Closing Blog Post

This is my finished coursework.

Here is a break down of my blogs for each month.

October - Research into music video's and some theory behind them

November- Feed back on my pitch and work towards my print tasks

December -All the planning for my music video, as well as planning for my print tasks and the actual finished prints them selves

February - My finished music video

March - Evaluation

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

Through out my media course I have used various forms of technologies in the construction, planning and evaluation stages.

The new technologies available to us now such as the Media 2.0 has enabled me to firstly research into already existing artists and their products and then go on to learn about certain conventions of digipaks and music video's in order to create my own products and using the technologies available to me in a more professional manner.

Before I'd even began the initial planning stages, new technologies available to me helped me in choosing and finding an unsigned artist, due to the Media 2.0 and thanks to sites such as Myspace, which allows unsigned artist's to freely upload their music onto the internet and promote themselves, without the help of a record label.

There once was a time when the media and music industry was controlled by record labels and there for what we could listen to and also distribute ourselves was controlled. In order to create a video or record your own music you required expensive equipment which only the professionals could afford. These days anybody is able to record a video of themselves using phones, camera's or even just web cams. These videos can then be freely and easily distributed globally on sites such as You Tube where home made video's can be viewed by the general public.

Because of the media 2.0 era, unsigned artists are able to create, promote and distribute their own music without the help or need of a record company. This can then be similarly uploaded onto the internet for download, so now audiences are less passive and more active as we are able to choose what we want to watch/listen to.

I was able to find my chosen artist 'Gorge Clarke' on 'Myspace.'

http://www.myspace.com/gcaoa

(above is the site I discovered him on)

One of the first technology related tasks I did was to link my phone up to my college outlook web mail, which meant that I could update my calendar and make notes using this application whilst outside of college and on the go.

Using outlook web I set up a calendar for the months of November and December and used this calendar for my planning, filling it up with tasks I had to complete and the deadline for these.

Here are screen shots of my calendar for each month and also a task screen screen shot which is were I would write my description of the task in further detail.

When I knew the type of music I would be using I was able to research further into this genre, which in my case was folk/acoustic music.

Using Google/Google-images I was able to see already existing folk artists and their products, such as their own digipaks and any music video's they had.

From this research I was able to develop my own idea's using what I'd learnt from my research and taking into account the features included in them.

Once I had completed my research I was then able to start drawing up some of my initial idea's and sketches and then present them on prezi.com, a website on the internet which allows you to create on-line presentations.

This is a screen shot which shows some of my designs and my write up on each sketch.

Once my research/planning for my ancillary texts was complete I was able to go about creating them. To do so I photographed my model using a Nikon D60 camera which enabled me to be creative with the different settings available to me.

One aspect of photography I was interested in using was the depth of field setting. I wanted to create a shallow depth of field in my photographs but I had to learn how to using a coke bottle in my classroom.
This is an example of Technological determinism, which is where society's technology drives the development of its social structure and cultural views. Some would argue that because I knew this technology was available to me I'd use it and there for in some cases determined what I aimed to create, but I feel that I more carefully used the technology available to me to create the product which I wanted, there for helping me be more creative with my photography and not just using the straight forward settings.

This prezi presentation shows how I used technology in the creation of my print tasks. Using all this technology available to me I was able to create a more professional looking product and make them look coherent, as the professionals do in the industry. I was also able to experiment a lot more with the tools available for me to use. There for making me more adventurous and creative.

Again the Media 2.0 played a part in the production of my ancillary texts as I was able to download a template of a digipak and then copy this straight to adobe photoshop were I could start layering my photo's and text.

When it came to the planning of my music video again the Media 2.0 played a part as I was able to research into already existing music video's suitable for targeting a folk/acoustic audience.

I was also able to use YouTube to research time-lapse video's on rotting apples. This was a feature I wanted to use in my video and the Media 2.0 enabled me to see how to create a time lapse video and also watch them to see if they would be a creative feature to add.

Here is an example of a video I found on YouTube

Using Adobe Premier Pro I was able to create an animatic story board using sketches for each frame which I hand drew. Using this piece of software I was able to take photographs of these drawings and open them in Premiere Pro where I could also import an MP3 of my chosen song and create a draft of how my music video will look, using drawings instead of footage.

Here is my animatic storyboard. Because of the technology available to me I was able to create a draft video which would give me an insight into how my finished product will look. Without this technology I wouldn't have a rough idea of how this would look.

