Thursday, 23 January 2014
Wednesday, 22 January 2014
Evaluation Question 1
In what ways do your media products use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
In our video we attempted to adhere to forms and conventions of real music videos whilst also being a little different and slightly challenging them. We used our knowledge of Goodwin and Vernallis' theories to inform and guide us in the making of the video.
Goodwin
Vernallis
To make our music video look as professional as we could we tried to use many of the features that Vernallis wrote about. An example of this is obvious edits that draw attention to themselves and are also in time with the beat of the song. I have uploaded a short clip from the beginning of the video that contains a number of these features.
The cuts between shots are in time with the beat of the song, some in a more obvious way than others. An example of obvious edits would be in our use of the four-way split screen between the three band members and the diamond and how each part of the split screen appears in time with the music. The clip also contains a number of base tracks such as a close up of Steven singing, a mid-shot of Ella playing the bass and a longer shot of Steven/the band. All of these shots are repeated throughout the video in the chorus section, giving the video structure.
Which real videos influenced us?
Before we started making our video, the videos I cited as influences and inspirations for ours were from Hoobastank (The Reason) and Arctic Monkeys (I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor and R U Mine). I think if you look at our video you can definitely see aspects from all of these. For example...
Shot types from 'I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor'
The main thing we took from this video was the shot types and composition for the performance aspect of the video. We chose to use this video as it is by the same band and is a good example of the conventions of the indie rock genre. Using these shots was a way our video conformed to conventions of real music vides in our genre. Here are some shots we used:
Colour Scheme from R U Mine
From R U Mine the main thing I wanted to use from that was the 'colour' scheme, by which I mean the black and white. However it isn't just that it's black and white as there are many black and white videos it is the specific amount of black and white from the levels and the look it gives the video. I think the effect we put of black and white on our video is very similar to the one that Arctic Monkeys used in R U Mine. See the similarities here:
Storyline/Structure from The Reason
The overall storyline and idea for our video is very similar to the video for The Reason by Hoobastank (they are both diamond heists), therefore this is probably the video ours is most similar to. We used a similar structure to Hoobastank combining both performance and narrative. I would say aside from the overall structure and idea one of the main things we took from the video is the various elements of iconography of diamond heists that they feature in their video such as a blue print, diamond, safe, CCTV etc.
The Digipak & Advertisement
For my digipak and advert my influences were a little less obvious but there are still clear existing media products that helped me create this design. As far as keeping to genre conventions go I think my digipak and adverts do generally conform. I found in my research that the majority of indie bands either don't have a picture of themselves on their front cover or they have a kind of obscured picture of them so mine fits in with that.
Influences
One of my influences was Kanye West's artwork for the album 808s and Heartbreak. The main thing I took from this album was the font style as well as some of the colours.
My other influence was a kind of minimalist graphic design style I saw online and I blogged about. I couldn't find any real albums with this exact style but here are two cartoonish type ones which I think you can draw parallels with.
In our video we attempted to adhere to forms and conventions of real music videos whilst also being a little different and slightly challenging them. We used our knowledge of Goodwin and Vernallis' theories to inform and guide us in the making of the video.
Goodwin
If Goodwin saw our video he would probably say it was an example of 'Amplification' and I would agree. This is because our video certainly follows key elements of the lyrics (diamonds are forever), but our overall story of the diamond heist is not mentioned at all in the lyrics, but it definitely doesn't contradict them and I would actually say it's a pretty good match for the song in tone and mood.
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| "Diamonds are forever" Fits the lyrics introduces new meaning of heist. |
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| "They are all I need to please me" Fits the lyrics introduces new meaning of "I" (masked theives) and "Please" (dancing with diamonds) |
Vernallis
To make our music video look as professional as we could we tried to use many of the features that Vernallis wrote about. An example of this is obvious edits that draw attention to themselves and are also in time with the beat of the song. I have uploaded a short clip from the beginning of the video that contains a number of these features.
The cuts between shots are in time with the beat of the song, some in a more obvious way than others. An example of obvious edits would be in our use of the four-way split screen between the three band members and the diamond and how each part of the split screen appears in time with the music. The clip also contains a number of base tracks such as a close up of Steven singing, a mid-shot of Ella playing the bass and a longer shot of Steven/the band. All of these shots are repeated throughout the video in the chorus section, giving the video structure.
Which real videos influenced us?
Before we started making our video, the videos I cited as influences and inspirations for ours were from Hoobastank (The Reason) and Arctic Monkeys (I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor and R U Mine). I think if you look at our video you can definitely see aspects from all of these. For example...
Shot types from 'I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor'
The main thing we took from this video was the shot types and composition for the performance aspect of the video. We chose to use this video as it is by the same band and is a good example of the conventions of the indie rock genre. Using these shots was a way our video conformed to conventions of real music vides in our genre. Here are some shots we used:
Colour Scheme from R U Mine
From R U Mine the main thing I wanted to use from that was the 'colour' scheme, by which I mean the black and white. However it isn't just that it's black and white as there are many black and white videos it is the specific amount of black and white from the levels and the look it gives the video. I think the effect we put of black and white on our video is very similar to the one that Arctic Monkeys used in R U Mine. See the similarities here:
The overall storyline and idea for our video is very similar to the video for The Reason by Hoobastank (they are both diamond heists), therefore this is probably the video ours is most similar to. We used a similar structure to Hoobastank combining both performance and narrative. I would say aside from the overall structure and idea one of the main things we took from the video is the various elements of iconography of diamond heists that they feature in their video such as a blue print, diamond, safe, CCTV etc.
The Digipak & Advertisement
For my digipak and advert my influences were a little less obvious but there are still clear existing media products that helped me create this design. As far as keeping to genre conventions go I think my digipak and adverts do generally conform. I found in my research that the majority of indie bands either don't have a picture of themselves on their front cover or they have a kind of obscured picture of them so mine fits in with that.
Influences
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| The fonts |
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| The colours I used were the same. |
My other influence was a kind of minimalist graphic design style I saw online and I blogged about. I couldn't find any real albums with this exact style but here are two cartoonish type ones which I think you can draw parallels with.
The Use of Colour
A clear idea in my digipak is the use of colour, and the contrast it holds against the bland blacks, greys and whites. While the album cover itself holds similarities with the Muse album 'The Resistance', pictured below, the use of colour in mine goes much further, with the idea being the band being the life and colour in a music world of such boring greys and whites.
This was the original idea and evidently, I stuck with it. I did however, intend to go further with this idea. Below is the original inside panel of the album, which can now be found on the finished product, but with one stark difference.
The colours I added, although a nice idea in my opinion, showed the problem with certain things in photoshop. Although it may be a good idea in your head, it may not translate well onto paper. It also shows that while something may work in one situation, it can be rather poor in another. While the colours came across as vibrant and stark in the album cover, in this case it looks very strange and actually distorts the picture, with the three band members being hard to make out. A way around it would have been to have kept the band in their original colours and make the world black and white, but London is such a grey city, even the lack of colour on the London bus would have made it hard to notice the severe lack of colour.
This tells me that with an idea, the setting has to be perfect and you have to understand just how the idea is going to translate, instead of just having the idea of it in your head. In conclusion I can see that although my full product did not completely evolve, it is the minor aspects that evolved, and this makes me much happier, as I realize I eliminated the things that were holding my product back and made a solid final piece of work. I do however think that the idea was quite nice and I would happily go back to it and try and perfect it, make retaining the original colours, or just spending a lot of time on getting the colours to look less out of place and more natural.
This was the original idea and evidently, I stuck with it. I did however, intend to go further with this idea. Below is the original inside panel of the album, which can now be found on the finished product, but with one stark difference.
