The Completed Music Video

Evaluation Question Four - Final Cut

Another piece of media technology that I used was Final Cut. This is an industry standard piece of software that is used by professionals and I used it to help make my Music Video as effective as possible. I began to import the footage of my film into Final Cut and started putting the film into order. To make the film effective I had to make sure the clips played to the beat of the music. At the start of our song the tempo is very slow and when the beat drops and the tempo rises, it was quite difficult to keep the clips changing to the beat of the music. I had to make sure there was enough footage so that the same clips weren’t being used all the time and that the tempo of the clips stayed the same as the beat. There were also a lot of effects that were used and the most effective one I think was a TV style screen where it makes the shot seem like it was recorded on a camera or a news television channel.

Below is a shot of the sequence bar where we arranged the music and video clips.

Evaluation Question Four - Adobe Photoshop

For my Ancillary tasks to be effective and of a high standard I needed to use a professional piece of software. To create the DVD covers I used Adobe Photoshop which is a very effective photo editing package. It allows you to import photos and you can manipulate them with seemingly endless possibilities. To create my DVD covers I first used Photoshop to create a blank base on which to work with which has the correct measurements for a DVD. Then I began taking images to go with my work and imported them into Photoshop. I began putting the images together as well as adding other logos such as a record label, DVD logo and copyright logo. To add to my work I also chose a certain type of font that would be used throughout my work, with the help of a font website called “Dafont.com.” I decided to choose a graffiti style font that I think suits my work well as it fits with the urban theme of my work. There were also many tools that I used in Photoshop to help make my media product effective. The tools I used included the burn, smudge, sponge, Quick selection tool and the gradient tool. I used the gradient tool to help me create the background, using a silvery colour that was darker and lighter in certain places through the gradient.

Evaluation Question Four - Blogger

Another important piece of media technology that I used in the construction as well as the research and planning stages of my media product was the blogging website blogger. While creating my media products, including both the Ancillary tasks and the Music video, I would blog after I had worked and made changes to the product and describe this on my blog in detail. For example I would explain the progress I had made that day on my work and record what I thought was successful. However my blogs were not just pieces of text being recorded, I also incorporated images and videos of my work to add more depth to the blog. The images that I would add to my blog would include screenshots of the DVD covers, front, back and the inside, to show the progress I have been making and what I have added. As well as blogging what I had currently been working on, I also blogged the progress of my ancillary tasks from the very beginning as I uploaded pictures of my hand drawing drafts of my ancillary tasks in colour. Therefore you can now see the contrast between what my ancillary tasks looked like from the very first ideas I had to the final creation in Adobe Photoshop. As well as blogging about my ancillary tasks I have also blogged about my other media product, the Music Video. Again, rather than blogging with text about what I had improved and changed each time, which I always did, I also added videos of different bands of a similar genre, such as Pendulum and their video for the song Granite.

Evaluation Question Four - Video Camera

One of the most important media technologies that I have used in the process of creating my media products is the Video camera. It played a very important role as I would need this to be able to record the footage and film that I needed to create my music video. As well as the importance of the Video camera itself, it was also vitally important that I understood how to use it to make the most of the opportunity that I had to film the best possible shots. I also used the video camera along with the Tripod which allowed me to produce some even more professional and effective shots for my music video as my shots would be steady and effective from a variety of angles such as low, high and tilted. Another accessory that I used along with the video camera is a tool similar to the Tripod called a “Fig Rig”. This does the same job as a tripod as it attaches to the video camera, however it fixes onto the middle of the Fig Rig and there is a circle around the outside where you can hold it. This allows you to keep your shots steady while holding it and moving around with it like a point of view shot. Overall the media technology of the camera played a very important role in the creation of my media product as, along with the tripod and fig rig, gave me lots of opportunities to create effective pieces of work.

Evaluation Question Four

I have used many different types of media technologies effectively throughout the creation of my media products. I have used different technologies for different tasks, for example some media technologies I have used to create my music video whereas I have used other media technologies to create things like my ancillary tasks. I have been introduced to these technologies since the beginning of my A level studies and so I am quick familiar with them. The list of technologies that I have used in the creation of my media products are; Video camera, still camera, Adobe Photoshop, Final Cut Express, Blogger and the scanner. All of these technologies helped me create my work effectively and to a high standard.

