Evaluation- 4. How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

There was a lot of media used to construct, research, plan and evaluate my work. Without the different media I wouldn’t be able to complete my coursework to the highest standard. I believe using the different types of media is beneficial because it allows me to express myself and allows me to go in detail with my work. From last year’s coursework the source of media has change vastly as we have used more media in our work.

However there are some Medias that we have kept i.e. blogger, phones, Bluetooth, survey monkey and computer. With blogger it has allowed me to write my personal diary daily. This means that am able to write step by step what am doing in my coursework. Therefore am constantly reviewing and talking about each stage of my coursework. As a result blogger covered my plan and evaluation in the coursework. Another source of media is our phones, the phones were important for us this year and last year because we are able plan our work and the way we did that was being taking films and pictures of our rehearsals, filming and editing. Using the phones is vital because we are able to give evidence to the things we did i.e. filming and editing. Therefore it rewards us with more marks because of the use of technology. Along with the phones we also had to use Bluetooth and the Bluetooth allowed us to send our work to the computer so that we could post it up on our blogs for evidence. The iMac computers are a further source of media that we have used for both years (AS and A2) and the iMac computer basically covered our construction as that was what we used to edit. This is because the iMac computers are the most suitable computers to edit as they are more equipped compared to a Microsoft computer. Another advantage on an iMac computer is that it’s flexible and simple to use as everything organised and set up to use. Beside the iMac, youtube is another source of media that was used. Youtube is very crucial towards the research and construction of our coursework because we were able to upload videos and research videos to get ideas for our own coursework. It further allows other people to review, rate and comment videos therefore we were able to upload our own video to get feedback. Survey monkey was the last source media that we used for both of our coursework. Survey monkey is a website that is entirely based on creating questionnaires. Therefore it allowed us to research as we used it to write questionnaires in order to find out information from our audience.

Here is picture of the media sources that we have used for both years (AS and A2;



Now there are other sources of media that were used this year that I didn’t use last year due to the importance and the difficult of this year’s coursework. For example this year we were able to upgrade our camera to HD, whereas last year we were using the DV Cameras and they had lesser qualities compared to the HD Cameras. The HD Cameras have high quality on literally everything e.g. magnification, resolution, picture and etc. Therefore the HD Cameras made our music video look very professional due to the picture and resolution quality. Along with the cameras, we also had a software upgrade this year. Last year we were using iMovie to edit our coursework however this year we used Final Cut Express to edit our music video, this would be known as the construction part of our coursework. We used Final Cut Express because it’s a new software that has more and better features compared to iMovie. I believe that Final Cut Express was more complex and exciting as it offered a variety of skills and editing techniques. Therefore we were able to add better effects to our music video.

Slideshare and Photoshop are two other sources of media that we included in our coursework this year. For example Photoshop was used because it’s a graphics editing program therefore we used it to create our digipak and magazine advert. Photoshop is the best choice for graphics editing because it’s more advanced and it’s easier to understand. Furthermore Photoshop has much better accuracy since there are more specific colors and mathematical equations are used to cut round pictures/objects carefully and accurately. As a result we felt that it would be beneficial to create an effective digipak and magazine advert. Slideshare is an additional source of media that allowed us to show our work in a more thrilling and modern way. For us it was effective to use because it’s a different way to show our work and it increases our communication skills.

The last source of media that we used that is different from last year is the website unsigned.com. We used unsigned.com because we had to find music that weren’t copyrighted and the website gave us unsigned music. Unsigned.com is the most popular website in terms of unsigned music as a result we felt that it would be reliable and safe to use.

Here is a picture of the media sources that were only used in this year’s coursework (A2);

Evaluation- 3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

To get our audience feedback we used 3 different methods so that it strengths our evaluation. The three methods were;

1. Facebook

2. Filmed Comments

3. Wordle

Those 3 ways allowed us to reach a wide range of audience. For instance our video and Wordle used people from school, whereas Facebook used everyone as anybody was opened to comment the video. Therefore I wouldn’t necessarily know who would be commenting my video. Firstly with Wordle we got people to describe our video in one word and then displayed all those words in Wordle. We used this method because it’s a modern and effective way of presenting information. Furthermore Wordle is useful because it chooses the words that seem more important and makes them bigger than the rest. It also makes the words that have been used more than once bigger. Therefore people are able to spot the key words due to the size. Here are 2 Wordles demonstrating the good and bad comments that people thought of our music video;

Good Comments

Bad Comments

Looking at both of the Wordles I can see that our music video had a mix reaction. Consequently from people’s reactions I believe that our music video does need improving as some comments are honest i.e. “more seriousness, needs improving, good story, great”. However personally I believe that there are some parts in the music video that is very good and other parts where it’s amateur and long. On whole using the Wordle was beneficial because by people using one word to describe our video allows us rethink and revaluate our thoughts on the video, as the words being used are not describing specific parts of the video.

