4. How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Web Browsers
This is how we view everything online. Browsers act as a go between for the code used to create sites and the end result visible on your screen. I predominantly use Safari since that is the default browser on my computer, although there are others such as Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera that can be used.
iPhone
I used my iPhone for a number of things. Primarily it was used to listen to my songs to choose which one I wanted to use and to try to come up with a video idea. Besides that I used it to record some of the shots that were eventually used in my video, including both the newly shot stuff and the archive of content I had access to.
Macbook Pro
This is my personal computer and the one on which I have done the majority of the work for this project. In fact, I'm typing on it right now. Meta right? I used it to write the blog, edit the video, create the digipack and upload everything to the internet.
Final Cut Pro
Final Cut Pro is the video editing software that I used to combine all of the footage I had and make the music video. It's a premium and quite expensive program and if I were given a choice to redo things, I wouldn't use it again. I think I'd prefer to use Adobe Premiere Pro, which I have discovered is much better.
Blogger
Blogger is the Google owned Blogging platform that I have been using to share everything about this project for the past year. I also used it in year 12 during my school and music magazine project.
Google Drive
This service is similar to Dropbox or SugarSync. It allows you to write documents and presentations and then upload them to the cloud so that they can be accessed from anywhere. I used this to write notes and posts, then transfer them from one computer to another without the need for a thumb drive.
DaFont
DaFont is a website that allows you to download fonts from the internet and use them in programs such as Fireworks and Photoshop. It allows a more diverse array of fonts and styles when creating something.
Evernote
Evernote is an app I use on both my iPhone and Macbook Pro in order to write documents and posts. I use this app as I do not have home access to Microsoft Office and so have been forced to find a replacement. It is free and does almost all of the things that Microsoft Word can do.
Fireworks & Photoshop
Editing programs that allow to to edit images or create something from scratch. I tried to use this for my digipack but unfortunately the file I made became corrupted and I couldn't use what I had made.
HD Video Camera
I used a camcorder to shoot a lot of the footage I used in my final music video.
SD Card
This is what video is recorded onto when you shoot using a Camcorder. You can then transfer the footage from the camera to a computer for editing and anything else you want to use it for.
YouTube
The world largest online video sharing platform, this is the site that I have used to upload various videos for the project including a lip syncing video, filming practise and my final music video.
Vimeo
Very similar to YouTube, this video sharing service has a better looking player and I uploaded my final video here so I could embed a nice looking video onto the artist's site.
Wix
I used this site to create the online web presence of my Artist. It allows you to design a website, upload images and video and link to other sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
Friday, 26 April 2013
Evaluation Question 3
3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Showing my music video to an audience has allowed to get a sense of viewer reaction and gather feedback which I would use if I were ever to try and improve the video or make another. Although during the research phase of the project, those I asked about the choice of song responded positively, saying that they liked it and thought it would work well, those same people now say that it is too dated and perhaps a more modern piece of music would have better served the needs of the 21st century viewer.
My decision to use home video style footage in a montage video depicting the life of a teenager and his friends over several years was well received and praised as original and well produced. Unfortunately I think that, like an inside joke, footage of specific people is only truly relevant to those aware of the context. If I were to remake it, I would attempt to provide greater context as to why certain pieces of video were being shown at certain times. I believe this would help commercialise the song and the artist as well.
Showing my music video to an audience has allowed to get a sense of viewer reaction and gather feedback which I would use if I were ever to try and improve the video or make another. Although during the research phase of the project, those I asked about the choice of song responded positively, saying that they liked it and thought it would work well, those same people now say that it is too dated and perhaps a more modern piece of music would have better served the needs of the 21st century viewer.
My decision to use home video style footage in a montage video depicting the life of a teenager and his friends over several years was well received and praised as original and well produced. Unfortunately I think that, like an inside joke, footage of specific people is only truly relevant to those aware of the context. If I were to remake it, I would attempt to provide greater context as to why certain pieces of video were being shown at certain times. I believe this would help commercialise the song and the artist as well.
