MUSIC VIDEO - FINAL EDIT

Digipak

Promotional Poster

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

Question 3: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Question 2: How effective is the combination of your main products and ancillary texts?

How effective is the combination of your main products and ancillary texts? from natalbrans

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

Conventions Analysis Of My Own Music Video


 Mise-en-scene

Most of the video is shot with dim lighting. Everything is very black and white and dark. This suggests the video isn't a happy one but quite sad. We see the artist paying the piano looking very sad in a black suit in a black room. Black connotes sadness and we can see on his face he isn't happy. There is a lot of black and dim lighting, which gives a melancholy feel. At one point, the girl is seen in smudged makeup, which gives the impression that she has been crying. She is also in a very dark light. The girl who kisses the artist is in a red dress, which connotes danger and lust. 

Editing

There is a sepia-coloured filter over the parts in the video where the girl is reminiscing on her past relationship. This gives a vintage feel, as though she is looking back on past memories. I have used this technique as I saw a similar effect on an Adele music video, where she was reminiscing on past memories. I have used a fade effect for these parts also, so it shows her looking back on memories. I have used a black and white effect over the piano playing scenes, to give a sad feel to these parts. The circles of light over the top of these shots were added for effect, just because they looked nice and dream-like. 

Sound

The footage is edited in time to the music, for example the lip syncing parts and the parts where the piano is played. The footage also cuts at changes in the music.

Cinematography

The camera pans across the seafront as the girl walks, which establishes where she is. Later on, there is a medium close-up of her face which shows her emotion. A range of shots have been used, for example close-ups, long shots and establishing shots.

Digipak Fonts and Logos

I am currently trying to find different fonts for my album cover. I have decided the artists name will be the same as the actors who played my artist; Connor Foster. The album name will be Wasted, after the name of the single.

I have watched a tutorial on Youtube to show how to download different fonts from a site names Dafont, as I found the default fonts on the Mac too boring for a CD case. I found a fond names Bebas on Dafont and downloaded to the Mac using the instructions in the video. It then went straight into the text tool fonts on Photoshop which is really useful. I was really happy with this first font I found as I feel it fits the cover well.

I have now put in all of the text onto my digipak. I used a font that was already on the Mac for the song list on the back.

I found a site called Free Logo Services that I used to create realistic looking record label logos. I used the fake record label name Evans Records UK LTD. Here I have shown it on my album cover.

Questions for audience feedback: Ancillary texts

1. How old are you?
2. What is your gender?
3. What genre do you think my products are?
4. What do you like most about the design of my products?
5. Do you think there is continuity/a house style in these products?
6. Would you change anything about this product? If so, what?
7. Do you think these products look realistic?
8. Does the style of the products remind you of any existing artist?
9. What is your favourite genre of music?

Questions for audience feedback: Music video

1. How old are you?
2. What is your gender?
3. What genre do you think the video is?
4. In your words, what do you think the narrative (story) of the video is?
5. Do you think there is continuity between my music video and the poster/digipak?
6. Do you think the video looks realistic?
7. Does the style of the video remind you of any existing artist? Who?
8. Do you think the music fits well with the video?
9. Please give reasons for the previous answer.
10. Lastly, what is your favourite genre of music?

MUSIC VIDEO - FINAL DRAFT 2

I have received some feedback from this new version of my music video, and a lot of the comments I received were about the lip-sync. I have realised that some of the lip syncing is out of sync, so will need to improve it.

Photographs for ancillary texts

These are the photographs I took for my ancillary texts. I had my actor wear a black suit, which is what he wore in the music video so it creates continuity. I had first used the green screen to take photographs against and was planning on photoshopping the background in. Then I found I could use a black backdrop and use the same lighting, which created a gloomy effect. My first few images were very grainy and out of focus, so I went back in and took some more images that were less grainy and out of focus. I used photoshop to edit the photographs I liked the most, so that I could use them for my texts. I am currently photoshopping the edited images onto a album cover template.

Music Video - Final Draft

This is my final draft of my music video. I am still yet to make small changes, such as editing colours and some sound, but overall I am happy with how it has turned out so far. I have shared my video on social media and received a lot of positive feedback. Pictured are some examples of feedback I received.

