In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
When creating our music video, a lot of the conventions we used came from real shopping channels, this is due to the fact that the main narrative of our music video consists of a shopping channel/channels spoof, so many of the forms and conventions were accociated with real ones. The basic narrative of our music video was; a typical, modern day, slob is sitting about watching shopping channels, he see's a band for sale on one of them and orders them by phone, they then turn up at his appartment and begin to play, putting a surreal twist into the video. The band performance segments of the video used a lot of the forms and conventions of other indie/rock style bands, as did the dvd cover.
The mise en scene used in the video is conventional of that seen in shopping channels and other music videos. The TV presenters are dressed in shirts as typically seen on shopping channels, they are holding up the kind of useless items you would accociate with these channels, this is all used, not only to stay within the conventions of a shopping channel, but also to exagurate them to make the video more spoof like. The band are wearing normal, indie looking clothing and playing instruments so you can clearly distingish them as the band, they are also all seen performing together and standing together on the dvd cover.
The editing perhaps played the biggest part in using and developing forms and conventions of real media products. During the shopping channel parts of our video, graphic overlays were used like those seen on real shopping channels. The graphic overlays which our group created often used bright, clashing colours, and contained lots of relavent jokes in the text, the purpose of this being to satirize the real thing. The "price earthquake" scene was again, to make fun of the real thing, mocking the false enthusyasm and sensory overload you somtimes get on these channels.
The camera work differed between each part of the video to follow the usual forms and conventions of other media products, the shopping channel parts were mainly filmed in a still shot, with close ups on the products like you would see on a real shopping channel. The band and appartment scenes were filmed with a range of shots, in the early scenes before the band arrive at the appartment, all the shots are still conventional shots following the basic rules of filming and editing like the 180 degree rule. All the band scenes used less conventional editing though, with shots at differont angles and moving "handheld" shots with zooms, as you might see in simelar music videos.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancilliary texts?
I think the combination of our video, digipack and magazine advert worked quite well, as they all tied in with one another. Obviously the video was the main product which the other two had to tie in with, which I think we achieved quite well. The dvd case features a picture of the band, wearing the same outfit as they were seen in during the music video as well as screenshots of the video on the back. The poster ties in with both the video and dvd cover, featuring a design simelar to the graphic overlay seen in the music video, and a picture of the dvd cover as a completed dvd.
What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
The audience feedback was big part of the creating process, it helped us plan what needed to be done and to see what kind of an impact our video was having on people. The feedback recieved on the rough cut was mainly positive except for the comments saying it was hard to follow/understand without the missing footage which at the time, we compensated for with text, explaining what would be happening in the scene. We responded to this by filming all the necicery footage, and putting it into our video at the right place.
The feedback recieved on the final video was all relativly positive which we were quite pleased with, people were saying that the ideas and humor worked well, the only real negative comment was that it looked slightly amateur/tacky, however this was a success in itself to us as we had been trying to simulate the tacky nature of shopping channels and incorperate it into our video.
The feedback on the dvd cover and advert was all pretty positive which we were quite pleased with and fealt like we chose a good design.
Friday, 11 December 2009
Group Commentary
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqjYAp2GiwY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsHDc_J_btg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsHDc_J_btg
Evaluation
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Our Media Product uses many forms and conventions of real Rock/Indie genre music videos, examples of these being anything from the band being the ‘centre of attention’ in many of the shots which is very common in indie and rock music videos For example: Kasabian’s Shoot the Runner video which is solely based round the band, our video may be the complete opposite of this but it still does take elements of this ‘centre of attention’ style from the video these being the band performance.
But our Music Video also takes this a stage further with influence from other rock bands such bands as Foo Fighters with the song Learn To Fly and the Beastie Boys with Sabotage where the band is still the ‘centre of attention’ but they are involved in somewhat of a comedy story or spoof. Our video also does this spoof idea with the spoof being shopping channels. Our idea was to take the shopping channel feel of tackiness but take it to a whole new level with the products being completely useless that is until the band comes along.
