Friday, 23 December 2011
Wednesday, 21 December 2011
Friday, 9 December 2011
Draft Evaluation 4-RHYS
During the planning stages of the music video and Ancillary texts I found the use of Blogger to be really vital, as well as being able to save drafts onto the blog without having to write up the entire post again was really important. Also the way Blogger allows you to integrate other technologies such as ‘8 track’, it allows you to embed a playlist into the blog, and this allowed me to show some specific tracks that I drew inspiration from during the research period of creating the product. The versatility of Bloggers posting system was really easy to use and vital for Feedback that we could analyse in post production, Blogger allows you to comment, on other peoples post as well as sharing it on a number of other technologies for example Twitter, Gmail, Facebook and you can even ‘Recommend it on Google’ this means that the post would be more likely to come up on a Google search.
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
YouTube became invaluably important when the planning stage of the product began, as the Genre of the music video needed to be decided. Youtube became the main tool of our creative inspiration, as our group linked many different music videos to our Blog and through Blogger integrated word package we could also analysis them as well. Also the availability of multiple professional Music Videos allowed me to realise what Target audiences require and how to give it to them efficiently. This technology was also very useful in conjunction with a different technology ‘Tubechop’ this allowed me to input the Embed code of the YouTube video into a search box, Tubechop would then allow me to select certain parts of the video, this made it a lot easier to analyse certain parts of the music videos, instead of constantly having to list a time of the video and then what happened in it.
For the creation of the band happened in the planning stage, we used a random word generator online to try and come up with some names for the band, we eventually came up with the ‘The Almost Fallen’ this was the name we used . We Then integrated the band profile and ideology into a Twitter account, which was set up in the user name of the fictional band leader Jason Aubrey, Twitter also had many features we could use to be able to widen our feedback from friends or ‘Fans’. Twitter became a strong source of widening a fictional fan base, as we started to get followers who were band themselves; this shows how convincing a fictional Twitter account can be.
To allow a effective storyboard to be made and presented we had to create an animatic, this was just basically all the drawing of the shots from our Storyboard set to the time of the backing track on a video, to do this we first had to take pictures of every shot , this allowed Rupert to use his skills on his SLR camera, once all the pictures had been taken, there were then uploaded via the handy SD card slot which is featured on many up to date macs, this allowed for a very easy import of all the pictures, instead of having to load them via a firewire cable or a USB cable. The process of editing was made a lot easier through the use of the Mac editing software Imovie11 this allowed an easy Import of all the pictures through IPhoto as macs can easily integrate the separate software’s to create a vastly superior editing suite.
Shooting the actual music video required the cooperation of my partner and of a friend we got in to play the role of the drummer, he also brought a Sanyo Full 1080p Hd camera, this was very easy to use and shot in very high quality, this camera was used to take the Majority of the Garage shots, this camera also recorded on a SD card, this was far more useful that a camera that required film as the SD card storage and performance was far superior to normal camera film. The second camera we used was a Canon 500 D, this camera features a manual focus which we found a lot easier to use as the Sanyo had an autofocus feature that didn’t always work quite as well as we wanted to. This camera also shot on an SD card and allowed us to again use the SD card slots on our macs to quickly import all the files.
Also during the filming process an IPod Nano and an IPod touch were required for shots, the IPod’s were used to allow the drummer to beat in time with the music and the singer to remember all of the lyrics. The IPod’s were mounted on a Logitech IPod speaker dock; this speaker dock could throw out a lot of sound and was useful because you could still here the drums over the actual drummer.
Imovie11 became the main editing program we used as it was the closest software we had that was to a professional grade, IMovie 11 that is features in the most recent mac editing suite update contains many powerful features that Rupert and I took full advantage of, for example the software features a very accurate cropping shot tool that allowed us to take out certain parts of clips that we didn’t want featured in the music video. Imovie11 also featured a very powerful effects tool and levels editor that allowed for Shots that lacked impact to become darker and post apocalyptic, which was the genre of music video we were trying to go for. The editing of levels became a large task we had to undergo during the editing process, as with the different camera’s different amount of light were filtered into the shots, giving us a range of colours from Orange to dark green, and for continuity we had to edit most of the levels on every shot to create set colours for each location.
During the creation of my ancillary products I required the use of both Photoshop Elements and Photoshop CS3; these software’s proved to be very powerful during the creation of my Digipack and poster. The tools that allowed me to create my ancillary product were very useful, for example the ‘magic eraser’ tool allowed me to take out the background of images without having to go through and manually delete parts of the background with the ‘Eraser’ tool. These software’s also allowed me to save in multiple formats, this was extremely useful when it came to the planning stage as it meant that I could print off using a school printer that allowed me to print in A3.
