Evaluation Part 1

Evaluation Question One

1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (Part 1)

The still shots on the top is of our music video but the still shots underneath are of other artists music videos which we were inspired by.



(Click the image above to enlarge it and then you may need to zoom in to the web page)

1. Taylor Swifts video for 'Belong With Me' inspired our narrative and our location as it is set in the female protagonist bedroom, we decided that we wanted our artist to be getting ready and she would be performing in her bedroom. We felt that the audience would be able to connect with the artist because the pop genre is targeted at a young female audience and they are able to relate to the narrative. From watching Taylor Swifts video we realised that the artist performing in her bedroom gained a comical feel and it is also shows social realism.

2. The second frame is from Kate Nash- 'Foundations', the video uses an editing technique called stop motion which we felt would suit our music video. The director in 'Foundations' used stop motion to portray the unstable relationship between the couple. However, in our music video we used stop motion editing to show the fickle minds of teenagers which is presented by the different nail polish colours.

3. Shot three is from B.O.B ft Hayley Williams - 'Airplanes', the use of the projector inspired us to create a similar background for our music video. In 'Airplanes' there are moving sequences of stars which reflects the lyrics well "Can we pretend that airplanes in the night skies are like shooting stars". We used a combination of still and moving images on our projector, though in 'Airplanes' they only used moving images. In our music video we liked that the audience could create different interpretations by the use of the projector such as the purple fields could represent freedom and growing up through the blossoming of the flowers.

4. Our music video is similar to Alexis Jordan- 'Good Girl', as they are both performance base music videos. Also, both music videos use the same backgrounds such as the artist performing in front of a black and a white background which makes the video seem more sophisticated. There is fast pace editing in our music video and in the 'Good Girl' music video, through the fast pace editing we were able to change the artists make up and her clothes which is often seen in music videos from the pop genre.

5. In Alexandra Burkes music video 'The Silence' the narrative and performance is set so that Alexandra Burke seems like she is in a photo shoot, we felt that this made the audience connect with the artist as they feel like they are at the photo shoot. In our music video we wanted the audience to connect with the artist by the flashing lights on the artist in the mid shot and the extreme close up shot. It could be interpreted that the artist is getting ready to perform or she is at a photo shoot.

6. The sixth still shot is from Sia- 'Breathe Me' the photographs in 'Breathe Me' shows the artist in different places in the house and the artists movement. For the seventeen opening beats in our music video we wanted to use seventeen photographs showing the artist growing up, which fits with the idea of time and how quickly the youth of today grow up.

7. In our music video we wanted to show that our artist is an established performer, from watching Keri Hilson- 'Slow Dance' we was influenced to use an iPhone to introduce the song which creates synergy as we used a photograph of the artist to make the audience recognise the artist.

8. In Jessie J- 'Nobodys Perfect' clocks are used to show that the artist wants to go back in time to change certain events, in 'Nobodys Perfect' the clocks are used to taunt the artist and it shows that the events keeps playing in her mind. However, in our music video we are representing how quickly time passes.

9. The ninth still shot is from Labrinth- 'Let The Sunshine' we liked the close up silhouette shot of the artist as it adds mystery to the artist and the meaning of the song. We thought that we could use a similar shot would suit our music video as the heart silhouette has a dream affect, which portrays that love is a desire of hers which reflects the theme of growing up.

10. The still shot on the right is from Lady GaGa- 'Just Dance', in the still shot one of the extras writes on a mirror Dance which fits with the lyrics in the song. In our music video we decided to make the performer write a lyric of the song on a steamed mirror.

Evaluation Part 2

Here is my answer to evaluation question two on a Powerpoint Presentation:

Evaluation

Evaluation Part 3

3) What did you learn from your audience feedback?

From the viewing of our music video we received great audience feedback and we feel that we have learnt a great deal from our feedback, here is some of the following comments:





(Click image to enlarge)To get a better understanding of our audience feedback we asked ten people to complete a scoring questionnaire of eight topics of our music video. Lip-syncing, Editing on Beat, Narrative, Colourful, Success of projected background, Stop Motion, Mise en Scene, Enjoyment. Here are the results of our responses in the formation of a bar chart.