The colours I added, although a nice idea in my opinion, showed the problem with certain things in photoshop. Although it may be a good idea in your head, it may not translate well onto paper. It also shows that while something may work in one situation, it can be rather poor in another. While the colours came across as vibrant and stark in the album cover, in this case it looks very strange and actually distorts the picture, with the three band members being hard to make out. A way around it would have been to have kept the band in their original colours and make the world black and white, but London is such a grey city, even the lack of colour on the London bus would have made it hard to notice the severe lack of colour.
This tells me that with an idea, the setting has to be perfect and you have to understand just how the idea is going to translate, instead of just having the idea of it in your head. In conclusion I can see that although my full product did not completely evolve, it is the minor aspects that evolved, and this makes me much happier, as I realize I eliminated the things that were holding my product back and made a solid final piece of work. I do however think that the idea was quite nice and I would happily go back to it and try and perfect it, make retaining the original colours, or just spending a lot of time on getting the colours to look less out of place and more natural.
Tuesday, 21 January 2014
Evaluation Question 4
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Paul Feedback:
Here's a few quotes of what he's said:
'Like the band logo... reminds me of the strokes'
This is very nice to hear, and related back to another band int he same genre therefore I know I have been able to create something that keeps to the conventions of existing projects.
'Like the band logo... reminds me of the strokes'
This is very nice to hear, and related back to another band int he same genre therefore I know I have been able to create something that keeps to the conventions of existing projects.
'Black and grey feed... diamond blurry thing at the bottom' 'Reminds me of Nine Inch Nails'
He said he likes the colour theme, which was my main concern as the video is B/W but my ancillary isn't however, that didn't seem to be a problem as he linked both the projects together. Again he said it reminded him of another well known group which makes it seem professional.
He said he likes the colour theme, which was my main concern as the video is B/W but my ancillary isn't however, that didn't seem to be a problem as he linked both the projects together. Again he said it reminded him of another well known group which makes it seem professional.
'Logos in the right place'
I am happy to hear that everything looks alright in terms of layout as I had a problem with where I should place the logo as I wanted it centred but didn't want the name to look weird. This makes me confident that It all looks neat.
I am happy to hear that everything looks alright in terms of layout as I had a problem with where I should place the logo as I wanted it centred but didn't want the name to look weird. This makes me confident that It all looks neat.
'Very Basic'
These comments about the advert are a bit disappointing, I tried to keep to my simple theme but apparently I was too simple. I would go back and add in the information he wanted if I could and to make it more informative for my audience.
Finally he spoke about how he could link the two projects together which is very useful to know.
Feedback after cinema screening:
If I could go back I would re-shoot the singing scenes in order to make it seem more energetic as that's one of the criticisms we got. I also got told from Eli in another class (not on video) that the story was a little bit confusing and we could have made it clearer which is something I would like to do, maybe show an actual safe or have words in the video saying 'Diamond Heist' and things like that to make is super obvious.
One of my concerns was the black and white theme, I thought people would have wanted a bit of colour, however, in the feedback we were told that the black and white theme was very liked and good which makes me view the video differently and see it how the audience see's it, I'm glad they enjoyed the theme.
Someone said that they are able to link the video to the ancillary due to the use of diamonds obviously and slyly, for example the cards we used were of the suite diamonds to relate back to our theme which connects with the diamonds on our ancillary work.
[WORDLE OF WORDS THEY USED TO DESCRIBE IT]
Advertisement Planning
I am beginning my advertisement for 'Waving Lady' and I have decided on what to do. I will, instead of featuring the album, extend it. I will use base idea of the album cover and extend the image and widen the scope of it, adding space for reviews and for the release date.
Here is the album cover as it stands, with no work put in, bar the removal of the words.
Here is the album cover as it stands, with no work put in, bar the removal of the words.
Evaluation Question 4
What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
Reaction from the Cinema
Here is the video from the reacion inside the cinema. The whoops were very positive.
Analysing Two Comments
"I loved the black and white" - This comment was very helpful as the colours was something we looked very hard into; as we were unsure whether to stick with the coloured footage or change it. Eventually we decided that black and white looked better and definitely more realistic.
We also decided to change it into black and white to mirror the Arctic Monkeys music videos R U Mine? and One For The Road.
"I really liked the Narrative" - This comment was very nice to hear as the narrative was a huge challenge. It was like a mountain and we were the Mountain Goats that had a huge obstacle to do. When we first pitched the idea to the teachers they were quite cautious and thought we would have a tough time making a believable narrative. Oh boy did we rise to the occasion and climb that mountain. We managed to make it work and hearing that people liked the narrative is extremely positive.
Improvements [What would I change]
I think the biggest thing I would go back and re-do would be securing the safe. At the end of the day the safe was out of our hands, we waited for about 15 minutes to get the safe, only to find out the woman who had the keys had long gone. The second time we went to get the safe we were waiting for about an hour and no one came. So we gave up. At least we tried. I don't mind the locker we used (shoutout to J Sammy) because it delivered what we wanted, but I would have liked to have a safe.
What Have I Learned // Reflection
I have learnt that teamwork is crucial, you must respect your fellow filters. I have learnt that when making a video, bring the equipment but also share the load. When editing, don't hassle the editor but make sure you're getting involved. Update the blog regularly. Don't hide in the shadows, dance in the light.
Reaction from the Cinema
Here is the video from the reacion inside the cinema. The whoops were very positive.
Analysing Two Comments
"I loved the black and white" - This comment was very helpful as the colours was something we looked very hard into; as we were unsure whether to stick with the coloured footage or change it. Eventually we decided that black and white looked better and definitely more realistic.
We also decided to change it into black and white to mirror the Arctic Monkeys music videos R U Mine? and One For The Road.
"I really liked the Narrative" - This comment was very nice to hear as the narrative was a huge challenge. It was like a mountain and we were the Mountain Goats that had a huge obstacle to do. When we first pitched the idea to the teachers they were quite cautious and thought we would have a tough time making a believable narrative. Oh boy did we rise to the occasion and climb that mountain. We managed to make it work and hearing that people liked the narrative is extremely positive.
Improvements [What would I change]
I think the biggest thing I would go back and re-do would be securing the safe. At the end of the day the safe was out of our hands, we waited for about 15 minutes to get the safe, only to find out the woman who had the keys had long gone. The second time we went to get the safe we were waiting for about an hour and no one came. So we gave up. At least we tried. I don't mind the locker we used (shoutout to J Sammy) because it delivered what we wanted, but I would have liked to have a safe.
What Have I Learned // Reflection
I have learnt that teamwork is crucial, you must respect your fellow filters. I have learnt that when making a video, bring the equipment but also share the load. When editing, don't hassle the editor but make sure you're getting involved. Update the blog regularly. Don't hide in the shadows, dance in the light.
Evaluation Question 2
How effective is the combination of your main product [Video] and ancillary texts [digipak and advertisement]?
I have created a PowToon to bring the clear links from the Music Video to the Ancillary Texts. I chose Powtoon because it made it bringing the information across, more exciting that listing in text and bullet points.
I have created in in chronological order, starting with the inspiration for our ideas, then how we created it.
Powtoon
I mention in the Powtoon that I got some feedback from my good friend David Lynn, but unfortunately Powtoon doesn't have a way to format a video on the slides yet; so I shall have to leave the interview here for you to listen to:
Interview With My Good Friend David Lynn #2
You may recognize David, he was kind enough to let me interview him as a member of the Arctic Monkeys target audience. In this interview I ask him what key things stand out to him; the effects, the images e.c.t.
He also finishes of saying that as a Arctic Monkeys fan, he would indeed, buy this and he was attracted to it; so thanks very much David.
Clear Synergy Mirroring the Arctic Monkeys
The Arctic Monkeys have kept with their synergy and have been releasing their music videos from AM in black and white. We made our video black and white to keep with our synergy. This way the audience can connect our album with our video.
