E.L- Evaluation - Media technologies

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

Premier Elements- This is the software that we used to capture (circled) and edit our footage to create the final cut of our music video. This software is useful for inserting transitions or effects to the footage we have. The software contains an easy to use timeline (circled) in which to split clips, add sound, zooming in and out whilst interchanging them into the correct place.

This is also used for inserting transitions or video effects. By using the transitions and/or effects that the program provides, we were able to create a dreamy effect with blurs and also by altering the opacity of the footage. (The opacity and video effect are circled below and the final edit is shown in the video clip.)

Photoshop Elements- We used this software to create our print work; the digipak and advertisement. This allowed us to create the specific size and layouts of the CD case and advertisement, including editing the images and applying texts (circled).

The software can edit images in more detail than some other editing software, and with the use of layers and magnetic tools we were able to insert a record label image (circled bottom left). As well as the text and enhanced editing techniques, it is still possible to insert other standard 'shapes' such as the stars used at the bottom (also circled). Below is the original image that we cut around and altered to create the final, smaller image. By using the ‘magnetic lasso’ it is possible to select pixels around a specific image and use the selected image in other layers or documents. This was the technique we used when applying our record label to the front of both the Digipak and advertisement. Below is a screen shot from Photoshop as we used the 'Magnetic Lasso' to highlight an image.

Below is the original image that was then inserted into the advertisement and Digipak via Photoshop
The picture below is the original image that we began with before we added any text or images.

The finished advertisement is shown below, this is clear the changes that we have made in both Adobe Photoshop and Microsoft Publisher.

SurveyMonkey.com- This was the website that we used to create a questionnaire for our final audience research. We can gather the information for each question online and evaluate feedback. This along with Slideboom and Youtube are examples of web 2.0. They allow us to share information to a wide variety of people which is an influential factor in the music business. Surveymonkey allows us to create questions with a number of different answers. For example: There are open questions where the audience can write freely what the feel as apposed to selecting from given answers. The two have their advantages and we felt it was important to include both types of questions. The website also enables us to go back and alter any of the questions and answers at any time with easy, unlike a word produced questionnaire. The editing buttons are circled along with an example of a closed question with set answers. (picture of specific questions)The online service is good for collecting and analysing data. With the multiple choice questions the website creates an easy to read graph, with percentages showing the choices and highlighting the most popular choices. (picture of graph)

Microsoft PowerPoint- We used PowerPoint to create a pitch for the class and teachers in order to display and communicate our concept and ideas for the music video. This allowed us feedback from an audience but also meant we could have the concept written and insert images of locations and costumes for example. When creating a slide show it was important that the pages do not hold long-winded paragraphs filled with detail, but to have short bullet points that summarise a point. We then used the ‘notes’ feature that PowerPoint has to write the long version in order to help us present to the class in more detail.

It is also important to reinforce points made with images where possible and these images, along with the text can be set up to appear on the page in a number of different ways. This helps to keep our slide aesthetically pleasing and more interesting than just reading information. There are a number of different ‘entrance’ and ‘exit’ effects which we added to our slide. (Circled below are examples of our short bullet points, images and notes for our pitch.

Slideboom.com- This was another website that we used to upload our pitch to create a slideshow format that we were able to post on our blog. The slideshow is already embedded in a previous post. This works by uploading the originally created slide show, where it is converted into a different format to embed in our blog.

Youtube.com- We have uploaded our animatic and final video onto Youtube in order to allow our audience to watch the video with ease and give us feedback on what they think. It is possible to post comments (circled) on our video for easy feedback and these could well be valuable to our project. Youtube.com is the best example of web 2.0 as it allows extremely wide viewing as it is possible to watch any video from anywhere in the world. This creates large distribution and for an up and coming artist, very like example, this would be key in starting off in the industry. The website is free to upload and watch any videos which also help amateur artists, however is also a great place to post professionally produced videos, in order to gain a wide viewing and promotion of the artist/band which is of course the aims of a music video. However, although Youtube provides many advantages to the music industry, it also brings one large disadvantage. By being free to access videos and sound files there is an increase in plagiarism. This means that anybody can take selections of clips or sounds to use for personal use, which was important to consider when creating and uploading our video. As our videos are not the official ones, it was important to make sure that we did not use the name of the artist or track in the title.

Final Video

Obviously we have used blogger.com as an e-portfolio in order to present and keep track of research. This use of media has allowed us to all collaborate with one another and post comments (circled) on each others work, allowing us to all benefit from findings that one of us had come up with. This has also meant that we can insert a number of clips and images in order to illustrate the things we have commented on, and the use of hyperlinks has made a neat, effective way to insert website addresses.

The easy to edit feature is useful when posting our more important, final pieces of work as we are able to change and alter original posts, or drafts (circled) in order to produce the best work possible.