Facebook is the second way that we got feedback. So we uploaded our video on Facebook because that allows us to get a wide range of audience as there's a variety of age and ethnicity on Facebook. Whereas the Wordle was based in school therefore the audience would be almost in the same age category. I think age and ethnicity has an impact in our feedback as different age and ethnicity groups think and listen to things differently. Therefore using Facebook anybody could comment and watch the video. With the Facebook comments it helps because it adds more feedback, which then becomes useful for us. I also felt that using Facebook increases our skills because we are using different types of media to promote our product. Here is a screen grab of Meghan uploading the video on Facebook;

This picture demonstrates how the video is presented and laid out on Facebook. This is important because the lay out has to be effective so that people are able to spot the application. Furthermore in the picture it shows how many people have so far commented in our video, which is important because we are relying on people’s comments. From the comments I managed to divide the criticism and good comments into separate pictures. I believe that it was important to do that because it’s clearer and it’s easier to take in the information. For example here is a picture of some of the good comments people said; Here is another picture demonstrating the criticism that people thought about our video;

The last way that we got our feedback was by filming people’s opinions. Filming was another effective way to show audience feedback. So what we did was we filmed about 7 people who have watched our music video. With the 7 people we gave them each 5 of the same questions, those questions were;

What do you think about the music video

What do you like about the music video

What do you dislike about the music video

What would you change in the music video

Would you buy or recommend the single

Here is the audience feedback video;

Evaluation- 2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts (DVD digipak, Magazine advert)?

The main product for this coursework is the music video. But to accompany a music video there needs to be an advert so that it promotes the single or album. Therefore we had to create a DVD Digipack and Magazine cover (ancillary products). Whilst creating both the DVD Digipack and Magazine cover (ancillary products) we had to make it effective, fun, glamorous and lively so that it persuades our audience and at the same time follows our music video theme. On top of that we wanted the ancillary products to look professional as possible, as we idolise Destiny’s Childs look and ancillary products.

Firstly with the Digipak we had to start with the background therefore we needed effective colours in the background. We felt that using colours was important in our Digipak because it drags people’s attention therefore we used two different colours. We used a light peach orange that faded into a dark misty blue. Those colours for us are very successful as they complement each other. Furthermore both colours are rich and sophisticated as wanted to show that in our ancillary products. Rather than using the same boring bright colours that teenagers normally go for i.e. pink, green, red, purple and etc.

Now with the pictures we wanted to give everyone their own page with their own picture and name. This is because we wanted people to know every single band member so that everyone is familiar with them. However with the front and back cover we wanted to show a picture with all three girls together. This is because they are the artists therefore people must acknowledge this by looking at the front and back cover. We felt by sharing out each section equally is useful because we want the public to know that they are a band and there isn’t anyone less important than each other. Looking carefully at the pictures we have each individual doing their own sexy pose. The poses in each picture is important because it’s basically a written form description showing the sexiness and liveliness of the girls.

Lastly with the Digipak we used special affects so that it boosts the appearance of the Digipak. Also using special effects demonstrates more important skills which can give us more marks for our coursework. For example there was a lot of shadowing and fading used in the Digipak i.e. the back cover the picture is fading. Furthermore in each individual picture of each girl the shading of the pictures are much darker, this is so that it contrasts with the background.

Click on the picture to enlarge

The second ancillary text is our Magazine Advert. Magazine Adverts work differently to a Digipak because the advert is actually promoting and advertising the Digipak or single. So we felt that our Magazine Advert should be simple because simple work better with responses, as a result we didn’t want to over-do our Magazine Advert. However we still kept our advert relatively the same as our Digipak and we also kept the theme and messages the sameas our video as we need to reflect the video.

So when creating the advert we started with the background. With the background we kept the colours the same as our Digipak because the navy “blue” and peach “orange” complimented each other well therefore we wanted to continue the contrast. Also by keeping the colours the same shows that the advert and Digipak are together as a result people would recognise exactly what album we are advertising. Secondly with the pictures we only used one different picture on our advert. This is because again we didn’t want to over-do the advert, in addition professional advertising normally use different pictures to their Digipaks as they want to show creativity. Therefore we used the picture where the girls are standing in height order on top of a bench. That picture is significant to our music video because it’s very sexy and glamorous, as it shows a close up of the girl’s faces and their body. Another reason to using that particular picture is that the bright colours in the customs are appealing consequently it will draw people’s attention to read the advert.

