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

Link to the answer:

Evaluation Question Four // Video Script

Research and Planning

A key technology that was used throughout the planning and research stages of the music video was Google. This search engine helped me to conduct research into the music industry. This especially helped me to learn more about the theorists Andrew Goodwin and Laura Mulvey. I also used two of Google’s other websites to help me with the research and planning stages, the first of these being google Maps. This service helped massively with the location scouting aspect of the planning process. One location that Google Maps helped me find was our street location for the opening scene of the video. Going into the location scouting process, I knew that I wanted a long straight road that would give the drone a view towards the center of Bristol, without this software it would have required hours of driving around Bristol, trying to find a suitable location, but with Maps it only took about 20 minutes. The street view feature was also extremely useful for this stage as it allowed me to see the street in a first-person mode to make sure it wasn’t a main or busy road, and to also check that the type of housing was suitable for my desired representation of the area.

The next Google-owned website that was extremely useful in the planning and research stages was YouTube. This was the key to exploring existing music videos from my electro hop genre to not only evaluate some of them on my blog, but also to just get a better idea of the codes and conventions of the electro hop genre. It was also really useful when looking for videos to back up the theories that I was exploring.

In terms of presenting all of this information, I used programmes such as PowerPoint and Prezi. I usually used Prezi over PowerPoint when wanting to create a more detailed presentation as it allowed me to easily explore and present lots of different points and ideas in a clear fashion. Prezi also allowed me to add pictures and embed videos into the presentation, which was especially useful when analysing or making a point about a certain video.

Another website that was really useful for this stage, was Survey Monkey. This allowed me to easily construct, distribute, and collate responses to the audience questionnaire which was a key part of the research stage of this product. As well as this, Survey Monkey displayed the results really clearly in graphs and charts which made the presentation and analysis of these results much easier and clearer.

The next technology that I used in the planning and evaluation stages was Adobe Premiere. At this stage, it was used at a very basic level to edit together the focus groups, using simple cutting tools, adding titles and a gaussian blur effect to transition between the answers. This gave us a video version of the participants answers that we could further analyse.

Finally, I used Tumblr to post all of these different forms of research. This social media platform allowed me to easily embed all of the other forms of presentation that I had used to keep them all in one place and to easily add text to help explain each of the different posts.  Not only did this neatly keep all of my work in chronological order, but I was also able to add hashtags to group the different posts to categorise them into their correct research, planning, production or evaluation or sections

Production

The technologies that I used for the production stages consisted largely of the cameras. My main camera for the duration of the process was a Panasonic Lumix LX15. This is a fixed lens camera but the fast Leica f/1.4-2.8 lens was extremely versatile throughout the production which resulted in the shots having a shallow depth of field when required and it also was able to handle low-light situations really well. The LX15 also gave me the option to switch into full manual mode, adjusting the frame rate, shutter speed, aperture and ISO independently to get the desired cinematic look and gave me the flexibility to adjust to changing light conditions easily. This included the option to shoot at 100fps while retaining a 1080p resolution to film the slow-motion shots that became a key feature that was used throughout the final music video. Additionally, I used a Nikon D3300 to take still shot of the production. This helped me build up a backlog of photos that would help me to visualize our ideas and show the construction of the product coming together. I also used four of these cameras in the creation of the 3D jitter effect in the church scene, these were paired with identical 18-55mm lenses and set up with the exact same settings to ensure they all captures an identical image but from different angles.

The final piece of technology that was used during the production stages of my product was a DJI Mavic Pro drone that was used to capture cinematic aerial footage and provided me with an effective establishing shot that helps to set the scene and introduce the characters perfectly. This gave me a huge amount of versatility with these shots, allowing to capture almost any angle of the subject with almost any form of movement. They were filmed in a RAW 4K format which not only captured a huge amount of information within the shot but would also give me much more flexibility when editing and colour grading the shot.

