Media Studies Evaluation

Media Studies Evaluation
1. Our project developed and used the forms and conventions of current media products in a number of ways. There were a number of camera angles that are often seen in contemporary music videos that we incorporated into our video. One of these was the extreme-close-up of the protagonist walking down a busy city street. This can be seen in many current music videos, and we used this on our own. Usually this technique would have been shown with the protagonist singing, or moving in line with each one of their head movements. We did not use either of these, simply kept a straight shot without moving.
Often music videos will include a lot of shots of the band playing their instruments. We decided not to use any shots of this kind as we felt it was simply inappropriate for the video and would add nothing to it. We did include shots of the artist singing, these are often seen in music videos.
Some music videos use shots involving the artist singing whilst moving. These are videos with artists such as Jamie T, Cage the Elephant and Maximo Park. All the shots of the artist singing are taken when she was stationary. In this way we challenged the conventions of music videos. We did not include this simply because we thought it would not offer any ingenuity to the video.
We used a lot of shots faded into each other in our video, another effect that I have not seen in many if any videos that I have viewed in my life. We did that towards the end of our video, and faded one, two and for a little bit three shots into one. This effect challenged the convention of not including this in a video. By including it we suggested that it can be used to create good effects. It has most likely been used in some professional videos, it is however a rare technique.
We developed the technique of changing colours on the video. We added in a sepia effect over the whole video because it seemed to fit the genre more with this effect included. Many videos have effects such as this; by including it we were simply developing it by changing digital effects to fit our video. We also changed the effects on some of the lights dotted around in certain places in our video, making them change shape and other such things. This is another effect that can be seen in other music videos.
Settings are another thing that we developed and challenged at the same time. We chose a very natural setting for our video with the majority of the shots being taken from a hill in a rural Cambridgeshire village. These shots showed a large variety of foliage and fitted in well with the acoustic genre. We also filmed some shots in Cambridge, on a busy central street, with the shots involving the animation from a pub in Cambridge. These are all shots likely to be used in other music videos. We developed the techniques by filming in these locations, but challenged them in the way that we filmed them. An extreme-long-shot of countryside is not something seen in very many videos, albeit some, but it is not an often used technique.
2. We have several products centred on our music video. The video itself, the digipack, which is a CD with a music video case, and a promotional poster. In order to sell these effectively we need to link the products, to show that they are part of the same promotional part of the industry, to drag attention to each thing in order to convince the consumer to buy not only one product, but the other one related to it.
The digipack and magazine advertisement are clearly linked. They incorporate the same background for each product. This shows the consumer that the products are from the same artist and may immediately make a link between the digipack and the magazine cover. This particular link will encourage the consumer to buy both products, thus creating a profit.
The pictures are both taken of sunny summer days in natural settings, in line with the genre of the video. This creates a happy feel for the video, again in line with the genre. The happy feel may help the consumer to enjoy the product, and thus associate that happiness with both products. This will in turn lead to a higher profit.
We tried to present a very clear image of the artist. We wanted to represent the genre, being folk/acoustic. Things associated with this and the song, such as daffodils, flowers, nature, guitars and femininity.
They both use a high amount of daffodils. This highlights the name of the album, drawing attention the feature video as well. This will make the consumer aware of what the main points of all products are. Again, this will hopefully make the viewer more willing to watch the video itself, thus chaining the digipack, magazine advert and the video. If effective this link will increase profits no all fronts.
The same font was used on the cover and digipack. This also creates a link between the two products. This, like the background, may make the consumer link to two things in their heads. The writing also creates a feeling for the genre of the video. This will let the consumer know what type of music they are buying.
We used the protagonist form the video on the digipack cover. This was of Olivia, who was pretending to be Charlene Soraia. This was effective; it showed a clear link from the video to the digipack cover. This will promote. Olivia as well as the video, creating an aura for both. Again, if this works as planned it will generate profit for the video.
