In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
- Alot of conventions used in Rock music videos are based around the singer and the rest of the band. They usually involve some kind of story line aswell. The band are never usually the main characters of the video, although they can be sometimes. The video usually includes a clear narative which emotionally reflects the lyrics to the song. The actors in the video are usually adverage looking/ normal people, this develops a similartiy between them and the audiences. They can familiarise themselves with the characters. The singer will usually lip sync to the song. The camera angles used in rock videos can very from extreme long shot, to close up. Medium shots are generally used the most to focus on the character or the band members. Our music video challenges conventions of real media products as we found out that our client, Muse, usually do the same. Instead of having frequent band shots, we didn't want to interupt the storyline. Instead, we stuck to a storyline (based on our interpritation of the lyrics in the song) By chosing to do so the video really related to the lyrics of the song and kept the audience watching. In our video we chose two average looking people, dress wise especially. They can clearly be related to the audience and target market. Our model Steph wore casual cothes. A typical day outfit for someone who listens to rock music (jeans, vest and leather jacket). Our actor Luke also wore an outfit typical to that of a Muse listener. He wore black jeans, black boots and a black jacket and cardigan. In the music video Decode (that I previously evaluated in my blog) Hayley Williams the singer of the band wore a similar outfit to Stephanie.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
When developing our Album cover we beleived that it would be best to include a picture that related to the song we chose to do our video to. Using the knowlege gained in the previous AS task we know how a good advert and cover work. We produced a  Our cover featured a sand timer and the time was just about to run out. This is a clear refrence to the song. I created the advert last as the album cover needed to feature on the advert. This way the consumer can recognise the album when looking to purchase it.

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

On my blog I featured a certain amount of polls a week. They asked the audience questions about the genre of music, the album covers, music videos and what they looked for in a video. This really helped when re-editing our video. Most of the feedback was positive and the rest was constructive criticism that helped us improve the video. After the comment "I would place some different footage in and use some past memory shots of Steph and Luke enjoying themselves, it would let the audience know whats actually happened and help the video flow" this helped us when re-shooting as we took into consideration what had been said. We filmed 'shots from the past' to use as memory flashbacks and this filled gaps in our video that were unclear to the audience and story line. One of the main criticisms that Lucy and I received was something we were aware of all along. ''there is a part in the middle of the video and the story line becomes a little unclear''  This is something we would change if we had time to re-film however it has passed the filming deadline 

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

There a many ways in which I used media technologies when creating the Music video, CD cover and magazine advert. The internet was used for blogging and collecting research. I would say that the internet was the most commonly used technology. If it wasn't for Youtube my research wouldn't have been as thorough. all the videos that i analyzed came from youtube. Another website that helped me was google, I could search for album covers and magazine adverts and decide for myself what ones were successful and what ones were not. When developing and creating the three media products programmes such as Adobe Photoshop CS4, Adobe Elements and Adobe Premier Pro cs4. I also used a video camera to capture the footage for the music video. It was then that Premier pro came into use where i could edit footage and create the video. When capturing the still photos I used a Nikon D80 or a Canon Eos 4D. These are high quality cameras and created high quality photos .

Evaluation

Final Music Video

FEEDBACK

 

''I really love the ending, and all the different varieties of shots you have used, it keeps a fast pace for the video and keeps the story-line fast and interesting'' 

'' The shots at the beginning of the video really create cliff hanger and I wanted to keep watching, the only bad thing i can say is that there is a part in the middle of the video and the storyline becomes a little unclear, except for that well done, really good work!''

"i would place some different footage in and use some flashback/memory shots of Steph and Luke enjoying themselves, it would let the audience know whats actually happened and help the video flow"

''One of my favourite videos out of the class, well done girlies''

Process of Editing

After the first time filming we needed to upload our footage to the Mac, where we could be editing the rest of our video. We used Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 to edit our film, the software appeared a little bit confusing at first but within half an hour we managed to get to grips with it. By attatching our camera to the computer we were able to use a usb lead to upload our film to the descktop. After the footage was securely on the mac we were able to import it onto Aobe Premier Pro CS4. Now our visual part of the video was uploaded we needed to upload the audio. A similar process took place. By placing our song on the desktop we were then able to import it int Premier Pro. When our song was on Premier Pro we dragged it over onto the timline. As lucy and I had already planned where abouts certain parts of the footage would fit to the song, it made it easier for us to start editing straight away.

When it came to editing our footage we needed to familiarise ourself with the tools, as we had never used this software before. On the right hand bottom corner there were lots of tool options.








The tool that was prehaps most used during our editing was the razor tool. To make this tool succsessful we had to move the main line (red) to where abouts we wanted to cut from. If we didn't use the red line then the video would jump to certain places that we didn't want to goto. After we located the part of the footage we needed to cut we would right click and press cut. This would break this bit of film away from the existing bits of film, enabling us to move and play around with it. The shorter the shot, the more difficult the tool became to use.

Magazine Advert (stages)

I used Photoshop CS4 to create our magazine advert. The reasoning behind chosing a photo of trees is because its of where we filmed our video. The image is rotated to give off that sense of distortion and 'scary' style that our video has.











When creating our advert the layer tool was especially helpful when it came to editing and re working our advert. - The eye tool could help me see where id placed certain pictures and fonts, and if they enhansed the quality of the advert or hindered without deleting the whole section.







By keeping the white background and using the font that MUSE always use, we straight away attract the audience by being bold and recognisable. If we had introduced a different font then the consumer would become unfamiliar with the product and the reputation that muse would have built up over the years would be ruined. I kept the white as it is easy to see from a distance. Bold striking texts and images are always the base behind a good advert.



As the background of the advert is quite complexed it would always be difficult using a simple font ontop of the picture, unless it was brightly coloured. However, there were no bright colours that fitted with our colour scheme so I felt it was best to add effects to the simple font. By adding a drop shaddow the text is no loger assosiated with the background, instead is stands out instead of blending in.





This window gave the options of effects for the texts, by keeping opacity of the shaddow 100%, the visibility of the text increaded.










By having a black square in the centre the text would now be easier to read, against the patterent background. In the centre of the box I added the sand timer, this again relates all three of our products together. By lowering the opacity of the photo the image isn't as apparent as it was before hand. This simplifys the design and dosent make it too difficult to understand.









By keeping the font simple it wont ruin the design of the advert. The typeface used it Times New Roman, it is easy to read and very recognisable. By including quotes from famous companies and magazines the reputation of the album increases. The colours used are the same colours used for the album cover. By putting 'Features #1 single Hysteria' on the advert it reminds the consumer of previous muse succsesses.








Lastly, by including a photo of the album the customer will know what it looks like and it will be easier to locate either online or in a store. It again familiarises the target audience with their band. The Sony BMG music entertainment logo was added as an extra reassurance that the consumer will be buying a quality product. The name is very famous, therefor people have no reason to doubt the song, or album.











The last and final thing added to the advert was the line under TIME IS RUNNING OUT. By adding a date the consumer knows when the album is avalible. The font isn't as bold as the one used for time is running out but we didn't want to take the attention away from anything else.

Overall I believe our advert to be a scucsess, the layout and composition of the design isn't too complicated and hard to navigate round. The boldness of the fonts and contrast of the black against a mainly light bluey white backround creates a really striking image.

Our finished album cover (stages)

we took a variety of photos, the above photos are the best out of around 30 photos. When it came to deciding wich photo should be on the cover it was a very easy task. The one we did chose in the end was simply better than the rest due to the composition of the photo. By applying the rule of thirds to the photo, it is instantly succsessful. Its a shame about the lighting in the room we were set in. However the way the face is only slightly lit up directs the attention to the sand timer (our main intention) By using the timer as our main focus it can easily relate to the song - Time is running out. We waited a few seconds before taking the photo to allow most of the sand to fall from the timer. I really believe that by focusing on the tiny details it made our cover very succsessful. The facial expression the model is pulling is reallt distressed, this relates to certain lyrics in the song that fans and the audience will pick up on.


The Back: We used another photo taken with the sand timer. This relates to the front and dosent complicate the album. It also makes it a litte more interesting to look at, rather than using a blank block colour. By using photoshop I lowered the opacity of the photo, this way the photo wasn't as harsh and the font is easily read. Again, by applyin the rule of thirds to this photo it left us with enough space to keep the writing, whilst not complicating it too much. By including a copyright stamp this ensures that our ideas will remain our ideas and prevents any other compay from using our photos/words.




INSERT: As our album front and back are quite complicated we wanted to keep the insert relatively simple. By chosing a neutural colour scheme that fits the the colours in the photos on our album it dosent take any attentino away from them. By including quotes from two of the most famous rock magazines it shows our target audience that our product is respectable. We also included lyrics from the song we chose, this will intise the consumer into wanting to open the insert and read and view more of the product.







The image above is the finished Album cover. When creating the album cover we didn't follow the normal conventions of having a photo of the band on the cover. After browsing through old Muse album covers we noticed one similarity, the band were never featured on the cover. Instead of following the standard conventions we decided to stick with the tradition Muse have set for their album covers. We included the crease between the back and front of the album and put the name of the album there, this way its easy to glance at and realise what album it is straight away.

Analysis of existing Muse album covers

When creating our own album cover for Muse, I thought it would be best to analyse existing album covers of Muse' just to familiarise ourselves with the personality of the band. It became apparent that there was always one similarity. Muse themselves were never featured on the cover. By not following the normal conventions of a rock muisc album (and including the band on the cover) we deicded that it would be best not to either. However, by not following the traditional conventions we were following one, the ones that Muse had set themselves.