Final Music video

This is the final edit of my music video 'Hold On' by School Boy.

Evaluation: Q4 How did you use media technologies in the contruxtion and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Another media technology which i was the camera when filming. I really enjoyed the filming as it helped me to understand a lot more about shot types and angles and also how to film the correct mise-en-scene. When it came to filming the first idea, i hadn't done a lot of the filming as it was very a mix and match project and by the end of it, it didn't really look like a music video. However once we had changed our idea i decided that i at least wanted to film something. I managed to film all of the footage in one day, with taking the same shot at least a couple of times but from different angles, just so that we had more to use when it came to editing if a clip couldn't be used due the mise-en-scene etc. By using the camera it enabled me to do something on my own and to feel confident with doing it whereas with editing i am still quite not sure but am happy to do it with someone helping me.

Evaluation: Q4 How did you use media technologies in the contruxtion and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Once the storyboard were completed, which every team member took part in, i fianlly uploaded them to the blogger site. i thought that it was important for the viewer to see something visual as they can understand what we are trying to create and also as it breaks up the blogger site rather than just having a lot of text.

Evaluation: Q4 How did you use media technologies in the contruction and researching, planning and evaluation stages?

For my research and planning stages of my work, i researched other artists of the same genre that iftted with mine. Not only did i just look at the artists i also looked at set design, costume, lighting and genreal appearence. When looking at the general appearence i found that a lot of the artits were quite tidy and smart and also looked straight to the camera as if looking straight out into their audience for example:

Evaluation: Q4 How did you use media technologies in the contruction and researching, planning and evaluation stages?

Another media technology that i have used in all stages is a website called: www.blogger.com. This website enables the user to post blogs, whcih can include writing, pictures, videos and soundtracks, to edit blogs and to share blogs around the world.
Throughout the creating process this enabled me to regularly update my blog with the progress that i had made in all sections of my work for example; i was able to upload my stroyboards, the original music video to my song, sketches of my ancillary task. As every blog i created is separate, it meant that i could create a new post with every step/progression that i made. This therefore making it easier for the viewer to understand my work and the progress that i was making throughout.
An advantage to blogger is that it allows other people to comment from all over the world. I found that this helped me as i could see what people thought of my work and possibly if there were any changes that they thought i could make, helping me with audience feedback. It also allowed em to delete comments that i deemed as unnecessary.

Evaluation: Q4 How did you use media technologies in the contruction and researching, planning and evaluation stafes?

Another technology which i used was the eye tool on photoshop. When you place a piece of new information onto the black cnavas it creates a new layer. The new layer enables you to correct mistakes which occur in the process just by selecting the relevant layer. By uisng the eye tool it enabled me to ocntrol which layer i wanted to see. For example; i had made a mistake on the magazine advert as i had hidden the 'S' to make sure that the background was the right colour, when it came tousing the stamp tool to show the rating to make it loom professional i found them hard to line up, by clicking back onto the 'S' layer it reappeared making it easier for me to line up the rating stars.

Evaluation: Q4 How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

By using photoshop it also enabled me to change my pictures of the sratist. I managed to add an effect over lewis and also add in outer glow. This was done by looking through a lot of different gradients and applying them to see which one fitted best. For the outer glow i did this by selecting a range of different colours and applying them to the appropriate picture. I then changed the thickness of the glow so that it could just been seen as an outline.

An example of my original picture is:


and changed it into this:

Evaluation: Q4 How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Once my music video had been completed i then focused on making my ancillary tasks. This included in creating and outside and inside DVD cover and a magazine advery for your artist and album. To create these i again used the apple mac's but used a diffferent programme called 'Photoshop'. Photoshop enables you to manipulate and add effects to pictures that you have taken. For example; for the pictures i took i was abale to take a picture like this:


and changed it into this:

Evaluation: Q4 How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

I have used different technologies and examples of these are i have used hardware and software throughout my work. An example of the hardware i have used is an Apple Mac to create the whole of my video. As i had never really used apple mac's before i wasn't sure on how they worked. But from looking at the others in my team i was able to quikcly see how the apple mac's worked and how the software of 'Final Cut Express' worked as well. This is the programme in which our music video was created. After watching my team members use the commands and icons i soon quickly got to grips with the programme and was able to help them to edit.