I also had a miming lesson with my chosen model. I was able to do this using the Media 2.0 through the social networking site Myspace which offers me the free listening to my chosen songs on my artists music page. Having this available to me allowed my model to practise miming and improve this before the actual filming. It also helped to boost his confidence.

For the actual filming of my music video I used a Panasonic DV camera. I could on this create focus pulls, linking into the idea of the shallow depth of field in my photographs for my ancillary texts. I used this technology available to me in order to create the image I wanted which was the sense of a dream like state of mind, where all is not as it seems for my model.

To edit my music video I used Adobe Premiere Pro, where I had a vast array of editing options available to me, which again helped to boost my creativity.

I was unaware you could layer two pieces of footage and change the opacity.

Below is a section of my music video where this is clearly demonstrated.

Finally I have used Blogger on the internet to create a series of blogs throughout my media course, for the planning/research stages, actually putting my finished products on the blog for marking and to create my evaluation.

For my evaluation I have again used the Media 2.0 in order to upload both my ancillary texts and finished music video in order to receive audience feedback. Without the Media 2.0 I would be able to get audience feedback so easily, as facebook enables my friends on my site to watch my video and comment easily.

I have also used my camera to record video's of audience feedback and them upload them onto YouTube and embed them in my blogs as well as using prezi to present some questions.

Because of the technology available to me such as the Media 2.0 I was able to do extensive research into my products in order to learn about the features included them so I could then include them in my work and create an over all package with a much more professional outcome.

Thanks to the recording equipment available to me I was able to record footage of a decent standard and quality and then go onto to edit this footage on advanced editing software. Without these forms of technology I wouldn't of been able to a: create a professional, creative looking package, b: research into existing products in such detail and finally c: make my work viewable by my audience easily.

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

At this level my audience feedback is going to be qualitative as a pose to quantitative as this type of research would require a lot of time and money and may also not even be as useful or revealing as qualitative methods.

Once my music video was complete I had to gather some audience feedback from people who fitted my target audience. In order to do this I took advantage of the media 2.0 and social networking sites such as Facebook as well recording one persons feedback and uploading this to YouTube.

This is a screen shot I have taken showing some audience feedback I received of Facebook. I embedded my video into a message on Facebook and sent it to a selection of my friends.

This particular piece of feedback was written by a female, aged 29. Her overall views on the video were that it had an atmospheric feel to it which encapsulates the mood of the song, through the use of location and the soft hues I have created through editing. From this I have gathered that my editing and the way I have constructed the video through the use of colours has made my video pleasurable for her to watch.

She mentions the apples being a nice feature and the colour of them stands out from the rest of the footage and 'leaps of the screen.' This is an interesting comment as I hadn't thought of the apples being a good contrasting colour, instead I was mainly focusing on their symbolic importance and the entropic visual imagery they would create. The apples being symbolic wasn't picked up on by her, instead the colours and what they added visually to the screen was instead noticed by her. This shows me that she possibly didn't have a preferred reading of my video and instead judging by what David Morley argues she would have a more negotiated reading because she wouldn't argue the apples purpose was to symbolise Adam and Eve and instead make the visual imagery more appealing.

Something else I noticed from her feedback was their was no mention of the female model at all. This puzzled me some what as there is a lot of footage of her and she is big part of the story behind my music video. This suggests to me that maybe she was only focusing on the editing and over all appearance of the music video and hasn't really made a real reading of my video. It could be argued that she took an aberrant reading of my video as she didn't have the cultural capital to understand it.

She did mention the focus pulls I use in my video weren't easy on her eye, following this comment with a remark to do with her age. She is almost 30 and I had the same comment regarding the focus pulls from someone else over 30. Nobody else under 30 commented on the focus pulls in a negative way, which suggests to me that although she was only mentioning her name in a joky manner, perhaps age does play a part when it comes to effects and what's easy on the eye.

An example of one of the focus pulls in my video is shown through screen shots below.

Instead she said how she felt that the effect of layering two pieces of footage over the top of each other to create the ghost effect was much more effective and easy on the eye. Again she did not state what effect this had on the story of the video its self, instead purely how this created a pleasurable viewing.

Here is an example of this effect show through a screen shot.

Here is a video showing some more audience feedback I received.

This time of a 39 year old, again female.