We were able to produce this shopping channel feel by using graphics created on Photoshop, and appropriate mise en scene to create the shopping channel effect. While we were making fun of and spoofing the genre using jokes in text on the graphics to give a tacky appearance, we always remained faithful to the conventions of shopping channels. As if we were to go too tacky the audience would become confused and would not be able to tell that we were spoofing the shopping channel theme.
The band appearance and performance follow the conventions of typical rock/indie bands, but in shopping channel scenario, as reflected by the camera work and editing.
Therefore I believe our video followed all the conventions in the music genres our band White Denim came under but we also developed these further with the added bonus of the shopping channel spoof which therefore created an overall professional feel.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancilliary texts?
The Digi pack is very conventional of that of other indie bands But There is no clear influence from our music video on the front cover, this is because we decided in the end that if we used the shopping channel feel it would look too tacky and therefore the end product we ended up with was based round the design of the bands single ‘Let’s talk about it’ this cover shown below is of one of the band members in a almost painted style we therefore got a conventional rock band style picture similar to the likes of Foo fighters but with the added White denim cartoon/painted styled look. However we did link the music video to the digi pack through the underside of the digi pack which we based round the Led-Zepplin The Song Remains The Same
The magazine advert takes elements from both the music video and the digipack. The image of the front cover of the digipack is in the dead centre of the Magazine advert this is very conventional as most Magazine covers we have seen of other bands include this although ares is slightly different as it has been superimposed onto a dvd case to give it a more professional quality. We also used the original graphic
template used throughout the music video this therefore links the original video with the magazine advert so that people that see the advert will instantly know what it is advertising. With the Graphics We also included some of our hidden words in the product numbers (by this i mean hidden words such as SELLOUT displayed of the magazine cover as 53llOU7) that people will pick up on if they watch our music video beforehand. We also used many over things to tie the digi pack and the magazine advert together these included The use of the silhouette of the band on the underside of the digi pack was flipped and change to black and white and then used to create the background for the magazine advert.
We also used all the sorts of information you would find on both a digi pack and a magazine advert these included anything from the parental guidance logo to the more less know logos such as the Dolby Digital logo these therefore gave an even more authentic look which is what we were trying to achieve.
We even made fake quotes from popular music magazines such as NME and Q Magazine these included: “Fresh new sound” NME and “Funny, Energetic, Amazing collection” Q magazine. These therefore linked the Digi pack and the Magazine advert further.
What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
With the original feedback we got when we showed people the rough cut we found that the same points were mentioned this included That the video was hard to follow and that there was missing footage throughout. We found this understandable as at this point we had only filmed the shopping channel shots and therefore were missing all the band performance shots which in our case were quite a reasonable chunk of footage.
We therefore responded by filming the Band performance shots and any other shots needed to complete the narrative This therefore allowed the video to flow much more smoothly allowing the people which commented on the rough cut saying it was confusing to have a far better sense of what the story actually was. Apart from this the comments we got on our rough-cut were all pleasing these included: The music fits to what is happening on screen, Really like the shopping channel spoof, Good ideas and techniques, Hand coming out of the box looked good, Some parts looked amateur/tacky however it worked well with the theme of a tacky shopping channel obviously as i said these pleased us as the look we were hoping to get of a tacky shopping channel that was of the same look as the Foo Fighters was exactly what the viewers got from watching it.
Therefore after placing the missing footage in the gaps we also tweaked a few of the shots we already had to make it more suited to the rock genre. By using angled shots of guitar playing and more unusual shots of the band itself we seemed to achieve this.
As from the final feedback we had from the final cut showed
The feedback we received on the rough cut commented on the missing footage (mostly of the band performance), and on the video being hard to follow. We responded by filming the band shots, and other shots to make the narrative part of the video flow and make sense.
The feedback we got on the final version of the video was generally positive, praising the surreal look and feel, the fact the humour worked well and that the tacky shopping channel look worked well. Which therefore showed that the target audience approved of the video we created, and from the comments given we also designed the digi pack and magazine advert therefore allowing continuity and in doing so pleasing the audience again.
How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Without the use of new technologies the process of researching to evaluation would of taken a far longer time than what was given but luckily we did have access to programs that could provide help throughout each stage. For example in the intial research stages we would not have been able to carry out research as thoroughly without the help of such internet sites as ‘YouTube’ and ‘Google’. With the help of these programs we were able to search through everything from existing logos of real shopping channels to the actual layout of the graphics. With the use of YouTube we were also able to look at previous shopping channel spoofs and actual footage from shopping channels which therefore allowed use to develop our idea of a shopping channel spoof to create a very unique video. But before the construction of the video, there was still research needing to be done this included using the program ‘Photoshop’ to create mood boards from images found again on Google and Annotating screen shots we have taken from the internet of existing shopping channels to then progress onto making the first shopping channel graphics for the video. And then of course there was the internet site Myspace which allowed use to contact the band to get permission to use the song.
The next stage was then the actual construction of the video which would of never been constructed without using the program Final Cut Express, This program allowed us to be able to create a near perfect professional feel to our video. While creating the storyline using this program we were also able to put the graphics we had previously worked on in Photoshop straight onto the sequence required, this provided us with the tacky shopping channel spoof look we were after. With the storyline and graphics finished we could then fiddle with the contrast and colour of the footage to give it that glossy professional feel ,and then add our own personal touch by using crazy effects such as the price earthquake sequence which we use the earthquake effect from Final Cut Express or the breaking of the camera scene at the very end which we again used a Final Cut Express effect. After completing the video we were then able to straight away upload the video onto the blog that we had been using throughout or onto the site we used previously ‘YouTube’ for other to enjoy and rate.
After constructing the video we obviously still had the two other products to make these being the magazine advert and the digi pack, both of which were created using the program Photoshop with this program we were then able to give the effects we were after for the digi pack this being the ‘painted’ look with the use of the Photoshop it was really easy to apply and with a few added items from the internet such as the dvd logo and with the ability to take screen shots from Final Cut Express we were able to create a very convincing Dvd album cover.
Photoshop however really came into play when we created the mag advertisement this was due to the fact that there was so much to do not only did we have to put the graphics in that we had previously used we also had to superimpose a picture of the digi pack onto a picture of a dvd case we found on the internet we then even more impressively used the silhouette of the band flip it and change the colour to black and white and used it as our background.
Overall I have found that without the programs and technology we were given it would have been near impossible to create as professional looking products as with did in the end.
Our Media Product uses many forms and conventions of real Rock/Indie genre music videos, examples of these being anything from the band being the ‘centre of attention’ in many of the shots which is very common in indie and rock music videos For example: Kasabian’s Shoot the Runner video which is solely based round the band, our video may be the complete opposite of this but it still does take elements of this ‘centre of attention’ style from the video these being the band performance.
But our Music Video also takes this a stage further with influence from other rock bands such bands as Foo Fighters with the song Learn To Fly and the Beastie Boys with Sabotage where the band is still the ‘centre of attention’ but they are involved in somewhat of a comedy story or spoof. Our video also does this spoof idea with the spoof being shopping channels. Our idea was to take the shopping channel feel of tackiness but take it to a whole new level with the products being completely useless that is until the band comes along.
We were able to produce this shopping channel feel by using graphics created on Photoshop, and appropriate mise en scene to create the shopping channel effect. While we were making fun of and spoofing the genre using jokes in text on the graphics to give a tacky appearance, we always remained faithful to the conventions of shopping channels. As if we were to go too tacky the audience would become confused and would not be able to tell that we were spoofing the shopping channel theme.
