Karl Final Evaluation

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

In many ways we’ve tried to make out music video effective by using common conventions seen in existing media products. Firstly, for example our music video is of the alternative rock genre because of this our video is mainly performance orientated which is key feature of alternative rock videos therefore making our video conventional. Furthermore, a secondary part of our video is the clips we’ve tried to include of everyday life. We have filmed in a music studio, out in town and on a stage. These locations try to promote the idea of fame and music promotion but also the shots in town promote the idea of our band being quite accessible. This links to Goodwin’s points of trying to sell the artist. The idea of following the band around in their everyday life can also be seen in ‘blink 182’s video ‘rock show’. The band can be seen walking around town together and this is what we have tried to capture in our video. This therefore means our video conforms to conventions. However on some levels are product does challenge the convention. There is no clear narrative, unlike some other videos of this genre which does make it slightly unconventional however, considering this it would have been very hard for us to break conventions. In the alternative rock genre most videos are quite experimental because of this, whatever we did in our video it would have been considered experimental and therefore conformed to conventions. In the terms of Goodwin’s points I feel our product does conform. We feel our video does convey our personalities well which refers to Auteur theory. This is a demand of the record label and does promote our band image.

2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks?

Overall we feel our ancillary texts and main product are quite effective together. We have tried to include on both our pieces information that will promote our DVD. Tour dates can also be seen on our magazine advert. To keep continuity between our pieces we have used the same backdrop, font and logos in our magazine advert as well as the DVD. We have picked these colour schemes because they are quite simple and they do not divert attention away from our main pictures which help to sell our artist. This links our pieces and makes them effective, they attract the audience into them by locking the viewer’s attention and because they look the same the audience is drawn in. Another way we’ve made our digi-packs effective is by showing a clear identity of our band. We’ve used lots of close ups in our video and tried to twin that with close up photos in our advert and DVD cover. Not only does this help with continuity but the images/close ups of the band help sell the artist. This is one of Goodwin’s points and ensures our products are effective. We have also tried to reflect the idea of auteur theory in our pieces. We have tried throughout to make our video and digi-pack as funny/playful as possible and we’ve to link this in the pieces therefore making them obviously belong to the same band and continuing our continuity. Unfortunately, there were obviously some negatives about our ancillary tasks. We feel as a group we did not leave the appropriate time for us to build our pieces. We had one lesson to try to make our products and our un-familiarity with Photoshop hindered us further. We feel if we could have had one of two more lessons we could have formed a much greater product. We could have included more relevant information and promoted our DVD further.

3. What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

From our first pitch for this video we have had many feedback comments. These comments helped us realise some good ideas for our video. They made us aware of what are target audience really wanted because they were the people giving us feedback. The main feedback we received from our pitch was generally how are we going to film the shots in town. This feedback made us consider our locations further and eventually decide how we were going to film our ideas. From our peer feedback on our rough cut piece we learnt that we needed to include more close ups in our video. This feedback was relevant because it was from our peers and are target audience. Bearing our feedback in mind we went back to our location for a second time and filmed some more close ups. These close ups were used to help build our band identity and were added into our final cut. Overall from the feedback we have learnt its important to leave enough time for a second day of filming as it became apparent to us, you do not always get all of the necessary footage in one shoot with regards to out digi-pack footage we feel we should have left more time for it as the overall products look very rushed. We failed to include everything we wanted such as drawing more attention to our DVD in our magazine advert. Therefore in retrospect to our feedback we have now learnt to schedule our work and leave more time for our bigger tasks. However overall, the most of our feedback was very pleasing. We had many good comments which were all positive.

