Evaluation 4: How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Research and Planning
As there was only two members of our group communication was easy as well as regular meeting in school, also technologies like our mobile phones, IPad and Laptop to keep in constant communication. We maintained this communication mostly by phone calls and text messages this is particularly convenient as we both keep our phones on us at most times in the day. As we had use of an IPhone it made lots of tasks very simple for example when we wanted to know the weather for the next week, we asked Siri, which accurately finds a suitable and accurate answer to the question you pose from the internet in seconds. Weather was a key issue in the planning of filming our music video. As we wanted to promote the artists wealth and fame, sunny weather is associated with more positive look. This app allowed us to keep regular check on the weather and when it was best and convenient for us to shoot.Which also made our decision making quicker, again as we both had phones it was easy to stay in touch. This was essential to portray the right image across, no famous artist would stand out in the rain and record a music video, it would of looked amateurish.
The IPhone was also very good because as it allowed us to take as many pictures as we wanted to, where ever we wanted to. We were even able to take behind the scenes footage of what happened behind the cameras, when they are switched off. This is an effective as many artists write blogs or maintain video blogs to keep in constant communication with their fans, as it is them who are promoting them. It is very easy from an IPhone 5 to take and then upload to any social networking site an image or video. Also as you can upload the media to any social networking site it is in the public domain, millions of people access the internet and even more are on social networking sites like Twitter or Facebook. This means that millions of potential fans and customers will look at whatever is on the general display (The Wall). By uploading Behind the scenes footage it instantly creates a buzz for the next promotion the brand promotes.
A problem we faced when we went to film up London is that it is a heavily populated small area and is sometimes confusing on the roads to figure out how to travel to places. Before we decided to travel on the train we tried out the IPhone maps on the quickest routes to the locations we wanted to film at. A feature of this function is that it gives additional travel information, like toll charges potential road works and speed cameras. These car expenses and risk factors lead us to the decision to us public transport which turn out cheaper and easier to commute.
Another problem we faced however when deciding to use public transport is that we wanted to know the times and prices of the trains on the go whilst shooting, so we could decide when extraneous variables out of our control arose on the day, like too many people standing or walking in the desired location, of like in our music video when there would be skate boarders in South bank and how to get there for the time that they were performing.
It also kept us updated with the train activity and delays. This way we could work around any problems on the tubes and over grounds. Purchasing day travel cards online allowed us to travel all around London to our locations. As a group online booking supplied us with student discounts. Once again this aided our budget. A map of train routes was also supplied to us on the national rail website to guide us.
Google was used predominantly as a search engine. It is what the preloaded web browser on all the computers we had access to, it is very easy to use and also uses many features, such as Google maps. We used Google maps to work out predictions of potential travel expenditure around the various London locations. Also tools like Google image enabled us to get a quick and detailed look at all of these locations with out hoping they look right for the general themes of the music video and film, we knew accurately and currently what they looked like and could therefore easily picture how it would look in shot.
Vital to making our music video realistic we had to ensure that it would of kept with the same general conventions as official Drake videos.We used DrakeVEVO page to view the whole portfolio of his videos, it also had news topics and links to other sites relating to the artist, for example there was a link to go onto Amazon and purchase any merchandise from YMCMBA, this is the brand that Drake and other famous rappers like Lil Wayne andNicki Minaj as recognised with.
This allowed us to understand how different artists marketed their products in different ways. Understanding the layout of an artists website also gave us ideas of how to lay out our blog. This included colour scheme, labeled links, and also the set pattern followed throughout the site. Predominantly featured on the websites were the artists names. Displayed in different fonts inspired us ideas for logos, titles, and other font used throughout our project.
Construction of the Music video
Progressing from last year as a group, we knew that by using more new media technologies we would gain higher marks as the quality of our video would be higher. We were able to show off our technical skills in a variety of aspects, for example in the filming and editing. We used professional software and equipment to create a high quality final piece,we have built on our editing skills from last year, allowing a more realistic finish.
Final Cut pro was the editing software we decidied to use. Last year we used Pinnacle HD, this was fast and simple editing, however it wa slimited in the functions in which were available in filters, cuts, effects. Final cut is used by many professionals within the music industry. This took a bit of getting used to. As it was such a leap from our editing software to this professional software we had to take some time to familiarise ourselfs. After experimenting around with the magnitude of effects and the corrector tool, we were able to change the contrasts, brightness, saturation ect. We managed to find a tool that matched the setting off all the same clips and were able to sustain a set effects scheme to look professional.
We also used Photshop pro, although one of us did not know how to use it fully, we learnt together to create the digipak and magazine advert from the pictures we took when filming. Although the pictures were high quality we had to add different filters, fonts and other information to make sure to it looks like an advert and not just a picture. This was hard as Photoshop takes some time to understand what icons mean what and how to use them to gain to best effects such as blending, over laying and cloning. One feature that we enjoyed to use was the retouch tool. This allowed us to remove any unwanted blemishes to make the artists look flawless, this is important to look professional.
Evaluation/Feedback
As we both has access to face book, twitter and the frequent use of Youtube, made our evaluation tasks easier to promote and compare with other videos from around the world from a variety of artists. After we had promoted our video, we wanted to gain feedback, not only from our interpersonal interviews and questionnaires, but also from a mass index of participants, there is no better way to do this but to used social networking sites. We carried on the brand that we has used last year 'SwagStar' media productions to upload recent activities of the group and artist and information about release dates. All feedback was taken into consideration for any future projects. Although we wanted to used Youtube to upload the video, we couldnt as we would usffer with copyright issues as there is already an offical music video for started from the bottom, this created some problems as we still wanted the video to accessed by a mass audience. After research into the most accessed uploading site apart from youtube and Vimeo arose as the most popular.
Social networking is global and therefore allowed people to share our video to others around the world. We were constantly able to update our followers on facebook as whatever we posted would be automatically visible on their timelines whenever they logged onto Facebook. We used twitter for uploads and to keep the audience updated with news and to keep fans interested. Although new twitter is expanding rapidly, with the amount of celebrities logged on and twitting, to their fans or about information that fans will want to here, to follow this convention we set up our own twitter page.
Research and Planning
As there was only two members of our group communication was easy as well as regular meeting in school, also technologies like our mobile phones, IPad and Laptop to keep in constant communication. We maintained this communication mostly by phone calls and text messages this is particularly convenient as we both keep our phones on us at most times in the day. As we had use of an IPhone it made lots of tasks very simple for example when we wanted to know the weather for the next week, we asked Siri, which accurately finds a suitable and accurate answer to the question you pose from the internet in seconds. Weather was a key issue in the planning of filming our music video. As we wanted to promote the artists wealth and fame, sunny weather is associated with more positive look. This app allowed us to keep regular check on the weather and when it was best and convenient for us to shoot.Which also made our decision making quicker, again as we both had phones it was easy to stay in touch. This was essential to portray the right image across, no famous artist would stand out in the rain and record a music video, it would of looked amateurish.
The IPhone was also very good because as it allowed us to take as many pictures as we wanted to, where ever we wanted to. We were even able to take behind the scenes footage of what happened behind the cameras, when they are switched off. This is an effective as many artists write blogs or maintain video blogs to keep in constant communication with their fans, as it is them who are promoting them. It is very easy from an IPhone 5 to take and then upload to any social networking site an image or video. Also as you can upload the media to any social networking site it is in the public domain, millions of people access the internet and even more are on social networking sites like Twitter or Facebook. This means that millions of potential fans and customers will look at whatever is on the general display (The Wall). By uploading Behind the scenes footage it instantly creates a buzz for the next promotion the brand promotes.
A problem we faced when we went to film up London is that it is a heavily populated small area and is sometimes confusing on the roads to figure out how to travel to places. Before we decided to travel on the train we tried out the IPhone maps on the quickest routes to the locations we wanted to film at. A feature of this function is that it gives additional travel information, like toll charges potential road works and speed cameras. These car expenses and risk factors lead us to the decision to us public transport which turn out cheaper and easier to commute.
Another problem we faced however when deciding to use public transport is that we wanted to know the times and prices of the trains on the go whilst shooting, so we could decide when extraneous variables out of our control arose on the day, like too many people standing or walking in the desired location, of like in our music video when there would be skate boarders in South bank and how to get there for the time that they were performing.It also kept us updated with the train activity and delays. This way we could work around any problems on the tubes and over grounds. Purchasing day travel cards online allowed us to travel all around London to our locations. As a group online booking supplied us with student discounts. Once again this aided our budget. A map of train routes was also supplied to us on the national rail website to guide us.
Google was used predominantly as a search engine. It is what the preloaded web browser on all the computers we had access to, it is very easy to use and also uses many features, such as Google maps. We used Google maps to work out predictions of potential travel expenditure around the various London locations. Also tools like Google image enabled us to get a quick and detailed look at all of these locations with out hoping they look right for the general themes of the music video and film, we knew accurately and currently what they looked like and could therefore easily picture how it would look in shot.
Vital to making our music video realistic we had to ensure that it would of kept with the same general conventions as official Drake videos.We used DrakeVEVO page to view the whole portfolio of his videos, it also had news topics and links to other sites relating to the artist, for example there was a link to go onto Amazon and purchase any merchandise from YMCMBA, this is the brand that Drake and other famous rappers like Lil Wayne andNicki Minaj as recognised with.
This allowed us to understand how different artists marketed their products in different ways. Understanding the layout of an artists website also gave us ideas of how to lay out our blog. This included colour scheme, labeled links, and also the set pattern followed throughout the site. Predominantly featured on the websites were the artists names. Displayed in different fonts inspired us ideas for logos, titles, and other font used throughout our project.
These pictures all show an aspect of Drakes life, from the bottle of alcohol the the 'xo' in cocaine and the attractive female. This shows how Drake is a rapper and part of his life is the party scene, which is also the main conventions of rap life and is often what is portrayed in rap music videos. However the difference between the convention and Drake is that his wealth and name is through hard work and not drug dealing. His lifestyle is supported by him working hard not being a 'Gangsta'.
Construction of the Music videoProgressing from last year as a group, we knew that by using more new media technologies we would gain higher marks as the quality of our video would be higher. We were able to show off our technical skills in a variety of aspects, for example in the filming and editing. We used professional software and equipment to create a high quality final piece,we have built on our editing skills from last year, allowing a more realistic finish.
In our video we used a Cannon 600d to shoot the footage. One of the issue that we were faced with last year in the production of our thriller, was the poor quality of the camera, they were not as good as some of the other groups and there were hugh differences in look in comparison. Their videos looked more professional. As we knew that to sell this video to the targeted audience we wanted it to look as realistic and professional as we could. This camera is HD ready and a 1080i, meaning that the frames per second is quicker, meaning a more fluent picture. The camera was lightweight and portable with a long battery life, also it fit to the tripods that were provided by the school, thisa made it easy to use and it was a better quality. Luckily at the time that we shot there was not problems with light as it was in the middle of a spring day, and light was good. We also used this camera to take some of the photos for the Digipak and the magazine advert. As the quality of the pictures was higher, we were able to edit the pictures to a better standard than last year.
Once all footage was complete using an apple laptop we uploaded our footage. I-photo stored all our images and videos in a specific folder that was easily found, Called Anoop and Matt Music video. We were also careful about when to put work into the folder, as unfinished work will not flag up, and be seen easily meaning we may half finish work.
Final Cut pro was the editing software we decidied to use. Last year we used Pinnacle HD, this was fast and simple editing, however it wa slimited in the functions in which were available in filters, cuts, effects. Final cut is used by many professionals within the music industry. This took a bit of getting used to. As it was such a leap from our editing software to this professional software we had to take some time to familiarise ourselfs. After experimenting around with the magnitude of effects and the corrector tool, we were able to change the contrasts, brightness, saturation ect. We managed to find a tool that matched the setting off all the same clips and were able to sustain a set effects scheme to look professional.We also used Photshop pro, although one of us did not know how to use it fully, we learnt together to create the digipak and magazine advert from the pictures we took when filming. Although the pictures were high quality we had to add different filters, fonts and other information to make sure to it looks like an advert and not just a picture. This was hard as Photoshop takes some time to understand what icons mean what and how to use them to gain to best effects such as blending, over laying and cloning. One feature that we enjoyed to use was the retouch tool. This allowed us to remove any unwanted blemishes to make the artists look flawless, this is important to look professional. Evaluation/Feedback
As we both has access to face book, twitter and the frequent use of Youtube, made our evaluation tasks easier to promote and compare with other videos from around the world from a variety of artists. After we had promoted our video, we wanted to gain feedback, not only from our interpersonal interviews and questionnaires, but also from a mass index of participants, there is no better way to do this but to used social networking sites. We carried on the brand that we has used last year 'SwagStar' media productions to upload recent activities of the group and artist and information about release dates. All feedback was taken into consideration for any future projects. Although we wanted to used Youtube to upload the video, we couldnt as we would usffer with copyright issues as there is already an offical music video for started from the bottom, this created some problems as we still wanted the video to accessed by a mass audience. After research into the most accessed uploading site apart from youtube and Vimeo arose as the most popular.
Social networking is global and therefore allowed people to share our video to others around the world. We were constantly able to update our followers on facebook as whatever we posted would be automatically visible on their timelines whenever they logged onto Facebook. We used twitter for uploads and to keep the audience updated with news and to keep fans interested. Although new twitter is expanding rapidly, with the amount of celebrities logged on and twitting, to their fans or about information that fans will want to here, to follow this convention we set up our own twitter page.
No comments:
Post a Comment