The band appearance and performance follow the conventions of typical rock/indie bands, but in shopping channel scenario, as reflected by the camera work and editing.
Therefore I believe our video followed all the conventions in the music genres our band White Denim came under but we also developed these further with the added bonus of the shopping channel spoof which therefore created an overall professional feel.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancilliary texts?
The Digi pack is very conventional of that of other indie bands But There is no clear influence from our music video on the front cover, this is because we decided in the end that if we used the shopping channel feel it would look too tacky and therefore the end product we ended up with was based round the design of the bands single ‘Let’s talk about it’ this cover shown below is of one of the band members in a almost painted style we therefore got a conventional rock band style picture similar to the likes of Foo fighters but with the added White denim cartoon/painted styled look. However we did link the music video to the digi pack through the underside of the digi pack which we based round the Led-Zepplin The Song Remains The Same
The magazine advert takes elements from both the music video and the digipack. The image of the front cover of the digipack is in the dead centre of the Magazine advert this is very conventional as most Magazine covers we have seen of other bands include this although ares is slightly different as it has been superimposed onto a dvd case to give it a more professional quality. We also used the original graphic
template used throughout the music video this therefore links the original video with the magazine advert so that people that see the advert will instantly know what it is advertising. With the Graphics We also included some of our hidden words in the product numbers (by this i mean hidden words such as SELLOUT displayed of the magazine cover as 53llOU7) that people will pick up on if they watch our music video beforehand. We also used many over things to tie the digi pack and the magazine advert together these included The use of the silhouette of the band on the underside of the digi pack was flipped and change to black and white and then used to create the background for the magazine advert.We also used all the sorts of information you would find on both a digi pack and a magazine advert these included anything from the parental guidance logo to the more less know logos such as the Dolby Digital logo these therefore gave an even more authentic look which is what we were trying to achieve.
We even made fake quotes from popular music magazines such as NME and Q Magazine these included: “Fresh new sound” NME and “Funny, Energetic, Amazing collection” Q magazine. These therefore linked the Digi pack and the Magazine advert further.
What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
With the original feedback we got when we showed people the rough cut we found that the same points were mentioned this included That the video was hard to follow and that there was missing footage throughout. We found this understandable as at this point we had only filmed the shopping channel shots and therefore were missing all the band performance shots which in our case were quite a reasonable chunk of footage.
We therefore responded by filming the Band performance shots and any other shots needed to complete the narrative This therefore allowed the video to flow much more smoothly allowing the people which commented on the rough cut saying it was confusing to have a far better sense of what the story actually was. Apart from this the comments we got on our rough-cut were all pleasing these included: The music fits to what is happening on screen, Really like the shopping channel spoof, Good ideas and techniques, Hand coming out of the box looked good, Some parts looked amateur/tacky however it worked well with the theme of a tacky shopping channel obviously as i said these pleased us as the look we were hoping to get of a tacky shopping channel that was of the same look as the Foo Fighters was exactly what the viewers got from watching it.
Therefore after placing the missing footage in the gaps we also tweaked a few of the shots we already had to make it more suited to the rock genre. By using angled shots of guitar playing and more unusual shots of the band itself we seemed to achieve this.
As from the final feedback we had from the final cut showed
The feedback we received on the rough cut commented on the missing footage (mostly of the band performance), and on the video being hard to follow. We responded by filming the band shots, and other shots to make the narrative part of the video flow and make sense.
The feedback we got on the final version of the video was generally positive, praising the surreal look and feel, the fact the humour worked well and that the tacky shopping channel look worked well. Which therefore showed that the target audience approved of the video we created, and from the comments given we also designed the digi pack and magazine advert therefore allowing continuity and in doing so pleasing the audience again.