Media Audience Feedback

Overall from analysing our audience feedback we have learnt that we were successful in producing a music video with precise lip syncing, however we learnt our audience feedback that they would prefer to have more of a narrative in the video because they were interested to know what happens next. Also, because of the pop genre is targeted towards young females they are able to relate to the female protagonist in the video. At the beginning of the course we constructed a questionnaire to gain information of our target audience preferences for a pop genre video. From this we learnt that the audience preferred an performance based video as they enjoyed seeing the artist, however the from comparing the feedback received before the video and the feedback received after the video viewing, we may have conformed to a performance based video too much because it was commented that the audience would have preferred to see more of a narrative video.

The feedback received it was clear that the audience enjoyed the fast paced editing especially of the photographs at the beginning of the video because the shots were edited to the beat of the music. We learnt that this was successful because the photographs represented the theme of our video, 'Time', and a girl growing up and her changes over time. We learnt that the mise en scene of the video was important to inform the audience of the pop genre. From the bar chart it is clear that the mise en scene was well received by the audience because the artist changed costume and make up through out the video similar to Alexis Jordan 'Good Girl' video. This made the video appear professional along with the studio lights in the photography room of the extreme close up shots. Therefore we learnt how important the mise en scene is in a pop video from the original questionnaires aimed at. We are pleased that from the following feedback we achieved a successful mise en scene. From the bar chart questionnaire we have learnt that our music video was well received and enjoyed by our audience.

Evaluation Part 4

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



Evaluation Question 4 Media

Feedback On Music Video

After posting our final video on YouTube channel Domemjesskayla we have received a comment from someone who has watched our music video: (Click to enlarge image)

Music Video Screening at School

At school the media department organised to showcase both the AS and A2 productions in the school hall, we were able to invite not only the lower years of the school and teachers, but also friends from outside of school would wanted to see what we had created.

Dominique from our group introduced our music video to the audience before it started, she said:

The audience were given sheets of paper on which they could give feedback about each groups music video. The questions on the sheet were: We created our music video to Teenage Dream by Katy Perry. After many narrative changes we finally decided to create a performance based video. in our music video we wanted to portray time and how quickly youth grow up. The female protagonist is shown from childhood to early stages of adulthood.

1) Please give details about what you like about our music video
2) What is your favourite part of our music video and why?

Below is a Prezi of just a few of the feedback sheets from the screening:

Teenage Dream Screening Feedback on Prezi

Newest Edit..

The first video is of the opening photos of Kayla which we re filmed. We wanted to show the progression of her getting older and growing up and therefore decided to use the stop animation of the photos to show her growing up from a baby to present day:



This is our latest edit of our music video we have changed the opening shots and included the music video credits even though they are not finished. We have also edited in the sped up clock when Kayla is getting changed:

Time Clock Video

Here is just a quick clip that I made on iMovie to show how we increased the speed of the clock. The first two speeds we were able to increase in iMovie, However the final two speeds were created in final cut express as in iMovie you can not exceed a certain speed limit. Whereas in final cut express you are able to increase the speed to a much faster pace.

Video Inspiration

When it came to editing our music video we felt that the transvestite idea was too confusing for the audience and people thought that the extreme close up shots of the boy applying mascara and eyeshadow was the performer.

We then decided to change our music video to a performance base video which was inspired by Alexis Jordan- Good Girl, this makes the audience can connect to the performer. We have decided to make time the main theme of our video so we can portray how quickly youth is growing up in todays society, we will show the artist growing up by the seventeen photographs in the beginning showing the artist as a baby, toddler, child, teenager and then early adult.

In the music video we will show the artist getting ready to go clubbing which shows that she is in the early stages of adulthood, we will use a variety of make up styles, hairstyles and clothes to make the mise-en-scene appeal to the female audience who mainly listen to mainstream pop. We want our artist to get ready and perform in her bedroom this was inspired by Taylor Swift- Belong With Me music video. We feel like our new idea will make more sense to the audience and it will appeal to our female target audience.

Although our video is mainly performance based, our video is similar to the video by Taylor Swift - You Belong With Me. However we are not showing the girl finding a boyfriend but just our artist getting ready for a night out.

We created an animated storyboard of the first one minute and twenty five seconds of the song, we made the storyboard to show our new narrative ideas. With the longer shots in the music video we will change the angles or the characters placement. Creating the storyboard has helped us to create new ideas for shots, for the rest of the music video. We labeled each shot in the story which has the different camera shots and the location of the shots.
Below is the our animated storyboard.

Lastest Version of our Music Video

Here is the latest edited version of our music video, we have removed all of the shots of Lewis and taken completely taken out the narrative of a transvestite.
We are now creating a more simple narrative of a girl, Kayla getting ready for a night out.



What we need to change:
- To improve the narrative further we are going change the stop animation of the photographs to photos of Kayla from a child to today.

- At 2:35 where the shot zooms into the door we are going to film a clock and speed it up to represent the passing of time as she changes.

- The jump cuts of Kayla changing also need to be sharpened up to fit more to the beat (2:31).

- We also want to change the nail varnish stop animation to include more nail colours so that we can speed it up and play it quicker to the beat of the song.

- Also the opening of the song which has the laptop where we play the song, we are going to change it to and a person selecting the song on their iPod.

Our Music Video

Here is an edited version of our music video. When have begun to try and create a more of performance based narrative but still included some of the shots of Lewis as well as Kayla (the artist).

Our Performance Video - Behind the Scenes

Below is a behind the scenes video of how we styled and created the hairstyle in our music video:

Changing Video Idea - Performance Video

After continuing to watch our music video we have decided to change to slightly change the concept of our music video. We are now going to have our video as mainly performance. After showing our music video to people they found the transvestite narrative very confusing and did not follow the narrative.
Therefore, we are now going base our video mainly around the performance of the artist and have a more simple narrative.

Here are some examples of pop performance videos:

My Magazine Advert

Development - creating the digipack...



My Final Design:

Above are two possible magazine advert ideas that I have quickly sketched. After drawing both of these images, I think that I am going to use the first image as it features a bigger picture of the artist on the magazine advert. By having a larger image of the artist on the cover allows the audience to recognise quicker what the poster is advertising. Furthermore it is important and typical for most pop artists face to be the focal point of any advertising for their music as they are the 'star' which the audience need to recognise.

My Final Digipack Feedback

Here is my digipack feedback from Facebook:



Below is some feedback I received from my friends through my Blackberry Messenger, I then took a screen shot from the application screen munched then uploaded them to Facebook:

My Final Digipack

Here is my final digipack. I am pleased with the overall result of my digipack and feel that I have conformed to the conventions of the pop genre. I have created another post in 'My Digipack' label to display the pink circle sticker as I know that it is unclear on the CD digipack here.

I used the photos from the photo shoot which our group set up at school, these photos give my digipack a much more professional look to it. I also like how I have used the artist in lots of different outfits as this is a common feature in many pop genre CD digipacks. Not only did I use the photos from the photo shoot I also decided to use an editing software called picnik that allows my to slightly adjust the quailty, colour and airbrush some of the photos in order to create and even sleeker, more professional finish.

I now wish to try and gather some audience feedback on my digipack to see how they react and what they think about my digipack. Aswell as what I could have done to improve it further.

Digipack Logos

Here I have posted the images that I have used on the cover of my digipack. I decided to include the paternal advisory stick onto mu digipack. I felt that it made my digipack look more professional and also featured on many of the pop artists covers which I researched. I copy and pasted the image from the search engine Google as the sticker does not change and is used on many CD covers.
However, the other sticker which I decided to include, I designed myself. After looking at pop artists CD covers at my house I discovered that lots of them included small stickers or texts boxes in the corners of the CD cover further advertising the CD itself. For example many would inform the audience of various hit singles that featured on the CD as well as any other new singles or extra features you would receive if you brought the CD.

Below (the pink sticker) I designed myself using both Microsoft paint and Microsoft Word. I simply used text boxes, and the drawing tools to create a small advertisement sticker that would feature on the front of my digipack. The sticker says: "3 Brand new songs! Including 'BOXED LIES' and '3D Loser' And the smash hit 'TEENAGE DREAM' & 'NOCTURNAL MISTAKE' crystalroxx.com"

My Own Digipack Development

Inspiration from JUST CD COVER IT


Below are a few of Ke$has CD covers which is where I got most of my inspiration from:

My Final Tracklist

I have slightly changed my tracklist/song titles as I saw that they all had either two or three words in them and in real tracklist, there are more of a variety of song titles and lengths. Therefore to make my CD as realistic as possible I made a few changes. Here is my final tracklist:

1. Boxed Lies

2. Rocks

3. No More Snarls

4. Let It Be

5. Understanding Thoughts

6. 3D Loser

7. Life Without Frowns

8. Unlocked

9. Nocturnal Mistakes

10. Nightmares Are Fragile

Katy Perry Purrfume Launch

Earlier this year Katy Perry has released her own fragrance called Purr. Here are some images from her and the launch of her perfume as well as an article from OK! magazine:

