Finished video.

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

In our coursework, we used a variety of media technologies while creating our text. These are especially important in creating a modern music video, as all other texts are made in this way. We used both software and hardware technologies throughout creating the text, from research & planning to the evaluation.

Software

While performing our audience research, we used many different websites to find similar bands and to see what certain audiences like, in reference to music genres and styles. Websites like Myspace and Facebook were especially useful for these, as people can "share" music videos and songs that they like; using this information, we could then create an idea of what our specific audience would like. The search-engine Google was also equally useful; this website, which allows the user to search through millions of websites, allowed us to look for our chosen band's website and any reviews or articles concerning them. This then helped us to piece together the ages of audiences who enjoy the band.

In creating our text, we used many different software packages to assist us. The main product we used was FinalCut Express; this video editing software is industry standard, and did not limit us on the effects and editing techniques we could use. However, before cutting and editing the video clips, we had to convert them into files that could be read by FinalCut. We did this by using freeware, downloaded from the internet.

Freeware, also known as shareware, is a name given to open source programs that can be downloaded from the internet for free; these programs are usually used by the general public in return for consumer information; the programs are then changed and improved by the producing company, and then sold to the general public. We used two different examples of shareware; iSquint and MPEG Streamclip. These are two examples of an conversion/encoding tool, which is necessary when editing film; many programs only accept certain types of program files, so to use a variety of programs a conversion tool is needed. These programs both worked as they were intended to, and allowed us to edit as we wanted without spending money on converting software. Other shareware that we could have used includes the program "GIMP" instead of Photoshop; however as Photoshop was already present on the school computers we did not need to download the replacement.

Other programs that we used while creating the music video included Quicktime Player and iTunes; these are both media players of different styles, with Quicktime playing video and iTunes playing audio files. These were especially useful to see how the text would look in its eventual digital viewer. Music videos, along with albums and singles, are sold by iTunes meaning that this would be a possible way for the audience to see the text. When creating the ancillary tasks, we used Photoshop to edit the photographs for the digipack. While this was a relatively new program for us to use, the concepts of editing are similar to that of FinalCut; in this way we could edit the photographs sufficiently and to the best of our ability.

While evaluating the video, we used blogging websites like Blogger, and video sharing sites like Youtube to share the video. On this blogging site we can also show how we have designed and produced the video. Sites like Facebook and Youtube have also been used to share the video with our audience.

Hardware 

Without the use of video cameras, we would have been unable to make our video. We had learnt how to effectively use the cameras in previous tasks; however, skills like handheld "guerrilla style" filming and moving with the cameras were both skills that we needed to learn. The SD cards used to store the raw video files from the camera meant that we had to be wary of file size; a limited memory storage size means that if we are not careful we could lose previous files. 

The iMacs were incredibly useful while making our music video; the advanced graphics card (ATI Radeon HD 4670) came in very useful while making the music video, and the storage space allowed us to store backups of our project in case of emergency

Evaluation question 3; What have you learned from your audience feedback?

After uploading our video to facebook, we got lots of audience feedback; this came in the form of "likes" and comments. This audience formed our focus group, and allowed us to see what a small group of people thought of the video before we handed it in. 


Great vid guys!! Haha definitely got the Reservoir Dogs reference...
Would give it a 10/10 lol" -Tom

"Ahh thats so good! Better than the one I made for my school lol. Really liked the whole style of the video.. looked really cool, especially the split screen shots." - Sophie

Sweet! Deffo will come to you for a video when i do my next track. Loved the band shots! Looked like a real performance. - Josh

And below are some negative comments we can gain constructive criticism from.

"Nice! Would be better if you extended the shots of the band walking around?? But quality video all the same" - Luke

"Safe! Should be more band shots though... :p" - Dan

"I really liked it but I dunno, maybe better if there was more shots of the band in the gang?" - Molly



Below are the questions we asked the focus group.

What do you think were the stronger parts of our music video?

Tom: I really liked the narrative shots you used, I definitely noticed the films you referenced, especially the reservoir dogs style walking shots. I also liked the Once Upon a Time in the West reference you used in the digipack.

Sophie: I loved the colour scheme within the music video you made. I think the desaturated colours juxtaposed with the multi-coloured split screen shots worked extremely well, making the video have contrast and catch the eye of the viewer.

Josh: I really liked the images of the different band members being put into a split screen then coloured, it looked really cool and made the video flow well. I especially liked the band shots because it looked like an actual gig, really professional. Well done.

Luke: I enjoyed the performance shots, it looked really realistic. I especially liked the close ups of the different band members playing their instruments. I also liked the split screens of different band members.

Dan: The band shots looked awesome, especially the close ups and the split screens.

Molly: The best bit for me was the performance shots, the band had lots of energy and the quick editing and various cinematography really showed this.

What do you think were the weaker parts of our music video?

Tom: I felt as though the video was great and I can't think of many bad points. However, I feel as though the reservoir dogs style shots should have been expanded on.

Sophie: The scenes where the band are walking down the street should have perhaps been made longer and maybe had some more narrative.

