Adams Video Clips

This clip is the close up of the lead singer

T shirt Photos

These are some photos of the t-shirt I made for the music video:

They incorporate the logo and provide the audience with something to spot.

Evaluation

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

To research our genre, we used TV and youtube to research videos within the same genre including the music video that the band themselves made on youtube (The official 'Dr King' video by the Wall Street Riots), we did this so we could get shots and technique ideas for our own music video as we wanted to give it a professional feel when the audience watches it, which i think we succeeded in doing in our final piece as we used the rule of thirds and used other shots that made it seem quite professional. We also used youtube and google to look up our genre and our target audience, we used it to find out our audience profile and expectations of what a typical inde/rock band would be. We also went on to using Myspace to contact the band so we could get the permission to use their song, and they were very happy to let us use it for our coursework.

We then used photoshop to construct an album cover for our band, but the first attempt we did we didn't think was good enough as it didn't seem to link with our band genre, so we thought about how we could challenge conventions, we thought we could use the picture to the right as the photo was taken on location, but we decided not to use it because the lighting in the picture isn't very good quality. We ended up using the guitar picture below that we took when we were filming the live performance of our music video, which we also used for the poster.

We were happy with the second attempt of the album cover as it wasn't a typical shot of the band leaning against a wall, and it also gives the connotations of what the music will be like, while also giving a sense of mystery for new fans as they don't know what the band look like until they watch the music video.

The image to the left is the image we used for our album cover and poster, my group chose this image over the album cover we had before because we thought it linked to our genre more, and it's not like the album covers of other bands in the same genre as they tend to have a picture of the band against a wall or someone smoking or drinking. we thought it may be best like this as it makes our target audience remember our band more as it changes the connotations that the band portrays.

When constructing our music video we had to change cameras, we had to do this because the footage we had was pretty blurry when we uploaded it to the computer. We then switched to the HD camera which was slightly better, but we realized that it was blurry because the tunnel we were using didn't have enough lighting for the camera to pick up.

In the clip below, we used Final Cut Express to create sudden jump cuts, then with 'Stephanie' looking at the camera. For this shot I edited Colin's idea of having the lead character sitting on the curb, so the lead would lip sync the lyrics of the song, this was pretty hard to do as we had lip syncing problems so when Adam lip synced to certain part of the song it was out of time, so when it came to editing it into the video I had to place some footage over the parts where he was out of time. The bits that are left aren't as obvious to the audience watching the video as they didn't recognize the problems we had. Then when we finished editing our music video together, we used Photoshop to create a poster, the album cover, the back of the album cover, and the inserts for the album.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

From our audience feedback we found that the results split mainly into male and female response categories. Our feedback confirmed what our research told us before we started making our music video.

We found that the females looked mainly at aspects of the band, like their costume. And the males looked at the mise en scene of the tunnel that the live performance is set in. This picture to the right shows us that the mise en scene that we chose for that section of the video as the different elements gave a sense of voyeurism within the video as our audience seemed to enjoy the different visual aspects of the video. Our group seemed to be successful when we tried to add an urban feel to the video by placing the live performance section in a tunnel which is lit by cars as the car headlights behind the drums seemed to emphasize the urban feel while helping the lighting in this shot.

Everyone who was included in the audience feedback could understand the narrative side of the video, but we found that the females had a better understanding of what was going on as they knew exactly what was going on, and the males just had a vague idea of what was happening.

This shows us that we made our narrative section better by making it black and white (shown to the left), as the audience could easily determine the narrative from the live performance and they said that our narrative section flowed well within the music video itself. Also, the audience liked the video and thought the narrative and live performance worked well together. Only one person noticed the problem we had with the lip syncing, but they realized that it was nothing major and there was nothing we could do about it as it was due to odd jaw movements.

We found that everyone said that they thought our video would appear on the music channels FME, Kerrang and MTV2. This shows that we managed to add synathesia into the video, as we portrayed the band's image and genre through the video as a whole. The audience also said that they felt that there was a connection between the lead singer's situation and emotions. The audience said that they felt that they had been in his social situation before and that made it more realistic for them.

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

When we were editing our video, I edited the footage that's shown above together the shots that go together towards the end where the song goes 'She doesn't like the gifts that I'm offering...' In this shot, the lead role goes towards this girl to give her some gifts and she literally pushes him away, making him almost stagger backwards. This was hard for me to edit together as I was trying to get the girl to push him away at the same time when the singer says the line 'she pushes me away', which I think went well as the end product looked really good. This develops conventions as in music videos of this genre, the guy either gets the girl somewhere within the video or he's simply chasing after her. Our video shows how he struggles to get her to even talk to him, making the audience sympathize and create an emotional link with him while following this story of how he wants her to see him.

