Ending

The blog has come to its end I hope you like it, I enjoyed very much being part of this project and I have learned a lot.

Thank you very much.
Tavo

Evaluation-Question 4

What have you learned from you audience feedback?

 I was not able to be at the screening of my music video in “Screen on the Green” which is the place that my college booked for this purpose so in order to get the best feedback possible I tried to reach the “Ed sheraan” fans, which is the original artist who sings the song. I posted comments on you tube on his videos “The city”, “The City with lyrics” and “Drunk”. I also posted on a Ed Sheeran’s fans forum webpage but no one answer to these posts.

In order to get the best feedback I asked Ed Sheeran's fans about my music     video and my ancillary products in college, after they watched it besides that they loved it, they make emphasis in the colour blue that is something that its noticeable  and gives a very "cool atmosphere" to the video.  The guitar was something that everyone talked about which is in the inside panels, arguing that is something that they link with the genre immediately.The pace of the video was something that they like very much because gives that sense of calm and works very well with the blue tone of the image. They said that the advert works very well to promote the artist because has a very clear font that they can read without any problem, the picture of the artist is looking at the front so they remember his face easily. They also talked about how easily they can link the products, specially for the colour blue and the type of shot that I used in the music video, digipacks and magazine advert. They also said that the products work very well together because they promote the artist very well, they link the music video trough the shots and the colour blue so they remember who is the artist and link the colour blue with him. When I asked what would you change about my 

In order to get the best feedback possible I try to do a sample of my target audience asking to specific members of my college that fill the criteria of my  perfect target audience, one is a technician , the other is a teacher and the other is an student. This is the most accurate feedback that I could get because they are in the range of target audience from 20s to 30s and like Ed Sheeran which is the artist to compare.

What I have learned

In conclusion I have learn that is pivotal to know what genre you are working with and his conventions because this tells you the pace of the video the visual effects and the video transitions that the audience expect to see or would find good. I have learned that to know your target audience is very very important to create a good product because as you can see in the videos people react very well to it and this is because I was aware of my target audience so it is important.

Evaluation-Question 3

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

Using Final Cut Pro

Using Photoshop

Evaluation-Question 2

 

As I said before the colour blue is a pivotal in my products but there is more visual connections besides the colour. The clothing that the artist is wearing in the different pictures is very similar making the viewer familiarized with it, what he is wearing is very simplistic because it is a convention of the genre and is appealing to the audience. The facial expression that the artist  have in the pictures are also very similar, making his face another link, even though is a bit obvious it helps the viewer to create a connection between products.

(At the top from left to right, magazine advert, front cover of digipak and inside panel of digipak)
As you can see the artist wears in all products very simple clothing, a jumper with a shirt, which follows the indie conventions and create a link between the images. The facial expression (his performance) is always expressing the same idea, showing deep feelings, connecting the products trough the same expression.

The font of the lettering is the same in all the ancillary products, making it easy to recognize for the viewers and creating the link between them. The effect that I used for the digipak I used on the left side of the advert,creating a visual connection. They all have very similar shots of the artist, we see him repetedly in Close ups and in Medium close up during the video so the ancillery product have these kind of shots too to have that link.

 

Evaluation-Question 1

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

I believe my music video follows most of the conventions concluded by Carol Vernallis and Andrew Goodwin. Vernallis’s theory is based on the idea that the editing is very clear and obvious and it also expresses that music videos do not have the usual rules of “continuity”; as films or TV shows have, my music video has not a “continuity” editing because in one shot we have the artist singing and walking towards the camera and in the next one he is sitting on a different location, this sequence of shots are repeated several times, which makes the editing very obvious and make it not continues in terms of story. There is an effect that repeats itself each time, the artist sings the chorus, which is the 8-point garbage matte effect, this changes the background of the shot leaving the artist looking differently, this effect makes the editing even clearer.

8-poing Garbage Mate Effect. You can see the difference between the background and the artist, making the editing obvioius.

The music video also has a series of jump cuts that draw attention to it as the effect also does.  The base track is another conclusion of Vernallis theory that my music video follows, because we have approximately 6 different base tracks that we use to give the video a structure.  Following Goodwin’s theory my music video is classified as “Amplification” because it does not contradict the lyrics but add layers of meaning. The lyrics talk about London, how the interpreter is a traveller that is making the city of London his new home and the video is showing London and the artist walking and singing, following Goodwin’s theory.

Repetition is something that I have got from the use of base tracks following Venallis’s theory but also follows Goodwin’s conclusion about pop videos.  The artist is looking at the camera in most of the shots, trying to involve the viewer with the performance as Goodwin convention says. The video does have a clear ending but does not build a climax even though it has a change of speed before the climax of the song I did not change the length between cuts so this is challenging this idea, but I think as the song is quite slow the slightly change of speed before the climax work just as well. The cuts of the video are done with the beat of the song which follows the convention.

Base tracks

I was influenced by 4 specific videos which are “The Man who Can’t be Moved” by “The Script”, “The A Team” and “Drunk” by “Ed Sheeran” and “A la Primera Persona” by “Alejandro Sanz”. Which one of these music videos, share the same genre and also share shots and ideas that I transferred to my music video but they have independent features that helped me very much to create an idea for my product. The artists of these videos are not looking at the camera excepting the artist in “The Man who can’t be moved” that looks at the camera briefly, so they challenge Goodwin’s convention, they were a good point of reference to decided if I wanted to challenge or follow the convention which at the end I decided to follow because my artist is new so he needs the visual contact with the viewer.

Camerawork and editing was the most influential part of these videos. I tried to use the change of colour that I saw in the video “Drunk” by “Ed Sheeran”; in this video the blue tone is noticeable and adds some sad and cold mood to the video so I tried to recreate this because the lyrics of my song are about a difficult time. Using colour corrector in editing I added a soft blue trying to get a cold and a sad atmosphere which works very well. From the music video of “The Man Who Can't Be Moved” by “The Script” I used the idea of the fast motion of cars because it fitted very well in the idea of the city as a cold place. In camerawork I followed the conventions of the genre and the main idea of the music video which is to promote the artist, I used a sequence of Close ups and Medium close up and Long shots to achieve this but mainly CUs and MCUs.

Traffic Scene in "The Man Who Can't Be Move" by "The Script" and in my music video.

You can see that both images have a blue tone. Image from "Drunk" by "Ed Sheeran" and my music video

All of these videos share 2 types of shots and share 2 similar base tracks.  Close up and medium close up are the shots that they share and the base tracks that share are, that the artists are sitting on the pavement and walking around in a city. These particular shots (sitting on the pavement and walking around) I have used them in my music video because, firstly it fits into the initial idea of the video, which was to promote the artist, as well as, show London as the location of the music video and secondly because all the videos that I had analysed have it, so it follows the conventions of the genre.

Pavement Base Track

Walking base track

The mise-en-scene of these videos was very simple so I also followed that, the only prop that we used was a guitar which is the main convention of the indie rock genre. It was a very simple performance just the artist singing looking at the camera connecting with the audience. As “Ed Sheeran” our artist try to sell his music and not his image or personal style and I the video reflects that, with simple clothing following the convention of the genre.

                                           You can see in these pictures that the clothing is very simple.

Overall I believe my music video follow the conventions, not only Goodwin’s and Vernallis’s but also the conventions of the indie rock genre.

During the production of my ancillary product I was very careful about the conventions of my genre because it is very easy to get out of them and I also had the list of Do’s and Don’ts at all time. I researched many different examples of digipaks and adverts inside the indie rock genre, trying to get the better of each one, I had to have in mind that my artist is a new artist and one of the priorities to make the ancillary work successful, is to promote his face to get the people to know him. My digipak was influenced mainly by the digipak of “+” by “Ed Sheeran” and “Seven Rainbows” by “Alice Gold”, their digipaks are very simple and they share the same genre so I could be sure that I would be following the conventions. The front covers of these digipaks are all about the artist which for me is very important, in "Ed Sheeran's" cover there is close up of his face and in "Alice Gold". On the back cover I left the same effect that is on the front cover, trying to keep it simple following the convention and influenced by the same two digipaks. I followed the conventions of the digipaks there is no more than two colours in the panels and I used the same font for all the lettering, changing just the size and colours of some words. The font was very important not only because it is a convention but its also telling the viewer, who's work is it and if the font is unclear the ancillary product fails its purpose.

You can see that my front cover just have one effect, as "+" and "Seven Rainbows" have. The picture is very similar to the one at the right below but I tried to promote the artist even more, leaving his face as the predominant thing on the cover. 

You can see that the digipaks have just 1 effect that is in both front and back cover. The position of the picture is to introduce the artist to the buyer which is a convention that I tried to follow.