Evaluation Question Three - Ancillary Tasks

As well as the audience feedback I received for the music video, I also received feedback about the other media products such as my DVD ancillary tasks. My ancillary tasks could be improved by manipulating the images that I had taken more using the tools available. I began to do this and improved my work through using the burn tool to give it a more gritty and urban effect to fit in with my genre. As well as what I could improve on, I also received some positive feedback which was that the pictures I had used were good quality and that the font I had chosen suited well with the rest of my work.

Evaluation Question Three - Music Video

The last piece of criticism that the video received was that there needed to be more use of effects. So far there was only a couple of clips that had effects on them, as the focus was mainly to make sure that the clips changed to the beat of the music, especially during the fast paced section of the video. Therefore the video was quite plain and there hadn’t been much experimenting being done with the wide range of effects that was available. This would therefore again allow the video to be improved and made the video become more interesting to watch than before.

Evaluation Question Three - Music Video

Another criticism that the music video received was that the video had scenes of drug use. Obviously this was not real; however it was quite explicit and showed one of the characters, myself, in the video injecting a needle into my arm. There was slight criticism because of the fact that it may not be very suitable for a younger audience and may in general influence teenagers in the wrong way. This was understandable and therefore something had to be done to change it. Despite this the decision was to add an effect onto the clip so that it didn’t necessarily blank the clip out completely so that you couldn’t see it, yet just to distract the attention away from what is actually going on. The effect was one that seemed to give the clip a rainbow effect. You could still see the outlines of the actor and everything else around them; it was just less clear to see what the actor was doing. This was appreciated and accepted much more and therefore allowed the video to improve even more.

Evaluation Question Three - Music Video

Firstly my music video received some audience feedback that would allow me to improve the hard work that had already been put into it. The first criticism of the music video was that there wasn’t enough footage used in the video. The song itself already had to be shortened before we had even started editing as it was roughly five minutes long. However once we had shortened it to around three minutes long, we still didn’t have much footage and during the fast paced mid section of the song we had to sometimes use clips that we had already used. Despite it only being a couple of clips that we had used twice, it started to become more and more noticeable. It also seemed to become slightly boring to a certain extent as the audience were seeing the same shots in a similar environment, over and over again. This criticism was very constructive as it allowed the music video to become more interesting rather than seeing the same shots all the time.

Evaluation Question Three

From my audience feedback I have learned a lot. It has allowed me to understand what needs to be improved in my media products and therefore can only be positive as it just gives me more ideas about how to make my work better. I have been given positive feedback which is good however negative feedback is very useful as however good my work is, it can always be improved. My audience feedback came from mainly teenagers aged between 17 and 18 years old which were very helpful as this age group was properly the main group out of the whole target audience. I received lots of feedback, but not just for the Music Video, I also received feedback for my Ancillary DVD tasks which was also very helpful.

Evaluation Question Two - Images

Both the music video and ancillary texts are linked through images you can see in both pieces of work. For example in the video there are lots of shots of speakers, turntables and band instruments. These can be seen in the ancillary texts where I have taken actual pictures from the video and seperate pictures, and used them in the ancillary work. These are links that the audience can clearly see and know that they relate to each other. As I have previously mentioned, the music video has a very urban, natural and original feel to it, so I needed to choose the right font to use in the ancillary texts to best represent the bands image. Therefore I decided to choose a font similar to a graffiti style. It was not an extreme type of graffiti however it just has the style of it to represent the urban yet natural and original theme.

Evaluation Question Two - Colours

The bold colour of red features in my music video quite frequently and so because of this I used it as the main colour for my ancillary tasks. The titles of the band on all parts of the DVD cover and among other things are mainly in red. Sticking with the urban theme through the music video, I decided to have a grey/silver metallic colour for the background of the DVD covers to reflect this urban theme as well as reflect the shots in the video such as the stairs and railings from the start.

Evaluation Question Two

Firstly my task was to create a music video as my main product. Then once I had created the music video I then had to create the ancillary tasks which consisted of the DVD covers to promote my band. My band was called South of the Drop and I used the song “Tarantula” by the band Pendulum. As I had created the music video first it allowed me to have more ideas about how to link the music video to the ancillary tasks. The music video was very much filmed outside apart from the small band sequence that we had which is common in nearly all types of music videos. As it was primarily filmed outside I knew I needed the right kind of setting for my ancillary tasks, and so I used very urban and gritty pictures for the front cover. There is the patch of grass and the metal gate which relates to my music video through the forest-type shots at the start and the shots of the gate railings and the metal emergency exit stairs.