Post Production

I chose to undergo  the first stage of the post production process of the main task using Adobe Premiere Pro. With lots of previous experience with using this software - from not only the Year 12 coursework, but also for lots of other personal projects – I felt very comfortable with the programme and using it to make the most of the footage that I has captured over the 3 filming days. I managed to make use of a whole range of the tools that this software provided for the rough edit. This included keyframing, transitions, and basic colour correction, as well as this, the programme made it really easy to cut all of the clips on the beat or to the right length, to synchronise clips to create effective match on actions, and to create the complex 3D jitter effect.

A lot of the more complex corrections and finishing touches were completed in Adobe After Effects, which included adding a colour correction to the whole video using a LUT and lots of other adjustments using the colour wheels, temperature sliders, exposure sliders and many more tools to create the desired effect. I also used After Effect’s warp stabiliser tool to stabilise any of the hand-held shots that weren’t as smooth as they could have been. This gave the video a much more professional feel, making some of the shots look like they were captured using high-end gimbals or Steadi Cams. As well as this, the static ‘TV on’ effect at the very start of the video was created on After Effects using a keyframed scale and exposure of some ‘TV snow’ footage and I also used the programme to add the masked title in the opening scene. This involved adding a Track Matte effect and keyframing the mask to the backs of the actors as they walk past, revealing the title.

Ancillary Texts

For the production of my ancillary text I set up the same four Nikon D3400s with 18-55mm lenses using a rig to get each of the lenses as close together as I could. I then used a remote shutter release to set off each of the cameras at the same time which I would used to create a 3D stereoscopic GIF of each of these pictures. For the pictures of other objects such as the candle or the statues of the angels, I was able to be behind the camera which allowed me to uses one camera to capture all four different perspectives. For this method, I used a Panasonic Lumix LX15 and set it to burst mode, this allowed me to capture the four pictures by slowly tracking the camera to the side of the subject and taking the pictures at regular intervals. I then opened the four pictures of each of the subjects in Photoshop and aligned the frames of all of these pictures from both methods centring them on one object, such as the glass in this picture. I then created a preset using a ‘film camera look’ overlay, adding a film grain and some authentic scratches to make the pictures look like realistic film camera pictures. This preset was then added to all of the frames from each of the different locations to give them all a consistent style. With this done, I opened the ‘Motion’ tab of Photoshop to create looping GIFs from the 4 different perspectives of each subject. I was really happy with the results and would be using the animated versions of the pictures for the online versions of the digipak and advert as well as online promotions on the artist’s website etc.

I then used still versions of all these pictures to create the advert and digipak, also on Photoshop. I started by creating the album cover, using text tools and a colour scheme that was sampled from different aspects of the image using the Colour Picker tool. I then kept the colour scheme consistent when creating the rest of the panels of the digipak and advert, using the same font and themes to produce a ‘house style’ throughout the products.

Evaluation

I also used these different technologies during the evaluation stages of this production. I used both Prezi and PowerPoint to present the evaluations of my products. These allowed me to clearly present the different sub-sections of each of the questions and once again embed videos and images to back up each point.

Additionally, I used my mobile phone as a Dictaphone which allowed me to voice over the director’s commentary video, letting me make comments over the top of our main task, outlining the reasons behind the creative choices made in the video. I then used Adobe Pro to edit the director’s commentary, as well as using it to edit this video.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

In a general sense, a brand identity is how a company or business wants to be perceived by its audience, creating a continuity between all its products to be recognisable to their target audience. The brand identity or 'house style' details of the company's logo, name, tone and typeface and are created as a way of showing the receiver what the business or company is all about. In media products, such as Music Videos, Digipaks and Magazine Adverts, a brand identity or house style is extremely important as it gives the artist consistency across all mediums of their work, therefore making it easily recognisable to the audience. The link between the 3 mediums is often done visually through including imagery of the artist, or having a particular colour theme such as black and white therefore linking all the separate forms of media together. A strong brand identity is known to increase the sales of the product or music as it enables cross platform promotion which helps the artist to reach a wider audience.