I edited the shot of the guitarist so this shot, which is shown above in a still and the video clip. This shot appears at different times in the video. This was used to almost create a sense of voyeurism as it seemed like he didn't know he was being watched and it make the audience feel more aware of the video as it makes the video seem like the live performance goes in a bit of a circle. So then the audience feel that they are part of this video as they know when it comes into the video. We got the idea of having the band seem like they're unaware of being watched in certain shots from the video 'Who Can Say' by The Horrors, we also used this shot because we wanted the audience to feel part of this performance so they have more of an interest in the band and video.

The canted angle that is used in the first clip below, was the idea of me and Sophie. I found that editing this together pretty hard as we needed to get the actions of the band and the beat to match as closely as possible which I think we have managed to do. But we placed this canted angle into our video as in the music videos we saw, they all had a variety of shots, mainly with zooms and push ins. Using this, we used media conventions by adding voyeurism to our video as all the video isn't filmed upright and filming it at an angle makes it seem more interesting, especially as it isn't a sill shot. Also, when we used the 360 shot of the drums, we had to split the 360 shot up otherwise it would've been too long and the audience would've got bored of the video pretty quickly. We got the idea of the 360 shot from the song 'All The Small Things' by Blink 182, which had many shots and technique ideas that we wanted to use but we could only use a couple of these ideas as it would have seemed odd when watching the video.

The first shot above is the end shot, where I edited Colin's idea of the lead walking down the street with jumps so it jumped to certain jumps in the song, I made this more effective because now it seems more related to the song as before it randomly cutted to the singer walking a little further up the path without any link to the song. The group felt that it was effective as it's almost as if the singer has given up trying to chase 'Stephanie', it also creates an emotional bond between the character and the lead singer as the audience will sympathize with him as more people have been in his situation.

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

In the ancillary tasks we researched what our

target audience would prefer to see in a music video. As our target audience would be from the ages sixteen to twenty, we noted what our target audience preferred and looked for in music videos, then we went on to making our band's album cover. Our first attempt had a picture of our original band with a purple sky behind them, with a butterfly on the CD name. We had made it like this so it would challenge conventions and then make our target audience remember our band more. But then we decided it wasn't good enough so we re did the album cover so that the band didn't appear on the cover. The cover we went with was the second attempt which has a picture of a guitar against a wall. We went with this as we thought it represented our genre more and it was easier on the eye when you looked at it, which made it seem more professional.

We then went on to do a T-shirt with the original band logo to include in out video (left). This was Adam's idea to make and include this as it would visually give something to the audience which they will gain pleasure from when they see it on the main singer. This was originally linked with the first draft of the album cover where it had a hurricane logo as the dot for the i in the band name. We thought we would include voyeurism as it would link the album cover and the video together. It also goes by McKee's theory as it gives the audience something they want but not in the way they think they'll get it as they probably don't realize they'll get something out of recognizing this t-shirt. We decided not to go to with the logo idea as we thought it would be too much for the album cover, even though it would have been a good idea to link them together.

Then when we began with our main product, we had to start with thinking about what connotations that the band should convey to the audience. We chose to have them dressed in dull, dark colours to emphasize and go with the urban feel that we chose to have within the video. We then went on to think of the lighting that we could use and all of our group were happy and pretty enthusiastic when we came up with using the car headlights in the band as we thought it was the best choice, as other types of back lighting wouldn't have looked as good and it wouldn't have portrayed the right connotations. But post production, we came across a couple of videos that used the idea for car headlights, some were professional and some were amateur videos, which shows how this idea is effective with the genre we used. We followed Goodwin's theory when we filmed the music video as it goes 'the lights, her face, the beat...' we use the footage to illustrate the lyrics. We got the jump cuts from an amateur video we saw on youtube that was made to the song we used ourselves but it's the FrankMusik remix. Where the jump cuts are used to fasten the pace and emphasize the lyrics in certain points in the video.

Then we went onto making the poster and CD inserts for the album. For the poster, we used the same kind of picture as we did for the album cover, creating a link between the two. This makes a constant link between all our products, making the audience think of the music video, the band and the album cover when they see any of the products we made. This gives certain connotations of the band themselves as they don't constantly change their image or music style. The CD inserts were of one pictures we took on location when filming the music video

Adams Evaluation (work in progress)

In What Ways Does Our Media Product Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms And Conventions Of Real Media Products

Our media product develops and challenges conventions in real media products by following the classic indie rock band performance in a post modern ironic way. Many music video for this style of music show a band performance with a narrative to keep the video interesting and watchable.

Our music video uses traditional ideas from some established artists, from a whole history of classic rock

groups such as the Beatles, the Kinks through to modern groups The Horrors. For example the Horrors in their music video for their song "Who Can Say" the video shows the band performing with addition of an abstract narrative. We are

following this convention but making our narrative much more engaging, understandable and a lot less abstract. We achieved this by making the plot for our narrative simple and uncomplicated.

