Closing Blog Post.

Moderator,

This blog is now complete and ready to be assessed.

Research and planning can be found from early October to January.

Print Tasks - 16th December

Finished Music video - 11th February

Evaluation -March.

Evaluation Question 4

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

The technology we used throughout our A2 Media Coursework;
The Internet - Blogger, Youtube, Facebook and Prezi
DSR Cameras
Adobe Photoshop, Abode Premier Pro 2.0, Adobe On Location

Panasonic Video Cameras
The main piece of technology i used during the production stage was premiere pro. This programme enabled me to produce a high quality music video using clips and scenes we had recorded on the Panasonic video camera. I found Premiere fairly easy to use as i had used it in AS Coursework to produce a shorter scene from a different music video. During the A2 coursework we found that editing our clips took a long time, one problem we had one was that our filming process took longer than scheduled therefore we had less time to edit. The Panasonic video camera's played a huge role in the success of our finished music video, if it wasnt for the video camera we wouldnt of had clips to edit. The video cameras were very easy to use but were hard to book out. Early on in the coursework everyone in Media Studies was due to create a music video this meant everyone was trying to book out cameras at the same time. Our college operated on a booking system or first come first serve basis. This meant we had to book well in advance if it meant we were to get a camera to start filming.The college had also been presented with brand new HD camera's, these were hard to come by, so we decided to stick with the average Panasonic cameras as we felt if our video was in a lower quality it would suit our genre much better.

To capture our footage we had to use the programme On Location, this is programme where all your clips went once t

hen had been filmed. The process on 'capturing' all our clips took a various amounts of time as sometimes we would have a lot of capture but other times we would only have a bit. This stage was very easy to use as once the shots had been captured you could import them onto your Premier Pro file.

Our first task was to create our ancillary products - A magazine advertisement and a digipak cover for our chosen music artist. I enjoyed this task as it meant we would be using photoshop a lot. First of all we had to take photos for our digipak and advert, to do this we had to book out a DSR camera, i was familiar with these cameras so i didnt have any trouble getting them to work. Once my photos were taken i had to get to work on creating two ancillary products to eventually go with my finished music video. In Photoshop i used various editing techniques, firstly i decided to have all my work in a black and white effect, i then darkened each photo to make them like they are from the Grime Genre, this way i could attract my target audience and people would be more tempted to by my digipak. Secondly i used the spot fixer, this aloud me to get rid of any spots or moles on my actors face, this was a crucial stage as i didn't want my artist looking dirty. On photoshop the fonts available are quite limited, i found a chosen font on the website www.dafont.com, to get this font onto photoshop was a lengthy process and you had to print screen the font you wanted then cut around your chosen lettering. This took a bit of time but i was happy with the outcome.

Blogger, YouTube and Facebook played a huge part during the coursework. Firstly Blogger is the site we use to contain all of our work, this helped a lot when the research and planning stage was running as it aloud us to do blog posts regularly in or out of college. Another reason why blogger is so good is that it allowed me to keep in touch with my group, we posted various things on blogger such as time schedules, this aloud me and my group to see when things were happening e.g when we were filming and when work had to be handed in etc.

I used the website Youtube for my research and planning. This site was useful as it allowed me to watch various existing grime videos, from these existing videos we picked up tips on what to include in our video; what shots were used, the way the performer was portrayed, the locations used etc.

The social networking site facebook was a great help. We posted our Moodboard on here
for audience feedback, this was great for use as the majority of our target audience used this website to keep in contact with friends.

Nowadays is very common that videos being produced everyday are being shown all over in the internet. This is why YouTube is so popular. Media 2.0 has only been around since about 2004 and allows someone to post a video and have it accessed by thousands of other users via YouTube. Although I only used Facebook briefly, this is another example of media 2.0 and how it can publicise any type of media product. Ten years ago a half decent video camera would cost in the region of £1000 to create and there would be one edit suite that took up half an entire room. As Youtube didn't exist then the only way to show your video was through a television or screen on a vhs vcr. Now in 2011 we have many different editing suites and a lot of people have one on their computers at home as technology is expanding. YouTube is extremely popular nowadays(the video definition to Google) as it means that you can show your video to millions everywhere in the world and it can easily become popular. This therefore means where is the divide between amateur and professional and this will become more difficult as time goes on and technology improves and changes. (technology is growing day in day out.) I felt whilst producing the video I was in control of the technology as I had used it all before last year in AS media studies, I already knew how to use the camera effectively and the editing software is really sufficient if you know how to use it in the right way.

Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation Question 3

View more presentations from tedgoodwin123.

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 2 on Prezi

Evaluation Question 1

Evaluation Question 1 - on Prezi

Finished Music Video

Time Plan Update

Unfortunately we were unable to start filming on time, this was due to many reasons. Firstly availability of cameras was low as so many students need to use them. Other factors such as actors being busy and the weather being poor which causes bad lighting have also affected filming our music video.

Gaining Permission To Film.

As we are filming on the streets we need to gain permission, to do this i went around the locations and spoke to owners of surrounding houses and explained that we are going filiming from the 4th January. Everyone was fine with this and didnt mind their houses being in our video.

Risk Assesment

Risks When filming our video;

Risk - Traffic

Rating- 8/10

How to overcome this risk - When filming at one of our chosen locations (the streets ) we need to be careful of oncoming traffic so we do not get hurt. To overcome this danger we need to look both left and right if we need to cross the street. Also we need to be sure that there are no cars within the area of filming when we are filming our shots. When a car appears we need to stay well away from the danger.

Risk - Wires

Rating- 5/10

How to overcome this risk - Wires are very dangerous for many reasons, firstly when we are filiming in the studio we need to make sure they are no loose cables for us to get electrocuted on or for us to trip over on. Secondly we cannot have any liquids such as water need the cables as again we may get electrocuted. To overcome this risk we will make sure that all cables are put away so we cannot trip over, finally we will make sure no liquids are in the room and all cables are safe.

Risk - Weather

Rating- 6/10

How to overcome this risk - The weather can effect is in many ways. Firstly the weather may be insufficient e.g rain or snow. we will make sure the weather is dry before filming so we can protect both ourselves and the filming equipment

Risk - Lighting

Rating- 3/10

How to overcome this risk - As we maybe filming for a long time in the studio there is a risk of the lights getting very hot, to overcome us gaining burns we will keep a close eye on how hot the lights get, if they are too hot we will bring filming to a hault and continue when the temperature cools down.

Risk - Dropping equipment

Rating- 3/10

How to overcome this risk - before filming we will make sure our equipment is nice and sturdy. The camera must be on a tripod so it reduces the risk of us dropping equipment, we may also injure ourselves if the equipment drops as it is fairly heavy.

Print Production - Digipak & Magazine Advertisement

Time Management Update.

Time management update

• So far time management has been OK.
• The focus group meeting was on time but the feedback a day to late, however, the feedback is now on my blog, on time.
• We seemed to have missed out taking photo's of cast on chosen locations, but have made up for this by taking pictures of cast members in similar locations to what we desire.
• The comments on the cast members was also a bit late, but have now been uploaded in good detail.

Review of technology week

During this week I set myself three targets to complete. I set myself targets so that when we come to filming i will be prepared and know what to do when editing etc.

Firstly i spent many hours on Photoshop messing about with my digipak, I used effects such as changing image sizes by cropping and colours by using effects such as black and white. I now know how to use most of the tools on Photoshop and will now be able to create a successful digipak and magazine advert.

I set myself a target of going onto the editing suite and looking at all the tools, i didn't really get a chance to do this properly so i will have another look over the Christmas holidays.

Digipak Planning.

Digipak Planning

I have already analysed existing digipaks in depth but now i must be able to create my own digiapk to promote my music video.

First of all i searched on google for a suitable template for my digipak, but i could only find 4 panel templates. 4 Panel digipaks are good as not much information is required, but what i really wanted to find was a 6 panel so i could include much more information to gain a better mark for my Print Productions.

With help from my teacher this is what we found.. I will use this template to complete my print productions. I must remember to make my digipak and advert professional looking so it doesn't look like it was made by an amateur.