All these technologies allowed the production, editing, post production and evaluation much easier, without these technologies I would have had half the time to do the task set me and they would be half the quality as well.
Draft Evaluation 3-RHYS
What have you learnt from audience Feedback?
Comments during the planning and production stages were very helpful for Rupert and I to improve our product, for example we gained some very useful feedback from teachers in the early stage of our Research and planning stages, ‘you should put a bit more effort into this aspect of your video. The styling of the band and the mise en scene are incredibly important. We need to see in your posts how you came up with your ideas. a bit more thought and depth will pay dividends ‘the comments on the misc en scene of the band were really appreciated as it allowed Rupert and I to realise that more thought was needed to this aspect of the band identity, and the process in which we had come up with the idea’s. These comment on the Misc en scene were taken into due consideration as they were from two different teachers, therefore they new what they were talking about so the comment was heeded quickly.
Another comment that Rupert and I knew would be very important was another comment from a teacher saying ‘if you are both in the video then who is going to film the group shots, which are essential? It must be one of you filming. You will lose marks (in planning and for the final video)if you haven't filmed it yourselves.’ This comment allowed us to see the importance of three shots in the production of the music video, this comment prompted the immediate tracking down of a tripod to allow me and Rupert to appear in the same shot without losing marks. Again these comments were very important to get a higher grade.
As well as those previous comments these comments were made about the genre of our music video,
I agree with my esteemed colleague. This type of video would usually have a large budget and significant post production in terms of special effects. As far as i know you have neither, therefore you need to exercise some caution. You can still use elements of you idea such as costume, but you will need to be selective with the other elements that you incorporate. Don't over complicate things; try to keep it all as simple and as doable as possible.
Evening chaps. Mr Smith here. As you know I like a bit of a snoop about on other groups blogs, especially those of students who have previously been under my tutelage. I am intrigued to see that post apocalyptic is the theme which you are embracing (mixed with some elements of steam punk). This is an interesting decision and one which isn't terrifically easy to create. The problem with the apocalypse is that it generally entails widespread death and destruction, often as a result of a nuclear winter or some form of global pandemic. I will be interested to see just how you create such devastation. Good luck boys and I'm praying you aren't planning to release spores of some previously unheard of pathogen into the local environment.
We Thought very carefully about the comments, we also appreciated the feedback as we started to realise the time and effort that would be needed to be put into the music video to achieve the desired effect. This was then a task that started to plan more carefully, we planned misc en scene more than anything else, because as previously commented by Mr Smith we couldn’t get the desired effect of a post apocalyptic without creating a nuclear winter, this was the reasoning why the abandoned warehouse was used for a large portion of our narrative shots, it allowed me and Rupert to gain a degree of post apocalyptic shots without some kind of natural disaster.
Another way that we had feedback was from the class, we had to present the final draft for our final music video, and each person from the other groups in our class provided a score out of ten and some construction feedback. The scores were primarily good they ranged from 7 to 9, the average score across the groups gave us a 8.5, we thought this was relatively good score, although some of the comments on the score sheets were not particularly useful but there were some useful comments for example like ‘The variety of camera angles work very well’ these comments reinforced our idea of using many different shot angles which we were slightly worried were too long or to erratic. There weren’t many negative comments on our video although there was some, but the comment didn’t go into enough detail so we couldn’t interpret it as contrastive, these comments were useful in some respects as the class was pretty much our target audience for the video.
The feedback I gained from my ancillary comments pretty much told me that I needed to redesign my magazine my advert design completely. The comments were that the picture was to flat and didn’t work at all as an advert, taking this into consideration I completely redesigned my advert with a picture taken form the warehouse, the general consensus was that the image was a lot better, it also fitted in better with my digipack, the linkage was important between both my advert and my digipack. The feedback I got from my digipack was that the colour scheme didn’t really work at all, the vivid yellow clashed to much with the advert and didn’t have any relevance to the music video, so this was immediately changed to a black and white scheme, that featured quite bold font on the front cover this allowed it to be read more easily, this would allow me to attract my target market more, it also fit the genre better.
Comments during the planning and production stages were very helpful for Rupert and I to improve our product, for example we gained some very useful feedback from teachers in the early stage of our Research and planning stages, ‘you should put a bit more effort into this aspect of your video. The styling of the band and the mise en scene are incredibly important. We need to see in your posts how you came up with your ideas. a bit more thought and depth will pay dividends ‘the comments on the misc en scene of the band were really appreciated as it allowed Rupert and I to realise that more thought was needed to this aspect of the band identity, and the process in which we had come up with the idea’s. These comment on the Misc en scene were taken into due consideration as they were from two different teachers, therefore they new what they were talking about so the comment was heeded quickly.