Along with the picture we also added in a picture of our front cover from the Digipak. This is so that people know what we are advertising and know how the front of our album looks like. The last important aspect to our advert is the information. Including information is problem the highest priority this is because people need to be informed about the Digipak. Therefore we showed where the album/Digipak would be available i.e. HMV & iTunes, when the Digipak would come out and where to get more information i.e. the Khandi Floss website. Those are the typical information that a Magazine Advert would have in order for customers to be informed.

Overall with both the ancillary products they are different in the way they function. For example the Digipak is effective and created so that it reflects and gives the same impression as our video. Whereas the advert it is created so that it attracts people to buy the Digipak, but the advert there is only has a few points that can reflect the music video.

Click to enlarge

Evaluation- 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

To answer question 1 on the evaluation I created a Slideshare to demonstrate my answer, as I want to vary the way I answer my questions.

Here is the Slideshare down below giving my answer to question 1;

Evaluation Question 1

View more presentations from ianwhite11.

How to get our feedback?

Today we managed to get at least 3 good and effective ideas to how we are going to get audience feedback on our video. What we came up with was;

1. To first upload our music video on Facebook and allow our friends to comment and give their opinions on the music video. Facebook is a good way to get audience feedback because that is where we will find the majority of our audience. Furthermore Facebook is a source of media therefore we will get more marks for using it to promote our music video.

2. To ask people questions and film them whilst answering the questions. We believe filming peoples opinion is good because last year we did the same thing and we got a lot praise for it. Also the fact that we are using further technology to widen our skills, gives us more marks.

3. The last way is by giving out our classmates questionnaires this is because the class know what standard the music video must be at. Plus our classmates experienced

what we experienced in terms of doing the whole project. Therefore they will be able to give us more criticism and a better view to how we could improve the music video.

Time Wasted

We have devoted our time into the digipak and magazine advert. However due to the time spent we have forgot about handing out our music video so that we can get audience feedback. On top of that we have discovered that we won't be able to edit the music video this is because of the deadline and the time we have left. Therefore we have now completed the music video. As result in the next day or so we will be sitting down to discuss any ideas to get our audience feedback. But at the moment our time is running out as we only have a week left to complete the Blog and our evaluation.

Magazine Advert

Here is our completed Magazine Advert;

Creating our Magazine Advert

We wanted to make our magazine advert as professional as possible. Therefore we decided to use Photoshop again due to the features it offers and the fact that it's easy to use. Meghan took charge over both the digipak and the advert as she has the software. Also her mum is a professional editor therefore me and Jason felt that it would be better to leave it with the expert.

Here are the steps from Meghan demonstrating how the advert was created;

1. Firstly i created a graident of the two main colours used in the mking of the ablum and made it the base for the advert.



2. I then took one of the pictures of the girls and then I had to clean the background out. this gives the effect of the grils standing in the advertisment. i used photoshop magic erasser to clean around the imagine and then i dropped it on to the advert.



3. I then copied the front cover of the digipack and put a bored around it to make it look like the digipack.



4. I then added the name ofthe gruop on the top of the advert and addedtghe tewxt information, stating when it was going to be released, when that is was named the album of the month and also the different types of digipacks that it came in. i also added that the album could be bought HVM and ilso itunes, making it more accessable to all tyes of people.

Example of a Magazine

After researching for how magazine adverts look like I also researched 1 particular magazine that involves the R&B genre. Vibe is probably the most popular and successful magazine for R&B. Here’s some background information on the Vibe Magazine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vibe_magazine);

Vibe is a music and entertainment magazine founded by producer Quincy Jones. The publication predominantly features R&B and hip-hop music artists, actors and other entertainers. After shutting down production in Summer 2009, Vibe was purchased by the private equity investment fund InterMedia Partners and is now issued quarterly with double covers, with a larger online presence, aided by the Vibe LifeStyle Network, a group of entertainment/music websites under the Vibe brand. The magazine's target demographic is predominantly young, urban followers of hip-hop culture.

The magazine owed its success to featuring a broader range of interests than its closest competitors The Source and XXL which focus more narrowly on rap music, or the rock & pop-centric Rolling Stone and Spin. As of 2007, Vibe had a circulation of approximately 800,000. Advertisers ran the gamut from record labels to fashion houses to various cognac brands.