How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Without the use of new technologies the process of researching to evaluation would of taken a far longer time than what was given but luckily we did have access to programs that could provide help throughout each stage. For example in the intial research stages we would not have been able to carry out research as thoroughly without the help of such internet sites as ‘YouTube’ and ‘Google’. With the help of these programs we were able to search through everything from existing logos of real shopping channels to the actual layout of the graphics. With the use of YouTube we were also able to look at previous shopping channel spoofs and actual footage from shopping channels which therefore allowed use to develop our idea of a shopping channel spoof to create a very unique video. But before the construction of the video, there was still research needing to be done this included using the program ‘Photoshop’ to create mood boards from images found again on Google and Annotating screen shots we have taken from the internet of existing shopping channels to then progress onto making the first shopping channel graphics for the video. And then of course there was the internet site Myspace which allowed use to contact the band to get permission to use the song.
The next stage was then the actual construction of the video which would of never been constructed without using the program Final Cut Express, This program allowed us to be able to create a near perfect professional feel to our video. While creating the storyline using this program we were also able to put the graphics we had previously worked on in Photoshop straight onto the sequence required, this provided us with the tacky shopping channel spoof look we were after. With the storyline and graphics finished we could then fiddle with the contrast and colour of the footage to give it that glossy professional feel ,and then add our own personal touch by using crazy effects such as the price earthquake sequence which we use the earthquake effect from Final Cut Express or the breaking of the camera scene at the very end which we again used a Final Cut Express effect. After completing the video we were then able to straight away upload the video onto the blog that we had been using throughout or onto the site we used previously ‘YouTube’ for other to enjoy and rate.
After constructing the video we obviously still had the two other products to make these being the magazine advert and the digi pack, both of which were created using the program Photoshop with this program we were then able to give the effects we were after for the digi pack this being the ‘painted’ look with the use of the Photoshop it was really easy to apply and with a few added items from the internet such as the dvd logo and with the ability to take screen shots from Final Cut Express we were able to create a very convincing Dvd album cover.
Photoshop however really came into play when we created the mag advertisement this was due to the fact that there was so much to do not only did we have to put the graphics in that we had previously used we also had to superimpose a picture of the digi pack onto a picture of a dvd case we found on the internet we then even more impressively used the silhouette of the band flip it and change the colour to black and white and used it as our background.
Overall I have found that without the programs and technology we were given it would have been near impossible to create as professional looking products as with did in the end.
Thursday, 10 December 2009
Music Video Evaluation
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Our media products use many of the conventions of different forms of media texts. The main part of our video, the shopping channel segments, follow closely the genre and style conventions of shopping channels, like Bid TV, Price Drop TV and QVC. The props, costumes and general mise en scene in the shopping channel shots in the video, faithfully recreate the shopping channel scenario, whilst poking fun and spoofing the whole look and feel of the effect.
The graphics that are superimposed on the shopping channel segments, were created to follow the conventions of the shopping channel look. Also included in the graphics we made were jokes and small ‘easter eggs’ in the text. These jokes are there for people who watch the video more than once. They don’t see the jokes first time round, so the jokes add repeat viewing value to the video.
Although the shopping channel part of the video follows the conventions of shopping channels, by putting that scenario in a music video, it gives it a unique look and feel, which will help an audience identify the music video easier.
The performance and ‘lounge’ parts of the video follow conventions of indie rock music videos. The costumes worn by the band, the props used by the person by the TV, and the layout of the sets (the band’s ‘performance studio’ and the man’s lounge), all follow music video conventions. The camerawork, however, fits the band performance into the shopping channel setting, allowing for the two parts of the video to flow with each other.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancilliary texts?
The digipack we created was a DVD cover, which didn’t match the style of the music video. Instead, we choose to model the cover on the band’s (White Denim) previous album artwork. Their last album cover had a painted look to it, and in keeping with this, our product had a similar effect. We used a band photo, conventional of most indie bands, then edited it to give it a cartoon-esque look. So whilst following the style of the band’s artwork, we also moved it on and did something different with the look.