Animatic Storyboard

Technology Targets

• My first target for this week is to go into Photoshop and research into what every tool does.
• Secondly I want to experiment using different effects on Photoshop, I want to experiment so I can see what my final Digipak will look like. I will use effects such as changing images to black and white.
• Finally I will go on the editing suite and look at the all the tools again, I haven't been on the editing suite since last year so I need to know what every tool does.

Creativity

This week we were told to do something creative, so for this task we decided to start out animatic storyboard. We started to sketch out the shots for our music video. We will eventually use a digital SLR camera to take photo's of our sketches and turn them into an interactive storyboard on youtube. This will then help us film our music video.

Creativity is the way in which something original is created. Creativity is thought to be something you are born with, creativity is something which cannot be taught.

Costumes/Props

These are our main cast members -

Name Of Cast Member - Matthew Murphy

Playing - Frisco

Costume needed -Casual Clothing E.g Jeans, Hoodie, maybe a New

Era Cap as our artist wears this quite alot.

Props Needed - Microphone (maybe.)

Name Of Cast Member - Brad Heason

Playing - Backing People e.g Playing Gang Member used an an extra to add effect that we are in a large group as this is used quite a lot in a grime video.

Costume needed - Normal everyday clothing as we are part of this target audience.

Props Needed - None.

Name Of Cast Member - Nathan Chiverton

Playing - Gang Member.

Costume needed - Typical Grime Clothing, Cottons, T Shirt.

Props Needed -None

Name Of Cast Member - Rico Maglifore

Playing - Backing People e.g Playing Gang Member used an an extra to add effect that we are in a large group as this is used quite a lot in a grime video.

Costume needed -

Props Needed -

Name Of Cast Member - Matt Staff Brett

Playing - Backing People e.g Playing Gang Member used an an extra to add effect that we are in a large group as this is used quite a lot in a grime video.

Costume needed -Casual Clothing, already have the clothing no need to purchase anything new.

Props Needed -None.

Each performer will be in charge of their own costumes as we are able to rely on them due to them being our friends.

Test Shoots

Photos of our cast members.

Here are some photos of potential cast members. We will discuss why they are suitable for our video

Photos on Prezi

Here are photos of our cast members, these photos were taken just to show who we are using for our media video. We will take further pictures later on to show our cast in costume and location. We have used these actors as they are reliable, the people we are going to use are all part of our friendship group and fit into our target audience. First of all we were looking to use a black male to play the main role in our video, but unfortunately we were unable to find a suitable actor for the role.

Moodboard Feedback

To gain more research into our target audience we put our mood board on the popular social networking site face-book. We did this as many people within our target audience use this site and we thought we would gain good feedback

The questions we used were pretty brief as this was only extra research..

From our feedback we found out that..

People on facebook didnt take our moodboard very seriously, we only gained a few good responses but some peoples feedback on our mood board wasn't very good feedback.

Our target audience recognised that we were aiming our video at Boys and the genre was Grime, some people thought our video was aimed at Girls as well, they may have got this impression as they was an image of a boyfriend and girlfriend on the mood board, this makes it quite feminine.

Secondly from our feedback we found out that people liked the way our mood board was constrcuted, they liked the way our images were placed on a black background so the images stood out.

Finally our audience recognised we were aiming our video at 'badmans' this is a phrase used to describe a typical city boy.

Further Audience Research

Focus Group Meeting held at Worcester Sixth Form College on 22-11-10.

From our focus group meeting we gained some valuable feedback. Our focus group consisted of 5 members suited to our target audience.

We found out that..

• We had a nice idea, but it wasn't original, it came across as a typical grime video.
• The ethnicity of the performer was not correct.
• As they are part of the target audience they were happy that we were using the genre Grime.
• Some people felt that we weren't entirely sure on what was going on in our music video.
• More effects would make the video more interesting..e.g use of black and white, depth of field etc..
• Our chosen locations are on the street - this may be dangerous due to traffic.

IMAGES FROM FOCUS GROUP MEETING

Moodboard

Here is my mood board. I included many images to do with my genre Grime. I have included images such as existing artists within this genre, clothing my target audience would wear such as Nike air max trainers, Vans and a new era cap, the car they might drive, sports they may play and films they may watch, this mood board relates to my target audience profile.

Our Pitch and Post Pitch Feedback

Here is our pitch..We successful showed this to the rest of our media group.

Our pitch included the following:

Video Influences

Health and Safety

Our chosen music video

Audience Profile

Permission of our artist

Possible Location(s)

Theorists

Moodboard

During our pitch the rest of our class were asked to fill out feedback to show us what they liked/ or how we could improve..

Here are all our comments we received are our pitch.

Question One - Comments on suitability for stated target audience?

From this question we gained valuable feedback. The majority of our peers commented that our target audience is well suited to the genre, This shows we spent a lot of time when thinking about our intended target audience. We found our target audience by creating a detailed audience profile and already having an understanding of the Grime genre, our audience profile described a stereotypical Grime listener.

Our peers commented comments such as..

'Very detailed and well put across', 'Clear audience profile, very well suited for the genre', 'I feel song would suit the target audience effectively.

Question Two - Comments on the originality of the idea?

From this questions we gained mixed feelings. A few commented that our idea wasn't very original so it could come across as boring, but other pupils said that our idea could be interesting if our video was completed to a good standard. e.g Making it more entropic than a normal Grime video. This feedback was good as we now know we have to make our video different in some way, we could make it different by making our video look very professional as many Grime videos look very home-made due to the camera being hand-held.

Here is some feedback from this question - ' Very mainstream but does have aspects of original ideas. 'Been used a lot, not very original, try not to copycat'. 'Original, but could be very good if done well and made different.'

Question 3- Comments and thoughts on the logistical arrangements?

From this question we gained valuable feedback, many people commented that our locations were well thought about, this was good as we wanted to see what people reactions would be of us filming on the streets, also we had good feedback from our healthy and safety points. We also gained a few criticisms from this question.. a pupil commented 'Back up plan if weather isn't suitable?' We need to think hard about this as most of our videoing is due to be filmed outdoors. We also need to plan on how we are getting to our chosen locations, this needs to be thought about thoroughly as a lot of planning is needed, we need to travel to locations safely and carefully with all our filming equipment.

Question 4- Comments on the technical aspects of the idea - does it sound achievable with the college equipment?

All of the class said our idea was very much achievable with the college cameras, all we need to do now is film our video to a very high standard.

Question 5 - Does the idea sound realistic?

Again the majority of our media group said our idea was realistic, but our song needs to match the video. We need to think fully about whether we want our video to be amplifying or illustrative.

Question 6 - Overall, does this idea sound exciting and achievable?

'Sounds achievable and exciting', .Yeah, not al ot of people have done a video in this genre or style, so i think it would be interesting to see what it looks like overall', 'this idea sounds achievable and potentially exciting for this genre of music'.

From this we found out that a lot of people were interested in seeing how our video will turn out, I hope our video looks very professional once finished.

Overall all of feedback was mostly good and it is good that people have told us how we can improve and make a better music video.

After our pitch We spoke to our media teacher, he gave us a few targets. These were;

1.Think about ethnicity of performers and other cast members as most Grime artists are black.

2.Think through filming times. e.g At night and the safety involved.

3.Practice filming in low lighting.

Digipak Research

Digipak. on Prezi

Digipak History

'Digipak is a patented style of compact disc or DVD packaging, and is a registered trademark of AGI Media,

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. Since Digipaks were among the first alternatives to jewel cases to be used by major record companies, and because there is no other common name for Digipak-style packaging made by other companies, the term digipak or Digi-Pak is often used generically, even when the media holder is a hub or "Soft Spot" rather than a full plastic tray.

Digipak-style packaging is often used for CD singles or special editions of CD albums and the tall DVD Digipak (DVDigipak) is used as a premium package for DVDs and DVD sets. Because such packaging is less resistant to abrasion than jewel cases, it tends to show signs of wear relatively quickly. Licensed digipak manufacturers such as domestic U.S. printer and disc replicator Oasis Disc Manufacturing recommend coating the raw printed paper with a protective UV coating, thus ensuring greater longevity.

Although less vulnerable to cracking than a jewel case, the disc tray inside the package (particularly the "teeth" of the hub which secure the disc in place) remains rather brittle and is prone to cracking if the package is crushed. Digipak-style cases grew in popularity among record labels and recording artists in the early 2000s.

Manufacturers have sought to reduce environmental impact and improve functionality by introducing recycled components into its trays; one has announced a 100% post-consumer PET tray made from recycled bottles, which also eliminates the need for the brittle "teeth". Many printers use recycled or sustainable material for the board stock.

Historically, Digipak was only available in large quantities. However, AGI has recently introduced a new product called digipak i-create for the consumer market. Digipak i-create is a web-supported concept that is aimed at the download, music, photo and creative markets'

Music Video Research.

Music Video Research on Prezi

Redundancy And Entropy.

Chiddy Bang - The Opposite Of Adults.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McRgkE_vgjU&feature=channel

First of all the setting of this music video is very redundant as it is shot in many normal places such as Skate parks, a school, basketball court and a park, there is nothing unexpected about the mise en scene in this video as everything is quite normal e.g the clothing, the two band members are just wearing everyday clothing such as a pair of jeans and a hoodie. The lyrical content and music is low redundant as every piece of music has some sort of lyrics and dancing etc, they are standing in front of the camera which is also very typical of a music video. The title of the song 'Opposite Of Adults' is very entropic for many reasons, firstly the band members are doing things children would do, We see them jumping on beds, Dressing up and fighting, this is not normal by adults so therefore their is a factor of unpredictability. Another entropic scene is when we see the two male's with 'Wobbly' head's, this is entropic as it is not realistic.

Boy Better Know- Goin' In.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpV3R2MDphY

This video is highly entropic to a UK Grime listener as most UK Grime video's are set in the street's of urban cities such as Birmingham and London athe video's and are produced on a low budget. This video from 'Boy Better Know' is set in a normal everyday household so most people will see this video as redundant if you are not familiar with the genre Grime. There are other aspects of this video that make it highly redundant one being that the group are dancing are singing in front of the camera this is expected in a music video. The clothing of the group is also fairly redundant as they are just wearing standard clothing which is predictable, the cut's in the video are fairly quick connoting that the pace of the video is fast and their is alot going on. The way the video is filmed using a hand held camera shows a low sense of entropy.

Drake - Over

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lTB1pIg1y0&ob=av2e

This video starts off with both redundant and entropic part's, firstly the start of the music video is highly redundant as Drake is just sat on a bed and there is nothing unexpected about this scene, but there is parts where entropy is expressed as the room starts to change e.g lighting, and their are special effects e.g the wall turned into a road. This can be seen as entropic as we do not expect for the room to change so quickly. We then see Drake on his own with a black background, there is nothing unexpected as it is completely normal. Drakes clothing is also predictable, he is American so we expect him to wear baggy clothing. Lip syncing is highly redundant as every music artist lip syncs in their music videos.

Video Skills Audit

Research - I believe Research is one of the key components to achieving a high grade in the video coursework for many reasons, first of all with no research you are unable to find out what genre of music you are going to target, the age/gender of your target audience and also you will have no information to work from. During the coursework task i will do thorough research so i can achieve the best grade possible. I will do lot's of research from different sources e.g internet, other students (Questionnaires and Surveys) and also the media (TV and Magazines).

Editing Accuracy/Continuity - During AS Media Studies, we didn't do that much work on videoing, but at the end of the year we remade Busted's - Thats What I Go To School For, During the task we had to edit our video, i was very new to this area of Media Studies and wanted to learn more about editing. During A2 i would like to get very good at editing, so i can create a highly proffesional video, to get better at editing i will seek guidance from my teacher and other students.

Organisation & Blogs - I am already quite organised, as I get all my work done on time, but i would still like to keep improving this aspect of my work as it will allow me to achieve a high grade during A2 Media, My Blogging is good, but i think i should do the work on the day it is set as i am then clear of what the task is. Leaving the task to the day before it is meant to be handed in is bad as you may of forgotten what to do.

Storyboarding - I find this aspect of Media Studies quite boring as it takes a while and isn't very interesting, i do not like the theory side of Media Studies as I like to work on Practical things such as a music video, but if i concentrate thoroughly and put 100% on the theory side e.g storyboarding, i will gain a much better mark overall.

Lip Sync Exercise.

Evaluation Of Busted Video.

Digital Technology on Prezi

Busted - Thats What i Go To School For.