Final Blog post

Now that it is nearly the end of the media studies course. I feel that my editing and knowledge of the subject has increased greatly, as I started not knowing much about this subject, to knowing a great deal and enjoying all parts of the course, from researching and planning to making the practical work. I have learnt many new skills that I would not have learnt if I did not choose this subject, things like working with Audacity and PremierePro, two different software that I had not used previously in any detail.

 I have really enjoyed learning these new skills and wish to continue using these new developed skills in the future, I am very proud of my music video that I made with Eleanor and what I have done in the two years studying media studies, from my preliminary task that was the first time I have edited some sound and my first experience of filming. Too my final piece, where I used PremierePro and a green screen to its full use to create a music video that looks professional.

Evaluation Question Four

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

Construction

·         Media technologies helped me when constructing my music video and my ancillary tasks. One of these being Web 2.0 and especially YouTube, as it helped me to understand the software that I used to make my music video. I searched for different clips that would show me how to complete different tasks and use different tools. One example of this was that I searched up how to use the green screen and how to edit the green screen, this helped me as then I was able to place clips behind the characters.

·         I used Adobe PremierePro to edit my music video. I used this software as it is easy to use and easy to learn as I had no previous knowledge on how to edit and I did not edit any videos before editing my music video.

·         I used Adobe Photoshop to edit my ancillary tasks. This is because I had previous knowledge of using this software as I had used it to edit other photos. This meant that I did not need to learn how to use a different software and this meant that I could get the editing done at a consistent and good pace and still make a quality product that I could not do if I did not know how to use the software.

Research

·         When researching my music video, I used Web 2.0 and YouTube, like when I constructed my music video. As on YouTube there are many different music videos that can be viewed, as this is where I got my inspiration for my music video. This is from The Verve “Bittersweet Symphony”. However, there are also student music videos on YouTube that students made in previous years. As I also took some inspiration from those, as that is where I got the idea for the green screen.

·         I used Google and Bing images to collect research on different adverts and different Digipacks, these really helped me as I found it hard for ideas and completing some research really helped me to gain an idea of what to do for my advert, but also my Digipack.

Planning

·         In the planning stage of my music video I used BBC weather, as this helped me to plan when I will film my music video, as I did not know what days would be the correct forecast, so BBC weather meant that I was able to find the best days to film so that I can then tell the actors what the best days for filming would be. One benefit for using Google is that there is an advanced search tool, this is good because then I can narrow down my search to find the correct information that I want. One benefit for using Bing is that there is a lot more information on the home screen so you can find  news and information quickly. 

·         YouTube, was also useful when I was planning my music video, as I use the website to upload tests for lighting and sound, as this really helped to decide what was the lighting that I would use and what the sound would be like. I also used YouTube to upload my animatic. This helped me to see what was good about my idea an d what parts of my idea will need improving before filming.

·         I also used Blogger, as I used it to document my planning of my music video, however, I also used it to make my rick assessments and my filming schedules, this really helped to gain a better understanding of the risks involved when filming and  what I will be filming when I will go out to the locations and film the scenes for my music video.

Evaluations

·         When it came to my evaluation questions I used digital technology to present my evaluations in different ways, as it will then make the evaluations more unique and look more aesthetically pleasing for people and my audience. I used SlideShare, Emaze, PiktoChart and Blogger to make my evaluation questions and using all of these different websites make the questions more unique from each other and makes my blog more exiting to look at.

Evaluation Question Three

Evaluation Question Two

Evaluation question 2 from Harry Stoakes

Evaluation Question One

Three Media products

This is my three media products, my DigiPack, Advert and music video put together to show all of the texts link together.

Final Music Video

Advertisement final version

This is the final version of my magazine advert. I used two different fonts in my advert, one of the titles on the song and the band and another font of the reviews of the song. In the advert there is also social media links and there is also the logo of the record company.

Digipack - Final version

This is the final version of my digipack ancillary task.

Gaining audience feedback

To try and gain some more audience feedback on my music video, I made a twitter post, reaching out to people to gain some more audience feedback, as this will help me to improve my music video and make it a better product.

I also played the resent draft in front of my audience

This is what some of them said about the video

Music video draft

This is the latest update of my music video. There are a few issues that need to be sorted out. Such as, some of the clips are not working and they go green. Also, the images kept on changing the cropping of the images.

Storyboard

From the storyboard that was made earlier in the research of my music video, was not a good quality, this meant that I did not really use the storyboard, however I used the storyboard so keep to the narrative, however I did not use the scenes that were in the storyboard.

Feedback on digipak so far

I have recently presented my digipak so far to an audience. From this I have collected valuable feedback on my digipak, so that I can improve it.

• The audience believed that the style and filter on the images was good because it fit in with the style of the poster and it looks like a cartoon.
• The text style on the title page looks good as it also fits in with the poster.
• The audience said that I need to fill in the last two spaces to make the digipak look better.
• They thought that I should add in one of the spaces, a photo of the characters in the chorus, as everyone liked that scene in the music video.

From this, I have gained valuable feedback on my digipak, I now know how to improve it and make my digipak more presentable to the public.

Ancillary digipak: so far

Below is my digipak so far, I have completed 4 of the 6 squares in the digipak and So far the digipak looks good and good quality. I will also need to add the text on some of the squares.

Audience responce to the advertisement

After completing my advert, I presented my advert to an audience and asked for their opinion on the magazine advert.

• The audience thought that the filter on the advert was very good and makes the advert look better.
• They thought that the text font for the song and the band fit the style of the band very well.
• The logo of the record company looks good in its spot on the advert and fits with the advert.
• The social media links are in a good place on the advert, as if they where anywhere else it would draw the viewers attention from the advert.

From this feedback from the viewers, I know that my advert is good and is presentable to the public. From this I have learnt that audience feedback is key when improving my magazine advert.

Shot List

Below is a shot list that I will use the next time that I go filming, I will use this to direct the actors and remind me of shots that need to be filmed.

Weather for next filming session

Getting ready for the next filming session means that I will need to check the weather, this means that I will be able to check what day is the best for filming.

Looking at the forecast, I have chosen Friday, this is because it has the best weather for what I want to film at the right time, this being between 1pm and 6pm. I will then be able to film a range of different shots, happy and sad.

Learning how to edit green screen

When editing my music video, I needed to learn how to remove the  green screen in the lip syncing clips, I did this by looking it up on the internet. I used the website "How to Adobe Premiere cs4 for green screen editing and chroma key"

This website helped me to understand how to remove the green screen clips, however, I did not have the same tool that is talked about in the website article (above), so I used the "Colour Key" instead as this tool did the same job as the chroma key feature. 

Filming the green screen

Below is an image of the most resent filming session, in this filming session I filmed the green screen sections of the music video, this is the chorus lip syncing and the lip syncing in the verses as well. I used the main male character (Eddie) and some extras for the chorus.

Location shots

When filming the first lot of clips that I can edit in my music video, I used four locations to film different sections of the music video.

This location is the River Otter, in this location I filmed a number of shots of the two main character before they had broken up. I used the river as a background for these clips as they look aesthetically pleasing. I also used this location to film, as it is a romantic location and is a believable place for a couple to go on a date. When filming at the river, I chose a day that was sunny and bright, as this will also make the video lighter, which is good because I was shooting the happier shots.

This location is Gandy Street in Exeter, Devon. I am using this location because it is a narrow street that people can see from one end to the other, this is good for the shots that I want from this location. The shot from this location is of the main character (This character being played by Eddie) walking towards the camera, alone. On this day I wanted a darker and dingier day, the narrow street helped, as the shot is meant to be sadder then the previous location.

The image above is of Exmouth beach. In this location the shots that where taken were of the two main characters when they are in their relationship, I am using this particular quite heavily in the first section of the music video, this is because the beach is quite a cliche location to have a date. I have filmed many different shots in this location in different areas of the beach. When deciding on a day when I wanted to film, I chose a day that best suited the feel of the scene, so I chose a day that was bright.

I used the main hall of The King's School to film the green screen and lip syncing sections of my music video. This was because the natural lighting of the main hall was good and I could then edit the green screen. For the green screen sections I filmed all of the lip syncing that Eddie has to do and I filmed the chorus that uses four more people (From left to right - Andy, Jamie, Eddie, Sam and Liam).

Green screen testing

I have taken some photos and videos of one of my friends so that I can test whether the green screen will work or not, however these tests did not work because I used a light when taking the images and films, this cast a shadow on the green screen, this meant that there where parts of the background that were not green, this meant that there was too much of a contrast to edit these.

From this I have learnt that when filming the lip syncing and green screen sections of my music video, I should not use lighting, especially from the side of the characters, as this will create a shadow and will meant that I will not be able to remove the green screen.