Another comment that Rupert and I knew would be very important was another comment from a teacher saying ‘if you are both in the video then who is going to film the group shots, which are essential? It must be one of you filming. You will lose marks (in planning and for the final video)if you haven't filmed it yourselves.’ This comment allowed us to see the importance of three shots in the production of the music video, this comment prompted the immediate tracking down of a tripod to allow me and Rupert to appear in the same shot without losing marks. Again these comments were very important to get a higher grade.
As well as those previous comments these comments were made about the genre of our music video,
I agree with my esteemed colleague. This type of video would usually have a large budget and significant post production in terms of special effects. As far as i know you have neither, therefore you need to exercise some caution. You can still use elements of you idea such as costume, but you will need to be selective with the other elements that you incorporate. Don't over complicate things; try to keep it all as simple and as doable as possible.
Evening chaps. Mr Smith here. As you know I like a bit of a snoop about on other groups blogs, especially those of students who have previously been under my tutelage. I am intrigued to see that post apocalyptic is the theme which you are embracing (mixed with some elements of steam punk). This is an interesting decision and one which isn't terrifically easy to create. The problem with the apocalypse is that it generally entails widespread death and destruction, often as a result of a nuclear winter or some form of global pandemic. I will be interested to see just how you create such devastation. Good luck boys and I'm praying you aren't planning to release spores of some previously unheard of pathogen into the local environment.
We Thought very carefully about the comments, we also appreciated the feedback as we started to realise the time and effort that would be needed to be put into the music video to achieve the desired effect. This was then a task that started to plan more carefully, we planned misc en scene more than anything else, because as previously commented by Mr Smith we couldn’t get the desired effect of a post apocalyptic without creating a nuclear winter, this was the reasoning why the abandoned warehouse was used for a large portion of our narrative shots, it allowed me and Rupert to gain a degree of post apocalyptic shots without some kind of natural disaster.
Another way that we had feedback was from the class, we had to present the final draft for our final music video, and each person from the other groups in our class provided a score out of ten and some construction feedback. The scores were primarily good they ranged from 7 to 9, the average score across the groups gave us a 8.5, we thought this was relatively good score, although some of the comments on the score sheets were not particularly useful but there were some useful comments for example like ‘The variety of camera angles work very well’ these comments reinforced our idea of using many different shot angles which we were slightly worried were too long or to erratic. There weren’t many negative comments on our video although there was some, but the comment didn’t go into enough detail so we couldn’t interpret it as contrastive, these comments were useful in some respects as the class was pretty much our target audience for the video.
The feedback I gained from my ancillary comments pretty much told me that I needed to redesign my magazine my advert design completely. The comments were that the picture was to flat and didn’t work at all as an advert, taking this into consideration I completely redesigned my advert with a picture taken form the warehouse, the general consensus was that the image was a lot better, it also fitted in better with my digipack, the linkage was important between both my advert and my digipack. The feedback I got from my digipack was that the colour scheme didn’t really work at all, the vivid yellow clashed to much with the advert and didn’t have any relevance to the music video, so this was immediately changed to a black and white scheme, that featured quite bold font on the front cover this allowed it to be read more easily, this would allow me to attract my target market more, it also fit the genre better.
Evaluation Question 2-RHYS
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
I believe that the combination of my Digipack and Poster does combine quite smoothly with the Main music video product, I have used the same theme of Post apocalyptic theme throughout all of my products, for example on My Final digipack I have used pictures that were taken in the warehouse, you can see quite clearly the theme running throughout as many of the pictures are spread and reused across all of my media products.
There were elements in my Ancillary products that were not used in the music video, the bottom left hand side panel of my digipack features a picture that was taken at croft hill, this shot doesn’t appear in the music video because the mise en scene was slightly lacking for use in the video, however I had originally not had much filters applied to this picture, which I amended later to create a picture that had more impact when you looked at it.
A very effective combination of my three products came across from the pictures taken at the warehouse, this created a link between all three products as in the video you get to see the location of the abandoned warehouse, and these locations are noticeably used again in the digipack as images on three of the panels, this link runs throughout and gives the effect of a more professional product, as pictures that are used are not erratic they are planned.
