Evaluation; Question Four

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

In this technological age, using new media technologies is vital when constructing, researching, planning and evaluating media products.
When constructing my own product I used a range of different technologies in order to research, plan, construct and evaluate my A2 Promo Video Coursework.

Research

Before constructing or even planning to make a music video; there was a considerable amount of research that needed to be done.
Firstly I researched some of my personal, favourite music videos on Youtube to get an idea of what elements go into a music video. Once I had an idea of what to include into a music video, the next step was to find and receive permission from an unsigned artist.

To do this I used Unsigned.com; which is a website dedicated to showcasing talented unsigned artists. On Unsigned.com is where I found Charly Houston.

I listened to the song on her profile page (caption above), instantly I really liked her easy listening style. To find out more about Charly, I looked on her Youtube channel, that is where I found her song 'Paper People.'

(Below: Charly's Youtube Page)

I then emailed Charly asking for her permission to use her song 'Paper People' for my Music Video coursework.

Once I received permission, I then researched further into my chosen artist to get a better insight into her music and to get an idea of what to include in the video.
I looked on her Soundcloud, Myspace and Facebook pages.

Audience Research

For my audience research, I created a survey using Survey Monkey, the website is highly accessible and user friendly; this made the creation of the survey very quick and easy to create.

Once all results were collected, I used the 'Analysis' feature on Survey Monkey, to further breakdown the results.
I then presented the data collected on Survey Monkey using Padlet.com. I embedded my 'wall' onto my blog, the 'wall' itself is interactive and allows you to be creative in how you use the feature.
(Below: my wall; which is featured on my blog)

Planning

When planning the music video I used google docs, which I downloaded from our media department's blog. I used google docs for the Risk Assessment and the Contingency Plan.

The treatment was uploaded to slideshare; which I then embedded in my blog.

The animatic was made using Windows Movie Maker, which is a basic editing program.
The rest of the planning were published as blog posts on my blog page.

Construction

When filming our video, I used a Canon HV20 camera, which records in High Definition.

(Picture below of filming in Hainault)

To edit the footage we used Final Cut Express. Final Cut Express is a professional editing software which allows you to edit many different medias.

I used Adobe Photoshop to make the magazine advert and the digipak. Photoshop has many sophisticated tools to enable you to create professional looking images. Once I got used to the program, it was very easy to use.

(Below: editing an image for he digipak)

Evaluation

For my first and second evaluation questions I used Slideshare which is a website that allows you to search and upload PowerPoint presentations, videos and word documents. Slideshare is very easy and straight forward to use, and is very popular.

I used Prezi for my third evaluation, I included screen grabs from Survey Monkey.

And for my forth evaluation question, and final blog post which you are reading now, I used Blogger.com - a website that I have blogged about the whole coursework process. Blogger is a diverse blog website that covers a range of topics; you can search, read and follow certain blogs as you wish and it's free. 

Evaluation; Question Three

Evaluation; Question Two

Review of Music Video

Evaluation
The dark colours and empty location are all conventions of the acoustic genre, as well as the use of instruments and lip syncing are typical conventions of most music videos.

The slow paced editing matches the slow pace of the song and adds to the sombre mood of the video. The dissolves are effective as they help to transition the video from one scene/location to the next. Generally, the video transitions help to bring out the mood of the song hence making the meaning of the video apparent to the viewer. 

In the video there is only one character: a young female. In the video the actor can appear fragile and vulnerable in some parts ( such as the forest scenes); but in the guitar and dance shots she seems strong and dominant. I wouldn't say that there is use of stereotypes in the video as the video is not about a statement on society or political views.    

I would imagine if the video was to be played on any music channels it would probably be on 4Music and Smash Hits! as they are music channels targeted at the younger viewers aged between 14- 24 years old; and perhaps MTV Rocks as they show alternative and acoustic music videos as well as rock videos. Due to the content of the video, I would say that the video would be able to be shown during the day as there is no offencive content.

Finished Music Promo Video

Here is the finished music promo video for 'Paper People'

Video Narrative: The narrative of the video is that the protagonist is looking for clarity on a present event, the protagonist has to over come self-conflict and doubt to find the answer which she is searching for.

The Finished Digipak

This is our finished digipak, which I edited using Photoshop.

After much debate, we changed the front cover of the digipak because the original photo was blurred and pixeluated. I think that the new front cover reflects the genre more and it is more stronger visually. It also looks like a real front cover of a CD/Digipak which is an added bonus. 

The Magazine Advert

Here is our finished advert; which I edited using Adobe Photoshop

Review of First Cut

Today on of our media teachers watched our first cut of the music video.
We got mostly good feedback; with the exception of  two corrections that need to be made.

The corrections were: to introduce the Hainault footage earlier on in the video and to change some of our clips.