These are the logos from the Arctic Monkeys and The Jewellers. I chose a thick font which looked similar to the Arctic Monkeys and made sure it was only on the advert or album in a black or white colour to match the black and white theme.
Diamond Synergy
The name of the group itself links with the plot of our video:
Jewel = Diamond // Jewellers = diamond theives
There is a key sense of diamonds in our music video as we make subtle hints in the singing shots, and then the narrative itself revolves around us stealing a diamond, which would let the audience see subtle shots and clear shots.
In the digipak I also continued the subtle and the clear. The track list on the CD is in the shape of a diamond and the track names link to diamonds e.g. 'Sparkle Sparkle'. The 'A' in the album cover has been made into a diamond.
I think, due to the clear diamond imagery in the video and diamond images in my digipak, the audience will be able to see the links between my work with the diamonds.
Do I Think This is Successful?
Yes, I do. I think the audience feedback on evaluation question 4 and my good friend David Lynn's feedback has re assured me that my work has been successful in targeting our teenage audience to create a realistic indie rock album / video.
Evaluation Question 1
Andrew Goodwin touches on different areas of what he believes happens in and around music videos.
These specific shots reflect both sides of our video; the standard indie rock band video that features the band playing instruments, and the narrative. We followed what Vernallis said by making a visual response to the music, although the narrative is slightly more imaginative than what most people would choose to go to when hearing the song, however, it is art and art goes as far as the eye can see.
- Pop videos represent the song which normally centres around modern day, hence the strange videos
- The artist is usually the singer & character
- To bring in the audience the singer/s look into the camera
Some videos are weird and go beyond what the song says. There are three types of relations between songs & videos (according to Goodwin);
- Illustration - Where the video tells the story
- Amplification - Where the video tells a story the song didn't, but adds to the meaning
- Disjuncture - Where the video and the song have no connections between them, both hold separate meanings
What Ideas Did We Follow?
Andrew Goodwin says that there are three types of relations between a song and a video. You could argue that we followed Illustration as our video definitely told a story, but you could also say we followed Amplification as we made a story through the video that had nothing to do with the original story of the song which I think fits better.
Amplification [Tells a separate story]
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| The introduction of the characters we created for the story. |
The meaning of the original song appears to be a woman saying that her love of diamonds is stronger than the love she receives from a man; and unlike men, her diamonds stay:
"Diamonds are forever, sparkling round my little finger
Unlike men, the diamonds linger"
Unlike men, the diamonds linger"
We took a different approach. As we were a band, we created a narrative that would require a fair amount of characters, resulting in 3 of us playing instruments and featuring in the video, and one of us filming.
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| The key shots of the video in chronological order. |
For the narrative, we added an additional meaning to the song, instead of romanticising the diamonds, we stole them.
We shot the video in chronological order; starting with the introduction to the masked band members, then planning the heist (which we portrayed by using the props, in this case the map), stealing the diamonds from a safe and finally leaving our mark by literally leaving a figurine of the Queen holding the queen of diamonds card.
Carol Vernallis believes there are four main concepts in a music video
- Narrative - Makes the video is a visual response to the music.
- Editing - Tends to match the beat of the song
- Camera //Framing & Movement: Typically extreme to break away from the commonly used mid-shots and close-ups. Style of framing and camera type is usually a continuing theme in the video
These specific shots reflect both sides of our video; the standard indie rock band video that features the band playing instruments, and the narrative. We followed what Vernallis said by making a visual response to the music, although the narrative is slightly more imaginative than what most people would choose to go to when hearing the song, however, it is art and art goes as far as the eye can see.
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| All four screens show four key things in the video and enter with each individual drum beat |
We made sure that the shots matched the beat of the song, but this specific sequence in the video was the most significant, and I feel, made the most effect on the audience.
We split the screen in to four separate screens as the drums kick in (literally) and by doing that, the energy from the video matches the energy from the song. It was this part in particular that the audience in the cinema began whooping so that emphasises my point.