All the panels of mi digypak have a blue tone trying to create the link between the advert, the digipak and  the music video. The ancillary work, all have the same colours which are blue and black, by having minimum colours I am following the conventions of the indie genre which is all about simplicity. I looked at many different adverts before I took the decision about the layout of my advert but It is mainly influenced by the magazine  advert of the digipak "+". The image of the artist is looking at a point very close to the camera influenced by the "+" advert that is at the top right side of the image, but the picture of my advert does not have any effect on it so the audience can recognise his face. The font is very clear and keeping the same colours,blue and black. The advert and the digipak have the same effect to create the link between them.

You can see the influence; I opted for the layout of the right because for me gives more space.

I follow the classic conventions as well as the conventions of my genre.

Progress Review Blog

Final-Advert

Final Digikpak

Production-Advert

The make of the advert was a bit more complicated that the inside and outside panels, because the picture that I had in mind did not fit very well in the idea that I had in my mock up so I had to change the position of the image. For the image as for the images from the digipak I used auto colour correction, auto levels and auto sharpen.

The initial idea was to have the picture in the middle of the advert and all the lettering below the image but the style of the picture was not appropriate for this so I moved it slightly to the right and the lettering to the left.I am still using the same font for all the lettering to have a connection with the digipak besides the blue tone.

I followed the conventions having the date, the bonus that the buyer would have which are the singles and the date of release. I also add the front cover of the digipak.

To make it more attractive to the audience and to have even a bigger connection with the digipak I used the same effect I used on the front cover,coloured pencil, but with a stronger effect and I also change the background to a soft white so it looks better. It is going well but I would ask the advice of my teacher for future modifications.

Production-Inside Panels

For my inside panels I also kept the initial idea, following my mock up , but my teacher made me realise that it was not a very strong connection between the outside panels and the inside panels.

For the image as I did with the image from the front cover I used auto colour correction, auto levels and auto sharpen to get the best picture possible, I also change the colour to get the blue tone trough adjust colour. I add the circular form with the shapes tool.

Besides the blue tone there was not a very strong connection between the panels so I decided to use the same paper that is the list of songs is write on and write a small part of the lyrics of the single "The City" I also changed the colour of the door because it was dragging too much attention to it. 

I believe that with the blue tone and the paper below the face of the artist, there is now a connection between the inside and outside panels. The making of the inside panels was very much straight forward because I had a very clear idea about what effect I wanted and what I want for the image.

Production-Outside Panels

During the production of my front cover I kept the initial idea of my mock up and I tried to get as close as possible to the sketch.

I first put the picture that I have previously selected in the front and I added a blue background with an effect called coloured pencil and sketch, getting the effect of small lines across the background. For the picture I used auto colour correction, auto levels and auto sharpen trying to get the best of it, I also change the colour of the image, getting a blue tone, trying to get the same tone that the music video has. I was looking to get the connection with the video that I talked about in the latest posts; it was very difficult to decided which effect to add because I did not want to make it too busy and get out of the conventions but I think this one works very well.

Then I choose the font called rough typewriter because it has a vintage touch that goes well with the genre and I have used for all the lettering. For the name of the artist I underlined it to make it out-stand from the rest of the front cover and for the rest of the lettering I used black but in different sizes. 

I think the outside panels are looking very good, I followed my plan based on my research and it is going very well.

Mock-up of my advertisement

My main concern regarding my advertisement is to have a clear connection with the digipak so to do this I will have the same font and the same blue tone. I am following the conventions, having just 1 font and just 2 colours.

Planning-Mock up of my digipak

I wanted to create a connection between all my ancillary work and the music video so I have chosen the colour blue for this job. The blue tone is in both front and back cover as it is in the inside panels. It might have some changes during the production process but something that I will keep is the blue tone to get that sense of connection between them.

Inside panels

Outside panels

Planning-Ideas

I want to keep my ancillary work simple and I found a couple of fonts which are simple, and follow the "Do" list, so they are my first option. I will choose one of these for all the lettering in my digipak and adverts.

For the colours I have chosen black, blue and yellow on the advert. Black for the lettering blue as a base and I will be using yellow, trying to recreate the lights of the city at night. I have chosen blue because it has a clear connection with the music video and represents the coldness of the city and I have chosen black because is simplistic and it will look very clear on a blue background.

The layout of my digipak is very simple but this is because I am trying to follow the conventions of the genre. These are the first idea but it might have some changes.

For the poster