Wednesday, 19 December 2012

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

This evaluative question I believe can be answered in a number of different ways. I am going to break it down into sections that are; use, develop and challenge.

I think overall my video has a unique and interesting message. I decided to do this because I thought that the original video didn't represent the lyrics of the song particularly well. In a way I thought it could of even contrasted it.
My music video was intended to use, develop and challenge conventions of original media products.

Use...
Most videos are narrative and/or performance based - which I have stuck to in my video. Although this is convensional, I think it a good way to present a narrative and feature my artist which the audience wants to see. I stuck to a narrative that was suited to the genre and stayed true to this. If I was to use a narrative that was dark/horror like, it wouldn't fit to my music at all. I stayed convensional in this aspect but this is because it works well and makes sense to the audience. I decided to have a more narrative than performance as I wanted the narrative to be clear and understandable.

I've used midshots for the performance section of my video and I did this because I want the audience to be able to relate to the artist. I think this is a really conventional thing to do.
I did this because I think allows the audience to be able to look at the artist and that is one of the main things an audience wants to see in a music video - especially if it is a debut song, the audience can see who the artist is.They can also be used to show some important features and backgrounds. In addition to this, this is used a lot in the pop genre (same as my artist) and in many other genres, because it can be used to show emotions and even though it is one genre, each song can differ from eachother so greatly in the message that is given. Overall the midshot is a good way to present any message in many genres.










 I decided to use an over the shoulder shot create a relationship between the character and the audience. I think that by doing this it allows the audience to see something from my characters point of view. I think that because my message is something that could be discussed and someone could develop a strong opinion on, I wanted the audience to understand the opinion of the character. For example, I think a lot of people have looked through a magazine and looking at a celebrity and thinking I want to be like that. So therefore I wanted the auidence to understand and sympathyse with the character.



Challenge...
One unconventional thing I have used is the smoking scene. Some people would argue that it might be innappropriate for some of the younger memebers of my audience to see, but I wanted to create some memorable in my video and possibly something to discuss. However I would argue that because my video protrays a negative image of my character, it then portrays a negative image of smoking. I think that this could possibly be something that will change some members of my target audience's opinions. In addition to this, I think because the message presents Americanisation in a negative light, it could make the audience share this view and everything that comes with it, which would be the heavy smoking, revealing clothing and smoking. Also, because the artist wasn't smoking, this means they share the opinion because the lyrics are about it and it shows them not doing it.
However, although I think I have made done something quite unconvensional in my video, I have found some other artists that do the same, but portray it in a more posative way.
 

 In this video I think it portrays smoking in a way that looks socialable and sexy. Where as in my video, my character is smoking alone and looks bored. I wanted to convey a connotation in my video of a femme fatale woman and most women from older films were smoking and looked glamourous. Where as now, we look at these images and a lot of people now disapprove of the individuals and think they portray themselves in a negative way, despite the fashion at the time.


I decided to use an over the shoulder shot create a relationship between the character and the audience. I think that by doing this it allows the audience to see something from my characters point of view. I think that because my message is something that could be discussed and someone could develop a strong opinion on, I wanted the audience to understand the opinion of the character. For example, I think a lot of people have looked through a magazine and looking at a celebrity and thinking I want to be like that. So therefore I wanted the auidence to understand and sympathyse with the character.






Evaluation - How effective are the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks?


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

I used many technologies throughout my coursework - some good and others bad! But with out the majority of them I wouldn't be able to create my video.

Monday, 17 December 2012

Draft of Music Video



This is the first draft of my music video. I found it hard to create given the circumstances that occurred. Firstly, I lost a lot of my footage and was unable to film anymore because the deadline was quickly approaching. Another thing I found difficult was being able to transfer my project from imovie to blogger. I tried youtube and I had problems with the format of the video, so I couldn't upload via youtube. I have used the video uploader that blogger provides and it was a very quick and simple process, however the downfall of this was the quality of the video. Although, I think I have done fairly well given the situation.
Before I begin the audience feedback section of the evaluation I want to write a few notes of what I think:
- I think I have managed to get my lip syncing placed well and looks quite realistic.
- I am pleased with where each scene has been placed in relation to the music. When the music changes key I have placed cuts and chose scenes to suit a major or minor key.
- I have used a good amount of lip sync and not overloaded the video with the storyline, as I thought this could become confusing and uninteresting. I like the way the lip sync breaks up the video.

However:
- I am a bit disappointed by the fact some of my footage had been lost and I think that this has hindered the overall outcome of my video.
- I think that parts of the video are quite repetitive (but it was quite difficult to avoid!)

Getting to my editing

Today was the first day I was going to start editing. I loaded my memory stick to find that some of my footage was missing. I have checked the camera I used and the footage I have lost isn't there. Unfortunately, I will have to work with the remaining footage I have and hopefully create something just as good. I have come up with a few more ideas to extend my video time to match the length of the song. Hopefully I will be able to create something!

Friday, 14 December 2012

Final Draft of Magazine Advert

This is my third draft of my magazine advert. I decided that after looking at my last draft, it wasn't quite what I had hoped for. I have decided to remove the blue text from my previous draft as I thought it looked quite unprofessional and amateur. I still have kept the blue in the background to maintain the American theme. I thought by using black and white it connoted 2 very different things and by this I mean the interpretation of the American lifestyle by other cultures, and the reality. I have now included a web address for the artist, so fans can get some more information on the album. I thought that including reference to social networking sites such as Facebook makes the artist seem modern. Also, I decided to add some information about where tour tickets are available from as some people may want to book promptly and it also adds a bit more detail to the advert by advertising 2 things at once , without being too over powering and obvious.