Vibe Magazine was known for the creative direction of their covers. R&B singer Mary J. Blige repeatedly made the cover of Vibe, with countless articles following her career. Trio TLC were photographed for the cover in firefighters' gear, referencing the fact that member Left Eye burned down the house of then-boyfriend and NFL star Andre Rison. The first non-photograph cover of Vibe was an illustration of late singer Aaliyah by well known artist/illustrator Alvaro; this was Aaliyah's very first appearance on the cover as well. Other famous cover subjects are Brandy, Snoop Dogg, Mariah Carey, Beyoncé, Amerie, Jennifer Lopez, Keyshia Cole, Janet Jackson, Lil Wayne, The Fugees, Eminem, T.I., R. Kelly, Michael Jackson (whom Quincy Jones' daughter Kidada had dressed in hip-hop clothing, reportedly for the first and only time in the entertainer's career), Ciara, who also appeared on the cover numerous times and rap legend Tupac Shakur's famous cover story in which he reveals important details about his non-fatal 1994 NYC shooting (two years before his death in Las Vegas, Nevada).

Magazine Advert

Along with a digipak we also have to create a magazine advert/ poster. This is because magazine adverts are designed to attract people so that they purchase the product being advertised. So what magazine advert/poster does is give information. However the information needs to be short and to the point because it needs to sell the product. Posters are normally featured at bus stops, on buses themselves, on billboard and in magazines and papers. Big music artists always create posters so that the public recognise their music. Here are some examples of posters used by music artists/labels in order to advertise a song, album or artist;

XXL Magazine

Vibe Magazine

Completed Digipak

We've finished our digipak. We decided to use Photoshop to create the digipak because it was the only software that allowed us to use the digipak template and the pictures we took for the digipak. We used a variety of pictures in the digipak e.g. we had group pictures and individual pictures. This is so that the digipak is realistic to an R&B album. In the actually digipak there was a lot of colourful and vibrant colours used because again it represents how bubble and fun the band (Khandi Floss) is.

Here is the template for the "Khandi Floss- Crush on" digipak;

Starting our digipak

Researching the digipak gave us an idea how to start and make a digipak. Therefore we arranged a day where everyone could be available because it was important to have all 3 girls as it’s their album. We gave the girls an indication to what dress code the girls should have because organisation is key to a digipak. Looking at Destiny’s Child albums they have the same look and theme as they didn’t want to confuse the audience with disorganisation. Once we had the girls, we started by taking pictures of the girls round the school because that’s what we are using for the digipak. We used 4 different locations round the school to take the pictures. The locations were;
• Lockers
• Playground
• Drama class
• Sixth form block

In each of those locations Meghan who was our photographer took about 3 pictures from each place. Here are 4 of my favourite pictures from the different locations;

1. Locker Room

2. Sixth Form Block

3. Playground

4. Drama Room

Barcode

I created a barcode for the Digipak. I felt that if we researched and used any barcode on google images (for example) then it wouldn’t be original therefore I wanted to be creative and do our own. The barcode was created on Windows Paint. I got a small template from online and then edited it myself. The barcode will be going on the back of the Digipak at the bottom as every single/album has one. Here’s the barcode;

Examples of digipak

One example of a digipak is Michael Jackson’s This Is It album;

That album is a digipak because it contains 2 discs and the ablum actually has gatefold (book-style), which means it closes like a book. I believe that the This Is It album is the best example because it's probably one of the most successful album ever. The album was the twelfth best selling album of 2009 in the United States and the third best selling album of 2009 based on worldwide sales.

Another example of a digipak is Kanye West album Heartless;

What is a digipak?

Digipak is an original style of compact disc or DVD packaging. Digipaks typically consist of a gatefold (book-style) paperboard or card stock outer binding, with one or more plastic trays capable of holding a CD or DVD attached to the inside. Digipak-style packaging is often used for CD singles or special editions of CD albums and the tall DVD Digipak (DVD Digipak) is used as a premium package for DVDs and DVD sets.

Here is a blank Digipak that shows how a Digipak looks;

More on Audience Theory

Audience theory powerpoint

View more presentations from robertclackmedia.

Moving on

We are so excited that we have finished now we are looking to hand out the music video, so that we can get feedback from the audience as we want to improve the video. Since a high grade is what we crucially need. However what we are now going to concentrate is on creating our digpak for the single so that it looks realistic as possible. Therefore in the next upcoming days we are going to be planning and researching what we want in our digpak so that it's very effective. Lastly we are also going to be looking at creating our on advertisement because that is also apart of the grading criteria. In the next few days I will be posting our progess and our plans on the next tasks that we are doing.