Things I need to edit at this stage are;

• removing any remaining background sound from all clips,
• experiment with different effects on Final Cut Pro to see if there are any that will enhance the video/create a different mood - I would like to but a black and white effect over the piano scenes to make it appear classier and more moody/depressing,
• experiment with different transitions - I would like to put a transition before the parts where the girl is daydreaming to convey the message better to the audience

Filming in the Green Room

I filmed these clips in the green room, because my original idea was to use a keyer on Final Cut Pro to put in a background that would suit the mise-en-scene I wanted to create. However, upon entering the green room I found that there were different coloured paper back drops available to use. 
I chose the black paper to create a very moody and dramatic mise-en-scene, and I used basic, gloomy lighting that would reflect the genre and mood of the song. It reflects the genre because it is still well lit and not depressing as say it may be in a punk rock/emo style video, but similar lighting techniques have been used in existing music videos in the pop and R&B genre that create a sad mood.

I used a keyboard to mimic the look of a real piano, as that is the instrument used in the song I have chosen. I also wrapped the tables the keyboard was sitting on to further make it look like a real piano. Some of the shots I have focused on the keys as opposed to the entire keyboard, so that the main focus of the audience is the artist playing.


To make sure the lip sync matched with the song I wanted to use, I played the song on my mobile phone and got my artists to sing aloud, in order for the lip syncing to look realistic. 

Here are some examples of artists of the same genre in photo shoots with similar lighting. Some of them put a black and white filter on them to add to the mood of the image. I feel like this would be good to use in the piano sequences of my music video because it is effective in creating the mood.

Image Research

Album Fonts

I have looked into the different fonts used for album covers within my genre. It is hard to define my genre as although MTKO are predominantly pop and rap, 'Wasted' is more of a soulful, R&B song. I have chosen to research what other pop/R&B/soul artists logos look like, because that's similar to what the theme of my digipak will be. I have noticed that many of these fonts are classic, plain coloured fonts (such as the one used on Sam Smiths album). This can make the genre of the album easily identifiable, and the age of the target audience is obvious. These types of fonts and logos contrast with those used on albums of different genres, for example teen pop or rock.

These are some examples of pop artists that are aimed at a younger audience. These don't have a soul or an R&B influence like the artists above. As you can see their logos are quite different. The logos use bright colours that attract a younger audience. For my product, I will try not to use very bright colours as it doesn't reflect my music videos's genre of music. 

Conventions Analysis of Existing Digipaks

Sam Smith - The Lonely Hour

I have chosen to analyse another of Sam Smiths products as I believe his music and image closely relates to the theme and genre of the music video and digipak I am aiming to create.

Sam Smith is a pop/R&B artist. His album cover is very simple and uses very little colour. The colours are primarily black and gray, and this reflects his music, as it is very deep and black connotes negative feelings, which reflects how his music makes an audience feel. He is dressed very casual and isn't looking at the camera, and he looks quite reflective and upset, which again is how his music intends to make an audience feel. He looks lonely and thoughtful, which is fitting for the title of the album. The font on the album is used throughout, on the back and on the disc, which creates continuity so the album is easily recognizable. The large white font stands out clearly from the black. It is very simple but is very classy, which reflects Sam and his music. It also shows he is more about the music and content of the album rather than design and image.

This poster for one of his concerts is in a very similar style to his album, using the same colour scheme and bold white font. This creates a motif or a logo throughout all his products.

 MKTO

MKTO's self titled debut album is the album in which I took the song Wasted from. Although the song has a very soulful and R&B feel, their music is primarily pop and rap. Their cover is quite different to Sam Smiths, however they are dressed similar to him, which shows similar styles. The picture used is slightly more colourful than Sam's, but it is still just as simple; the artists are in the centre of the frame, dressed in casual clothes and in front of a dark backdrop. The logos however are significantly different, they use a gold font that appears as though it has been written in fireworks. This reflects the pop/R&B vibe. The promotional photos show the artists waving sparklers around, which creates continuity from the album cover. The back of the album uses this image, and a yellow/gold font is used on the back.