http://www.corinhardy.com/media-article/

4) How did you use new media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stage?

Question 4
by: Fenderbaum

Post it note video

First Attempt at a Post-It Presentation from nick on Vimeo.

- To answer this question you must show the examiner you're aware of the technologies you have used, how they helped you and what impact they had on the process.
- Each time you mention a technology use a specific example from your process/product to back up your point.
- A good point to make is how many of these technologies work well together - for example: You took digital camera footage uploaded it into Final Cut, edited, exported it, uploaded it to youtube, embedded it onto your blog and then were able to get feedback from your audience. So a combinaton of the technologies allowed you to get feedback on your rough cut.

Here's a list of some of the stuff you used.

Planning and Research
Blogger - a working document
Enables you embed videos, imagines and documentation.
Acts as a diary to record the creative process and production.
Is accessible via the net and by multiple people - so good for group work and working from home

Youtube
Researching for inspirations, codes and conventions of music videos
Upload own work for peer and audience feedback

Final Cut Express
Editing - creating narrative and implementing the convention of music video
Filters
Effects
Colour correction
Improving the raw footage

Evaluation
Different technologies allow you express ideas and convery information  in more than just pure academic text. Allows you to be creative.

Q1
Screen capture to take stills from videos
Blogger/Powerpoint - for displaying texts and images 

Q2
Prezi - allows for a presentation that has a good mix of text and images
Annotate images

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

The format for the presentation for this response is Prezi – mainly as it allows you to include video and images in an interesting way and then annotate and write about them.

Things to think about when answering the question

1) Do the products look they are part of the same promotional package (remember – music videos are their to promote an act). So they have consistency in terms of:

- representation of the star
- use of genre (how conventional is it)
- use of iconography and imagery
- use of style and colour
- Location and mise-en-scene
- intertextuality

2) Explain why your mag advert works well in terms of promoting your digipak.

3) Consider how EFFECTIVE your whole package is (video+digipak+advert) in appealing to the TARGET AUDIENCE you identified in your planning and research. Just why do you think your product would be of interest to them.
Is it similar to other products? Are there representations that they can identify or aspire to? Is it conventional/unconventional/quirky/interesting/safe etc. 

Suggested resources to gather
Significant stills from you video
Your anicillary texts
Inspiraction for you ancillary texts
Photos from digipak photo-shoot
Research into fonts
Close-ups on specific parts of your designs

3) What have you learned from your audience feedback?

In the marking scheme it says you must demonstrate 'understanding of the significance of audience feedback' - and this is your chance.

1) Feedback on the track in terms of what genre is it, what target audience they believed it was for and what they would expect from a video.

2) Feedback on the rough cut from your class members and numerous other people you should have asked.

3) Feedback on your digipak and advert design.

Here you have an opportunity to reflect on it, evaluate it, talk about how useful it was.

Suggestions on how to answer this:

Look back on your audience feedback and write notes on what was given - write down interesting or specific phrases.

What was useful?
What came up consistently?
What feedback helped you creatively?
Can you give examples from your final video that prove you acted upon audience feedback?
Was there any feedback that you ignored - why did you ignore that?
Was there some particular feedback that was more useful than other bits? Why?
Just how useful was the audience feedback?
Do you think it is necessary for the creative process?

Write up a response using appropriate media terminology, making reference to specific examples from your feedback and products to back up your points

This response will be your script for you commentary. On average people speak at about 130-150 words per minute - so if you make your response about 500 words that will make your commentary around 3 minutes or so.

Make this speech into a camera or a digital recording device, bring it into Final Cut and then illustrate your words with whatever you deem appropriate:
Clips from you rough cut/final version.
Evidence of the audience feedback - clips from interviews, screenshots of text
Clips or screenshots from real media products.

Some example ideas for a response:

The feedback on what genre the track was interesting as our initial thoughts was that it was clearly an indie-pop track however, other classed it as simply pop or even easy listening. Despite this we still based our video on the conventions of indie-pop rather than anything else...

