Fina

Final Video

09. Steve, Lauren, Analiza, Andy from 283goswell on Vimeo.

Final Advertisement

TimeToast on progress since AS.

Evaluation Question 4

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

During the editing stages, the audience feedback we received was mixed. At the beginning, we had an idea to add in the Queen of Hearts as well. This was changes as we chose to film at night and the footage was not of a very high quality/standard therefore, due to overall imagery and mixed feedback, we decided to get rid of this part. 
This was quite hard as we were two days pre-deadline and didn't have any other footage to cover another essential/crucial two minutes of the music video. Again, this was something we pulled through as a group and chose to add in the intro, when Alice falls asleep, as well as the end, when she wakes up.

This clearly made the audience feedback immediately more positive as we shot this during the day therefore the lighting and quality was much better, and also, it turned out that it suited better with the story line.
Below are a few videos of audience feedback after the music video.

The ancillary products received attention as well. I went on a website; 

and got the following feedback:

I also then filmed the reaction we got immediately after the music video had ended:

Evaluation Question 3

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

In these stages, we used social media a great deal by this point. Our instagram page was used to update our teachers on our progress.

This is the artists' instagram. The name is 'liza__dasilva'. We have a picture of Alice and every character shown in the music video in order to keep the audience's view consistent. 

This is some of the brand new state of the art equipment that we used. 

We decided to use a DSLR Camera as it was the camera with the best quality whilst the lens was changed, as well as a better camera overall for our music video than the video camera.

We also used to fig rig for stability as we needed to move the camera around a great deal during filming.

Other equipment includes the mini speaker so that the artist could hear the music whilst lip syncing so that it looked much more realistic. 

Before initially shooting, we did a mini tutorial at which the artist had to lip sync a song given to us by the teacher. This production was planned entirely differently to my AS production. It entailed much more thorough research as well as was more hard work owing to the artist having to lip sync in sync with the song. Lip syncing was the hardest part as I was chosen to be the artist. Lip syncing wasn't needed last year as we just shot the opening to a film. This only meant that we had to act, aswell as edit to a beat. This year, we had to make sure that not only did we edit to the beat, but that we had enough shots to edit owing to the location we chose. This was exceptionally hard as myself and my group all live quite far away from eachother, and a significant distance away from our chosen location; Alexandra Palace. This meant that we had to film very precisely and plan more cautiously, especially when it came to shots and outfits. Even our hair had to be exactly the same as if it wasn't, we wouldn't be able to thoroughly edit the shots in order for them to look like they were shot at the same time on the same day. This wasn't needed last year as we had less to fit into the project meaning more time to film when we didn't have the right shots etc...

For editing, in Final Cut Pro, we changed a few features throughout such as making everything black and white when the artist said black and white etc. 

This is all made evident within the ancillary work as well as the posters, for example, entail the same colours, fonts and technology as the video. In addition, the social media is included as well.

Evaluation Question 2

How effective is the combination of your main product (video) and ancillary texts (digipak and advertisement)?

The main aspect of the video and ancillary products being effective is keeping this like the fonts, colour pallettes, and outset from the beginning consistent. I made sure of this as I want a member of the target audience to see one type of product whether it is the main products or the ancillary texts and understand/subconsciously remember where they'd seen it before.

A good example to portray how I was inspired to keep everything throughout consistent would be 'Daft Punk's' music video and CD Cover. The colour pallette remains the same (golds, silvers, whites and blacks) throughout each and every product.


The CD Cover (left) and the poster (right) both entail the same colours as well as the same image. The image of which is a merge of two astronaut type helmets, sets the theme for the music video as well. This allows for a consistence scheme of events, as well as a successful approach at synergy.



The helmets are also featured in the video.






















My products entail the same principles:

Evaluation Question 1

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

My media product uses, develops and challenges forms of conventions of real life media products in many ways. My media products use conventions of real life media products through out, such as the use of male gaze (a theory by Laura Mulvey; http://www.slideshare.net/beccacobb/laura-mulvey-the-male-gaze) in certain parts of the music video. The male gaze idea was solely influenced by Rihanna's 'Only girl in the world'. Rihanna is generally an artist that abides by the male gaze in order to gain an audience through the way that she looks.

For example, in order to distinguish the change/difference between the chorus and the verses, our artist twirls around to the slow beat of the song at that moment and a mid shot is used to shoot the whole of her body. This indicates male gaze, as shown below.

http://vimeo.com/channels/858396/114963009#t=63s

This is also evident within Rihanna's music video right from the beginning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa14VNsdSYM

My media product challenges forms and conventions of real media products as there isn't often the idea of an old tale involved within a music video. Usually, a music video consists of an artist lip syncing with a story line to do with a mainstream subject that sells such as love or money. My music video focusses more on an old tale (Alice in Wonderland). This was the main focus owing to most of the world knowing about the story therefore attracting a wider audience, but most importantly attracting our target audience. 