4. How did you use new media technology in the construction and research, planning and evaluating stages?

Throughout the making and development of our product we have used lots of new technology. For example to host and keep track of our work we have been using a website, www.blogger.com. This website allows you to have your own blogs where you can record how your work is progressing in posts. It is very useful in keeping track of what you have done in lessons. You can host videos and pictures which enabled us to show all of inspiration in a simple, easy to access location. A second piece of technology we used to build our media product was a programme called Final Cut Express. This software is used when editing video footage. Final Cut is a very easy to use piece of kit and we all easily came to terms with the controls. You can add lots of different effects and with the marker tool available it was very easy for us synchronise our music to the visuals. Lastly, we used software called Photoshop. Photoshop is software which enables you to place a picture on another picture and add text onto it; with this we made our Digi-pack. We found this programme overall very hard to use. The tools were not easily explained and we found ourselves struggling to produce our products. Looking back at our pre-luminary tasks I feel we have come a long way especially with the use of final cut. Generally, over the two years of studying media studies I feel I have come a long way in filming and in producing products. I now feel very confident behind and in front or a camera and also I feel capable of using Final Cut editing software to make a good product. As we carry on our media course I hope to learn more about Photoshop as this is the one piece of software I feel most unfamiliar about.

Karl Lambourne

Evaluation 'POA'

Today it is up to us to create a plan of action for the production of our music video's commentary. We have this lesson to plan it, next lesson to film it and then two more lessons to edit the piece. Below is our plan of action.
We plan to have the four of us introduced individually, we plan to do this by having a short clip of each of us talking (a sentence or two about the music video) with our name on screen, then the clip will to all the four of us together in a room and we will answer the questions for the evaluation in a casual group discussion similar to a group interview.

Q 1: In what ways does the media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
- Talk about 'Blink 182s' influence from their video 'Rock Show'
- Audience for alternative rock videos
- performance and lifestyle element of video
- we stuck to genre conventions
- how choices we made led to our final media product
- Goodwins theory and points that we used

Q 2: How effective is the combination of our ancillary task and our main product?
- how mise-en-scene was key to getting the photos relative
- our opinions on the DVD and Magazine covers
- representation and selling of artists

Q 3: What have you leant from audience feedback?
- open for discussion, talk about our camera work (Lack of close ups) etc.
- ability to communicate
- how we overcame these problems

Q 4: How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research planning and in the evaluation stages?
- how we have developed skills on final cut, photoshop and blog use
- how we uploaded examples of our genre from existing products via 'youtube' etc
- camerawork

Dvd Cover, Magazine Advert By Karl

For our project it is a requirement for us to include DVD cover and a Magazine advert. For us to get an idea we need to look at existing examples to get a good idea.

This is the Album cover of the album 'Alexisonfire' by the band Alexisonfire. This album cover is for a slightly heavier genre of music than our piece. It does meet expected genre characteristics because it doesn't give much away and leaves the audience guessing about the content of the CD, Only existing fans will know. This however does look intriguing to new fans as they will want to find out more about it. There is a clear band name in easily readale format on the front which does premote the artist.



Across is the poster advertising the Vans warped tour 2009. This could be an example of what we're going to use but to promote our Dvd instead of a tour. This advert is good because it uses lots of bright colours. It gives the neccasary information and highlights the important parts.

The Loveable Rascals present 'Pacific Ocean Blue'

Penultimate Editing lesson

Today is our second to last editing lesson. So far we're looking good to be completed on time for our deadline. Our main tasks today have been to complete the lip and instrumenting syncing. After this was completed we've just been generally ordering our clips and moving all the clips onto one layer to make them easily viewable. With all the clips on one layer it is easy for us to select just the clips we wanted. Our goal for this lesson is to have all of the clips in the correct places and order and then for our last lesson to add all the filters and effects.

After Hours Editing

Today our whole group came into college after hours to try and catch up with our editing. We started by sorting all of our good usable footage from our poor footage, once we had done this we started to lip sync our video. By placing markers on the actual song we were able to clearly see where each of the chorus' start and the distinctive lyrics. then we did the same with the video (still attached to audio) and simply lined them. We have sped up the footage of all four band members climbing out of a box to hide the jumps were each person climbs in (camera has been paused while recording for this). Tomorrow we hope to perfect this for our final deadline on monday. When we will hopefully begin our digipacks [Albums and DVD cover].

Test Footage 2 (scott wrote this)

After evaluating our existing footage and our feedback from our teacher and other groups, we felt it necessary to obtain more band shots and close ups. Consequently we ventured around long road and found a secluded location and set to filming.
We feel these shots may be used to fill some of our gaps and will help to build our band image and could be evolved in our digi pack. Our footage includes us walking down a set of stairs (leaving the stage) at several different angles which evolves continuity. And a continuous shot of all four band members climbing out of a box as if we were all in there together.

