So it has come to the end of media studies course, what can I say.Over these 2 years my skills in mostly everything has developed dramatically. I started the course having no experience in the field of editing, camerawork and sound, and now can say that my knowledge on these areas have widen. I am proud of the progress I have made and glad I chose media studies, not only has my skills developed in these areas but also my creativity have widened for the better. My knowledge has also massively improved on codes and conventions on media theory . Anyway thank you for following my journey and blog for the past 2 years.
How did you use media technologies in the construction, research and planning, and evaluation stages?
Throughout the process I used a range of different technologies to help with the research, planning, construction and the evaluation process. By using media technologies I could access a wide variety of helpful sources, to help me with my music video.
When it came to researching music videos all my research came from the internet itself. It is a worldwide network that is free to everyone making it really easy to get what I needed. I mainly used YouTube. I used YouTube as it is quick and has a enormous range of anything that you want. When collecting this research I then put it on my blog using 'blogger'. By placing all my research and planning it one place it meant that I had quick and easy access to go back and look through anything. When presenting each post on blogger I used a range of free websites such as Prezi and emaze. When on YouTube and constructing my research, it allowed me to view millions of other peoples work as well as students work. By looking at other peoples work it helped me create and come up with ideas for my own music video.
Animatic:
To create my animatic I used adobe premiere pro. This was very important as it meant I could take my photos from my storyboard, edit them to the music, to get a rough idea of what my music video would look like. I then shared this through YouTube and blogger so I could receive some audience feedback. When it came to editing my music video I constantly on YouTube to see how other people did their transitions so I had a variety in my music video, as well as looking different transitions up on how to do them if I got stuck.
Digital technology: Digital technology was used in all three areas, camerawork, editing and sound. Camerawork: To construct each shot I used a Nikon D3100 when it came to filming as well as my photo-shoots for my ancillaries. When filming I also used a tripod to achieve steady and professional shots as well as studio lights, to light each shot. Editing: When editing I used the software Premiere pro, I found that I had problem with this software, such as it would often trash however it was the best thing for piecing together each shot. Sound: As I was creating a music video all I needed to do was collect the song and place it into premiere pro, and then edit my clips over the top of it. Ancillary tasks: When creating my other ancillaries such as magazine advert and digi pack, I used Photoshop
.Evaluation:
When it came to the evaluation question I made sure that I used a variety of different websites to present my questions, such as emaze, Prezi and blogger. By doing this it makes my evaluation more interesting and allows my audience to be more interactive when reading it.
Feedback:
Technology has also had a big impact on receiving feedback. I have used a variety of different media platforms to receive feedback, such as twitter and YouTube. YouTube and twitter are free platforms that are accessible world wide. By putting my music video on YouTube it allows people all round the world to watch it and comment on it as well therefore this is me receiving feedback.
Audience feedback Is highly important when it comes to creating a professional finale piece. When creating my 2 ancillaries and music video, audience feedback really helped as it meant that I could get advise n each one to see who liked it and who didn't, It also helped me to get a better understanding of who my target audience were. My target audience was females aged 13-25 roughly. I thought it would aim at females as my music video is about representing women in a strong and powerful way, so thought women would relate to it, as often in the media women are shown in a bad light, so by creating this music video I thought women wold stand with me to represent women in a powerful way.
Males liked: - The coloured lighting - dance scenes
- editing, over laying different clips
Primary Audience - Females liked : Bath tub scene
- They liked the strong dance moves
Secondary audience:
I also asked my secondary audience to watch my music video to receive feedback. She said that she liked how I had layered over different clips,and the flowers within the bath. She also liked how the colour of the flowers linked to the colour in the dance scenes, this being purple.
When asking and receiving feedback, I firstly asked during my pitch who my music video would appeal to, so I knew who to ask to get feedback. When wanting feedback I often asked family and friends to watch or look at my ancillaries to see what they thought as well as messaging them through Facebook and twitter. I would also ask a range of ages to also get a wider audience feedback.
Overall I think that all the audience feedback had a big impact on my final ancillaries. For each ancillaries I got positive and negative feedback, this really helped. I took in to consideration the negative feedback to improve my ancillaries for the better. This then helped me as I knew what I audience did and did not like.
