A Final Note For The Examiner

I hope you enjoy looking through my groups blog looking at all the the work we did together and individually. Despite there being many problems and some more difficult to solve than others, I have thoroughly enjoyed myself throughout the research and planning stages, creating the video, creating the digipak and the evaluation. It really tested my skills but I am pleased with how they have improved at the end. I think overall it has been very successful.

So once again, please enjoy looking through the work and thankyou for reading/ watching,
Megan Rhodes

FINAL Question 1. In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms And Conventions Of Real Media Products?

FINAL: Question 2. How Effective is the Combination of Your Main Product and Ancillary Texts?

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

Click the image to be taken to the website

To gain more feedback, we showed our music video to Jess' form and supplied them with questionnaires so they could give us feedback on the video. They watched it once then filled out the questionnaire. After the showing of the film we then asked a few students, that watched it, individually what they liked about the video and what they would give it if they were to rate it. The majority of the feedback we got was positive saying they really liked it as well as thinking it fitted into the indie genre which we really wanted to achieve. There were some comments that we weren't expecting and some negative ones but this was expected because not everyone watching the video was in our target audience meaning it might not appeal to them.

Media Evaluation Qestion 3 by Harry_Tibbles

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

Music Video




Digipak

Final Filming: Bike Scene At The Barn

Before we went to the forest, we went to Jess' barn to quickly film some shots for a bike sequence we are going to use in the final draft. We were to draw three solid white lines where the tyre of the bike has been, and everytime the tyre moves we had the lines building in thickness. I was in charge of drawing the lines with chalk on the floor, Jess was on the bike and guiding where it would go, and Harry wouldtake pictures each time the lines changed. Unfortunately Joe couldn't make filming because of work commitments.

Final Filming: Forest

Filming in the forest was significantly better than last time because we had all four members this time! As well as this, all crew members were able to make it so we could get on straight away which made it a lot easier. As there wasn't many shots in the forest we knew how they should all look and what each member should be doing and where they should be standing. We also knew where the lighting should be and what part of the song should be playing. Overall this made the filming far more quicker than that of our draft filming in the forest. I am pleased with what were were able to film that night and I'm positive we gained all the shots that we need for our final video.

Final Poster and Digipak

I am pleased with how my poster has turned out. I was really unsure with which one I wanted to go with originally, but decided this one because I think it looks more effective because of the strip going across the eye.

This is my final digipak which I am alsopleased with the way it turned out. However, I am worried it looks a little too plain, but I cannot change it now so I am happy with what I have.

Similarity Of Poster And Digipak Design

I have decided to keep my poster and digipak very similar. I am going to do this by using either the same or very similar images on both, using the same style font and the same colours. This not only shows continuity and professionlism but it also helps to promote the band. As I stated previously, by making the digipak and poster very similar, if the consumer sees a poster advertising the bands album and the digipak is similar to it, the consumer will know exactly what to look for when in the shop.

Examples of where it has worked well and there is a clear link between the two:

Florence and the Machine- Lungs

The XX- XX

Ellie Goulding- Lights

Colour Pallet For Digipak And Poster

 I am going to use the same colour pallet throughout my digipak and poster. This is

to show continuity as well as allowing the consumer to see a link between the poster and album so they instantly know who it belongs to. It consists of: black, grey, a very pale cream colour, and white.

A Change Of Font

I had originally decided that I was to have the writing on the digipak and poster written in Century Gothic, but after changing my whole idea I don't think it works together very well. I have opted to change the font to Courier New because I think it matches the style better and isn't used as commonly as Century Gothic.

Ideas For Poster

Here are my two final ideas for my poster. I'm currently unsure which one to go for but I think my most preferred one is the one of the left. 

Researching Reviews

To try and come up with some ideas as to what kind of reviews I should include about the album on the poster, I looked at NME's review of Little Comets album 'In Search Of Elusive'.

http://www.nme.com/reviews/little-comets--2/11824

Unfortunately they didn't give it a very good review, but from looking at it I can try to take away some of the language that they have used (but only the positive parts of course).

Decisions On Album Cover

Now that I have all my possible album covers, I asked 40 people from my target audience which one they preferred, followed by a comment about what they liked and disliked about any.  I found this really useful because it helped me decided on what I needed to improve on, and overall which idea I should go with. This winning cover which got the most likes was option D. This is the half painted skeleton face on a model- I am pleased with the results because this was my favourite cover.

Questionnaire for Cover

Images For My Digipak And Poster

At the weekend I took some pictures of my friend for my digipak using Harry's camera. I painted half her face in black and white face paint so it looked like half a skull. It took a long time but it was worth it! I'm really pleased with the outcome of the images and I'm pretty sure this is the idea I am going to use.