Proposal How to Expand/Increase Sales

Looking at our target research, and taking into consideration the age-group our target audience are, the music video needs to be entertaining as well as tell a story.
Sometimes with sombre/acoustic music videos the story can overpower the song and maybe discourage people to buy the song, it can have an effect on the artist too as they could be labelled to only do ballad-like songs. 

With the acoustic genre it is very easy to get caught up in the story that the lyrics are telling, however as Jamie Thraves says 'never be too literal with the lyrics.'

To increase sales, and allure our secondary audience, we are going to make the video fun and try to capture a youthful-vibe which should hopefully attract our target audience. People watch music videos because they want to be entertained and they want something visually captivating therefore we need to be creative and come up with some original ideas.

Audience Feedback

Created with Wallwisher

Digipak Ideas

As I mentioned in my last post, we've begun to brainstorm ideas for our digipak and poster.

These are the ideas we have for the digipak design:

This is a rough design of what we want our finished digipak will look like. The digipak design is very important as it hints at the genre and tone of the album/song, and the design itself helps to target a specific type of audience. 

It is vital that when producing our digipak that we keep within the conventions of the genre as well as try to attract an secondary audience in order to expand sales. 

Poster Ideas

My partner and I have started to brainstorm some ideas of what to include on our digipak and poster. We both agreed that we wanted something original and unusual for our poster to make it different from what everyone else is doing in our class.Here's a brainstorm of ideas which we have got now; which we hope to expand:

 

We also researched online and looked at examples of posters and art work to help expand our ideas, this also helped to visualize what our finished poster would look like.

Below are examples of posters/artwork which caught our eye:

This one I thought, the design was very interesting as it was like a mix of modern and vintage- making an artistic statement. 

I liked this poster because it effectively made the artist the centre of attention. The setting is very rural and natural hinting that the type of music would be easy-listening. The red flowers and white in this poster have all been enhanced; this creates contrast and draws the reader's eye to the title. The font is interesting as it is swirly, which can be seen as girly, and it is clearly printed so it is easy to read. 

 

Here is a typical pop (artist's) poster, this poster is very bold and catches the eye effectively. The artist is highlighted as she is in blue, contrasting the hot pink background. The singer's name is in big, bold, capital letters with the band underneath her name; this represents their role as they are the accompaniment supporting her. 

At the bottom is a smaller image of the album also stating that the album is  available to buy now - pushing downloads/purchases. 

Treatment

This is the treatment for the coursework, the treatment is a document that expresses the ideas for a music video and how the idea relates to the artist and the song. 

Magazine Advert Analysis

Detailed Research into our Artist

Charly Houston like most unsigned artists is on myspace and an unsigned website; but she also has also joined soundcloud and facebook. Soundcloud is a website where you can upload your demos online for others to listen to and also download (optional), this helps to reach out to your audience and other music lovers.

She also has her own Facebook page which she started in 2011 it features information about what gigs she is doing, ticket information, a band page where you can listen to music and view photos. This helps to interact with her fans and post the latest in 'the world of Charly.' Social media such as Twitter and Facebook is widely used and can be used effectively as a (viral) marketing tool as fans can tweet and share material with friends - and of course 'word by mouth' is the most effective tool there is!

Charly has also recieved positive reviews such as the one below:

"As professional as she is talented, Charly Houston undoubtedly has a very bright future ahead of her. I still can't quite believe she's only 15. Her voice has a rich, soulful, husky quality that singer-songwriters twice her age can only envy."
                                                                                        - Duncan Ross (Director, Klocwork)


A positive review can have positive effects and lure in interest from other music fans out there and possibly scouts looking for new, fresh talent.

Vox Pops: The voice of the people

Vox pops is another technique we can use to get information about the desired target audience.
The interviewees are shown to be in public places and are supposedly giving spontaneous answers, in a chance encounter, to the interviewer. Vox pops are used all the time in news programmes to show balanced views.

Each person is asked the same question(s) with the aim in mind to get as many (variety of) answers by the public on a certain subject. Therefore to get as much variety as you can, you need to ask a range of different people, age groups, gender, religion, race etc.

Survey

To further research, I've created a survey to get some answers from the public to find out what they think of my chosen song 'Paper People' as well as to get some insight of the type of audience the song will appeal to, this will also help when it comes to broadening our target audience.

Please can you click on this link and answer the survey!
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HLZ5QN5

Artist's Target Audience

Looking more into our chosen artist's music and profile it's clear that the primary target audience is girls aged around 16-24, like myself, and possibly younger teenage girls. Another audience the artist attracts are folk/acoustic music fans, so possibly people who like to listen to other artists such as Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran.
The target audience is also another factor we need to include whilst brainstorming for ideas, as well as to promote the track and the artist successfully.