Q1 // In what ways does your media products use, challenge or develop forms and conventions of real media products

Q2 // How effective is the combination of your main products and ancillary texts

I made a collage for this and because i needed to make it so you could zoom in and out of it i uploaded it on flickr. unfortunately flickr doesn't allow you to embed images so click here

Q3 // How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

We had to use a variety of different technologies during the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages of making our music video, with the most prominent ones being Final Cut which we used for all of the actual music video, and photoshop (CS6 and Elements) for the ancillary products. I also used the internet for research purposes, like youtube and artist sites, and then different bits like Prezi, Timetoast and Emaze for our blog. Below is the animatic we made earlier in the year for the music video and a short video i made using Camtasia and Premier Pro (Camtasia doesn't let you speed up footage so i exported it into Premier Pro and then took it back to add annotations) to show how I used Final Cut Pro and Photoshop 

Q4 // What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

We got audience feedback for our music video on two separate occasions, when we showed the rough cut to the class and then again after the screening at the cinema. The feedback from the rough cut was significantly more helpful as we hadn't yet completed the video, and we still had time to make any alterations that were needed.  The feedback from the rough cut is underneath, and from the cinema on the left. When we showed our rough it wasn't completed(just at the end), but thankfully we also had constructive criticism for the bits we thought we'd already finished so we went and made the changes. The theme of the criticism seemed to be about speeding up the edits so that it wasn't as slow, as well as removing a couple of unnecessary shots (we had one of a bird and a door opening but the later slowed down the scene too much)which we then acted upon. The feedback from after the screening was all positive, with a couple of people noting how they particularly liked the narrative 
aspect of our music video and they didn't know really how to improve it(although it would've been a bit late anyway). I think that audience feedback is really important because the purpose of a music video is for marketing, and if you're audience aren't responsive to it then it won't be successful. 



I also got feedback from my ancillary products, mostly on the two adverts that i made. I had generally positive feedback; people said that they liked the obvious synergy between the music video and digipak with the falling and water themes. One person said that they preferred the advert on the left, but understood why I made the second one and liked that it was more informative. She also said that she liked how my ancillary products worked as a set, with the monochromatic colour scheme and themes and fonts running throughout.

Remake of advert

I decided to remake my advert for the ancillary product because it wasn't what the markers wanted to see, so i sold my soul and made a generic one that doesn't fit the conventions of my genre. I gave the album a mercury prize, which is for the best UK are Irish albums, but they usually go to smaller artists (like Laura Mvula and Two Dancers).

ADVERT FINISHED

making the advert

Here you could see me using 'layer style' and placing a shadow behind the image of my album cover so it gives a 3D look to it.

Finished digipack

I previously posted finished versions of my digipack inside and outside covers but then i had to edit them for better marks. ass you could see i have made both of my covers black and white so they match the style i'm going for. I also edited it with 'brush strokes' in 'filters' and made the images look more painting like so it goes with the style of the inside cover. i added the full description of the distribution, production, copy right permission and more. I also changed the size of the track list. 

The inside of my digipack was blue and didn't match the outside so i had to edit it and make it black so it suits the outer cover of the album. i had to change the size of the CD and add text on the CD. I added the name and title of my artist and album on the CD and the production companies name at the bottom in a very small font

Evaluation Question 1

  These are the influenced ancillary products i looked at whiles designing my advert and digipsck.

This is the album cover of Wretch 32 'Black And White' it has the artist on the cover and it has a black and white theme and this was the type of style i was going for.

This is an album cover by 'Alt-J' it has the natural forest in the background and i have an image of a lake in the background with trees and this is a image that i was looking to use as it it is where my music video was located and it was a aspect of synergy that i wanted to add into in my ancillary products. 

Evaluation Question 2

This is a collage that shows the link between the ancillary work and the music video and some of the synergy aspects included within them. j

Evaluation Question 3

the video below is a sequence of how i used 'Final Cut Pro' to edit my music video. the video below that is a camtasia that has demonstrated videos on how i used 'Photoshop' and my 'Animatic'

These are screenshots of me making my advert for the ancillary work.

Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation Question 4

evaluation question 1. In what ways does your media products use, develop, or challenge forms and conventions of real media products

evaluation question 2. how effective is the combination of your media product (video) and ancillary texts (digipak and advertisement)?

Below I have some screen shots taken from my music video that illustrate
the links between my music video and ancillary texts.

evaluation question 3. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

I had to make use of plenty types of technology from things such as apps, portable technology and installed programs through the mac computers provided, I have created a time line in order to show what I made use of and what they were used for.
