Other media products of which use/develop forms and conventions of real media products include my ancillary work. My poster, for example, continues on with the theme of male gaze as it is a picture of the artist and her body whilst wearing a small top. 

The inside of my CD cover

I began with the exact same list from the back cover, which contains the same font and colour palettes, in order to keep the theme of the CD Cover consistent through the use of the same reds, blues, whites and blacks. 

I then added the record labels (without the barcode) and where the description states that "All Rights Are Reserved" in order to again, keep the layout and aspects that I used the same.

After, I felt it was essential to add the 'credits' of who was responsible for editing, producing  and directing the product etc.

In addition, I made it personal by adding a special thanks message from the artists of which is 'signed' underneath. This will enable the audience who listens to the CD to empathise with the artist more. 

The back of the CD Cover consists of pictures of the artist in blues and reds mirroring each other. I decided to keep this theme consistent and add this on the back as well, but with a picture of the artist facing the other way.

This is the end result! 

digipak

Things I'd keep the Same

I wouldn't change my group for the world. We got on so well and most of the ideas throughout the whole project were thought about together. We complimented eachother throughout and all had a say in what was done/shot. All of us gave filming a go and each and every one of us is in the music video. We wanted the audience to know who we all were as this makes them sympathise more owing to them understanding who all the characters are, especially because they're following Alice's story of being lost.

I would also keep the costumes the same. I believe our costumes looked great and worked very well, even though I would change the Queen of Hearts' crown with the heart on it so that it is clearer.
Another aspect I would keep the same, though, is the amount of effort we put into the music video. The dedication was immense! We even filmed in someone's front garden in order to ensure that the equipment didn't get wet when it began to rain. This was because their garden had many trees which sheltered us very well. This came out fantastically in the music video as Alice looked sheltered which went with the plot quite well.

Things I Would Change

On this project, I would only change my time management. This is because I believe if I had handled my blogs a bit better and blogged after each lesson, I wouldn't have to waste as much time going through the check list to check if I have blogged about everything. I would also change filming at night as this changed the quality of our music video a great deal. In addition to this, I would also change the location as London in November is and will always be very cold and very rainy.

Changing The Blog

Towards the end of our progress, part of our feedback was to change the background of the blog. We originally had a picture of the cheshire cat as the background that created an optical illusion, but the feedback we were given was correct - that the cheshire cat supported the music video plot solely as opposed to the artists. We decided to change it (as you can see) to the digipak of 'Liza' which supports her greatly as opposed to just the music video.

Explanation about Daft Punk's Digipak and the Relevance to Ours

Daft Punk stick to a consistent colour palette in one of their albums - Black, white, gold and silver.

This is also kept the same throughout their Myspace.

Ideas For My DigiPak

In the posts beforehand my completed digipak is created. I chose the design that I did owing to the colour palette from the start being red, blue, black and white. I think sticking to the colour palette and keeping fonts/colours consistant throughout the blog and the covers, this is important as when a fan or a buyer sees a small element or a specific type of font, they recognise where its from. This supported through other artists aswell such as 'Daft Punk'...

Why I Think Our Music Video Is Different To Everyone Else's

I believe our music video is different to everyone else's owing to the storyline that we used. We also put a lot of effort into the outfits meaning this looked better in the music video. Throughout, we still kept the right trail of thought and bought certain outfits for the females that still initiate 'The Male Gaze'. We believe as a group, that the male gaze is important, especially for an 'Upcoming artist' in order for them to get more attention, as unfortunately, the male gaze enforces more sales etc.

The Blogging

Initially, I found keeping up with blogging quite difficult as I didn't know what else to include within the posts as well as catching up on lessons and what we were supposed to blog about. The blogging checklists helped me a great deal as did workshops during lunch. My creative side took over towards the end as I began to blog about things that weren't on the blogging checklist such as things that I found hard, Alice's overall journey etc.

Elements that I enjoyed

Other elements that I enjoyed include the fact that we were able to blog everything we did, so that we can look back in the future and see not only the great progress and the achievements that we made but also to have a look back at what we improved on, which to me, is a huge accomplishment.

Elements that I enjoyed during filming

Something that I greatly enjoyed was being able to be in a Wonderland for 3-4 days while filming. It was fantastic being able to independently decide what we were going to do and when we were going to do it, mostly because we got to improvise and figure out there and then what would be ideal. This worked well as myself and my group got on very well and normally we would come up with the same/similar ideas, meaning a better outcome owing to different interpretations of the same great idea.

What I found Difficult

In general, I felt that myself and my group overcame many of the speed bumps we found along the way, and overall worked extremely well together. We all got on very well, and helped each other to soldier through each and every task we were given.

There were many things that I did enjoy greatly, owing to Media being the field I would like to go into after college. One of which being, the fact that we could to independently decide on the plot, and getting to film it on our own. This was also very hard, but I enjoyed it greatly as I believe our music video is different from the rest.