Monday, 12 December 2011
Our Music Video
You can find all our group research and planning on our group blog:
http://georgeyandjo.blogspot.co.uk/
Thursday, 8 December 2011
EVALUATION ACTIVITY 2: How effective is the main product and the ancillary texts?
Main Product:
Our main product, we feel is very successful in showing the typical conventions of an indie genre music video. With the characters representing the target audience of 15-25 year old males and the overall video itself reflecting what the audience wanted through the answers to our questionnaire, we feel that the video is effective in targeting its audience.
The video also reflects the theme of being able to turn your life around, no matter how bad it is getting. This is a reflection of the lyrics and after the Groundhog day reference, the video shows a repetition of the opening sequence, however it is clear that he, the main character, has changed his ways as he walks closer to the school, reflecting his new emphasis on his education. Also, he turns away the offer of beer and chooses the girl instead, showing that he has understood his priorities and now respects others. This theme can be understood by the audience, however it may take a few viewings to fully understand this, and this makes them want to watch the video multiple times, a convention of most music videos.
There are a few changes I would make to our video though. Especially the green screen sequence. As we did not know how to set up the equipment and what it was all for, we were quite oblivious as to how important certain aspects were. We did not use any lights when filming the sequence and this was a major fault as it made the shadows much more prominent, leaving a green glow in the sequence, that after many hours and different attempts at changing, I could not get rid of it. We did not have time to re film our sequence and so incidentally we had to use the original footage. I feel that this reduces the professionality of our video and makes it look a lot more amateur. The green glow triggered us to adapt our video and make it slightly more humorous. This lead to skipping down the corridor, being thrown out of a lesson and also changing the background of the green screen to create a slightly more humorous, light hearted video. Although this change was not intended, it is quite successful and makes the audience enjoy the video. While our peers were assessing it, they commented on the humour and said it added to the overall video and therefore, it was a success.
Overall, our video was quite effective in some ways as it clearly targeted our audience through the setting, attitudes and clothing, but the green screen sequence was not as effective as we had initially hoped, and this was due to our lack of knowledge on the green screen equipment.
Ancillary Products:
Magazine Advert:
Our digipack, like the magazine advert, again emphasises the theme of having no identity and also clearly shows how the band want to be represented by the banana on the t-shirt. The colours used throughout clearly show what the band want to be remembered by, but also reflect the simplicity of the indie genre.
1. This is the album cover itself. It shows silhouettes of George, reflecting the 'No Identity' title of the album and emphasises that the character in the video, did not know who he was or where he was heading at the beginning. We decided to black out George to create this silhouette effect as it would help the audience understand the theme of the album and this proves to be very effective. and showing the silhouette against the real picture of George provides an excellent juxta-position. The white background reflects the idea of a fresh, new beginning, again emphasising the theme and so overall, this cover shows the themes very effectively although the audience would have to know a lot about the product to understand its intended meaning.
2. This picture would be used on the inside left of the CD as this is typically where bands and artists leave a message for their fans. In order to not make the entire CD about the artist, we decided to include a simple picture of the banana that would be associated with the band as this is the specific brand of clothing that our character wears and reflects the clothes that our target audience in reality would wear. The font is simple, yet shows an edgy side to the band which could reflect the rebellious side that the character holds at the beginning of our video.
3. This shot would be placed behind the CD and so would not be the main focus. However, the shape of the face would emphasise and complement the shape of the CD and would therefore prove effective when placed behind the CD. As a way of relating the advert to the digipack, we used this photo in both and so the audience will be able to recognise the band. Having blurred out his face in iPhoto, this shows to be effective as it conveys the 'No Identity' theme once again.
4. The back of the CD complies with the conventions of many indie CD's and simply shows the name of the tracks. Like several CD's we analysed such as the Wombats, Kate Nash and Ellie Goulding, the back of the CD conveyed the information in a simplistic way and did not show any over editing, or any images at all in the case of Nash and Goulding. We emphasised this by using the same 'Ashcan' font we used for the album cover which reflects an edgy but fun side of the band. This shows to be effective as it informs the audience of the essential information they need to know in a simplistic, sophisticated yet stylish way.
Our main product, we feel is very successful in showing the typical conventions of an indie genre music video. With the characters representing the target audience of 15-25 year old males and the overall video itself reflecting what the audience wanted through the answers to our questionnaire, we feel that the video is effective in targeting its audience.
The video also reflects the theme of being able to turn your life around, no matter how bad it is getting. This is a reflection of the lyrics and after the Groundhog day reference, the video shows a repetition of the opening sequence, however it is clear that he, the main character, has changed his ways as he walks closer to the school, reflecting his new emphasis on his education. Also, he turns away the offer of beer and chooses the girl instead, showing that he has understood his priorities and now respects others. This theme can be understood by the audience, however it may take a few viewings to fully understand this, and this makes them want to watch the video multiple times, a convention of most music videos.
There are a few changes I would make to our video though. Especially the green screen sequence. As we did not know how to set up the equipment and what it was all for, we were quite oblivious as to how important certain aspects were. We did not use any lights when filming the sequence and this was a major fault as it made the shadows much more prominent, leaving a green glow in the sequence, that after many hours and different attempts at changing, I could not get rid of it. We did not have time to re film our sequence and so incidentally we had to use the original footage. I feel that this reduces the professionality of our video and makes it look a lot more amateur. The green glow triggered us to adapt our video and make it slightly more humorous. This lead to skipping down the corridor, being thrown out of a lesson and also changing the background of the green screen to create a slightly more humorous, light hearted video. Although this change was not intended, it is quite successful and makes the audience enjoy the video. While our peers were assessing it, they commented on the humour and said it added to the overall video and therefore, it was a success.