Evaluation: Q4 How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

During the research stages of my work i was able to use a variety of different websites to help me to understand my genre. One specific website that i used was called YouTube. This is a video sharing site, where you able to view official music videos and the publics own videos that they have created. I felt that this really helped me when researching as i was able to look at a variety of diffferent videos that were similar to my genre. I was also able to compare my genres to others so that i had an understanding of what to inlcude and what not to include in my own work.

Evaluation: Q4 How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

The other technology which i had trouble with was Final Cut Express when i was editing. Again i had trouble getting to grips with the different icons and what each command was. I spent a couple of editoing sessions watching Lee to what button and icons he pressed to see what wach one did. I asked Lee if he would help me to edit, just so that he could tell me what things were if i wasn;'t sure or if i didnt something wrong. Once i had started to edit myself i finally got to grips with it and now understand more about to edit and what the icons and commands are.

Evaluation: Q4 How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

There were many different media technologies that i used throughout the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages of this piece of work. Throughout the construction stages i used many different media technologies such as the camera I used to film, Internet, photoshop and final cut.

I used the camera to film all of my footage. To get the right angles and mise-en-scene within the shots that i was taking i used zoom. By using zoom it enabled me to get the right effect for my audience for example: rather than using all long shots i was able to create close-ups and extreme close-ups especially of the artist and also to show the time during different parts of my music video. For example:

I also used photoshop to create my ancillary tasks. By using this media technology it enabled me to create different effects for my DVD cover that would reach out to my targeted audience. Some of the effects i used were an outer glow around the artist as shown below:

Out of all the technologies that i used the two that i did find hard to use were photoshop and final cut. I found with photoshop that there were so many different icons to click to do different things that i found it hard to remember what one did what, therefore i had to keep going over my work to see what each one did. I did finally get to grips with photoshop after experimenting with the different icons and I did eventually know what i was doing and what i wanted to achieve.

Evaluation: Q3 What have you leanred from your audience feedback?

Once we had filmed the other singer and had started to edit him in we then realised what they meant. By having the two singers it made our music video more conventional as whenever two artists do a song together it is more than likely that both will appear in the video. From this we learnt that by having two singers make abig difference to the way a music video could turn out.

Evaluation: Q3 What have you learned from your audience feedback?

As we decided to start our music video again, i could only show my audience what i had edited. We targeted our music video to teenagers of 15+ year olds. We decided on this because people of this age group are interested and enjoy this type of music and also know what they would like to see for a music video for this type of genre. I showed them a section of the storyline and a clip of lewis singing and the chorus. From the audience feedback i learnt that it would work better to have someone singing the chorus as well as the rapping parts as well. This was where i decided that i would film Mitchell for the 'with no one to hold onto...', which i have filmed and added in. Other than that i learnt that my lip syncing could be slightly more on time which i have now changed.

Evaluation: Q2 How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Throughout my ancillary texts i have kept at least one thing the same whther it be texts or the pictures which i have taken. I have kpe the text the same throughout, as this will be recognisable to fans and also eye catching. I got my font from a website called: www.dafont.com. This site has lots of different style font from symbols to handwriting to grafftit to seasonal wiritng for example: christmas, easter etc. The font i decided was 'Most Wasted' i decided on this as it is a graffiti type font and i thought that this would link in well my genre.
Here is an example of my font and how i changed it in photoshop.

Evaluation: Q2 How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

I feel that the combination of my main product and ancillary texts are very effective, due to the representation of my artist. I have represented him in a similar way to the genre for example: by having him in plain clothes, with colourful but simple background and also by the way i have taken the pictures with no expression on his face and looking straight 'out' to the targeted audience.

