text and information to go. I also made the band's name a lot more predominant by changing the color of the name and putting it over a black background. I did this as the band's name is very important as people will need to remember it i it is to be advertised properly.

In my final draft I left everything the same as the previous, except for the colour at the bottom of the advert. It was suggested to me by a friend that I make this section of the poster black to make the white text pop even more than it did before. I tried this and kept this idea as I believed that it made it look as if the over image was carried on and the space beneath the two figures was a lot larger, further adding to the desired professional appearance.

The final changes I made to my magazine advert were minimal. I removed one of the star ratings as I believed it looked a little clustered. As well as this i simply changed the names of the companies that had given ratings. I decided that the previous names didn't fit into the correct genre, so entered magazines and companies that did. 

Evaluation Question 1 - Michael

Evaluation Question 2 - Michael

(Unfortunately 'Scribd' had messed up the original layout of this answer, but the main body of text is still readable)

Evaluation Question 2 by michaelwilsonasmedia

Evaluation Question 3 - Michael

https://soundcloud.com/michael-wilson-144/tracks

The link above leads to my soundcloud account which contains the answer in separate tracks to my Evaluation Question 3.

Or optionally read it below.

Evaluation Question 3 by michaelwilsonasmedia

Evaluation Question 4 - Michael

https://uk.pinterest.com/mikeyw27/evaluation-question-4/

Visit the address above to view my full answer to question 4.


Or optionally read the complete version below

Evaluation Question 4 by michaelwilsonasmedia

Evaluation Question 1 Draft - Michael

Evaluation Question 1:  In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

When in the planning and designing stages of our media product, we needed to look and take inspiration from other videos. This was crucial so that we could ensure our music video was the best it could possibly be. To make sure that we could aim our music video at our target audience we had to use research to try an aim for a specific target market. We wanted our product to both meet and defy conventions. If we were to do this we needed to research and find modern day conventions which we could challenge. We took inspiration from many videos, mainly all narrative but also some performance videos, as we knew we wanted to make our video similar to this  style.

Originally we took large amounts of inspiration from Circa Waves’ – Stuck in my Teeth, as our previous ideas consisted of a greater ratio of performance aspect. In this video, the band are shown playing the song throughout, but with clips in-between off the group messing around. This had originally appealed to us.

After a while of planning, we decided we’d rather make a more cinematic/narrative styled music video. This goes against conventions of a stereotypical indie music videos, as the majority are performance based, even if there is a little narrative. To look for inspiration when making our video we turned to the music video for Milky Chance’s ‘Flashed Junk Mind’. 

 Although our video is a binary opposite of this video, due to the emotion and atmosphere of the final product, the style, shots and overall design of the video are similar. We took great inspiration from this video and used lots of the shots in our own video to create a similar style.. Similarly to the video for Flashed Junk Mind we also incorporated a slight performance aspect into our video. This mainly consisted of solitary singing and small slips of a guitar, however these stand alone performance clips meant we were able to stay in the genre of our song choice.  Also, because of this our product is more likely to be able to be recognized and appear as a realistic media product and music video.

When creating the storyboard and initial idea for our music video we had to come up with a story line that would fit the atmosphere and tone of the song, as well as the lyrical content. We decided that a more depressing style would suit our video. However, although we wanted to make the story clear to the viewer, we also decided that it was crucial not too make the video too cliche or blatantly obvious. We researched certain videos and decided we wanted to use the shots and the actors to tell the story rather than making it extremely obvious through too much visual aid.  For example, in our initial planning we wanted one of the main actors to end up standing on a bridge, to show he was about to jump off, but we decided this was too obvious. To make the video more professional we wanted it to be interpreted by the reader, so got rid of all these obvious shots. I believe that because of this we were able to compare our music video to other media products so that we could convey realistic conventions. Videos such as Green Day's 'When September Ends' has a similar tone to that of the atmosphere created in our own media product.

Evaluation Question 2 Draft - Michael

Evaluation Question 2: How Effective is the Combination of Your Main Product and Ancillary Texts?