3. We showed our rough cut video to our class and teacher. From this, we could get an idea of the best and worst points of our video. We received feedback from the class, and on our blog a list was made of all the things we needed to change. Everything in this section was taken from our blog.
We learned from this that we did not have enough locations in our video. At that point in time we only had shots of Olivia walking down streets as well as the natural setting. We had not used as much footage rom the natural setting or the animation footage. By conducting a feedback session we learnt what we needed. We then added in a lot more footage of the natural setting, as well as the animation part. Once we added this in it seemed to be adequate. Without conducting a feedback session we would have never realised this.
Another thing that we discovered we needed to fix was a lack of close-ups. We had one close of Olivia singing, and that was it. After this we included more of her singing and her walking down the street in Cambridge. We had not the greatest shot variety, albeit not the worst, but this comment made us look closely at what we needed to change in terms of this, and we were able to do this effectively.
We had one long introduction shot in the video, where Olivia walked up a path with trees on both sides. This we realised after reading some comments, went on too long and had little variation in terms of effects. We cut the shot and faded things over it, also changing the effects. This gave our opening sequence more ingenuity and variety. This can only make an effective music video.
We also learnt some things that we had done well. There did not seem to be any problems with our mise-en-scene. We received comments that our choice of costumes was very appropriate to the song, as Olivia was wearing a yellow dress. The lighting effects that we used in the natural setting were also deemed to be good by those who saw our video. Our settings were also thought to be appropriate with the song. Acoustic videos are often seen to be in nature as well as cities. The song was also called daffodils, thus nature was a good setting. The setting also added to the genre of love in the song.
We received good comments on our camerawork and editing. People said that our camerawork was steady and that there was nothing in it that made it look unprofessional. We also used a number of fades in our sequences, which we added to following feedback, but the ones we had were said to be effective. Viewers thought that the fades fitted in with the music and did not disrupt the flow of it.
4. In the construction of our media product we used the majority of technology used over the course of the entire thing. In the planning process we used cameras, lights and computers. We used cameras in order to take pictures of ideas for locations. We then put these pictures onto our blog and wrote about each one. In doing this we were able to analyse every possible location and deem which were the best for what we wanted to do. This allowed not just thinking of a location, but seeing what it looks like through the lens of a camera, and thus how it would look in a music video.
We also used lights used in theatre for our production. This gave us the opportunity to try out various effects involving different coloured lights. We found that this gave us the chance to see again how this would look through the lens of a camera, and thus in a film.
In our planning we used a filming camera as well. This, apart from obviously being a necessity, gave us the opportunity to do several things. Once at each location we could do shots again and again, seeing what different angles would do to each scene. This was best viewed through a camera. We shot things again and again, selecting many different angles, giving a large amount of footage to choose from, and thus, a better opportunity to make a good music video.
We had to use an editing program, Final Cut Express, in order to put together our footage. This program gave us the change to try out many different effects on our footage. We tried out different speeds, colours, fades and so on. Without this program all we would have been able to do is film it in a chronological order and hope that it would turn out well. Instead we could edit and re-edit our footage, using a huge variety of effects that helped us to create a really good music video.
Making both the digipack cover and magazine advert required using a photo editing program, Photoshop. This gave us the chance to try out many different kinds of effects on photos, combining some as well, in order to find a really good cover. We could play around with each individual image, as well as them all put together as a whole. This allowed us to create exactly what we wanted.
The final media technology used was the internet. This was the blog. The blog gave us a way to keep track of everything that we had done, and a place to put all our written work, in a place that was easy to store it all. This shows everything from all other media technologies.
These technologies basically allow amateur filmmaking to be done properly. Perhaps ten years ago, one would have to take a camcorder, film the entire thing in sequence and erase over parts which were deemed unsuitable. It is only possible to make these programs by the programs that are available, so these technologies have transformed amateur filmmaking. Without them this project would be much more difficult.