The back cover of the digipack contains information that is typical of a back cover of a digipack. This includes the track listing, a DVD logo, screenshots from the music video (which act as a selling point for the digipack) and a list of the special features on the DVD. The background image, is the band photo from the front cover, reversed and silhouetted. This gives the band a distinct image, making them easily identifiable to a potential buyer.
The advert for the digipack, brings together elements from both the music video and the digipack, to give the ancilliary products an effective motif. The advert uses the band photo from the digipack and is silhouetted, like the background of the back cover of the digipack. The graphics from the music video form part of the advert. By using and adapting the graphics from the video and using them in the advert (along with the font and colour scheme), it creates a motif across the products. This would help the sale of the digipack, as people would recognise the graphics from the video, see the DVD cover and go and buy the digipack because it has that video on it.
What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
When we posted up our rough-cut, most of the feedback we received all said the same thing. The comments mainly mentioned the lack of variety in the shots, as well as a lack of whole scenes, with made the video confusing and hard to follow. We responded to this feedback by filming the shots needed to make the video make sense. This include several scenes involving the band playing on the shopping channel and in the apartment, as well as shots of the apartment and it’s owner, reacting to various band members.
After the final cut of our video was done, the feedback we received on it, was general positive. A few praised the surreal feel of the video, whilst commenting on the fact that the humour work well as was not to over the top. Comments also said that the video had a tacky look to it, but that that work with the shopping channel look. If we could go back and change one thing, we would reshoot the apartment scenes, and make them look less tacky and more like an actual lounge in an apartment.
Feedback from the digipack and advert was also mainly positive. People liked the way the image of the band, and how the overall look and theme carries on over both sides of the box and that the band where the same as they were in the video (the costumes, props and background colour were the same, to add continuity). However, some people did mention that the background picture on the back takes away from the over all look. Looking at the cover again, the image clearly stands out, and doesn’t really fit with the rest of the cover. If we did it again, we would probably make the background image, a little more translucent, to draw attention to the text on the back. The advert was praised for having a good link between the video (making the advert look like a TV shopping channel screen) and digipack cover. It was called unique, and that it is quite recognisable to an audience, making the product stand out The theme and the inclusion of release dates and website, were also liked.
How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
During the project, we used several new media technologies. At the planning stage, we used Youtube to research the shopping channel effect. We looked at clips from Bid TV, QVC and many others, to see how the graphics looked, and how they were shot. This massively influenced our music video.
Whilst researching, we found spoofs of the shopping channel format. This were a little more extreme, because they showed things being sold that would never be sold on a shopping channel. After seeing this we realised that to make the shopping channel part work, we would need to make it look and feel as much like the real thing as possible.
We also used Google to research, and acquire still images of, shopping channel graphics and previous digipack covers and adverts. This helped in the develop of all three of the projects we made. A blog was used throughout the project to chart the progress of the products. During the making of the digipack cover and advert, we used the blog as a ‘bin’, putting shots of the digipack on it, for us to take off, copy and use in the advert, and vice versa.
Photoshop was used to make graphic designs for shopping channel parts of the video, as well as the advert. It helped when the graphics were added to the music video, as the programmes Final Cut (used to edit the video) and Photoshop integrate and work together perfectly. We also used Photoshop to make a moodboard to help the creative process. We also emailed the band, White Denim, to tell them that we used their song, and to see if they wanted to see a version of it or not. They didn’t reply, however. At the evaluation stages, we used technologies we used before (Photoshop, Final Cut, Google) to make a group commentary. This helped to see what went well, and what could have been done more successfully.
Our media products use many of the conventions of different forms of media texts. The main part of our video, the shopping channel segments, follow closely the genre and style conventions of shopping channels, like Bid TV, Price Drop TV and QVC. The props, costumes and general mise en scene in the shopping channel shots in the video, faithfully recreate the shopping channel scenario, whilst poking fun and spoofing the whole look and feel of the effect.
