Evaluation

Question 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Introduction

Convention plays on an important role in producing a media product we also had to fit this around the concept of our music video. This will be focusing on the different relations and connections we had when using and pushing a side elements from the genre of rock. I will be analysing how we had to do this to cater for our specific needs to make our music by comparing it with similar related genres we have now looked in to.

Used 

Instruments

When planning and researching into the creation of our music video we discovered that many rock related bands had footage of their instruments when performing (reference from posts here). We consulted with each other that it was vital that we did include this in our video in order to define them as the rock genre due to the fact that they are indeed new and need some hints to who they are as we were creating a concept of mystery. We could also fit this convention of the instruments into surroundings of  the location and set that we managed to arrange at MTV studios as they could be rehearsing for a gig of some sorts which could be related and realistic to the audience as you wouldn't expect a band to perform at a shop for example as they wouldn't fit in, it would therefore then be more believable.
Also taking into note what type of instruments most rock bands used and what most people thought or were given the impression of it being, we concluded that it was electric guitar, drums and base guitar, this as well could support our band being of the rock genre (reference from posts here). We looked into Guns and Roses Welcome to the jungle music video finding that in their music video they had shots of them using instruments displayed through footage of close ups to make aware of this something we also did, with this it could show that we were making our music video to be recognizable as rock.

Lip sync

Another base line we considered was the lip syncing side in both the performance and narrative. Many audiences want to see bands performing as it shows a connection with the audience as they can directly imply elements of secret signs from themselves to them, meaning in a way they are talking to the audience not always done but mainly to address the key issues they personally want to address so that they understand the concept.

As well as being able to communicate through the use of facial expressions that link in with the lyrics such as in our music video Secret Sin "make you smile" the lead singer smiles at the that specific part referring to the lyrics so audiences will also smile back for example

We optimised that audiences would still not pick up this and therefore tried to avoid this by using close up shots for these parts in order to make aware of this to the audience so that they would focus their attention on them. This could in fact be related to Foo fighter's Pretender as they use similar techniques, if you look above and compare the two images you can clearly see this. 

Developed


Performance

Performance is a important factor to the conventions of rock as audiences like the atmosphere and experience that the audiences in the videos display as they are happy and respond to the music by dancing, jumping and many more. This is as audiences therefore want to be in their postion as they are in person watching it live.
We suggested that action makes the music video more interesting as the artists are doing stuff around the stage such as swirling their body from one way to the other the audience therefore focuses and follows this.

However we changed the situation around in our music video compared to other products such as in this Bon Jovi Living on pray as we have reflected this most of all as they were in a studio for most of the time giving the illusion and impression that their practicing, we developed this as our band is new and are in the stages of being famous also there were no audiences in the background the viewer isn't distracted from watching the moves and actions of the performance and makes this more effective. However this perhaps let us down  as Bon Jovi uses these elements in his video to give the impression to the audience viewers of how good the experience is.

Colour

We most notably used a grayscale effect more preferably as being known as a black and white filter which was layed over the visuals we needed to point out. This helped as we could create a storyline and narrative to the side of our video. We therefore created a meaning to this as flashbacks of the band show them doing different events and enjoying the life.

Audiences who watch this can understand the relation into the story, they would also be more aware of this and suggest the reason and use of them as they are there for a reason and can be defined into relation

Def Leppard did this overall in their music video but had no meaning for the use of this we therefore developed on this to put it towards our advantage and centre it around our concept as the viewer needs something to grasp and follow in order to see the use between the visuals and lyrics.


Challenged 

Mise en scene - Location

We changed ourselves through shooting in a studio instead of a stage where audiences are put into the scene to see make the experience and atmosphere more effective.

We did this as it fitted in  with the story lines that we had came up as the Raided by waves artists were in a way going through the stages of becoming successful through reversing and being on tour to get recognised.

A number of reasons for challenging the conventions of the genre of rock in our case as we needed to find a way of standing out in order to be original and be definable to our audiences. If all products were the same what is the difference and purpose of the band addressing their music as audiences be bored for example as they would have seen it all before.

Nickelback portray this in their music video The killers as well as in many of their videos and other rock genre bands however they are in position to do this as they are famous and well known people are interested in the name and image of the band therefore having audiences who the type of support they have from their fans.

Artist and band image 

Another method of challenging the conventions and the impersonation of rock is that we displayed no logos, symbols or relate theories to the name and image of our band as well as others.

As the band our new and we have created them we wanted to stir mystery and tension into who they were specifically so the audience would watch and listen to future products of theirs to find out who they were. This in its self is creating a storyline or a journey that the audience member must wait to learn for example

We also have portrayals to show them having fun for some of their characteristics in order to make them approachable so that people can like them as people look up to them for guidance and help as they explain their issues and address the problem or solution to it.

Also a small aspect is the type of clothing we showed the bass guitarist Navid to be wearing having a scarf around his neck, we therefore challenged the conventions of rock images as you would not expect this. We did this to make ourselves stand out from other media products in the genre so that we are not entirely copying them, as well as making them them fashionable to relate to modern audiences in order to show the genre of rock evolving.