As well as the timeline, I decided to create a recording of one of the ways
I used photoshop to enhnace my work.

evaluation question 4. what have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Whilst editing our music video, there was a constant stream of feedback throughout the time we spent editing as questions were asked about the effectiveness of different effects we wanted to include. As well as this, we were given the oppurtunity to present our rough cut to the class, plenty feedback was given and I have previously blogged about this stage on Friday 28th of november 2014. This feedback was important to me as through it I could pinpoint the major issues surrounding my music video and make the correct adjustments to it in order to make the music video more acceptable.

I have documented all of the feedback I have recieved for the majority of my production pieces and have been able to reflect on the reactions and ideas posed through them all. For example upon close examination of the feedback specifically taken for my media products I was able to grasp the importance of being able to clearly incorperate links between my ancillary texts and music video. This became apparant to me when the majority of my feedback consisted of a similar theme which was the obvious link between all my products (which thankfully was a success). Additionally, I learnt that a narrative can be one of the most effective ways to capture your audience as the changing of settings and locations keep the production interesting. I also learnt that within a music video there needs to be constant changes between scenes and effects in order to captivate an audience that have become accstom to an upbeat style of editing within media products. Lastly I realised that not all ancillary products created for the promotion of a particular Music video or album will have links through the design aspect, as this can be achieved in other ways like through the text and production information or the layout of your media texts that could show clear co-relations between all your production pieces.This is what the people giving feedback had pointed out to me. 

 Finally, udience feedback is particularly important because essentially it is the primary marketing tool used to ensure sales and the success of your artist. All in all, the mixed media products you create are constructed through the process of taking on feedback given by your target audience, so without it you could run the risk of dissapointing your audience which could prove detrimental to the reputation of your artist.  

changes made to my digipak and advertisement during the lesson.

 Here I was trying to make changes to the image on the front of my digipak, I wasn't happy with the quality of the image when I had cut it out and brought it into my 2 panelled digipak as it looked too harsh and the colours weren't co-relating to the colour scheme already in place. So I decided to change the tone in the picture itself to black and white, I did this by selecting the layer that held the image itself and changed its tonal setting to black and white. Already I could see a difference and was pleased with the way it was coming along. Additionally, I wanted to improve the lines outlining the image which I didn't feel was correct as the wand tool I was using and lassoe tool had proven to be quite difficult to navigate around the image. In order to correct this I decided to use the brush tool to soften the edges of this image.

As  for the inside of my digipak I knew that I needed to communicate the idea that I had a pocket function within it and so I needed to create a mock cd to pop out of the pocket to show this and so I created a semi circle shape and place it by the pocket opening. It was a long process which included creating and editing a few layers of work which is  shown above, however I did it In order to correctly  portray my digipak.

Lastly in the time that I had, I was able to make changes to the quality of the image I am using in my advertisement. As you can see I have again used the brush tool to soften around the edges of the image and through changing the levels of the image itself I was able to increase the density of the colours within it to make the image blend into the page better.

Evaluation Q1

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

This is Coldplay - Paradise.

I believe our video resembles real media products such as this because this video also has a strong narrative, although completely different to ours. It has cuts. It is in a similar locations and applies Carol Vernallis' theory that I mentioned above.

Similar location to ours in terms of the greenery and brightness.

Some of the location takes place indoors, like ours.

Contains many different jump cuts and disjunctional editing. This is similar to our video as it also contains that.

Evaluation Q2

How effective is the combination of your main product (video) and ancillary texts (digipak)?

Evaluation Q3

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

Construction stages

Photoshop

(mute when listening)

Final Cut Pro

(mute when listening)

Planning:

We used timetoast to plan the dates for when we would film and what we would film. We also used this to record our deadlines to ensure that we was organised and knew what we was doing and when. Below are the different timetoasts that we used to plan.






I also used meindmeister which is an online mindmap so I knew what social media sites had to be created and why. This is the mindmap I created to show what social media we had to create and use.

Research:

The internet/google was a key part in our research as it where we gathered most of our information about the genre we used, the band we used themselves and other stuff that we needed to know from.

Youtube was also a key technology in this project as it allowed us to listen to and chose different songs to chose from. We also was able to watch the actual video to the song that we chose, and see how ours would differentiate for it.

Evaluation Q4

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

This is the feedback that we obtained after the cinema viewing of our music video.

Therefore, overall I have learned that audience feedback is extremely important as the audience are the consumers and it is important to know what they want so that it can be made to please them so that they can buy the products.

Synergy in mock Ancillary Product