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

At the beginning of the project, before we were given our song to create a music video, we did a lot of research into genre and music. We watched lots of music videos on Youtube in order to learn about genre conventions and for inspiration, writing analysis on how camera shots, angles and mise en scene were used in order to be congruent with the song and genre type,whilst also creating certain representations. I also watched a lot of music channels such as Scuzz, Kerrang and NME on sky to do further research, get more ideas and understand more stereotypical camera shots and mise en scene that are used in music videos.
When putting all of our ideas together, we made a short film which talked about what we planned to do, including setting, concept and props so that we could show we were organised and had a good idea.
We then story boarded our music video, creating a step by step guide of what we wanted to film and the manor in which we planned to do so. We took photos of these story boards and uploaded them to our blog on 'blogger' which we had to set up as a group in order to record our progress in our media project.
After this we started filming on our school's HD cameras scenes which we wished to use in our video, going to places such as the woods and Matthew's garage, using features such as zoom.
During the filming aspect of our project, we used iMovie on the Macs at school to edit our footage together, using features such as the 'old film' effect on our performance shots; brightening and increasing the exposure on certain parts; adding text over the film; cropping the size of the framing and creating a four way split screen my importing and exporting cropped clips.
To add the song over the footage, we used youtube to find the song and then used a youtube audio converter (www.video2mp3.net) to transform it to MP3 format which then enabled us to use it in iMovie.
Before we started our ancillary task, we had to do some research on real CD covers and advertisement posters on Google so along with looking at and analysing ones in class, we made a powerpoint of CD covers and analysed them on each slide; inserting images of the original covers, text boxes, arrows and animations. For my digi-pak and poster, I used my own 10MP digital camera to take photos of the band, instruments and settings. I used features such as flash and zoom whilst I was in the garage and taking photos of the instruments because I wanted them to be close ups and because it was quite dark inside, I needed the flash to enhance the lighting. Once I had gotten all of my images, I uploaded them to the Mac and used Photoshop to edit them in order to use them for my ancillary tasks. I only used simplistic tools such as adding text and editing contrast and brightness because I didn't want to complicate the photos or touch them up too much because I wanted them to look quite low budget which is relative to the indie genre. Though by brightening them and increasing the contrast, I was able to make them look brighter and more colourful which not only made the masks eye catching (something I wanted to do so that you could draw a relation between the music video and ancillary task) but again made it conform to stereotypical indie conventions.

What have you learned form your audience feed back?

I asked a few people to view my music video, poster and CD digi-pak images in order to get their views and opinions on all of the products. I decided to film them so that I could record every word they were saying and so that their expressions and mannerisms were present to also represent how they feel towards my media products.
Based on their feedback, I feel that all of the products are well liked and effective as all of the feedback seemed to be positive and the kind of responses that I, and the group, aimed to get.
Most people felt that the media products were 'quirky', a theme that we have wished to portray since we were coming up with initial ideas because it relates well with the indie genre; this reason being why we used masks and fun settings such as the park.
The band that we portrayed were also described as being 'Two Door Cinema-esque' which also means that we were effective in representing a typical indie band, this related all of the products to the genre of the song which, in turn would enable us to attract our target 'indie' audience.
I was also told how the audience likes how all of the media products -as in the music video, digi-pak and poster- are all related, following the same genre and using similar images and the same mise en scene. This is how I think we are able to be seen as a real band and for the media products to be seen as if they could be real; making them all effective products.
One of the people who I interviewed also mentioned the editing, saying how it was slick and well done. This is something we aimed to perfect in the music video as we know that it is a key part in making a video, especially for an up beat and fast paced song, which is what our song 'My Little Haunting' by Hot de Club de Paris is. We wanted to have very fast editing and cut it along with the music and beat so that it has lots of interesting images and is fun to watch as I feel that too many long shots can become boring in a music video; I'm glad that the audience felt that we did this effectively.
The concept was also mentioned by one of the people who viewed our music video, saying how they feel it follows the idea of the actual song. When we primarily listened to the song in which we were to make a music video for, we all wrote down our own ideas and then collaborated them together; we were lucky that they were all quite similar. We all noted the use of the lyrics 'my little haunting' and wanted to make them essential in thinking up a concept so decided to have the main singer being 'haunted' but as it is an indie song, we didn't want it to have a sinister tone so decided to use masks, along with bright colours to make it seem light hearted and to have a comic effect. The song also mentions 'round eye-holes' which gave us inspiration to use POV camera shots through the masks so it was again relatable to the song. Though we were unable to get a good shot through the actual masks so decided to get a piece of cardboard and create two circular holes in them, then filming through these holes to make it seem as if they were eye holes.
All in all the majority of our audience feedback was positive which makes me feel as if we have done well and all of our products are relevant and effective.