There are links between my two ancillary products as well, as many posters and digipacks for professional bands tend to link in some way, so to create my digipack and poster in a professional I created a link through the use of similar images, as I used a picture from the 3rd filming location (the abandoned warehouse). This was also enforced with the font of the two products being the same, I used the feedback that I received from teachers, and the feedback effectively said that the Font needed to be easier to read as it would strike a more immediate reaction from whoever viewed it.
Another way in which the ancillary products matched the media music video was the simplistic layout and the framing of still shot pictures and of video clips. For example in the Croft hill segment of the music video there is a shot where The three members of the band Are on a hill, the singer is positioned in the foreground of the shot facing the camera singing, where as the other two member of the band were positioned on top of the hill either side of the singer, the positioning of this shot with the band members is slightly different but still meshes with the images used on the ancillary products. There is another shot in the music video, it is the shot in the music video where it features all three members of the band standing in the warehouse looking at the camera, and this positioning is very similar to the images used on my digipack, this again shows a link that runs throughout the ancillary products and the music video.
The theme of having a black and white / sepia effect runs throughout these products, I felt that the use of the black and white effect on the digipack gave the colour on some of the panels more of an enhanced look, it boosted the impact of the other panels, and it also allows a nice contrast to the more coloured products. The band poster had more colour in it, it features a sepia glow to the shot, and I used this because I thought the colour represented a more apocalyptic feel rather than the black and white used on the digipack. Though the colour used in the poster links in well with the more orange glow shots in the garage, in contrast to the darker shots of the digipack that associate better with the shots with more narrative in croft and the abandoned warehouse, these shots had the ‘Old World’ effect applied to them.
There were elements of my ancillary texts that didn’t work out at all in my final products, I had many of the panels with a yellow and black theme applied to it, this was scrapped as the colours didn’t really fit with the genre, and after comments from my teacher I realised that many of the panels of my ancillary text didn’t mesh together with the overall product, this was remedied with the use of images that Rupert and I took in the final stages of our filming process. This was also evident with the image used on band album advert, the comment was that the image was to flat and that it didn’t do anything, it didn’t stand out and it was boring, I remedied this with linking it with my digipack and music video, by using a picture taken in the warehouse of a ruined corridor with some smashed windows, this image then got the sepia glow effect added to it and therefore linked back into my other two products.
Draft Evaluation Question 1-RHYS
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
I feel that our Joint media product follows many of the standard conventions and forms. We realised that to produce a high grade end product we needed to follow certain conventions, although we felt we needed a balance between standard forms and our own unique flair that we added to the video.
Straight off the mark Rupert and I started to plan what style were wanted to have the video, we didn’t real like the convention off a standard Illustration video, we felt that it cut the amount of creativity we could introduce to the video. The video’s that I researched and analysed in my research and planning were ‘Ain’t no rest for the wicked’ by ‘Cage the Elephant’, and ‘Bullets’ by ‘The Editors’, like these videos because were not just Illustration, they were either completely disjunctive, or disjunctive with elements of performance in. The video’s that didn’t follow a standard Illustration video were generally more interesting to watch. I wanted to introduce this element of narrative to the video, I wanted there to be a looming question that wasn’t answered, this form is used quite a lot by in music videos to make the video more interesting to watch, the unanswered question or an ‘Enigma code’.
At this point it was pretty much decided that we wanted our music video to be in a post-apocalyptic style, we had watched other media for this genre, most were either films like Mad Max or The Book Of Eli, but there were certain music videos that did follow the same post-apocalyptic genre, By The Sword by Slash features a theme that we wanted to either recreate or follow the same kind of theme. We did manage to follow the conventions of the alternative scene as we had lots of shots of the band playing but we also had a narrative that contrasts quite sharply with illustration part of our video.
Though in contrast to this there were points in the music where the video differs from the usual forms that are used in music videos, for example the variety of shots we included in the video seemed to contrast quite a lot of video that we had drew inspiration from for example the music video for Biffy Clyro's God and Satan features many mid shot and close ups of the band, these shots also follow them from the front when they start to move, where as our music video challenges this concept of just a two location video that is only disjuncture.
The singing shots in our music video really followed the theme we were trying to recreate; the effect of the orange glow with the background is reminiscent of a backup power lamp, with its dull glow it reflects the post apocalyptic genre we were trying to recreate, for example we also didn’t have a microphone, so we substituted it for an old fashioned single bulb safety lamp, we thought it worked as a good ‘apocalyptic’ style lamp, especially with the cage around the bulb it looked vaguely like an old fashioned microphone like the ones that Elvis used, I feel that this also follows a form that many music videos try and reproduce as the ‘Vintage’ look has great appeal at the moment.
When editing the drum shots we decided earlier on in the production stages that we wanted there to be some structure to the editing of certain parts of the video. One of these idea’s was to edit to the next shot on the snare drum beat, we wanted to use this because it had appeared in quite a few of the video’s we had already reviewed and watched for inspiration, for example in the video for The Raconteur’s ‘Salute Your Solution’ video, this video was quite from others I had already viewed as there wasn’t actually any video shots, the video just had multiple pictures of the band playing, these were then edited together really quickly and this gave the illusion of a moving image in the video. The problem with this was it would have taken four times as long to story board as each half second shot would have had to be taken into account, Rupert and I decided that we were not going to incorporate any still shot editing into our video as it wouldn’t fit with the genre of our music track.
The Post in our Blog that describes the genre of music video we were going to follow, lists many of the conventions that we were going to include, for example many forms that are followed in the genre of video we were to produce include the tinted or saturation of the shots, many media products like films and games follow this colour scheme that uses yellows, browns and greens in the palette, usually a tint is applied to the majority of the shots. For our media video we applied a bright yellow glow to all the illustration shots in the garage to make it look like we were using some kind of generator for the lights. For the shots that we had at croft hill and the warehouse we applied a filter on IMovie 11 that is called ‘Old World’ the effect gives a fuzzy apocalyptic feel, we felt that this followed many of the forms and conventions that similar media products used.
Tuesday, 6 December 2011
DRAFT Evaluation Question 4 RUPERT
Perhaps to be recorded and edited over images
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
The first technology I used and one with which I am particularly well acquainted with was Blogger. This was the technology which I used throughout the beginning process of Research and Planning. In this sense Blogger was essential to the course. We used it to have a chronological order to our work. We posted our inspirational videos followed by the storyboards and animatic. I have, over the period of the course found Blogger instrumental to the completion of said course. I have found this as all our work has been in one place; allowing me to skip back over time and see what has been posted before, allowing me to keep consistency through the work by keeping it all in the same genre. A final way in which Blogger was used throughout the course was that I used it to keep note of the constructive criticism we were being provided on the Video and on my ancillary texts. Blogger therefore allowed me to construct my work in a way that adhered to the criticisms that were being left on the blog.
At the beginning of the course I also used YouTube a large amount. I used YouTube in a way that allowed me to research how a Music Video should be designed and constructed. I valued YouTube for the way it provided constant inspiration and continually pushed my work to become more professional and continually more creative. By being a able to view YouTube videos we could take multiple examples; take aspects of each and work them in a way that helped us to develop the final product for our media video. Placing these videos on blogger then enabled feedback to be presented to us in a fashion that was useable and could be created; designing our work to what people wanted to see.
Technologies that we used during the development for our media video ranged from examples as placed above and to such things as Tube chop. Tube chop was interesting use. Whilst being slow and often crashing; when it did work it was used it to present individual parts of videos that were creative and that we liked. We individually Tubechopped videos so we presented viewers of our blog with different sets of videos according to our individual tastes in music.
Technology that we used not on the Internet to film the video included two HD cameras. Both filmed in full high definition which captured the shots in a way that we were aiming to. We used to as the second, a Canon 500D was one I was more used to using as I myself use a SLR camera. Both cameras were easy to connect to the Macs we used to edit. We simply just took the SD card and placed it in the slots provided. This was useful as it didn't involve cables which provided one less thing to remember, allowing the process to flow smoothly.
To actually edit the shots together, we used my MacBook Pro. This made the process easy and smooth due to the simple tools provided on iMovie and the fact that it could be carried; allowing us to edit together at school. Having never used it properly before; the tools allowed easy and swift editing for someone who had very little practice with the software.
The software was then used again for the creation of answers to the evaluation tasks. The only problem we faced with iMovie during the editing stages was that it often would not let us shave 0.1 or 0.3 seconds off of clips; which was necessary to help the shots fit the music and in particular-to fit the singing and drum beats to the music. However we worked around this problem by shaving 0.2 seconds off of a number of shots, allowing us to spread the loss of seconds across the video; balancing the editing and allowing the music to fit with the shots.
An accessory that we used during filming was an iPod. For the garage shots we used Rhys' as it could be plugged into speakers. We used this in a way that allowed the drummer to find the beat of the drums; making it easier for him to play and in the longer term made the editing easier. we then used it to provide the speed of the lyrics, making it easier for me to sing them and again therefore making the editing process easier.
For the development of the ancillary products I again used my MacBook pro. I deliberately used this because I know it is the best software for the challenges that the course was presenting. I particularly valued the fact that it didn't once crash, which was a problem I was plagued with my old Windows laptop.
