Evaluation: Question 4

Question 4  

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

In research and planning I used search engines such as Google to find products that have the same genre, I also used Google to find out about theories that I could use in my research and planning such as Andrew Goodwin and Laura Mulvey theories. I then used several different presentation websites such as Prezi, Wordle and Popplet to present my work in a way that looks good and is interesting to read. 











The main presentation website I used was Blogger because of the size and the ease of the website made it an easy choice to use. It means that I can start work in school and continue it outside of school effectively. With it being digital I can also edit and get feedback on my work not just by my teacher but my peers as well as my work is always available.  To research music videos I use HTML5 websites such as YouTube and Vimeo as they have large amounts of music videos with millions of views, this helped me to decide what is popular and what I should avoid.

 

During Construction I used much more technology both hardware and software. To take all of my Footage and images for my products I used a IPhone 6+ which has a 8MP camera with a 2.2f aperture, this made sure that my images were sharp and always in focus. With this new smartphone it also had new features such as optical image stabilisation to make my video smooth and compensate for my shaky hand while recording footage. It also has a Time-lapse mode to take nice looking time lapaeses at 1080P quality and also 240FPS slow motion recording, I used all these features in my Music video as I had them readily available and I believe they improved my video. I also used this to record the voice over on my directors commentary where I used an app call 'Voice memos'.  

I also used apps such as Instagram to add filters to photos, this is what I did for my Album cover. To edit my footage I used a computer with an i5 processor with the latest adobe elements 10 installed to edit, this was powerful enough to make short work of editing and made my final product look professional. 

To build my products I used Fireworks and installed the Fonts I needed from DaFont. My thumbnails of social media I used on my poster are actually from the GooglePlay Store as they were high quality and the correct size meaning I did not need to resample them. To upload my video I have decided to use Vimeo as there could be copyright infringement on YouTube. To store my footage between my Phone and Computer I used Google Drive because then my recording is always backed up with Google Generous 50GB storage limit.

During the evaluation I have used Microsoft word mainly to produce the evaluation and copied this onto my blogger as it offers better grammar and spellcheck. In my evaluation I have used images from Google, Self taken images and screen grabs from my work to make my evaluation interesting to read. 

Evaluation: Question 3

Question 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

I had many positive comments about my products by peers, one positive comment was that I have got a good range of interesting clips in my music video, so I developed on this idea and use filters to make these clips even better and to a professional standard.  Another positive comment was from my teacher stating that I have used a very good visual link between my lyrics and my video, I have intentionally done this to make my use of clips much less random like some more conventional dance music videos.

I also had some negative comments about my music video, one being that my clips sometimes are two long and get boring, this was an issue I had found myself and I have tried to correct it in the final cut of my video. I also had a comment by a peer saying that my clips are slightly random in places, which I agree with but that is a convention of the dance/Pop genre so it doesn’t affect me that much.

One negative piece of feedback was when I was in my development stages of my first Digipak I had created a full Digipak, that linked with the theme of my title of song ‘Nights’, this Digipak did not link to my video or my poster in any way so I changed it to match the rest of my products. 

I believe my new DigiPak is much better and also provides a huge link between all 3 of the products I have created this year.  I also had a constructive piece of criticism from my media teacher on my new Digipak that it was hard to read the album list on the inside over and the back cover. So I used my imagination to create a solution that means I could use the house style colour and text and still keep the same background. In the end I used a black box faded to 40% alpha with the text on top to make the text easier to read, I then adapted the box to fit the triangle convention I have kept through all of my products.

              Original                                                                                       Adaptation 

As this was my first project editing a music video using pro editing software I received many handy tips to make my music video the best it can be. One of the largest tips was to try and keep the clips short and sweet to minimise my target audience becoming bored with there short attention spans. I was also taught to make effective use of transitions on the beat of my song and to use a wide range of clips and just use the hand selected best shots to make my video look professional. 

I had some peer feedback about the inside of my product which was a track list and a disc holder as seen below: 

The problem was with these two products is that they "are boring and don't show much innovation" and to some extent i agreed that my product should look better so I decided to experiment with a few titles and images that fit with my house style so that i can make my product link together. 

This is my final version of the inside of my Digipak:

 I decided that i had a track list on the rear of the Digipak so it was not needed on the inside also. So to fill the new found space I used the lyrics from my song. On the disc cover i decided that I needed to fill the holder with the CD so that is what I did using a fade black to show the songs name and writer.
I also included my 'Play button' image which is faded on the top right of my Digipak. This may entice the audience to play the disc. I also used a flowing image which is barely visible, this is used on my other products and it is supposed to be a music effect. 

Evaluation: Question 2

Question 2

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

The main target for my physical products (Digipak and poster) is for them to look good. The reason for this is because if the products look good then my target audience are more likely to buy the product or go out of there way watch the digital music video. I believe I have done this by creating a solid brand identity, Firstly I picked a text that is appropriate for all my products and after some research I 
found that the font ‘Marquisette BTN’ from DaFont was a 
sold choice because its different but simple to read. 




I then decided to take all my photos for my physical products at the same time as this would instantly make my products look similar and therefore more recognisable to my target audience, as they would be similar backgrounds and similar products as I let my images set my colour scheme.

The use of the sea on my Album cover makes the image very stand out and is very eye catching in its colour and the use of a filter from the instagram app only enhances this.  I have used very bright images for the outside of the Album and poster as this is what looks good, on the inside of my Digipak I have toned it down slightly to put the emphasis on the track list and CD its self.  

All of my products suit the genre of my music video and the artist that I am trying to portray, with bright colours and minimal text I hope to make my product catch the eye of my target audience. 

I used a swirl image that is actually a large faded rectangle that has been dragged about on two on my products, the poster and disc holder. This was supposed to show and visualise music along with that it gives my product more texture.

Another feature of my products is that it has these large 3 triangles that are faded into the image, they enhance the look of my product and is also a symbol of the play button. This feature links into my products and became part of my house style.