Evaluation - Amina Diwa Saadat
1. In what ways does your product use, develop or challenge the forms and conventions of real media products?
Our music video is performance/narrative driven. The video is split into two very different sections, each set in different locations. The performance is by the band practicing and the narrative part is the couple travelling separately in London to meet up with each other. This is similar to the forms and conventions of existing music videos because many are narrative/performance focused. An example of this would be “The Man Who Can’t Be Moved” by The Script, which is a similar love song containing both narrative and performance scenes. The style of presentation of our music video deviates from other music videos because we have used a special effect called Red Giant Toonit which gives a cartoon quality on screen and I have used this for the narrative part of the video, it is something you don’t normally see in existing music videos.
Our use of camera work and sound follow established music codes and conventions. We have used basic hand held shots such as the crane shot of the girl standing under the lights in Oxford Street and also the tracking around her face. This is also done with Alex in the train station. As well as hand held with the couple we also used it for each of the band members to get a real feel of what they are doing and who they are whilst the camera is moving around them. We have also used the tripod to get steady medium and wide angle shots of the band all together and also used the dolly and the tracks to get a steady tracking shot of the band. This camera-work is similar other music videos because it is constantly moving, featuring a range of shots differences and angles. However if our music video presenting scenes with tall buildings, it would be much more difficult to film and would have to film at very high angle to get shots such as bird’s eye view shots, an example of this is “New York” by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys, the music video is about New York so it contains various high angle shots f the sky scrapers.
The editing techniques are also similar to other music videos because we have used basic transitions such as dissolves between the narrative and performance shots. It is one of the basic transitions you see in most music videos based on love. However the main technique that differs our video from other existing videos is the Red Giant Toonit effect we have added to the narrative part of the video. You don’t normally see this in music videos which make our original and different. The mise en scene of our video also follow the forms and conventions of other music videos because it is not based on a fancy show biz style, it is a casual rehearsal performance between the band. And also the narrative part is about couple meeting up so they don’t need to be over dressed. The settings do not need to be over done because it is only a practise within the band itself because they are seen as relaxed and laid-back. The band members are dressed in casual shirts and jeans with trainers connoting their relaxed life style and also create a relaxed atmosphere; this also goes with the couple as ill. The fact that they are wearing just jeans and a coat suggests they are not going anywhere special. This creates the music video as an overall all relaxed, simple video which is what most videos are like with the similar genre.
2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
We have adopted the principles of branding including brand image very well. Regarding our music video, we have developed used the band as the main brand image because they are the performers shown in it. The main singer playing the piano whilst singing associates with the DVD cover which has a picture of the band standing in front of the piano with the main singer sitting down like you would see him in the video. The colours are very natural and light, which is similar to the cover.
We have also used the same location for the video in the performance to the DVD cover to get the same branding image symbolising Grimsdyke hotel. The use of the band’s style and dress is kept the same throughout the video and DVD cover because we wanted their identity to be known. Their causal relaxed dress sense gives them a brand image of laid back band members and not as show offs.
This then leads to the magazine advertisement. In this advert we have used the same picture used in the DVD cover so that they have a link with each other. It is kept simple and basic just like the cover and we have used the same font and colours so that our audience will instantly know that it is linked to the video and DVD cover. The conventions are much similar to the DVD cover; it doesn’t contain any images of the animation because it would stand out from the DVD cover. Because we are advertising the cover, we therefore need to be similar to the rest of the products. It creates an overall image of the band as a male band standing in front of the black piano connoting the piano is involved in the video somehow and set in a posh old fashioned setting.
3. What did you learn from your audience feedback?
The elements we built in to our video to appeal to our target audience are the use of using young characters in the video, such as the band members are all male and young and also attractive, therefore most young girls would be interested to watch this because they get drawn towards young attractive men. This will mainly attract an audience at that age because audiences are attracted by people from their own age category and create some kind of bond or feelings for them. Another way is the choice of song; it’s a nice slow love song which youngsters like to listen to, especially females. The use of a cartoon effect for the couple which fades to reality towards the happy ending is another great way to encourage their identification because it is all about being different and standing out from the crowd, which is what everyone wants to be nowadays as well as upbeat. Our narrative isn’t over dramatic or out of the ordinary, it is about people’s everyday life about someone’s feelings towards their partner so the video will make them feel like they are a part of the video because they relate somehow to the song. They are being allowed to witness the feeling of falling in love and caring for someone you love so much. The setting in the video could also relate to them, the narrative part is set in central London so the audience might be interested in that the city life where it is a place for so many to meet their partner under similar circumstances.
