Research and Planning- Marking

Level 4 16–20 marks
• Planning and research evidence will be complete and detailed.
• There is excellent research into similar products and a potential target audience.
• There is excellent work on shotlists, layouts, drafting, scripting or storyboarding.
• There is excellent organisation of actors, locations, costumes or props.
• Time management is excellent.
• There is excellent skill in the use of digital technology or ICT in the presentation.
• There are excellent communication skills.
• There is an excellent level of care in the presentation of the research and planning.





Excellent SWOT but rather strange prelim with no lip synch. Really thorough Powerpoints on history and codes etc. Loved the early ideas for the video, Excellent analysis of Toxic although the analyses of the Hills and past student were a little brief. Good on intended audience and institution although I was surprised by the choice of MTV. Basic but thorough storyboard. Great variety in this blog. I think Patient Productions is hilarious but would the same company make a thriller and a music video? Interesting post on marketing and again the director's commentary was well done. Very good on cover analysis but perhaps a complete digipak would have been better. Amazing ICT work on your digipak posts. Good deconstruction of Bruno Mars' website. The website is amazing but I was expecting some of your own pics.


George 17/20

The Final Product - Website

https://georgepatient35.wixsite.com/mysite-1

Final Product - Music Video

Final Product (Digipak)

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

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

Smartphone

When I wasn't near my computer or it was unaccessible, I used my phone to conduct some research. Examples of this were, finding song lyrics and watching short clips on youtube such as tutorials.

Blogger - Research, Planning and evaluation

I used blogger to track my journey through this project, posting my research, planning and production work. This site is a simply method of collating all of my work on this project together and I found it to be an effective tool in completing the coursework. Blogger has been especially helpful because I was able to embed videos and pictures to my posts; allowing me to vary my presentation of work in varying ways. I was also able to embed powerpoint for easy viewing on the blog which was also useful. Due to blogger being easily accessible, it enabled me to add new ideas quickly after thinking of them.

YouTube - Research

YouTube has been key throughout my project, lots of my research and inspirations came from here by watching other music videos and trying to get inspired by other peoples ideas. Moreover I used it to teach myself how to use some new software and create various pieces of my music video.YouTube has also been a key component in the presentation of my work as all the video on this blog run through YouTube. For me especially, YouTube has significance because it is a key component in marketing my music video.

Social Media 

Social media was helpful to keep up to date with new music video releases, promoted by artistes. An example of this is Ed Sheeran promoting Taylor Swifts music video for her song 'End Game' which he featured on; this could be described as a form of synergy. In addition to this, social media is the main method of promotion for my video and its actual production.

 
Other Sites
I used surveymonkey.com to create a questionnaire which was sent off to random people and from the results, I was able to display the graphs and tables that came out of the process.



Software

Microsoft Office

Although Blogger has been a very good resource for my project, aspects would not have been possible without some of the Microsoft Office software. Firstly, I used PowerPoints in my project to present my work in a more exciting way with colour schemes and pictures.  used Microsoft Word as a reference to all the blog posts which needed to be completed and what need to be included in them. Probably the most useful application I used here was OneNote as it allowed me to plan out each section; music video blog posts, digipak posts and website posts. Moreover, I used this application to conduct my analyse as it had a draw feature which was easy to use and customise.

Adobe CC Programmes

The main piece of adobe software I used was Photoshop which I used to create my digipak as it enabled me to manipulate images and use various effects to make my design look professional.

I used Premiere Pro to create the strobe effect which you can see below. I used this software to do so because it was quite simple to use and offered a variety of options that were easily utilised. Moreover this software has a great deal of online support in terms of tutorial videos so I was able to pick up some new skills whilst using it.

Final Cut Pro X / Motion 5 / Compressor

These three applications were the most important throughout the production of the video. Firstly, Final Cut Pro x was used to edit the video; I chose this platform because I have had previous experience with it and I know it offers a great range of editing options which are simple to use. 

The next piece of software I used was called compressor, it was essential in the importing of media files into Final Cut Pro x. It was key because I recorded all my footage in 4K but because of the high resolution clips, my laptop was running slow so I used compressor to compress the clips to a 1080p (HD) resolution which enabled a smoother editing process and the videos themselves ran smoother too; due to an increased frame rate.

The third piece of Apple software I used in the production of my music video was Motion 5. I used this software to create most of the effects in my music video. The most obvious example of this is the flickering effect which is active in most of the video.

Extra Research

To satisfy my curiosity of how music videos how are filmed and the kind of equipment high budget productions use, I decided to do some extra research into this. From some basic research I found the behind the scenes footage video for Eminem's music video "Walk On Water".

Evaluation 3 - What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

The importance of the audience and their feedback

Audience feedback has been important in all the tasks I have completed since it allowed me to find my areas of weakness and gave me solutions to how I could improve. It is important that audience feedback is collected from your target audience so you know what your potential consumers want to see.