Evaluation: Q2 How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

The combination of my main product and ancillary texts are effective as i have included the artists in all of them. This is effective as the targeted audience can connect and aspire to the artists and also as i have used the artists in all of them it means that they are recognisable as well. By using the artists in all of them the focus is on the artists rather than on the specfic product. By having the focus on the artist it gives the artists a sense of power for example: as i have the front and the back of the artist on my DVD Cover and Magazine advert looking out it grabs the audiences attention of wanting to purchase it. This is similar to one of Jay-Z old albums: 'vol 2...Hard Knock Life'.

Evaluation- Q1 In what ways goes your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

My media product uses forms and conventions such as illustration from Godwin's theory to do with lyrics in a song and how they can be shown on tape. In my music video i used illustration as the visual narrative tells the story of the lyrics in the literal meaning, in a literal way. I decided to use this as the lyrics to my song are quite hard as i found it difficult to use amplification which is where the visual narrative contradicts the lyricsand disjuncture where the visual narrative goes against or does not match the lyrics in the song. Illustration fitted better with the lyrics to the song and i felt that if i had used either amplication or disjuncture the storyline wouldn't have worked and the music video would have been confused.

Evaluation: Q1 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

For my ancillary tasks i looked at various cd covers and magazines articles such as Jay-Z, Eminem and 50 Cent. By looking at these i found out that various Rap artists seem to focus on the image of the artist than the actual music. I therefore thought that i would develop these conventions into my own DVD Cover, inside of my DVD Cover and in my magazine article. For my DVD cover i thought that i would use this as my main focus using photoshop's features to change my plain pictures into something that looked professional. I used a simple colour scheme of lilac and blue throughout, as the blue helped the lilac to stand out and as i decided that i would have lewis in a black schoolboy outfit it would help him to stand out and to gain the focus. This was the same for the magazine advert. I put an outer glow around lewis to help him to stand out and as something different. This therefore challenged the forms and conventions as the 'norm' would have been just to have the artist as a picture and the colour scheme to be plain.

Evaluation: Q1 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

My media product uses the concept of narrative. In some music videos the artist is seen to be performing in the music video, whereas i decided that the artist should be performing the song and the storyline happening alongside it.
By doing this i felt that this developed the idea of having a linear narrative as it gave the targeted audience more to watch as it allowed the consumer to see two different halves, therefore allowing them to become even more emotionally involved. An example of the artist performing the song and having a storyline run alongside it is: Jay Sean 'Ride It'

Evaluation-Q1 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Other forms and conventions that my media product has used is how the artist is always seen in the video whether it is within the narrative or not. This follows the conventions of a music video as the artists are not only seen but they are seen singing. With my music video they are seen singing outside the narrative for example: Lady Soverign 'I got you dancing'

Evaluation- Q1 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge formsand conventions of real media products?

My media product uses forms and conventions of real media products for example the rhythmic editing. This is seen in most other music video for example:Chipmunk 'Oopsy Daisy'

Evaluation-Q1 In what ways does your media product, use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media texts?

The purpose of a music video is for the targeted audience to idolise or aspire to the artists. This is achieved by the type of clothes and accessories that the artist or artists wear and the character that they portray. For example: Amy Winehouse. Most people do not aspire to her, they feel sorry for her due to what she has done to herself, whereas when she first started out as a singer most people would have aspired to be like her due to her fame, personality and attitude as she would never give up.

My audience can aspire or idolise my artists i my video due to the way they are portrayed and how they are acting in the video. Therefore my video has used forms and conventions of real media texts as my audience are able to do this, e artists are clearly recognisable and they are seen together in the video as well for example:

Final Cut compared to IMoive

This year we are using a new piece of software called Final Cut rather than the usual of IMovie. I find IMovie easier to use as it is basic and the effects are easy to find. However i prefer Final Cut as even though it is slightly more complicated than IMovie the effects which can be used are better and obviously more effective.

I found Final Cut harder to use as the tools are not so easy to use and find, also the way things are put onto the timeline and then edited i find hard to remeber what order to do things in. I find Final Cut intersesting as it can do so many dsifferent things to what IMovie could ever do and it is also an interesting piece of software and gives a challange in remebering what needs to be done and how to do things. In order to learn this i have been watching other people and am learning slowly.