When we were casting for the parts in the video, we chose the two main parts from within the group, Sophie played "Stephanie" and I played the other main character. As for extras, we needed two different groups of people to play the rest of the band and the main characters friends. We asked some of our friends and they accepted. We then assigned them instruments and told them exactly what was demanded of them in the video.

Props were gathered from several sources. We used our own cars and we borrowed some instruments from friends and the music department in our school. We also brought some chocolate and a blank DVD to use in the scene when the lead singer gives the girl some gifts.

We are using techniques similar the music video "All The Small Things" by the band Blink-182. The techniques we have used from this video are the close ups on the band members and the 360 degree panning shots, I believe that th

is will make our music video aesthetically engaging, meaning that the video looks cleverly made, well put together and smooth flowing.

We adopt the theory of Sigmund Frued and his ideas about voyeurism. We use it throughout the narrative and partly in the performance as most of the band do not acknowledge the camera.

We are using the lighting from head lights of cars to provide back and fill lighting.The lighting of the band thus forms part of the scene. Also for the viewer with knowledge of cars they will notice that we have used a Mini Cooper and this is intertextuality because Mini Coopers have a stylish iconic image. The head lights provide excellent lighting and keep the band well lit. The headlights also work as mise en scene and assist with our choice of an urban setting. These additions relate to the theory of John Stewart. His theory is that a music video will have the aesthetics of a television commercial, with lots of lighting and close ups being used to focus on the stars face. The use of lighting and close ups on band members because of the point of focus is emphasized on the band members faces this makes the band members recognizable.

The theory by Steve Archer that there is a need for a strong and coherent relationship between narrative and performance in music promotions. We regularly alternate between narrative and performance in time with the lyrics, especially when we use the alternating shots for the lyrics "the lights, her face, the beat, the bass, my hear will race, faster in pace". We used the literal meanings for these lyrics, this also refers to Andrew Goodwin's theory that the visuals amplify the lyrics due to its literality.

In the narrative section we switched the video to black and white to show a clearer defenition between narrative and band performance. This technique works well as it made the video more interesting and easier.

The bands image is that of the typical indie rock band, we decided to follow these conventions because we wanted our video to be easy to watch and understand. The lead singer is wearing a leather jacket which creates a punk, bad boy attitude due to its connotations, the

singer is also wearing skinny jeans which connotates style and a fashionable image. The female character is wearing a smart coat and she has a sophisticated image, this gives the narrative more depth because the girl looks like a good girl and the narrative then references class. I can justify this statement as the main male looks poor and like a trouble maker and the main female looks as if she is from a higher class than him. The rest of the band wear casual shirts and jeans which connotates casual and demonstrates a stereotypical inide band image, an example of this would be the Arctic Monkeys, who wear similar clothing.

Our band fits into the indie rock subculture, The Hurricanes style of music would work well in the indie music magazine NME because we have aimed to fit our band into this subculture by methodically deciding their style of clothing and their general sound and band image. The band has a guitarist, a bassist, a drummer and a vocalist, this is a well known set up for a band of this style. The video sets the band in a classic configuration with guitarists to the left and right, a drummer at the back and a sing to the front. We organbised the band in this way so that it looked like a traditional indie video.

Our band relates to our target audience in that the bands appearance is similar to how our target audience dress. Followers of the indie rock subculture dress in a specific way and are at a similar age to the band. Our band aims to be relatable to the audience because the subject of our song about part of teenage life. Our narrative is about a boy liking a girl who is not interested in him, this is a common scenario which I feel the audience will be able to understand.

The main female characters presence in the video agrees with the theory by Laura Mulvey that the presence of women is often for the purposes of display. "Stephanie" is shown as an object of male desire because the male main character continually tries to impress her. "Stephanie" (as she is refered to in the song) is shown in a stereotypical way due to characters reluctance to be with our male character.

How Effective Is The Combination Of Our Main Product And Ancillary Texts

We have an effective combination between our main product and our ancillary texts for the reason that on our album cover we have the bands name written on the wall in a graffiti style, this agrees with our urban setting in the video because the album cover is the same wall that was used in the music video, this is intertextuality. This is also incorporated into our poster and on the T-shirt that the lead singer is wearing in the music video.

The T-shirt being in the music video is a way of referring to and advertising the band and their products. By doing this they are establishing their band image by displaying their own logo and products in their music video. However the CD cover also incorporates the name of the band. The T-shirt was included to encourage people to buy them and advertise our band as our image is trendy and stylish. As the lead singer is wearing the T-shirt this will boost the audiences desire to own a T-shirt. Males may want to be like the member of the band because he is cool. Females may want the T-shirt because they are attracted to the band member due to his appearance. The music video is free advertising because the T-shirt is being shown.

In the music video the main character gives the main female part the Hurricanes CD which is very post modern and obvious advertising, trying to get people to buy the CD. We have used the technique of displaying the bands name and image anywhere we can especially in our video, I have seen this technique used in the music video “Brimful of Asher” by the band Cornershop, they took this technique to the extreme.

The poster we have made does not match the conventions for this syle of band. Most bands of this style have an image of the band standing by a wall posing. We decided to be different by only using pictures of the instruments we used for the album cover and excluding the band. This gives the impression that our band are more focused on the music and serious about what they play. On the poster we have important information, for example, we have the record company and information concerning when the bands album comes out. The poster follows the theme of the CD cover by display in an image of a guitar instead of the band.

What Have I Learnt From Audience Feedback?

Our target audience is quite broad because it does not have a a niche appeal to just one type of person. Our rough estimate of the age of the majority of our audience was 16-30, this is due to the traditional themes and sound of the song and that it is a relatable video. When we collected our audience feedback the people we asked were aged 17 - 18, sixth form college students from Newport Free Grammar School.

From our audience feedback I can interpret that when questioned about the features of our video and how it relates to conventional Indie Rock music videos the sample answered differently depending on gender. The males we asked generally noticed setting and mise en scene and commented on the urban feel we put across in our video. The females we questioned were more aware of the band members and costume, this is because they regularly brought up costume and commented on how the outfits worn by the band matched the genre we had aimed for. We can extract data that says there is a difference between the genders and how they view music videos.

When we asked our audience to explain the narrative of our music video, all of them apart from one exception could understand and describe what we had shown them. We showed the one exception the video again and they understood it the second time. For this question there was little difference between the genders and both seemed to understand fully. We can conclude that our video is simple to understand and makes logical sense, this is very helpful because we had aimed for our video to be like this and we are pleased that we have succeeded.

For the question concerning genre and ideal music video channel we received useful answers, all of our audience understood that they were watching an indie rock music video and this agrees with our previous planning. When we asked what music channels our music video would make most sense on, our audience replied by saying:FME, Kerrang and MTV2. I am pleased with the answers received from this question because it means that our video follows the right conventions.

We received positive feedback when we inquired if the audience liked our music video and what they thought of it. The general opinion was that we had a good narrative and a professional looking band performance. The audience appreciated the black and white we used for the narrative sections, because it was used to highlight which section was being watched, narrative or performance.

We only received one complaint of fault, the fault being one incidence of failed lip syncing. Fortunately it was just a mistake and the fault can be explained due to the lead singer over acting. However, aside from the fault with lip syncing there were no other complaints and the rest of the test audience enjoyed our video and felt entertained.

When asked what emotion were felt when watching our video, the majority of the answers described their feelings as excitement. A connection with the lead character was established by members of the audience, our audience empathized with him and understood his character.

Overall, I have learnt from our audience feedback that our video has been well received, there are few faults with it and we have succeeded in making our indie rock music video conventional.

How Did You Use Media Technologies In Your Music Video
Technologies we used in the production of our music video consisted of many different types. When researching we used the website Myspace Music to find the band and ask them for permission for use of their song. Myspace Music was a big help because it aided us in finding the band and the song and the site let us contact the band and ask for permission. We watched their music video for the song on Youtube and gathered some audience research from the statistics section. The statistics section on Youtube was a good source of audience research as one of its features is to show a bar graph of the amount of views and their genders. Youtube was also used for reference to other music videos that we used techniques from.

A Compact Digital Camera was used for the album covers and the poster. This was useful because from the camera we can put it straight onto the computer and then edit it. We did this instead of creating the images graphically which would have been very difficult and too time consuming and the images we took fitted our ideas for what we wanted.

For the album digi-pack, I edited the photos that Sophie took on Adobe Photoshop to turn them into the album cover, inner section, the back of the cover and the poster. I used the variations tool to change the colour of the images to darken the middle cover because we overlayed the lyrics on top of these images to provide an extra for anyone who owns the CD. For the poster I used the lasso selection tool to cut around the guitar, I then inverted the selection and desaturated the background, this was very effective because it made the colours on the guitar stand out and made the yellow guitar strap seem brighter, this technique made the the poster interesting to look at than if the poster was entirely black and white. I added in text displaying the bands name and album name and release date. I used a font that was in the style of scruffy handwriting, this matches our bands image of been urban. You can see graffiti in the image which also adds an urban feel to the cover. I took the Compact Disk logo from google images and put it in the corner of the album cover to create realism and this makes the cover look more official and professional.

Originally we used the Mini DV Camera to film our band performance in the motorway tunnel performance, however the footage that we filmed was unsatisfactory due to lack of lighting and the low quality of the Mini DV Camera. We decided as a group to re-film the motorway tunnel performance with the High Definition Camera and with better lighting. The second attempt at filming with the better High Definition Camera was a success because the filming quality was greatly improved and there were fewer problems encountered with lighting. We originally attempted use of reflector boards to angle light onto the band members however, it failed to help us create what we had planned as the reflected light was far too messy and imprecise. We countered this problem by turning the lights on the cars on to full beam.

We used Apple Macs to do our editing and used the programme Final Cut Express. We used the black and white function for the narrative and we had to brighten a few of the band performance shots. Final Cut Express was relatively easy to use as we have had previous experience with the programme on past projects. We used it as it is as simple and still contain various different functions. A reason for using the Apple Macs is that they are more reliable than PCs and there is little chance of losing any completed work.

In this shot we followed the original storyboard exactly, i drew most of the storyboard and it was my idea to have the long shot of the band followed quickly by the close up of the singer, from the side.

This shot was the one that was inspired by the "all the small things", music video by blink 182, because of the 360 degree pan around the drummer.

This shot i am proud of because it flows smoothly and is perfectly in time with the music. The shot looks very professional and is a good closeup on our drummer.

Evaluation

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

When starting our music video we did lots of research into which genre we would use. When we decided to make a music video in an indie/rock genre we had to research them. One of the main criteria we needed to research was which conventions we were going to use. One of the biggest conventions was to have a performance and a narrative. Most bands we researched used this convention as many of their lyrics had a story behind them that the band/artist wanted to show their audience e.g. Blink 182-first date. We decided to use this because we wanted our audience to understand better what our lyrics were about, and so that the narrative would look like a story along with the performance, so the music video would be in time and flow nicely. Identifying Steve archers theory that there is a need for a strong and coherent relationship between narrative and performance.

Our lyrics are about a boy in his teens trying to get this girl who he likes a lot and it goes through the struggles of how he tries to get her. Therefore, for our narrative we explained what the lyrics were about. In our audience research this was one convention that many wanted to see so we decided to use Andrew Goodwin's theory that visuals can illustrate the lyrics.

Another convention we decided to use was lots of close ups on our lead singer. To make this look effective we needed short clips of the close ups of the lead singer. To do this we made short takes of different parts of the film to edit using final cut express and to position the close ups in the right parts of the video, that way we were able to give our target audience what they wanted. This is very popular in rock/indie bands as there is lots of performance in which to show the bands star image. Another close up we used which is also a convention is the close ups on the instruments in the performance part of the video. We used this as we could sync certain instrumental parts of the song to the visuals being shown. This is done so that the audience can see the skills of the band and to emphasise the sound being played. e.g guitar solos. In certain parts of our video there are small guitar solos which we have emphasised using a close up on the guitar and synchronising it with the music being played.

For our poster we wanted to create a continuity between all three products. Therefore we decided to have an image of a guitar inserted onto the front of our poster. The main convention used by other real media products is the continuity between the products. We used this for both the CD cover and the poster so the audience would know what genre these products were in, as a guitar is a predominate instrument in music videos in indie/rock. Not only does the guitar show the continuity but also the location inserted into the background of the images. The urban setting we used is clear throughout showing the connection of the products so that the audience will know that these products relate to the band.

Like the continuity, another convention used in posters is the"Coming Soon." This is done to create anticipation for anyone who wanted to buy the CD. Therefore the poster is released so anyone wanting to buy the CD will know when it is coming out so they can buy it as soon as possible. We used this convention for the same reasons so that our audience would know when they could buy our CD. The poster is also so that the band can promote themselves buy displaying the posters, as many bands put the bands pictures on the poster so people could see them.

The convention we used for the CD cover was again the image of the guitar. We used this as many of the bands we researched used the same image for the poster and the CD cover, to keep the link between the products. If they didn't use the same image, they used the same bands name as this would be the most recognisable part of the products. We also used this convention as it is very important that the audience can recognise the bands name which will be the most publicised and will be the first thing the audience look at, and this is why we used the same writing style, font and colour in all our products as this is a key convention used in all media products. Similar to the poster the CD cover is to show the audience what genre the band is in . We have used this convention buy having the image of the guitar and buy using different images that again show the genre of the band, such as the drums on the back of the CD which are again a common instrument in an indie/rock genre.

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

The combination of our main product and ancillary text has been very effective as there is strong continuity between all three, which has allowed our audience to connect all three together. We have done this by following the conventions that we have seen in real media products e.g Lostprophets have the same image on their CD cover and in their posters.

You can see the image is used in both their poster and their CD cover showing the continuity between the two.

We found that their is always some connection between the main products and ancillary text, so we had to find ways in which we could have a good relationship between our main product and ancillary text. Therefore we have used the same instruments in the main product and ancillary texts. This effectively shows the music genre that the music video, CD cover and poster are in.