The graphics that are superimposed on the shopping channel segments, were created to follow the conventions of the shopping channel look. Also included in the graphics we made were jokes and small ‘easter eggs’ in the text. These jokes are there for people who watch the video more than once. They don’t see the jokes first time round, so the jokes add repeat viewing value to the video.
Although the shopping channel part of the video follows the conventions of shopping channels, by putting that scenario in a music video, it gives it a unique look and feel, which will help an audience identify the music video easier.
The performance and ‘lounge’ parts of the video follow conventions of indie rock music videos. The costumes worn by the band, the props used by the person by the TV, and the layout of the sets (the band’s ‘performance studio’ and the man’s lounge), all follow music video conventions. The camerawork, however, fits the band performance into the shopping channel setting, allowing for the two parts of the video to flow with each other.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancilliary texts?
The digipack we created was a DVD cover, which didn’t match the style of the music video. Instead, we choose to model the cover on the band’s (White Denim) previous album artwork. Their last album cover had a painted look to it, and in keeping with this, our product had a similar effect. We used a band photo, conventional of most indie bands, then edited it to give it a cartoon-esque look. So whilst following the style of the band’s artwork, we also moved it on and did something different with the look.
The back cover of the digipack contains information that is typical of a back cover of a digipack. This includes the track listing, a DVD logo, screenshots from the music video (which act as a selling point for the digipack) and a list of the special features on the DVD. The background image, is the band photo from the front cover, reversed and silhouetted. This gives the band a distinct image, making them easily identifiable to a potential buyer.
The advert for the digipack, brings together elements from both the music video and the digipack, to give the ancilliary products an effective motif. The advert uses the band photo from the digipack and is silhouetted, like the background of the back cover of the digipack. The graphics from the music video form part of the advert. By using and adapting the graphics from the video and using them in the advert (along with the font and colour scheme), it creates a motif across the products. This would help the sale of the digipack, as people would recognise the graphics from the video, see the DVD cover and go and buy the digipack because it has that video on it.
What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
When we posted up our rough-cut, most of the feedback we received all said the same thing. The comments mainly mentioned the lack of variety in the shots, as well as a lack of whole scenes, with made the video confusing and hard to follow. We responded to this feedback by filming the shots needed to make the video make sense. This include several scenes involving the band playing on the shopping channel and in the apartment, as well as shots of the apartment and it’s owner, reacting to various band members.
After the final cut of our video was done, the feedback we received on it, was general positive. A few praised the surreal feel of the video, whilst commenting on the fact that the humour work well as was not to over the top. Comments also said that the video had a tacky look to it, but that that work with the shopping channel look. If we could go back and change one thing, we would reshoot the apartment scenes, and make them look less tacky and more like an actual lounge in an apartment.
Feedback from the digipack and advert was also mainly positive. People liked the way the image of the band, and how the overall look and theme carries on over both sides of the box and that the band where the same as they were in the video (the costumes, props and background colour were the same, to add continuity). However, some people did mention that the background picture on the back takes away from the over all look. Looking at the cover again, the image clearly stands out, and doesn’t really fit with the rest of the cover. If we did it again, we would probably make the background image, a little more translucent, to draw attention to the text on the back. The advert was praised for having a good link between the video (making the advert look like a TV shopping channel screen) and digipack cover. It was called unique, and that it is quite recognisable to an audience, making the product stand out The theme and the inclusion of release dates and website, were also liked.
How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
During the project, we used several new media technologies. At the planning stage, we used Youtube to research the shopping channel effect. We looked at clips from Bid TV, QVC and many others, to see how the graphics looked, and how they were shot. This massively influenced our music video.
Whilst researching, we found spoofs of the shopping channel format. This were a little more extreme, because they showed things being sold that would never be sold on a shopping channel. After seeing this we realised that to make the shopping channel part work, we would need to make it look and feel as much like the real thing as possible.