In order to get feedback from our on what they thought of our music video, we asked them in various different ways to get as much feed back as possible. We made the links available on Facebook because it reaches a wider range of audience as it is a worldwide social network site. We asked them to comment on the video and tell us what they like and dislike about it. The feedback we received from them was; they loved the cartoon effect idea but it should be on throughout the whole of the video. They loved that it was set in central London at night during Christmas because the lights gives a great effect to it and makes it look more professional. Some people commented on the band and said that it was a great choice a male band and the band members all looked really professional and attractive which is what our audience look out for when watching a music video.
However we also received some negative feedback via Facebook. Some people said that the video didn’t relate to the song and they got confused and didn’t know what its purpose was. Some said that they didn’t like the cartoon effect and that it ruined colours and was a downfall to the rest of the video. Most of the feedback we got from Facebook was students aged between 16-22 which was brilliant because that was the age category we aimed the video for.
As well as using Facebook for audience feedback, we also used msn and wrote out a short questionnaire to get as much feedback as possible. We wanted to find out their thoughts on camera work and editing. We also wanted to know what they thought of the song and the use of mise-en-scene. The feedback we received from this was all positive. We created a short closed questioned survey and each of our group members asked five people. The kind of feedback we received from this were, that most people thought the music video was different regarding the mise en scene, more than half of them said this when asked “what did you think of the narrative part of the video regarding the use of mise en scene?”, and more than 60% of them said was entertaining when asked “what did you think of the performance part of the video regarding the use of mise en scene. This was one our main aims and we have achieved it according to the results of our feedback. We also wanted feedback on the use of camera work and editing. We asked them “how well was the use of camera work presented in the video?”, more than 80% of the people asked said that the use of various shots and looked professional. Many also said that the hand held camera work was very steady.
Ten out of the fifteen people asked said that they liked the cartoon effect when we asked them what they liked about the editing and all of them said that it was very well edited and looked professional. The negative feedback we got was that some of them thought the characters, the couple, were too young and a few mentioned that they were underdressed but overall it was all positive and the majority was pleased with the final product.
Overall, we are very pleased with the final product and the audience feed back because we have met their potential needs on a music video. We have also met the forms and conventions of professional existing products. We have created a video which our audience found entertaining and professional as well but also different and unique which was what we were aiming for.
4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Compared to last year I have improved our skills in the use of technologies dramatically. I have gained the skills on using the college filming camera, the Canon XM2 with David Goodwin and Imran Bashir. Before we started shooting, we practised with our group on using the camera and gaining different skills from it, for example we practiced creating different angles using the tripod. We also practised filming creating steady hand held shots. Our strengths ire that we was able to film hand held shots as well as using the tripod and was able to keep the camera steady without shaking so we ended up with some really effective steady hand held shots which we wouldn’t get using the tri-pod. Our weaknesses however are that we didn’t know how to use the white balance on the camera effectively to get the right natural colour. When we eventually worked it out, we were supposed to have kept the button pressed until the icon on the screen would stop flashing. Unfortunately we let it go too soon so the performance part was too red and didn’t have the right colours. however when it came to filming the narrative scenes we remembered to switch the white balance on and knew how to work it and we ended up with the natural colours of what I was filming.
We also started off with having difficulties on setting up the tripod when we was filming for the narrative scenes, we couldn’t set the camera on the tripod the right way because we was using a slightly smaller tripod made for a stills camera. We chose to use the smaller tripod because it was much easier to carry around with me because we were travelling by foot but we did manage to get a few effective shot. We found it difficult operating a pan because it was hard to follow the person when she was walking as the camera person wasn’t quick enough to keep up with her, but I did end up with a few shots that could be used for the video. The rest was all filmed hand held. During the procedure of filming the band, we also wanted a few tracking shots of the whole band performing together so we used a basic suit case dolly. David filmed the tracking shots which he did have some trouble with to start with because he kept tripping over the tracks which made the camera shake a little but we did end up with at least one good tracking shot without the camera shaking. We also used a few extra lighting, due to the clumsiness of one our team member one of the lights fell off and broke so we only had one left which we used as a flood light to lighten up the area of which the band was performing. The loss of one light didn’t affect our filming as much because we also had the lights of the room so we needn’t need extra lighting. Over all we found the hand held shots very useful because it was very easy to use and also we were able to be creative with it as you were able to create various different shots from different angles which we wouldn’t able to do with the tri-pod. This was well presented with the hand held shots of the band members.
Generally, the college equipment enhanced our ideas because it gave us a chance to develop our skills and create new ideas. For example we used a hand held camera create effects such as the crane shot going up from the girl’s feet and reaching up to see the lights in the sky. This wasn’t originally planned but having the camera available gave me the chance to come up the idea and do it.
As a lead editor, I learnt the basics of editing to start with because last year I didn’t participate in much of the editing. We also had improved editing software and facilities so it was all new to everyone. The editing software we had to use was Final Cut Pro. Throughout the editing procedure gradually we picked up the basics and the advanced skills for example adding a transition and adding the cartoon effect. Our main strength in editing was the cartoon effect we used for our video. When we first added it, it didn’t look very effective and the colours were too dark, however due to the skills we gained we managed to soften the colours a little which enhanced the whole of the video and completed a great effect to it. Although this took me quite a long time, I believe we mastered it very ill. For creating our overall pace and style of editing, I found the cross dissolve transition very effective because it was a nice way of changing scenes and settings, from the performance part to the narrative part. It also added a soft touch to it which added a nice flow to the video. We also used this transition to transform the cartoon effect to real life, this works really well because it can change the pace to it and we used it to change slowly to catch the audience’s attention and making sure they don’t miss anything.
Our music video is performance/narrative driven. The video is split into two very different sections, each set in different locations. The performance is by the band practicing and the narrative part is the couple travelling separately in London to meet up with each other. This is similar to the forms and conventions of existing music videos because many are narrative/performance focused. An example of this would be “The Man Who Can’t Be Moved” by The Script, which is a similar love song containing both narrative and performance scenes. The style of presentation of our music video deviates from other music videos because we have used a special effect called Red Giant Toonit which gives a cartoon quality on screen and I have used this for the narrative part of the video, it is something you don’t normally see in existing music videos.
Our use of camera work and sound follow established music codes and conventions. We have used basic hand held shots such as the crane shot of the girl standing under the lights in Oxford Street and also the tracking around her face. This is also done with Alex in the train station. As well as hand held with the couple we also used it for each of the band members to get a real feel of what they are doing and who they are whilst the camera is moving around them. We have also used the tripod to get steady medium and wide angle shots of the band all together and also used the dolly and the tracks to get a steady tracking shot of the band. This camera-work is similar other music videos because it is constantly moving, featuring a range of shots differences and angles. However if our music video presenting scenes with tall buildings, it would be much more difficult to film and would have to film at very high angle to get shots such as bird’s eye view shots, an example of this is “New York” by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys, the music video is about New York so it contains various high angle shots f the sky scrapers.
The editing techniques are also similar to other music videos because we have used basic transitions such as dissolves between the narrative and performance shots. It is one of the basic transitions you see in most music videos based on love. However the main technique that differs our video from other existing videos is the Red Giant Toonit effect we have added to the narrative part of the video. You don’t normally see this in music videos which make our original and different. The mise en scene of our video also follow the forms and conventions of other music videos because it is not based on a fancy show biz style, it is a casual rehearsal performance between the band. And also the narrative part is about couple meeting up so they don’t need to be over dressed. The settings do not need to be over done because it is only a practise within the band itself because they are seen as relaxed and laid-back. The band members are dressed in casual shirts and jeans with trainers connoting their relaxed life style and also create a relaxed atmosphere; this also goes with the couple as ill. The fact that they are wearing just jeans and a coat suggests they are not going anywhere special. This creates the music video as an overall all relaxed, simple video which is what most videos are like with the similar genre.
