How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluate stages? (Music Video)

THE FINAL PRODUCT:

• Software used for main media product: FINAL CUT PRO
• Other technologies: RECORDING CAMERA

The way in which the piece was constructed and conducted was that we filmed lots of footage -- shots of the artist in many positions, such as dancing in the forest, throwing water whilst dressed, and various other things, and then re-film certain pieces of footage, constantly repeating some scenes, changing costume was quite frequent, which was quite tedious at times.

• My input in the music video was I edited the beginning of the song and the finale, whilst the others edited the rest of the video.
  

Research:

• As part of my research, I thought hard on the actual concept of this video - I wanted it to be very abstract and surreal as possible - and this would be challenging the conventions of a music video (close ups, interaction with the audience, etc) and I think that the idea has stuck and it has turned out to be quite surprising. To boost inspiration I used sleevage.com to look at artist's work, and also looked upon Youtube to gather ideas and possible themes for my artist. I also looked at the background information on Florence & the Machine, Kate Bush, Tori Amos to get a general feel of their music and their music videos, and what they're trying to express through their music videos.

Construction:

• In order to begin editing and creating my music video, I used editing software Final Cut, which admittedly, I found this uncomfortable to use at first as I had never used it before, as last year I used iMovie, which was simple to use. I then soon adapted to the software but of course, I still got help when I needed it such as importing the footage, which I eventually got used to.
  

This is a screen shot from the music video. I have used Final Cut to manupulate my film footage and was able to create something out of the ordinary -- as you can see, I placed 3 pieces of footage on top of each other to stay in with the theme of surrealism, dreamy atmosphere, being in a dream. I have used overlays and changed the opacity in the film footage in order to challenge real media products and I think that by making the film more abstract, I believe that this is what people would be wanting to see a lot more in reality.

Evaluate:

• Once the music video was complete, the next thing was to upload it on to YouTube, which we have done. The media technologies I have used to broadcast my footage and work was youtube (recent), flickr (gained feedback for ancillary task), and uploaded on blogger so my class and my teachers; possibly other peers are able to view the video. Being able to upload this footage has really brought confidence to me and my technical media skills, and I believe that I have become more advanced in the knowledge of using editing software and I think my work has challenged the typical media conventions of a music video and by making it completely abstract and bizarre, it has gone against the conventions in a way that it would be seen as interesting and possibly refreshing for a specific audience.
  

What have you learned from your audience feedback? (Music Video)

In order to gain more feedback for our artist, the group brought some people in our year group to come and view the video themselves and told them to give out feedback on what they thought was effective about the video and what could be done to improve it. I thought this had turned out surprisingly well, and I'm pleased that we managed to get a wider audience to view our final product.

• Helen: WWW- The shots were good and I liked the way they faded into each other. EBI - Sometimes it was slightly out of sync.
• Alice: WWW- The effects looked good throughout; and it flowed with throughout. EBI - The lip syncing around 2.10 was out of sync.
  
• Danielle: WWW- Good editing and miming throughout the music video. EBI - the lip syncing was out of time at one point.

Overall, I have learned that the flaw in the music video was that at 2:10, the lip syncing was out of tune, and that it needs to be re-synced in order for it to be fully complete and in sync. However, seeing as this is not my section, I do not need to edit the flaw.

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluate stages? (Ancillary Task)

• Software Used for Ancillary Text: Adobe Photoshop

• Other Technologies: Digital Camera, Facebook, Flickr

• I used media technologies such as photoshop and the use of a digital camera in order to create my ancillary task, which was to:
  1) create a one venue poster representing my artist
  2) create 3 panels which would be used in the digipak.
  
  The way in which I approached this was that I was influenced by Florence & The Machine, Kate Bush and Tori Amos- how they looked and their genre of music, being almost opera for Kate Bush, and twists of indie/dream-pop for Florence, equalling to a "hybrid" genre -- I wanted my artist to looked upon as a new and contemporary "replica" of these artists. I used the commas to insinuate that the artist may seem to be similar to them, but the artist only has certain aspects and traits which is evident in the ancillary tasks.
  
  
• Venue Poster: This is the updated version of the venue poster. The way in which I used media technologies to improve my work was the website Flickr - and from using that website, I was able to broadcast and share my work out into that community, and from using Flickr, I recieved feedback from people, who mostly critiqued the font and text not being clear enough and it needed to be more illuminated.
  
  
  Also, in terms of planning, the group and I planned out what our artist was going to look like and what kind of genre Madelyn would be suited to. We also spent a few days at Nonsuch Park to get some inspiration, planned and taken photographs of the artist in the woods to get a feel of what the specific genre should be(hybrid), and in this case we chose to contrast the ancillary posters, (dark and light) to show multiple sides or personalities in Madelyn Faith, so it would challenge the conventions of a music video and how artists would usually be represented. (the lighter poster is Laura's).
  Photoshop has severly helped with piecing the work together - the "swirly" vector andthe fonts neatly go together and the glowy text makes the poster stand out. Also, the use of a dark blue 'exclusion' has made the photograph appear more ominous, and almost surreal, with the use of lens flare which is focused on the artist. Overall, the use of photoshop has made this poster become more interesting and abstract to the desired audience.
  
