Final Cut of film

Ancillary task: Digipak after feedback

Final Advert: After feedback

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

To present and work through my forth evaluation covering the media technologies used throughout the stages of y product, I decided to use a vlog.   In this vlog, I work through each element of digital media and media technologies which I have used throughout my project.  

Digital media was a massive part of my project and was present in every section.  when it came to platforms, I used platforms such as Blogger, Google, Youtube, Prezi etc.

In my vlog I cover; 

Research and Planning 

Blogger

• Used in every section of my project to display and document my work; from my initial ideas to my evaluation and final products.
• It helped me maintain structure throughout the entirety of my project and meant that I was able to move onto each stage with confidence.
• Blogger is online, which meat that I could access it from wherever I was.
• Overall, Blogger was a very prominent media technology used throughout the entirety of my project . It as also very easy to use and helpful.

Google

• Helped me in the research stage by providing me with the ability to access any information, at anytime.
• Not only used in the research stage but throughout my project; whenever I needed to know something or learn a new skill (editing), I would use Google.
• Mainly used for my genre specifib and non-specific research.  

YouTube

• Used when looking into codes and conventions of other videos in my genre.
• Mainly used when looking at other music videos, so that I could use different aspects of theirs to influence my own.
• Accessible wherever I was, as I had the app on my phone.
• Also very useful in the production and post productions stages.

Production  

Camera, Tripod and iPhone

• These were three media technologies which I haven't mentioned in my vlog, however were very important.
• The camera was used in the production stage.  I used a Cannon 500 to film my music video on, which is meant to be used for photography, however I was very pleased with the outcome of using it.  I also used it to take pictures in my ancillaries. 
• A tripod is something which I didn't use in all of my shots in production, but in some of them.  This just meant that the shots would be a lot more stable.
• My iPhone was a media technology which I used in the production stage.  I used this when i was filming to either get on Blogger, or research products to inspire me. 

Post Production 

Premiere Pro and iMovie 

• Premiere was the software which I used to edit my music video. I found it very easy to use and was very pleased with the outcome.
• There were many different tools which I could use in Premier to edit my video, which allowed me to stretch my abilities and create a more complex music video.
• I used iMovie with clips i couldn't edit n Premiere.
• For example, you cannot apply both a stabiliser and a speed modifier in Premiere.  Therefore , I took the clip into iMovie, added a stabiliser and then moved it back into Premiere to change the speed.

Ancillaries and evaluation 

Prezi 

• I used this in my evaluation stage (and research stage), to present presentations in a alternative way.
• Very easy to use and accessible wherever I was.

Photoshop

• I used Photoshop for my ancillary work.  I didn't know how to use it originally, but got used to it very quickly
• I liked that Photoshop allowed me to create something that looked professional, as it has so many tools
• Photoshop is widely used by professionals in the media, which made me was to use it for my project. 

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

To present my 3rd evaluation, I have used a voice over with quicktime. I used it to display and explain, how my audience feedback had helped my through the production of my music video, digipak and magazine advertisement.  I also explain what I have learnt from it, what helped me to progress further. When using quicktime, I also covered examples and demonstrations of what I was talking about.  This included recording my screen as I went through my blog, displaying each example.

• When editing my music video, audience feedback was something which helped me massively.  An example of it helping me is when I published a first draft of my music video, as I began to edit.  I showed this to two of my piers and videoed them giving me feedback on what I had done so far.  This allowed me modify what I had done already, if necessary and continue the rest of my editing with confidence from the previous feedback.  An example of where this feedback helped me was when they commented on the Mura Masa inspired moving stills, not fitting in with the rest of the editing, as well as the song itself.  This then lead to me revisiting the moving shots which I already had in the video and agreeing with them.  I removed the ones I had already, and no longer continued with this idea. I then had to reorganise and plan more shots to replace the ones I had already.
• Audience Feedback also helped me in the production of my ancillaries as I had asked for feedback on different sections of my their production.  Once I had the first draft of my digipak and magazine advert, I asked for feedback from my audience and piers.  The feedback that I got meant that I was able to know whether what I had of my ancillaries so far fit the codes and conventions of others in the same genre. Examples of, what I learnt when receiving feedback on my ancillaries is that, the release date on my advertisement wasn't prominent enough and didn't fit the general convention of an advertisement, being that release dates are very bold, noticeable and eye catching. 