Extended Overnight Filming

Before we can complete the editing of our music video, we need to acquire all our footage. This includes capturing more close-ups of the artists and further footage that can amplify the relationship between lyrics and visuals. Firstly we had to arrange another date to film at either Sawston Village College or The Lock Up, our two filming locations. Due to the timely process of gaining further access to the SVC site, we decided it would be easier to film at The Lock Up. Finding a day that all group members could attend when the Lock Up was also available was fine. We settled with Monday 9th November 2009. This will last 2 hours.

Our aims in this will be to film a vast amount of close-ups on each artist in turn. We can then synchronize the various close-ups with our soundtrack and create a professional perfected music video. Our causes for concern are to make sure we wear the correct costume to continue the idea of continuity. Also, we need to make sure the instruments we use are the same and that the location is replicated as best possible.

Furthermore, in listening to oral feedback from several viewers, we found that the structure of our music video needs close attention. The shot lengths appears to be correct but we've been advised to include more band footage, not necessarily through a performance, but highlighting the band and their daily lifestyle. If we wish to get a professional thematic edit we need to introduce the band and bring the dancing footage in a little later than we already have. Ideas of alternative footage can be acumliated through the music video to 'Falling In Love' by Mcfly which is displayed below.

In order to confirm this overnight filming session we will need to book the camera, a tripod, a light, a still camera and hopefully the dolly.

Very Very Rough Cut

Obviously we have a lot of work to do, as we had to just put in some footage at the end as we didnt have enough time in lesson to complete it. We also need to capture more footage to have a wider shot variety, and more close ups of the vocalist to try and sekk the artist. We really just need more close ups all together.

Second Day of editing

Today we've had our second lesson of editing. So far we've managed to cut down our footage to all the main clips we're going to be using and sorted them into some kind of order. We've got about 2 minutes of rough cut ready to be submitted and the rest we can sort out next lesson. We're yet to add any effects to our piece and sync any instruments and lip syncing with our music.

Filming: Day Three

In todays filming we managed to accomplish all the necessary shots to form a collage of performance footage with the clips we've got from other days of filming. The dolly proved itself useful and we captured some great movements which really promote the artists and give a professional edge to the music video. However, there were some major problems with todays filming. Firstly, the tripod didn't fit the dolly! This made capturing the movement shots particularly difficult and required two cameramen as a posed to one. Unfortunately this wasted valuable time from the recording process and overall less was achieved in todays filming. Another problem we faced today was that the battery for the camera was empty when we came to film. We were expecting to do some additional shots besides the filming at Sawston Village College. We had arrived at a river an hour before we were expected at Sawston and we were going to film Scott and George jumping into a river which was going to be our final shot. However when we got there the battery on the camera was out of battery and we couldnt film anything. As well as this the equipment available to us at Sawston was a lot less than we had hoped for for example there were no microphones, no guitars and we had to find drum sticks and symbols for the drums. It would have been helpful for us to know a bit more information before we had gone for the shooting day, as it could have looked a lot more proffessional.
Our next shooting is of the band. It will take place on the Long Road Sixth Form College site and we will use the pictures obtained to produce our digipack. We need to arrange a day and time for this shoot.


Before arriving on site, all group members had to be 'briefed' with the sites Health and Safety Procedure, which is pictured below. Also, the hier had to sign and date the lettings agreement which show my complience with the regulations and obligations within the college site.

Mood-board for Filming Day Three

The picture below is a collage of ideas for shots we can use at the third day of filming. They are taken from music videos such as "Falling In Love" by Mcfly and "Charlotte" by Air Traffic.

We also have the entire rig of lighting from the venue available so we can have sketched some ideas for lighting plots for our performance. They will help achieve the professional image from some of the pictures in the mood-board. We will use close-ups of the instruments and hopefully include some shadow effects from the lights to highlight the artists.
We also have to shoot the scene between two characters on a bench and the water reference in Mondays filming because these were not included on day one of filming.