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

For my music video, CD digi-pak and poster, I used images and shots which were all relatable, using the same mise en scene and incorporating instruments and masks to show that they are all for the same song and same band. The masks, instruments and wide shots and photos of the band are all used for each product to show the quirky nature of the song and band to represent the indie genre, whilst also adding to the light hearted feel and making them seem humorous as the main character is going about his daily life with these masked people following him around to give it an abstract feel. The close ups of the instruments represent the importance of the music which is a theme carried throughout the indie genre; they are usually low budget bands who aim to make music rather than to create an image. In addition, the wide shots of the band show the saliency of the band as a whole, making the music look like a group effort and not giving credit to just the lead singer, another key aspect of other indie bands. The lighting in the music video correlates with the photos used for the digi-pak and poster; motivated light is used throughout to show the low budget aspect of this song. This is something I had to let influence me when I was editing my photos on Photoshop as I wanted them to look realisitc and similar to our video so I tried not to change the original photos too much, simply increasing the brightness on some of them. I also added the same font of text to the poster as I did to the digi-pak to create fluency; the text I used was simple gothic font which I feel related to the song title with the masks, but the simplicity of it also enhanced to the simplicity of the music video.
On my poster I decided to use a simple photo of the two masked characters mocking the lead singer to make it seem funny and light hearted; I shot it in the garage in which the performance shots were filmed in, whilst using the same costumes and masks that were in the music video to add continuity. I created a text box to put some tour dates in and another one to announce the release of the single 'My Little Haunting'. In doing this I was able to promote the band and the single but because it was in a small font it wasn't too ostentatious. Using a photo of the band showed the importance of the band and in making it the main centre piece focuses the viewers attention on the group which is the aim and adds to the indie genre.
I again used an image of the band for the front cover of my digi-pak to relate the pieces of work; taking a photo of them in the band in their costumes to represent the single and make it apparent it is an indie song by using quirky props such as the masks. The back and two inside covers are photos are close up photos of the instruments that we used in the music video with the corresponding mask/outfit which the band member wore.
By having similar themes in all of my products, I feel that they are congruent and it is apparent that they are all for the same song and band, whilst representing the 'indie' genre well. 

Comparisons with real media products

 

Another band which used a wide shot of the band is indie band Bloc Party

 Indie-Rock band Canterbury used masks in their music video 'more than you  know'

Two Door Cinema Club used lots of close ups of their music instruments in their music videos

The Arctic monkeys did a similar poster which advertised their tour whilst incorporating bright colours to represent their indie-rock genre

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge of real media products?

Prior to creating our music videos, we did a lot of research into music genres and conventions, enabling us to associate certain themes, colours and styles with a particular genre. We were then given a list of songs in which we had to choose one, create an idea for  music video and then pitch it to our teacher and class; we chose My Little Haunting by UK band 'Hot Club De Paris' with our simplistic idea of having a group of masked people chasing and 'haunting' our lead singer -which would be played by Matt- with performance shots of the band intertwined and were awarded the right to create a music video for it as a part of our A2 coursework.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGmv4c6CNjg
This is the original music video which Hot Club De Paris created for their song; we felt that though it was quirky, it wasn't a very effective product as it only consisted of one scene of a ouija board. We wanted to create a music video with the same feel but decided to do it in a different way with more movement and pace to fit the song better.
It is evident that this song as regarded as 'indie' due to the nature of the guitars, the vocals and the light hearted nature; we decided to conform to these conventions and make the genre obvious from the music video.
We managed to do this through:
*Costume: Making the characters who were gong to appear in the music video wear stereotypically indie clothes, such as browns, knitwear, denim and quirky accessories such as bow ties. This enabled the target audience (indie people) to relate to the band as they were dressed similarly and acted in a similar manner.

* Mise En Scene: using quirky props such as masks to give the video a light hearted and humorous feel to the video as they were chasing the lead singer throughout; also relating the product to the song as it's called 'My Little Haunting'.

* Lighting: Using motivated lighting to give the video a low-budget 'indie' effect such as the day light we used and the fairy lights. The lighting also made it humorous as it was apparent that it wasn't suppose to be a scary video just because it used scary masked, so we juxtaposed the day light with the props to give it this effect.

 

* Location: Using natural and normal looking settings like a kitchen, garage, the woods and the park to again add to the fact that this is a low-budget music video; also again creating a humour as it's obvious that the concept is unrealistic and how the characters are just annoying to Matt, rather than scary, both of these ideas link to the 'indie' genre.

We decided to conform to the 'indie' genre in order for our music video to be an effective product as we wanted it to be comparable to a real media product : other indie music videos, whilst also attracting a typical target audience that Hot Club De Paris would have. In using all of this mise en scene, along a variation of bright colours with wide camera shots to show the importance of the band and close ups of the instruments to show the saliency of the music, I feel we were able to create an effective final product which represented the 'indie' genre well.