2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
We have adopted the principles of branding including brand image very well. Regarding our music video, we have developed used the band as the main brand image because they are the performers shown in it. The main singer playing the piano whilst singing associates with the DVD cover which has a picture of the band standing in front of the piano with the main singer sitting down like you would see him in the video. The colours are very natural and light, which is similar to the cover.
We have also used the same location for the video in the performance to the DVD cover to get the same branding image symbolising Grimsdyke hotel. The use of the band’s style and dress is kept the same throughout the video and DVD cover because we wanted their identity to be known. Their causal relaxed dress sense gives them a brand image of laid back band members and not as show offs.
This then leads to the magazine advertisement. In this advert we have used the same picture used in the DVD cover so that they have a link with each other. It is kept simple and basic just like the cover and we have used the same font and colours so that our audience will instantly know that it is linked to the video and DVD cover. The conventions are much similar to the DVD cover; it doesn’t contain any images of the animation because it would stand out from the DVD cover. Because we are advertising the cover, we therefore need to be similar to the rest of the products. It creates an overall image of the band as a male band standing in front of the black piano connoting the piano is involved in the video somehow and set in a posh old fashioned setting.
3. What did you learn from your audience feedback?
The elements we built in to our video to appeal to our target audience are the use of using young characters in the video, such as the band members are all male and young and also attractive, therefore most young girls would be interested to watch this because they get drawn towards young attractive men. This will mainly attract an audience at that age because audiences are attracted by people from their own age category and create some kind of bond or feelings for them. Another way is the choice of song; it’s a nice slow love song which youngsters like to listen to, especially females. The use of a cartoon effect for the couple which fades to reality towards the happy ending is another great way to encourage their identification because it is all about being different and standing out from the crowd, which is what everyone wants to be nowadays as well as upbeat. Our narrative isn’t over dramatic or out of the ordinary, it is about people’s everyday life about someone’s feelings towards their partner so the video will make them feel like they are a part of the video because they relate somehow to the song. They are being allowed to witness the feeling of falling in love and caring for someone you love so much. The setting in the video could also relate to them, the narrative part is set in central London so the audience might be interested in that the city life where it is a place for so many to meet their partner under similar circumstances.
In order to get feedback from our on what they thought of our music video, we asked them in various different ways to get as much feed back as possible. We made the links available on Facebook because it reaches a wider range of audience as it is a worldwide social network site. We asked them to comment on the video and tell us what they like and dislike about it. The feedback we received from them was; they loved the cartoon effect idea but it should be on throughout the whole of the video. They loved that it was set in central London at night during Christmas because the lights gives a great effect to it and makes it look more professional. Some people commented on the band and said that it was a great choice a male band and the band members all looked really professional and attractive which is what our audience look out for when watching a music video.
However we also received some negative feedback via Facebook. Some people said that the video didn’t relate to the song and they got confused and didn’t know what its purpose was. Some said that they didn’t like the cartoon effect and that it ruined colours and was a downfall to the rest of the video. Most of the feedback we got from Facebook was students aged between 16-22 which was brilliant because that was the age category we aimed the video for.
As well as using Facebook for audience feedback, we also used msn and wrote out a short questionnaire to get as much feedback as possible. We wanted to find out their thoughts on camera work and editing. We also wanted to know what they thought of the song and the use of mise-en-scene. The feedback we received from this was all positive. We created a short closed questioned survey and each of our group members asked five people. The kind of feedback we received from this were, that most people thought the music video was different regarding the mise en scene, more than half of them said this when asked “what did you think of the narrative part of the video regarding the use of mise en scene?”, and more than 60% of them said was entertaining when asked “what did you think of the performance part of the video regarding the use of mise en scene. This was one our main aims and we have achieved it according to the results of our feedback. We also wanted feedback on the use of camera work and editing. We asked them “how well was the use of camera work presented in the video?”, more than 80% of the people asked said that the use of various shots and looked professional. Many also said that the hand held camera work was very steady.
Ten out of the fifteen people asked said that they liked the cartoon effect when we asked them what they liked about the editing and all of them said that it was very well edited and looked professional. The negative feedback we got was that some of them thought the characters, the couple, were too young and a few mentioned that they were underdressed but overall it was all positive and the majority was pleased with the final product.
Overall, we are very pleased with the final product and the audience feed back because we have met their potential needs on a music video. We have also met the forms and conventions of professional existing products. We have created a video which our audience found entertaining and professional as well but also different and unique which was what we were aiming for.
4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Compared to last year I have improved our skills in the use of technologies dramatically. I have gained the skills on using the college filming camera, the Canon XM2 with David Goodwin and Imran Bashir. Before we started shooting, we practised with our group on using the camera and gaining different skills from it, for example we practiced creating different angles using the tripod. We also practised filming creating steady hand held shots. Our strengths ire that we was able to film hand held shots as well as using the tripod and was able to keep the camera steady without shaking so we ended up with some really effective steady hand held shots which we wouldn’t get using the tri-pod. Our weaknesses however are that we didn’t know how to use the white balance on the camera effectively to get the right natural colour. When we eventually worked it out, we were supposed to have kept the button pressed until the icon on the screen would stop flashing. Unfortunately we let it go too soon so the performance part was too red and didn’t have the right colours. however when it came to filming the narrative scenes we remembered to switch the white balance on and knew how to work it and we ended up with the natural colours of what I was filming.
We also started off with having difficulties on setting up the tripod when we was filming for the narrative scenes, we couldn’t set the camera on the tripod the right way because we was using a slightly smaller tripod made for a stills camera. We chose to use the smaller tripod because it was much easier to carry around with me because we were travelling by foot but we did manage to get a few effective shot. We found it difficult operating a pan because it was hard to follow the person when she was walking as the camera person wasn’t quick enough to keep up with her, but I did end up with a few shots that could be used for the video. The rest was all filmed hand held. During the procedure of filming the band, we also wanted a few tracking shots of the whole band performing together so we used a basic suit case dolly. David filmed the tracking shots which he did have some trouble with to start with because he kept tripping over the tracks which made the camera shake a little but we did end up with at least one good tracking shot without the camera shaking. We also used a few extra lighting, due to the clumsiness of one our team member one of the lights fell off and broke so we only had one left which we used as a flood light to lighten up the area of which the band was performing. The loss of one light didn’t affect our filming as much because we also had the lights of the room so we needn’t need extra lighting. Over all we found the hand held shots very useful because it was very easy to use and also we were able to be creative with it as you were able to create various different shots from different angles which we wouldn’t able to do with the tri-pod. This was well presented with the hand held shots of the band members.
Generally, the college equipment enhanced our ideas because it gave us a chance to develop our skills and create new ideas. For example we used a hand held camera create effects such as the crane shot going up from the girl’s feet and reaching up to see the lights in the sky. This wasn’t originally planned but having the camera available gave me the chance to come up the idea and do it.
As a lead editor, I learnt the basics of editing to start with because last year I didn’t participate in much of the editing. We also had improved editing software and facilities so it was all new to everyone. The editing software we had to use was Final Cut Pro. Throughout the editing procedure gradually we picked up the basics and the advanced skills for example adding a transition and adding the cartoon effect. Our main strength in editing was the cartoon effect we used for our video. When we first added it, it didn’t look very effective and the colours were too dark, however due to the skills we gained we managed to soften the colours a little which enhanced the whole of the video and completed a great effect to it. Although this took me quite a long time, I believe we mastered it very ill. For creating our overall pace and style of editing, I found the cross dissolve transition very effective because it was a nice way of changing scenes and settings, from the performance part to the narrative part. It also added a soft touch to it which added a nice flow to the video. We also used this transition to transform the cartoon effect to real life, this works really well because it can change the pace to it and we used it to change slowly to catch the audience’s attention and making sure they don’t miss anything.
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