How does your A2 blog compare with your AS in terms of detail and use of ICT?
My A2 blog has alot more substance to it. I have consistantly been adding posts that are completely relevant to our tasks in order to show the jeorney of our A2 music video creation. Although my blog lacks masses and masses of text i actually did this in order to summerise the things i needed to say without going off topic. I have tried my best to keep my blog as up to date as possible , keeping track of everyone elses and changing mine accordingly to the smallest detail. I have also used alot of programs such as pixton, prezi or photo bucket to avoid lots of scrolling. Using these programs have also been a fun and interesting way for me to write important and interesting information while making the presentation of it exciting in order to make it less boring.
How effectively does the blog show all aspects of the research, planning and production of your Advanced Portfolio?
folio?
I feel my blog shows all aspects of research, planning and production perfectly, keeping everything organised and tidy using labels to navagate around the blog. I have worked hard to make sure that each blog post is effective in what it was trying to communicate about the task while still avoiding mass's of text.
How many individual blogging entries did you produce?
106 blog entries for A2. AS however only has 72. This shows that i was able to produce more work.This is purely down to the fact that i know much more about how to approach a blog within media studies than i did in AS
What would you change, given another opportunity?
Although i have done alot already i probably would have created more blog posts in order to better show the jeorney of creating a music video. I would have also made each blog post better by making them longer including more information and more text.
Evaluation Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
We have done a great deal of research and planning into a variety of music video's. Some of which were not the same genre which ensured that we got an understanding of a broad range of forms and conventions used across the music video media. We have also compared music videos and found similarities and differences which we have used and avoided in our media products.
We didn't just look at music video's, we also looked at digipaks and websites and looked at the media products as a whole and spotted the synergy between an artists products. This inspired us and gave us an insight into the music industry and how music is sold.
Mood board of Inspiration
This mood board displays some of the idea's and inspirations for the Cosmo artist. There is a broad range of images that some people wouldn't put together. This mood board shows ideas for all of the media products we produced under the Cosmo name. There are some retro items that we were keen to include to make the references. That includes the music video, the digipak and the website. We all put in our idea's for what we wanted Cosmo to be and also looked at how he would be similar and different to other artists.
Cosmo's Image
We wanted the image of the artist to be different and have his own personality and character. We looked at similar artists and what we wanted the video to entail. We noticed how many artists changed their image in the video and in other types of media. We looked at David Bowie who is famous for his change in appearance.
Selling a Product
After some research we concluded that the purpose of a music video is to sell something. They are there to promote a new song and an artist. We took this into consideration when building our media product. We designed our music video so it could be watched multiple times and the viewer won't get bored. As this is a concept video the viewer can get a little bit more out of it every time they watch it.
We also needed to sell the new artist and get people interested. We did this by featuring Cosmo in the music video many times. We also featured Cosmo heavily in the website and digipak. This will all help to sell the artists image and get him recognized by people who are interested in his music.
Music Video Theories
When making our music video we thought about the different theories that are associated with them. We looked at what we wanted to make and how it was similar to what the theorists said and we also tried to be a bit different and do something that wasn't generic. We didn't want our music video to be like everyone else's as that would be boring and we wanted a challenge.
We considered Andrew Goodwins theory when making our own video and when analysing others. Often when analysing other music videos I would look for the themes and conventions that Goodwin had mentioned in the past.
Another theorist that I considered when making my media product Carol Vernallis. Some of her views were similar to Goodwins but others were very different. We tried to consider both theorists to ensure we got a wide range of forms and conventions.
Concept Music Video
When doing our research we found that similar genre video's had used concept videos. We wanted to follow on this trend and put our own spin on it by adding some performance so that we can sell the artist. We need to get the new artist recognized and sell his image. We looked into other video's that blended performance and concept and drew idea's from them. This helped us construct our own video. When looking at similar video's we were also mindful of the conventions within the videos we were watching.
Digipak
When we were researching digipaks we had to consider what similar artists digipaks looked like. We also had to ensure that all of the media products looked the same as we had researched how artist have synergy between their products. We wanted our product to also have synergy to help the customer see the links in the products and sort of make a brand for that set of products. This helps other artists sell other media products.
We linked all of our media products with the galaxy images and the Cosmo image. We made sure that in all the pictures of Cosmo he was wearing the 'Happy' T-shirt to keep the synergy. We also had our own idea's about how we wanted the digipak to look.
Each member of the group made a digipak and we combined elements of them to create a digipak we were all happy with. We then conducted research into what people liked and disliked to perfect our digipak.
Each member of the group made a digipak and we combined elements of them to create a digipak we were all happy with. We then conducted research into what people liked and disliked to perfect our digipak.
Website
Before building the website I conducted some research which included finding similar artists websites and taking inspiration and learning what an artist needs to have on a website. We all found a website that we liked and then discussed why we liked it which helped us plan our own.
We also had to decide how we were going to make the website as we had never built them before. We chose Wix as it is simple yet many things can be done with it. It was easy to use but took some getting the hang of to start with. It allowed us to make a website exactly how we planned it to be. We also found some interesting effects that we used such as the honeycomb gallery which many people liked.
Before building the website I conducted some research which included finding similar artists websites and taking inspiration and learning what an artist needs to have on a website. We all found a website that we liked and then discussed why we liked it which helped us plan our own.
We also had to decide how we were going to make the website as we had never built them before. We chose Wix as it is simple yet many things can be done with it. It was easy to use but took some getting the hang of to start with. It allowed us to make a website exactly how we planned it to be. We also found some interesting effects that we used such as the honeycomb gallery which many people liked.
After creating the website we made a survey to get feedback and perfect the product. Many people liked how it worked but said there wasn't enough content. We then realised that in order to sell the new artist we would need a lot more information about him. When we were looking at other artists we had forgotten that they have already got a fan base that know what that artist is all about.
The website went through some changes as I found that it could be improved. I made all of the backgrounds different so that it didn't get boring and made it fresh. It gave the website more variety and made it look a lot more professional.
QUESTION 2: Synergy: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
Themes and colour themes : Video, Posters, Digipak and website
The mood we were originally going for with our music video and our ancillary texts was more psychedelic hippy with a Gothic almost glam rock twist. When looking going through the design process we looked at what was and what wasn't relevant to the mood of the song therefor we would accurately portray they artist without any confusion. We used the galaxy design due to cosmos name being strikingly similar to cosmos. Not only was this relevant to the artist but also very relevant to today's hippy culture which galaxy design etc is very popular with. When looking at how to present the imagery etc. we looked at artists such as Pink Floyd, Boy George and David Bowie who were visually similar in a verity of ways and appealed to a similar target audience.
One of the posters that we have on our website uses imagery that is on the back of our digipak. This was done in order to create a clear link between merchandise and the digipak, therefor promoting the album further. When asking people which posters they liked more they told us that they much preferred posters 1 and 3 because they merge better with the background and also fit better with the rest of the ancillary text. The first poster uses an image of cosmo taken straight from the video itself therefor promoting the video aswel as the album. People who have already watched video would see this poster in particular and notice that this is a scene from the video that has been dressed up to fit with the galaxy theme. This poster also promotes cosmos tour dates that are shown on the website (creating another link to something else we have created) 
MAKEUP
When creating the makeup the general
theme and colour scheme was kept in mind. To keep it from looking less hippy and more glam rock the eye shadow was a toned down a little bit however by keeping the glitter and diamonds it loosely linked to the galaxy theme and could within reason be linked to stars. We also kept to the purple colour scheme by using purple eye shadow. Because our music video has very little references to the galaxy theme and the colour scheme it was extremely important that we use the makeup to show this. On the website we also use yellow therefor the shadow on the upper eye was not completely irreverent
When looking at the video itself you can see we show this makeup a lot in the video. This meant the fact that we had little reference to the general theme that surrounded are artist wasn't so bad. To cover this up we made sure there were a lot of shots of Cosmo wearing the makeup. The reason we had little reference to "the galaxy theme" was because it was extremely important to us to make links to the 60's "the hippy era" in practically every shot possible meaning links to old cartoons such as Micky mouse or old toys such as "rock em sock em". If we had of made more reference to our theme than the 60's the song would have not matched the video because of the style and era the music was created.
COSMO'S IMAGE
COSTUME
In the video Cosmo wears two outfits , one being a dark Gothic military jacket and the other being a t-shirt saying happy. The t-shirt in my opinion is an ironic statement that contrasts against the moody and dark atmosphere of the video and the song. Here is a mood board showing what direction we wanted cosmos image to go in. As you can see we wanted cosmo to retain his mysterious and almost Gothic persona while retaining the 60's easy going and at times very odd vibe. In the video Cosmo wears a leopard print bandanna. This is a clear reference to bands such as guns and roses which is just one of the artists we took style influence from. We also took influence from stars such a john Lennon, using the tinted circle sun glasses.