  
  

Digipak Panels:
"Madelyn Faith" album front cover. I think that this works very well as a front cover as the composition of the artist's face remains in the middle, and how the background of the trees are overlapping her face symbolises eccentricism and also the concept of a "ominous, yet twisted woman" who is in fascination with nature, similar to Tori Amos and the video of Cornflake Girl. I feel that this photograph is very beautiful and captivating for the audience as the piece is quite abstract in a way that it is challenging the conventions of a music artist in the way that most people do not present themselves or manipulate themselves in such a way. The mask and the trees have worked really well to conceal Madelyn's identity, and the editing itself is very subtle and very alluring, it could seep curiosity for viewer as to who she is and the purpose of hiding one's identity. (We had done this because i'm camera-shy, and wanted to have this artist be different and original, and present herself in a way which is comfortable, yet odd as we have challenged and even used the conventions of a music video, and we also wanted to do this as it would bring attention as the audience would want to find out who she is, and why she hides her face).


This photograph is more so focusing on Madelyn Faith and the location. I used photoshop to again, hide her face and identity - by using an overlay of a tree branch and changed the opacity so it looks like it's engraved on the skin. I found this effect to be very idiosyncratic as it represents something unfamiliar, but it is effective in terms of genre and mise en scene; recreating the "surrealist" theme through the panels so they all blend together. I used the blur tool on photoshop to make the artist more in focus and appealing. (but before this I used the pen tool and outlined the figure and copied + pasted the image into the same place) I also like the composition of this panel as she is looking down, rather than a full on close up, again exemplifying shyness or curiosity. Lastly, the text is a line from the song 'Blinding', which is the main song (music video), and decided to encorporate the text into this photo almost as if she was thinking of it.



Inside panel (used to be the front cover). This used to be the front cover for the album, but I then decided that it wasn't strong enough - that it does not sum up the artist as intended. However, I do like this panel as the blue, cold tones are evident in the background,and the overlay of trees over her face and body remains, which is also captivating and pleasing to the audience. This picture is quite simplistic but it endeavours ominousity and beauty at the same time -- and this combination would realistically would not relate to one specific audience -- for example, young people.However, the use of a digital camera and photoshop have really broadened my knowledge for what makes a good digipak and venue poster, and the techniques I have used have had a real change in my learning and taught me to become more experimental with my work and ideas for further projects. I'm throughly pleased with the way the ancillary task has turned out.

What have you learned from your audience feedback? (Ancillary task)

This is the "one venue" poster in which I shared my work over the internet, by using photo-based website Flickr, in order to gain audience feedback, and what they thought about the work. I did post the URL and photograph onto Facebook, but I recieved no response. However, I am pleased that I recieved some comments about my ancillary task as they have demonstrated that they particularly liked the photograph and that the font and glow behind complimented it, but they have given me constuctive critisism, on what I could do to improve it. The second comment said "the white stroke and glow, and the block color of the text shoves the photo into the background, maybe there's a way to somehow integrate the two? like allowing the text to sit in a block of color somewhere on either side, or top or bottom. or overlaying the text somehow."

What I have learned overall is that it has been quite difficult in getting my ancillary task noticed by the wider audience, which was quite frustrating as I did need a variety of feedback. But, I am pleased that I recieved some form of feedback, which has helped me to understand what real upcoming artists may feel when it comes to releasing their work and getting their preferred audience to notice it. Also, the feedback I did recieve has helped me to discover what I could to do make the poster look refined and more professional.

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

1) Location Digipak: Music Video: (insert establishing/location shot screengrab from video)

• We had planned from the beginning that we would specifically go out to a location that would entierely consists of nature-filled areas, and places that would be regarded as almost "dreamy". But also, we have contrasted location footage.... using relatively "normal" footage, up to an almost disturbing shot of the artist sitting in a bath, almost transitioning to something unknown to the audience, representing the artist of being somewhat twisted and lost, but still appealing and alluring to the audience. In this respect, she is almost like Florence Welch and her bizarre personality. To be more specific, the ancillary task is relating to part of the music video as they are both set in a 'mystical' forest.

(insert screengrab of music video footage of me in bath) 2) Hiding the artist's identity by wearing a mask, or covering the face with another prop. Digipak: (these panels were the first drafts, I then went on to change them as I felt that they were not strong enough to represent the artist) Music Video: (insert screen grab of artist in mask/prop in video)

To conclude....

• I found this concept of hiding the artist's identity to be very fascinating, as not many artists do this. Visually, this was evident throughout the digipak and the music video and I think it went very well, as the audience would get a feeling of curiousity and even find the concept slightly extraordinary. To adapt on this, I used editing software and encorporated in final cut overlays of trees and various scenes in the music video to make the artist appear almost inhuman.


