Final Film

Here is my Final music video.

Final Advert

Here is the final Magazine advert design.

Final Digipack

Here is my Final Digipack designs; on th first panel there is the front, back and outside side of the flap. On thesecond panel is the insie of the flap, the middle/CD and the inverse of the front.

Evaluation Question 1

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

Here are 9 stills from my video that i feel hold importance in delivering a theme, message or to help the narrative.

This first still is from one of the singers parts, conventionally the live action sequence. You can see from the first still that this is just the singer, no hint of a band, instead he’s placed in front of a town scene. This is the same all the way through the video, no complete band shot all together just the singer and as you can see form the second still it’s the same for the instrumental solos. This goes against the conventions of a generic rock music video where we would see a band performing to a live audience, this is replaced in my video with the performers being shown separately as this is the general theme of the video (Being individual, on your own). The performances echoes the narrative of the video, maybe to echo the narrative more at the end when the characters come together we should have seen the whole band together as well.

This still shows many different people all together singing the chorus, again this was filmed with all of the performers singular and then I edited them together on Adobe After Effects to bring them all together and as they are singing the chorus line “Come together” it is a good example of relating the video to the lyrics. I tried to get a mix of people to get involved because having a diverse mix of people I felt would reinforce the point behind the shot.

This is a close up of my mouth saying the “Shoot me” line. The purpose of this shot is to add a little bit of diversity into the video, I felt that if the whole person was seen singing this line with it being such a small, quick line it would lose emphasis so with this framing I feel that it creates emphasis on the line. The style of this shot leans more to indie style music videos (which is the music I listen to so is probably where I got the influence from) than that of a traditional rock video; so in that sense I’ve deviated from conventions of a rock video and taken a style from a different genre of music.

This shot, is very stylized I feel and I thin isn’t something that you would see in a traditional rock music video. Obviously the instrument in shot would be in a rock video but not in this way. I think that if it was it would be as it was without the effect, but the way I have the effected the hi-hat is more conventional of a pop video. The effect really adds a lot to what I think would be quite a plain shot and I like the diversity that this style of shot brings to my video overall.

This shot is all effects based, it is something that I brought in to add that look of the retro era, and with the colours that were produced it really does give that sense of old. It was something like this that I included to add something that would cause a sort of “nostalgia” seeing as the song the music video is for isn’t from that recent a time. So I think although it has again not followed the conventions of a traditional rock video that it is important to the video because it reminds us of the time the song was originally from.

This still is taken from the beginning of the music video, where we don’t know the character, so the framing of the shot allows us to see just what he’s doing but not who he is, which creates an air of mystery about the character, makes him an enigma. With traditional rock music videos mainly consisting of a live performance having a narrative straight from the beginning of the video wouldn’t be something normally seen. Again I think I would have to say that despite having a traditional rock bands song I have deviated into modern rock and indie music videos style.

This shot is key in the narrative as it is the moment the two characters meet and “come together” like the songs title and chorus line say. The framing of this shot allows us to see both the characters coming from opposite directions and meeting in the middle . We see only them in the shot which is important as there is no other distractions and we can focus on the moment they meet. This is a turning point in the narrative which is needed to give the video that context.

This still is a split screen from near the end of the video, where it is like a montage of their moments together but this split screen is like a memory of when they were alone, but also a subconsciously towards each other. This type of effect is used a lot in modern music video’s and is quite a basic but effective tool and id say is another way I have gone against the traditional rock music video conventions.

Overall then I think I have challenged the conventions of a traditional rock video with my production and have been influenced by more modern rock and indie music videos. With the complete lack of a live performance is where I have stepped away from traditional rock videos the most and if anything have taken a step in the direction of pop music which I don’t think is necessarily a wrong thing to do because The Beatles covered many genres of music during their time and although being most commonly tagged as a traditional rock band did have other dimensions to their music. So by me dipping into other genres of music for influence it makes also gives my video that other dimension that The Beatles had in their music.

Evaluation Question 2

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

Evaluation Question 3

3: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Firstly i tried to get as much audience feedback as i could possibly get, there was a school screening, i uploaded the video onto Youtube and Facebook and my blog, i showed family, the AS Media classes watched the videos andgave feedback. So from all of that i felt that i had then had enough audience feedback to analyse. The screening and the AS media feedback was given via a questionnaire, this consisted of 8 questions and rated 1 to 4, this gave me some quantitative data to analyse:How steady were the shots?