You can see the close ups on the instruments, the drums on the CD cover and the guitar on the poster. Another continuity we have created is the location where we filmed, the urban setting is clear throughout all three so the audience can see all these products are linked to the band.

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Once we had finished our music video we did a showing to a mixture of people to gather some audience feedback. Our first audience feedback was from an age range of 20-30. This was good as we can have a strong variety of audience feedback which will show whether we have achieved our goals in targeting our specific target audience. They said the colour difference between our performance and narrative was to great which made it look a little bit amateurish, so, they suggested a black and white tint. This was a good idea as it made the narrative seem more like a story, which is one of our goals that the visuals illustrate the lyrics, identify Andrew Goodwin's theory. The second group of people we showed our music video to was a younger age range of 16-18, we did this as this was the audience we wanted to target. Not only were they a mixture of males and females but not all of the audience who watched our video were fans of the genre. We did this as the people who are not fans of the genre are able to identify key conventions in rock/indie music videos, and if the were able to see them then we had accomplished our goal. This was good as we were able to get a good mixture of comments, these comments are on the blog. Our questions were based around, " what made our video look like an indie/rock video?" Many of the fans of the genre said things like "the close ups on the instruments","The performance"," The mise en scene." This is exactly what we wanted to hear as these were the conventions we were using from the very begging of the music video and we were very pleased with the results. We asked more questions on the narrative and performance aspect of our video, the question we asked was " Can you relate the story to the live band performance?", all replied "yes." We were again very pleased with this as one of the major conventions in all videos with a narrative is the need for the audience to be able to watch the video at any stage and be able to understand it, therefore they would watch it more.

How did you use media technologies in the construction, research and planning and evaluation stages.

Construction

The main media technology I used in the construction stages of our media product was final cut express. This is a very versatile programme that was very effective in editing our music video. We used Final cut so we could effectively make our music video look like and indie/rock video. I used it to cut in and out of the performance and narrative which was very effective and worked well as I could just edit the timeline.

I could move the clips around into whatever order that I wanted, it made using our conventions possible and was able to show the theory of Andrew Goodwin that visuals can illustrate the lyrics. I used Final cuts cutting tool to make lots of short cuts so that it was in sync with the music. We used Final cut to put the black and white tint over the narrative clips. One of the important editing techniques that I wanted to use was the lip syncing. Final cut made this possible as not only can you edit the video clips but also the sound. I found we could put the image above the sound, and adjust it till I got a good synchronisation. Final cut has a variety of effects and transitions which we found very usefull as I used fade ins and fade outs at the begging of the video to show it was starting.

Another programme we used in the construction was photoshop. We used this for both the CD cover and the poster. Again this was very useful as we could insert images and edit the different layers as we went along. One of the conventions we needed for the poster was to have an image that portrayed what genre our band was in. We used the image we took inside the tunnel so that the audience could see the continuity between our main product and our ancillary text. So we used photoshop to insert the picture of the guitar in the tunnel so we could easily show what genre our media product was in.

We also used Photo shop to create our poster. We used the variety of tools to adjust the positions of the layers of the poster. Like the CD cover we needed the poster to show what genre our music video was in, so I used used the guitar. After inserting the guitar I was able to adjust the colour scheme so we could make the guitar stand out. I did this by making the background black and white and having the guitar in colour along with important details.

One problem we had when we first did our poster was it didn't look like a poster because there were conventions missing that would show it was a poster. One convention I saw that was missing was the small print on the very bottom of the poster that normally showed who published the CD and any terms and conditions there might be. So I used photoshop to draw a text box and insert some information and then adjusted the size and changed the colour of the writing so there was an even mix of colour. Another convention our poster didn't have was the "Coming Soon" which is what creates anticipation for the consumer who want to by the product. This was import so, in colour and a moderate font size I put "Coming Soon", followed by the release date. These conventions made the poster look more like a real media product and create anticipation in the fans of the genre as they wait for the release date.

Planning

When planning our music video we used the blog to upload pictures of the location and information on our thoughts on constructing the music video. The blog was useful as the information could be easily read and was very reliable instead of using paper which can be lost. The blog autosaves information that we have been putting in so we can save as a draft and edit later. Before starting we created a new file ready to use when we had any film on final cut express, so we could just upload the video and start as soon as possible. We have also used final cut express to layout the position of our video and explore the different effects that are available that we were considering using.

Research

When researching I used a variety of media technologies to research our music genre. One of the media technologies was the television. I used this so I could research rock/indie music videos in our genre. I watched a variety of channels that were specific to our indie/rock music genre. I used this because I could watch a variety of videos and write a set of reliable conventions. Another media technology I used was the Internet. I used the Internet to go onto YouTube and watch more music videos in our genre. I did this because I could look at the comments some people had put on the video to see which bits they liked and whether they like the music video at all, and if not, what didn't they like? We also used the Internet to look at Final cut tutorials to help us when we were having difficulties using some effects.