OK! Magazine Article

Struggling HMV

Last week in lesson we had a discusion about HMV stores closing down due to amount of people now downloading music and films from the internet.
Today in Art I found two articles about HMV:

Conventions of Magazine Promo Adverts

Here are some conventions of a music advertisement:

• Name
• Release Date
• Single, Tracks
• Recomendations/Reviews
• Album Artwork/Cover
• Website
• Record Label
• Unseen Features
• Offers or Free Downloads
• Slogan
• Product Content
• Magazine Endorsements (Smash Hits for the Pop genre)
• Tour Dates
• Images and Photgraphs
• Outlets & Where its Available
• Could use words such as : (Limited Edition, Out Now, Debut Album, Exclusive)

Music Video Adverts

I have realised that many pop artists today have changed the platform to which they now promote their albums. As there are not many pop magazines it appears that artists now promote there albums on TV. Here are some examples I filmed from my blackberry:

Jessie J


Alexis Jordan

My Photos of Music Advertisements

Today Me, Emily and Kayla went to WHSmith at lunch at went to the music magazine section to try and find some examples of music advertisements:

Here are some examples of music advertisements that I took pictures of from my blackberry. The image on the left is from (...) Although it is not the magazine music advertisement I thought that it was just showing other ways in which many Pop artists today promote their albums. This magazine features a short description about the artist Jessie J's music and her new single Price Tag. This particular article is only talking out singles that are out at the moment not promoting artists whole albums. However it contains similar conventions to that of a music magazine advertisement as it includes the release date, album/single cover and hit singles.

In Seventeen magazine I found this music advertisement for Katy Perry's album 'Teenage Dream'.

Although it does not look like a normal music advertisement. Her actual album does not seem to be the main focus of the page. Her name and her face are the things that stand out the most.

Her album is only in a small image on the right hand side and in tiny writing underneath says : Look out for Katy Perrys new album Teenage Dream. I thought this was a bit unusual as I would think that she wants to promote and sell her album yet that is the smallest image and text on the page.

However, it could be said that as she is now such a well known artist that by having her face and name alone could entice readers to buy her album.

Here is another example of music advertisements that we found today. This one is for the New

Zealand rock band The Naked and Famous.

This advertisement is a more stereotypical advertisement. It features their album cover which creates synergy and a recognisable image for their fans.

It also features their singles, when their debut album is out, and also a promotional offer which gives a free collectable 7" record if you pre-order at HMV. Which is also is showing where the album is accessible to buy.

This therefore creates a more exciting selling point for fans as they are being given a free gift by purchasing the album.

Music Magazines

I found it hard to magazines that related to the pop genre. There are many more Rock, Indi and Alternative magazines available.

However, I found this magazine Billboard.

About the magazine from Billboards website:

"The world's premier music publication, Billboard has served the entertainment business since 1894. Beginning as a weekly for the billposting and advertising business, Billboard and its popular music charts have evolved into the primary source of information on trends and innovation in music, serving music fans, artists, top executives, tour promoters, publishers, radio programmers, lawyers, retailers, digital entrepreneurs and many others.

As Billboard's consumer-faced online home, Billboard.com features an extensive array of searchable, playable charts, breaking music news, artist interviews and exclusives, news, video and more. Launched in 1995 as Billboard Online, Billboard.com now attracts more than 4 million unique visitors each month in more than 100 countries and has become the de facto digital destination for popular music."

Billboard Magazine Website.

Possible Digipack Photos

Possible Digipack Photos

Above are some photos that we took last night after we had filmed some of Kayla's performance parts. Some of these photos I am thinking to use for the inner cover images such as Kayla making a heart over her eye. the image that I would like to use for my front cover are the last two images on the second page. As I blogged before, I want my album to be called Beyond Wonderland and therefore want to link the cover to an Alice In Wonderland theme and want the photo to look like Kayla has grow huge. However, the images that we have taken aren't exactly right as her legs and arms need to be in different positions so that when I Photoshop the background they will be flat against the walls.

Performance Filming

Performance Filming Day on Prezi

Our Music Video

Here is a draft of our music video, with the transvestite narrative:

Prezi

Video Preparation - Make Up on Prezi

Performance Ideas

Ann Ward
Bully Word: Giant
Power Word: Amazon

Kayla Ferrel
Bully Word: Queer
Power Word: Free

Another idea that we might use for our video is of Kayla the artist covered in the lyrics from the song 'Teenage Dream.' The idea came from when I watched an episode of America's Next Top Model, where the models were photographed for a Teen Bullying campagin. The models had to give a negative words that people used to tease them with then choose a power word to turn them into a positive.