Evaluation Question One - Bordwell and Thompson

My media product uses and follows the conventions of real media products through editing types. Bordwell and Thompson have an editing theory of “Rhythmic” where the shots in the product are edited to change in time with the beat of the music. This was quite a challenge when creating the Music Video as the beginning of the song is very slow and low tempo whereas when the beat “drops” and the pace and tempo quickly rises and so clips are changing every half a second. However there was enough footage to use to be able to edit enough clips to fit in with the song, as there was a lot of space to fill with very short length clips

Evaluation Question One - Montage Editing

My media product again uses and develops the forms and conventions of real media products as well as following the conventions of the Drum and Bass genre. In my music video I have used a lot of montage editing which is common in Drum and Bass videos. The emphasis of montage editing can be seen clearly when the beat in the song finally drops and the tempo becomes very fast. In order for my work to be effective through the video, the clips would have to consistently change on the beat and so montage editing would fit this best. Montage editing allows the audience watching to look for the deeper meanings through the editing and formulate ideas from why this editing type was used. In my case montage editing was used to suggest the hectic, vibrant and fast paced life that people may lead, mainly appealing to a younger teenage audience. This can be seen in my video through the teenage actors in the video, the use of drugs and the setting of the video which is in a forest and industrial type area. Other music videos that I have studied that also use montage editing similar to this is the Pendulum “Granite” video which the clips speed up a lot as the music drop and tempo is raised.

Evaluation Question One - Music Video

Despite my media products using and developing the forms and conventions of real media products, it also challenges some of the conventions. Many music videos that I have studied don’t consist of a story or narrative which is common in the Drum and Bass genre, instead having a video that doesn’t really relate to the lyrics or the theme of the song. Some of the videos I looked at have a slight narrative such as The Prodigy’s “Warrior’s Dance” video, however other than that nearly all videos are very abstract. My media product of a Music Video consists of a narrative about a controversial topic of drug use. These types of issues are sometimes used in the Drum and Bass genre but not all the time, as sometimes they are just simple storyline like the “Warrior’s Dance” video where there are matchbox’s that come to life and act as people. Therefore my music video challenges the conventions of real media products as well as challenging the genre of Drum and Bass. Other videos that I have studied that do not consist of a narrative are Pendulum’s video “Granite” that is just lots of different pictures and videos of people including a lot of shots of news readers/Television news channels.

Evaluation Question - Ancillary

My media products have followed the forms and conventions of real media products through the various different colours themes used. My ancillary task work consists mainly of dark bold colours such as reds, greys and black suggesting an urban style of genre, as you can see from the screenshots of my music video below which coincide with my ancillary work. This is using the conventions of real media products as the bands I have studied including Pendulum, have also used similar colour schemes. For example the front cover of my DVD work has the title of my band South of the Drop in bold red, with a black highlight around it to make it stand out, as well as similar types of colour such as reds and yellows throughout the rest of my work. This is beneficial to my work as it is a common colour theme in the Drum and Bass genre to make the work seem urban and gritty, allowing my work to be considered a Drum and Bass genre as well. Another way that my work has followed the conventions of real media products is through locations and styles. My band image is set mainly outdoors, for example the front cover of my DVD work is a picture of a sounds system and turntable out on the grass in front of a locked metal gate. This again emphasises the genre of Drum and Bass as being urban and also uses the conventions of other media works; for example The Prodigy’s video “Warrior’s Dance” is based pretty much out on the streets for the whole video, as well as Enter Shikari’s video “Juggernauts” which is based out in the desert. This emphasises the natural feel that these well known videos create and so I wanted to create this feeling in my video. Therefore for the most part of my music video it was set outside, within lots of greenery and forestry to emphasise the natural style.

