Our video follows and develops media conventions by playing upon the common theme of 'love' - Media songs/films/videos use love as the main theme with other sub categories accompanying it. With deep research and understanding of target audience's, we also looked at Mumford & Sons real videos, which allowed us to grasp an understanding of how they shoot their shots, and common themes & props they use. We followed there 'active' usage of instruments, as they like to play their guitars whilst the video is being shot. This is why we used medium close up shots with the band members and instruments in them, including solo vocals from myself - -
After reviewing what techniques Mumford use in there videos, we followed this. This was the use of active playing with snippets of a story-line. Indie videos are usually very original and unique with a bright and fast pace which makes them appealing to there audiences. However, with our video, we linked with the lyrical side of the song and made it quite slow which generated a sad and reflective tone too the video. In terms of mis-en'-scene we made sure that our outfits reflected what our target audience wear and what Mumford & Sons might wear. Props also helped add towards the authenticity
We looked at these outlines of common techniques used in a music video, regardless of genre:
-The camera pans and zooms to catch the movement and emotion of the artist.
-Close ups of the artist are used to show their emotions.
-Artist or band perform in some way usually by actually lip syncing the words of the song.
-There is often a dance sequence which performs part of the lyrics.
-Very stylized. There are often several costume changes throughout the video.
Our video did challenge some media conventions, for example, we didn't use high budget to pay for actors and dancers for our video, and also there were no costume changes as that wouldn't have fitted the story-line.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
I believe that my video/digi-pack/advert all work well together, and all help ignite exactly what we intended from our audience. The pictures and font used are all similar throughout, also the 'darkened & ambiguous' look I was going for, I feel was achieved and helped our video look authentic. My advert would be made for the purpose of selling the digi-pack (album) - I made sure that I analyzed existing (real) adverts and digi-packs from the same genre, to help get a feel of what they look like, and what mine should look like. Not only just photoshop was used to create the digi-pack & advert, I used software on my own Macbook. For example Iphoto, with various options of effects and enhancers, to help capture exactly what colours and tints I wanted. Also the website 'Dafont' came in useful, when I had to make titles, for example, my advert, the top left Mumford And Sons logo was made via Dafont. Dependent on genre and 'look' your band or artists is going for, there general tenor and formality can differ. Mumford & Sons are very secluded, and not all intense, bright colours etc. We took this into account, and made sure that we kept to a simplistic, but effective look.
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Audience feedback is a vital part in making your work better next time, constructive criticism can help you, just as much as a positive comment can. Feedback in this helped me understand what the audience actually want, not just what I believe would be fitting. It helps give you a wider perspective and can help give you ideas for future projects. Professional bands/artists also do this. The majority of the 'popular' musicians, will have a Facebook, or My Space page, which allows there fans to see what is going on, and what new events are coming up. This is good as it creates an intimacy with your fans, but also allows you to hear exactly what they want from you. From my feedback I was quite happy from it, the majority of comments were positive, just some people would have liked to have seen a bit more writing on the advert, that would help accentuate it more. I agree with this, my advert is a little bit bland in comparison to the digi-pack. People enjoyed the colour schemes involved which was my prime objective, I wanted to master the colour effects.
These are print screens from all the Feedback I received:
Youtube Upload. Final Video - - (two comments)
"I looked at the final video first. I am not really sure how this is different. Maybe thats just me and my lack of memory though. Really good work! xx"
"I really like the storyline, the transitions that you have to show that more than more person is after the girl works really well. I really like the part where they are all standing round her and she is missing. The only thing I would say is that the lip-syncing you cant see very well at some points - they arent opening their mouth wide enough for you to really be able to see them singing the lyrics. I really like the location that you have used and it goes with the song nicely. Well done guys!"
- - Facebook Upload. Final Video
- - Final copy of my Advert feedback
- - Final copy of my digi-pack feedback
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages of all your products?
My Macbook and Lewes college's Imacs allowed me to capture exactly what I wanted. Software such as Final cut, Photoshop, Iphoto allowed me to get exact precision on what I wanted, from the colours, editing, touching up areas with colour, effects, edge blur and font change. All these softwares used together allowed me to piece to piece everything. As stated earlier, I used Iphoto to add effects and change colours on the images. Photoshop allowed me to layer images on top of one and other, and also put it all together exactly how I wanted. Final cut was used to edit and construct our video. Final cut was very impressive, if we had more time, we could experiment with more of the features it had to offer. But with the time that was given, we used it effectively, and it allowed us to tint the video into a darker colour, and also adding effects, such as the band members merging into one and other, and also the mysterious girl vanishing into thin air. It also allowed us too cut out any unwanted footage, as well as putting together all the footage we needed. We could also cut the shots to the length we wanted and move the shots around to put them in the order we wanted them to be in. When starting the project, we had to get images for the digi-pack and advert, I used a digital SLR camera, which allows a high resolution, and also allows me to use effects on Iphoto with it. When in the construction phase of this coursework, I used scanners to import my flat plans. I felt this gave me the opportunity to show my preliminary ideas, and what I had intended my piece to look like.
When filiming our project we used a MX2 mini DV camera and a DV tape, we had to understand white balance, exposure so that we could get an understanding on how to set the correct lighting for your film location. Other things like focus were taken into account too, some of the rejected footage we had, we got rid of because the focus wasn't set right, therefore losing quality of the video itself. We used the camera on a tri-pod, this made it a lot easier to control and gave us the chance to zoom and pan with no shakes
Throughout this project, I feel I have developed in my understanding of construction, research and how to plan and evaluate. I have also developed skills in many different areas, including Photoshop etc, and also camera handling/filming.
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