Overall, our video was quite effective in some ways as it clearly targeted our audience through the setting, attitudes and clothing, but the green screen sequence was not as effective as we had initially hoped, and this was due to our lack of knowledge on the green screen equipment.
Ancillary Products:
Magazine Advert:
This magazine advert, reflects the true conventions of typical and professional magazine adverts used within the music industry. Advertising the name of the band, what the album looks like and informing the audience of where they can buy the song. The advert also reflects the theme of the album and video itself, and although the audience will not understand this until they have seen the video, gives them an insight into what genre the music is. This can be shown through the clothing, which we decided would be a good way for the band to be recognised, through the banana t-shirt.
This product is effective because it gives all the information that the audience need, the only thing they have left to do is listen to the song and watch the video itself. It is simple, reflecting the genre and shows the way that the band are represented, showing a youthful age and clothing relating to the indie genre.
Digipack:
Our digipack, like the magazine advert, again emphasises the theme of having no identity and also clearly shows how the band want to be represented by the banana on the t-shirt. The colours used throughout clearly show what the band want to be remembered by, but also reflect the simplicity of the indie genre.
1. This is the album cover itself. It shows silhouettes of George, reflecting the 'No Identity' title of the album and emphasises that the character in the video, did not know who he was or where he was heading at the beginning. We decided to black out George to create this silhouette effect as it would help the audience understand the theme of the album and this proves to be very effective. and showing the silhouette against the real picture of George provides an excellent juxta-position. The white background reflects the idea of a fresh, new beginning, again emphasising the theme and so overall, this cover shows the themes very effectively although the audience would have to know a lot about the product to understand its intended meaning.
2. This picture would be used on the inside left of the CD as this is typically where bands and artists leave a message for their fans. In order to not make the entire CD about the artist, we decided to include a simple picture of the banana that would be associated with the band as this is the specific brand of clothing that our character wears and reflects the clothes that our target audience in reality would wear. The font is simple, yet shows an edgy side to the band which could reflect the rebellious side that the character holds at the beginning of our video.
3. This shot would be placed behind the CD and so would not be the main focus. However, the shape of the face would emphasise and complement the shape of the CD and would therefore prove effective when placed behind the CD. As a way of relating the advert to the digipack, we used this photo in both and so the audience will be able to recognise the band. Having blurred out his face in iPhoto, this shows to be effective as it conveys the 'No Identity' theme once again.
4. The back of the CD complies with the conventions of many indie CD's and simply shows the name of the tracks. Like several CD's we analysed such as the Wombats, Kate Nash and Ellie Goulding, the back of the CD conveyed the information in a simplistic way and did not show any over editing, or any images at all in the case of Nash and Goulding. We emphasised this by using the same 'Ashcan' font we used for the album cover which reflects an edgy but fun side of the band. This shows to be effective as it informs the audience of the essential information they need to know in a simplistic, sophisticated yet stylish way.
EVALUATION ACTIVITY 3: What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
Using wordle I created this image showing some of the comments and feedback we received from asking our peers to asses our video:
Rough cut: The feedback from our rough cut informed us that we needed to work on our editing and the transitions between each shot. The colours also needed to look sharper and a wider variety of shot types was needed also with different angles. The school shots also tended to dominate even though it was not clear that it was school. As it is an upbeat, slightly humorous song, some graphics or captions could emphasise this.
However, our peers also said who there were some nice shots of George and Luke coming in to school. The effects and transitions used when George is getting dressed at the beginning was very effective and it was an upbeat song choice. They also liked how the humour used helped to uplift the mood of the song. The good continuity and transitions made sense along with there being good lighting and camerawork.
After taking on board the comments made by our peers about our rough cut, we changed the order of our film and tried to include a differing variety of shot types and distances. After showing our peers the final product they said how the shots were steady and well framed. The colours were appropriate as well as effective editing adding to the humour of the video. The settings were well chosen and appropriate throughout. There was also a clever use of narrative that encouraged the audience to watch it again.
However, the main criticism was the green glow that appears around the characters when using the green screen. After slaving away for hours trying every combination of options, they were the best results I could achieve. We unfortunately did not have time to re-film this sequence and try and fix the green glow. With this being the major downfall of the video there was no other real criticisms of the other aspects of the video.
Digipack: The CD cover proved to reflect the indie genre with the fashion choices, emphasising those that our target audience would chose. The silhouettes provide a clear link to the album name, which many said sounded very professional and realistic. The font provides a youthful, fun but slightly edgy look, which could enhance the video itself. There was an accurate and imaginative use of language and register and the illustration and text had been creatively and appropriately integrated. The colours and image exploitation had been selected appropriately and reflected the characteristics of the genre. Also there was a simple use of editing as the images were not too over edited, which followed the conventions of the indie genre.
Magazine Advert: The magazine advert proved to convey enough information for the audience want to know more about the band and also appeals to the correct audience with the mention of Twitter and the BBM barcode. The image clearly related to the theme and also made our peers want to find out more about who the character on the magazine actually was. Showing where they were able to buy the album from complies with a convention of most magazine adverts and our peers said that the representation which the advert showed was very clear and had an obvious link to the album title.
Monday, 3 October 2011
Wednesday, 28 September 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)