I believe that the combination between our music video and my own personal ancillary texts is effective. When creating my digipak and magazine advert I had to take into consideration how it would work an appear alongside our final media product, the music video. 

When taking images to use in my digipak and advert, I decided that I wanted the atmosphere and feeling of the photos to be the same as that in the music video. This meant I had to take a photo that would make the audience think and may appear a little solemn. To do this I experimented with different techniques and styles of photography. I knew I wanted the photo I would take to be dark, so that it could match the overall tone and literal colour of the music video, which is shot mostly at night time.  The image I selected to use incorporated all of these criteria that I wanted it to.

Even though my front cover was the most important part of my digipak, when combining this alongside the main media product, it was also important for me to ensure the rest of my digipak continued with a similar theme and style, so that it wasn't just the cover that worked effectively alongside the music video. To ensure I did this, I used similarly dark photos to try and convey a similar tone and feeling.

I ensured that when creating our music video, shots were included that would relate and be linked to my ancillary texts. I wanted to include plenty of dark shots and shots that would make the audience ask questions and shots that would intrigue them. I also looked at the colour scheme and tried to relate this ti certain shots.

Evaluation Question 3 Draft - Michael

Evaluation Question 3 - What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Throughout this project, audience feedback has played an important part in the creation and final product of both our music video and my personal ancillary products. By receiving and taking in feedback from a whole range of different audiences I was able to adapt my final piece to ensure it was as good a media product as it could be.

Pitch: I first received feedback when, as a group, we pitched our first ideas for our music video. We created a 25 word pitch to express our original ideas to our peers. By receiving feedback on this we were able to adapt our ideas to suit that of an age group in our target audience. Comments such as:

      
were able to help us build on our original ideas. We answered questions that we were asked via feedback, and used these questions to slightly altar our planning. During the early stages of our planning this feedback was welcomed and became very helpful, as it meant we were able to learn about our target audience (as our media products were aimed at students the similar age to ourselves). Comments on our pitch, such as Phoebe's, that asked questions, such as, where we would be filming, allowed us to ask ourselves these questions and think about these for the first time ourselves. This was extremely helpful and meant we were able to start planning locations and other queries much earlier in the project than we may have done otherwise.

Digipak: More personally, I started to receive comments on my ancillary texts, when I published my draft digipak on the group blogger. With this piece I was able to ask for feedback from my subject teacher, as well as peers and other media students. Although my media studies teacher would not fit into the same target audience as was desired for our music video and final media products, I respected and was grateful for their personal feedback. As this teacher had seen many examples of student work in the past, and as I knew they had an interest in the genre we were using, I was encouraged by their positive feedback and took in their advice to make changes to certain aspects of my draft digipak. 

I also showed this piece to my family and friends. I favored my friends opinions over that of my family. I chose and made the decision to not listen to feedback or advice from my parents and other family members, as I believed they had no previous interest in the genre and did not fit into the target audience we had aimed to hit. If I were to listen to feedback from this group, my work may of ended up in a different style or may have been aimed at a different target audience. It was crucial I filtered the feedback I received and only listen to comments that came from members of my target audience, or someone with prior knowledge and understanding of the genre. This was why I valued the opinion of my friends and peers. After publishing my draft digipak, I asked peers and other members of my class to comment on this post so that I could receive as much suitable and relevant feedback as possible. 

I found the feedback I received from peers on this product just as helpful. The whole point of creating a draft was so that I could get feedback and improve on mistakes and see if anyone had any suggestions. Comments such as 'Charlotte's', which advised me to look at the individual panels and make them connect fluently had a great impact on my overall product. I listened to her feedback and completely changed one of the inside panels which hugely increased the professional appearance of my original draft. 

Advert: Similarly to my digipak I was able to get my magazine advert draft assessed by many different audiences. My family, my teachers and my peers all gave me feedback for this piece which massively aided me in my success of making this a successful and professional appearing  media product. In the same way that i did when publishing my draft digipak, I received feedback via comments from peers, from which I assessed my own work and made changes that were recommended to me by both my teacher and other media students. 

