Evaluation Question Four

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

Group Question

How Did We Use The Internet?

The Internet was a vital piece of technology that has helped us throughout the whole process of the development of our coursework for both the main and ancillary task. The first use of the internet was for the research in to music videos and then more deeply into the music genre our group was going to focus on. Global site YouTube has helped our group massively as we were able to load up specific videos that related to our genre and analyse them and take key conventions out of them. If we did not have access to a video site that shows music videos, then we would have had to have sat in front of a TV and analyse the videos that we were given, something that may not have even been beneficial to our genre of music. As well as this, the internet meant that our research in to our ancillary tasks was genre appropriate and that we carefully analysed the images that were on the screen. For example, from looking at adverts for Rihanna we realised that the artist is always in the forefront of the advert. We were also able to look at the house style between album artwork and magazine adverts, thus keeping our brand identity. Using the internet enhanced our knowledge into the music industry, and if we did not have access to this, then our research stages would have been heavily delayed. As well as researching just in to music videos themselves, we also were able to use the internet to aid us in how to construct one ourselves. Before the project was tasked to us, none of us knew how to operate Final Cut to a standard that was required, and the internet had many videos and forums that we were able to locate and heighten our knowledge. Without the internet in the research stages of our coursework, we would never have been able to identify how to professionally construct an appropriate media package that has a consistency with the music video. The internet was also used in the planning stages of our coursework. Before we set off and started to film anything, we had to plan where we were going to go and the use of google maps enabled us to easily identify where it was we were going to film Another key website that was fully taken advantage of was Blogger. The website allowed us to ‘blog’ our stages of our work in a neat and professional manner where we have access to other peers studying the same course, which is ideal for product feedback. This use of communication helped us to identify weaknesses and improve the quality of our video and ancillary tasks. The website allowed us to exhibit all of our work which is a fantastic way to place work as the media is becoming more and more dependent on the internet. If we did not have use to blogger, then we would have had to written the whole of the coursework by hand, which would have been time consuming and messy. Other internet sites such as prezi and viemo were used. Prezie, which was useful in our planning stages was effectively used as it displays a presentation style piece of work in an aesthetic way, and vimeo was used to upload our final cut and showcase our video as it was of a higher quality than uploading it to YouTube or as an mp4 format. Without the internet and the sites that are available we would not have been able to produce such a media rich portfolio throughout all of the stages of the coursework.

Evaluation Question Three

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Gaining feedback from the target audience was a vital aspect of creating our music video, this was because it enabled us to see what people thought of the video. Once we had a range of feedback from the other year 13 groups, our teacher and friends from our rough cuts we knew what had to be changed in order for the video to be more entertaining, professional and more appealing to our target audience, which are key components in creating an effective music video.

Year 13 Media Students Viewing

From the feedback gained during a viewing session with the other year 13 media students we gained valuable knowledge of how other editors feel about the video. As each person in the room would have at some stage edited their own video, thus having their own opinions on what makes an effective video for a specific song. This also gave us ways to improve our video through actual ways to improve, for example cutting some shots as they were too long or adding a different type of transition. This helped us in the production of our video as having feedback from people who know how to use the software meant if we needed help they could show us how to make such amendments. This differs to the opinions we gained from friends as they watched the music video differently, as they would not know what types of transitions to add or type of angle to shoot from. This helped as their feedback was more steered towards how entertaining the video was, which gave us points to improve on to make the video more enjoyable for other audiences.

Here are some images of the feedback gained from the year 13 media students.

To further the range of feedback gained for our music video I also asked two of my friends to write down what they thought. Once they had watched the video I asked them to read our their opinions so that I could record it, the opinions are shown below as mp3 bars. 

 Here is a short mp3 of one my friends Ollie Hookway giving his opinion on the music video. Gaining this type of feedback is useful as it shows us what a potential fan of the band would think of the music video if it was on the MTV music channels. Having this feedback also gave us a valuable insight into what aspects of the video are liked and disliked, thus improving our own knowledge of what makes an exciting music video.

This short mp3 is another one of my friend James Naziri's opinions on the video. Again this is the opinion of a fan of Noel Gallagher, therefore it is vital that in future we could use this feedback to create a product which is more effective at entertaining the audience.