Evaluation

The main media technology we have used for our evaluation is the blog. We used this by creating a post and continually editing and adding more information to each post, allowing us to build our essay. The blog also allows us to show pictures and video clips from our music video to expand on our answers. This was good as the videos could be used as examples to back up our points.

Evaluation

How our media product uses,develops or challenges the forms and conventions of real media products?

Our media product incorporates many typical characteristics of a rock/indie video. Rock videos tend to have a very strong visual element e.g the album cover and the band usually appear in the video. The ' look' of the band is consistent in each part of the digipack.We have used the same type of font and also the colours. The way the band is portrayed helps to illustrate the bands music (Goodwin). We see them wearing basic clothing which they feel comfortable wearing. We wanted to create an 'easy' look to them so that they do not look to false. The kind of people in such a band would be laid back and we wanted to portray that image.


Many rock/indie videos combine a live band performance along with a narrative, although it may be very loose. An example of this is the Arctic Monkeys- Brainstorm . They are shown playing the song live but at the same time they have dancers at the back acting out some of the lyrics.By having the live band performance it means that the band is able to create a personal connection with their audience. A lot of the bands fans would be aspirers and would want to act and dress like the band. Therefore we decided to dress our band in costumes that could be brought on the high street and easily replicated.


The age range for a rock/indie band would be around the ages of 15 - 30. This is because they are old enough to appreciate the lyrics and are able to relate with the topics covered in it. The older end of the audience will be trying to compare them to similar bands back in the rock era. The audience will have a good knowledge of the genre and would know exactly what they want to get from it and what they expect to see in this genre of music.


We have challenged the conventions of the rock genre by not have the stereo typical rock band member with the visuals of drugs, drinking and smoking.Our reasons for not doing this is because it would be shown to a younger audience we would not want them to think this is the right thing to do. The song that we have chosen also has a slightly stronger narrative that you would find in a lot of rock/indie videos. We have chosen to exploit this and make our narrative very clear. Many videos in the genre also have their live performance at a gig where you would find a large group of fans. We have chosen to stage ours and have it purely for the video.


We decided that it would be best for the band to make as little contact with the camera as possible, apart from the lead singer who would do it occasionally to give a creepy/stalkerish feel to it.


By not having this aspect it gives the video a feel of voyeurism (freud). The audience will enjoy watching them and it is not the same as a pop video where they will be wanting direct contact with them throughout the whole video.Their reason for this as they usually celebrities branching out into the music industry.Whereas members of a rock/indie band wouldn't be as much in the public eye as they focus more on the music than their image. As they are likely to be huge fans of the band they will like the fact that the band does not know that they are watching them and they feel as if they are backstage seeing things that others cannot.


We chose to have a narrative to break up the band performance which if left as a block would be boring and therefore the audiences attention would be lost. It stimulates their imagination. The characters in this narrative were chosen because the audience will be able to relate to the emotions that they would feel, the female appears a normal person who is being hassled by the male.We wanted to also show a divide in social group and we have done this through the clothes they are wearing. The audience may also notice that the male character doesn't change what he is wearing, which would indicate he doesn't care much about his appearance.

We have used a number of shots similar to those found in other music videos such as the parts of a 360 degree shot in Blink 182- all the small things, this gives an all access feel to the video and we are able to see them from other perspectives.We decided that it would look better if we only used a section of the shot as it did not fit with the pace of the song. The clip below shows the 360 degree shot that i took.

Rock videos also tend to use zoom ins on the band members faces with a small tilt of with a sharp cut between each quick take. We wanted to create this hectic kind of approach so we have incorporated this into parts of the narrative. We did the through shot, quick takes adn the transitions are very sort aswell .Another way we have tried to keep it similar to other music videos is by using hand held shots which makes the audience feel as if they are actually there becuase of the unsteadiness.

There is usually a lot of movement in this type of video so we had to lip sync the visual with the song. This makes it seem realistic and as if the band is actually singing it. Some parts were harder to sync than others as our lead singer had an unusual jaw movement.

Our video is complimented by our album cover and poster by having the same colors and fonts carried through all. Both of them also use the same instruments that are used in the band performance that creates a link between them.

How effective is the combination of main product and ancillary text?