Video: The last part of my project that I was able to receive feedback on was the main media product, the video. Once we had taken all our shots and edited the video together we uploaded a draft version onto our blog. Similarly to my personal ancillary products, this post was commented on by our teacher. He advised us on certain aspects of our video and we learnt how to make it even better. this constructive criticism was helpful as it aided us in making the best music media video we possibly could. Although unfortunately we did not receive any feedback from peers or friends for this draft, we found the assessment from our tutor was sufficient and that because of this we were able to make a more professional and real life appearing media product. 

Overall I believe we greatly relied on the feedback we were given in order to reassess our work and make decisions to make changes to separate products which were greatly beneficial to us in the long run.  

  

Evaluation Question 4 Draft - Michael

Evaluation Question 4 - How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Throughout this project, the technology I have used has played an exceedingly important part in the planning, creation and evaluation of the final product of both our music video and my personal ancillary products. 

Pre-Production: Before producing my media product, in the research and planning stages of my project, different softwares and technologies became useful to me. The blogging site 'Blogger' became incredibly useful for documenting and recording our progress for both the music video and solo ancillary text projects. I used the site to upload different stages of research and planning. By recording and storing all this information I was able to look back and make sure I was following the right plan that I had made for myself. I was also able show my journey to the final product by posting documents comparing genre conventions, planning my product, analyzing pre-existing texts and  many other helpful tasks. Aswell as becoming useful before making the product, Blogger became very helpful during the production of my product and the post-production stages. I used the blog we had made to not only store planning, but also the final products. Both the music video we created and my own personal ancillary products were posted on this blog. They became helpful and useful after production for the same reason. We all used this site to post our evaluations also. 

Other than Blogger, we used sites such as Dropbox to help us store work and give each other access to images and clips. In the group work section of the pre-production (e.g. planning the main video) this became very useful and we used it very regularly. This linked well with Blogger as items, such as images, were regularly posted in Dropbox before being posted on Blogger alongside some text. Personally I found search engines very useful at this stage of the project. By using search engines, such as Google, I was able to look on the internet for examples of texts that we could use to analyse for both planning and researching purposes. By finding pre-existing examples of videos, digipaks and posters I was able to plan for our own media products in much greater detail to ensure they were as accurate to conventions as possible.. 

Production: The production stage was the one with the widest variety of software and technologies used. During this stage we needed lots of hardware and software to ensure both my own products could be made, and so that we could all make the video. When filming the video we used three different cameras over a period of a few weeks, as not all of the group could film when everyone else was free. The first camera we used was a handheld camcorder that we borrowed from school (Panasonic HC-V700). Unfortunately  this camera wasn't of a very high standard and didn't appear brilliantly on all of the shots we had taken. We decided to film the rest of the shots between two cameras, a low end DSLR (Canon 100D) and a high end comparative (Nikon D7200). We had to split the filming between the two due to lack of free time for filming between all the group members. Personally, I filmed alot of the shots and was very pleased with the use of the two DSLR cameras. One of the members in our group owned a filming grip, which made the task of filming with a bulky camera much easier and steadier. The type of camera we chose to use made a vase impact on our end  product, the only negative Being the change in quality at certain points in the video.

During the production stages of the project, as a group we used many communication sites to stay in touch, mainly to plan filming availability and other technicalities. We found the app 'WhatsApp' became very useful due to the easy nature of the communication techniques and the fact the majority of phones and the group members had access to it.  

The only hardware I used when creating my personal digipak and magazine advert was similar to that of the video. I used my own Canon 70d to take the photos that were used inside and on the front and back of the digipak, as well as the large image in the center of the magazine advert. Although this was the only hardware used, I did however use the software 'Photoshop' to create both of these ancillary texts. I had used Photoshop in the past in the AS course and have thoroughly enjoyed it. As i had used the software in the past it meant i was able to use it full to create both of these products well and to make them appear as professional as possible. I used cropping, blurring, re-sizing and many other techniques within the software to create the best possible series of media product.  

Post-Production: During post-production we all worked alongside each other as a group to edit all the clips we had captured together. We used a Mac and the software 'Final Cut Pro X' to complete this task. We all found this software to be very simple, easy to use and helpful. Without this software editing our video would have been a much more complicated and stressful experience. Within the software we used techniques such as clipping and  fading to ensure both the audio of the song and the visuals of the video clips were as exactly to the plan as we had originally wanted them. This software was one of the most important factors in the overall creation of our entire project.  The only option we had to edit the clips was 'Adobe Premiere Pro', we choose as a group to use Final Cut Pro as it appeared much simplier and easier, and as we were all first time users, this was important. 

Music Video Update // Alcazar Spark

For the past few days we have been looking at the shots we have taken and have used them to make slight changes, both aesthetically and to the content of the video. We have made considered decisions of whether to keep or change certain shots. It is essential that we do this so that our media product can be the best it can be. This is important so that our  music video can be suitable for our target audience and so that the video will match our expectations. 

Music Video Update - Michael

Since completing our first draft, we've been receiving feedback in order to attempt to improve on our video and make our media product the best it can be. We have also filmed more scenes in order to adapt our music video to the song we're using and to try and make it as professional appearing as possible.  We currently have all the shots we need to complete the video and will spend the next week carefully editing and finalizing our media product. 

Creative Journey (Digipak) - Michael

As part of my research and development for the creation of my digipak, I came up with many different ideas and took inspiration from many different sources and other forms of media that already existed. This document represents the 'creative journey' that I took to end up with my final media product.

In the top left hand corner of my creative journey piece, I have included three photos that broadly represent examples of 'Levitation Phototgraphy'. I have taken photos in this style in the past and found that they always have potential to look professional and intriguing. I was always interested in using this kind of photography when creating my own digipak so that I could give my own cover something interesting and a little different, so that it could stand out from the crowd..



The next section of my creative journey represents the stage in  my planning where I decided that I wanted to include both band members on the front of the digipak. When planning my own digipak, I thought of albums I knew myself and liked with a theme of two people on the front, I took inspiration from albums such a Pink Floyd's 'Wish You Were Here' , Biffy Clyro's 'Only Revolutions', The White Stripes 'Get Behind Me Satan' and Fleewood Mac's 'Rumours'. These album covers played an important role in aiding when making a decision on whether to incorporate the band on the front of the cover.

After deciding I would use both band members on my cover, I got an idea from the White Stripes album, that I had already took inspiration from. On this famous album cover the duo are shown in front of a red curtain. This gave me the idea to find other albums featuring a similar theme. I found  that Eminem's 'The Eminem Show' was very similar. I was so inspired by watching Kings of Leon's music video for 'Charmer', as is set in a sparse theater in front of a dark red curtain.  

After finding inspiration in all of these different examples, I ended my creative journey by taking a photo that incorporated all of these visual styles. I used the photo I took, alongside some minimal text, to create a digipak cover I was proud of and that fitted into a genre I was aiming for.

Feedback Received from Draft Magazine Advert - Michael

Feedback Received from Draft Digiak - Michael

Draft Magazine Advert - Michael

Draft Digipak - Michael

6 Panel Digipak Decision - Michael

When planning for my digipak, I had to choose on the style and design of my media product, but as well as this I also needed to make a decision on the practical element of my digipak. I used the site 'DiscWizards' to research and locate different types of digipak and the wide variety of shapes and sizes that were available. This site would also give me a template as a basis for the creation of my digipak.  In the end I decided to make a 6 panel digipak, meaning there would be six panels all together in both the inside and outside of the album casing. I decided to pick six panels, as opposed to four, so that I could fully make sure I was able to both follow and defy conventions whilst maintaining the same theme throughout. I researched and looked at many albums to help me aid me in my decision.