Filming: Day One

Wednesday 14th October 2009

Todays filming took place at location two; in and around the city centre. Our target was to collect a montage of simple dance steps from members of the public that could later be mixed into our music video along with other footage. The speed of this footage may later be altered depending on the speed of the dance, so that the overall footage will match the tempo and be fitted to the beat. Some successful footage was obtained in todays filming, however we were quite disappointed with the attitude and unwillingness to dance from some of the public. However we did manage to find some of our friends who did agree to be in our video so we did manage to get some dancing footage. The success of todays filming lies with the editing process of our music video. We managed to use some abstract shots and some small movements so that we have a variety of camerawork but the footage and music video will only look professional depending on the editing of the video. We are currently researching using our editing software Final Cut Express, to find possible editing techniques and colour schemes/patterns to make todays filming effective.

Our next step is to concentrate on Day Two of the filming process. This takes place o Thursday 14th October 2009 at The Lock Up Rehearsal Rooms in Chesterton. The camera and tripod have been booked for this day but we will also need our musical instruments and a form sound projection so that we can hear the track as well as play along to it. The traveling to this location will be by car and the address is as follows:

The Lock Up Rehearsal Rooms

Unit 9

Cave Industrial Estate

Fen Road

Cambridge

CB4 1UN
When we arrived we proceded to film the whole song in a static position which did look quite good however when it came to trying to walk around with the camera we had no one to film for us because we were all playing however we did manage to get around this by just filming one or two of us at a time but making it look like we're all playing.

Learning the Song

To produce a music video with any realism in the performance, we had to spend some time understanding the song. This meant finding any material from the song that was available from the internet and briefly 'rehersing' the song so that the performance in the video would syncronise with the audio track we will later add during the editing process. Aside from JJs research into the guitar parts, we also had to figure the basic drum pattern that lies beneath the song and any independant motifs from the drums (ie recognisable cymbol crashes/any other drum patterns).

Along with the learning the musical parts of the song it was down to JJ to to lip sync to our track. To help him with this we found the lyrics and he learnt them. We did encounter some problems when lip syncing for example JJ sometimes forgot some words and also when we came to doing some close-ups at Sawston Village College we didn't have any microphones so JJ had to mime.

The below pictures show up practising the music.

Edit after performance:

In heinsite after filming our footage we found that it was very hard for us as un-experienced musicians to make it look like we were actually playing the correct notes. Especially for George on the drumkit. We have figured to help us get around this problem we are going to use clips that are quite small and don't have such a big focus on the miming of the instruments.

Pacific Ocean Blue Lyrics

In order for us to fit our production to Goodwin's points of analysis we need to be aware of the lyrics, in Bold are the lines we will be implementing to our video:-

It's OK to beat the living shit from the drum kit
[Drummer Plays Drums Intensely]
It's OK to take what you don't have, if you want it

That's alright, that's your way
Water's cold, December, Del Ray
Through those eyes, made me cry
[Close up of an eye with a stick coming towards it]
And the summer is forever
It's the endless summer

And it's not about your girlfriend
And it's not about your boyfriend
[iStop Motion of boyfriend and girlfriend moving closer together on a bench]
And I'm not about to lose it over you
Remember what I told ya
The night in California
And I'm all about Pacific Ocean Blue

It's OK to leave your jacket on in the ocean
It's OK to sing the saddest song, Vibrations

Thanks a lot, you can be
What you want, honestly
Magic days, golden nights
And the summer is forever
It's the endless summer

And it's not about your girlfriend
And it's not about your boyfriend
[iStop Motion of boyfriend and girlfriend moving closer together on a bench]
And I'm not about to lose it over you
Remember what I told ya
The night in California
And I'm all about Pacific Ocean Blue

I don't need no explanation
All I got is best intentions
I got fears, too much to mention

You're not there, when I'm scared, terrified
Jump right in, the water's fine.
[All 4 members of the band jumping into water, either river or swimming pool (depending on weather)]

For those lyrics that are not in bold we will performing to the camera with shots including:
- The Band On Stage
- The Band Playing In A Garage
- Street Performances

Shot List

The following table gives a little detail about the different shot types, shot positioning and any other relevent information. This table will prove itself useful when we start our filming process because its a written explanation of what we will need (props/costumes) to aquire before we start the filming so that we're not delayed or postpone the next stage of our production.