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LOGO
we have used our logo on a variety of our products. We have used our logo mainly on products such as our merchandise , digipak and also our website, This is the thing that ties all of our products together and regardless of design tells you that this product remotes Cosmo. I feel our design is unique and nicely done. A lot of our peers liked this logo when it was shown to them , therefor showing it has appeal to a range of people regardless of musical taste,
As you can see we have incorporated cosmos logo into the merchandise that we sell on the website. This also includes the galaxy theme that i have made multiple references to. In actual fact this is where the galaxy theme stemmed from. We originally took the idea further when i started designing a variety of t-shirts, bags etc. and had the idea to use the theme of galaxy, stars, nebula's etc. due to Cosmo's name resembling COSMOS another name for galaxy. From that point on we stretched this idea onto every aspect of Cosmo, much like we did with the logo.
Evaluation Question 3: What Have you Learned from your Audience Feedback?
Throughout the construction of the project and at the end of production when reflecting on the end result, audience feedback has been particularly influential for us to evaluate how well we have achieved what we aimed for with our music video and accompanying ancillary texts.
These comic strips illustrate some of the responses we received from our initial research into the target audience; in each panel the two (or three) most common responses are represented, i.e. the majority of respondents were aged 16-19, followed by over 31's.
One of the most useful things we learned from this feedback is that digital download via iTunes, Amazon Mp3 etc. is currently the most popular way in which people consume music, and, likewise, digital forms of promotion such as an artists' social media presence influences the consumers interest in their releases, whether it be a new single, EP or album. For this reason, we tailored our marketing for the up and coming artist COSMO greatly towards social media - the Facebook and Twitter profiles that we created were imbued into the website, which also promoted digital material such as the music video and a gallery of photographs.
Some of the respondents commented that they enjoyed our use of Psychedelic effects, the placement of unusual objects that reference the 1960's and 70's such as the lava lamp and the toy robots; similarly, some said that they think the video is unique and different. For this reason-
These stock images boldly illustrate the general Primary and Secondary audience groups for our artist. As our research has reached both male and female respondents, from mostly the 16-19 age group, followed by +31's, the positive feedback we received as presented above supports these targeted groups; both the younger and older groups enjoyed the references to the 1960s and 70s. As COSMO aims as an artist to revive psychedelic and folk music by infusing it with modern Pop and Electronic, and so the target audience is as follows-
Following the responses to the online survey, we interviewed in person some members of the Primary target audience - young people who have diverse taste in music and culture; I feel that these interviews successfully reflect the survey responses, as the general consensus is that our media products (music video and digipak) are unique and stand out, likewise our artist is original and although taking influence from the likes of David Bowie and Marc Bolan, is distinct as a contemporary artist.
These comic strips illustrate some of the responses we received from our initial research into the target audience; in each panel the two (or three) most common responses are represented, i.e. the majority of respondents were aged 16-19, followed by over 31's.
One of the most useful things we learned from this feedback is that digital download via iTunes, Amazon Mp3 etc. is currently the most popular way in which people consume music, and, likewise, digital forms of promotion such as an artists' social media presence influences the consumers interest in their releases, whether it be a new single, EP or album. For this reason, we tailored our marketing for the up and coming artist COSMO greatly towards social media - the Facebook and Twitter profiles that we created were imbued into the website, which also promoted digital material such as the music video and a gallery of photographs.
Some of the respondents commented that they enjoyed our use of Psychedelic effects, the placement of unusual objects that reference the 1960's and 70's such as the lava lamp and the toy robots; similarly, some said that they think the video is unique and different. For this reason-
These stock images boldly illustrate the general Primary and Secondary audience groups for our artist. As our research has reached both male and female respondents, from mostly the 16-19 age group, followed by +31's, the positive feedback we received as presented above supports these targeted groups; both the younger and older groups enjoyed the references to the 1960s and 70s. As COSMO aims as an artist to revive psychedelic and folk music by infusing it with modern Pop and Electronic, and so the target audience is as follows-
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| Primary: young and eccentric |
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| Secondary - more mature, appreciates nostalgia of the 60s and 70s |
Following the responses to the online survey, we interviewed in person some members of the Primary target audience - young people who have diverse taste in music and culture; I feel that these interviews successfully reflect the survey responses, as the general consensus is that our media products (music video and digipak) are unique and stand out, likewise our artist is original and although taking influence from the likes of David Bowie and Marc Bolan, is distinct as a contemporary artist.
Evaluation Question 4: How Did You Use Media Technologies in the Planning and Research, Construction and Evaluation Stages?
Presented in GIF is some of the software that we have used; throughout research and planning, construction and evaluation we have used a variety of software from programs from Microsoft Paint to Adobe Premiere Pro, online tools such as PicMonkey and SumoPaint, and Social Networks from Facebook and Twitter to website template creator Wix.
In this presentation I discuss some of the technology that we used in the research and planning stages of the project.
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| Online Tools |
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| Social |
RESEARCH AND PLANNING
In this presentation I discuss some of the technology that we used in the research and planning stages of the project.
In addition to these software and online tools, we repeatedly used more elementary programs such as NotePad, Word and Paint from Microsoft. For example, we used NotePad and Word to create basic lists, and Paint to put images together.
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| Using Microsoft Word to create a moodboard; we benefited from using this software by quickly and easily bringing images of inspiration together |
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| Creating a timetable in Microsoft Word; we benefited from this software by quickly and easily creating lists of props, costumes and ideas, and creating schedules and timetables - this made it easy for us to get organised |
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| Similarly, I used the 'Notes' tool in my Apple iPhone 6. Whenever I had last minute thoughts or ideas the day before shooting for example, I took note of these to then discuss with the group either when next speaking in the Facebook chat group or when I next saw them; this was useful to record ideas to not be forgotten, for instance I needed to improve the lip sync edit and in general edit when next working in Premiere |
CONSTRUCTION
Throughout the construction stage, consisting of the production and post-production, the SONY Handycam we used was key for capturing footage, as was Adobe Premiere Pro for editing; these were used repeatedly to produce test footage ad a number of drafts of the music video, before heavy final editing for the final construction.
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| SONY AVCHD HD Handycam |
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| Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 video editing software |
In the above video I illustrate some of the technology we used in Construction, how we used it, and
how we benefited from using it.
how we benefited from using it.
In addition to the SONY Handycam, we also used a Fujifilm Finepix SLR for some of the construction. As Kaitlyn happens to own an SLR camera which is more powerful and professionally targeted than the Handycam, it was effective for shooting, for example, the performance element of the music video; however, when shooting more spontaneous and last-minute material, we used the Handycam for its availability within the Media Studies department and its ease of use.
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| Shot with Fujifilm Finepix SLR |
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| Shot with SONY AVCHD Handycam |
In the construction of our artist's online profile, we created a website using Wix; we benefited from using this software as it was very straight-forward to use with simple drag and drop tools and options.
planning for evaluation questions
After returning from the Christmas break, we have begun planning for work on the final evaluation questions which wrap up the project. george decided to tackle the third question as of the group, hehave used the most technology throughout the project, particularly in the edit. George has delegated the second question to me as she created the digipak (ancillary), which she will begin to work on as she returns to lessons. This left the first question to Ben, which he is comfortable with, and we will collaboratively work through the feedback (third) question as we receive feedback from peers, friends, teachers etc.
In anticipation of completing these tasks, we have discussed what will be the most integral and exciting methods of presentation, i.e. slideshare, prezi and creating GIF images to make our evaluation more inviting to read through than blocks of text.
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| Delegation of the tasks |
Feedback / Evaluation of the Final Music Video Construction
In order to evaluate the success of our production, George created a survey using SurveyMonkey, which he sent to our peers (Media Studies students). Rather than ask a laborious series of complicated questions, he decided to ask five straight-forward and concise questions, as follows:
In the responses to these, we hoped to assess how well our product reflects the genre of the song (Folk/Rock/Psychedelic), how well it corresponds with the ancillary texts such as the digipak and website, and also what people liked/disliked about it in general.
we are rather pleased with the responses to the survey (as presented above). From this feedback, we may speculate that in general the music video was effective in presenting the genre of our artist, as well as supporting the promotional material (ancillary texts). we are very happy to see that some people appreciated the inter-textual references to the 60s and 70s, as well as our use of effects such as the coloured smoke, and our range of shot frames and angles throughout. Although one person commented that the 'bunny shot' may not be necessary, others suggested the sequence could have benefited from more of the concept influence, i.e. the unusual objects.
In the responses to these, we hoped to assess how well our product reflects the genre of the song (Folk/Rock/Psychedelic), how well it corresponds with the ancillary texts such as the digipak and website, and also what people liked/disliked about it in general.
we are rather pleased with the responses to the survey (as presented above). From this feedback, we may speculate that in general the music video was effective in presenting the genre of our artist, as well as supporting the promotional material (ancillary texts). we are very happy to see that some people appreciated the inter-textual references to the 60s and 70s, as well as our use of effects such as the coloured smoke, and our range of shot frames and angles throughout. Although one person commented that the 'bunny shot' may not be necessary, others suggested the sequence could have benefited from more of the concept influence, i.e. the unusual objects.
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