Evaluation

Charlotte King

Evaluation.

My chosen form of production was a music video to the song, 'You could be happy', by Snow Patrol. I chose to use this song as I felt that it had a very strong and effective narrative that I felt I could work with in a beneficial way. I also created a digipak for the album and the music video and also a magazine advert to advertise the digipak. I chose the song choice that I did because it was of an indie/alternative genre and this meant that it wasn't mainstream music and that I didn't have to follow the usual conventions of a mainstream artist. It meant that I could be conventional in some ways but also change the conventions in some way so that it was a bit different and more interesting and fitted a smaller more open minded target audience. They are part of an independent label rather than one of the big 4 meaning that they release their music independently and this record label was Island Records. I chose to use Island Records as my music labels as it fits in with my genre of music as they own none mainstream artists such as Bombay Bicycle Club, Florence and the Machine and Devlin who are all English artists. Island records are owned by Universal music group which is one of the big 4 making them a major of the big 4. This means that they are provide with a significant amount of money to work with but can also work independently to the big 4.

Before I began my music video or my planning I did research of other music videos on Youtube as well as on music channels. Postmodernism is used in music videos with ideas and concepts that have been used in earlier music videos or other forms of media that have been used before, as well as intertextualtity. This is why I watched a lot of music videos before I created my own and then analysed the ones that I felt were the best so that it could  give me an idea on what to use in my own music video (on my blog). Firstly I analysed was Katy Perry, Thinking of you, which has a very strong narrative. Like my own music video it features the artist looking back on an old relationship. There is also footage used to match the lyrics of the song, as I have used in my own video. There are also a lot of juxtapositions used as are in my video when she refers to the past. The second video I analysed was Christina Perri, Jar of Hearts. The main feature of this music video which matches my own video is the use of black and white. I think it is used in this video to show that it is dark and unhappy, this is slightly similar to how I used back and white as some of the shots are dark and unhappy. The fact that in my video he is unhappy when looking back on the past has similar references to Christina Perri's video. It also features rose petals falling, I featured this in my storyboard but decided that I wouldn't use it in my video. I added it to my story board as I thought that I may not be able to come up with enough ideas of just narrative to add to my video but in the end I did. The third music video I analysed was Rihanna and Calvin Harris, We Found Love. This is also very similar to my own music video as it shows the break down of a relationship and has a very strong narrative. It shows them in a living situation as well as being outdoors and also has images of the artist looking unhappy, as does my music video. Juxtapositions are also used like in my music video.

I also chose my song and analysed the lyrics and what I would include in my storyboard and music video. I then transferred this to my storyboard and explained next the images I had drawn what I wanted to be included in each scene (with them not being the most distinctive drawings) and how long each scene would last. I then cut out each of these images on Publisher and put them together to create an anamatic so that I had more of an idea on how my music video will look and what to included.

In my first use of filming my video I filmed for around 25 minutes. I did this in a friend’s house so that I could make it clear in the narrative that the two main characters once lived together. The two main characters being; the artist of which I based my fictional album around, Aaron, and a woman that acted out being his ex-girlfriend. The narrative of my story was that the artist Aaron was singing about his ex-girlfriend and what fun they once had and also what was bad about their relationship and why they were no longer together and also that he hoped that she was happy. When filming the first time I brought along my story boards and tried to follow it in the best way possible. I knew when I created my story board that I was not going to follow it exactly as I knew I would get some extra more creative ideas when I actually was filming with the two characters. I used two of my friends in the narrative that I knew got on well so that I could make the video seem more realistic as they were both comfortable to do what I asked of them as they know each other well. I brought along a tripod with me on the day but initially decided not to use it as I felt that if the shots were made perfect then it would not add as much of a homely image to my video. I also thought that if my artist was meant to be looking back on the past then it would be more effective if the camera was more shaken so it looked more like he was looking back in his head. I began by getting a few shots of them doing everyday things such as sat on the settee and sat outside having a cigarette. I wanted to give off a feel to the audience that it was like a realistic relationship and that they did what most people do when living together. I got some shots of them being happy, some of them being sad and some of them arguing to follow the narrative and the lyrics of the song. I broke it down into the basics of the lyrics of the song, showing that they had good times together as well as bad got filming of the break down of the relationship. For example I got filming of the woman upset and getting angry with her and doing things such as throwing clothes at him. I also fitted filming around the lyrics of the song such as with the lyrics, 'All the things that I wish I had not said', I showed him shouting at her. Doing this then made the narrative more meaningful and stronger. This was how I created my first draft of my music video.

On my second time of filming I got shots of my artist on his own to add to my video so that I could shows that he was looking back on the past whilst he was in the present. I used around 15 minutes of film this time around of filming. I showed him looking unhappy so that it fitted that narrative and the lyrics. I got shots of him sat on a bench and walking down a street looking as though he was thinking. There was a lot of space that needed to be filled in within my music video and I felt that this was the best way of doing so was to use shots of the artist being on his own to fit the lyrics and the narrative.

On my final day of filming I filmed about 25 minutes of film. I decided that I need to have film of the couple out and about rather than just in a house. I thought that it would ass a nice element to my video to show them in a park. I got shots of them having fun and doing things such as being on the swings and running down a hill, I did this to show that the couple once had a lot of fun together and that this is what the artist is looking back on as it was a good part of their relationship.

My video is purely narrative and uses flashbacks, the narrative being that he is looking back on a old relationship and that it switches from him being in the present time alone and him looking back on his past. The flashbacks are put into black and white in my video as I felt that in my first draft it was not made clear enough about what was meant to be in the past and what was meant to be in the future. I felt that if I used a mixture of coloured images and black and white ones as well as the lyrics in the song then the past and the present would have been made very clear. I enhanced this by adding devolved as juxtapositions changed from the past to the future so that it made it seem as though he was looking back on the past in his mind and that he was thinking about what used to be. I decided that I didn't want to use syncing of the artist singing the song as I felt that it was not something that would have fitted in well with my video and that my narrative was strong enough to not have to follow all of the conventions of a music video. It is also conventional to add a performance by the artist but I also felt that this would not fit in with the narrative or lyrics of the video. Also with the song being quite slow and uncheerful I felt that this would not be as conventional to a slow song by an indie artist. I thought that adding syncing or performance would have made it to conventional of a mainstream artist and as it is not mainstream then it was not as important to follow every convention of a music video and that it was acceptable to add an element of unconventional features to my video.

I began creating my ancillary by taking some images. I thought that taking my photos against a brick wall of my artists would look very creative for my mise-en-scene and also be conventional to a digipak and a magazine as a brick wall  is a common part of everyday life and adds verisimilitude. I used a camera to take these photos of my artist and told him what to do and to add to use the crop sunglasses to make the images to look more conventional of the indie/alternative genre. I then uploaded my photos onto a computer and added them to my blogger. I then chose my favourite images and put them onto Photoshop to edit. I ad-gusted things such as the brightness and saturation of the images to make the images look of a better quality. I then used a tool in Photoshop with the eraser that erased a layer of editing on the photo and this is how I separated the artist from the brick wall so that he stood out more. It also gave off a messy look which is conventional of an indie/alternative genre.

I researched a few digipaks and music adverts before I began my own, (on my blog), as well as looking at others to get a few ideas on how to start my own and what to include on various websites and on Google images. The first artist I researched was Rihanna, she used the letter R to represent her name in both the advertisement and her album cover. Also Katy Perry used the same fonts and colour on her name on her album cover and magazine advertisement. This is similar to how I used my artists name in the same fonts and size in both of my ancillary texts to make it stick in the viewer’s mind. They each also used similar photos which is similar to me using the same image on both my magazine advert and my digipak cover. Each advertisement also features the name of the album as does my own. Katy Perry's album cover also lets the audience know what date the album is released as does my own.

I then chose which of the 3 images that I edited in this way that I thought would look the best on my magazine advert. I then added text of the artist and the album name as this is conventional to a magazine advert. I decided that black and white would be the best choice for my house colours as they contrasted very well with the brick wall in the mise-en-scene. I then felt that the text could stand out more on the page because the brick background was bright and stopped the black bold text from standing out as much as I would have liked. At this point I decided to use the eraser tool again as I did on the image to make it look continuous. So I used an eraser to lose the brick wall behind the text so that it stood out more and again I gave it a messy look. I then added text that informed the audience that my artist was releasing a new album and that it was out now what is again conventional of a magazine advert.

I then began creating my digipak. I decided that it would be more continuous to use the same image and text of the artist and album name as the cover of my magazine on my digipak.I then added the other images that I edited on Photoshop to my digipak so that it looked continuous. Then added the black panelling to the edges of my digipak and used a black background with white text so that it was back to front colours of those on the front.  I then created the back cover where I used a layer of the brick wall as a background behind the black text giving the names of the songs on the album, which is also conventional of a digipack. I then realized that it was quite difficult to read the text so I thought that it would be a nice effect to add layers of the brick wall with parts erased out so that it looked messy and so that i could make the text easier to read. I then decided to use this same effect on the two disk sides of my digipak as I felt that it looked really good. I then added the text that would be on the disk to show buyers what is on each disk which is conventional of a digipak. Then I went on to add the small print about the laws of copyright ect, which you see on most back covers of albums. I also added a bar code, a DVD sign, the record label and the distribution label, which again is conventional of a digipak.
When I had done all of these things I felt I had finished my digipak and looked at any changes that could have made it better. I decided that it would look more conventional of a digipak to have the artists name and the album name in a different form of presentation so that there is a clear distinction of the two. I therefor made the artist name bolder and slightly bigger than the album name.

I then changed the same effect on my magazine advert and changes the fonts so that they looked different and it was easier to separate the two. I then changed the 'out now text' and put a release date as I felt it was more conventional of an album advert. I also added a black square onto the bottom of my advertisement and used this as a background layer to add my digipak front cover to my advertisement. I thought that it would be more conventional and would be a better effect to add the front cover of the album to the advertisement so that the audience knew what to look for when buying the album. I had then finished my magazine advert.

Throughout the process of me making all 3 of my media texts I asked people what they preferred to see. For example when creating my magazine advert I made two different options and asked around to people that fitted in my target audience profile which they preferred and chose to use the option that they preferred. I also showed a lot of people who fitted my target audience criteria the first draft of my video. I made a few suggestions to them on how I thought I could improve it and they seemed to like the ideas that I had. I was also informed that it was not made clear enough in the video of what was in the past and what was in the present and that they were not even sure that it was meant to be in the past. I did have the idea when I first began planning my music video to put the footage referring to the past in black and white so that it was clear to the audience what was in the past. This is then how I finalized this idea and thought that it would be a big improvement on my production and the narrative of my music video to add black and white. They also suggested that it might have a better effect if I added a few dissolves to my video. This is when I decided to separate my black and white footage and my coloured footage by using dissolves so that it was made even clearer to the viewer.

I feel that my music video, digipak and music advertisements where successful. I feel that I did the best that I could have done with the resources that I had. There would be a few things that I could have improved if I had had better resources. The camera that I did used for filming was not at the best of quality and if I'd had a better camera available then the picture would have been better on my video. Also, there were not enough cameras in the college to film when I would have liked to. I did usually have to book one a week or more in advance to guarantee being able to get one and with there being two actors (one working full time and one being a full time student and having a job) it was hard to find a time when they were both free, as well as myself being free at the same time and being able to get a camera I did find this quite a difficulty. Another problem that did happen very often was the editing computer that I was issued to. Because there are a lot of media students at my college and we all had to use on of the 6 or more computers available it was a struggle to everyone to be able to get access to a computer. In lessons and when I was free and I wanted to work on my video a lot of the time it was not possible for me to do so. This is one of the main reasons why I did not get my music video finished when I would have liked to. There was also an issue when working on my blog, doing research or working on my ancillary text in that there was not always a computer available in the media department meaning that I had to spend time going elsewhere in the college to find one, which did waste a lot of time when there was work that needed to be done. I did feel, however, that blogger was a great way of saving time when it comes to getting all of my work together and made things a lot more simple. The camera that I used to take the photos could have been of a better quality also but I feel that after I had edited them they looked of a better quality. Other than these reasons I felt my final productions were good and successful.