A consistent criticism of the rough cut was that there was a lack of camera movement throughout the video [SHOW CLIP OR ROUGH CUT]. One bit of feedback from XXX stated that 'the camera is too static and doesn't match the tempo of the track' [SHOW SCREENSHOT OF TEXT]. On reflection we agreed with this particuarly in middle section of the track. Because of this we planning and carried out a re-shoot to purposely bring more movement to the shots of the band - specifically this zoom into the lead singers face and almost POV from the top of the fret board. [SHOW THESE PARTICULAR CLIPS] It added variety to the video and helped .....

G324 Evaluation Tasks

Look here for guidance on how to answer all the questions: G324musicvideo.posterous.com

Below are the 4 questions you need to answer for your coursework Evaluation. The task for Question 3 should be done in your group. The other tasks are individual. When you have completed the tasks post all 4 onto the ONE POST and tag it with YOUR NAME.

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

Task: Select 10 stills/ images from your Music Video and the 2 ancillary tasks. Annotate each one of them in Photoshop or Powerpoint to indicate which conventions you have used at which point.
DEADLINE FOR DRAFT – MONDAY 10/12/12

Q2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Task: Create a Prezi which makes clear links between your 3 products.

DEADLINE FOR DRAFT – MONDAY 10/12/12

THE ABOVE TWO TASKS CAN AND MUST BE DONE AT HOME

GROUP TASK
Q3: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Task: Create a director’s commentary which includes clips from the music video and ancillary tasks, as well as vox-pop presentations of audience feedback.

DEADLINE: END OF TUESDAYS LESSON 11/12/12

Q4: How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Task: Create a video presentation which discusses the technologies you used at each stage of the project. This video needs to be different from the Director’s commentary in terms of its presentation and content ie. Presented as a ‘How to use…’/ Teaching (in character?) style of video that could then be used as a future teaching aid. Look at blog for other ideas.

DEADLINE: END OF FRIDAYS LESSON 14/12/12

DEADLINE FOR THE WHOLE PROCESS IS 14/12/12 – NEXT FRIDAY

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

Task: Select 10 stills/ images from your Music Video and the 2 ancillary tasks. Annotate each one of them in Photoshop or Powerpoint to indicate which conventions you have used at which point.

This is asking to you to discuss how conventional your music video is compared to real media products.

You've been asked to select 10 stills to back up your points.

This is how I recommend you structure your response:

You should how already done a Goodwin analysis of a video for your blog. Goodwin's theory tries to identify elements that conventional music videos have.

1. There is a relationship between the lyrics and visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics.

2. There is a relationship between the music and visuals, with the visual illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics.

3. Genres are complex and diverse in terms of music video style and iconography.

4. Record companies will demand a lot of close-ups of their star/performers.

5. Voyeurism

6. There are likely to be intertextual references to other music videos, TV shows, books, movies, games etc.

Look here for any help with the terms but you should be familiar with them by now.

Don't worry about number 3, but use the other 5 points to start your response.

If you are still struggling to come up five more look at Carol Vernallis' analysis of what aspects make up a conventional music video.

MAKE SURE YOU REFER TO AN EXISTING (A REAL ONE) MUSIC VIDEO TO HELP BACK UP EACH OF YOUR POINTS. TO MAKE YOUR RESPONSE EVEN STRONGER YOU COULD INCLUDE A SCREENSHOT OF THE VIDEO YOUR REFERRING TO.

EXAMPLE

Carol Vernallis develop her theory of Music Videos in her book The Kindest Cut – Functions and meanings of Music Video Editing (2001)

CHOOSE A VIDEO TO ANALYSE.
GO THROUGH THE CRITERIA BELOW AND EXPLAIN HOW CLOSELY YOUR VIDEO CHOICE DEVIATES OR ADHERES TO VERNALLIS' CRITERIA.
There's a lot to get through so to make your response less and written essay, you could take each point (or a selection) take a screenshot to back your point and then write a relevant caption.