Overall i think that Final Cut is better as even though it is more confusing to use, there are a lot more different effects which can be used and also as you can add in the music which is needed, it therefore makes it easier to create and edit a music video.

Mid shot of lewis

This was a nother shot of lewis that i took, so that again i could experiment however as it similar to the previous one this agan didnt work.

half front of lewis

I took a mid shot picture of Lewis, so that i would have a variety of shot types to experiment with while working with photoshop. As from designs i have used the full length shot of lewis i thought that i could see how well the mid shot would work and whether it would fit. I managed to add effects to it but decided against using it as the picture was a littleto short to be used. However if my iudea had been slightly different for exampple; rather than seeing the whole of the artist and possibly setting out my deisgn differently then this would have worked really well espicially with the effects i added as well.

Full length back of lewis

Again i decided that i would take a full length picture of the back of Lewis to see what effects i could add. I also thought that by having a front and a back it would fit in well with the genre of my song and the artist. Again it would also stand out, as most album covers hav something quite different on the front and the back, which i noticed from the research i conducted. Also by having in a schoolboy outfit it would link well with his name and would be noticed for that.

Full length lewis

This is the picture that i took of Lewis to use in all of my ancillary tasks. I thought that by taking a full length picture i could then crop it and change it rather than by using a mid shot, where i could be limited to what i could do and the effects that i could use. In the end i decided that i would give Lewis a drawing effect on the DVD Cover and have the same effects for the inside and for the magazine advert but add an outer glow onto them as well making him standout so that would it would be eye cataching for my targeted audience.

'S' taken for ancillary task

Above is the 'S' i used in my ancillary task. I took a picture of it so that i could cut it out and add different effects when experimenting on photoshop with what would fit with the genre of my song and also the type of artist. In the end i decided that i would keep the 'S' throughout my work so that it would be relevant, therefore using it as the title of the album 'So Far So Good'.

Magazine Advert

For the magazine advert i needed to add in the pictures of lewis on either side. To do this i need to crop him so that i could put half of him on each side. Once i had done this it made the magazine look complete. However i hadn't put the name of the artist on there so i decided that i would have this placed slanted over the 'S' with an outer glow to help it to stand out. This is the final of my magazine advert:

Inside DVD Cover

As i had didnt use any pictures of lewis for the inside it meant that all i needed to do was copy the 'S' that was used on the front cover into the inside and make it bigger as this is placed where the CD goes this is the finished inside:

DVD Front Cover

Today i managed to find and add in my record label and all my symbols, including the barcode. By adding in all these symbols it meant that my front cover was finally finished this is the final front cover:

DVD Cover Pictures...

I have now started to think about my pictures and what i need so thatit fits in with my genre. As it can be seen from my drawings, i was looking at doing an actual schoolboy which i still would like to do as it fits in with my colour scheme and the genre of my music video.

I took the photos for this using different shot types and angles. However when it came to putting them onto the actual cover the different shot types and angles didn't work so therefore i used a long shot, with a front on angle. As i only wanted the singer to be on the cover and not the background as well, i needed to cut the singer out and make sure that i hadn't missed anything out when doing this.

Once i had put it onto the cover of my DVD i needed to re-size it to make it fit properly and also make sure that it was in the centre. I was pleased with whati had done as this meant that it was nearly finished all i needed to do was add in my record label and all the symbols for example: DDVD, Copyright etc...I made this my objective for the next lesson.

Progess on dvd covers and magazine advert.

As i have not yet taken my pictures for the covers and magazine advert, i have been trying to find ways for the 's' to fit. I have now managed to finish colouring it in, which has now helped me to see what else i need to go with this for example for the inside cover where the disc goes i am just going to have the 's' there. However this is looking a bit plain a the moment where the left hand side hasn't been finished. I am having the titles of the songs written here. In order to do this i need to decide on a font that will fit with my genre.