On the album cover we have tried to keep a similar colour scheme, those that are found in the tunnel and give the "urban" look. We did this because it made it easier for the audience to associate each of the things with the band. On the poster we have used the same font which creates a continuity between them.We used the same guitar and drums as well which means that we relate each product to each other. The photo was taken in the same place as the video was filmed as it gives an appropriate amount of lighting and the feel of the urban setting. Typically on a poster and CD cover from this genre we would expect to see a photo of the band. We decided not to do this as we wanted to give our band an interesting twist that would draw in our audience. When looking on a shelf with many rock/indie CD's they all look very similar. But, if this was to be seen it would stand out and people would want to read it. The information found on the poster is that typically found on a poster. it has vital information for fans who would want to buy. Such as when it is available. We included it because it gives people a actual date of when it is available, to keep the buzz of the single going there would also be tv and radio advers. This poster would appear on bus stop billboards and also music shops and gigs, as this is where people interested in the band would look to see up and coming albums.

We can tell that the photo was takne in the tunnel because of the dim background and sharp contrasting guitar. We can also see some of the graffiti making the mise en scene look rugged.

We decided to use the same photos on the middle pages of the album cover and add a different coloured tint over them. It therefore looks modern and fresh.

On our initial album cover we used a photo of the band with a butterfly used as a logo. We decided to do this because we wanted to try and aim the band towards a female audience, we then realised that this was too specific and needed to make the unisex. Our second one did not do this. We used natural colours which would draw in both males and females and had males and females appearing in the video. The font loks hand written which makes it look similar to the graffiti. The bands "tag".

To make it seem as authentic we put on some features typically found on a CD cover. This image is seen on most CD's to tell the purchaser what it is.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

We had a showing of our film to a group mixture of both male and females. They are perfect as or target audience as they are between the ages of 20 and 30. They are of a middle class and have an interest in this type of music.They are very familiar with music videos and production and editing techniques. The opinions were similar between the men and the women but the men tended to take more notice of the mise en scene and the women more on the costume and lyrics.

After watching the film they said that they really enjoyed the narrative and the mixture of live band performance with it. They didn't notice the few glitches in the song which was positive. But they did suggest that we applied a black and white tint over the narrative as they found it very hard on the eye when it changed between the band which was quite dark and the narrative which was very sharp because of the HD camera. This creates a continuity between the different parts in the film. The image below is an example of the difference.





They really liked the blurriness of the opening shot, they said that it created an unknown kind of atmosphere which was what we were aiming for when trying to incorporate Freud's theory of voyeurism.

We also decided to show the video which we had made the adjustment to, to a younger audience to see if they were able to understand what was happening and if they liked it.The results of their feedback has been posted on the blog. They did not comment on the continuity between the live band perfromance and narrative. They said that enjoyed the video and that they were drawn in by the story line. They found the song catchy and unlike the older audience they didn't notice the glitch in the song. They understood that it was in the indie/rock genre, this was because of the setting and costumes that they were wearing

How did you use media technologies in the:

Construction

Whilst filming our music video we used many different media technologies. We decided to use a HD camera as this would provide a better quality of shot. Previously we had used a mini DV camera which was a lower quality, the shots we got we not good enough. This was due to the low light in the tunnel. To be able to lip sync the footage once we put t on the computer we needed to have the music playing on location. As we had cars there for lighting we connected it to its music system so that it was loud enough to hear.


We edited the footage using final cut express which was brilliant for cutting clips and adding in transitions. We also used this to link the images with the song which i brought from itunes.I made the mock up version of the album cover but we decided that it was not quite what we wanted to acheived.


I used photoshop to make this as it was the best programme to use as it allowed me to add layers to it and also to adjust colour levels and balance. The photos for the poster and album cover were taken using a digital camera, it was easier to take them using this instead of the HD camera as it is easier to upload to the computer.


At each stage we recorded our progress on the blog, this enabled each member of our group to see what each other were doing and if there was anything that we still needed to do.

Research and Planning

When carrying out our research into the conventions of a rock/indie music video, we watched a lot of videos on the internet. In particular You tube where we watched the video : Brainstorm - Arctic Monkeys.

As Final cut express is a complicated programme to use we also used YouTube to find tutorials on
how to use certain tools.To upload the song i used Windows movie maker. I put an image as the
whole length of the song and then added the song, so when played we heard the whole song and
then watched just a still image. We found our song using Myspace where we researched Wall Street Riots Website.
To find if the song fitted into our genre and that it wasn't a signed band or the song copyrighted.

Evaluation of your production?

We used blogger to record our data from the audience research and also to display our progress. The band requested that we sent them a copy of the video, we decided that it would be a good idea to upload it to youtube where it would be easy for them to access it . As the file as so large we decided it would be best to back all parts of our work including the digipack visuals to a memory stick, this meant that if the computer was to lose the work we would have a safe copy. It was useful that it was on the memory stick as when it came to getting audience feedback. We needed to make out video portable so we were able to do this by plugging the memorystick into a laptop and then taking it to our reviewers. We then uploaded images to the blog to do this we had to compress some of the files as they were too large. We also made hyperlinks to places where we got some of our inspirations to show where our ideas came from.