Evaluation Question One

The media products that I have produced seem to use develop and challenge the forms and conventions of other real media products that I have studied in detail. I have studied many other media products and used them to compare, develop and improve my own work with. My media products have been based around the genre of Drum and Bass and Experimental. Other works that I have studied and referred to are bands such as The Prodigy, Faithless, Pendulum and a band called Enter Shikari. The media products that I have created include DVD covers for my band’s DVD as well as a Music Video for their song. When creating the music video and DVD covers I had to create a common theme that would be noticeable throughout my pieces of work so that it would be recognisable for the audience to see. This is something very important that all pieces of media works do so that their band is easily recognisable and in theory allows them to raise their popularity.

Music Video

Yesterday we carried on working on our music video on Final Cut. We have completed the majority of the film however there is a gap in the middle of the film that we need to add footage to. We need to fill it with band scenes or we may also film more outside forest-like scenes to take up the space. As well as this we need to make the middle section of our film, where the beat drops, much faster and up tempo so that the quick shots flow with the fast paced beat of the song.

Ancillary Tasks

Now that I have finished my ancillary tasks I have reviewed the stages and methods that i used to create the tasks; which included the DVD Front and back, and inside cover. Using Photoshop I measured out the exact size of a general dvd case both inside, front and back and began working on the tasks. As well as this i chose a certain font off of a font website called Dafont.com. It was easily accessible and downloadable and I thought it was suitable for my genre of drum and bass.
I learnt how to use many different tools while working with photoshop. As i had never used it before everything was new to me, however i quickly got to grips with how it worked and used many different tools to try and make my work look effective. I used many different layers. If you want to see certain pictures/writing then that layer must be on top of everything else so that it overlaps the other layers. I also used tools such as the burn tool, sponge tool, colour tint, eraser, magic wand, contrast, exposure, text, brightness, copy and paste, re-sizing, rotating and free transform. All these tools and effects allowed me to create my work.

Todays Work

Today i carried on with my ancillary tasks. I decided to add the finishing touches to my dvd front and back cover. I decided to add a background to the back cover and on the front cover I have removed the two speakers and have expanded the picture of the the DJ decks as i feel my front cover seemed a bit crammed. With this I have now cleared the middle of the Decks and have covered it with a black circle in which I have wrote the name of the band as if it was their song playing on the decks. I feel this simply was more effective rather than having lots of pictures crammed together. I also used the burn tool to give the title a worn and burnt look as it is on the gates on my front cover. Trying to make the title look more worn and burnt i think will make it more effective as it emphasises that it is outside and urban which helps to suit my genre.

Therefore I now need to sort out the backgrounds for the other pieces of works and as well complete the magazine advert.

Ancillary Tasks

Today i carried on working on my ancillary tasks. As I have now finished the majority of the Front cover and back cover and the inside cover, I decided to add backgrounds to them. I therefore played around with the layers and fills to use effects. I used a radial effect with a silver coloured background that gives the work a better density and brings out the other colours and pictures on the work.

I now need to finish the backgrounds and then complete the magazine advert. Tommorow i should be able to finish the background of the Front, back and inside covers and be close to finishing the magazine advert.

I have learnt from the conventions of posters of other bands that I have researched, about how to make my work effective as well. As you can see from the picture of the band I have researched, Pendulum, they have used bold red and black colours which I have also tried to implement in my Ancillary work. I think this is effective as it emphasises the band members as they are bold and projected.

Friday 8th Jan - Magazine Advert

Today I carried on working on the final piece left of my ancillary tasks. I began working on my Magazine Advert first by creating the title of the band. This is tilted slightly to the left and is in the middle of the page in a red font. Then I added the name of the Album next to it in a bubble as well as extra details at the bottom, including the release date and that it will be available on blue ray and downloadable on iTunes. I know need to add finishing touches to it to be able to complete it. I need to add the picture of DJ Decks and a Speaker, ratings from other magazines and colour.

DVD Front Cover, Back Cover and Inside Cover

Yesterday we continued working on our ancillary tasks. I have now completed the DVD front cover, back cover and yesterday finally finished the inside cover. I finished off the inside DVD cover by adding two photos to it, a speaker and DJ Decks. Yesterday in the lesson, as well as finishing the front back and inside, we looked over the mark scheme to see how good we thought our work was and what we could do to improve it. I feel that I was a high level two/low level three and that I needed to work more on my image manipulation and genre for the audience.

I now need to complete the magazine advert which i have just started yesterday and have until next friday the 15th to complete it which should be more than enough time.