18 Apr 2011

Evaluation Point 4

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


The music video would have been very tough to do in all aspects without the use of new media technologies. They helped in the construction, research, planning and evaluation of our music video.

In our media rooms we were lucky enough to have access to Apple Macs which made the whole process much easier. We used the Macs throughout to access editing programs and produce the music video. All of our research, planning and construction were helped along by the use of the Macs. It allowed us to access Blogger, the Internet and editing programmes such as Final Cut Express amongst others.

Final Cut Express was the main editing program we used on the Macs. We transferred all of our footage from the camera by using the ‘log and transfer’ function which put the actual piece of footage onto the Mac. This meant we could go through and put our footage into a sequence and work with it. To do this we chose the clips we wanted and dragged them onto the timeline while choosing to shorten parts that we did not need. We managed to change the colour of the background in the chorus and split the screen into four parts. Without Final Cut Express we would have had to use an inferior program which would not have been able to create a professional, clean looking product like the music video.

Photoshop was another editing program we used, but for the CD and DVD cover rather than the music video. Photoshop is a professional program which allows us to create a professional product. Photoshop provides many tools which other programs such as paint do not which only increased the cover’s strength. By saving in the highest quality format we were able to produce a good looking CD and DVD cover.

To shoot our music video we used Sony HD cameras which were very good quality. We used a tripod rather than shooting it handheld which contributed to getting well framed and steady shots. Without these two, the final product would not have looked as clean and professional. The cameras had a long battery life so we could film for long periods of time without having to charge them. This was a benefit as most of our locations were outside so we did not have access to a power source.

We used blogger.com to post about the stages we went through with this project and to track the progress. We decided to mainly write directly into blogger as the formatting occasionally messed up if it was copied from word. To counter the messed up posts we had to edit the HTML code. Blogger allowed us to access our project from wherever we were whether it was at home or on different PC’s at school. This meant we could do the blog whenever rather than it having to be on one computer.
Facebook proved the best way to communicate with each other and also to get some audience feedback on our project. We uploaded unfinished work to our walls and asked for comments and suggestions to make it better and looked into any constructive criticism we received. This benefited us as it got a wide range of responses from our target audience which we were able to utilise in our finished product. We were able to talk to each other about scheduling filming and help each other on the blog work when we were not at school.

The Internet was the main technology in our research. YouTube let us watch and analyse music videos which was essential in our research. This helped us understand what the conventions of music videos are and what makes them successful. YouTube also helped us evaluate our work as we could view it at any time once we had uploaded it. Through Wikipedia and Google we looked into successful directors and companies who made music videos. This gave us a good insight in what we should be looking to produce for our project.

These are the technologies that we used to make our music video. Although some of them were harder to use than others, we all came to grips with them after reading around. These are the technologies that we used to make our music video. Although some of them were harder to use than others, we all came to grips with them after reading around.

16 Apr 2011

Evaluation Point 3

What did you learn from your audience feedback?



We have used audience feedback several times during the pre and post production of our music video. We used audience feedback first as a questionnaire to obtain information on the peoples preferred music choices and about the indie genre, secondly to get feedback on our rough cut of the music video and finally to get feedback on the final music video.

For our questionnaire we asked a series of people questions about their musical tastes and about the indie genre. From this we found out that music from the indie genre have stronger music videos that have a band performance or a band performance and narrative rather than just a narrative or conceptual. We also found out that people tend to watch music videos from the specific genre of music they listen to but also watch other music videos, also we discovered that from the people who took our questionnaire that they prefer to watch music videos that are conceptual or have a narrative the reason for this is because these types of music video tend to fall into their favorite genre.

Once we had completed a rough cut of our music video we decided to show it to people to obtain feedback about the strengths and weaknesses of the video and ways which we could improve the videos visual appeal. We wrote down the feedback we obtained and then used it to improve our video.

Feedback we got from the rough cut was that there wasn't really a clear link between the lips and the band performance, therefore we decided to add the colour stripes during the band performance the create a link. Also people said that there was no clear change between the narrative and the lips and band performance, therefore, we added some custom transitions with the pom poms and the umbrellas. Points that were picked out as strengths in the video were the lips because they are different from any other video and they stand out and the use of the stop frame animation the show the narrative which adds another element to the video.