The first collumn (labelled 'Shot No') gives an idea of the order of the shots. One being the first shot used at the begining of the video, and 40 being the final shot used at the end of the track. Each number establishes the shot frame used and the purpose of the shot. In the last collumn there is also an option of Location One and Location Two.

Location One is set in the Henry Morris Hall at Sawston Village College. In this location we will be performing the song to the camera and the footage captured will be distributed throughout the video, so that there is variation with the video. The costumes will be different in each location so that in the final cut of the entire video, our costumes will alternate and show off different fashion icons. This is a very conventional technique of an alternative rock music video as the artists like to look their best and show that they look good in different clothes. In the first location there are the obvious props that haven't been mentioned on the Shot List, such as musical instruments. The drum kit will be booked along with the stage and lighting rig, however the other instruments will be brought in by the other members of the group. We hope not to use any audio cables on stage, this makes the artists movement less restricted and also they're unncessesary due to the fact that we're not aiming to broadcast the music, simply mime it. Although, a few cables might be placed around the area or plugged into the instruments to give the impression that this footage was taken at a live performance.

Location Two is very different and much more vague. It will be around Cambridge and where ever we find members of the public willing to dance for the camera. Some decided places will be the Granchester river and Jesus Green/Midsummer Common where a bench is available to shoot the scene between two lovers. These green areas are shown below.

Midsummer Common

Jesus GreenOther locations include 'The Garage' and 'The Skate Park', these are not mentioned because we are still investigating their availability and producing ideas for shot techniques that could be used at these places.

Music Video Storyboard Timeline

This time line is just to back up which part of the videos go where, again we will use this for a rough guideline so we know what to do when we are filming to get it done efficiently.

Mise~EnScene

In our music video production we plan to have a recognizable sense of band Mise-En-Scene, we have established that we will be using the conventional Mise-en-scene expected in an Alternative rock music video. For Example:-
- Instruments

The Instruments we will be using during the performance parts of our video are:-
- Full Drum Kit
- Electric Guitar
- Bass Guitar
- Mic
However while we were filming at SVC we were unable to use a mic as we did not have one so to cover this we simply had minimal close up shots of JJ singing and when we did it would be from behind with bright lights in the background (silhouette shots) so it is noticeable but you have to be looking for it.

- Stage

- Expected costumes

- Speakers

- Stage lighting

Contacting the Band

This is a copy of the email sent to Jason Perry, lead singer of 'Pacific Ocean Blue'. He was also the song writer and record producer for A. We wrote to him ask permission to use this track in our music video.
Dear Mr J. Perry
We, in order of importance (George Baglin, Scott Lansdale, Karl Lambourne, Josef James) are writing are writing to seek permission to use the track "Pacific Ocean Blue" by the band 'A' for our advanced media Production Project here at Long Road Sixth Form College, Cambridge. As part of our course we have been instructed to plan/film/edit and produce a music video from a selection of songs from different music genres. Consequently, we chose Pacific Ocean Blue as our track and therefore would appreciate your approval in using this song.
Long Road Media: Group 48

This is Jason Perry's response.

Magazine Adverts

All these adverts differentiate from each other and give us an idea of just how broader range of magazine adverts they can be, and how they each can achieve different things.
For example the darker colours on the first poster could reflect the genre or meaning behind the album. its not particularly eye catching but the illustrations are definitely the vocal point of the poster, and could attract current fans.
This is in complete contrast to the last poster which is bright and quite bold, its definately eye catching and the illustration would entertain the audience. the text is quite bold noting the tour dates so you could say the text is the vocal point.
These adverts give us ideas of what we could do with ours when we come to make it and what different techniques could achieve different things to make it attractive to the audience.
Our ideas for the magazine advert would be to have the picture as the vocal of the piece. We would carry this out onto our dvd cover as well for a running theme easily recognized. The photo will be memorable or just funny again so the audience wont forget it in a hurry. We aim to use brighter colours for the magazine advert but we are undesided for the DVD cover at the moment.