I furthered the range of feedback by creating a small questionnaire for a small group of friends and family so that the group and I could get a broader range of opinion. I kept the questions simple, with the person asked having to rate their opinion on a scale from 1 to 5. This was a simple yet effective method to find out a general opinion on our work, as the average scores produced shows a trend of how good people think our work is, with higher average scores being positive and vice versa. (full screen for clearer view of text and graphs) 

Graphs

Evaluation Question Two

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

Having similarities between our main task of the music video and the ancillary tasks of the digipak and magazine advertisement is a vital component we had to make sure was completed. This is because in order to create a brand identity or certain iconography for Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds the target audience need to be able to recognize products from the band in order to buy them. As a group we feel the ancillary tasks match with the music video in a variation of ways, as we make many intertextual links between the 3 tasks through using the same location shots and the guitar Glenn used in the video within the digipak and magazine advertisement, as well as having Glenn present in all 3 media platforms created. We also made sure the same styled fonts and colours were used through-out the ancillary tasks, so that when together they can easily be resembled to each other.  

Advert, Digipak and Video Shot

Research

UK Tribes Information and Glenn

During the researching stages of our coursework the group and I all agreed to base our video on a music genre we all enjoyed listening to, this came to be Alternative Rock. This meant bands such as Oasis, Coldplay, Beady Eye and Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds were in our interest. The Alt Rock genre has a wide target audience range, with people similar to our age of 18 and 19 up to late 20's and 30's. We then visited websites such as UK Tribes to find out what hobbies and interests our target audience has, so that when creating our video, digipak and advert we could try and relate to them so they will enjoy using the media platforms we create. Whilst researching Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds we also noticed how a colour gradient of turquoise and orange were used on many of the singles, we opted to follow this convention on the digipak and the advert so that our work can relate to the bands, as well as help the target audience notice that they match, which will enhance the band's promotion. During the research and planning stages we noticed how most digipaks and advertisements have scenes or a shot from the music video they are promoting, this helps the audience recognize who the digipak or advert is for as they will compare it to the music video, we therefore followed this convention so that our video can be linked with the advert and digipak easily by the audience.

Narrative

Script Below

We wanted to create a narrative across the three media platforms so that our target audience will be able recognize they promote the band. The main narrative we used was our character being in the same location, as Glenn is filmed in London and the printed media show Glenn by Tower Bridge, which is a famous landmark of London. Using this type of narrative will also hopefully connect with the target audience, as they are mainly British and using London will therefore be a familiar place to them. This will therefore add exclusivity as our target audience may have been to the locations we used.

Image, Font and Colours

There is a clear link between our digipak and advertisement through the image used, this is simply because it is the same one used. We chose to use the same photograph for the both because it is an effective, and easy way to portray to the audience that they are attatched to the same musician or band. We did considor adding a smaller image of the digipak within the advertisement, however we felt this was not needed as the gradient and photo used in both easily connotes that they are from Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds. The image used for both is also linked to the video, as the location used is by Tower Bridge, and for parts of our video Glenn is singing here so hopefully the audience will also be able to relate this location to the ancillary tasks and therefore the band. The font chosen for the digipak was also used for the advertisement, this was called bitume and downloaded from dafont.com. We felt we had to use this font for the band name on both, as using this font would therefore illustrate a branding for the band, thus improving the iconography of the band as this font and writing would therefore immediately relate to Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds. We were thinking of adding a gradient effect to the video itself to present a common component within our digipak, advertisement and music video. After group discussion however, we opted not to do so as this may have looked too bold for a music video, and we wanted to keep the natural lighting of London as this is what our target audience would be familiar with. The gradient of turquoise and orange was used for our print media though, this was added to make the original photo less bland and to make an immediate similarity between the two ancillary tasks. I believe the main factor in linking our video, digipak and advertisement is the fact we featured the same location of the walkway by Tower Bridge in all three, as well as having Glenn present in them which is a fundamental part to linking them all together.

Above shows the link between the digipak (plain white) and advertisement (white and turquoise) text. Although the advertisement text is half white with an orange background and turquoise without any background, they are both the same font which is bitume, this we feel makes the ancillary tasks match even though they differ slightly. Most digipak and advertisement texts are exactly the same, we wanted to challenge this convention so that the advertisement is more memorable to the audience, as well more attractive as there is more colour present. We did however, want to keep some of the same style between them so using the same font and having one part in white on the advertisement meant some similarity can be made.

What Would We Improve?

If the group and I had another chance to create a music video, digipak and advertisement there would be many adjustments in what and how we complete the three media platforms. There are as follows:

• Music Video - The first thing we would do would be much more planning and scheduling for our filming, as during the filming process we lost our first character, and sometimes not all of the group could attend filming. Although this did not harm our ability to film to full extent, it would be much easier to film if everyone could attend, as there would be more ideas and options for filming the video. If we planned more efficiently we could have had more time in London, and therefore a wider range of shots which could have helped form some sort of narrative, I feel this was not covered enough as we had limited time to travel to London due to Glenn's work commitments. Personally, I would also choose a different song, mainly because it was rather difficult to think of a storyline as the song itself is rather repeatitive. I would go on from this to also choose to create a performance based video, as these can be much more exciting as they involve fast editing and more close ups of instruments and the band singing.

