EVALUATION 4

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

New technologies were very important for our to create our music video, due to the effects we used and the way we made of the shots and effects very completed in our finished product. First of all in our pre-production of the project, we had numerous ideas what we wanted to create, through using youtube for our research into the music video dance genre was very important, especially about the endless variety we had to choose from. When preparing for the shoots we also decided to make a list of essentials to take for the shoot, this included our handhelds cameras, laptops, tripods and also a Iphone 4 to take our location shots with. Through the numerous of things we needed this shows the importance of what was needed to created our music video because without them, we wouldn't of been able to create them. Another little thing but of huge importance was to use a portable speaker to enable the lip syncing is good. Through the planning sites such as google gave quick results to answers we needed and also good ideas to include in our music videos. To begin the process we also found a site to create the mp3 for our song that we can use on location to play aloud.

At the production stage we used lots of different technology in the form of handheld cameras, tripods and also the Iphone to use as a camera and also a GPRS so we knew where we had to go to get the right locations. The production stage was very long as we had so many locations to film and in the short space of time, leading us to schedule a whole filming shoot for each location, this saving our time and also focusing on the individual locations on the different days. During the production it shows how important new technologies were to make our video. Going onto the editing process this was very long. We also to save time used the laptops to upload then process the clips into quicktime to save us time, although this was time consuming, it helped out a lot towards the end. Editing using final cut pro and also imovie were very important as we wouldn't of been able to edit and create the video, also the effect of the time-lapse idea would of not been possible therefore showing how important the technologies were to our project.

When considering the different ways new technologies have contributed, we wouldn't of been able to many of what we wanted and therefore leading our group to that without all the technologies our video could not of been made, as in the case of our blogs the Iphone was useful to email each of us the pictures straight away and also nice pictures to show of our locations. Through the social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, this has gave us the free service to advertise along with youtube too show off our video.

EVALUATION 3

3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

When showing our class at our first critique screening we ended up having some really good feedback, some being positive and negative but overall giving our group feedback to take away and give thought to improve the video. We also beforehand explained how it was not finished but this was taken into consideration. When getting feedback from our friends all has been very positive for our group to, but we also have put the video on youtube and a link on Facebook for people to watch. Facebook has given us a lot of good positive feedback with lots liking the video but not as many comments. From the screening we gained ideas about altering the ending to complete our narrative structure, and also careful consideration on certain shots that should and shouldn't be in the video, another idea the group thought about was maybe next time choosing a better actress to play the role of the main character, as some people thought the actress was not effective.

From our overall opinion on our feedback, there was a lot of positive feedback, one teacher mentioning how professional it looked, therefore we was very happy with the feedback and took the ideas of the people forward when finishing the whole video.

EVALUATION 2

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

For our digi-pack and poster we thought and decided we wanted to follow the same conventions our artist of DJ Magma being fiery, fierce, bubbly, therefore we wanted to follow this being shown through our ancillary texts. First of all we had the idea to follow the idea of Magma being associated with volcanos therefore placing our artist Magma in a volcano i believe follows and plays on this idea. The font i have placed on the front of the digi-pack looks distorted, i went for this idea because i wanted to text to look as if it has been burnt to follow the same idea of the volcano. With Magma coming out of a volcano along with the disco ball in the background, this gives the thought of Magma as a bubbly character, but also showing he is a DJ with the disco ball. With the Digi-pack on the whole i feel that it gives a good account of what Magma is all about and emphasizes our idea we want Magmas audience to see.

On the poster we decided to use the front of our digi-pack because we want to familiarize our artist with the fans to keep thinking and recognizing Magma. I include don the poster a number of various venues Magma will be performing, this gives the advertisement side of Magma to the fans to come and see Magma live. The release date of the album is also included to make the fans aware. The sony BMG logo is also on the poster to show his record label and at the bottom it also has the social networking sites Magma can be found on, this giving the link to the fans as a way of contacting and interacting with Magma. All of my ideas were placed on the poster to therefore follow the convention of how a real artist would advertise.

Overall i believe that both the Digi-pack and also the poster reflect our artist and follow the conventions of the posters and digi-pack and feel that from this our artist would be able to fit into the music industry.

EVALUATION 1

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


As a group we decided about doing a dance music themed song because we have never attempted to do like this therefore giving our group a challenge into doing something new. When first of all receiving the brief we was torn between doing one brief to another due to the songs we liked, but eventually deciding on the dance song with DJ Magma. From choosing the dance genre for our brief, we then continued to choose between to songs, trying to picture our visions of how they would be to one another, ending up with us choosing dreamer and using the name of the song to a good idea we wanted to create. We also thought about wanting to create a unique video different in comparison to the other groups in our class therefore choosing a brief no one even thought about choosing. The effect overall to follow the conventions of a music video was to include lip sync, actress or actor and good locations, and through our thoughts about where, who and scenery i think we did follow the conventions of the dance genre to good effect.

To understand and aid in my understanding with the dance genre, we looked at various artists such as Bass hunter, Cascada to have a look of how theirs have been filmed and set up to keep the same construction. This gave us the thought of creating a club/dance scene for one of our locations, this therefore will provide the typical dance scene with bright colors to give the video a vibrant feel at the same time. Our artist is also DJ Magma, giving the thought of a fiery bright red color, therefore through the lighting and location we wanted to ensure every location continuously had this effect for the whole music video. Our artist is called Magma on the brief therefore we did not have any intention to change it because we was given the brief and we didn't feel that the artist name would be an issue therefore sticking with DJ Magma, also using this name gave us the thought for a bright digipack and poster to produce.


When deciding our location, we first of all got the idea of a time-lapse idea that could be a continuous factor being shown through the video, from this we then started creating a plan around the time-lapse by creating a narrative we would like to put into the video and also then ensuring the narrative and location work well together. The idea of not making it look like a school production video as well was in our idea that we wanted our video to look very professional and therefore choosing the London. London to show our actresses dream of being in London trying to get her way to the club to have the time of her life. Therefore filming famous parts, places, monuments in London to give the professional feel and also to portray the good nightlife London in known for.


For the filming side to follow the conventions we decided to stereotypically use a girl as our actress like many dance videos use in the music industry. We wanted our actress to be the center of the club scene being shown of her importance of being the lead person. With the club scene we also wanted to ensure the bright vibrant colors match one another in both the London time lapses and also the shots in the club scene with the bright lights being provided by the lights.


When editing we had difficulty not having all the shots for the video to begin with missing key scenes and locations that had to be left blank, but we began with the footage we had and showing the extent of work we need to create a really good music video. We edited London first because this was our first shoot and also the one part we was really excited about editing to the song, especially the London eye shot. It was helpful to have the numerous shots to play around with, this gave us the freedom to choose the best possible shot rather then needing to use the same shot, or even panic about not having enough for the video. The idea of having more then enough shots was also to ensure we had enough to tell the narrative of the song and ensure this is emphasized and shown throughout. Overall i believe our video was very successful and fulfilled our ideas we had visions of it being like and am very happy that we did not have any need to change our brief we was given. We also followed the code and conventions.

Magma Dreamer

Nearly Finished Video

Finished Poster