Khandi Floss- Crush on you (Music Video)

Here is our official music video that we have finally completed. Now we are looking to upload it on facebook and give it out to audience so that we get a feedback. This is important because it will go towards our evaluation therefore we need people's opinion.

Audience Theory

Last editing session

We’ve solidly worked on our editing for 3 weeks. It has taken us a while because we started our first editing session a month ago. However we were occupied because of our retakes and the half term. But now I can finally declare that the music video is done. All we have to do is finish the bits and bobs like including our name and uploading it on youtube and the blogs.

This last editing session was probably the most stressful one out of all three because we didn’t have a vision. Basically our first editing session we did the beginning of the music video and our second session we did the ending of the music video. However in this editing session we took longer as we didn’t have all the resources i.e. filming to complete the middle of the music video. Once we got filming the parts that we needed, we then sat down and discuss our ideas as Meghan had a vision for the middle part of our music video. So what happened was we let Meghan take control of the editing as she knew the story better than me and Jason, plus the whole music video idea was hers.

In the actually editing we continued the story line by including some clips from London where Jason and Michelle spend time together. However in the video we made it seem as if Michelle is imagining things. Meghan also managed to include more dance routines that the girls did as there are different places 2 where they performed the dance. The last crucial part to the editing was having Jaye’s verse in the video. When filming her rap we filmed in 3 different places because again we get awarded more marks because of the different mise en scene. So Meghan also edited Jaye’s part of the video which completed all the rapping and sing of the video.

Almost Done

We have almost finished editing however we realised that there's a part in our video that is missing. So yesterday we went to film in a different location that wasn't part of our plans. We decided to film in our local leisure centre and there we filmed the main girl and boy. The footage that we filmed is key to our music video because it completes the story that we are trying to tell. In the filming we filmed the main boy Jason asking Michelle out for a drink. Although the filming sounds simple, it was stressful for the group because the original plan was to film the bands last dance and Jason asking Michelle out. But the other two girls Maureen and Marie that are apart of Khandi Floss didn't show up therefore that made it difficult as we have a short deadline. As a result we had to improvise and change our plans again. We are meant to complete the editing and filming by Friday therefore in the two days we have the group will be working hard in order to complete it because we have any time after Friday. Fingers crossed we will be able to finish the filming and move on to the digpik and the advertisement of our coursework.

Second Editing

Finally moved on to the second part of our editing which is a relief to us. Now that we have completed the start of the video, we are now looking to start the end of the video. As we want to tackle the difficult parts first. So in our second stage of editing me, Jason and Meghan sat down together as Meghan began to edit again. In the actually editing Meghan put bits and pieces where it demonstrates Jason and Michelle getting loved up. For example there are scenes of them in London and them in the local gym talking and hugging each other. We felt that we should include the love part later on in the video because it would keep the audience in suspense, due to the start of the video and the title of the video. Meghan also included a lot of the concert dance at the end this is because we needed to fit in a lot of the dance because again we want to represent an R&B music video. As a lot of R&B music videos have a lot of dancing i.e. Usher’s, Beyonce’s and Chris Brown’s videos. However the editing for the ending of the music video is nowhere near done. Therefore we will be spending all week to try and complete the editing so that we can move on to the next stage.

But things are going well (Y)…

We are back!!!

We are back after 2 weeks off due to the Christmas period. We are now able to focus on our coursework as we have also finished our Media resit. Today was a day where we as a group sat down and discussed what is still needed in the video and when the video will be completed. During the discussion we came up with different ideas to include in the video so that we can assure that we get the grade that we are aiming for. One of our ideas is to include one more person in our video so that we make it as realistic to a R&B music video. The person who we are using is called Jaye Parker and she will be taking one of the verses in the music video that should have been part of Marie's performance. Therefore the introduction of the music video will change to Khandi Floss ft Lady Jay- Crush on you. So we filmed Jade rapping the verse in one of the classroom in school. We used a classroom because we felt that it was very effective as we have seen it work on a previous music video. Soulja Boy- yah trick yah video used the idea and it proved to be very successful. Hopeful this idea can improve the music video because last year we weren't as strategic therefore that caused us to get a low grade. Lastly the other ideas that we came up with are not for certain, as a result I won't be talking about them until we decide to use them.

This is the classroom we used to imitate Soulja Boy video;