An example of a strong brand identity is the one used in the promotion of the Arctic Monkeys’ fifth studio album, ‘AM’. Throughout the digipak and album cover (below) there is the consistent use of a very minimalistic and bold design which included the album’s ‘soundwave’ artwork. This became a widely recognised symbol for the AM album and the album’s official merchandise became extremely popular as a result (below).

Another house style that the Arctic Monkeys used throughout all of its products (their music videos, album cover, advert, merchandise etc.) was a high contrast black and white colour scheme. This is seen throughout all of the album’s digipak panels as well as in their music videos for three of the singles, ‘R U Mine’ (below), ‘Arabella’ and ‘One for the Road’. This is a common theme in other indie rock products and I think this house style is really bold and powerful, and effectively ties all of the products together.

I was therefore keen to create an equally powerful “house” style throughout the products that I created.  It was fairly easy to create a similar style throughout the ancillary text. I did this through the use of a consistent colour scheme for all of the digipak panels and the advert. This colour scheme was kept consistent through the use of a preset that I created in Adobe Photoshop and applied to each of the images that I used in the products. This added the same film filter, colouring, levels, and other adjustments to all of the pictures as well as some film grain and a ‘scratches’ overlay. This kept the style of each of the photographs consistent throughout all of the products. As well as this, I used the same colour pallette and font for all the other elements of the digipak and advert. Lots of these colours were sampled from the pictures themselves to make sure that the text and pictures fitted together well.  For example, the dark blue (below) was used in the border of the album cover, for all of the text and logos on the back cover, for the background for the inside right panel of the digipak, in the logo on the disk, in the title on the spine, and in some of the text on the advert (these are all circled in red, below). This colour was originally sampled from the shadows of the album cover’s photo. This is just one example that not only shows a consistent colour scheme throughout the different products, but also within different elements of the same product. This helps to create a colour pallet house style that viewers will link to the album and Mura Masa as the artist. As well as this, I made sure I kept the font that I used the same throughout the ancillary text, this is a simple thing but will be recognised by the audience as they view the two products.

As I have said, it was fairly easy to create a recognisable house style throughout the digipak and advert, however it was slightly harder to tie the music video into this same house style.  Having said this, there are a few methods that I employed to help viewers make the link between all 3 of the products. First of all, the colour grade of the music video was similar to the one used in the pictures on the ancillary texts. The colour correction on the video was created in a slightly different way, using the colour wheels of the shadows, midtones, and highlights to get the desired colour, and then decreasing the temperature of the footage to generate the blue tones that are consistent throughout all three of the products. Another thing that links the 3 products is the location and mise-en-scene. This is because I used the same church location for the ancillary text photoshoots that I had used in the ‘Last Supper’ style scene of the music video. In fact, I used the exact same part of the church to shoot the ‘Last Supper’ and the photography for the album cover. I think this will result in the viewers recognising the location from the video when looking at the other products or vice versa, creating another link between the 3 products, the images below show the same locations.

As well as this, there is a consistent use of the wine glass as a prop in both the music video and album cover.  This is something that you don’t see in many other products so I think it will stand out as being unique to this digipak and video.

However, I think the main thing that creates a house style is the use of the 3D jitter effect in the video and online versions of the ancillary texts. The synchronised 4-camera stereoscopic shot is used in moving video form in the music video and in a ‘freeze frame’ style in the digipak and advert. The effect is even centred around the same wine glass in both the album cover and music video (GIF and video below). This is a strong link between the two created by the unique effect that may be new to many viewers, it is therefore something that the viewer will associate with these products from now on.

This stereoscopic effect is something that will definitely catch the attention of the viewer, especially if they come across the online promotion that will use the GIF version of the products. This will take the viewer by surprise as it contradicts the usual convention of having a static album cover and advert.  They may also take a minute to work out what is actually happening in the effect and ask themselves how it was done? The fact that this has captured the attention of the audience increases the chance that they will look further at buying the album or clicking the link to the online advert, resulting in higher sales for the artist.