Ancillaries feedback:
On my 2 ancillaries and Music video everyone loved the purple lighting and though it added colour and depth to the shots. They also liked the text that I chose for my ancillaries and they could see that they all linked through the use of the text. They did not say they did not like anything only that it appealed more to females then males which I expected.
Overall audience feedback is very important when it comes to creating a successful final piece.
When creating my Digi pack I first thought about having different photos of nature and palm trees. However after receiving feedback from my audience they said they would prefer to see more images of the female singer rather than other images of nature. My audience said they liked the images of Alice as said she looked natural and beautiful.
Target audience:
My target audience for my music video is females aged 12-21 roughly. I made my music video appeal to females more, due to the way I represented women. In my music video I represented women in a good light and in a powerful and strong way, and I think females can relate to this.
Dance studio - Filming:
When I had filmed some of my bath clips I showed it to my female audience. They said they liked the use of a strong female as the main character, but they said it needed to have something powerful for the chorus. I told them my idea of using two strong females for my dancers, at the time I thought pink lighting would be best. My audience then said that it would look more powerful using a darker lighting to make it seem moody. When I went to the dance studio I then experimented with the lighting to see which one would look best.
Here is one of my ancillary task this being my Digi pack for my music video, for both my ancillaries I kept with the same theme of colour and text. On my Digi pack I have created a sequence of different photos of my main character and my dancers. I ran with a purple/ pink theme as well as black as i believe that the pink and purple add a feminine touch where as black is a very bold and strong colour and gives of the connotations of strength and power. For the main cover I used the same image as what i have done for my poster, the main focus being on my model / main character. The front cover being simplistic so the main focus is on her. The back cover is then what the album has on it a list of the songs that have been placed over another photo of my main model in the scene of the music video. the other photos are again taken whilst in the filming scene, and i took them before filming.I believe this helped as it meant i knew everything would link and work well together. The other photo is of my dancers , ithink this work well as the lighting looks good and links as well as breaking everything up , so it is not just my main character. The photo shows both my dancers holding a strong dance pose to represent power and strength this being what i have done in my music video, representing women in a strong and powerful way.
Here shows where some of my inspiration came from for the text. I wanted the title to be over the chest yet still be able to see the glowy skin of my model. I think the writing sits well on the chest as well as the main focus is on the model in the middle and i thought that if the writing went anywhere else it would be distracting. Overall i really like the outcome.
Audience Feedback :
The people i showed my digi pack too said it was very professional and it all works together.They all liked the theme, but like my music video i knew my target audience would mostly be females, as it is all about representing women in a good light.They also linked how the dancers broke it all up so it was not just the main character, overall they liked it and think it turned out well.
Macy said " I really liked the overall theme and it all works and links together. I love the front cover I think writing on the chest works very well and looks professional, overall i really like the final product.
Here is one of my ancillary tasks this being my music magazine advert that I created using Photoshop. For this ancillary I again used the same text and them so that all my ancillary teaks link together. When creating this I did struggle a bit with positioning the letting as because the model is centred it meant that i was limited to where i could put my title and information. So i then decided to create the main part square so i could then add further information to my advert at the bottom, and overall I think this lay out works really well , and it is clear. I chose a dark Gray as the background colour as i thought it further linked to the photo of my model as the background of the trees has many grey tones running through it, i did not want anything too bold as i want my main focus to be on my model. I layered the text over the chest as i think it further draws your attention to my model. In the image itself i wanted my model to be portrayed as if she was not wearing any clothes , however not in a sexual way but in a sensual way. I think the pink letting adds a feminine touch to the advert and I think the greys and black represent power and strength again this all linking to my music video and what it is about.
Audience Feedback:
The people I showed said they liked the colour scheme and thinks it works well with one another. They also liked the layout and where the letting and title is placed.
Eleanor said 'I really like where the title is placed, it really draws your attention to the model, i also like the overall layout, I also think the balance between writing and images is good, there is not too much information but enough to know about the album, overall i think it looks very professional '
When filming I also took photos for my ancillary tasks along side with it so i did not have to set everything up twice, this was very helpful as it as meant that i knew everything would link as i did it all together
Here I again asked a friend to look at all three of my ancillaries to see receive feedback.
My favourite image is the one in the bath tub, I think its unique and looks professional. I also like how you have broken up the colour by adding in a black and white image, I think this makes the other colours look brighter and stand out more.