• Overall, the main product and the ancillary tasks fit together, in terms of the concept of nature and wearing props to cover the artist's identity, and they would generally fit into the genre of baroque-pop and possibly dream-pop.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (Music Video)

The music video and promotion package I had created on my behalf, were of an "indie/indie-pop" and of "baroque pop" genres. In regard to the ancillary tasks I had completed, many of the aspects had come from influences and the inspiration of Tori Amos (Cornflake Girl), Kate Bush (Wuthering Heights), and Florence Welch (Florence & the Machine; Lungs album), and that the tasks met the forms and conventions of a music video, and the ancillary task fits in well with these female artists.

• "Cornflake Girl" by Tori Amos - the song the group were most influenced by.
  
  

This alternative rock video is visual in it's creativity and media elements. It has underlying tones of simplicity, in the sense that it represents a beautiful, young, pale woman with bright red hair, who is eccentric and experimental with her appearance. Obviously Tori Amos came after Kate Bush, who was the original female artist to create this pre-Raphaelite look (if you look at Ophelia, it is very similar to these artists). The introduction of the video of the autumnal shots has also been a contributor to the work as we have used a forest as a main part of the music video, nature and trees overlaying the face, creating a surrealist feel to the video.

However, my music video has developed in terms of "real media products" meaning, how has my work been influences and developed from real artists... which in that way, I believe that my music video has pushed the boundaries of what is considered a "music video". Of course, there are lots of shots and locations we have used to get our artist, "Madelyn Faith"(used 'Blinding' by F&TM), to be related in terms of the genre of the music, and that we have used a variety of locations such as Nonsuch Park, and my bathroom -- to create this fresh, contemporary, almost radical, (more so eccentric) figure to show a feeling of independence and creativity. It has developed as we have worked together, yet kept in terms with the conventions of a music video (we have used close ups, lip-synced, variety of props and costume) to make a low/no budget music video give the illusion that it is professional in the hands of amateurs. Overall, I am extremely pleased with my music video because yet it has pushed and challenged the conventions of real media products, it is more so vibrant and unique -- it's not like the typical music videos you would see on the TV -- our artist is not banded in with mainstream music. I personally believe that we have created the video in the artistic and kept in with nature and surrealism to give out a message that not everything is the same, there are other things to be inspired by....

• The editing did not take the form of 'continuity' and therefore, defied the laws of a 'structured' music video. When analyzing other music videos, it was in fact highly noted that a lot of narrative and structure was present. The absence of a specific structure caused the forms of traditional media to be challenged, for example; there were no specific prior location, the artist would be dancing and taking in scenery from the forest.
  

• Disorganised use of effects such as 'overlapping' the scenes and the use of quick cuts and combining video footage together also challenged the 'neat' mediated videos that individuals are familiar to.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (Ancillary Task)

Poster
Before the music video was created, it had derived from the ancillary tasks, which I constructed a "one day venue" tour poster, at the Koko club in Camden Town. I decided that this venue was best for our upcoming artist, as she is new and contemporary, and which the tour date would come after, which this poster was made by my partner Laura.

• If you were to look at both of the posters we have made, you can see that the posters are polar opposited; they seem not to be by the same artist. Usually, if an artist was to announce tour dates and venues, they would go by the same theme and concept. However, we have challenged and developed this approach by contrasting our pieces, which relatively fits in with our work overall. (Laura's poster is quite light in colour and text, and used a lighter photograph). The only element that combines our pieces together is the font we have used (Quilted Butterfly -dafont), yet they also differ in colour, but it does not matter, as the artist is then seen as having split personality, traits, tendencies.
  
• What I like most about the poster I've created is that the effects I used on photoshop (dark blue overlay, the swirly vector on the text, etc) to make the concept of nature and surrealism fit in with the chosen genre. The dark tones creates a feeling of coldness, a darker side to Madelyn Faith -- which the other poster defines the eccentric side of her. This combination of opposite colours and no matching theme apart from using same font would be considered quite bizarre.

Digipak

• When creating my half of the digipak, I kept in with the concept of nature and a surrealist vibe. I got to create the front cover, which is an establishing shot of the artist, wearing a mask. We have also developed and challenged real media products as we have used a constand, reoccurring prop that is vital to the artist, in terms of shyness, and brings curiosity to the audience to discover who is she is, and why she wears it. Typically, there aren't many artists who wear masks during performances or music videos (apart from metal bands and Look Blue Go Purple?) in terms of cinematography, I find this photograph to be very bold and strong, acknowledging the artist's appearance in one go. The font is the same as the posters, which I subtly included just underneath. It looks better not being bold and clear as we wanted to attract the audience to the artist's face and the tree branches being overlaid over her face and chest, which is again hinting at beauty and creepy traits, linking to nature, also showing a sense of freedom.
  Florence & the Machine's front cover of "Dog Days are Over" is one inspiration of the digipak.
  

• Overall, I find my contribution to the finalised digipak to be a success, in terms of concept, and keeping in with the forms and conventions of using real media products which has emphasised my mediatic creativity of being able to make a professional looking digipak. The effects are very idiosyncratic and eccentric, again highlighting key aspects of the artist, and by using these experimental techniques, lots of overlays and exclusion tints, adjusting exposure, manipulating the artist's face etc, has really brought out almost a new "look" and the digipak and experimenting with our cinematography, I feel that this has brought me up onto a new level in creating and analysing my work.