When filming we used DV cameras which allowed us to capture our footage in a relatively high quality. These also mean that the footage is easily captured onto Adobe Premier Elements for editing. The cameras that we used fit with fish-eye lenses and almost all tripods which made our footage unique and our shots and movements neat. Some of the footage that we did capture was in variations of light due to numerous shoots and re-shoots. With the cameras we used it was important to make sure that the light was correct for filming in order to reduce changes of light differences. This was the main problem and we were able to overcome this with the use of a spotlight.

In order to create the final layout of our Digipak and advertisement we used Microsoft Publisher. By inserting the edited images from Photoshop into the layout that we had created at the correct sizes for both texts, it was possible to produce our Digipak and if needed, our advertisement. We were able to use the 'picture toolbar' (circled) in order to crop or format the pictures we have inserted into the document, as well as inserting text just as we could with Photoshop (circled).

For the stills that we used for both the Digipak and advertisement we took photos on a Samsung, 10mega pixel digital camera. We took a number of different shots, and the use of flash meant that the lighting and images were always captured perfectly. The camera could be synced with our computer in order to upload the files for editing.

Shoot Evaluation #3 - Group

The third shoot was filmed to caputre footage of the numerous cars we needed to create our dream sequence and also the ending for our video.

This shoot took up a fair bit of time as we needed to practise a number of times to ensure that we captured the perfect shots. We also had to be cautious and aware of other traffic on the road, and although we filmed in a housing estate in North Tonbridge, we had to wait for traffic to pass.

We managed to get the majority of the shots that we wanted and the shoot was successful. This was imperative as the sequence with the cars is the most important in linking the lyrics with correct visuals.

We decided to re-shoot shortly after to make sure that some of the shots we captured were fitting with the exact lyrics and we also felt that to portray the narrative in the best way we needed a small amount of extra footage, which in the end would enhance the viewing of the video.

Shoot Evaluation #2 Group

The second shoot that we did was to take footage of the 'geek' meeting the girl in a coffee shop/starbucks. We filmed in a local cafe and everything went well, the location was good as we had checked it during our reccie.



Everything went well we were able to film all the shots we needed following our storyboard. We also had other customers to contend with but this was not a large problem as we were able to film in a relatively small space.

Responce to video rough cut

Did they enjoy the video ?


The class responded well to our first viewing, an seemed to be highly amused by our use of mise-en-scene regarding our geek. Our main aim when making this video was to make people laugh when they viewed our work and everyone seemed to enjoy the majority of it. The classic Teen romance theme seemed to work well and shots like when our 'geek' accidentally touches the hand of the beautiful girl got a positive response and all the class let out a cheeky laugh.


Does it stand up to repeated viewings?



The class we showed our footage to seemed to think that this music video would stand up to a repeated viewing. The performance shots were well shot giving the sense that the artist is actually performing, and the narrative was interesting enough to warrant repeated viewing.


How is the genre of the track apparent throughout the video ?



The Genre of our track is apparent throughout as the indie rapper performance shots occur all the way through. This gives the impression that the artist is part of the narrative and also involved with the music behind the storyline. The class seemed to recognise the genre and no one was confused with the link of visuals to music.




How do you perceive the artist/band? how does this construct/reinforce their image.



The class perceived the band as very humorous but also very cool and modern, not shy at taking the micky out of themselves in the pursuit of laughs. This is good as it reinforces the image of Example our artist as a jokey lad, which he is.

Name one shot you liked and why

After showing our video to the class it was clear that a few shots stood out from the rest. The shots in the coffee shop including the slow motion hand touch emerged as favorites. Another shot which received positive feedback was the clothes changing transitions, they were synced very well and once edited together looked very impressive.

Name one area which could be improved any how

The class and especially our teacher thought that our car shots were the weakest after seeing our first rough cut. The transitions between the shots of our cars needed to be tidied up and we were told to play around with the fades and dissolves to find one which looked better than the one we had alredy put in.

Digipak ideas

Digipak designs

We have worked together in producing some ideas for our design that we think will fit in with our artists star personal and link in with our track. We wanted trhe 'Fast Car' to be a dominant theme on the front cover as that is the name of the song, and all other sides of our Digipak will relate to the song or specific lyrics.

Animatic

Our animatic for the video can be viewed via the hyperlink below.

Animatic

Filming Evaluation #1 GROUP

Overall our first shoot went quite well although lighting was a slight issue as some of our shots are slightly to dark. We will be trying to edit this out but if not we will have have to refilm. However there were some interesting shots that we can definatly use within our final cut such as the hair cutting shot. This was definatly a good start however there are things that we would need to consider for next time such as mise-en-scene and more spcifically lighting.