Similarly to the audience feedback above the use of soft colours was straight away mentioned as a pleasurable feature in my video, along side with the setting I used to film my footage. She said that theses features contributed to a romantic feel with an air of mystery and she was curious to know more about the couple.

I have interpreted her reading as preferred one as she has picked out all the key features such as the apples being symbolic and the use of my editing technique of layering footage to make my female model look like a ghost. How ever she did have to question the symbolic reference of the apples, but she knew they were their for a reason. I feel that this is because she is used to watching folk video's which often contain visual imagery which has a deeper meaning, as I have shown in question 1.

She managed to understand that the female was imagined and she created a further reading into the female by reading deeper into my video and questioning if the couple longed to be together and simply couldn't.

She states in the video she knows about folk music and the colours I have used, along side with the dress style and the use of filming my artist with his instrument all works well together and fits clearly into the genre of folk music and are features used in the industry.

Instead of just watching the footage and commenting on that alone she linked the video back to the song its self and how they worked together. Her views on this are that the footage reflected the song, so there for she with out realising is labelling my music video as an amplifying one as my footage is adding to the music.

Interestingly the same negative feedback as in the one the above was mentioned again. The use of focus pulls in my video. How ever the feedback is slightly different here as she is not totally opposed to it and instead says how she can see how some of it works in certain places, but that in other places it stays out of focus for to long or occurs to much. On reflection and re-visiting my video I can see exactly where my audience is coming from when watching a certain clip of the video where the footage is possibly out of focus for slightly too long.

Here is this clip.

Over all I have come to the conclusion through my audience feedback that through the use of the colours I have incorporated into my video through the setting of my video, the added visual imagery of the apples and the summers glow I have created a product which is suitable to target a folksy/acoustic audience. But factors which I hadn't picked up on as a negative features before hand have now been brought to light through this research.
Nearly all of my audience research showed that they took a preferred reading on my video, bar the one piece of research I received which I have used as an example on this blog which instead took a slightly more negotiated reading.

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

The task I was set to create was...

'A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with:

• a cover for its release as part of a digipak (CD/DVD package);
• a magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package).

In order to make both my products look part of the same package I had to produce a coherent package that had a clear house style. The importance of having a house style is in order to attract your audience to the product and there for acts as a marketing mechanism.

A house style is a coherent graphic look which is continued across the entire brand and includes factors such as colour, fonts & size, posture & proxemics, props, lighting and visual themes.

Here are some examples of already existing artists and their house styles.

This is folk band '3 Daft Monkeys'

They have a very clear house style and one which is easily identifiable by their audience, including the use of their own logo which is used on all their products, such as their albums.

In all the promotional photographs they carry out the same stance and posture and also stand in the same order, with the female in the middle, looking as though as they are playing their instruments. The effect of them being photographed with their instruments shows the audience that they are real musicians.

Their sense of dress is quite a quirky and recognizable one and this style is continued through out the photo's, with the top hats and colourful clothing, again giving them a sense of identity and adding to the house style.

When producing their products they would have to follow something called a 'style guide' which is a set of rules, solely for the purpose of the one artists package on how the house style should be created to make it coherent to the rest of their products.

A 'style guide' is something which I had to attempt to follow in order to make both my ancillary texts and music video appear to be part of the same package.

I have created a presentation on prezi to indicate how I have attempted to make my products look coherent and how I went about doing so.

In order to find out how coherent my target audience thought my package was I filmed a person who fits my target audience to find out her views.

Audience Profile :

Name : Jo Border

Sex : Female

Age : 38

Music preference : folk/acoustic

Job : Sales rep for a cider company/care worker

Hobbies : singing, going to festivals, playing at folk sessions

Over all I found her feedback positive and she picked out many of of the features I had aimed to make look like a running feature through out my products, such as the apples, colours and clothing.

Although she noticed the apple's being featured in both the ancillary texts and music video she did point out she thought their purpose was to symbolise something but she didn't state what their symbolic importance was, which to me implies she wasn't sure. To me this proved that they worked as an entropic feature to include in my work as they're not the typical visual imagery you would expect to see in a music video. So the fact that she had to stop and look at my work and noticed the apples as something unusual shows that they are eye catching.

She found the colouring a coherent feature due to the 'washed out/hazy' look the products all had to them. She also says how the colours compliment each other and work well together and are good on the eye. The research I completed into digipaks helped me to distinguish the types of colouring used in folk/acoustic products and Jo owns a lot of folk albums so for her to say she would notice this digipak was a pleasing comment.

