Evaluation - How did you use new media technologies?

The first piece of software I used for my minor task was the internet to search for examples of magazine advertisements. I did this via Google, I have already used Google so this was simple for me to use. Once I had found some examples of music magazine advertisements, I could start planning for my minor task. I needed to keep a note of everything I did within this project, so what I did was I set up a blog. I did this by create one on ‘Blogger’; I had never used blogger before so firstly I had to register for one. Once I had done this I kept a note of exactly what I had done with both my minor and major tasks, I learnt also that I could upload picture onto my blog.
For my minor task I used a couple of software. I started with ‘InDesign’ which I have already used in my AS media coursework. Before I could use this software I needed to upload the pictures I took of Charlotte – the lead singer of the band, onto the computer. Once I had done this I then edited this picture in ‘Paintshop Pro’. I already knew how to use most of the tools within this software but their were a few icons that I did not know how to use.
The rotate tool was one that I did not know how to use, so I used the rotating tool on the record label in the bottom right hand corner.
For my major task I used Movie Plus 5 which I had never used before. Within this software I learnt how to upload all my filming onto the program and then I learnt how to place the song over the top of my filming.
I also learnt how to fade each scene into the next by dragging on scene into the next. This allowed my music video to flow. I also learnt how to upload pictures into my film to make my video more interesting. I also learnt how to speed up parts of the video and this was used in the instrumental bit.

Evaluation - What have you learnt from audience feedback?

I first asked for some feedback on my minor task, I asked people within my class. The feedback I received was very helpful; the person I asked guided me in ways in which I could make my magazine advertisement better. The first suggestion was to change the colour of my title. This helped me a lot as the title originally did not stand out as it was not a very bold colour but I feel now that I have changed the colour, it is more striking to the viewers eye. The second piece of feedback I received for my magazine advertisement was that the picture which was the main feature was very striking and that they liked the way I edited it. I edited it by changing the colour of Charlotte eyes from a dark green colour to a piercing blue colour. I then sharpened the image to make it a better quality. This was good feedback as my aim was to make the picture draw the viewer’s eyes to the advertisement and by editing the picture I believe I have achieved this. I then received feedback on my major task (music video) from one of my media teachers. She suggested that the change between each scene was a little bit too choppy. Even though I had faded each scene into the next already, by receiving this feedback I learnt I had to fade the scenes a bit more to make sure the video flowed. The last piece if feedback I received was from another media student. He suggested that maybe at the end of the video I should produce a slide showing the record label my band is with. I produced this record label before for my minor task and it is featured in my magazine advertisement so I think this was a good idea to do as it links the two tasks together. It also helped to inform the viewer about the record label.

Evalution - How effective is your combination of main and ancillary texts?

My design choice for my minor task (magazine advertisement) connects effectively with my major task (music video) by selecting the key vocalist to be the main feature of the press advertisement. I chose to only have the lead singer as the main picture, as she is the lead singer of the group and she sings the most in the music video. I wanted the picture to show emotion reflecting the tone of the song. I think this has worked well as it links the two tasks together nicely. The DVD cover reflects the outdoor element of the music video, by featuring a tree, another symbol of ‘surviving’. The DVD cover is also featured in the advertisement, so it is a visual reminder to the consumer wanting to purchase the product. I included this on my advertisement so that it had a sense of continuity between the two minor tasks. Overall I think the two minor tasks link well with the music video as the whole theme is based on outside and the sense of being free and surviving.

Evaluation - How have you used, developed or challenged forms and conventions of real media?

The style I have used in my music video for an old classic, ‘I Will Survive’ uses a retrospective style more in keeping with the era during which that track would have first been launched. With music videos only having just begun artists experimented with simple concept but in unusual settings. This is where my idea for my video started, which lead me to choose a conventional style for that time. My video challenges the conventions of real media products today as the style I used is similar to those created when music videos begun. The scenario I have used is an outdoor environment as apposed to the more conventional current style of filming inside, for example in a night club. Overall, my music video reflects that period of time.

My focus group

My focus for my group magazine advertisement and music video is 14 - 21 year olds.
I think my focus group will be this age range as the girls in my music video are 17 -18 year olds.
My audience will also be for both female and male.

Feedback from other media students

I firstly asked for feedback for my minor task - Magazine advertisement.

I asked Alec, Hannah and Katy:

1. Do you think the layout of the advertisement is clear enough?

Finishing off the music video

I had then fitted in the scenes to the music and uploaded the pictures into the video. The last thing to do was at the beginning of the video i inserted a blank scene so I could put writing on it. I put 'I Will Survive' on it to inform the viewers what song they were about to view.
Then the last thing to do was to produce two more blank scenes at the end of the video, the first one had 'Starring Charlotte Dobson, Caroline Gardner and Kate Ford.' To inform the viewers who was starring in the video.
The next slide mentioned mine and beths name and finally the last slide had the record label i produced in Paintshop Pro.. This is to inform the viewers who what record label produced this.

Pictures in our video

We then took some pictures of Charlotte and our friend Brian. We did this as we want to tell a story through our music video of a boy breaking up with his girlfriend and the video is showing her moving on from her upset - She will survive. We took pictures of this as we wanted to make it more personal and make the story clearer.
The pictures start off of them being very happy and then gradually they get furthur apart.
So the next thing we needed to do was to upload these pictures onto the computer and in Paintshop Pro I edited them to make them black and white.
I then placed them between each scene and shortened them so when the video was running they were flashing up quickly between each scene.