After completing the music video we showed the video to our focus group and then asked them a series of questions about the video which we recorded (http://cbsca2mediagroup1.blogspot.com/2010/11/blog-post.html).

Did you like our music video and if you did, what did you like about it?

From the audience feedback from this question the overall opinion of our music video was that is works for the song, some favorite points that were pointed out are the splits screens for the chorus of the song, the use of colour to make the video see lively and up beat, which also keeps a theme ruining thought to link the different elements of the video together and the stop frame animation between the verses.

Did it follow a conventional storyline?

From the feedback we obtained mixed views about the storyline of the video, some people said we did follow a conventional storyline because the stop frame animation creates a narrative between he verses. However some of our focus group felt that the video was a more of a band performance.

Did you see everything you would expect to see in a music video?

The general opinion of the focus group was that they saw everything they would expect to see from the music video, in particular the framing of the shots was picked out as a strong point and also the pace of the editing during the band performance.

Did you think the video looked convincing?

There were mixed opinions about the video with the band performance being picked out as point in the video weaker element of the video, the main reason for this was the casting of the band, however, overall the opinion on the music video was that it is convincing.

Could there be any improvements to the video?

There are two points that were picked out by the focus group that could be improved, they are, when the lead singer of the band jumps forwards to cover the shot with the ukulele and that the storyline behind the narrative could be clearer.

From the focus group we received a lot of positive feedback, in particular the lips and the stop frame animation were picked out because they add a different element the music video.

12 Apr 2011

Evaluation Point 2

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

For this part of the evaluation we are comparing and analysing the different aspects of the ancillary products and the main video product for our A2 media coursework. The ancillary part of the course work consists of the album cover and advert that we have made promoting the band and the release of the album.

Our plan for designing the album cover and the advert was to link it with the band name Paper Crayons and to keep it simple so it did not look overcrowded. When researching other album/single covers, colour was a common theme, and there was always one thing that stood out on the album cover so audiences could be instantly drawn to it. Also there usually would be something on the album cover that would link back to the album name or the song name. For example, Take That’s album Circus demonstrated an image of the band on a tightrope an act that is associated with Circuses. This is why we chose the main aspect of the album cover as multi-coloured paper crayons so the audiences can relate to our album which is an important aspect of the ancillary products.

The comparison between our ancillary products and our main video product for our A2 media coursework is that there are a lot of colours. This was the main justification for why the Band’s name is Paper Crayon; every letter is a different colour and the colours match up with the crayons at the bottom of the Album cover and the Advert. These colours compare with the colours in the chorus of our music video as the background has flashing bright colours. Thus, the band Paper Crayons has a common theme running throughout the ancillary products and our video product for our A2 media coursework; when people think of Paper Crayons they are going to think of colours.

We managed to download two fonts “Yo La Tengo” and “Pastel” so that we could use them on our ancillary products. The reason why we chose “Pastel” is because the font looks like a crayon. This adds a really nice effect to both the advert and the album cover. Furthermore to keep with the crayon theme I added a Crayola box to the top right of the album cover so we could put bonus music video in it. The font type is probably the only contrast that the ancillary products have to the music video. We were unable to keep the “Pastel” and the “Yo La Tengo” font for the music video because Final Cut Express was unable to use downloadable fonts.

Ultimately, through the ancillary products the band developed a visual motif with the coloured crayons linking with the bands name "Paper Crayons". Also the music video developed a visual motif for the band in which it associated the band with lots of bright colours. This shows the effectiveness of the combination of the ancillary products and the album cover in creating a visual motif for the band and creating a professional look for Paper Crayons.

10 Apr 2011

Evaluation Point 1

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


One of the main ways that our media product uses the generic convention of the Indie/Alternative genre is that we include a band performance which runs parallel with the verses within the song A-Punk. Other Indie Music videos that include band performances are: The Fratellis - Henrietta, Band of Horses - Funeral, Foals - Miami. Thus you can see that our music video has developed the conventions these examples and we have added our own twist thus we have challenged this convention also.

Our band uses and develops the convention of band performance by ensuring that the instruments they played looked like they were playing so it adds to the realism of the band performance which only works when it is realistic. Furthermore, the miming of the lead singer is very good throughout our music video which matches real media products.


Andrew Goodwin suggested six points in which shows conventions of music videos. The first point is that genre characteristics of the indie genre are something that is fun and lighthearted. Even though the lyrics of the song can be seen in a serious, sad manner the actual music of the song is entirely different with a generally upbeat, happy tempo. Therefore, our music video have demonstrate a more fun side with the theme of bright colors that is be present throughout most of the video. We have challenge the genre characteristics of the indie music genre by including a narrative which shows a girl who slaps a boy which offers a slightly more serious meaning to the music video, incorporating our interpretation of the lyrics. This shows that our music video uses, develops and challenges the Indie music genre.


The second point that Andrew Goodwin's analysis states is that the lyrics and the visuals link together. As we decided to use the band performance as the main part of the video there is no real clear link between the lyrics and the visual. However, the narrative part of our video will be about our interpretation of the lyrics, also the link between the lyrics and the visual is not clear because the visual narrative that links to the lyrics we decided to use during the instrumental parts of the song as it fit with the tempo of the music at these points in the song. Thus we are challenging Goodwin's Analysis as we are not linking the visuals to the lyrics.


One of the ways our music video conforms to the conventions of Goodwin's Analysis is there is a relationship between the music and the visuals. During the verses of the song where it is upbeat with lots of drumbeats we have got a lot of cuts so the footage during the band performance to make it look choppy and to relate the visual to the tempo of the music. Furthermore, during the instrumental in the song we have used stop frame animation to give the visual a slower feel in order to match it to the visual. The continuous use of colours throughout the music video amplifies the generally upbeat tempo and the happy mood of the music and also creates a link between the band performance and the lips and then shows a clear difference between the narrative and the other elements of the song. However, the chorus of the song the ‘flashing background’ that contradicts with the slower tempo of the song, we feel this will work really well and it is probably the only place in the song where a contradiction between the music and visuals would work. Therefore we have contradicted Goodwin's analysis but also used it throughout our music video and developed it to how we wanted our music video to be.


The use of the band performance fits into the indie genre of the music because band performances tend to be used more in this genre of music. The motif of our band is most probably the colourful/fun nature as we will have lots of colour running across our music video and ancillary texts, the with the band name being Paper Crayons the colourful theme will almost certainly recur throughout the bands work. We see this in our ancillary products that the colours which is the motif of the band have recurred across the Paper Crayons work. This shows the development of point four of Andrew Goodwin's analysis.


The only ‘voyeuristic’ treatment of the female body is in the chorus when the screen is split up into four. The close up of several females lips will be used which will be a reference to the notion of looking at the female body. Therefore, we have not directly challenged Goodwin's analysis but we have not really conformed to it as we don't really use it within our song, this is because of the nature of the lyrics are quite serious and it would be wrong to portray the song in this way, also you tend to see this more in pop or rock music videos.


We use intertextuality throughout our music video, thus conforming to the conventions of Goodwin's analysis. The intertextuality we are referencing comes from a 30H3! Music video, which is called My First Kiss. For the lyrics “ ’Ay ‘Ay ‘Ay ‘Ay, ‘Ay ‘Ay ‘Ay” we will film the lips of different people on different coloured backgrounds. Our band performance is an intertextual reference to music videos from the indie/rock genre as most use a band performance thus we will have an intertextual reference to that specific genre. The last intertextual reference within our music video is from the White Stripes – The Hardest Button to Button music video. They use stop motion throughout their music video and they portray the band going on ‘a journey’. Instead of showing the band going on a journey we have included a short narrative story within the music and show a journey of a couple during their break up. From this we have definitely used and developed the conventions of Andrew Goodwin's analysis of music videos.

8 Apr 2011

Focus Group - Feedback on Final Video

After showing our music video for A Punk we asked our focus group a series of questions in order to get some feedback on our video.

1 Apr 2011

Poster for digipak


This is the poster for our digipak, we have added reviews from well know music magazines to make it look more authentic (also these would be the specialist magazines which the target audience would read).

Digipak



Front Cover

Back Cover


DVD Cover