I also think the overall style and aesthetic of the digipak will draw in the target audience of the album and video as the ‘film camera’ style is popular among this demography. I therefore think that if they are drawn to the look of the digipak then they will be much more likely to then go on and buy the album. This is also true of the advert. Finally, the clothing used in the images is typical of the type of clothing worn by the target audience, including brands such as Nike and Vans (below), which helps to create a strong affinity to the artist and the music.

I think the style also helps to convey the genre of the music.  The brands and the loose, baggy style of the clothing used in the ancillary products is a convention that’s found across the electro hop genre such as in Mura Masa’s ‘What if I go’ video with the male protagonist wearing similar large, baggy clothing.  Another element that helps to communicate the style of the album is the body language of the artist in the images.  The reflective and almost solemn demeanour of the artist strongly links to the style of the music, with many of the songs in the album being of a solemn and slow nature. This body language also helps to convey the genre of the album, with similar body language being a convention of many electro hop albums such as on Drake’s ‘Take Care’ album (below left) and Khalid’s ‘Hopeless’ album (below middle) with the body language in my album cover for reference (below right)

To give me a better idea of what the digipak and advert would look like in real life, I decided to print them out and created physical copies of them both. This allowed me to see both products together as a pair to see if they worked well together as physical copies. I was very pleased with how they turned out and I think they both follow a very similar house style. 

Due to the design of the CD case, the remaining inside panels and bonus panel of the digipak were included as a folded leaflet in the inside cover.

Kim: We added the static TV image using after effects to fit in with the sound on the track as we thought this produced an effective start to the video. 

Fin: Drone shot was used to establish the urban setting. We thought by having the camera slowly track in it added a sense of excitement or anticipation for the audience as the characters slowly come into view. 

Kim: The drone shots cut closer on the time of the snare. This both helps make the video look professional and adds more energy which is needed due to the songs genre. 

Fin: We asked the main character to practice the lip syncing to ensure it was perfect for filming, making the video look as professional as possible.  

Kim: The mis-en-scene of the actors clothing can be seen clearly in this shot. This was chosen carefully to convey our representation of the characters as ‘cool’ and youthful. It also shows the urban style of the video which is common in the dance genre. 

Fin: The masked title is subtle but makes the video look more professional and increases its production value.  

Kim: The inclusion of this extra was by chance as he happened to be there during filming. We included him as we thought it added to the youthful vibe of the video. We added a double fist bump to create some further interest to the scene and continue the sense of immaturity with the characters. 

Fin: Here we ensured the match on action was edited perfectly by synchronising the three different camera angles to create a smooth finish. 

Kim: This shot was taken through the glass giving the appearance of a point of view shot. The audience are left in suspense as the person watching them behind the glass isn’t revealed. 

Fin: The slow motion chips as they are hit in the air was included because we though the shot look good on camera but it also adds a comedic element to the video. 

Kim: We thought the slow motion action contrasted nicely with the fast pace song and added a more cinematic vibe. 

Fin: The jump cuts when the two characters are walking down the street adds more interest to a shot which could otherwise be a little dull. Our aim was to keep the video constantly energetic and entertaining for our audience. 

Kim: Cutting the shot in time with the heavy beats of the track is designed to add energy for the audience. 

Fin: This shot took a long time to perfect on set and in post-production. We wanted it to seem as if the food appeared on the table when the characters hit their hands down. We though this edit would add a wow factor to the shot and would help to keep the audience engaged. 

Kim: We included the 3D jitter effects as this added more energy to the scene and the variation in editing techniques helped entertain the audience. 

Fin: The bounce back on the characters running up the stairs was to prevent the transition shots becoming dull and also extended the length of the shot to fit the gap before the beat drop. 

Kim: We used slow motion shots again to tie the video together, again this helped make the video look more cinematic. 

Fin: At this point we had planned for the drone shot to be higher up circling the actors. However unfortunately the drone didn’t have enough battery to do this so we had to settle for a lower circle, we were still pleased with the way the shot turned out but this would be the main thing that I think we would re film or improve given the opportunity.