For example:
Something drives the video forward, but often it is not the narrative. It could be the music, the performance, a mixture or some other element.

1. NARRATIVE
The video is a visual response to the music
There is not necessarily a balance between narrative and performance
The narrative is not always complete – it may be a partial, fragmented narrative
The structure of the video may appear disjointed
Something drives the video forward, but often it is not the narrative. It could be the music, the performance, a mixture or some other element.
There may not always be a clear resolution (closure) at the end
The video may pose questions that it doesn’t actually answer
There may be a narrative or theme running through the video, but in a montage style

2. EDITING
Editing may match the musical phrases or the beat
The video may break or disrupt many of the ‘rules’ of continuity editing – this is a clear
convention
of music video editing.
Editing may become ‘foregrounded – the edits may be really obvious, to draw attentionto themselves as opposed to invisible, continuity editing
For example, you may see:
Jump cuts
Breaks of the 30 degree rule
Breaks of the 180 degree rule
Cutting against the movement
Cutting within the lyrics
Fancy edits or cuts
Extreme jumps in time and space
Extreme changes in pace
Juxtaposed framesGraphic matches
A style of editing that runs through the video and is distinctive to that video

You may not see:
Smooth transitions
Matches on action
An even pace throughout.

3. CAMERAWORK
When it comes to shot types, extremes are very common.
The style of framing and movement may run through the video and is distinctive to thatvideo
The camera may move in time with the music
The camera may move on the lyrics
The master shot (or other establishing shots) is used frequently, as are close-ups
 
4. DIEGESIS
The diegesis may be revealed quite slowly
Actions are not necessarily completed – they may be disrupted or interrupted in someway
Character or object movements may move to the music
There may be gaps in the audience’s understanding of the diegesis – in time and space,music, performance and narrative
Some frames may be more important than others
There may be many repetitions
eg musical phrases, the beat, other musical elements, themes, lyrics, performance,images, colours, camera positions.

STUFF YOU NEED TO DO OVER HALF TERM

Enjoy yourself. Get lots of fresh air. Eat well. Spend time with your friends and family. See Skyfall. AND…

1) ROUGH CUT AUDIENCE FEEDBACK

In order to understand what you’ve created and to see if it matches your audience expectations you have to show your rough-cut to people and get feedback.

It’s up to you how you do this – put in on Facebook, tweet about etc but here’s a suggestion:

Find a way of showing your video – put it on your phone, on your laptop, email the link to people and record peoples responses. By record you could:
Get them to write down their responses. Or they talk and you write.
Take a recording (audio/video) of them talking about it.

Once you have the feedback you must respond to it to show what you have learned.
Is there is a pattern in terms of criticism and praise (i.e. do people pick up on the same things?)
Are there any good, practical, interesting ways of making the video
Use this information to develop ideas of what to do in terms of reshooting and re-edting.

2) ANALYSE YOUR VIDEO
Start a blog post – call it Rough Cut Appraisal - and pour your heart out in terms of what you feel about your Rough Cut. Pick out all the details you don’t like, all the little niggles and general grievances. Be specific – take screenhots, mention timings etc
Then look at all the good things and explain why you like them.
THEN COME UP WITH A PLAN OF HOW YOU ARE GOING TO USE THE TIME AFTER THE HALF TERM TO MAKE ALL THE IMPROVEMENTS NECESSARY.
This planning could be notes, storyboard, new influences, new techniques – if so blog about them.

YOU HAVE SIX LESSONS, THE CHANCE TO TAKE THE CAMERA OUT FOR ONE EVENING, USE OF THE CAMERA IN LESSON TIME, TO MAKE YOUR VIDEO ALL YOU WANT IT TO BE. SO YOU MUST BE PREPARED FROM THE START OF THE VERY FIRST LESSON BACK.