Here are some images of me putting on the face painted followed by some of the photos taken:

Another Idea For A Digipak

I've had yet another idea for my digipak, and this will be my last because I really need to make some final decisions. My 4th and final idea is is to recreate this image with a model I have already chosen, and use it as the front cover:

I then want to continue with this idea inside the digipak and on the poster. I am going to take some photographs this weekend to see whether I like the idea and then get some feedback on it from my peers, teacher and target audience.

Decisions For Digipak

I need to make a quick decision on which idea I will use for my final digipak. It could either be option A- the four coloured skeletons, option B- the rain drops or option C- the single rain drop.

Option A-


Option B-


Option C-


To make a decision on which one I will use, I am going to ask my target audience there opinion and see which one they most prefer. This will be done in two different ways. The first one I will ask people in person and give them the images to look at, and to get results I will keep a tally. The second way is to use social networking. I will either upload them onto Twitter or Facebook and have people comment or 'like' which ever one they like best. By using two different methods means I can get more peoples opinions, and face to face allows people to go into more depth.

Digipak and Poster Feedback

This is just in brief the feedback I recieved from both of my teachers. Keeping it this simple allows me to understand exactly what I need to change in order to get the best results possible.

Digipak

-The front cover is excellent.-Panels with repeated skeleton needs changing. 
-Put ZED on poster.
-Go for black spine not grey.

3-4/10 D

Poster 



-

6/10 Top C to top ANice.
-Perhaps use 4 times Skeleton Boys as there are 4 band members.
-Legal stuff needed.

Below is the sheet I was given that contained the feedback:

Megan Rhodes A2 Feedback Sheet Research and Planning Etc 2011 2012

How I Think Filming and Editing Went

I found the whole filming process very stressful, mainly because of how hard it was to get the perfect shot and get the band to sing with enthusiasm. We had a shot sequence and schedule list that we were supposedly supposed to stick to. This was because with the schedule list certain people couldn't make it on days we'd originally agreed on and with the shot sequence sometimes we found a better order to shoot the shots. However, both of these caused problems because it meant we had to choose another day when we were all free and with the sequences it meant we missed out shots because we didn't stick to the order. I think we had brilliant equipment for the filming, that included Harry and Jess' cameras which were       the band instruments and the huge light sources that could be battery powered. This all helped towards the final draft of our video. When it came to the performance shots, we did struggle to get our lead singer Steve to sing with great enthusiasm and really open his mouth so you could see what he was singing. I think this was down to nerves and hopefully now he's used to it and learnt the song a more he'll do a much better job when we re-film... or so I hope anyway.

I found the editing process just as stressful and I didn't use the software! As it was just the draft and only Harry had experience with the program we were using, which was Premier Pro, we let Harry take charge and edit it. However, during all lessons and frees we had together we would all sit round Harry's Mac as he edited it, saying what shots were to come next, how long they were to last, if we wanted any improvements made to a shot and generally helping him out making his job easier. Jess also went round to help the evening before the deadline which unfortunately Joe and I could not make because of work commitments. The hardest part I observed with editing was trying to get the singing in time with the music. Lip syncing is very difficult.

I am very pleased with the outcome of the video as we as a group as well as the band have put in a lot of time and effort giving up our free time and I really think it paid off. We have leanrnt a lot during filming and editing and will use it when we start to refilm the sections which we aren't pleased with such as: the performance in the barn and the forest of course as we need Lewis.

Filming- Forest

We faced various dilemmas in the run up to filming the shots in the forest. Our first problem was we decided it would be done on a Wednesday, but then a few of the band members said they couldn't make it. So in the lesson on Monday we made a quick decision and decided to do it later that night because that was our only other option. However, we then found out Lewis in the band couldn't make it and neither could Harry, our camera man, because of other commitments he could not get out of. Despite this we had to do it Monday and looked for a replacement for Lewis just for these shots, but we had no luck and Jess our director had to play his role. This meant our roles were changed around slightly. Joe had the role of main camera man and director, and I was in charge of sound, lighting and shot sequencing. Jess tried her best to help out as well in between filming shots. 

After all the dilemmas were sorted we could begin setting up and filming, but not before we rescued Jess after breaking down! This meant we had to start later than planned but it did not affect the filming. We had large battery powered lights provided by Harry which gave us just the right amount of lighting and I had my battery powered speakers and iPod so we had sound. Jess got changed into clothes that we would expect Lewis to wear, that were provided by me (or more my brother). We soon got on with filming as it was cold, dark and quite scary so I think everyone wanted to get done quickly and leave.

Overall I think it was successful despite being 2 members down! Thankfully it was only a draft which means when it comes to the final version we'll make sure everyone is free and stick to the schedule. 

Below are some images that were taken on set: