Final Products

Evaluation Question 4

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

Transcript:

During the 'research' stage of my production I used a variety of platforms to help me with the exploration of common conventions, along with artist research and also research on various materialistic products to justify their use in my production, for example the drone and Premier Pro which were both key aspects to the completion of the production. One major platform I used was YouTube. I used YouTube to look at existing products in the electronic genre. An example of this would be that I was able to find all of ODESZA's existing work and carry out a significant amount of research on them through their own YouTube channel where they have an array of behind the scenes videos, along with interviews which I could use to get to know their characters, and listen to variety of their songs for free. Blogspot was also heavily used. Anything and everything which I found with regards to information, examples and ideas or designs was uploaded to my blog and evaluated. Once I had completed the music video, digipak and magazine advert (ancillary products) I constructed together an online questionnaire and sent it to various group chats using messenger which is also another example of the use of media technologies during the research and evaluation aspects of my production. This leads me nicely to Web 2.0. While researching throughout various periods of my production, whether it was in relation to the music video, digipak or magazine advert, I was able to look at various social media platforms and gather a general idea of how to approach each product. Google Chrome was very important to the research of my media products, one website in particular was https://genius.com/ where I could do thorough lyric analysis on a range of songs which can be seen in my music video analysis section on my blog. From using this website I came to the conclusion of using a narrative with direct lyric to visual links as a result of my findings, Web 2.0 was therefore was vital to the altering of our end product. During the research stage of this years production I carried out a practice edit and played around with some existing clips I had captured, at a location we had shortlisted, and edited this to one of ODESZA's songs, this gave us a slight insight as to how the lyrics could potentially fit the visuals and whether or not we would use this genre of music to work with. Final Cut allowed me to do this very easily and efficiently.

In the planning stages, for myself and Charles it was important for both of us to print checklists which we could easily take to shoots which we could tick off and make sure we didn't then miss any needed and important shots, especially when working with Sarah our actress as we didn't want to waste her time (efficiency was key!). Pages allowed us to do this with very little hassle and very swiftly, one benefit of doing it on pages was that if we lost the document we would have an electronic version which we also emailed between us so we could access it while shooting if for some reason it wasn't to hand. Blogspot once again was used as a tool for portraying what we had planned out. One example of using blogspot during the planning and preparation stages is my blogpost on Shot Lists which can be seen here - http://shot-type-productions.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/shot-list.html. On this blog is an example of our Shot Lists which were created on Google Sheets which is another example of a media technology I used with regards to Web 2.0 once again. (https://www.google.co.uk/sheets/about/). Within the planning stage I also used Final Cut and YouTube to graft together a location scouting video which will be embedded below. During our location scouting mission and when planning where would be best to shoot, I filmed various features and aspects I'd like to focus on within the evaluation on my blog. I filmed this on my Canon SX700 HS PowerShot point and shoot camera which shoots at 60fps. By doing this, Charles and I were able to see how these would transfer onto a screen; sometimes what appears to be a breathtaking feature at such a significant scale, like the Cow and Calf can appear small and / or anti climatic. By filming such features we can then discount these clips or, alternatively work on ways to overcome this issue. Finally, when planning the original route on Ilkley Moor and at Fewston, I used Google Maps and Google Images to gather secondary information which would be used when deciding where to go, this was somewhat important, however more so to use images to help paint the picture on my blog of what our plan was before we went, and then, using my own images afterwards to provide a contrast and perhaps evaluate upon this with a potential change of opinion after primary research.

To begin with, I used a variety of digital cameras during the construction of my products, otherwise none of it would have been created. I used the Sony SLT a58 DSLR which was provided by school, this was used during the location scouting to create the 'fewston' video, and in some of the inside shots in scene 1. Along with the Sony we used a Canon 7D for the hand help shots based inside the protagonists house. Outside however, during tracking shots we opted for the Phantom 4 drone due to its built in gimbal which achieved a steadier shot as oppose to using the Canon. Furthermore, to begin with I used Final Cut Pro to edit and construct this piece. However after deliberation over a comparison between this and Premiere Pro which can be seen here - http://shot-type-productions.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/why-we-changed-from-fxp-to-pp.html I swiftly moved over to Premiere Pro. On Premiere I was able to take control over colour correction and have a more manual approach to editing the clips, really delving into the dynamics of each clip and alternating small details which come together to improve the big picture. When signing up for the 12 month contract with Adobe I also has access to After Effects, Photoshop and Illustrator (which are just a few of the many apps they have available). I was then able to use this during the creation of the digipak and magazine advert. There were free advert creation websites which I saw peers using, however I wanted to demonstrate more skills by doing it first hand and using a greater variety of media technologies in the construction of my ancillary products and the video itself. At the end of the music video, I have incorporated a title sequence which was made apparent to me to be compulsory by ODESZA's management team who gave Charles and myself permission to use this song. This was created on After Effects which works directly alongside Premiere Pro, what you do to a clip in After Effects automatically changes it in Premiere which is very useful! Finally, within the construction of my media products I used social media to export the finish product to my audience. I posted it on my YouTube Channel - https://youtu.be/oDlthApEscQ, as well as sending it to group chats on FB (Messenger more specifically) and on Snapchat to close friends to ask for their opinion, which brings me on the the evaluation stage.