On my Mac I used the Adobe site to download a 30 day trial of Photoshop CS5. This was a piece of software which was instrumental to the completion of my first drafts. I had no prior knowledge of how to use CS5 but I had used Elements before so I knew the basic functions.
However, for my final draft I used Photoshop Elements as the trial for CS5 ran out. I used this software with more confidence than the previous because I knew the functions and had had plenty of practice using it from the previous year. I feel that this confidence can be seen in my final design by the images I have chosen to use. For example I had to use the clone tool to recreate the ceiling to extend the image; lining up elements of the roof perfectly.
For some of images on my ancillary products, and those of the filming process in the garage I used my own SLR Olympus E-600 camera. I had no problems using this which mirrors the fact I am well acquainted with my camera as I use often. I was particularly keen to use this camera as I know it captures colour spectacularly well.
For the majority of images I used the Canon 500D as it was on site during the filming of the warehouse and Croft Hill shots. However, this provided a few problems as I am not so use to features of Canon cameras.
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
The first technology I used and one with which I am particularly well acquainted with was Blogger. This was the technology which I used throughout the beginning process of Research and Planning. In this sense Blogger was essential to the course. We used it to have a chronological order to our work. We posted our inspirational videos followed by the storyboards and animatic. I have, over the period of the course found Blogger instrumental to the completion of said course. I have found this as all our work has been in one place; allowing me to skip back over time and see what has been posted before, allowing me to keep consistency through the work by keeping it all in the same genre. A final way in which Blogger was used throughout the course was that I used it to keep note of the constructive criticism we were being provided on the Video and on my ancillary texts. Blogger therefore allowed me to construct my work in a way that adhered to the criticisms that were being left on the blog.
At the beginning of the course I also used YouTube a large amount. I used YouTube in a way that allowed me to research how a Music Video should be designed and constructed. I valued YouTube for the way it provided constant inspiration and continually pushed my work to become more professional and continually more creative. By being a able to view YouTube videos we could take multiple examples; take aspects of each and work them in a way that helped us to develop the final product for our media video. Placing these videos on blogger then enabled feedback to be presented to us in a fashion that was useable and could be created; designing our work to what people wanted to see.
Technologies that we used during the development for our media video ranged from examples as placed above and to such things as Tube chop. Tube chop was interesting use. Whilst being slow and often crashing; when it did work it was used it to present individual parts of videos that were creative and that we liked. We individually Tubechopped videos so we presented viewers of our blog with different sets of videos according to our individual tastes in music.
Technology that we used not on the Internet to film the video included two HD cameras. Both filmed in full high definition which captured the shots in a way that we were aiming to. We used to as the second, a Canon 500D was one I was more used to using as I myself use a SLR camera. Both cameras were easy to connect to the Macs we used to edit. We simply just took the SD card and placed it in the slots provided. This was useful as it didn't involve cables which provided one less thing to remember, allowing the process to flow smoothly.
To actually edit the shots together, we used my MacBook Pro. This made the process easy and smooth due to the simple tools provided on iMovie and the fact that it could be carried; allowing us to edit together at school. Having never used it properly before; the tools allowed easy and swift editing for someone who had very little practice with the software.
The software was then used again for the creation of answers to the evaluation tasks. The only problem we faced with iMovie during the editing stages was that it often would not let us shave 0.1 or 0.3 seconds off of clips; which was necessary to help the shots fit the music and in particular-to fit the singing and drum beats to the music. However we worked around this problem by shaving 0.2 seconds off of a number of shots, allowing us to spread the loss of seconds across the video; balancing the editing and allowing the music to fit with the shots.
An accessory that we used during filming was an iPod. For the garage shots we used Rhys' as it could be plugged into speakers. We used this in a way that allowed the drummer to find the beat of the drums; making it easier for him to play and in the longer term made the editing easier. we then used it to provide the speed of the lyrics, making it easier for me to sing them and again therefore making the editing process easier.
For the development of the ancillary products I again used my MacBook pro. I deliberately used this because I know it is the best software for the challenges that the course was presenting. I particularly valued the fact that it didn't once crash, which was a problem I was plagued with my old Windows laptop.
On my Mac I used the Adobe site to download a 30 day trial of Photoshop CS5. This was a piece of software which was instrumental to the completion of my first drafts. I had no prior knowledge of how to use CS5 but I had used Elements before so I knew the basic functions.
