Evaluation Q4

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






As part of planning for my music video I watched multiple music videos on YouTube for songs of a similar genre.

 

I made a PowerPoint presentation with a ‘pitch’ for my production including all of my pre-productiuon work - shots of the filming location, ideas for the video and print artefacts and notes regarding genre and audiences. This can be found as a ‘slideshare’ file on my Blogger page.

 

For my digipack I used the website ‘Canva’.This is a free graphic-design tool website which uses a drag-and-drop format to create posters, album covers or any type of presented advertisement. I used a CD cover template and added my own pictures to create a digipack. The pictures I used were screenshots from the footage I took which I then added to a word document, cropped and saved as new pictures ready to add to the template on Canva. After completing the design I saved my work as a PDF file, however this type of file could not be uploaded to Blogger so I had to use the ‘Snipping Tool’ to make individual pictures of my magazine release poster and the 6 album cover slides and then upload them to blogger in that format.

 

Once my footage was recorded I could use the Adobe Premiere Pro software to edit my music video. This software is the best option for me to use as it is easy to use and I have been developing my skills on the software for nearly two years now. My footage was converted to MP4 files to ensure it was compatible with the software. I renamed my clips whilst they were still on the USB, this is just to make it easier when uploading them to Premier Pro later.

 

I sped some of my clips up to add effect and to speed up my whole video to fit in with the lip synching aspect. This was easy to do on premiere pro by just right clicking and changing the speed/duration. To make sure my music video fit with the codes and conventions I tried to ensure my editing pace fit with the music. Premiere pro made this easy to do as it is easy to cut clips down and move them around to match your music. This also made it simple to align my lip syncing with the song’s lyrics.

 

Evaluation Q3

 

1. What have you learned from your audience feedback?
    

Before the video was completed I gave a questionnaire out to a class of media students to fill in about the themes and ideas for the project. The questionnaire included questions about the song’s target audience, music genres and categories and the mood and tone of the song in relation to the videos visuals. This feedback enabled me to create a production that would be popular amongst my target audience.

 After showing my finalised video to my class the audience feedback concluded that the narrative of my music video needed improvement. This may be because the artist is included in only a few shots and the video focuses more on artistic and abstract shots that I presented in the video. Furthermore, the continuity of my video needed improvement due to the different clothes the artist was wearing in the duration of the video and the evident difference in seasons portrayed (as there were shots with snow in and then shots of sunny days immediately after) which caused confusion to the audience. This was because the project was filmed over the course of 6-7 months.

Despite this it was discussed that the ‘lip-syncing’ aspect of my video was well done which was my intention in order to make the character appear to be a believable artist for this song.

Evaluation Q1

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
    
   My production is a music video for the song ‘To Build a Home’ by The Cinematic Orchestra. It was inspired by other media products such as Ben Howard’s ‘Keep Your Head Up’ and Birdy’s ‘Skinny Love’ due to the similar themes and setting. The idea of using an old abandoned house came from the Skinny Love video. The singer can be seen walking around the big, empty house which portrays the singer’s loneliness and insignificance which complies with that video.
   
   The countryside theme of my video references the song and its lyrics “Out in the garden where we planted the seeds, there is a tree as old as me” and “Branches were sewn by the colour of green”. This is conveyed by the various landscape and nature-filled shots throughout the video. The video’s colour scheme presents shades of green and brown with multiple shots of the sun being shown too. There is clear synergy between my video and my digipack as these colours are used on that too to reinforce the image of my product. The inspiration for my album cover came from the Satellite Stories ‘Pine Trails’ CD cover. The circular shaped image placed on top of a similar background creates an effective visual and the colours illustrate my ‘English countryside’ theme which is evident in my digipack and video.
    
   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The video has a slow pace which reflects the tempo of the song as it is a piano ballad. The idea for having various landscape shots taken round the UK came from BICEP’s ‘Glue’ music video, this creates a sombre effect and portrays the peaceful mood of the song and I filmed in areas around Leicestershire to attain similar looking shots to this. I chose not to include the artist in all the shots because I wanted to express the importance of the house and the rural surroundings which is what my artist turns to when leaving home in the narrative of the video. Despite this, the artist does appear in some shots where he is singing to the song, I did this because it shows that the character in the video is an actual artist and also because it is a common trope in music videos of all genres.

 

Audience Questionaire

 

 

 

Questionnaire-

• From looking at the images below what themes do you as an audience feel are being portrayed.

**Note - all images are from a google image search of the song title.**

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                           

 

      

 

• After listening to the song, what do you think its target audience is and why? 
   
• Does it cross any categories in your opinion (eg – young/old)
   
• When would you listen to a song like this? Talk about the mood and tone of the song.