Evaluation Question 2
2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
In order to make my music video and artist conform as much as possible to the conventions typical of the music industry I tried to make sure that there was always a level of cohesion which would tie everything together.
I understand that a lot of people who listen to music in 2013 are unintelligent, spoon fed morons who will listen to anything that's trending on Twitter, but I had aimed to create an audience for Dylan Freeman who wouldn't be likened to the fans of Justine Bieber, but rather a supportive group of fans with ranging levels of emotional and psychological stability. This meant that I didn't force a dumbed down version of the truth upon those who listen and appreciate the music of Mr Freeman.
Branding allows an artist to present a uniform standard but at the same time provide them with the ability to change and grow as an artist. Each time a musician releases a new album, they are redefining their brand and giving something new and different.
I believe that I have created and maintained a level of consistency throughout, conforming to musical convention yet challenging the industry in hopefully interesting ways which make my work stand out.
In order to make my music video and artist conform as much as possible to the conventions typical of the music industry I tried to make sure that there was always a level of cohesion which would tie everything together.
I understand that a lot of people who listen to music in 2013 are unintelligent, spoon fed morons who will listen to anything that's trending on Twitter, but I had aimed to create an audience for Dylan Freeman who wouldn't be likened to the fans of Justine Bieber, but rather a supportive group of fans with ranging levels of emotional and psychological stability. This meant that I didn't force a dumbed down version of the truth upon those who listen and appreciate the music of Mr Freeman.
Branding allows an artist to present a uniform standard but at the same time provide them with the ability to change and grow as an artist. Each time a musician releases a new album, they are redefining their brand and giving something new and different.
I believe that I have created and maintained a level of consistency throughout, conforming to musical convention yet challenging the industry in hopefully interesting ways which make my work stand out.
Monday, 15 April 2013
Evaluation Question 1
1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
While making my music video I tried to use as many conventions typical in music and other media as I could. For example, my video opens with a lip syncing of the song's main chorus. I also use a variety of shots and locations including; my school, my apartment, an open field as well as several others. It follows a mostly chronological narrative in terms of the clips, however music videos can fall under innumerable categories in regards and the order of narrative. One video I watched is even set within 45 seconds and lasts almost 4 minutes, utilising slow motion and other notable techniques.
It also defies and challenges media conventions. Specifically in that the entire video is made up of archive footage shot by me over the past two years. I made the decision to do this because I have never seen anything quite like it and I really wanted an opportunity to share all of the video I had gathered of my friends and experiences.
Although I strove to create something new and unique, with an almost home movie feel and an obviously amateur quality, I hope that when you watch it, you understand that a lot of thought went into the video and choosing the clips that represent the evolution of not just myself but also my friends and a way of ensuring that there will always be something tying us together, trapped in the internet eternal long after our friendships have dissolved and we have each gone out separate ways.
While making my music video I tried to use as many conventions typical in music and other media as I could. For example, my video opens with a lip syncing of the song's main chorus. I also use a variety of shots and locations including; my school, my apartment, an open field as well as several others. It follows a mostly chronological narrative in terms of the clips, however music videos can fall under innumerable categories in regards and the order of narrative. One video I watched is even set within 45 seconds and lasts almost 4 minutes, utilising slow motion and other notable techniques.
It also defies and challenges media conventions. Specifically in that the entire video is made up of archive footage shot by me over the past two years. I made the decision to do this because I have never seen anything quite like it and I really wanted an opportunity to share all of the video I had gathered of my friends and experiences.
Although I strove to create something new and unique, with an almost home movie feel and an obviously amateur quality, I hope that when you watch it, you understand that a lot of thought went into the video and choosing the clips that represent the evolution of not just myself but also my friends and a way of ensuring that there will always be something tying us together, trapped in the internet eternal long after our friendships have dissolved and we have each gone out separate ways.