OTHER STUFF TO KEEP YOU BUSY
You should have completed the following:
Six Stills
At least one Goodwin analysis
Digipak analysis
Technical analysis
Genre research
Codes and conventions of video in your genre
Audience Research
A Pitch document – and at least one post on each of the areas of preparation (location, costume etc) on the blog.
A completed planning file (that bunch of paperwork I gave you)
Detailed updates of your process (filming, editing, workflow etc)
IF YOU DON’T – WHY NOT? YOU’VE BEEN DOING THIS SINCE SEPTEMBER SO NOW WOULD BE A GOOD TIME TO CATCH UP. IF IT’S NOT ON THE BLOG IT DOESN’T EXIST, IT CAN’T BE MARKED. IF YOU DON’T DO IT YOU’RE CHOOSING TO DO BADLY.

IF IT WAS A GROUP POST THAT HASN’T BEEN DONE – DO IT YOURSELF AND GET THE MARKS.

Go to G324musicvideo.posterous.com for advice and guidance on the above. Click on the ‘TASK’ tag to see has to be done.

IF YOU HAVE COMPLETED ALL THE ABOVE – STUFF TO KEEP YOU BUSY
Go back on your old work and make sure it is complete, is a fully developed response and has videos and visuals embedded.

Promotion: Consider the ways in which artists use social media, facebook and twitter etc to increase consumption of their music. Write a blog post that evidences you have researched your artists facebook presence and twitter use and have considered how these are used to connect with their audience and also to communicate their star persona. Also consider how you might use facebook and twitter to increase consumption of your music video. Include visuals.

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GENRE RESEARCH TASK

FIRSTLY IDENTIFY THE GENRE OF MUSIC TRACK YOU HAVE CHOSEN TO DO FOR YOUR VIDEO:

The objective of this research is two-fold:
To show to the examiners that you understand the genre you are working to the extent that you can clearly identify its codes and conventions
To show that you have researched the genre in order to have a comprehensive knowledge of who is the potential audience.

 Here’s a few tips and activities

ORIGINS
All music genres grow and develop from other types of music genres as musicians blend different styles and influences together. So where does your genre come from – which styles is it melding?

Who is seen as the main practitioner? Who are the main influences? Does the genre come from a certain scene/place/time? 

When you’re researching this think about how all these influences work together – do the various musical influences affect the style/fashion/iconography of the genre? Does it influence what sort of audience it attracts?

Tips: Start at Wikipedia – use the references down below

Look on google videos – are there any relevant documentaries about the genre?

Have a look at this amazing Guardian Music Timeline.

FASHION

Is there a certain look to the genre in terms of clothes? How can you describe it? Why do they dress this way? Are there any key influences? Are there any key labels? Is it a DIY culture? Is the music used to advertise certain brands?

Tips: collect images of fans and bands of the genre – line them up and look for common threads and themes?

COMMUNITIES

Are there any key scenes for the music (for instance is there an acknowledge capital of the genre (think Seattle for Grunge, London for grime etc). Why do you think this is the case?

How do fans communicate – is it a local scene? Is it a global scene – do fans have specific websites? Which ones are they What makes them different?

Are there Facebook and Myspace pages? What sort of people are fans of this?

Tips: Look at the Myspace pages for the bands – look at the sort of people who are fans of this – what do their myspaces look like? Are there key colours, images, interests? Is there a certain language that they use? Are there common references? Are there any clues to types of films/comic/books/tv they are into?

TV AND FILM
Are there any films that use this type of music as its soundtrack? Are there any practitioners of the genre that act? Find them – look at the trailers and clips – is there a theme/content/style that is relevant to the genre?

Where are fans of the this genre represented on TV and film? (for instance, the main characters of Juno all like folky-indie stuff, is there film where they all are like R’n’B or Britpop or Pop Punk)? What do they look like? What are the stories about?

Tips: look for the key artists on imdb.com where do they show up? Is this any use? Is the film influenced by the style of music? Is it a mainstream film? Is the film designed to attract fans of the genre?