With Green day in the American idiot music video they use different elements in order to relate themselves with their image overall. They use green backgrounds through colours to relate themselves with the "Green day" name as well as having their symbol on the drums to show their meaning of their image or song perhaps.

Question 2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? 

Reference (post here)

Question 3. What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

When looking back at our audience feedback I have gathered that we received overall mainly positive replies and had very  little criticisms of the music video in any aspect or matter. One of the popular response and notices in our video is the use of applying the black and white effect visuals over the layer of the footage in the backstage shots, this allowed viewers to understand the concept we were trying to imply as we needed to differentiate the footage between performance and narrative. Audiences could then understand that the band were professional musicians and took their career and talent seriously in the coloured shots, with the the black and white shots it took them back to a time where they were enjoying the company of one another. We therefore managed to meet this requirement that we set out in order to create a narrative structure making the experience of our audience more enjoyable and relaxing as they didn't need to focus on this in order to pick it up. We also wanted to show the conventions of rock in order to make our music video referable to the genre and explain that we didn't know the genre before making this media product. Audiences already noticed that we indeed researched and planned for this project as they described to us that they did notice shots of the instruments and performance in the video some key elements of the conventions that we acknowledged (post here). Audiences then knew when they were watching it that it was of the rock genre implying that our image was correct.

Overall I am very pleased with the responses that the audiences wrote out and implied as it is very useful to see how the portrayal of our music video reacts to different types of audience members to understand their theories. However there were some issues that arose between the opinions of the audience as some thought the use of the shots performing were "boring" and dragged out the music video to show the artists performing. I personally agree to this as you start to lose interest due to the fact that there is no real storyline or journey the audience can follow to come to a final conclusion or bringing in tension or a twist into the mix, I would therefore apply this idea into it if we had a chance to change the concept of the narrative story.

Question 4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Here I filmed myself and uploaded it to youtube to talk about the different types of technologies I used including software application, interactive websites, devices and equipment that were involved during the overall production of this project.

Band Logo and Name Finals

From our research and planning into different font styles we created this to be our logo for our album cover. We also created both another logo and a name for the band to use as their signature for both the album and magazine advert.

Final Music Video

This is our completed music video product. Written and performed by Raided By Waves, Secret Sin:

Final Inlays with Album Covers

Here are the completed inlays fitted with the album covers for the finished product:

ABOVE: Back cover, front cover, inlay image one and inlay image two

Below: Charlie's personal message inlay, James's personal message inlay, Navid's personal message inlay and the CD

Final Magazine Advert

Through extensive research into magazine adverts and applying our concepts to this we have resulted with this:

Magazine advertisement

Final Digipack

Album front cover

Album back cover

Spine

Audience Feedback on Our Music Video Notes

Questions

1. What is rock - how accurate is our video. Please explain your answer.
2. What impressions do you have of our artists?
3. What parts of the video are particularly effective?
4.Any criticism?

Answers

1. pretty accurate - band, loud music
2. emo rock?
3. the black+white snippets intervened in between
4. bit boring - too much of the same thing happening - spice it up a bit - music needs to be a bit louder (singing)

1. similar to other rock music videos
2.
3. showing the band playing
4.

1. many rock videos involve a band playing their instruments pretty wildly
2. they seem pretty funny. good for the video
3.
4. no real storyline

1. very well done, black and white shots=good and the positions of the sheets
2. fun, friendly, playful?
3. the lighting
4. no actually the musicians looked too shiny

1.a bit but not much - guitar+drums are accurate
2.
3.the black and white shots
4.

1.
2. they are talented and enjoy performing
3.the bits shown of them getting ready
4.none

1.
2.
3. very professional
4.

1.the band being filmed is accurate. very clear filming/professional
2.they look like they're having fun backstage
3. i like the backstage videos
4. more shots could have been used that weren't just of the band playing

1.video very clearly shows a rock band
2.
3. monochrome shots to add emphasis
4.inaudible vocals

1.very-see the instruments, no complex story
2.good
3.different lighting effects
4.no

1.yes its very very accurate - black and white adds effectiveness
2.they are quite skilled, play the guitar well
3.the use of black and white and also the clips shown
4.