1. How well framed were the shots?


2. How varied were the shots?


3. Was the choice of location appropriate?


4. Was the lighting appropriate?


5. How clear was the meaning?


6. Was there appropriate use of special effects?


7. Was there appropriate editing of sound and image, did the film make sense?

I took the questionnaires away and made them into graphs, this gave me a clearer idea of what people thought of the video.

This graph shows that 45% of viewers rated the steadiness of the shots 3 and 31% a 4. I think this shows that i managed to hold the shots steady and I'm happ y with this feedback because i only used a tripod for the perform ance parts with the singer and guitarist and when i did the down town filming, the rest was hand held.

This graph shows another positive resp onse with 57% of viewers rating the framing a 3, only 12% a 2 and no one rated it a 1. This i feel is quite a good response because i think that the framing was quite good as well. I didn't have shots where the characters head was out of shot, or their are important pieces (hand gestures or objects) slightly out of screen.

This is graph shows a very positive response with 45% rating the variety of shots the highest score. I am really happy with this result because i did feel that although what was in the shots were along the same lines that i managed to keep the interest and the flow with the variance in shots. This graph shows that it was recognised and appreciated.

With over half the ratings being a 3 i am happy with this feedback. I am a little disappointed with 23% ratings of 2 and the 2% of 1's. I don't know what wa s wrong with the locations and it would have been nice to have got some comments suggesting alternative locations, but unfortunately none were given. I think that for what the video content is, the locations used were suitable; with them always on the move it could be seen as if the two characters were subconsciously looking for each other.

With this graph i am confused, I got 62% of people saying the li ghting was a 3 which i interpret as being good but then i got a few comments (which i agree with) saying that shots are too bright. I do think that shots are too bright in a few circumstances in my video so to have the higher rating percentage i think is slightly odd, not that i'm complaining. Its good to know people thought the lighting on the whole was good but i think it is something i would improve on given another chance.

This graph shows that the viewers were pretty much split on the whether they understood the video or not. I think that the narrative is easy enough to interpret, two people alone and sad have a chance meeting which brings the two people together. I think this is question is subjective to the way each individual perceives the video so I'm disheartened by the split in the views.

Again a high percentage of 3's, i didn't use a lot of special effects in my video, the green screen things for the vocals, the cloning and the odd transitional effect. O ther than those i don't feel i overloaded the video with special effects so i agree with this feedback.

This graph is a basic overview of the general opinion of people on all aspects of the video. I am pleased to see the higher percentage of people had a positive view on the entirity of the video but a little bit dissapointed on the quite so high percentage of 2 votes.

I don't think this pie chart is a correct representation of peoples view on the video when you compare it with all the other graphs. If you go by the responses on all the other graphs then apply those figures to this question i would think that the green section would be nearer 60/65% than the 45% its at at the moment.

Here are the comments that the people made from the screening and the feedback from facebook and youtube. From these comments i am happy there is a generally positive response and the slightly more negative comments i agree with some of the points, some of the lighting is to bright and some of the syncing is out, not all but some of it.

So overall from all of the feedback i have collected i think that my video got a generally good reception. If i was given the second chance given the feedback i received this time round i would make sure that i definately worked alot more on my planning so that i had a concrete path to follow. I think this would give me a stronger base to then make sure that the narrative is clearer, i would be getting the filming done quicker and could then concentrate on the editing process and then things like the cuts and syncing would be spot on. I think i would also maybe do a more studio based video because from the comments, the effects are what people like and i also wouldn't really have the lighting problem with the shots being too bright because i would have control over the lighting.

Evaluation Question 4

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

Development of Magazine Advert

The magazine advert again was created on Photoshop, despite the program being used being excellent i found hard to create the advert. I was torn between wanting to create somethin completely new and vibrant to do with the new video or to stick with the theme and stay true to the band, the music and the times. I trialed the new vibrant look with a mix of the general old style which was posters like these for example:

When I tried to recreate this sort of look, with a modern twist, in colour and with some form of contemporary style i could only come up with these:

I never really felt that these two attempts were good enough. They had the simplicity and the colour but the one on the left was too empty and the one on the right was too much like a puzzle. I do however like the effects on the largest picture and the top right block in the right hand advert. These effects are called "" and "" and i applied them by selecting the layer with the desired image on and then going to the effects menu and trialing all of them out till the desired ones were found.

After these two attempts, i decided that maybe it was time to try and really imitate the styleand simplicity of those advertisements and posters previously shown. I started a new document on Photoshop left the background blank and first of all put the writing and album cover on. Once these were in place at the bottom and the title at the top there was a strip to fill. I saw from the research i did that the heads of the band were used alot in their posters, so i decided to have the same with the characters from my video. I did this but it still looked empty so the framing of them in the blue oval filled the space and also gave the figures a nice platform to sit on.

The characters profiles were taken from stills of the music video screen shotted and placed into Photoshop where they were cut down with the eraser tool, turned black and white and given a drop shadow to stand out that little bit more. I feel that the final design for my Magzine advert is definately the most retro of the three products i created, it is heavily influenced by the style of actual Beatles posters and as a result has a big link with the band and with the times. I think it is good to see something different, and this advert is different because it is a style that has been lost, most posters or magazine adverts nowadays are much busier but i think it is quite nice to have gone back to the simpler times.

Development of Digipack

For the digipack i used Photoshop to create it as it has the facilities to allow to create a professional looking product.I had to create each individual panel and and then piece them together as a final jpeg, so i had two 3 piece panels in the end.

The whole creation process is down to this toolbar. This toolbar has all of the tools i needed to, insert, cut, add effects, add font, change colour and edit the items that i put on the digipack.

For the front cover i had a clear image of what

i wanted it to look like, i had selected a picture that i wanted to put on the front the hardest part was deciding how to make my idea a reality. I imported

the image and added the font which for the moment was the original Beatles font so it looked like this.

So from this i was thinking of going in the direction of the Reservoir Dogs film posters, wi

th the suits being all black and the skin tones being the same as the background. To do this i needed to delete the background and just isolate the person then do the same to the skin tones and shirt so i would be left with the suit and hair. I tried using the magic wand to isolate just the man and then delete the background but that didn't work. So i then tried the magic rubber, this deletes sections of the same colour and this worked to a certain extent but then it started to delete fragments of the suit which wasn't the desired effect. The final option then was for me to painstakingly go round the image with the normal rubber tool and zooming in really really close . This was how that attempt turned out. As you can see

my hand wasn't steady enough and it didnt come out very well so i decided to scrap that idea and go down a different route. I also changed the font for this particular style, because although not as iconic as the original Beatles font, i felt that it matched the desired look better.

So after that idea didn't work out i tried put

ting many different many different effects, i looked at it sketchy, painted, lighted up, darkened, strobe lighted and many more but they either distorted the image so much it was unclear what it was or just didn't look right so in the end i decided to add a black and white effect to it. I felt that this would give it a slightly older look and also add a harshness attitude to the cover, emphasise the lonelyness of the character. I decided to go back to the original font with this design because i felt it fitted it better than the one i had changed it to, although i did change the colour and add a drop shadow, i did this to . The cover ended up looking lik this and im happy with the way it looks.

The other panels were much easier to design and here is the thought and production process behind those panels.

Target Audience

When making my products, the music video, digipack and Magazine advertisement, i had tokeep in mind the people that it was aimed at. Who were my target audience?

Well with the music of The Beatles spanning many genres it is difficult to pinpoint one particular group of people. So with The Beatles being mainly recognised as a traditional rock band i thought that it would be a good idea to try and appeal to that market, but also try and add a modern innfluence where i could. In the video there are many more modern influences in the way it is filmed than would be in a traditional rock music video.

With the way that there was no live performance but mainly a narrative and occasionally an individual performer singing or playing an instrument; some of the effects on certain shots (the cymbals/meeting sequence) are styled more like a pop or techno music video than a traditional rock video.

We can see how other traditional rock bands have taken other genres video styles into their own with the ACDC song "Rock n roll train" it has the same sort of effect as my cymbal/meeting sequence does.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lermqfhhJx4&feature=related

So with the video i tried to bring it more up to times and to also incorporate many different genres as The Beatles did with their music. With the rest of my products though o odecided to try and stick to the times when The Beatles were in their prime, so i created a more retro looking magazine advertisement and the digipack i feel is somewhere imbetween modern style and the older look.

Location Shots

I think that during my shoot there were a maximum of 5 different locations; the bridge, the park, alleyway, garages and the streets. The filming done onthe streets was usually done on the way to the other locations so they weren't specifically chosen, Below are some still from the video that show the locations in the final production.

Artist Request

I had to send an email to whoever currently owns the rights to the song asking for permission to use the song and letting them know it is for my A2 coursework and not for financial gain.

Risk Assessment

I didnt think i really needed a risk assessment because well i didnt think i was doing anything particularly risky in my video. It's walking, singing, walking, swinging, walking some more if you break it down to its bare essentials. I did all of the filming unless i was singing in which case it was on a tripod in a stationary position. Probably the most potentially dangerous shot i got was the P.O.V shots from on the swing but i came up with a solution and that was to not actually be on the swing but to move the camera as if i was swinging, this meant that i was standing and moving the camera whilst holding it steady with both my hands; the only real risk avoided there.

Editing

Editing is a vital process when making a music video, if not done properly it can make the video uninteresting to watch, disturb the flow of the video and even become distracting when watching the video. If there are lots of fast cuts and extreme effects in a music video for a very slow song then it won't work the video would be unsuited for that song and vice versa. So as my song choice has quite an unusual varying pace, i found it difficult to find the right balance in the editing process when it came to the tempo of the cuts and the video. During the editing process i used two programs, Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe After Effects.

Premiere Pro

This is the program used to assemble all of the footage together and the transitions and some of the effects were added here. With this tool bar i was able to manipulate the footage, cut it down and stretch it for example.

The most commonly used tool i used was the cut tool, every piece of footage i filmed was always much longer than was needed. This was to ensure that i had enough, because if you have to much you can always cut it down but if you don't have enough footage then there is little you can do without effecting the quality of the footage.

As you can see from the picture below the timeline for the video is constructed from all different clips of varying lengths and some of the are different colours at the top, this means that they have had an effect put on them. The effects could be edit transitions, like at the end of the video there is like a montage of the times the characters spend together so i added some of the edits rather than having a simple cut i added fade outs and wash outs to bring a bit of variation to the edits. I added these transitions by going to the effects tool bar at the side and then selecting video transitions and from there picking the effects and dragging it onto the clips i wanted it to effect and i could change when the effect came in and when it ended on the clip.

Premiere Pro is the main place where all of the clips are assembled but not all of the clips have to be put straight on there and effected on premiere pro; this is where the other program i used comes in After effects.

After Effects

After Effects is where i edited all of my green screen footage. It has the facilities that Premiere pro doesn't so i had to use this one. It works on much the same basis but its function is to add effects to footage not to put the footage all together like the Premiere Pro.

Here is a picture of the original footage i took from in front of the green screen, we can see Paul playing the guitar in front of the green screen, i need to remove the green and insert the footage of the fast moving cars behind him. So to do this i go to the effects list and select keying then keylight 1.2 and another window pops up where i have to make sure that it know what colour i want it to remove which is green. Once the green is removed i have a cut out or Paul and a empty background ready for me to insert the other footage.

To do this i import the footage of the cars and then drag it down onto the timeline making sure that it is below the the footage of paul playing the guitar on the list so that the footage is shown behind the cut out guitarist footage and as a result providing a background where the green screen used to be. It then looks like this and is ready to be exported ad imported onto Premiere Pro.

Cloning

Cloning was another effect that i used After Effects to create. Cloning is when there is more than one of the same character one particular place. I used this effect for one specific line in the song "one and one and one is three", as the singer says the line two more of him walk in shot. It gave more emphasis to the line and is something interesting to watch.

The important thing to know when ur cloning is to not have the characters interacting with one another because that would complicate things immensley. If they were to hug or high five or come into contact with one another if not done perfectley then this would look really bad and ruin the illusion u have created with the effect.

So i filmed three different sets of footage infront of the green screen, with me in the different places, one centre screen and then two entering from either side of the screen to say their line. Once this footage was captured it became a matter of using the keylight effect and removing the green screen from each of the clips as i had done before with the guitar sequence and then layering and positioning them on the timeline so that the charaters come in at the correct time.