Next part to Music video

Once we had filmed our video, I uploaded it onto Movie Plus 5. The first thing I did was I uploaded each scene and dragged them onto the timeline. We then downloaded Gloria Gaynor 'I will survive' and then placed it on the timeline below the scenes. We had to do this first before we could start editing the scenes.
We needed to place each scene perfectly as we needed to match the song words the their lips. This took a long time and we had to shorten each scene.
The next thing I did was I dragged each scene into the next, which is called fading. I did this so the music video flowed and had a sense of continuity.

Filming of video

We found our perfect location to film our music video, this was at wray common. Here it is an open green, with lots of trees and a woodland area.
We all met up on a weekend to film it.

First verse:
We zoomed in on Kate's face and as the song lyrics started she turns her head and sings to the camera. Towards the end of the first verse charlotte takes over and the camera pans around her as she is singing to the camera. We used this camera angle as it is showing her moevment and the area around her.

Second verse:
We changed the scenery and had the camera facing a tree, behind the tree was charlotte and kate and then in front of the tree was caroline. We used a full length shot as we wanted a wide angle. As caroline sang to the camera she was walking towards the camera. The camera then pans around her and we then cut it. The next scene was of her laying on a mat and as the song sings 'You think I'd crubmble, you think I'd lay down and die' - here Caroline turns and crumbles into the mat.

Chorus:
We used a wide angle shot to get a full view of wha the girls were doing. We came up with a dance routine for them to do as they sang the chorus.

Third verse:
We changed scene again and all of the girls were sitting on a bench with Charlotte in the middle. We put her in the middle as she is the lead singer and this is very conventional to other music videos in this genre. The first part of this verse was sang by Kate and we zoomed in on her face, the next part was done by Charlotte and the last one was sang by Caroline and we zoomed in on these two aswel.

Musical Instrumental part:
Here we had the girls change into the bright coloured outfits which I have showed in the Fame post before. During this part we had a wide angle shot of the girls doing exercises to add a bit of fun to the video.

Fourth Verse:
We changed scene again and this part was filmed in the woodland area. We used the tracking/ pan shot following Charlotte as she walked backwards through the woodland bit. Towards the end of the verse Caroline and Kate come out from behind opposite trees to join Charlotte. The three of them then turn around and the song then fades out as the girls walk off into the distance.

Costume list

Through the whole of the song I want the girls just wearing casual clothes. However for the musical part of the song, I want the girls to be dressed in bright coloured clothes as they are doing exercise to add a bit of fun to the video. I want them to be wearing similar clothes to those in fame:

Email to Gloria Gaynors Record Label Company

I needed to email Gloria Gaynors record label to ask their permission to use her song, so it would not be copy righting it.
Here is the email below:

The song

We have decided which song we would like to use, this is Gloria Gaynor I will Survive as it is a classic and we have many ideas for it.
Below I have printed of the lyrics of this songs and annotated it as to what will be done in each verse:

I looked at other songs with the same genre of gloria Gaynors song 'I will Survive'..
Leona Lewis - Happy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jCDnwldrt8

Christina Aguilera - Voice within
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeaC8Iy_Nf0

Major task Preparation

Cast List:

• Charlotte Dobson - Lead singer
• Kate Ford - Back up singer
• Caroline Gardner - Back up singer

Record Label Logo

Finishing off my minor task

I am now finished with my minor task. I managed to do this task quite quickly as I already knew how to work Indesign. So what I did after the last post was I placed the release date of dvd cover and then the release date of when your can start downloading it.
The last thing I needed to put onto it was the record label which I have already edited and produced in Paintshop Pro.

Minor task

For my minor task I started by choosing the picture I wanted to use of Charlotte.
I went into InDesign and I placed the picture of Charlotte on the background of the page.
I then made sure which font Beth had used on her DVD cover so I could use it on my advertisement as this will give them a sense of continuuity

I then went into Dafont and chose the titles. They were the title of the band and the name of the DVD.

I am now going to move on and do the release dates etc.

Photos of rough work

Resarch into Real DVD Covers

I decided to look at real life Dvd covers to get ideas about other covers to get ideas for our own DVD cover.

However because Beth is doing this minor task I am going to look at Magazine Advertisments of real media products. Below are some examples:

1. I like how this has got a clear Title which will stand out to the viewers eye.
2. I love the pictur that is used as it is of a landscape which we are looking to use for our cover.

Difficulties etc I expect to encounter

For my minor Task I expect everything will be fine as I have already worked in the software which I will producing my magazine advertisment in - InDesign.
The major task will be different as I have never worked in Movie plus 5 before so I think I may struggle with using this software. These I think will be the only difficulties I expect to encounter.

Decisions I will have to make:
There are a number of decisions I will have to make during my project.
For my minor task I will have to decide what pictures I want to use on my Magazine advertsiement and what font and colour to use to attract my target audience.

For my major task, I will need to decide who will be in the music video, which song we are going to use, what they are going to wear and how we edit it.


Hardware and Software I need to Learn:
For the minor task I will not need to learn anything as I have already used InDesign, Paintshop Pro. For the hardware I will not need to learn anything as I know how to use a digital camera.

For the major task, the hardware I need to learn is:

• Video camera - to film the video

Software:

• Movie Plus 5 - to edit the video
• Blogger - to keep a blog of my project

Reasons for choosing Brief

I have already spoken about my brief in my original post. In more depth, I chose this brief as last year I chose to do a magazine for both my minor task and major task.
For mu minor task I chose to do the Magazine advertisement whilst my partner Beth chose the DVD cover as her minor task.
For my major task I have chose to do the music video. I wanted to do this as last year I did a music magazine, so this year I want to expand my skills and learn how to do a music video.

Re doing my whole blog

Start
As I am re doing bits of my coursework, I am going to change my blog.
Over the past few months, I have been trying to add bits to my originally posts, howevere they were so muddled up, I was finding it too hard.
So instead at this lat stage I have decided to start again to it is more clear for the examiner and tidier.