However, for my final draft I used Photoshop Elements as the trial for CS5 ran out. I used this software with more confidence than the previous because I knew the functions and had had plenty of practice using it from the previous year. I feel that this confidence can be seen in my final design by the images I have chosen to use. For example I had to use the clone tool to recreate the ceiling to extend the image; lining up elements of the roof perfectly.
For some of images on my ancillary products, and those of the filming process in the garage I used my own SLR Olympus E-600 camera. I had no problems using this which mirrors the fact I am well acquainted with my camera as I use often. I was particularly keen to use this camera as I know it captures colour spectacularly well.
For the majority of images I used the Canon 500D as it was on site during the filming of the warehouse and Croft Hill shots. However, this provided a few problems as I am not so use to features of Canon cameras.
Monday, 5 December 2011
DRAFT Evaluation Question 3 RUPERT
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Since the first pitch of our video aspirations and the feedback we received from the class, our design has changed significantly and in a way that we feel is for the better. We ensured that we had various means through which we could receive feedback. The main sources through which we received feedback was Blogger, Facebook and through the class in which we study.
Blogger
The feedback which we received from our teachers on blogger was constructive and enabled us to change and develop features of our work to help it become a better creation. Within these comments, constructive criticism was mixed with words of warning and both were duly took into account.
The constructive criticism was important to the development of our product and was something we kept in mind during its creation.
The words of warning however have since been taken back. They consisted of fears that we would not be able to recreate a post-apocalyptic scenario. However, since filming we have received feedback from two teachers saying that we have captured key elements of an apocalypse and thus have recreated the scenario effectively.
The pieces of feedback I was particularly keen to act on was that of how we should put more effort into out Mise en Scene. This was something that I focused on and came to the decision that whilst we had influences like The Killers; we should not copy their flamboyant costumes as in a post-apocalyptic world people would not wear flamboyant costumes.
Facebook
I posted the video on Facebook to allow our followers to view what we had designed and to let them voice positives and negatives that they could see. The comments on the video were a mixture of positives-One friend commented that the editing was smooth and it looked impressive, whilst another comment on how for a first draft it was good but pointed out flaws in the designs. From this feedback I learnt that although there were criticisms we were also receiving positive feedback from members of our target audience. Which suggested our video was designed correctly to attract our target audience.
Class
The final draft of our video was pitched to our class. Despite it being the final draft and therefore we couldn't amend the product we received positive feedback which was pleasing to see. The majority of the feedback presented views which would suggest there wasn't a need for change. We received comments such as 'well thought out' and 'good locations.' Whilst also being told that our shots of the bass looked impressive. The most important thing I learned from the audience feedback from our class is that teenagers in our target age range liked what we have created and thought that it was a effective video for the song we had chosen to do.
Twitter
Our Twitter account received little feedback, the reason this social media received little feedback is because we ourselves aren't Twitter users. Plus our Facebook pages were going to receive more feedback as we have more friends to do so. We found that we could reach a wider audience on Facebook than we could on Twitter.
First Draft Feedback
The first draft feedback we received from our teachers influenced the changes in our second draft considerably-as it should have. The main message we were receiving from this feedback was that the lighting needed to change on the singing shots as it wasn't consistent and that the band weren't 'rocking' like a real band should.
We listened to this feedback and we changed the video by reshooting these shots with all lights off bar the lamp used as a microphone. It can be seen that developed a sense of consistency through the lighting. Perhaps more significantly is that of how the 'rocking' aspect altered dramatically from first to final draft. Throughout the filming of the second draft I bore in mind how my own part in the video wasn't performed with enough emotion and motivation. However, the feedback from the class proved how this changed. We received comments such as 'good emotion from Rupert' and that the 'band members are enthusiastic.' This was pleasing to see as it showed we had learnt from our first draft feedback and that we had adhered to it and used it to improve our final draft performance.
Feedback on my ancillary product
The feedback which I learnt the most from however is that of my ancillary products. The feedback came from my teachers and what it told me influenced me to recreate the whole of my ancillary product. It included comments such as how my images were to dark and weren't consistent, whilst the fonts and typography weren't fitting to the image of the rest of the ancillary products. I learnt from the feedback that I should use existing designs and follow the conventions presented in these. Hence why my new designs look so different to those that I was presented in my first draft. I received large amounts of feedback and I feel I went to lengths to rectify my second draft to incorporate this.
As a direct result of this feedback I feel that my new products looked far more professional and far more like the conventions of normal digipaks and posters convey.
Sunday, 4 December 2011
DRAFT evaluation Question 2 RUPERT
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
There were elements within the products created that were used on each. These features were carried across to develop a sense of branding between the products.
