FINAL PRODUCT!

Last post

Here is the last post, it is a word cloud of all the words we have used throughout our blog relating to our music video. It shows the words we have used the most by putting them in a bigger font. It gives us a good evaluation of what words we have frequently used which have been the most important parts of the blog.

Evaluation 4 - How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Research and planning

Apart from our regular group meetings in school, we also used a number of other ways to communicate to share information and ideas with each other throughout the project. We created Blackberry Messenger chat on our smart phones in order to have quick and easy access to each other to discuss any ideas or issues we had about the video or blog. This also allowed us to share photos and voice notes to each other for free.

     Another way we contacted each other was Facebook. Using this social networking site helped us to communicate with each other and share ideas we found on the internet which we could link each other too. In order to find ideas for the characters outfit and style, we looked at websites such as weheartit.com as it has a popular fashion blog type section on the website. This is a very popular website within our target audience as many teenagers have their own blog. Kate Nash’s website also influenced us as we could see what type of clothing she wears which we would want to demonstrate in our video.  We made mood boards to help influence our ideas of what we would like to dress the character in.

Producing the...

Music video: Throughout the creation of the video is where I thought we really used our creative skills well and excelled in using new media, from using a brand new editing programme. This showed how I used the technical skills I had learnt to my advantage, from using professional software and equipment to create a final product I can safely say I am proud of which  shows off all of the skills I have learnt along the way during this project.

The original song was 4.15 in length, so after a rough copy, we decided to cut it down to 3.01 in length. We did this through Adobe Premier CS2, which we used to edit. This programme clearly shows the song to the second which helped us to decide exactly where to cut the song. 

We used a KODAK Zi8 camera to film with. We used this as was easy to carry about and quickly record and stop and it only really had one main button on it. Also, as it had a USB to charge it, it was easy to charge if we were near a computer instead of having to find a plug and carry the charger around – which would have been another thing to remember and worry about. We mainly used a tripod to film most of the scenes as this was the best way to keep the camera steady and allowed us to do high angle shots safely.

 We used a lot of other technology throughout the production of our video.

 In addition to the natural lighting that we used throughout the video, we thought that we would take full advantage of the weather and filmed the majority of the video outside. This gave the video a summery, happy feel to the video which is very Kate Nash like. We wanted to create a bright, bold colour gradient in the video. I experimented with the colour tools on the editing software and decided to create my own contract to emphasis the summery feel. I also added a black zoom around the edge of the screen when it says ‘she was as quiet as a mouse’. This demonstrates her quiet and shy personality.

Album cover: For the album cover we used Publisher. After trying to work out how to use Photoshop, we decided that it was too complicated to try and learn how to use in a quick and effective way to produce our album cover. Although, it was not as good as it could have been as it was made on Publisher, I think that we have done the best we can and we are both proud of it. The image on the front cover was shot was a Canon 550D as Alex had a photo shoot just before we started making the digipak and album cover. These images were shot in a professional studio with the correct lighting and edited on professional software. We deliberately made the glittery lips on the album cover stand out as this was a running theme throughout the digipak and music video.

Evaluation

Both of us are regular users of Facebook and Twitter. This was very useful during the evaluation stages of the project as we promoted on both social networking sites and could check up on the progress and feedback we had received. From uploading our video onto YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, this gave us a more diverse range of feedback. 

Evaluation 3 - What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Here, we have used word clouds in quirky shapes in the style of Kate Nash to represent what each person on audience feedback has said. 
The average score for our music video: 8/10.                                                                        

                                                 

Firstly, we viewed the comments made from a student, aged 17 - Rebecca. 

               ''it fits into the pop genre very well because of the bright colours and images shown''

This quote shows how we achieved our aim of making our music video a realistic production, as it fits into the pop genre which was one of our main aims from what we wanted to achieve from our music video.  By using bright colours and interesting images, this makes our music video fit into the style of Kate Nash and other similar artists.  (Lily Allen, Natalia Kills) as this creates a quirky, original style to our music video.  This quote shows how our target market like these new changes. 

       Rebecca also said how the narrative fitted well with the music video and the lyrics.  This exploits one major success of our music video, which is time management.  By relating the narrative to the lyrics without even half a second time difference makes our music video look professional. 

       However, Rebecca said even though the costumes linked well with the lyrics, and changed regularly we could have done even more costume changes to make the video more interesting.  The reason we didn't do this, was in case it stopped our music video from flowing properly.  Here is the word cloud with the words Rebecca used most commonly in audience feedback.

 Our next audience feedback is from Ellie, a student aged 17. 

                               

  '' Your music video is very Kate Nashy ''

This quote shows how our music video fits into the genre with quirky costumes in our music video suited to the artists personality and style therefore displaying this well will help boost promotions of our magazine advert and digi-pack. 

       Also, Ellie described our narrative fitting in well with the story and lyrics being said at that particular time, although she felt the costumes fitted into the genre well, she felt they could have been more exciting. 

      We will consider this when making future music video's, as creating very different costumes will attract a wider audience and build a unique point of sales for our products and music video.  Therefore we have taken this on as constructive criticism, showing how worthwhile audience feedback is.  Here is a word cloud of all the words Ellie used most often when describing our music video.

Our next audience feedback is from 18 year old Sophie.

'' 8/10 it was very appealing to the eye ''

This quote shows how the brightly coloured outfit, and colour editing used has proved to be effective and our target audience like the changes we have made to our music video.  Sophie then went on to say how our music video was very 'poppy' suggesting it fitted well within our genre.  We also feel it was appealing to the eye due to some settings used, for example the scene where Alex is blowing bubbles with ducks in the background.  This is a playful, unique setting and creating an appealing atmosphere to the eye.  Here is the word cloud of the words Sophie used most often.

Our last audience feedback was from 18 year old Alex.  We wanted to get both a male and female perspective, and with Alex giving us the lowest score of 7/10 which suggests our music video is more favourable to women of the same target market.

'' there could have been more than 1 character throughout the music video ''

Due to the nature of the lyrics being focused on one girl, Mariella, we felt this wasn't necessary.  However, after taking on this constructive criticism on board we decided to think of how we could have embedded more characters within our music video in order to keep it more interesting for our audience.  We have taken this on board and will consider it if we produce any other music videos.  Alex also mentioned how he liked the narrative as he felt it was easy to follow due to the correlation to the lyrics, this is ideal as our aim was not to over complicate our music video.  Alex also mentioned our bold use of actions, and how our whole music video was easy to follow.  Therefore, we feel we have succeeded appealing to both male and female members of our target market.

Overall, we feel our audience feedback has been benefical to our music video and will help us if we make future productions.

Our target audience was mainly teenage girls around the age of 13-19. The target audience could relate to Kate Nash and find her an inspiration. We decided that a focus group would be the best way of getting detailed feedback from our target audience. From making a Facebook page - comments, shares and likes, a Twitter page – retweets and likes, and uploading the video to YouTube – comments, likes/dislikes and views, this all helped us see who liked, disliked, shared and commented on our video.   

What our focus group said that worked well:

     1. Colours – they were bold and happy which suited the mood of the song.

     2. Camera angles – there is a lot of different type of angles and shots throughout the video.

     3. Idea – it was original.

     4. Mise en scene – the outfits fits the theme of the song in the correct places.

     5. Lighting – the lighting throughout the video looked really natural.

     6. Cuts – they were smooth and hardly noticeable.

What our focus group said that could have been improved:

           1. Narrative – it could have had a better story line throughout.

           2. Lip syncing – the miming could be slightly more in sync with the song but it is very close.
           3. Editing – it was a bit jumpy near the end and slow at the beginning.

           4. Quality – a better camera would have made a difference.

           5. Actors – more characters could have been introduced within the video. 


        From putting our video onto Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. This is the response we got from      YouTube after just 1 day of the video being live.

    This is the response we got from our friends on Facebook, after just a few hours of the video being posted.

    

Evaluation 2 - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

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Moderated blog

Evaluation 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Our music video uses and develops typical forms and conventions of a music video but challenges some conventions along the way. As Kate Nash is a single, female, indie singer, it was important to portray her character through our video. Traditionally, Kate Nash dresses quite childish and bright coloured. After researching the genre she is in and her other videos, we decided we wanted to show a simpler and mature side to Kate Nash’s song.  From creating a mood board of outfits it was easier for us to decide how we wanted to show Kate Nash. We wanted to demonstrate Kate Nash’s personality through the characters clothes, we still wanted to show Nash’s feminine but edgy side. We made sure that the simple dress code was shown throughout the video; this meant that the character did not wear much make-up and wore simply clothes.  

We looked closely at Kate Nash’s previous video to her first single ‘Foundations’. This video has inspired us from the beginning. We looked at the detail of Nash’s outfit, make up and props. 

Our video links closely to the one above. In both videos, the artist is singing at the audience, as if it’s a type of diary or snippet into their life. By referencing to Nash in our video we have established our video by replicating a professional music video and artist.  

We have included lot of close-up shots of the character; this is a typical demand for a music video.

As this was a debut video we wanted the video to be remembered by the audience and stand out.

We applied Goodwin’s theory to our video. We developed upon the relationship between the lyrics and visual stimulus. From having the ‘ever ever ever’ at the end we have followed this theory. We also changed the editing due to the music becoming more upbeat. At the end of our video, the editing became rapidly faster compared to the fast due to the song.

Our editing was like most, non-naturalistic. We challenged Bordwell's classic Hollywood cinema theory by cutting quickly to different scenes which the viewer could tell had changed.   

Our narrative includes a girl not happy with her life, she then changes it with the dislike of her Mother then decides she is happy with the changes at the end.

Our album cover is very strong. We did a lot of research and liked Adele’s – 21 album cover as it was very simply but extremely effective.

The digipak links with the album cover and music video closely. We put pictures of the character in the video in the digipak as imagery is a major part of a band’s appearance as this gets the audience interested. This is because the audience may recognise the video because of the digipak or the other way round, they then promote each other through this. We included specific images including a barcode, record label logo and track names on the last panel to demonstrate that it is real. We included different outfits on each panel to show the audience a wider view of the artists personality through her clothes. 

 I have gone through my final product and found 8 distinct frames which I have made into a mood board. 

5 of the images used above are locations within the house and another is at a school. We have used these as they fit in with the lyrics being said at the time, they either say the location/action of the actress or imply it. Our locations have definitely fit in with the genre of our music video and even developed a few. This is because all of the locations are very obvious to the video as the artist has either implied it or said it in the lyric. 

In our music video, we have included just credits. They are in the same font and style as the magazine advert. This is so all of the products are linked so whenever the audience see's that style of writing they will then think of our product. The credits had a black background so the audience could focus on just the writing on the screen and find out the information being given to them which was the name of the song, artist, the record label the artist is on and the producer and director or the music video. The style of writing we have used has in a way, challenged the genre of our music video. This is because of the sophistication of the font we have used. We used this because of the underlining meaning we personally thought the song had. The pink letters fit in with the genre of the music video as it shows an immature side of the video.

Throughout the music video we have 3 main locations. These are the house, school and park.

We have used many locations inside the house which include, the kitchen, bedroom, conservatory, hall, garden and a white wall. 

This is similar with the school location as we used the inside of an office, corridor and the field.

 The park has many locations which are beside the pond, rose walk, tree, benches, paths and more. 

We used many props throughout the video. These include, geek glasses, bubbles a pen, newspaper, a book, teddies, paper, a photo album, magnetic letters, glitter, glue, clothes, a pearly bracelet and necklaces. These are all shown in the mood board below.

 These were all essentials to the music video as they were either said in the lyrics or added to the character of Mariella during the video. Again, all of the props we used went along with the genre of the music video conventions. This is because of how obvious all of the props were that we used. Without them, it would have been clear to the audience that we have not used them. 

During the music video we used 4 different outfits. They were, a colourful dress, a black and white smart dress, a pink top with a flowery skirt and a black dress.

 This kept the audiences attention with the video. Again, we had to use certain costumes as it described some of the outfits in the lyrics in the song, so without them the video would not have been as successful as we would have liked. Because of this factor it is definite that the costumes fit in with the conventions of a Kate Nash music video. 

We used many different camera angles and edited our music video just so it would fit in with the codes and conventions of a Kate Nash music video. If we did not do this then our music video would not have been as strong as it is. Throughout the music video we used, high and low angle shots, tracking shots, close ups and long shots and many more. This gave the video a wide variety of shots and kept the audience entertained. 

The music video starts off with the character playing Mariella, her face. This starts off the tone of the video which is quite quick paced and fast editing. Straight away it is clear that it is a happy genre and a typical 'Kate Nash' style of music video, following on from her previous video 'Foundations'. This clearly fits in with the conventions of a music video by Kate Nash.