We also used Google to research, and acquire still images of, shopping channel graphics and previous digipack covers and adverts. This helped in the develop of all three of the projects we made. A blog was used throughout the project to chart the progress of the products. During the making of the digipack cover and advert, we used the blog as a ‘bin’, putting shots of the digipack on it, for us to take off, copy and use in the advert, and vice versa.
Photoshop was used to make graphic designs for shopping channel parts of the video, as well as the advert. It helped when the graphics were added to the music video, as the programmes Final Cut (used to edit the video) and Photoshop integrate and work together perfectly. We also used Photoshop to make a moodboard to help the creative process. We also emailed the band, White Denim, to tell them that we used their song, and to see if they wanted to see a version of it or not. They didn’t reply, however. At the evaluation stages, we used technologies we used before (Photoshop, Final Cut, Google) to make a group commentary. This helped to see what went well, and what could have been done more successfully.
Thursday, 3 December 2009
Group Commentary Script
QUESTION 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
We used graphics created on photoshop, and appropriate mise en scene to create the shopping channel effect. While we were making fun of and spoofing the genre using jokes in text on the graphics and a tacky appearance, we always remained faithful to the conventions of shopping channels.
The band appearance and performance follow the conventions of typical rock/indie bands, but in shopping channel scenario, as reflected by the camera work and editing.
QUESTION 2 - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancilliary texts?
The Digipack is very conventional of indie bands as we based the design on some of the bands previous artwork, we did the same for the photo of the band, using the cartoon/painted style.
The magazine advert takes elements of both of the music video and the digipack. The image on the back cover of the digipack, the front cover of the digipack and the graphics/font all link in with the music video.
QUESTION 3 - What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
The feedback we received on the rough cut commented on the missing footage (mostly of the band performance), and on the video being hard to follow. We responded by filming the band shots, and other shots to make the narrative part of the video flow and make sense.
The feedback we got on the final version of the video was generally positive, praising the surreal look and feel, the fact the humour worked well and that the tacky shopping channel look worked well.
QUESTION 4 - How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
We used youtube and google in the initial research stages to look up the shopping channel effect/style and also to look at previously created spoofs and actual footage of shopping channels. We used the internet to search for existing logos and previous covers and adverts. We used photostop to make all the graphic designs for the shopping channel scenes in the video, as well as using it to create the advert and dvd cover. Other uses of photoshop were creating moodboards to help the creative process. We also used the internet to email the band to tell them that we used their song.
We used graphics created on photoshop, and appropriate mise en scene to create the shopping channel effect. While we were making fun of and spoofing the genre using jokes in text on the graphics and a tacky appearance, we always remained faithful to the conventions of shopping channels.
The band appearance and performance follow the conventions of typical rock/indie bands, but in shopping channel scenario, as reflected by the camera work and editing.
QUESTION 2 - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancilliary texts?
The Digipack is very conventional of indie bands as we based the design on some of the bands previous artwork, we did the same for the photo of the band, using the cartoon/painted style.
The magazine advert takes elements of both of the music video and the digipack. The image on the back cover of the digipack, the front cover of the digipack and the graphics/font all link in with the music video.
QUESTION 3 - What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
The feedback we received on the rough cut commented on the missing footage (mostly of the band performance), and on the video being hard to follow. We responded by filming the band shots, and other shots to make the narrative part of the video flow and make sense.
The feedback we got on the final version of the video was generally positive, praising the surreal look and feel, the fact the humour worked well and that the tacky shopping channel look worked well.
QUESTION 4 - How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
We used youtube and google in the initial research stages to look up the shopping channel effect/style and also to look at previously created spoofs and actual footage of shopping channels. We used the internet to search for existing logos and previous covers and adverts. We used photostop to make all the graphic designs for the shopping channel scenes in the video, as well as using it to create the advert and dvd cover. Other uses of photoshop were creating moodboards to help the creative process. We also used the internet to email the band to tell them that we used their song.