Josh: I did like the band shots and thought they were really realistic. However, I feel as though you should have made the split screen shots more frequent, was a really cool effect.

Luke: When the band members were walking down the road I didn't quite understand where they were going? although it did look really epic.

Dan: There should have been more close ups of the lead singer while singing on stage, but it was a top effort.

Molly: I loved the shots of the band walking around in a gang formation. I think it would have been better if you used more of these shots.

If you could change one thing in the video, what would it be and why?

Tom: I would probably change the amount of screen time the narrative shots have as it would have set up a good video.

Sophie: The same as Tom really, it is an awesome video just the narrative shots could have been longer.

Josh: I would probably add in more effects to make the video look more futuristic.

Luke: I would also say the same as Tom, it could have been more of a narrative behind the gang scenes to make the video have a better structure, although it has a really good structure any way.

Dan: I would add in more shots of the lead singer on stage because it would have made the band shots more realistic.

Molly: I feel as though you should have perhaps used more narrative shots, it would make the video seem more cinematic. 

What I can draw from this focus group

From what I have found in my audience research I have come to the conclusion that if I were to make the video again, I would do the following....

1) Make the narrative shots longer, adding more structure
2) Showing more shots of the singer on stage, giving a more realistic feel to the live performance
3) Using more split screens within the video
4) Show the gang scenes have more narrative, adding perhaps a small story line
5) Keeping in the vertical intertextual reference from various films

Evaluation question 2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary task/text

Script

Introduction

Group: Hello I am (names) and this is our analyses of our main product and ancillary task. In this video we will be answering How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary task.

Ewan: We feel as though the editing within our main product was quite effective as it appealed to the target audiences' needs that they expressed during the audience research stage

James: We used a vertical intertextual reference from Tarintino's reservoir dogs when editing our video, we used this because our target audience will understand the visual signs connoted making our video effective by appealing to them

Lauren: We desaturated our video (making it black and white) as we were influenced by the dvd cover of reservoir dogs which was black and white. This would make our video effectively target our audience because it is a style that would appeal to them as in the audience research, the majority wanted the video shot in black and white

Ewan: We edited some shots in colour to contrast the desaturation of the majority of the video, this is effective as it cross breeds our genre of rockerbilly with conventions and forms of a pop video, this will allow our audience to watch something they would not usually see within their preferred genre. 

James: The music video’s target audience is the 18-25 year old male demographic who are white and middle to working class. This audience has been targeted within the music video, as the characters represented are young white males, mirroring the target audience. The Paradigms of a gang of teenagers dressed smartly walking down a street within the narrative scenes create a dark syntagm of youth crime which the media has created a folk devil out of, intriguing the target audience as it has an element of danger.Lauren: The road that the characters are walking on creates the metonym of an open road being freedom for the young gang members. The band members performing on stage (who are the same as the gang members) are also represented as white young males who are performing at a gig, this will appeal to the target audience who are into a live music culture.

Ewan: The semiotics of the music video connotes the songs genre of alternative/rock, predominantly through the videos mise-en-scène, which uses many conventions synonymous to the rock/alternative genre that can be found in real products. The paradigms of having the props of musical instruments such as; the guitar, drums and bass are all iconic signs of rock music, the setting of being on a stage for the performance shots and the costumes of smart/casual clothing worn with sunglasses creates the syntagm of an alternative rock band.

James: The performance shots juxtaposed with the narrative shots of the band walking which is a direct vertical inter textual reference from Tarintino’s Reservoir Dogs creates the indexical sign of criminality and a rock and roll lifestyle, this is through the target audiences’ understanding of the Reservoir Dogs reference which has been parodied, pastiched and paid homage to in various other texts that they may have seen.

Lauren: Within the editing of the music video, standard forms and conventions of the genre were challenged as there were some split screens which were brightly covered, this was a horizontal inter textual reference to pop music videos, a genre that contrasts greatly to the alternative/rock genre, giving the audience an image they may have not seen before. 

Ewan: The music video contains a vertical reference within the editing; the majority of the music video is desaturated (Black and White) which is a reference to the Tarintino film, Reservoir Dogs. This also developed forms and conventions of previous media texts as the video cross breads ideas of music videos and films. The cutting of the video challenges forms and conventions of the genre as usually, alternative/rock videos are quickly cut whereas this music video contains many fades and dissolves, making the music video look quite contemporary and different to previous texts.

James: The cinematography uses forms and conventions found in previous music videos such as the close-up shot. The close-up shot of the drums connotes the metonym of rock and roll as it is an image synonymous with the genre. This close-up shot also uses forms and conventions previously used in music videos as it shows the musicians performing, giving a live gig feel as the genre of the song is based heavily on live music and. 

Lauren: The video challenges conventions from previous music videos as well in the performance shots as, wherein previous videos they use a dolly for performance shots (Arctic Monkeys-I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor 2005) In our music video we used hand held shots to create an even more live feel, to make the audience feel as though they were actually at a gig.