RADIO AND TV STATIONS
If you want to hear the genre of music, where do you go? Where is it visible? Are there key radio shows or stations, or TV channels? If so look them up – how are they marketed? What images/fonts/iconography are used? What colours? What sounds? What references?
Who are the key personalities promoting this music? How do they represent themselves? What interests do they have?

MAGAZINES & FANZINES
Where do you read about this genre or find out about new artists?
Tips: look for links off fansites? Type in specific searches in google – search creatively.

CLUB NIGHTS & GIGS
Are there key (or even local) club nights that play this music? How are they marketed? What are the called? What sort of venue do they use? What sort of people go? What sort of stuff do they wear/drink/talk about?

Are there key festivals? How are they promoted?
Tips: Look for official sites – take screen shots of the web pages – look at the images and the set lists.

 LABELS
Are there key brands associated with the genre?  Clothes, shoes, drinks, snacks, hair products, hats, anything?

ACTIVITIES & LIFESTYLE
Is the genre all about good living? Partying? Being political? Angst? Productive? Silly? Creative? Being active? Being rich? Being poor? Being angry? (A lot this can be seen in the videos)

TECHNOLOGIES
Are there key technologies – either in the music (electronic instruments – think autotune for current r’n’b and pop) or related to the lifestyle.

Tips: Read reviews about music, look for tutorials about how to replicate the sound, look at the videos and at the mise-en-scene.)

Adele - Rolling in the Deep

In the Adele video you get seven different set-ups established early in the video - Adele on the chair, Ninja in the dust room, drummer under the stairs, room full of glasses, paper cityscape, breaking crockery. The rhythm in the cuts, switching between the set-ups, is at first consistent and slow. However, as the song and the on screen action builds to a crescendo the editing becomes quicker. This is a compelling video despite the lead performance being done from a chair. The trick is to have a performance that has passion/integrity/authenticity and keep the editing moving to hold the viewers interest.

USING THE ABOVE STRUCTURE ANALYSE A VIDEO OF YOUR CHOICE AND DECONSTRUCT IN TERMS OF THE SHOT TYPES AS THOUGH YOU HAD BEEN ASKED TO RECREATE THE VIDEO

Here's a few examples of good performance based videos:

Green Day - American Idiot


Super Junior(슈퍼주니어) _ SORRY, SORRY


Alexis Jordan - Good Girl

Find yourself a video - it can be any video at all but the more mainstream/conventional types (pop, performance etc) may offer more to talk about than other more abstract, less conventional videos.

Embed the video.

Briefly introduce who Andrew Goodwin was, what he has written about and how he has identified several aspects that most music videos have (see the above slides). Then use his SIX points as headers for SIX different paragraphs. Use screenshots from the video to help you illustrate your points.
Develop your answers - use full sentences, don't bulletpoint and always try to incorporate relevant media terminology (think about the way you answered the TV Drama exam question).
There's plenty to do but it's supposed to be tough - these are A Levels - the A stands for 'about time you did some work'. 

YOU MUST DO AT LEAST ONE OF THESE - BUT FEEL FREE TO USE THIS FRAMEWORK TO ANALYSE ANY VIDEO THAT HAS INFLUENCED YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS

1. There is a relationship between the lyrics and visuals, with the visualS illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics.
Find the lyrics online - read them and get an idea of what the song is about? What are the themes? What is the tone?
Does the 'look' of the video suits the themes (love: soft focus/lingering shots, anger: dark filters/violent camera movement/fast editing).
Has the video a narrative? Does it fit in with themes of the lyrics?
Is there a direct relationship between some lyrics and the video?
If NOT could they be described as contradictory?
Very rarely you get a literal interpretation of the lyrics like here (it's not 'like' he's in a cage - he literally is.)