• Digipak - Overall, I am relatively pleased with the final outcome of the digipak. I would however, change the photo used slightly as I feel a shot showing Glenn's face would be more effective as would create eye contact with the audience, and therefore add more exclusivity to the digipak. The cover photo used is rather bland without the gradient and large font, therefore a closer shot of Glenn facing the camera in my opinion would look more effective for a digipak.

• Advertisement - If I could change the advertisement I would use a different image, which still linked to the music video and digipak. This would enlarge the brand's image and could still be matched with the digipak and music video if a small image of the digipak was present, and maybe a shot of the character used so it links with the video. I feel the text used on the advert was appropriate as the majority of it was used on Noel Gallagher's poster, it therefore connoted a professional response to the album from well known establishments. The font used was also effective as the title related to the font on the digipak, thus linking the digipak and advert together and therefore to Noel, they were all easy to read too which helps as the reader does not need to focus to read it, which may bore some people if so and this will lose any potential audience for the band.

Evaluation Question One

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

Script 3

Finished Magazine Advert

Slideshow Of Construction

Each slide lasts for 8 seconds, otherwise pages can be controlled by the arrows to the right of the slideshow. (next to the full screen tab)

Magazine Advert Construction

To begin the advertisement we had to edit the photo so that it looks sharper, and more professional. To help do this we increased the contrast to +53 and the brightness to +7.  We edited the image so that it would have a brighter and clearer outcome, as the original photo has little colour due to the overcast weather and concrete of the London surroundings. The vibrance of the image was also adjusted, with it being increased to +15, this again makes the image look clearer, and also adds a deeper colour to the photo. The group feels that making these adjustments will in the long run improve the image’s outcome, as the colour is an important part to our ancillary tasks as they need to match so that the bands iconography is evident which will help promote the band.

Due to the fact of having the same photo for both the advert and digipak cover as a group we decided to use the same effects on this photo, which was to add a gradient of turquoise and orange, in the direction of top left to bottom right. This was completed by creating the gradient on the gradient options, and then dragging the tool line across the image. Once this was done the gradient wasn't that noticeable, so we decided to repeat this process to make the gradient visible enough to match this with the digipak.

We then added the title of Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds to the top of the advert, to start we had plain white text. This however, looked rather bland so Jay added two rectangle shapes behind it, with one being orange, and the slightly larger layer beneath turquoise, this helps follow the style as the same colours are used for the gradients. We opted to use the same font too which is bitume, this was to build on the house style and help it match the digipak. Once this was done Jay changed the colour of ‘High Flying Birds’ to turquoise and removed the layers behind, this was to make the title more unique and the group feel it works well for the advert. We then re-sized the text so that it was bold on the page, so that if the advert was printed the title would stand out and be easy for the audience to notice it advertises Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds. 

 

Whilst researching magazine adverts we saw that the majority of adverts have some pull quotes from well established companies giving feedback on the album. We looked at the real Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds advert and copied the same quote Q magazine gave to the band’s album, this was done to make it more genuine. We used a similar, yet different font style which was called Hobo Std. We believe this font is suitable for the advert as it is easy to read, and has a similar style to Noel’s advert, which the group believes makes our own advert more professional.

The bottom of the advert looked very plain without text, so we decided to add some ratings from other companies to show what they thought of the album, this is seen in many other adverts as the audience may be persuaded to buy it if they see large corporations have listened to it and liked what they heard. We decided to follow the convention of Noel’s advert with the ratings from The Sun, Mojo, The Daily Mail and The Times. We chose to use these companies too as they are all reliable, and reach a huge range of people as different people read different media types from tabloid to quality newspapers. We then inserted more text, naming a few songs from the album, this would offer an incentive to our target audience as the included songs are already well known, which hopefully entices people to purchase the album. We then added a rectangle layer beneath the text, and reduced the opacity so that the text would be more attractive over the original photo.

The bottom of the page still had a whitish area, which looked really out of place on the advert. There we added a small black rectangle with around 90% opacity so that it blended with the current rectangle shape at the bottom. On this bar we decide to keep it simple as we did not want to over-crowd the page, we added the record company Sour Mash and a website fans can visit, we used these on the digipak so that the target audience can find where to go for more information on the band, and who produced the song. We then had the colours orange and turquoise so that the bottom text matched the title, as we had the gradient colours used previously. This makes the text slightly more visible but still subtle and not too bold, which we feel makes the advert more original as we do not want to have too much text which may bore the reader.