After watching the music video, I think the camera work / camera shots were very professional. The lighting within each shot is also very good, you can tell that studio lights have been used
I think the layout of the music advert has been done is a professional way. I like the background used within the image, I think this adds something else to the advert, as I think that if it was a plain background and not trees, everything would merge together, I think in a way the trees break it up.
Postmodern media reflects the idea that any media product or media text is of any greater value than another, and any judgement depends of the viewers / audience taste.
Postmodern media texts often challenge ideas of truth and reality.
An example being Made in Chelsea the producers try and make it look like real life drama when in reality each scene has been planned down to every second.
Another media text I looked at that is postmodern is Lady Gaga's music video -Telephone. Within the music video it challenges our views on women. It represents women in a sexual way and playing stereotypes.
Within the music video Lady Gaga plays two parts, meaning it makes us, the audience think what is real and what is fake, we do not know what is reality and which is the real Lady Gaga, the one dressed up , with hair and makeup or the more laid back one with natural hair and natural to little makeup.
Here I asked a male to watch my music video to receive feedback from a males point of view. By doing this it means that I would have a wider range of audience feedback. Although it was not to his taste he said he liked the editing. He liked how I had overlaid different clips and change the opacity so you could see both, he thought that this was really effecting.
He also said that he liked the coloured clips with the dancers, he said it was different, instead of using just a normal light you used a coloured one (purple) and i think that works well. He also liked where the light was located, he liked how it created silhouettes of the dancers.
To improve he said you could perhaps use a variety of different coloured lights and not just on the dancer's. But overall I think it's good.
Here is some pictures of the locations that I filmed in when creating my music video. Here is where I filmed my dancers, I used this location as it had the space , it also is where the colourful lights where located. For my colourful lights I used big studio lights .I anted to use the colourful lights the create different silhouettes when dancing as well as adding a feminine touch with the colour, the colour being purple.
Location shots: Main Character
Here is shot my main character in the location 2 (A bedroom). I chose this location as I thought it fitted well with the song, as well as having a nice background.
Location shots: Bath
Here is shot of my main character in the bath surrounded by flowers. I chose this location as the flowers add a feminine touch to my music video.
For one of the scenes I want to create a milk bath including flowers within. I want the flowers to float around the body and head. I got my inspiration after seeing a art piece where they had used colourful flowers in water,and thought it was a very creative idea.
I also got some inspiration from Katy perry - Unconditionally, at the end of the music video Katy perry is seen lying on a bed of flowers as shown here. For my flower colour I want it to link to the colour I use with my lighting, so everything flows together.
Here I asked two of my class mates to have a look at my magazine advert to receive some feedback. They said they loved the lay out and said it worked really well. They also really liked the colour combination. To improve they said i should add some more information promoting the song, i then went on to do so.
In one of our media lesson, we went round the class watching each others videos to then receive feedback. After watching my music video the class said what they liked and what to improve on.
I knew that when showing my music video my target audience would be females aged 12-21, meaning the females in the class would prefer it to the males.
They all said that they liked the coloured lighting within the dancers shots, and that the over clips were well lit too.
The females within the class also liked the bath tub clips, and said that the flowers within the bath was a great idea and very creative.
I also asked them to give me feedback on what to improve on, they said that at the start on the music video there is only titles perhaps you could put something behind the titles, so it is not just a black background. But overall they liked the music video.
After our pitch we had a clear idea of who out target audience was. We knew that it would reach out more to females as the music video and song is based around representing women in a strong light, which females would want to relate to this.
Here I asked a friend to look at all three of my ancillaries to receive feedback. Magazine advert = Ellis said she liked the layout and thought that it worked well, I like how there is some information but not much that it is over powering. I also really like the image of the girl, I think the composition is very professional. To improve perhaps change the colour of the writing on the image in the top right hand colour as it could be a struggle to read for some people, but overall I think the advert looks very professional.
Digi Pack = I really like the images you have used, especially the one in the bath, I think it is unique and creative. I again like the layout, having all the songs on the back and bits of information at the bottom of the photos. I also like how you have stuck with the colour theme. Perhaps to improve you could add another photo of the dancers to then even out the photos of the girl. Music video = I again like how you have stuck with the same fonts and colours, you can clearly see that they all link together. I like how through out the music video you have over laid two clips, and making them both visible, I think this works well. I especially like the clips of the girl in the bath lip syncing and think you should include more like this.