We split the screen in to four separate screens as the drums kick in (
What Videos Were We Influenced By?
Rihanna - Diamonds
Rihanna's music video for her song Diamonds is similar to ours as the video has very little to do with diamonds at all. At the beginning there is some diamond imagery which definitely inspired us to do some ourselves, but the rest of the narrative is quite random and features a lot of Rihanna herself.
This isn't surprising as she is a pop singer and pop singer's videos usually show the singer themselves doing things.
Arcade Fire - Reflektor
Arcade Fire's music video for Reflektor featured the band wearing strange looking paper mache mask's/helmets. We were inspired by this and although we didn't find masks that large, we did manage to find some that kept with the humour Arcade Fire had.
Hoobastank - The Reason
Hoobastank had a very similar video to ours, out of all the videos that inspired us, this one made the biggest impression as both videos feature a modern day heist. Of course theirs is more dramatic as they had a budget, and the plot more romanticised, nevertheless, the feature of the physical diamond in this video inspired us to follow suit and get one of our own.
Liberty X - Just a Little
Liberty X's music video is probably the most dramatic video out of the three previous music videos. Although this video does feature a heist, a lot of the video is spent watching the singers, which obviously isn't surprising as it's a pop group. That being said, the safe that they use in this video strongly influenced our ideas and although we couldn't film in a bank, we made sure we featured some kind of safe looking object in our video.
How Conventional is my Digipak?
I think my ancillary print is conventional. I followed the colour structure that the Arctic Monkeys did of limiting the colour scheme to a minimal. I didn't show the faces of anyone in the group, and the track list doesn't look out of place for an indie rock band.
Rihanna - Diamonds
Rihanna's music video for her song Diamonds is similar to ours as the video has very little to do with diamonds at all. At the beginning there is some diamond imagery which definitely inspired us to do some ourselves, but the rest of the narrative is quite random and features a lot of Rihanna herself.
This isn't surprising as she is a pop singer and pop singer's videos usually show the singer themselves doing things.
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| Here are the two examples of diamond imagery Rihanna's (Above) and ours (Below) |
Arcade Fire - Reflektor
Arcade Fire's music video for Reflektor featured the band wearing strange looking paper mache mask's/helmets. We were inspired by this and although we didn't find masks that large, we did manage to find some that kept with the humour Arcade Fire had.
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| Here you can see both videos and their respective masks. AF (above) & G10 (below) |
Hoobastank - The Reason
Hoobastank had a very similar video to ours, out of all the videos that inspired us, this one made the biggest impression as both videos feature a modern day heist. Of course theirs is more dramatic as they had a budget, and the plot more romanticised, nevertheless, the feature of the physical diamond in this video inspired us to follow suit and get one of our own.
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| Here you can see both videos diamonds. HS bright coloured diamond (above) and our transparent diamond (below) |
Liberty X - Just a Little
Liberty X's music video is probably the most dramatic video out of the three previous music videos. Although this video does feature a heist, a lot of the video is spent watching the singers, which obviously isn't surprising as it's a pop group. That being said, the safe that they use in this video strongly influenced our ideas and although we couldn't film in a bank, we made sure we featured some kind of safe looking object in our video.
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| Quite the contrast, but Liberty X's CGI safe (above) and our locker safe (below) |
How Conventional is my Digipak?
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| My advert is to the furthest left. If you look straight ahead but upwards you will see the front and back of my digipak, the front being the one with the image and the back the black diamond with the tracks. Looking down you will see the inside! |
In terms of what I challenged, I think I challenged the face scandal on the album most. I was recommended by my teacher that it would be a good idea to show the faces, but I didn't feel the need to, then the fiasco with no copyright of the masks almost made me have to use the photos, but I ended up using the fingerprint images instead. Am I 100% pleased with that? no no no, do I think it works, yes yes yes.
Monday, 20 January 2014
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Thursday, 16 January 2014
Wednesday, 15 January 2014
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