Changes Made During Production
Since September, a lot of changes have occurred regarding my A2 music video project. For starters, I was initially one half of a group along with my fellow Media student, Lauren Guest. We had decided on a song and come up with a premise but unfortunately things deteriorated and we quickly decided to separate and pursue our music video projects individually.
The next major change I encountered was when trying to choose three potential songs for my music video. I had come up with three, in my opinion, pretty solid options, but they were all rejected by my teachers for various different reasons including the references they made and the styles in which they were performed. I recovered from this however and chose three new songs, eventually settling on Mr Tambourine Man by Bob Dylan.
When trying to come up with an idea for the music video I shifted back and forth between two ideas. I eventually decided to combine the two in order to make what I believe to be a better video than what would have been if I'd chosen one over the other.
During the first shooting day, things went horribly wrong. I couldn't get the shots I wanted, things took too long and eventually the people I had harangued into helping me had to leave. I rescheduled but the second time round decided to go in a different direction and actually got some entirely different footage to what I had initially planned.
The next major change I encountered was when trying to choose three potential songs for my music video. I had come up with three, in my opinion, pretty solid options, but they were all rejected by my teachers for various different reasons including the references they made and the styles in which they were performed. I recovered from this however and chose three new songs, eventually settling on Mr Tambourine Man by Bob Dylan.
When trying to come up with an idea for the music video I shifted back and forth between two ideas. I eventually decided to combine the two in order to make what I believe to be a better video than what would have been if I'd chosen one over the other.
During the first shooting day, things went horribly wrong. I couldn't get the shots I wanted, things took too long and eventually the people I had harangued into helping me had to leave. I rescheduled but the second time round decided to go in a different direction and actually got some entirely different footage to what I had initially planned.
Production Diary
September 7
This year I have been tasked with researching, planning and creating a music video set to a song that does not currently have one. My first objective is to choose a selection of possible songs in order to make a decision about which song I wish to use.
September 14
I've chosen three potential song to use for my music video. They are
Heroin - The Velvet Underground
There She Goes - The La's
New York I Love You - LCD Soundsystem
Now that I've narrowed my choices to just three I plan on playing them for the others in my class as well as some other impartial people in order to gauge which one people prefer and gather any ideas they have about how the songs could translate into a music video.
September 21
The three songs I mentioned as having shortlisted were all rejected by my teachers for different reasons and I have been told that I need to choose three more. Heroin was not allowed due to less than subtle drug references, There She Goes, as it turns out, already has a music video that I was until now unaware of and New York I Love You was considered too monotonous and I was told that a potential audience would get bored of it quickly.
I've chosen three new songs which will hopefully pass whatever filters my teachers deem necessary. They are
My California - Beth Hart
Mr Tambourine Man - Bob Dylan
Get Down - Sh! It's A Secret
September 28
The three songs I've chosen as replacements for my original, unapproved three, were given the OK by the powers that be.
I played them to my class and the near unanimous favourite was Mr Tambourine Man by Bob Dylan. The other two were rejected for being too slow and too excitable. My California could be another New York I Love You, too slow and possibly boring and Get Down was thought to be too cheesy, not worth making a video for.
Now that I've chosen a song, planning will begin for the production of the video.
October 7
I have come up with several possible ideas for what I would like to do for my music video.
One option I think might work well with the song would be to piece together a montage using all of the personal footage I have amassed over the past two years. Since the song is about inspiration and creativity I thought that showing footage of some of the creative people and things I've done would be a good idea.
Another possible idea I had was a video shot entirely in the first person. The story follows a faceless person from the point where he wakes up to the point where he goes back to sleep, using jump cuts to pass time. In order to satisfy the lip syncing aspect of the video, people he encounters would sing at him as though he were in a dream or a musical.
Of these two ideas I prefer the first one as it is more personal and, in my opinion, unique, but I like the other one too and hope to incorporate it in some way.
October 14
Even though I am no longer working as part of a group for the production of my music video, I still worked with my former partner Lauren in order to practice and demonstrate my film making abilities. We got footage of various shots and then edited it together
October 21
This week I played my song to my peers and told them the ideas I had about what I want to do for my music video. The feedback was mostly positive and the people I told my ideas like them. Some even thought that I should combine the two, having a flashback/ montage type thing along with a current first person experience with singing.
The next thing I plan on doing is creating a questionnaire and doing some market research to find out what the typical person looks for in a music video and how they feel about my song choice.
October 28
I made a questionnaire to determine what people thought of my song choice and to find out other significant information about their preferred genres of music, favourite songs and what exactly they like to see when they watch a music video. Hopefully the feedback I get from doing this will help me make my music video as good as it can possibly be.
November 7
While I await the return of all the questionnaires I gave out, I have decided to create the social media presence of my artist. I have created a Facebook, Twitter and Google+ page, as well as a website which contains links to all of the above listed profiles, gig photos and the latest music video produced by the band.
November 14
I have begun to plan and storyboard my music video. I've decided to do this using stills from some of the footage I already have alongside drawings of the parts yet to be filmed. Hopefully I'll finish sometime during this week and will upload the storyboard when I can.
November 21
My storyboard is finished and uploaded so this week I have been preparing to shoot the remaining scenes. This has required that I make a shooting schedule, arranging times and places for those involved to meet. This has actually been tougher than anticipated as there are a lot of conflicting schedules and some people have expressed issue with getting to the shooting locations. Luckily, everything has worked out and filming is set too commence in December.
November 28
While I await the determined shooting date, I have decided to start designing a flat plan of my digi-pack. This encompasses building a representative of what I want the final CD packaging to look like. I have made individual drawing of each of the different parts, cover, back cover, and the four inside sections. From these I will hopefully be able to redesign and improve them using a program such as Adobe Fireworks or Photoshop.
December 7
This week I attempted to film the scenes of my music video that I do not already have previously shot footage for. Unfortunately things didn't work out as well as I had hoped and I didn't get the footage that I needed. Time ran on and people had to leave before we were done, so we decided to reschedule and try again later in the month.
December 14
I scanned all of the images from my flat plan onto a computer and began to recreate them using Adobe software. So far I have done the inside section where the CD will sit and started on the front cover. More should be done soon but I am updating the production diary early this week as I will be unable to do so at the end of the week as normal.
December 21
I went back out to film this week and everything went well. Thankfully, I now have all of the footage I need to make my music video, including the previously shot archive footage, and starting to edit will be my next objective.
January 7
Continuing with my digi-pack has been a priority and I am pleased to say that I have almost finished. The only remaining section that requires any work is the back cover, which shouldn't take too long as the majority of the content for that page will be the track listing for the album. I have also begun to edit together my footage. This may be a bit trickier than I thought as I was unaware when I decided to take this approach that I have over 50 hours of footage from which to choose. I guess we'll just have to see how this goes.
January 14
I recorded a video of myself lip syncing to the first 90 seconds of Mr Tambourine Man. I plan on uploading that in the next few days. I would do it sooner but the upload limit on my computer is very low and it will take a long while.
January 21
TRAGEDY! I finished my digipack and was in the middle of exporting it so I could upload it to my blog. However, during the export something I can't explain occurred and the folder containing the files became corrupt. I have no backups and so I no longer have the digital version of my digipack. I'm not sure what to do about this as it took me a really long time to create everything and I was using tutorials so I still have very little idea about how to use Fireworks or Photoshop. I have two options now. First is that I can spend another month trying to recreate what I have lost and the other is that I can redraw my flat plan to a higher standard and scan it so I can upload images of it in that state.
January 28
The video is almost finished and should be uploaded by next week. It's taken a lot longer than anticipated and I haven't really focussed on much else media related since there was so much footage to sift through and I didn't want to get distracted.
February 14
The video is done and has been uploaded. I've also uploaded the digipack. I decided not to recreate the entire thing in Photoshop and Fireworks, mainly due to the fact that editing the video took up so much time, but I did redraw it and scanned those photos onto my computer. Now that production on my music video project is nearing completion, my next objective is to complete an evaluation of my experience and the processes I went through in order to come up with my final product. This entails answering four questions which I have separated into four blog posts and which will also be uploaded to the site when they are finished.
March 7
My evaluation is going well. I've answered question 1 and question 4 so far and should be getting started on the other two very soon. There's not too much left to say now so I'll just get back to it.
March 21
I've finished my evaluation and everything else on my blog and it's now ready to be marked and graded. The experience of producing a music video from concept through to final product has been fun and educational and has definitely gotten me interested in making more videos like this in the future.
This year I have been tasked with researching, planning and creating a music video set to a song that does not currently have one. My first objective is to choose a selection of possible songs in order to make a decision about which song I wish to use.
September 14
I've chosen three potential song to use for my music video. They are
Heroin - The Velvet Underground
There She Goes - The La's
New York I Love You - LCD Soundsystem
Now that I've narrowed my choices to just three I plan on playing them for the others in my class as well as some other impartial people in order to gauge which one people prefer and gather any ideas they have about how the songs could translate into a music video.
September 21
The three songs I mentioned as having shortlisted were all rejected by my teachers for different reasons and I have been told that I need to choose three more. Heroin was not allowed due to less than subtle drug references, There She Goes, as it turns out, already has a music video that I was until now unaware of and New York I Love You was considered too monotonous and I was told that a potential audience would get bored of it quickly.
I've chosen three new songs which will hopefully pass whatever filters my teachers deem necessary. They are
My California - Beth Hart
Mr Tambourine Man - Bob Dylan
Get Down - Sh! It's A Secret
September 28
The three songs I've chosen as replacements for my original, unapproved three, were given the OK by the powers that be.
I played them to my class and the near unanimous favourite was Mr Tambourine Man by Bob Dylan. The other two were rejected for being too slow and too excitable. My California could be another New York I Love You, too slow and possibly boring and Get Down was thought to be too cheesy, not worth making a video for.
Now that I've chosen a song, planning will begin for the production of the video.
October 7
I have come up with several possible ideas for what I would like to do for my music video.
One option I think might work well with the song would be to piece together a montage using all of the personal footage I have amassed over the past two years. Since the song is about inspiration and creativity I thought that showing footage of some of the creative people and things I've done would be a good idea.
Another possible idea I had was a video shot entirely in the first person. The story follows a faceless person from the point where he wakes up to the point where he goes back to sleep, using jump cuts to pass time. In order to satisfy the lip syncing aspect of the video, people he encounters would sing at him as though he were in a dream or a musical.
Of these two ideas I prefer the first one as it is more personal and, in my opinion, unique, but I like the other one too and hope to incorporate it in some way.
October 14
Even though I am no longer working as part of a group for the production of my music video, I still worked with my former partner Lauren in order to practice and demonstrate my film making abilities. We got footage of various shots and then edited it together
October 21
This week I played my song to my peers and told them the ideas I had about what I want to do for my music video. The feedback was mostly positive and the people I told my ideas like them. Some even thought that I should combine the two, having a flashback/ montage type thing along with a current first person experience with singing.
The next thing I plan on doing is creating a questionnaire and doing some market research to find out what the typical person looks for in a music video and how they feel about my song choice.
October 28
I made a questionnaire to determine what people thought of my song choice and to find out other significant information about their preferred genres of music, favourite songs and what exactly they like to see when they watch a music video. Hopefully the feedback I get from doing this will help me make my music video as good as it can possibly be.
November 7
While I await the return of all the questionnaires I gave out, I have decided to create the social media presence of my artist. I have created a Facebook, Twitter and Google+ page, as well as a website which contains links to all of the above listed profiles, gig photos and the latest music video produced by the band.
November 14
I have begun to plan and storyboard my music video. I've decided to do this using stills from some of the footage I already have alongside drawings of the parts yet to be filmed. Hopefully I'll finish sometime during this week and will upload the storyboard when I can.
November 21
My storyboard is finished and uploaded so this week I have been preparing to shoot the remaining scenes. This has required that I make a shooting schedule, arranging times and places for those involved to meet. This has actually been tougher than anticipated as there are a lot of conflicting schedules and some people have expressed issue with getting to the shooting locations. Luckily, everything has worked out and filming is set too commence in December.
November 28
While I await the determined shooting date, I have decided to start designing a flat plan of my digi-pack. This encompasses building a representative of what I want the final CD packaging to look like. I have made individual drawing of each of the different parts, cover, back cover, and the four inside sections. From these I will hopefully be able to redesign and improve them using a program such as Adobe Fireworks or Photoshop.
December 7
This week I attempted to film the scenes of my music video that I do not already have previously shot footage for. Unfortunately things didn't work out as well as I had hoped and I didn't get the footage that I needed. Time ran on and people had to leave before we were done, so we decided to reschedule and try again later in the month.
December 14
I scanned all of the images from my flat plan onto a computer and began to recreate them using Adobe software. So far I have done the inside section where the CD will sit and started on the front cover. More should be done soon but I am updating the production diary early this week as I will be unable to do so at the end of the week as normal.
December 21
I went back out to film this week and everything went well. Thankfully, I now have all of the footage I need to make my music video, including the previously shot archive footage, and starting to edit will be my next objective.
January 7
Continuing with my digi-pack has been a priority and I am pleased to say that I have almost finished. The only remaining section that requires any work is the back cover, which shouldn't take too long as the majority of the content for that page will be the track listing for the album. I have also begun to edit together my footage. This may be a bit trickier than I thought as I was unaware when I decided to take this approach that I have over 50 hours of footage from which to choose. I guess we'll just have to see how this goes.
January 14
I recorded a video of myself lip syncing to the first 90 seconds of Mr Tambourine Man. I plan on uploading that in the next few days. I would do it sooner but the upload limit on my computer is very low and it will take a long while.
January 21
TRAGEDY! I finished my digipack and was in the middle of exporting it so I could upload it to my blog. However, during the export something I can't explain occurred and the folder containing the files became corrupt. I have no backups and so I no longer have the digital version of my digipack. I'm not sure what to do about this as it took me a really long time to create everything and I was using tutorials so I still have very little idea about how to use Fireworks or Photoshop. I have two options now. First is that I can spend another month trying to recreate what I have lost and the other is that I can redraw my flat plan to a higher standard and scan it so I can upload images of it in that state.
January 28
The video is almost finished and should be uploaded by next week. It's taken a lot longer than anticipated and I haven't really focussed on much else media related since there was so much footage to sift through and I didn't want to get distracted.
February 14
The video is done and has been uploaded. I've also uploaded the digipack. I decided not to recreate the entire thing in Photoshop and Fireworks, mainly due to the fact that editing the video took up so much time, but I did redraw it and scanned those photos onto my computer. Now that production on my music video project is nearing completion, my next objective is to complete an evaluation of my experience and the processes I went through in order to come up with my final product. This entails answering four questions which I have separated into four blog posts and which will also be uploaded to the site when they are finished.
March 7
My evaluation is going well. I've answered question 1 and question 4 so far and should be getting started on the other two very soon. There's not too much left to say now so I'll just get back to it.
March 21
I've finished my evaluation and everything else on my blog and it's now ready to be marked and graded. The experience of producing a music video from concept through to final product has been fun and educational and has definitely gotten me interested in making more videos like this in the future.
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