During my research and planning I was hoping to and supposed to be filming different models as to the one now in my work. I was originally going to use different models for the digipak and poster to the video its self due to complications with communication between me and my model. How ever I made the choice to ditch my first choice of models and use some one completely different. Now having completed my coursework and received my audience feedback I am glad I made this choice as the fact I have the same model was a coherent feature Jo pulled out.

Having the same model gives the audience a main feature to identify with and the fact he was good looking model is something which Jo pulled out. I find this an interesting comment as it proves that using a stereotypical model (in my case a your average arty, folksy and well styled male) makes the video more pleasurable for the viewer.

The two only negative points pulled out were the difference in grass length in the video compared to the digipak where it is a lot longer. I had to explain that this was due to the asparagus fern being cut down pre-filming. Although it is a valid point she has made I do not feel that it is a huge worry and a feature which could be used against my package in terms of coherence.

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

We as a society are surrounded by many forms of media texts, available to us through new technologies such as the Media 2.0. Because of this it is inevitable that other media texts we have seen will influence our own creativity when we come to make our own media text.

This is something which I had to take into consideration when planning my own ancillary texts and music video. In order to complete my research I had to look closely at already existing digipaks and video's fitting the genre of folk/acoustic music in order to gain an understanding of the stylistic requirements and features generally included.

One Theorist 'Michael Shore' argues that a performer is no longer a performer of his/her own music and instead they are a materialisation of the commercial exhibitionist, purely selling features such as their image and body in order to be in the spotlight.

This is a strong argument and one which I agree with. When looking at nearly every popular music video there is a clear theme running through out, this being women flaunting themselves and arguably selling their bodies and their sexuality.

I wanted to steer away from this popular out take on music video's which is described as 'pornography' by theorist 'Andrew Goodwin.' Instead I wanted to film my artist with his guitar to show he is a true musician and film a music video which would amplify the existing music and not purely be a mechanism of promoting or selling the artist.

Here are some examples of digipaks for popular artists compared to those of folk/acoustic artists.

These are three existing digipaks for female popular artists. Each one is photographed in front of a dark backdrop and the focus is purely on them. There is no instrument on any of these and they are all dressed in sexually revealing clothing.

Compare this to albums of folk artists.

These are the digipaks of three existing folk artists. There is quite a large difference in their albums compared to the popular ones.

In each digipak the artist is seen holding their instrument, which shows the audience that they are proper musicians. Because of this they don't need to wear revealing clothing or hold seductive poses in front of the camera as they have their music to sell themselves with.

When planning my digipak I used media texts such as these to base my creative idea's around.

Steve Neale argues that genre is an 'instance of repetition and difference.' Because music is divided into different genre's, each having their own image, their are certain aspects and features which are repeated, in order to make them identifiable.

When I came to photographing my model for the digipak and advert I did take some photographs with him holding his guitar or having the guitar positioned close to him, but when it came to the editing process these pictures weren't appropriate for layering text over. Instead I used a picture where my artist is in the background and I have used a shallow depth of field to make him out of focus. There for the focus is less on him as he is blurred and more on the strands of grass in focus in the foreground.

Below is a prezi presentation I have created to show what media texts were influential to me and how I have used and developed the forms and conventions of these real media products in the creation of my own music video.

Redundancy and entropy play a big part in music video's. Nearly all music video's have one resounding redundant feature which is miming. How ever certain features can be added to music video's in order to create a more entropic feel to them. Making a music video more entropic challenges the conventions of music video's and can be potentially dangerous. This is because music video's main purpose is to be pleasurable to the viewer, by adding in entropic features your adding in aspects which the viewer may not understand, there for taking away some pleasure of watching of the video. This may also change the reading the viewer makes of the video.

I have made a more redundant video in the sense that I haven't been risky with dress sense, I have included the guitar being played and I have filmed my footage in a non-highly-entropic place. All of the above are redundant features of your typical folk/acoustic video.

You could also argue that I am still playing on womens sexuality by making my female model an object of temptation and desire. How ever, I have portrayed this is a more classy way through the use of double layering my footage and not dressing her in revealing outfits.

The use of my visual imagery of the apple is a redundant feature in the sense it isn't an object you see in many video's, or used in the way I have done. But I its not so entropic that it has no relevance to the video what so ever, instead I have used the apples to create an interesting, eye catching feature, which does symbolic reference to Adam and Eve.