Filming Preparation

Our group is continuing filming tomorrow and we are just preparing all the different elements that we need for our music video. We are wanting to film the artist Kayla sitting in front of a projector to get an image simialr to the one in Airplanes - B.o.B ft Hayley Williams

Here are some screen shots from the video which are how we want to film Kayla. In the media room we have a large whiteboard which we can project either a video or an image on that Kayla can sit in front of and perform the song.
I also like that image in the top right hand corner which fades to different angles of the artist face singing the song. I also like how the image is projected on the side of her face. I think that we could include a similar shot in our own music video.

Opening Shot Practice

For the opening shot of our music video we are going to have 17 quick shots of pictures of a couple together. The shots have been editied to fit to the tempo of 17 quick beats at the start of the song. Here is just an example of how it will look but with different pictures:

Kayla's Make Up

As my sister works at a jewellers she was able to get hold of some rhinestones that I want to use on Kayla's face in part of the performance of the video. I used a Mac make up face to just practice and experiment with different eyeshadows and patterns to put on her face.

Kayla's Make Up Research

I researched more into different ways of doing Kaylas make up. Both of these make up styles are really bright and colourful. As we are thinking of changing Kaylas outfit more than once, we can have different make up styles and colours to match her outfits.

CD Logo

I began designing an artist logo that I may use on my CD cover. As the artist name is Crystal Roxxs I wanted to incluse an image that represented her name. I found the orignial image from Google. It is from the NHS Diamond Awards

I started by changing the image to purple and am just trying different colours and ways to make the image different. I used Windows Paint and Windows Word to change the crystal to different colours.

CD Digipack Research - Alice In Wonderland

Beyond Wonderland

I have continued to research the theme or Alice In Wonderland and have found some images on Google of how I could represent my artist.

I really like the image here on the left, it incorporates the theme of Alice In Wonderland as it goes along the storyline of when Alice goes as big as a house. However, it does not make the model/artist look childlike which I do not want for my CD Digipack cover. I would love to be able to recreate my own image like this using photoshop, but may have some difficulty achieving an image like this.

If I am not able to create my own image like the one above I have found this other image on the right which would probably be alot easier to create. Although the image is not exactly like Alice In Wonderland when I design the CD cover I could include images, objects, plants and characters that are more represenatative of Alice In Wonderland.

Album Title

Today I was searching through different font websites and I came across FontSpace.com

When I was looking for fonts that I could use on my album cover, I came across one font called Beyond Wonderland and I thought that this would be a good name for my album.

Now after deciding that I am going to name my album 'Beyond Wonderland' I thought that my album cover could incorporate a Alice In Wonderland theme. I can have my artist surrounded by objects or characters from Alice In Wonderland. I am going to reasearch more into how I can represent an Alice In Wonderland on my CD cover.

Make Up For Artist

After listening to the song Love Game by Lady Gaga on my iPod, the album artwork she has given my some inspiration of how we can have the artists (Kayla's) make up.

On the cover Lady Gaga has got parts of her body covered in crystals. I like this would be a good idea for how I could photograph Kayla as it conforms to the glamorous images that most pop artist try to portray on their own CD covers.

Although on my own CD cover I do not want to have just the artist like Lady Gaga has used here. I would prefer to have some other artwork or have the artist in a more interesting background to make the CD cover really stand out.

Also as we are going to have Kayla in a purple dress, I would also like to have quite dramatic bright purple make and eyeshadow. I like the bright purple colour that Lady Gaga has used on her shoulder in the image on the top left. I would use a similar shade on Michaela's eyes then have a crystal style on one side of Kayla's face.

Christina Aguilera

Xtina CD Analysis

Ke$ha Album Cover

On the left is the orginal CD album cover from Ke$ha's second album 'Cannibal'. The image conforms to the stereotypical conventions of pop artist CD covers as it shows the artist. However, it appears to not be as colourful and glamourus as other female pop artist CD covers.

The other image on the right is the CD cover that has gievn me inspiration for my own CD cover/digipack. Ke$ha has combined the image from her first and second album (Animal + Cannibal). The left side appears to be more glamorous, wild and colourful. I could use this idea when creating my own CD cover as our video is about a boy who has two seperate identities has he dresses up as a transexual. Therefore, we could use the artist to represent the theme/idea in the video, by having her face split down the middle.