For example elements which I chose to carry across between the two products include the photographs, the design of these photographs, the layout of the ancillary text and the fonts used on the ancillary texts.
There were elements that were not carried between the two products. For example I didn't carry across the use of a pink colour that is obvious on my digipack.
The most obvious feature that is carried across the two products is the use of the photographs and the use of the effect that is on them. Within our music video we used a 'old world' effect upon the 2nd and 3rd locations to help create a post-apocalyptic feel. I carried this across to my ancillary texts; which is obvious on the photographs I have used. I used a 'sepia' effect (effectively the same thing) to help mirror this apocalyptic feel and to create a bridge between the two products.
This can be seen within the photographs and not just the effect used on them. The photographs for my digipack were all taken in our 3rd location: the warehouse. The main reason this was done was to help build a bridge between the video for Hysteria-the bands main song-and the digipack and thus connect the two, creating a proper band effect.
Having used these features to build a connection between the Music video and the digipack I feel that they work well in combination with each other. In that the digipack can support the video by the direct links of 'sepia' and images. However in the same way the video compliments the digipack by featuring the same locations used in the digipack.
I also created links between my magazine poster to my digipack-something which modern audiences would expect to see and which is used on professional pieces of work.
One way which I did this was by the use of the same fonts across. The use of the font on my final product came from feedback which I received from my teacher. I used the default Photoshop font and avoided using a fancy web font. This font was then directly copied across to my magazine poster and can been seen as a link between the two. A second link between the two is the simplistic layout which I have used. I used this on my digipack originally; inspired by Bombay Bicycle Club's album Flaws. This was then copied across to my magazine. Which is directly inspired by the XX's recent advert, which itself has a simplistic layout.
There were elements within the products created that were used on each. These features were carried across to develop a sense of branding between the products.
For example elements which I chose to carry across between the two products include the photographs, the design of these photographs, the layout of the ancillary text and the fonts used on the ancillary texts.
There were elements that were not carried between the two products. For example I didn't carry across the use of a pink colour that is obvious on my digipack.
The most obvious feature that is carried across the two products is the use of the photographs and the use of the effect that is on them. Within our music video we used a 'old world' effect upon the 2nd and 3rd locations to help create a post-apocalyptic feel. I carried this across to my ancillary texts; which is obvious on the photographs I have used. I used a 'sepia' effect (effectively the same thing) to help mirror this apocalyptic feel and to create a bridge between the two products.
This can be seen within the photographs and not just the effect used on them. The photographs for my digipack were all taken in our 3rd location: the warehouse. The main reason this was done was to help build a bridge between the video for Hysteria-the bands main song-and the digipack and thus connect the two, creating a proper band effect.
Having used these features to build a connection between the Music video and the digipack I feel that they work well in combination with each other. In that the digipack can support the video by the direct links of 'sepia' and images. However in the same way the video compliments the digipack by featuring the same locations used in the digipack.
I also created links between my magazine poster to my digipack-something which modern audiences would expect to see and which is used on professional pieces of work.
One way which I did this was by the use of the same fonts across. The use of the font on my final product came from feedback which I received from my teacher. I used the default Photoshop font and avoided using a fancy web font. This font was then directly copied across to my magazine poster and can been seen as a link between the two. A second link between the two is the simplistic layout which I have used. I used this on my digipack originally; inspired by Bombay Bicycle Club's album Flaws. This was then copied across to my magazine. Which is directly inspired by the XX's recent advert, which itself has a simplistic layout.
On receiving the first draft of my ancillary product and the feedback given with it, I realised a drastic change of course was needed. I duly changed photographs, colour, fonts and layout and I found new inspiration to work on. It can therefore be seen that the feedback I received influenced my decision and pushed me to start again and realise the conventions of the ancillary products and how they should work together.
The feedback given to us on our music video also inspired numerous reshoots- leading us to filming whole sections and parts of sections again. This was done to improve consistency throughout the garage shots which were to make up the majority of the music video and therefore create a sense of branding by having an apocalyptic feeling running throughout.
I feel the first draft of my ancillary product didn't work because I hadn't adhered enough to the conventions of digipaks and magazine adverts. Although I took inspiration from a number of places, such as The Killers and Coldplay, these designs were mixed together and Photoshopped to create a mixture of two works. The colour I developed and the effect placed upon it, didn't work. It didn't hold conventions of CD covers. However, the failings of this first draft led me to working on my second under the creative influence of a professional piece of work. This led to a sense of branding being created across my ancillary texts as I saw how professional works keep a sense of consistency; and thus this was duly copied.
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