2. There is a relationship between the music and visuals, with the visual illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics.
Is the editing relatively in time? Is the tempo of the editing similar to the track?
Is the relationship between the visuals and music explicit like this or this video?
What is the tone of the music - soft, romantic enlightening, stirring, powerful, spiritual, soul reaching, inspiring, calming, soothing? Is this reflected in the visuals?
Is it contradictory - calm music but with frantic imagery.
DESCRIBE THE RELATIONSHIP

3. Genres are complex and diverse in terms of music video style and iconography.
What is the genre of the music? 
What are the codes and conventions/expectations of the audience, for a piece of music for this type.
Look at similar artists/tracks and try to identify common performance types, mise-en-scene, iconograpy, use of micro elements, locations.
e.g. Gangsta rap - parties, glamourising criminal lifestyle, objectification of women, low camera angles, ostentatious uses of wealth.
Boybands - close up on faces of the band members, cherographed dance moves, cut aways to moments of relfection, shots of the band 'off stage'/'off camera'.

4. Record companies will demand a lot of close-ups of their star/performers.
This is relative to the type of artist/genre you're working with. If it's a freaky looking dude like Skillrex the music video isn't there to sell him as a 'star' - it's the music that is supposed to do that. But you would lose your job if you directed a One Direction video and didn't have copius amounts of the boys leaning on each other's shoulders and looking earnestly in the camera.
If you have a star there will be a multitude of shots of them attempting to build a representation that is in line with their star persona. Artists' launch video is always very telling in how the record company hope to position them - think Ollie Murs (jokey), Connor Maynard (authentic), Cher Lloyd (nuts).
Some type of shots can lead to objectification: seeing a human being as a thing disregarding their personality, self or capabilities. Objectification tends to take the form of 'sexual objectification' so the 'thing' the person is reduced to is an instrument of sexual pleasure, for use'. This usually takes the form of the camera lingered and focusing upon body parts of the artist.
The idea of sexual objectification is often used to suggest that female artists are 'controlled' by the camera. This idea has developed as some theorists believe female artists can self-objectify using their sexuality as a strength as it allows theme to express their sexuality publicly. Think Beyonce - a hugely successful artist that seems in control of her representation but is still objectified.
How is the artist represented (sexy, cute, fun, daft, serious, tormented etc)? How do the micro-elements combined to create this representation - what aspects are focused on?
Is the artist objectified - how? 

5.  Voyeurism
Definition: A Voyeur is "one who looks". Voyeurism is the practise of spying on people engaged in intimate behaviour.
We often see activities in music videos of an intimate nature - tender moments between lovers, people getting ready for a night out, episodes of reflection etc. - basically a private activity that people don't usually invite the audience of MTV to spectate.
Voyeurism has a base appeal - having an nosey into others' lives and often has sexual context, but it's often used to show a different side to the performer, their 'off-stage' persona that fans want to have access to.
Also pop songs are often about intimate subject matter: love, hearbreak, anger, loneliness - so there is a thematic connection to the content of the video.
Have a look at this lovely Neyo video about him trying to seduce a girl with low self esteem - 36 seconds in - that's voyeurism, even the camera has a 'peeking-through-the-pot-plant' look to it. 

Is there any content of a voyeuristic nature? Describe it. What effect does it have on the video/representation of the artist?

6. There are likely to be intertextual references to other music videos, TV shows, books, movies, games etc. Have a look here for more help.
Intertextuality: shaping of texts meaning by the other texts that may include an authors borrowing and transformation OR a reader's referencing.
There may be explicit use of intertexuality such as this Foo Fighters video which is just a shot for shot remake of Falling Down.
Or a mix of references such as Azelia Banks' 1991 that somehow manages to cram a bit of Crystal Water's 100% Pure Love, Madonna's Vogue, Veronica Lake and the photography of Horst P Horst.
Then there's the fact that videos are made of imagery, scenes, context we've seen before using meaning/framing we see in many other texts - soft focus, narratives, costume. So think of what the video feels like to you.
What references are there in the video? What does it remind you off? Have you seen similar treatments before - where? How does this all influence the effect and impact of the video?