Strengths of how I carried out audience feedback - 

• A strength of holding a focus group as my first every audience feedback, was that the way it was held was very relaxed and informal, in comparison to a one on one interaction.  Therefore, people are much more likely to speak freely and feel more relaxed.  It also meant that people were able to build off each other in that, one person would speak, which would trigger and inspire another persons idea.  This way you have a much more varied response and feedback which is more honest. 
• A strength of the one on one feedback, with me recording a singular individual is that the person is a lot less likely to hold back.  Perhaps someone who is sat in a group was too shy or nervous to say what they wanted to say openly, in front of everyone else.  It also meant that the individual would focus more.  With one on one feedback, the person has no distraction and you r full attention is on then.  This would mean that the feedback received would be more thought through.

Weakness of how I carried out audience feedback - 

• A weakness of the way I carried out a form of audience feedback was with the ones where I involved more than one person.  There was one video which I did which involved 2 people, and one video I did which was group feedback.  The weakness I found with this form of feedback was that I didn't have the individuals 100% attention.  This meant that the feedback received wasn't as thought through as I would have like it to be. 

          How could I improve this? - I think, although the feedback I got from the groups was good, to improve the quality of the feedback I would do a lot more one on one feedback videos.  I also could have done a survey.

Why is audience feedback important to me?

• The first way that audience feedback is important to me is, as I created my film, as a film maker, I was able to know what I was doing right and what I was doing wrong as I went through production and whether it appealed to my target audience.  An example of where it has been very helpful in this way was when I collected feedback as I went through editing.  In several stages of editing, I received audience feedback which allowed me to know whether I was targeting it right.
• Another reason that feedback is important to me as a film maker, is that it allowed me to know where I could improve, in the eyes of my viewer.  The areas that I did need to improve, allowed me to go and learn new skills in order to do so.  For example, if some editing I had done received negative feedback, I would be able to go and search alternative ways to edit it and therefore learn new skills in doing so.  

Evaluation 2 - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

When it came to creating my main product (music video) and my ancillaries, (magazine advert and digipak), it was important that i knew the 3 three of them hard to work together to create a unit; like a brand.  This meant that whenever my audience heard of the artist, they would think of the image on the digipak, the advertisement and also think of the music video.  In order to do this, I had to make sure that there was a constant theme throughout all of the products, so that they were associated with each other.  This could have been colour, font, narrative etc.  All of these played a part in all three of my products, in that the colour was continuous throughout and the font was similar.  The narrative played the most prominent part in that it was clearly displayed in all three products, being constant and memorable.
  

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

During creation on my music video, I took into consideration, use and challenge other conventions from the indie vintage genre, which I had come across when researching into music videos.

• In this prezi, I address the conventions which I found out, what I conformed to, which I developed on and what I challenged.  I used Prezi software to create this and made it public so that I could embed it on here. 

I also compared real magazines and digiak's to see how I challenged and conformed to others in this genre.  I again made a Prezi to display and embed onto Blogger.






Real music video platforms-

• In order to present my music video, I uploaded it to YouTube, as it is highly popular and the most discoverable place for videos to be found.  Since opening in 2005, Youtube has become the biggest sharing platform for videos and filmed media around the would, with hundreds of hours of content being uploaded ever minutes and billions watched a day.
• There is a category for music, which I thought would be ideal for my own video to be uploaded on.  As well as it being free to upload to and sign up to.  
• The music category on YouTube has 97.6 million subscribers on it, making videos be seen all over the world, within days. Therefore I think this platform is a good option to share my music video on.

Ancillary task: feed back on digipak and advert

Once I had finished working on my ancillaries, I got feedback form my audience to see how they could be improved.  I did this so that I knew they completely appealed to those I were trying to appeal to.  Below I have marked down the comments which they have made on my ancillaries.

Feedback on my Poster 

Positive 

• 'I really like the cheesy style which you have gone for.  It is very unusual, which makes it highly appealing.  I think that many audiences will be attracted to it'
• 'The colours which you have used in the advertisement are very eye catching and inciting; they're bright' 
• 'It is like a cartoon.  I really like the style that you've gone for' 

Negative 

• 'I think that the logos at the bottom of the poster are too big.  The spacing of the logo's also aren't consistent' 
• 'The date on the top of the poster needs to be more specific.  It also isn't very prominent.  Perhaps this could be altered by framing the date in a red banner'

Feedback on my digipak 

Positive 

• 'I really like how all of the how all of the sections link together but are also broken up by their contrast'
• 'There's a lot of exciting colours, which grabs the eye.  Its not boring and there's a lot going on'
• 'It links very well to the narrative of the video.  All sections which are involved in the image on the cover are aspects of the story.'

Negatives

• 'There is no album name on the front of the digipak.  There also isn't the name of the artist on it'
• 'On the back of the album, I think that the wording of the song names is too close to the image.  You could add an institutional logo on it as well' 
• 'There could be the name of the album on the CD' 

Final Advert

Final Digipak