The number of people I received feedback was around 10, I felt this was suitable as most of the feedback I received overlapped and this number allowed me to ask both males and females equally. 9/10 of my reviewers were between the ages of 17 and 22, which is my target audience (Late teens/young adults). I used various media to conduct my feedback, firstly I used a projector and cinema screen to actually display my music video for the test screening and then I collected feedback via my laptop; I asked my audience to complete a basic form one at a time. My digipak feedback I received verbally and took a note of it myself.

1. Initial feedback

The initial feedback I received was verbal and was positive, my teacher liked my original ideas but warned me not to make it too complicated because something simple can still be done effectively. In response to this, I decided to tone down some of my more complicated ideas such as the use of clones.

2. Rough cut feedback

The feedback for my rough cut was mostly positive with some constructive criticism. I was happy with the feedback because my audience appeared to enjoy the video and understand the concept I had created. However, after some self reflection, I decided to change my idea so that the main points of improvement I received could be actioned effectively. Said improvements included using more genre conventions so it felt more like a R&B/Soul music video and my lip-syncing in some sections needed improvement as it was not quite in time with the music.

As you can see from the two shots in the storyboard above; there is a tracking shot over my shoulder and an establishing shot. Both of which commonly appeared in my music video - I felt they reflected the singer/songwriter genre more than my intended one; my rough cut feedback reflected this as well.

3. Digipak rough cut feedback

Although I had an idea of the direction I wanted to take the digipak in, it became apparent it would not work for my artiste or the overall product I was trying to produce. This was reflected by the feedback I received after producing my digipak rough cut. From the feedback, I decided to change the layout and the look of my final digipak; addressing my feedback and adding in some improvements of my own.

4 . Website rough cut feedback

Because the website is quite basic, the feedback I received was quite minimalistic but still helped my improve the site from the rough cut to the final product.

4. final version feedback

Music video

I agree with the feedback I have received for the final cut of my music video. If I were to make another cut of the video, I would take this feedback into consideration and arrange some reshoots to address some of the improvements.

Digipak

I am pleased with the positive feedback I have received for my digipak as it took a long time to complete and manipulate the images. I challenged myself with this ancillary task by teaching myself how to use photoshop by using tutorial videos that I found on YouTube. If I had to complete this task again, I would include some small print onto the back of my album cover - this could include a copyright notice.

I asked a media student from another school for their feedback as they were completing different tasks to me and it provided me with an opportunity to obtain constructive feedback from an outside source.

He is an example of some class feedback.

Both methods of feedback above were received via Snapchat, a social media platform, common amongst my target audience. This is also an example of how the internet and social has been used throughout my blog.

I also feel the fact that a digipak is something in addition to the music is important because of fans like to get the most for their money. It is also an incentive to buy the album rather than stream it; you could suggest that digipaks still exist so that the artiste can still make money from record sales in the internet age where it seems they will eventually come obsolete.

Website

Because the website is quite basic, the feedback I received was quite minimalistic but still helped my improve the site from the rough cut to the final product.

How I feel overall from the general feedback

I am pleased with the feedback I received as it helped me to make various improvements to my products between the rough and final cut. The feedback also kept me motivated to keep trying new ideas throughout the project as I had more confidence I could pull them off.

Evaluation 2 - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

The purpose of the music video

The main purposes include:

• To sell the song and create a fan reaction to it - This would consequently make the song more memorable.
• To give the audience an insight to what the artiste was alluding to in their lyrics (Give the audience a better understanding)
• To entertain and display the artistes talents
• Music videos act as a platform for greater public exposure and create more public interest; increasing the capacity of the artistes brand.
• To generate more revenue - Fans may buy the song and the accompanying video; although YouTube does mostly prevent extra revenue being created from this method on the whole.
• To sell and reinforce the artistes brand

Brand Identity

This refers to the relationship that is established between multiple media products. This can be done through several means such as composition, representation or colour; which is how I decided to create my artistes brand identity.

'Girls Like' is an example of a song with a music video that reinforces the idea of an artiste being a brand. The lyrics read "Tell Russell I'm a brand", this is also intertextuality. The whole brand/image concept is carried by the record companies; artistes signed to independent labels would not have the same scope of music video production as the oligopoly might do due to big financial differences.

Some bands/artistes change their brand and style of music; for better or for worse. Sometimes fans welcome the change but others times it creates a stir and stigma around an artiste. Harry Styles is an example of an artiste that had a successful brand change; once a member of a boyband which proved themselves in the industry to a quirky pop singer that has an original sound that was very popular at its time of release.

The Purpose of the digipak and Website

The main purpose for the digipak and website is to essentially promote and advertise the artiste and reflect their brand. Although both forms of media are relevant, websites are more so with the proliferation of streaming and technological convergence. The theme of the digipak will usually come from ideas in the video and from the genre of music; each with their own conventions.

Digipaks can become iconic to an artistes image. One key example of this is Nirvana's naked baby underwater album cover which is immediately associated with the band. I actually used the underwater concept for my own album 


How my products link together