Identify the music genre of the track that you have chosen for your music video.
Next research into similar bands – look on wikipedia for associated acts, looks on the record label for institutional info, use Spotify and Last FM for recommendations, reviews for mentions of similar acts.
Make a list of bands that are similar:
Look at the videos of these bands and try to identify patterns and similarities in terms of the following:

PITCH DAY

You will pitch your idea for your music video on Tuesday 2nd October. It doesn’t have to last longer than 5 minutes but you must have answers for the following.

BASIC IDEA
What is the overall idea for your music video? Is it performance based? Is there a narrative? Is it conventional? Is it abstract? A GENERAL INTRO INTO YOUR IDEAS.

INFLUENCES
Is this similar to any existing videos? Or films? Or books? Or anything else?

PERFORMERS
Who’s going to make the magic happen in front of the camera?

COSTUMES
Your performers have to look like stars – how are you going to dress them? How many costume changes will you have?

PROPS
Do you need musical instruments? Props for the narrative? Props for symbolism?

LOCATIONS
Where is going to shot? How many locations are you going to use?

EQUIPMENT
Lights? Dolly? Something to play the track?

SCHEDULE
When are you filming? Do you need a weekend or a few evenings?

EFFECTS
What are you hoping to do in post-production (Photoshop, Final Cut, After Effects)?

A camera will be available for this to be filmed and then place on your blog – but only if you’re comfortable with this.

To make this a more visual and envigorating presentation you can either write this pitch on a blog post but better would be a Prezi or maybe a Powerpoint.

The benefits of you going through this process are as follows:

1) You’ll have a pitch on your blog – 2 if you allow me to film it and upload it.

2) You’ll have thought about and prepared for the main challenges for filming.

3) It will force you to form a solid plan for the production – you don’t have to stick with it.

4) You’ll get really good feedback from your peers that will help you, either with fresh ideas, highlighting potential problems, offering solutions.

5) It’ll be nice to test your presentations skills which are useful for real world stuff.

DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT – JUST BE PREPARED – YOU’RE AMONG FRIENDS – IT’LL BE ACE

To produce a good, well-rounded blog you MUST have thorough Target Audience research.
This is important for the following reasons:

- One of the evaluations question is around audience feedback
- Having an strong idea of who your target audience is will help in terms of creative process in the construction of the video: references, intertextuality, style, fashion etc.
- You can gauge whether you meeting audiences expectations or not.

1. Ideal audience type
From research into the genre of your music choice you should have an idea of your perfect audience type will be – in terms of what they wear, what media they consume, festival, radio, technology etc.
Using this create a visual depiction of you ideal target audience. Use Photoshop if you’re comfortable with it or Prezi.

Tag all your genre research posts and hyperlink them to this blog post pointing the moderator to where this information has come from.

FOR EXAMPLE

  2. Qualitative research
Play your track to at least 5 different people – ideally they should be into the genre of the music you’ve chosen, but at least intelligent and media literate.  Ask them the following questions:

Did you like the track?
What type of person would like this track?
Which age range would you typically associate with this song?
How would you picture the band/lead?
What sort of music video would expect to accompany this track?
If performance, where and what type?
If narrative, what sort?

Either record the answers on your phone camera – or write their responses down.
Upload the responses on the blog and – IMPORTANT – write a summary paragraph explaining 1) what you’ve learned 2) how this has effect your creative process. 

3. Theoretical study into audience.
a) Uses and Gratifications
Blumler and Katz argued that audiences are ACTIVE not PASSIVE and approached and use media products for the following reasons

Diversion (a form of escaping from the pressures of every day)

Personal Relationships (where the viewer gains companionship, either with the television characters, or through conversations with others about television)

Personal Identity (where the viewer is able to compare their life with the lives of characters and situations on television, to explore, re-affirm or question their personal identity)

Surveillance (where the media are looked upon for a supply of information about what is happening in the world).

Using this criteria – for what reasons would an audience approach/use your media product.

