Wednesday 3 April 2013

Evaluation 2

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

A successful product and artists rely on a certain looks or logos that become a feature associated with their band. This is why it important for all my products to link together as they should establish a 'look' like real media products. 

My ancillary task works extremely effectively with my music video, I feel. This is because each product are linked by specific conventions, that I chose to keep the same for consistency. 
For example, I used the conventional colour pallet in both ancillary tasks and my music video; as I used 'black' for my background on my website and 'red' for the writing in on my advertisement. To link these to my music video, I then used mise-en-scene to express the colour pallet e.g black background. 
I also felt they worked as my artist appeared in all three. This means that the figure in all three media products matched, so an audience could easily associate the artist with his product. I also felt that the character in each product represented the 'Alternative Rock' genre effectively has he fitted the stereotypical look of someone who sing/listens to my genre. 

The only thing I feel that doesn't work effectively, is the use of distortion in the music video but not in my ancillary tasks. This doesn't create a constant theme, however, the audience could view it as a reflection of the song rather than the artist as a whole. 

Saturday 9 March 2013

Evaluation 3 -Audience Feedback #Advert


Audience Feedback On My Advert.


To get audience feedback on my advert I posted a picture on Facebook; which allowed my family and friends to comment what their feeling were about the photo and help me improve the advert. The comments were complimentary and confirmed how I felt about the contrasting colours which related to the genre. It also enabled me to get comments from a variety of subjects such as how the photography works with my advert. 
However, the constructive criticism was the most useful like the comment advising to enlarge the fonts at the bottom, although I felt the comment was justified and helpful I chose to keep the font the same size; as on other posters, like ones related to my genre, had the sponsors small and barely noticeable  therefore, I felt by changing this the conventions wouldn't be like the 'Alternative Rock' genre and relating to a professionally product.  
Another element I had noticed that could be improved with my advertisement was the website not being in the centre, however, if I had moved this along the font in the white that was contrasting then becomes hard to see and if I used half white and black I feel that it would not create the contrasting impact that I initially aimed for. 










Evaluation 3 -Audience Feedback #Website

Audience Feedback On My Website



To get a wide variety of feedback I asked a different age range to give feedback on my website as this would allow me to get several different views on my media product. 
This feedback was productive as I realised the the aim of trying to maintain consistency had worked as most of the feedback commented on how the site links to the genre. 
The feedback that suggested the sides should have some advertisement down the side was inspiring as it was something I had tried to explore, initially I had paint splats down the side but I felt that it looked too messy and organised but the idea of having advertisements was inspiring and something I would have considered if I had more time.
The comment on the banner was a shock to me as it was something that I had not considered and hearing that from someone else's perspective that it was "boring" was interesting. To avoid this in the future I think that I would add some more clip art that related to the genre. This would spice the banner up but still link to 'Alternative Rock Genre'.

The constructive criticism concerning the photographs+ and how dark they are was very helpful as that's something that I would want to change straight away. To do this I would only alter the lighting a small amount on each photo. The lighting should be around the same to create consistency and depending on the photo I may lower the contrast levels. 

Evaluation 3 -Audience Feedback #Music Video

Audience Feedback On My Music Video


I found audience feedback vital when reviewing my music video. It enabled me to see how effective or ineffective aspects of my music video was, through other peoples perspectives. For this I asked an AS Media Studies class to give me feedback and the video above shows their responses. I personally found the video very helpful as they raised points that I could have improved and pointed out aspects that could have changed.

The comments on what the class thought was effective allowed me to see that aspects I had originally thought weren't effective were, for example, "I thought the lighting was good"  because "It creates a sense of disorientation" was particularly a useful comment to me when evaluating my piece. This is because the lighting in the narration scene was something I could not control and relied on natural light, the only editing I did to the lighting was editing the brightness and contrast. This showed to me that even without editing the lighting too much I still created a distorted effect. However, if I did have more equipment I believe the lighting is something I could have made even more effective by adding portable staging lights; due to the lack of equipment this could not happen.

Although the overall comments enabled me to see whether the video matched my genre, I particularly found the constructive criticism educational, as I found aspects I would have worked on if I had more time. For example, the comment on the lip sinking was something that I had not noticed before and would try to work on to correct the problem if I had more time. Comments such as "repetitive" was something I had considered early on in the making of my music video and something I had tried to prevent. I found this particular aspect hard to avoid as I was limited to the amount of footage of the narration due to the setting. This meant that despite trying the repetitive aspect was still noticeable. However, to avoid this I tried to used mirror effects, ghosting effects and different camera angles.



I also asked for feedback on Facebook, although I got little response the comments helped me understand what I could change about the music video to make more of an impact. I found once again that people felt it was repetitive and this was something I would have loved to have changed but due to me being unable to film in the same place again, it was something that I couldn't do. I felt that the complementarity comments were also very useful. For example, the comment pointing out that it relates to my genre enabled me to be more confident in my overall music video and realise that from unbiased perceptive it related to the 'Alternative Rock' genre.  

Tuesday 19 February 2013

Music Video

A brief paragraph stating my interpretation of the song and intended plot in the music video.
When listening to this track and considering and analysing the lyrics, I believe the song was written about a woman who had fell out of love with the artist and left him for another man. This man was rich and the artist feels as if the woman went with him because of money. With this in mind I decided to create a plot that involved the man slowly losing his mind without her; as he is clearly distraught. Therefore, my narrative character is the who the artist is slowly turning in to. I did not want this to be overly obvious as I thought it would add tackiness to the video. So, though out the video we see the man slowly turn in to the narrative character by exaggerating the sense of insanity when the songs pace quickens and the actions become more hectic.



The first thing to consider when editing a music is the programme used to do so. For my music video I chose to edit it on Adobe Premier Pro. This programme I thought was the most effective as it allowed me to see two screens, the one I selected clips on and my product so far, it also allowed me to use a wide range of effects; which is key to a music video of my genre.



One thing that was consistent throughout my music video was the contrast and brightness of each frame. In all clips the contrast is set to 70 and the brightness is set to 30. The reason I did this was to create a dirty effect that can relate to the attitude of the of the genre. Although a contrast set this high is not one that is common in music videos, I decided to add it as it would challenge the conventions of music videos in general. This contrast would also add a unique effect.


Another common feature throughout my music video would be editing the speed and duration. The range of speed I used was determined by the pace of the music and therefore ranged from 100-1000. By speeding the clips up I achieved the effect of rushed feeling and distortion; this implies that both narrative and artist aren't in the right state of mind. This relates to the aspects found in music videos related to the genre, as during research I discovered most alternative rock videos involve distortion to exaggerate the attitude and individuality. 

When considering adding distortion to my music video an effect I found an effect that was extremely useful. This was the 'Ghosting' tool. By adding the ghosting to specific clips involving the artist when the music began to get more hectic and the narrative clips I was able to add the effect of insanity; which especially relates to my narrative and overall plot. It also linked the artist  and the narrative together; this is crucial when trying to understand my intentions of the artist becoming the narrative character.  

I used two types of transitions in my music video. The 'Additive Dissolve' and the 'Cross Dissolve'. I chose these two because I was focusing on the look of distortion and these transitions added to the effect and reinforced the insanity of the the two characters being one another.

Saturday 26 January 2013

Website #Contact


After clicking on the 'Contact' option the audience will be lead to this page. This page will allow them to contact the team. The colour pallet I have used is once again red and black. This not only relates to the artist and the genre, it also creates a rebellious attitude.The stains around the side also adds consistency.

Thursday 24 January 2013

Website #Community

Community Page 


 The first that I did was add a title so the audience knows what page they are on. This typeset is the same as every other to create consistency and allow the audience to relate to the artist.  I then added the stains around the side like other pages to make the page less simple. It also creates the rebellious 'attitude' like the one the artist wishes to create, to match with the genre. The next aspect that I added was the subheading, this is in white to contrast the background and grab the audiences attention so they know what the page is about. The caption is small and quirky like the artist himself. This gives the page and the artist more of a personality the audience can relate to. 


The next aspect I added was a link to 'Sam's' Facebook site. This will upload pictures he had and add personality to the artist. It will enable the audience to feel as if they know the artist and hopefully create a connection between them which will encourage the audience to continue listening to the music this artist creates.








The final aspect was to add a link allowing the audience to get to a page which allows them to speak to the 'Confidential Riot' team. I have added this as most pages from my genre have either a 'feedback' option or a 'contact' option. Its in the same typeset as the titles at it will grab the attention of the audience yet still create consistency.