Along with social media, such as Facebook, to get the video out to as many people as possible, I used an array of instruments in my evaluation stage. During the initial stages of research, when evaluating market research we did this all manually, and calculated pie charts on Microsoft Excel which is another example of a media technology I used. Once I had completed the music video I constructed together an online questionnaire on Survey Monkey, I then sent it to a group chat using Messenger; from here I was able to analyse feedback and comment on it. During my evaluation questions I have aimed to use different techniques. For Evaluation Question 1 I have used Slide-share to exemplify my powerpoint on how I have followed forms and conventions of music videos within my genre. For Evaluation Question 2 I used a Prezi, which is an example of Web 2.0. This identifies the combination of my main product and it's ancillary products with a description also in a creative manner which I think is important. Evaluation Question 3 uses a blogpost due to going into depth on feedback graphs, this is the clearest and in my opinion the best way to show this information. And finally I have used Youtube for my Evaluation Question 4 by producing a podcast, another used media technology. Overall I have used a large array of media technologies throughout my production exemplifying various skills and techniques.

Evaluation Question 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

To answer this question I comprised together a questionnaire which I sent to my class mates via email and also to close friends through sending a link in a group chat. By doing this I managed to get 12 responses which I can now analyse, reflecting on what perhaps I could've done better, and what we did well.

Firstly, gender. I wanted to gather the demographics of who I had obtained the following information from. During genre and artist research I found that it is more or less a 50/50 split of genders who listen to electronic music (I looked at Disclosure). Therefore a 75% - 25% isn't a true reflection of this. However, with a limited time frame, and resources / people to ask, I will work with what I have and potentially extrapolate the data. If I was to carry out this again, I would make sure to incorporate a greater proportion of female respondents.

Next I asked for which age range they sat in. When I did artist research on Disclosure, their core age range which listened to their music was 18-24, therefore it is very supporting to have the core majority of respondents within this age range. The second highest and only box ticked was 15-17, and I know from my knowledge this is just 17 due to knowing the majority of the respondents personally, therefore I can justify their viability.

This box is relatively unimportant however it constructs are more well rounded demographic of my respondents. Much of this information can be ignored however as some answers aren't 100% serious, therefore from audience feedback I can justify not asking this question if I was to carry out this again as the information acquired wasn't valid.

On a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being not at all and 5 being a lot, how do you feel the products work together as a complete package (music video, digipak, magazine cover)

How my main product (music video) works with its ancillary products (digipak and magazine advert) is crucially important. Here I asked to what level the continuity has achieved. 100% of respondents said it was achieved good continuity and or above, therefore I am very satisfied with the results. The difficulty when working with three different products is having common features amongst them, this is difficult within the electronic genre as the digipak and magazine advert, (in order to follow the general conventions) need to use brighter colours. Within the music video we didn't use any examples of pink which is the colour we used for the ancillary products. However, what I have learnt from audience feedback is that this isn't an issue and that the products all work together as a package; this may be because we have followed the general conventions of each given area and challenged them in very few areas, because of this we have achieved what would be the general perception for what should be constructed and our audience recognises that and naturally they seem to work together.

Question 5 involved the colour correction. One major change I made during this production was moving across from Final Cut to Premiere Pro due to wanting to be able to delve into colour correction further, therefore to have 90% say this was achieved in a balanced manner throughout is promising. I spent a lot of time researching various styles and landed on Sam Kolders as my preferred inspiration. I tried to replicate this style and its proved successful which I have learnt from audience feedback.

The next thing I wanted to find out was what aspects were more greatly appreciated on the ancillary products (magazine cover and digipak). Just shot of 50% said all of the above, but those who were more specific liked the fonts, structure and layout, and the texture we provided with the smoke. It is good to see the that the texts and fonts were well recieved as we spent a lot of time researching this to follow ODESZA's general convention. From audience feedback I have also learned that the QR code I used wasn't a necessity and in future could be discounted as it wasn't conventional. The responses justify the conventions we followed, the one we didn't proved not as important.

During the production and construction of products I wanted to make sure that we managed to maintain professionalism. 83.33% said we did this, therefore from looking at my audience feedback it would suggest we did produce professional products. 16.67% of respondents however said that it fell roughly halfway. If I was to extrapolate this any production further I would take this into consideration and begin with dive into the details to understand why, and then begin on resurrecting this to bring 100% of respondents into the 4 - 5 categories.

Here I asked whether I had reflected the duo well. With not knowing the duo personally, it was very difficult to gauge their characters and reflect this within the music video. I found some videos which would prove useful, showcasing what they do and who they are. 100% of those who answered my questionnaire said I had done this successfully.

Charles and I spent a lot of time altering, reconstructing and rethinking the storyline, it therefore was very important for us to gather feedback on this topic. Our results show a majority who said it was clear, however 16.66% said they were unsure essentially. There were aspects slightly out of our control which may have lead to this, for example, the jump from nigh-time to daylight early in the music video. If I was to carry out this production again, I would use more surveys and audience feedback to then minimise this for our end product, with aims to get 100% scoring 4-5.

Finally, question 10. This shows how people responded to the editing style we took on. From the beginning I decided what type of video I wanted to create, and then set out to construct a narrative surrounding this. I was heavily inspired by I'll Show You by Justin Bieber, but wanted a storyline surround these stunning scenic shots essentially to boost evaluation. 100% of respondents said they liked the editing and thought it was clear, below are examples of comments which we stated.







- "The fast moving transition with the drone Colours"
- "Liked the transitional shots; cinematography."
- "It was nicely edited to the beat, while the emotions of the video matched those of the song."
- "I really liked the transitions you used during the drone shots."
- "I liked the cuts on the beat, the zoom transitions. The narrative is clear with the photos by the fire"
- "I liked the title sequence at the end and the zoom transitions!"


Overall, I am very pleased with the feedback I have obtained through the creation of an online questionnaire. In summary, what I have learned from audience feedback is to essentially gather more, throughout all 4 stages of production, these are: research, planning, construction and evaluation. This way we can improve the results we get at the end, and produce a better product overall.

Evaluation Question 2

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

http://prezi.com/8qxhwygegjys/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

Follow this link to get to my Prezi I created to answer on how effective I believed the combination of my main product and ancillary products to be.

Transcript (incase of any technical faults):

The combination of my media products, both the music video and the accompanying ancillary products which are the digipak and the magazine advert, demonstrate concise and continued synergy throughout. This has been the case due to mu careful consideration of elements such as mise-on-scene, design, layouts and colour schemes, as well as always considering my main intention and desires for the products.

I have created a sense synergy throughout the construction all of my products due to the aesthetic choices and the continued similarity of scenery throughout my products. Synergy is when a collection of things work together to be worth more as a collective than individually, the idea that 1+1 = 3, together they are worth more. For example, my decision to use the washed out and faded filters on my video, along with using the same location as in the video for the images on the magazine advert and digipak. This in turn adds a personal element to the products which may be respected by the audience as more original, leading to greater sales and success.

I initially used the clouds in the music video to reduce the importance of the main characters problems in terms of portraying a bigger picture, the idea that what he thinks is a problem to him personally actually has very little importance to the global issues metaphorically represented by whats above him, the bigger problems. These however became more insignificant in the music video due to over exposed clips we could do very little about. We did maintain this idea though within the ancillary products which became the defining imagery.

The inspiration of the music video related heavily to the I'll Show You video I have previously mentioned, along with a collective inspiration from content creators on YouTube where I gathered a lust for their editing style, for example Sam Kolder. With regards to the ancillary products, throughout the music video, the conception of reflection is heavily endorsed, this I think is represented also amongst my ancillary products with the silhouetted image specifically on the digipak.

There are a lot of similarities between ODESZA's existing videos and branding through magazine adverts and my own products; the video, magazine advert and digipak. The general theme of being amongst nature and being outside seems to be a common theme unconsciously. As a collective, according to audience feedback 83.33% of respondents said I had produced a high quality and professional set of products collectively. 16.67% of respondents however said that it fell roughly halfway. If I was to then extrapolate this production further, I would take this into consideration and aim to improve this results. In conclusion, with a clear majority saying it was professional I can safely say I managed to achieve a good package, but there is evidently room for improvement.

The digipak front cover involved a silhouetted image of a male, stood in the opening of a forrest. I filtered this with a pastel pink to follow the conventions set by the genre. I had then recreated the logo on photoshop, tracing it from their official website, this logo was apparent amongst all of my media products, this was a vital element in terms of having a common link amongst all three pieces. For the digipak, I wanted to emphasise the logo which is once again featured centrally, both vertically and laterally. In order for this to be eye catching and to become an important link between the products, I wanted it to be contrasting to its backdrop. This signifies importance within the readers mind, and will help the logo become more recognisable, this is important due to its complex shape, however it is very original which works in my favour. On the magazine advert I used alternating colours in the font so it fits in with its sister products, the digipak. It also adds a layer of interest of interest to an otherwise 'boring title'. I put the song title in large white font so it is clear amongst its surroundings.

I used the Gotham font amongst all 3 of my media products this year; in the title sequence at the end of the music video, on the digipak on the front cover and the back cover, and on the magazine advert. I chose this font as it is very clear, aesthetically pleasing, quite modern and symmetrical, all common features within the electronic genre. It was also an artist convention that I wanted to follow, as I have done for the majority of this production.

My main intention with the style of the products and the unformed approach was to create a distinct brand image / follow theirs may I had. I wanted the audience to gather that the visuals I am creating connote and signify an attraction to a young professional and student audience (18-24 according to my market research). Whether the audience obtains my preferred reading is essentially in their own hands, but the young actor and actress, the use of vibrant colours amongst the ancillary products and the RGB split to incorporate that into the music video along with the electronic music overall will hopefully force feed the audience this information.

In conclusion, after assessing all the steps I have taken to ensure that the products work together as a collective, and a clear majority in audience feedback who said they were professional and worked together well, I would say the combination is that of a good combination and reflects the industry and more specifically, the genre that ODESZA operate in.

Evaluation Question 1

https://www.slideshare.net/secret/hGYDqXeq0tT945

Use this URL above to get to my Slide Share post about how I challenged the forms and conventions of music videos.

Final Magazine Advert

Magazine Creation and Development

When I started the magazine advert I knew that I wanted to use the same colour palette that I had used in the Digipak this included Greys and Pinks in pastel tones. So I first started with three block of colour in the pink and grey. I quickly thought though that this was too plain so I decided to change the pink block to the pink clouds seen in the Digipak the results are below:

I thought that this was a good base for the rest of the magazine advert so I then left the background like this. It was now time to add the information on to the advert, I quickly decided to stick with the three blocks for the alignment of all the information on looking at other odesza posters I quickly notice that they almost always put the odesza name down the sides of the page so I decided to add the name in the grey sides. And I decided to do the letters alternating colours between black, pink and the clouds that are in the middle to do this I used a shape mask to mask the picture to the shape of the letter the result was:

Now I needed to find an inventive way for the viewers of the advert to access the website of Odesza quickly and easily after doing some research we came across QR codes which is sort of a square barcode that somebody can scan and the phone will redirect to the website. So I used an online qr code generator that would produce an SVG QR code that I could put into illustrator and change the colour of. 

I then brought this into illustrator and changed the colour to the grey and put it on to the pink clouds I was then pleased with the placement:

Then it was time to add the name of the album I wanted this big and for it to stand out but there was not much room left on the page so I decreased the size of the font for the 'ODESZA' and put the 'IN RETURN' at the top of the page so it is the first thing that you see when you look at the advert:

Of course to tie it in with the digipak and the rest of Odesza's product the advert had to include the Odesza logo so I got the logo that I had created earlier for the video and the digipak and droped it in to the advert in the middle. I then coloured it pink because I wanted it to blend in to the clouds background and only be subtle:

After that all I needed for the information was their next concert and venue and the date of the release after playing with the fonts I settled on a look:

We then felt that the advert was nearly there but it was just missing something and that it needed something else adding to it. After trawling the internet for ideas and inspiration we came up with an idea to have smoke on the advert. So we looked on the internet to find a picture of smoke with a transparent background and we eventually found one and put it of and it was perfect just what it needed.

The final change we made was the text. We realised we had advertised an event, and quickly sussed this out and changed it to the album so the products can be sold together as a package.