Guidance
1. Are they going to entertained – relationship of music to visuals, narrative, performance, use of effects

2. Personal relationships – something to discuss with peers, other fans of the music. Performers addressing the audience.

3. Personal identity – identification with the characters in the narrative/performance, are they aspiration in terms of looks/lifestyle/representation.

4. Surveillance – any information valuable to the audience – what the band look like, what they’re about.

b) Focused and Ambient Audiences
David Buckingham explains that some audiences are not as deliberate or active in their consumption

He believes is essential to situate young people’s media use within the context of their other social activities and experiences due to the fact that many young people are using the media as a wallpaper: a wall of noise to fill up ‘down time’ or just to pass the time due to boredom. That many of their interactions with the media are not contrived, commited or concentrated but fleeting, visceral and meaningless.

With this in mind we have can have a focused audience – deliberately choosing a music video to watch and carefully looking at the contents.
OR an ambient audience – that will have videos on in the background and will take in the content with glances. SO HOW ARE YOU ACCOMODATING FOR THESE TWO AUDIENCE TYPES

Focused audience can be catered for with: innovation, strong narrative, clever use of effects, detail, use of symbols for meaning. Content that will reward multiple viewings.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/gallery/2012/oct/08/worst-album-sleeves-pictures

Eskmo 'We Got More' (Official Video) from Ninja Tune on Vimeo.

Manchester Orchestra - "Simple Math" from DANIELS on Vimeo.

Oh Land - White Nights from CANADA on Vimeo.

Andrea, Martha, Elena
http://02musicvideointro12.blogspot.co.uk

Dan
http://p1-03.blogspot.co.uk

User name – longroadmusicintro12

Password – musicintro12

Editing Practice

To practise editing to the beat we were given a Final Cut document with the following things:

A selection of six different tracks.
Cut up sections from the video to DJ Formats - We Know Something You Don't Know. Original version is below.

The was to create a dynamic video using this footage and specifically editing to the beat. The advantage of using the raw footage from the DJ Format video is that the video has performers wearing animal costumes so there are no issues with lip-synching.

From the process we learned the following:

2) Clicking on the Show Audio Wave Forms to bring up an illustration of beats and structure of the track. This allowed us to edit accurately to the beat and change the pace of the editing to suit the tempo of the track.

3) To create an authentic and interesting edit, there has to be regular transitions between a variety of performance types.

Here is an example of our work:

Lip Synching practice

Using the files of a past student video we were taught how to match up a filmed lip synched performance with the original track.

It is important to have the audio that was used in the performance audible in the playback so you have more to go on than just the mouth of the words to synch up the audio and visuals.

First we placed the audio track about 10 seconds in on the timeline and lock it so it can be altered or moved.

We then found the very start of the singing on footage in the browser window and placed a mark (m) and then did the same with the audio in the timeline.

The footage was then brought down to the timeline ensuring that both these marks were matched up. If there was a discrepancy then the footage could be moved left or right slightly using the < and > keys.

The rest of the footage was lip-synched in a the same way and place on higher video lines allowing us to cut between the footage creating a fast paced edit between already synched footage.

Equipment Audit

The camera that has been provided for us is the Sony HDR-CX115 which is a solid-state HD camera that requires memory card input to record. It can output 50 frame per second 1080i.

The advantages are:
 - it is simple to use
 - small and easy to carry
 - has an i-Auto: an automatic setting to allow for the best possible picture within the given situation
 - easy to upload

The disadvantages are:
 - no 1080p
 - manual control of focus and zoom is awkward

In class we did a test on how to perform a pull focus using toys and the manual spot focus setting. The pull focus could have greater effect if it was speeded up.
We also had a play around with the Telemacro feature that gives extreme close-up to objects 30cm away. Moving the object back and forth moves them in and out of focus. 

The Telemacro feature would be useful for replicating a music video such as Johan X's Into the Flames.

http://www.thomson.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/infographic/interactive-music-map/index.html

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