1.yes, classic rock style
2.that hes good at guitar
3.the B+W bits
4.bit boring, too samey and repetitive

1.it is accurate description - bordering on heavy rock
2.fun, know each other well - good relationship
3.the relationship between the group
4.cannot really hear the vocals

1.fairly standard "film of the band" rock video so its very accurate
2.stereotypical, comic rock n roll, they seem happy enough
3.black and white sections, close up on instruments
4.there were a couple of odd zoom/fade/wipe transitions which felt our of place

1.quite accurate, hes the feel of a rock video
2.
3.the darker lighting feels black+white
4.the backstage parts are not particularly effective

1.accurate, but could have had a few more different scenes - less of the band
2.
3.when there's shots not showing the band playing
4.no apart from what mentioned

1.very rocky
2.good
3.band playing
4.sound-guitar too loud

1.very accurate and authentic
2.they're all know one another really well
3.authenticity, change from band singing to behind the scenes type footage 
4.no criticisms, however could add more

1.it is rock its not too heavy so its enjoyable+approachable to anyone
2.fit the style of rock very well
3.the black+white bits, the changing scene to retain interest - the make up bit
4.no

1.
2.
3.contrast of camera shots
4.could have focused on the whole band, instead of individuals - although individual shots are good

1.very accurate. it was like a rock video
2.they're having fun
3.the black+white
4.no

1.video reflects song -band shown
2.typical rock artists
3.black+white sections
4.couldn't hear the words of the song

1.very good lighting/shots etc it looks very professional
2.they're very professional 
3.the behind the scenes shots
4.

1.quite accurate
2.they were alright
3.not being able to hear their singing
4. no

1.very, lots of guitar and drums, the artists get the part
2.fun, people that enjoy every day
3.the black+white bits:great effects+camera shots
4.singer looks a bit weird

1.accurate - seemed like they were on tour
2.typical+genuine people
3.real life sections/black+white scenes
4.some of the shots are not very complex

1.quite
2.
3.having clips of the artists being natural/themselves
4.couldn't hear the singers, great video music fits playing - enjoyable

1.could have the video a bit more in a rock style
2.
3.
4.bit more rock

1.fits in with the genre
2.very funny
3.like the black+white "behind the scenes" parts where we see the band not performing - breaks the scary band stereotype
4.

1.
2.relaxed musicians
3.black+white effect, zooms on instruments
4.

1.good, nice set work
2.good
3.close ups on lead singer
4.can't hear singer

1.very accurate - the band in a black studio
2.fun, easygoing
3.black+white crossed with colour shots, ending shots
4.no

1.comes across as rock video
2.they're a bit childish and enjoy a laugh
3.black+white effect seems like a flashback
4.

1.like a professional music video
2.quite fun, lighthearted
3.the black+white messing about shots
4.no

1.the black+white shots are good
2.serious musicians, look dedicated
3.the bits where they are messing around are very effective
4.none other than sound problem is assembly

1.quite
2.
3.like the bits where they were just talking with themselves in the background
4.

1.accurate as it has the video has the band playing live with cutbacks behind the scene in black+white
2.lads on tour
3.the behind the scenes parts
4.the vocals are muffled by the instruments

1.
2.
3.black+white parts
4.

Evaluation 4 Notes, Technology Used

IMac

- allows us to import our documents and work
- has exclusive applications which are more helpful for our specific needs such as final cut

Final Cut express

- edit and structure our video  clips into a music video
- import music

Photoshop

- import images as well as create blank documents where users can manipulate it to their specific needs for example creating a digipack shape and size
- remove unnecessary sections to a image through cropping and the magic wand which takes away parts by the colour and power by the user.

Scanner

- allows us to draw a physical image on paper and import it on the computers so that we can edit it on photoshop say.

Vision Mixer

- lined up shots and allowed select specific cameras (views)

Cameras

- filming

- three cameras on tripods and one handheld

Lighting

Dafont

- plane crash, create our logo

Blogger

- plan and monitor our music video's performance, collecting the information in order to create it.

Youtube

Google? 

- searching for artists, digipacks, adverts etc (including images, story's etc)

Facebook

- communications with other group members and band members

Survey Monkey

- questionnaire creator and feedback from other users

Question 2 Script/Notes

We will look into a range of different elements that made up our whole media product, including:

- The music video

- Digipack

- Advert

- Artist image

Using the concepts of:

- The storyline

- Camera shots

- Mise en Scene

- Sound

- Editing

With the resources available to us through:

- Final cut express

- Photoshop

-  Youtube

And the ways we intend to market our products by:

- Youtube

- Itunes

- Amazon

- ITunes

- HMV

We will therefore from this be prepared and be able to refer back to this when recording the video to remember what we have to cover hopefully making a better outcome.

Digipack Designs Overall

This will give us a range of ideas of what we use and need to adapt on overall:

Digipack Photos

We look over which ones are best for the digipack, of course we will keep near to ideas we made 

(post here)

Digi Pack, Nickelback Analysis

Fonts Style and Ideas

From looking into some of the main rock genred logos through my research and planning for our digi-pack and magazine advertisement. I am across the fact that many of the logos had similar elements in common with each other such as having bold and all capital lettered words. We can therefore take these similar features and characteristics when choosing for our own logo name, this may also benefit it us as having a bold and capital lettered logo will help to stand out and grab our audience as they will know it is a rock band for example. We have used a internet site called DaFont to pick out some ideas for our font and may indeed use it, the site allows us to search and view a wide range of different style of fonts which we can also download and manipulate the text in software programs such as photoshop where we are creating our digi-pack  and magazine advert. Here are some styles and designs we have picked out that could fit in with our research and image: