Evaluation
For our three media products we have a magazine advert, Digipack and a music video for ‘An Oak Tree – get cape wear cape fly’. This is an indie/pop song. Most indie/pop music videos would feature the band or singer but our doesn’t, however using animation makes it unique and surreal which you often see in this genre video.
On magazine adverts typical features that we noticed looking at professional products were, rating from a known radio station or television program, information of where to buy or where to go like a website, a release date and a photograph of the band or artist. We included all of these features for our advert and for the picture of the band we had our four group members posing as a tree. For example, our finished advert has five stars – kiss fm written on it. Also, we didn’t edit this picture as we thought the readers would need to be able to recognise the band if they did not know them by name. Because the picture was not from the video we also included characters from the video to relate the two.
Our digipack contained logos and information for viewers on the back cover, e.g. an age rating and production logo, track list, etc. We also had the background from the video on the front, back and spine of the digipack also with clouds so it was all the same theme. The font used also uses the same sketchy animated theme as it is a cartoon like handwritten font and the picture of the band has been edited and has had the colours changed and filled to block colours on the computer. On the front and the spine there is the bands name ‘Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly’ and the song name that we used, ‘An Oak Tree’. All of these features are what we saw on professional digipacks when we researched them.
When thinking about creating the video we listened to the lyrics to our song we started to get lots of ideas. We looked at professional animated products, for example television adverts. One advert that stood out was a Ben & Jerrys animated advert. This felt like it showed a short story to the product they were selling and the way it was all animated and editing was very interesting and eye catching and always had your attention. The advert had a very obvious link to visuals and sounds and this inspired us for what we wanted to create. Features in our final video were, the use of bright colours, surrealism and it was very unique. Being animated with a cartoon theme it was very important to include the bright colours. Being animated meant we had a lot of choice in what we could create, for example we had a singing oak tree which shows the surrealism and how it was unique. A common feature to have is lip sinking with the footage of the singer and the track on the computer. We didn’t have a band member featuring so with the oak tree animated we could lip sink the mouth to the words. Like Goodwin’s points mentioned, we linked our lyrics with visuals for example when it says ‘stripping back to the bare branch’ we see the trees branches come through and loos his leaves.
The combination of all our media products creates a very strong indie/pop theme and genre. Because we used the same photograph on our ancillary texts it shows a clear link between the products even though one product is not the same background and pictures as the music video. The colour scheme for the digipack and the music video are the same how ever the magazine advert has as a bit more subtle and realistic colour scheme but still relates to the promotion of the song ‘an oak tree’. As the band is not well known we felt they needed to be seen on the magazine advert because the digipack only shows faces and the music video doesn’t include the band at all and it is important for the audience to make a link between the three products.
During the process of making our music video we had two stages where we could receive audience feedback before submitting our final video. This helped us to see what other people saw when they watched it for the first time as it is easy to get buried into work without realising some things. We received feedback on pitching our idea and were told what people thought about it and then we received more after submitting our rough-cut. It is important to get feedback from our target audience as we are trying to make the video appeal to them the most. Using this we were able to make changes to ideas and what we had already made. One thing that was pointed out to us was how the background didn’t fit in with what we had created on the computer to go into the video. We took this on board and changed our background which sets the scene of a park, to typical block colours for the sky and grass and added cartoon flowers into the grass. After making the change we realised how the older background didn’t fit in. Also after showing our rough cut we were told to make the pace faster. We used close-ups of the tree and other things like leaves and music notes to help created a faster paced video. I felt this worked as the choppier shots made it more interesting and changed the scene so it didn’t get too boring. We received one more lot of feedback after submitting our final video. Our audience noticed how all the visuals matched the lyrics and also commented on how it was unique. Our main criticism was about how the pace still didn’t feel fast enough for the song. If we had the chance the changes we would make would be to created more shots to make it more choppy and have more things going on in the scenes.
To be able to create our animated video we would have to use, Photoshop. Using Photoshop to create each animal or character in different layers meant we could draw a picture then save each layer so when it comes to animating we could move one layer at a time. To begin with it was difficult to use Photoshop as there is so much to it but once we learnt the basics it was easier to create different things and we discovered other features of the software and found out how to do things in an easier and quicker way. We also used Photoshop for the digipack and magazine advert. After creating our Photoshop images we then had to transfer them to a programme called Final Cut Express. In this programme we could put our images with sounds track. We could move each layer from Photoshop in a sequence which was saved and when played was an animation. To document our progress we were able to get screen grabs of the programmes we used and put them on our blog in a website called blogger.com. using blogger meant documenting all our computer was easier to do and we could also have it public for other people in our class or for our teacher look out and then comment on. This was also a good way of displaying and explaining what problems we faced creating animation. We could also import the images created for the video from Photoshop to the blog. After finishing our video we had to use a programme called QuickTime so we were able to publish our video on the internet using Youtune.com. We also had to publish our video to put it on to out blog. Having our video on Youtube meant anyone anywhere could watch our it. The biggest problem we faced with animation was rendering. In order to watch our video whilst making it we had to render the sound with the music and each animation together. This took up a lot of our time and we could have got more in our video if we didn’t have to wait to watch what we had just animated. But we managed to get round the problem and save some of the time by using another Mac to animate on then use a USB stick to transfer as we could not use final cut express whilst rendering. Without the use of all these websites and programmes it wouldn’t have been possible to make an animated video which is all computerized. It is so much faster and fewer complexes to anyone to create a video of there own and have it published over the internet now we have so much software available
Looking back on the video and how we had to create it I think we done well. We learnt a lot of things about the computers and software we used. If I were to repeat it again I think we should try computerized animation and creating a scene from hand then capturing freeze frames at the beginning after we had an idea so we could see which one would have worked. I was very happy with final outcome for all three products.
Friday 11 December 2009
Evaluation
Our media products include a full length music video, a digi pack cover and a magazine advert. The track we chose to promote was an indie/pop song called An Oak Tree by Get Cape Wear Cape Fly. After researching the band we thought an animation for the video would work well as the genre left a wide variety of option for us as the conventions of the genre (indie/pop) also include alternative themes. Many indie/pop artists promote there music by including shots of them playing there instruments and having a ‘rock look’. The animation idea goes against these conventions and promotes the band as unique, making them stand out from other similar bands to their audience.
The animation we did created a narrative which linked to the lyrics which is one of Goodwin’s points. Goodwin’s points are numerous observations of conventions of a music video and many of these are seen throughout professional music videos. The genre of the song allowed us to make a video that did not even include an image of the band. The non representative aspect was established and works well with the genre of the song. If we had more time we would have included a greater variety of shots, edited at faster intervals to create better visuals for the pace of the song, however, with the time we had I think we did the best we could. We changed the scene of our video various times in order to keep the audience entertained but still keeping a similar style throughout.
The animations, bright colours and fun looking animals are also conventions of how to promote for a younger audience, almost childlike. To make sure our products still attracted the indie target audience we used some features that would normally be seen on their products, such as black font, ratings from popular music industries to their genre and the band are also seen in dark coloured clothes within the magazine advert. The dark clothes are usual of the indie music genre and this stands out against the brightly coloured background.
Our digi pack included conventions found in real DVD products such as, DVD video logo, certificate, ratings from well known music industries such as Kiss FM, a production logo and a bar code. We found these conventions from our own knowledge and while researching similar bands of the same genres digi packs. We included a running time on the back along with the names of the producers and production company. The bands website is clearly indicated so the consumer can find out more information. An image of the band is clearly shown on the front cover with the name of the band and album clearly surrounding it. The image of the band clearly resembles an oak tree which brings in visuals relating to the video reminding the audience of our other products. This also combines the two products together creating a clear link between them. This keeps the audience clear of the products they are buying and makes the minimum changes keep the focus on the product itself rather than the packaging it is contained in.
The magazine advert included an image of the band, like the digi pack, but without the cartoon editing. The rest of the magazine advert also includes conventions of real adverts such as music industry ratings, the name of the band and album and a website to find out more information. It includes similar imagery to the other media products such as the leaves in the background and the animals. Having consistency is one of the most important conventions to follow I believe as it keeps a professional feel as well as linking all the shots together in a smooth process. Without the consistency the piece may skip pieces out or make the piece not understandable. By continually checking our editing and by receiving feedback we were able to tackle this convention to keep our video looking professional.
The combination of our three media products contain evidence of continuity throughout to relate to one another. The cartoon presentation is included in all three products in numerous ways, such as the background of the digi pack and the animals in the magazine cover. The font is fairly similar in both the digi pack and magazine advert which is creates consistency making it stand out from other products and is bold to the audience. The styles of font, images and colours are all unique to the band and are all shown in a number of ideas that are really effective. The image of the band representing the title of the main song is rarely seen in other media products and is also unique, relating back to the conventions of the genre of music. The audience will recognise the images shown on the magazine advert with the music video and this may stand out to them, persuading them to purchase the product.
The music video and the ancillary texts work well together as they are clearly related to one another by the styles they consist of. The images of the dog, hedgehog and birds are all seen within the magazine advert and music video and this combines the two products well as the link is really clear. Other smaller details that link the products together can also be seen with such details as the font similarity within the digi pack and magazine advert. The leaves on the background of the magazine advert are to link the design with the song title as well as including the earthy colour scheme. It also gives the design a little bit of variety from the other pieces while still maintaining consistency. Keeping a link between all the products is important as it keeps the image simple for the audience and makes it clear to them that the product is the same that they have seen promoted. It also keeps to the conventions of the genre of the band and song to enable an understanding of what the consumer is really purchasing. It also means that the correct target audience are going to be interested in the product enabling the maximum potential for the product.
Our audience feedback helped us to realise we needed to add more detail on our blog and add more information about the decisions we made. One of the feedback points presented to us about our music video was that the digi pack and magazine advert should match the style of the video. Therefore we made sure we did this to keep a nice consistent theme. It also came from our audience so keeping them happy and introducing there ideas means that our overall product is going to be more specific to what they want creating better results. By using YouTube we were able to show our music video to other people and therefore receive more feedback. This meant we were able to see what people of other ages and locations thought, instead of just the people within our own media classroom. This left us with more suggestions to work with that we were able to incorporate into our final pieces.
To complete all our media products we had to become very good with Photoshop as it is included in all our pieces. I think we did very well with the knowledge we already knew and we have all improved greatly with the program to become confident with it. We were able to insert our images into Final Cut Express to produce our video and the outcome worked very well as the final feedback showed that the audience were impressed with our ideas and how we presented them. As the new media technology allows us to create more ideas and present them in a wider variety of ways we had greater opportunity to adapt our ideas and change them to suit our audience’s views. As the programs are designed to be democratic it did not take us long to become good enough at using Photoshop and Final Cut Express to create our finished products.
We used the internet to research for our products which is always easy to access. The internet is a new media technology and is being updated all the time. Anybody can add information to the internet and because of this there was a large number of resources available and there was always something we could use. Without the internet our resources would have been very much limited and the access to the information would have been harder as we would have had to have travelled to a music store or to someone with knowledge of the band to be able to gather ideas and find what we were looking for. We were also able to use the internet to research other media products that were similar to our ideas and the genre of our song. We were then able to extract ideas and conventions from our findings and use them to incorporate with our own pieces. The internet was also used to create a blog that we updated regularly to keep track of our ideas as well as planning and development stages. We were able to get feedback on the blog of our products and incorporate the results into our pieces which were very beneficial to us. We were also able to explain our ideas to our audience to create a better understanding.
Overall I think the hardest part of the whole project were using the new media technologies in a confident way and finalising our video. We had many problems with the time it took to render the video as when we left it for a long while before rendering; we had to wait well over an hour for it to be completed. During this time we kept our blog updated and carried on researching to create more ideas of what we could do to improve our video. We were also able to start research for our ancillary texts and gather ideas by following conventions. Editing our video was fairly easy and was just stressful when we had to wait to see what we had created because of the render waiting time. Having previous knowledge of Final Cut Express helped greatly as we were more confident and knew more about what the software was capable of. Without this knowledge our products would not have been as well developed and unique. However, I also think if we had more time we could have incorporated a few more images to create a more diverse visual display for our video and we could have added more animals and features to make the scene more realistic. The group I was with was good as we all shared similar ideas and we were all confident enough to express our individual ideas to create our final pieces. This was beneficial as we were able to use the best ideas and firstly see how well they worked, before finally deciding whether to keep them or not.
I feel that with the time we had, we were able to create products to our best ability and if we had more time we would have been able to produce more professional looking pieces. If I were to do this again I think I would try a different genre of music and a different media style. I think working in front of the camera would be easier than creating images from scratch like we did this time and this would allow us to have more time in the editing stages to create a more professional looking piece. I enjoyed the project and I believe I have learnt a lot from it, especially now that I can use Photoshop with more confidence.
Word count: 1952
The animation we did created a narrative which linked to the lyrics which is one of Goodwin’s points. Goodwin’s points are numerous observations of conventions of a music video and many of these are seen throughout professional music videos. The genre of the song allowed us to make a video that did not even include an image of the band. The non representative aspect was established and works well with the genre of the song. If we had more time we would have included a greater variety of shots, edited at faster intervals to create better visuals for the pace of the song, however, with the time we had I think we did the best we could. We changed the scene of our video various times in order to keep the audience entertained but still keeping a similar style throughout.
The animations, bright colours and fun looking animals are also conventions of how to promote for a younger audience, almost childlike. To make sure our products still attracted the indie target audience we used some features that would normally be seen on their products, such as black font, ratings from popular music industries to their genre and the band are also seen in dark coloured clothes within the magazine advert. The dark clothes are usual of the indie music genre and this stands out against the brightly coloured background.
Our digi pack included conventions found in real DVD products such as, DVD video logo, certificate, ratings from well known music industries such as Kiss FM, a production logo and a bar code. We found these conventions from our own knowledge and while researching similar bands of the same genres digi packs. We included a running time on the back along with the names of the producers and production company. The bands website is clearly indicated so the consumer can find out more information. An image of the band is clearly shown on the front cover with the name of the band and album clearly surrounding it. The image of the band clearly resembles an oak tree which brings in visuals relating to the video reminding the audience of our other products. This also combines the two products together creating a clear link between them. This keeps the audience clear of the products they are buying and makes the minimum changes keep the focus on the product itself rather than the packaging it is contained in.
The magazine advert included an image of the band, like the digi pack, but without the cartoon editing. The rest of the magazine advert also includes conventions of real adverts such as music industry ratings, the name of the band and album and a website to find out more information. It includes similar imagery to the other media products such as the leaves in the background and the animals. Having consistency is one of the most important conventions to follow I believe as it keeps a professional feel as well as linking all the shots together in a smooth process. Without the consistency the piece may skip pieces out or make the piece not understandable. By continually checking our editing and by receiving feedback we were able to tackle this convention to keep our video looking professional.
The combination of our three media products contain evidence of continuity throughout to relate to one another. The cartoon presentation is included in all three products in numerous ways, such as the background of the digi pack and the animals in the magazine cover. The font is fairly similar in both the digi pack and magazine advert which is creates consistency making it stand out from other products and is bold to the audience. The styles of font, images and colours are all unique to the band and are all shown in a number of ideas that are really effective. The image of the band representing the title of the main song is rarely seen in other media products and is also unique, relating back to the conventions of the genre of music. The audience will recognise the images shown on the magazine advert with the music video and this may stand out to them, persuading them to purchase the product.
The music video and the ancillary texts work well together as they are clearly related to one another by the styles they consist of. The images of the dog, hedgehog and birds are all seen within the magazine advert and music video and this combines the two products well as the link is really clear. Other smaller details that link the products together can also be seen with such details as the font similarity within the digi pack and magazine advert. The leaves on the background of the magazine advert are to link the design with the song title as well as including the earthy colour scheme. It also gives the design a little bit of variety from the other pieces while still maintaining consistency. Keeping a link between all the products is important as it keeps the image simple for the audience and makes it clear to them that the product is the same that they have seen promoted. It also keeps to the conventions of the genre of the band and song to enable an understanding of what the consumer is really purchasing. It also means that the correct target audience are going to be interested in the product enabling the maximum potential for the product.
Our audience feedback helped us to realise we needed to add more detail on our blog and add more information about the decisions we made. One of the feedback points presented to us about our music video was that the digi pack and magazine advert should match the style of the video. Therefore we made sure we did this to keep a nice consistent theme. It also came from our audience so keeping them happy and introducing there ideas means that our overall product is going to be more specific to what they want creating better results. By using YouTube we were able to show our music video to other people and therefore receive more feedback. This meant we were able to see what people of other ages and locations thought, instead of just the people within our own media classroom. This left us with more suggestions to work with that we were able to incorporate into our final pieces.
To complete all our media products we had to become very good with Photoshop as it is included in all our pieces. I think we did very well with the knowledge we already knew and we have all improved greatly with the program to become confident with it. We were able to insert our images into Final Cut Express to produce our video and the outcome worked very well as the final feedback showed that the audience were impressed with our ideas and how we presented them. As the new media technology allows us to create more ideas and present them in a wider variety of ways we had greater opportunity to adapt our ideas and change them to suit our audience’s views. As the programs are designed to be democratic it did not take us long to become good enough at using Photoshop and Final Cut Express to create our finished products.
We used the internet to research for our products which is always easy to access. The internet is a new media technology and is being updated all the time. Anybody can add information to the internet and because of this there was a large number of resources available and there was always something we could use. Without the internet our resources would have been very much limited and the access to the information would have been harder as we would have had to have travelled to a music store or to someone with knowledge of the band to be able to gather ideas and find what we were looking for. We were also able to use the internet to research other media products that were similar to our ideas and the genre of our song. We were then able to extract ideas and conventions from our findings and use them to incorporate with our own pieces. The internet was also used to create a blog that we updated regularly to keep track of our ideas as well as planning and development stages. We were able to get feedback on the blog of our products and incorporate the results into our pieces which were very beneficial to us. We were also able to explain our ideas to our audience to create a better understanding.
Overall I think the hardest part of the whole project were using the new media technologies in a confident way and finalising our video. We had many problems with the time it took to render the video as when we left it for a long while before rendering; we had to wait well over an hour for it to be completed. During this time we kept our blog updated and carried on researching to create more ideas of what we could do to improve our video. We were also able to start research for our ancillary texts and gather ideas by following conventions. Editing our video was fairly easy and was just stressful when we had to wait to see what we had created because of the render waiting time. Having previous knowledge of Final Cut Express helped greatly as we were more confident and knew more about what the software was capable of. Without this knowledge our products would not have been as well developed and unique. However, I also think if we had more time we could have incorporated a few more images to create a more diverse visual display for our video and we could have added more animals and features to make the scene more realistic. The group I was with was good as we all shared similar ideas and we were all confident enough to express our individual ideas to create our final pieces. This was beneficial as we were able to use the best ideas and firstly see how well they worked, before finally deciding whether to keep them or not.
I feel that with the time we had, we were able to create products to our best ability and if we had more time we would have been able to produce more professional looking pieces. If I were to do this again I think I would try a different genre of music and a different media style. I think working in front of the camera would be easier than creating images from scratch like we did this time and this would allow us to have more time in the editing stages to create a more professional looking piece. I enjoyed the project and I believe I have learnt a lot from it, especially now that I can use Photoshop with more confidence.
Word count: 1952
An Oak Tree Evaluation
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Our video is an animation. We chose to do an animation because we thought it would be more interesting to link the lyrics and the visuals together for the subject of the song (an oak tree) also an animation is actually quite original seeing as not many other groups have done it. Our music video isn’t very good in the way that it represents the artist. As you can see the video is all an animation, so the artist is never actually seen in the video. But on the other hand it could be quite a good representation for the record company as its original and stands out so hopefully people will remember it more. Our genre is “indie” and you find most indie videos to be surreal much like our animation. And as it’s quite different from the average indie video it could appeal to audiences of a wider range. Even though there isn’t any music videos that are at all like ours I did find some videos that used elements of animation for example Major Lazor-Keep It Goin' Louder feat. Nina Sky and Ricky Blaze and Christina Aguilera-Car Wash and Kate Winslet-What If. But in all of these videos the animation only pops up in little bits unlike ours, which runs all the way through.
For our music video we managed to include one of the main suggestions of Goodwin’s points which was the lyrics relates to visuals. Goodwins points are a good way of learning some boundaries of making a music video.
In our music video we did not use the camera at all; all the work was done on the computer. We used Photoshop to create all the images and final cut express to animate them and put them all together. We also didn’t use any lighting as it wasn’t needed for the animation. The mise en scene in our music video was included all in the frame for example the type of tree we chose, the animals, the background, and what style the cartoon would be animated in. animation gives you a lot more freedom to mess around a play with the video to how you wanted. We weren’t given that much freedom with our specific video because of the detailed lyrics we had to stick to a certain animatic form. All of our video is basically the same shot, so you could say that the whole animation demonstrates that we watched other music videos with animation in, for example milkmaid by former Long Road students sort of inspired us, as well as the Ben and Jerry’s advert, which although it isn’t a real music video it still uses elements of animation and jolly music much like our video.
The similarities between our digipack design and some actual album covers I have seen is much like Kanye Wests graduation digipack. They both use animation. Kanye west uses the bear which is recognisable for him as an artist. If you see the bear you know that it is something to do with him, so you don’t even need a photo because he’s so famous. Where as our animation is of a tree, but we still have the images of our faces added in because obviously we aren’t that famous.We have used many conventions for a magazine advert in our magazine cover for example its got a 5 star rating which you can usually see on any song or video being released. It also says it’s out now, which you can also find. It’s got the title on it and the website, which you see on most adverts, so it can link you to further information about the product.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
In our animation the main feature is an oak tree, which links to the title of the song “An Oak Tree” We linked up the ancillary texts by using the same image in the magazine advert, and the digipack, so it shows that all our products are actually connected. By using an image in the majority of the products it makes it pretty clear what the song is about. We used the same texts in both products so it would be easier to link them up. We connected our products up to the video in different ways for example the magazine adverts animals were also featured in the video. As well as that, the background that we used for the digipack was the background that we used for our actual video. And the font on both the magazine advert and the digipack was similar. The photograph of our group that I made to look like a cartoon oak tree stands out because it is quite original so hopefully people will remember it and it will promote the song and the band. By making all of our products so similar it makes it easier for the audiences to differentiate our band and our song from different bands and their songs. It is important when trying to promote a band or a music video that you keep continuity up so the audience is able to easily link up all the products to do with the band. That’s why we tried to keep our digipack, magazine advert and music video all very similar. You’re able to promote the song and the band if you have a special feature, for example our oak tree, everyone will connect the oak tree to our band and our song.
What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
We got feedback throughout the making of our music video, some from our teacher , and some from other groups in the class. We did find the feedback very helpful, and took what the audience said on board. The audience gave us feedback on the blog, our Digipack, the Rough-cut video, the advert and our final video. Sadly not all the feedback was positive but we listened to all the negative comments and used them to try and make our project better. Our music video has been put up on Youtube because it is a good place to get yourself noticed and promote your band and sadly our video has been on You Tube for about three weeks and has not yet received any ratings or reviews. One of our audiences made a point that there wasn’t much variation in the shots that we had, and we agreed so we added some different angles in for example when the musical notes and the leaves appear in the video, that got put in that was because of feedback. In a professional industry, feedback from the audience can make the difference between success and failure. That’s why sometimes you can get special previews in films so the directors and producers and makers of the film get a chance to listen to the feedback and make changes if they have too. Feedback is vital, because your product is aimed at the audience so if they aren’t happy with it you’ve got to change it to benefit them, as they are the people that can make or break your creation. Feedback from Our teacher told us that our screen grabs are really good in showing how we are getting on with the project and progressing through it all. We got a few positive comments for our final video people said it looked unique, time consuming, and the visuals matched the lyrics. We had hoped that the audience would notice these factors so was glad to see they had. They also said that some of the images could have been faster paced,I feel that the audience thought that the animation could have been a bit quicker to fit in with the animation. But it wasn’t terrible but I do understand where the feedback is coming from though. The effect of editing really reflects the pace of the song. Also the magazine and DVD cover should have matched with the music video. We didn’t want to make it completely match because we wanted to show the audience what else we were capable of other than animation.
How did you use new media technologies in the construction of research, planning and evaluation stages?
We used a wide range of new media technologies in the construction of our research, planning and our evaluation stages such as the internet, Photoshop, paint, Youtube, blogger, myspace, facebook, and final cut express we used the internet for research on the band ideas for the video and similar videos to see what other people had done and the variation between the different genres. We used Youtube to watch the different music videos and upload our video so it was available for the world to see. Blogger helped us keep a log of our progress and it helped us keep track of what we had to do and what we had done. We also were able to get feedback off this and look at other groups projects. We used myspace and facebook to try and get hold of the band; sadly we didn’t get any response. But we were able to get a bit more background information on the band and see how they promote themselves and the types of different songs that they have made. I used paint to create my own unique image of our group as an oak tree. Paint isn’t available on the pc Macs at college so I had to do this at home. Photoshop was used a lot in the making of our animation, the background, tree, bench, swing, sky, animals and of course the oak tree was created on this by just using simple tools such as the paintbrush. Without final cut express we wouldn’t have been able to animate our drawings, we were able to add effects, and put all the drawings together so it came out as a video and we were able to play around with it so it all matched in with the lyrics of the song. Technology places a vital role in our lives today, without it we wouldn’t be able to do so many things, stay in touch with friends, find out what’s going on in the world, upload pictures and listen to music and much more. The internet enables us to do so many things and it played a vital role in helping us with our music video. It also helps to promote things. The world wide web is used by the majority of people and is a great place to promote bands, videos and games as well as a lot more. For example the internet lets people from Australia watch our music video and read about our blog. Without the internet we wouldn’t have been able to log our progress or promote it, or upload the music video onto various different sites such as youtube and blogger. The internet is a great access point, and I think now in this modern world we would be completely lost without it, because everyone is so dependant on it.
Overall I am pleased with the outcome of our video, it took a lot of time to do and was a lot of heard work, and is the first piece of animation i've ever been involved in before. If I could make any changes I would have a bit more variation in the shots. But am glad it’s finally finished. And now feel that I am now more skilled in using Photoshop and final cut express.
1942 words
Thursday 10 December 2009
Evaluation
For our music video task we chose the song An Oak Tree by Get Cape Wear Cape Fly. We chose this song because it immediately stood out to us because we had already discussed ideas for our music video. We decided to do an animation music video straight away because we thought this would be a great way to develop our computer skills and try something different. Once deciding on animation we then had to choose a song, we chose this song because once listening to it we thought it would link well with our original ideas. We also thought, because we would use graphic style on all three of our products, this would make our Digi Pack and Magazine advert stand out.
By looking at other media products we discovered conventions of other media products. For the music video, we watched a lot of animated music videos and adverts such as the Ben and Jerry’s adverts and Car Wash by Christina Aguilera. Both of these included some non animated features, however in our music video we chose to have the whole thing animation. By deciding on animation in our music video this challenges the convention of a music video because after looking at some music videos there was a small percentage that were animation. In the video we chose to link the music and the visuals because this would give more of an impact and the animated visuals would explain to the audience what the song is about. The song is fast paced however we chose to make the visuals slowly flow together because we thought this would be more effective. For the Digi Pack, we looked at a lot of famous artists DVD covers such as Madonna, Michael Jackson and Beyonce to see what their covers included. We found them to include a barcode, DVD logo, running time, track list, a production logo and a lot of colour. To follow the conventions, we used these on our Digi Pack. On our Digi Pack we used the font Biro in black; we thought this font looked good because it looked more like an indie Digi Pack, than just looking like something for a child. The image of the band on the font of our Digi Pack is a photo which has been adapted to look like a tree, this was done on paint. By making the image look half drawn it shows what to expect in the music video, and that because the song is called An Oak Tree by creating the image to look like an oak tree it shows that our video is going to be linked to the lyrics of the song. For the Magazine advert, we again looked at other magazine adverts to get an idea of what to include in ours if we were to follow conventions. By looking at other magazine adverts we found them to include a source for more information, a quote from an artist or newspaper, large bold font and a lot of different colours, other than the majority of magazine adverts were very different. To follow the conventions we decided to use most of the things a magazine advert would include. We used a quote from a radio station, large, bold font to show that the video is out now and a website for people who wanted more information. For the images on the front of the advert we used an image of the band and some drawn animals. By using the animals created on Photoshop again we created the graphic style to the advert.
The genre of the song is indie so by doing something different and not something you would expect to find in an indie video we would expect the video to appeal to a wider audience. A lot of indie music videos are of the band performing and there is a lot going on, however to challenge conventions we chose to use a simple idea and not include the band in the video at all. In our video we created a nostalgic feeling for the audience so that our video would not only appeal to indie music fans but to people who liked the video.
By making all of our media products similar it links them all and makes it obvious what the song is and promotes a clear identity of the band. Our song is called An Oak Tree and the video we created included an oak tree, so by using an earthy colour scheme on the ancillary texts all three products are related to each other. To link the ancillary texts we used the same image on both, however by having one original image and one image that has been transformed, it makes the ancillary texts look abstract and surreal. Drawn animals used on the front of the magazine advert were originally used in the video and the background of the Digi Pack was also originally used in the video. On the two ancillary products a similar font was used, this may be the typical font for the band so that the band is recognised or it could be just the font of the three products for the song An Oak Tree, therefore either the song or the band is identified. By using the same or similar features on the three products it makes it easy for the audience to distinguish An Oak Tree by Get Cape Wear Cape Fly next to other artists. The audience also may recognise characteristics from the products such as seeing the animals on the magazine advert and then seeing them in the video.
From other people watching and looking at our products throughout the construction stages and the final pieces we received a lot of feedback. Feedback can distinguish between success and failure. Creating a music video which attracts an audience is essential. Whether the target audience likes or dislikes the products is the most important factor because if the target audience doesn’t like the products then the products will not be successful. For our music video and ancillary products we received very helpful feedback because it included positive comments but also some constructive criticism. Throughout the construction stages whenever get received feedback we would take what the audience had said on board and adapt our products. We received feedback on our final music video, magazine advert, digi pack, rough-cut video and blog. Feedback on the blog was especially important because our planning stages were included on here and our main ideas so by getting feedback on this we could modify our plans to the audience’s preferences. After the final products were completed there was a range of feedback. Positive comments were that its unique, stands out over other music videos, the visuals matched the lyrics and the ancillary products tie in well with the video. We did receive some negative feedback which was that we should have used the image from the music video of the oak tree on the two ancillary products and the font should have been the same on the two ancillary products. If we had more time we would have used these negative comments to change our products. Feedback is really important in this kind of industry, market testing takes place before the video and ancillary products are released so that it can be determined whether the products are going to be successful, or a failure. After market testing, if the products do not appeal to the target audience then construction stages will have to commence to get the video to appeal to the target audience.
There are a range of new media technologies now available, however this was not always so. Anyone now can make a music video using the different technologies and they have been designed to be democratic so it wouldn’t take long for beginners to learn. The advantages of having new media technologies is that anyone who has a limited or a lot of knowledge of computers would be able to use the applications without much of a struggle. Also there is now a lot more you can do on these technologies than you could do 20 years ago, such as make an animated video using an application called Final Cut Express. However the disadvantages of new media products are that it’s quite hard to access of computers which have these technologies and buying a new computer with these new applications could become expensive.
When producing our music video we used Final Cut Express and Photoshop. We created the individual images on Photoshop and then imported them onto Final Cut Express to fit them together and animate them. Animating out images was the most time consuming part of creating all three of our products, this was because once animating these images we then had to wait for our video to render so that we could watch the animation to see if it looked good.
As a group didn’t really have a wide knowledge of how to use the new media technologies so in the planning stages of our products we put some time aside to develop our skills on the media technologies we were planning to use so that time wouldn’t be wasted on struggling to produce each media product, however at this point we did not realise how much time we would need to render the video because it was animation. Throughout the construction stages of our video a lot of the time was spent waiting for the video to render so that we could watch it. The longest time needed to render was 4 hours. However we discovered that you can render the video in a poorer quality which was quicker so less time was wasted and then when converting the video into QuickTime it would automatically render our video in a better quality. We used the internet to research our band and the conventions of other media products. A lot of information can be retrieved from the internet so this was helpful in the research stages. To get more information about the band we e-mailed them however disappointingly they didn’t reply, but we hope that they enjoy our products.
Overall, the planning and constructing of all three of our media products went as well as it could have gone considering the amount of time we had. If we were to do this task again I think that we would think more about the time needed to create and render an animated music video. Also I think if we had known that it would take a long time to render our video we would have used this time more efficiently creating our ancillary products. If we had more time then we would have made sure our music video was as good as it could have been by rendering the final piece so that we could check it instead of rushing and just Quick Timing it without watching it first. Animation and creating a graphic effect was a challenging task for us but as a group we are happy with our final products which we had put a lot of time and effort into.
By looking at other media products we discovered conventions of other media products. For the music video, we watched a lot of animated music videos and adverts such as the Ben and Jerry’s adverts and Car Wash by Christina Aguilera. Both of these included some non animated features, however in our music video we chose to have the whole thing animation. By deciding on animation in our music video this challenges the convention of a music video because after looking at some music videos there was a small percentage that were animation. In the video we chose to link the music and the visuals because this would give more of an impact and the animated visuals would explain to the audience what the song is about. The song is fast paced however we chose to make the visuals slowly flow together because we thought this would be more effective. For the Digi Pack, we looked at a lot of famous artists DVD covers such as Madonna, Michael Jackson and Beyonce to see what their covers included. We found them to include a barcode, DVD logo, running time, track list, a production logo and a lot of colour. To follow the conventions, we used these on our Digi Pack. On our Digi Pack we used the font Biro in black; we thought this font looked good because it looked more like an indie Digi Pack, than just looking like something for a child. The image of the band on the font of our Digi Pack is a photo which has been adapted to look like a tree, this was done on paint. By making the image look half drawn it shows what to expect in the music video, and that because the song is called An Oak Tree by creating the image to look like an oak tree it shows that our video is going to be linked to the lyrics of the song. For the Magazine advert, we again looked at other magazine adverts to get an idea of what to include in ours if we were to follow conventions. By looking at other magazine adverts we found them to include a source for more information, a quote from an artist or newspaper, large bold font and a lot of different colours, other than the majority of magazine adverts were very different. To follow the conventions we decided to use most of the things a magazine advert would include. We used a quote from a radio station, large, bold font to show that the video is out now and a website for people who wanted more information. For the images on the front of the advert we used an image of the band and some drawn animals. By using the animals created on Photoshop again we created the graphic style to the advert.
The genre of the song is indie so by doing something different and not something you would expect to find in an indie video we would expect the video to appeal to a wider audience. A lot of indie music videos are of the band performing and there is a lot going on, however to challenge conventions we chose to use a simple idea and not include the band in the video at all. In our video we created a nostalgic feeling for the audience so that our video would not only appeal to indie music fans but to people who liked the video.
By making all of our media products similar it links them all and makes it obvious what the song is and promotes a clear identity of the band. Our song is called An Oak Tree and the video we created included an oak tree, so by using an earthy colour scheme on the ancillary texts all three products are related to each other. To link the ancillary texts we used the same image on both, however by having one original image and one image that has been transformed, it makes the ancillary texts look abstract and surreal. Drawn animals used on the front of the magazine advert were originally used in the video and the background of the Digi Pack was also originally used in the video. On the two ancillary products a similar font was used, this may be the typical font for the band so that the band is recognised or it could be just the font of the three products for the song An Oak Tree, therefore either the song or the band is identified. By using the same or similar features on the three products it makes it easy for the audience to distinguish An Oak Tree by Get Cape Wear Cape Fly next to other artists. The audience also may recognise characteristics from the products such as seeing the animals on the magazine advert and then seeing them in the video.
From other people watching and looking at our products throughout the construction stages and the final pieces we received a lot of feedback. Feedback can distinguish between success and failure. Creating a music video which attracts an audience is essential. Whether the target audience likes or dislikes the products is the most important factor because if the target audience doesn’t like the products then the products will not be successful. For our music video and ancillary products we received very helpful feedback because it included positive comments but also some constructive criticism. Throughout the construction stages whenever get received feedback we would take what the audience had said on board and adapt our products. We received feedback on our final music video, magazine advert, digi pack, rough-cut video and blog. Feedback on the blog was especially important because our planning stages were included on here and our main ideas so by getting feedback on this we could modify our plans to the audience’s preferences. After the final products were completed there was a range of feedback. Positive comments were that its unique, stands out over other music videos, the visuals matched the lyrics and the ancillary products tie in well with the video. We did receive some negative feedback which was that we should have used the image from the music video of the oak tree on the two ancillary products and the font should have been the same on the two ancillary products. If we had more time we would have used these negative comments to change our products. Feedback is really important in this kind of industry, market testing takes place before the video and ancillary products are released so that it can be determined whether the products are going to be successful, or a failure. After market testing, if the products do not appeal to the target audience then construction stages will have to commence to get the video to appeal to the target audience.
There are a range of new media technologies now available, however this was not always so. Anyone now can make a music video using the different technologies and they have been designed to be democratic so it wouldn’t take long for beginners to learn. The advantages of having new media technologies is that anyone who has a limited or a lot of knowledge of computers would be able to use the applications without much of a struggle. Also there is now a lot more you can do on these technologies than you could do 20 years ago, such as make an animated video using an application called Final Cut Express. However the disadvantages of new media products are that it’s quite hard to access of computers which have these technologies and buying a new computer with these new applications could become expensive.
When producing our music video we used Final Cut Express and Photoshop. We created the individual images on Photoshop and then imported them onto Final Cut Express to fit them together and animate them. Animating out images was the most time consuming part of creating all three of our products, this was because once animating these images we then had to wait for our video to render so that we could watch the animation to see if it looked good.
As a group didn’t really have a wide knowledge of how to use the new media technologies so in the planning stages of our products we put some time aside to develop our skills on the media technologies we were planning to use so that time wouldn’t be wasted on struggling to produce each media product, however at this point we did not realise how much time we would need to render the video because it was animation. Throughout the construction stages of our video a lot of the time was spent waiting for the video to render so that we could watch it. The longest time needed to render was 4 hours. However we discovered that you can render the video in a poorer quality which was quicker so less time was wasted and then when converting the video into QuickTime it would automatically render our video in a better quality. We used the internet to research our band and the conventions of other media products. A lot of information can be retrieved from the internet so this was helpful in the research stages. To get more information about the band we e-mailed them however disappointingly they didn’t reply, but we hope that they enjoy our products.
Overall, the planning and constructing of all three of our media products went as well as it could have gone considering the amount of time we had. If we were to do this task again I think that we would think more about the time needed to create and render an animated music video. Also I think if we had known that it would take a long time to render our video we would have used this time more efficiently creating our ancillary products. If we had more time then we would have made sure our music video was as good as it could have been by rendering the final piece so that we could check it instead of rushing and just Quick Timing it without watching it first. Animation and creating a graphic effect was a challenging task for us but as a group we are happy with our final products which we had put a lot of time and effort into.
1860 words
Script
Hollie -
Our media products were a music video, digi pack and magazine advert based on animation to an indie track by 'Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. - An Oak Tree'. We looked at a variety of professional media products and one that stood out was an animated Ben and Jerrys tv advert. This gave us an understanding on conventions needed. The design of our digi pack uses the background from the video we made and contains the same cartoon theme with the clouds in the sky and how there is a cartoon computerized oak tree. The fonts on the magazine advert and digi pack are similar and a picture of the band is on the magazine advert but the background is not the same as the video and the digi pack but still sticks with the same cartoon theme. The actual video was all animated so it is surreal which is what you often see in an indie/pop music video, also because it was all computerized we were able to get the bright colours for the cartoon effect.
Emily -
By making our media products similar it shows that they are all linked and it is obvious that all of the products are by the same band. By researching other media products on the Internet we found other media products to include a barcode, running time, DVD video logo and a production logo; we used these on our products. On our Digi Pack and magazine advert to the video we used the same earthy colour scheme and a similar font. To link the three media products we used the same background on the magazine advert as we had used on the music video, the cartoon animals on the digi pack and on the music video and the same photo of the band on the digi pack and the magazine cover.
Fern -
We got feedback throughout the making of our music video, some from our teacher Emma, and some from other groups in the class. We did find the feedback very helpful, and took what the audience said on board. The audience gave us feedback on the blog, our Digi pack, the roughcut video, the advert and our final video. Sadly not all the feedback was positive but we listened to all the negative comments and used them to try and make our project better. Our music video has been put up on Youtube because it is a good place to get yourself noticed and promote your band and video. One of our audiences made a point that there wasn’t much variation in the shots that we had, and we agreed so we added some different angles in for example when the musical notes and the leaves, that got put in that was because of feedback. In a professional industry, feedback from the audience can make the difference between success and failure. That’s why sometimes you can get special previews in films so the directors and producers and makers of the film get a chance to listen to the feedback and make changes if they have too. Feedback is vital, because your product is aimed at the audience so if they aren’t happy with it you’ve got to change it to benefit them, as they are the people that can make or break your creation
Pippa -
New media technologies mean more opportunity to get across our ideas in the way we really want to. Different pieces of software were designed to create a variety of media products. We used Final Cut Express alongside Photoshop to create our animation within our music video. We designed our individual characters and backgrounds in Photoshop and then imported them into Final Cut Express to fit them all together and animate them. Our final outcome worked really well and our video links well to the genre of the song and the target audience. The new media technologies are easy to use as they are designed to be democratic so it did not take us too long to become confident at using them. We also used to internet to research for our band and gather ideas for our final pieces. The internet allows us to have access to a wide variety of resources and we were even able to email the band! Unfortunately they did not reply.
Our media products were a music video, digi pack and magazine advert based on animation to an indie track by 'Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. - An Oak Tree'. We looked at a variety of professional media products and one that stood out was an animated Ben and Jerrys tv advert. This gave us an understanding on conventions needed. The design of our digi pack uses the background from the video we made and contains the same cartoon theme with the clouds in the sky and how there is a cartoon computerized oak tree. The fonts on the magazine advert and digi pack are similar and a picture of the band is on the magazine advert but the background is not the same as the video and the digi pack but still sticks with the same cartoon theme. The actual video was all animated so it is surreal which is what you often see in an indie/pop music video, also because it was all computerized we were able to get the bright colours for the cartoon effect.
Emily -
By making our media products similar it shows that they are all linked and it is obvious that all of the products are by the same band. By researching other media products on the Internet we found other media products to include a barcode, running time, DVD video logo and a production logo; we used these on our products. On our Digi Pack and magazine advert to the video we used the same earthy colour scheme and a similar font. To link the three media products we used the same background on the magazine advert as we had used on the music video, the cartoon animals on the digi pack and on the music video and the same photo of the band on the digi pack and the magazine cover.
Fern -
We got feedback throughout the making of our music video, some from our teacher Emma, and some from other groups in the class. We did find the feedback very helpful, and took what the audience said on board. The audience gave us feedback on the blog, our Digi pack, the roughcut video, the advert and our final video. Sadly not all the feedback was positive but we listened to all the negative comments and used them to try and make our project better. Our music video has been put up on Youtube because it is a good place to get yourself noticed and promote your band and video. One of our audiences made a point that there wasn’t much variation in the shots that we had, and we agreed so we added some different angles in for example when the musical notes and the leaves, that got put in that was because of feedback. In a professional industry, feedback from the audience can make the difference between success and failure. That’s why sometimes you can get special previews in films so the directors and producers and makers of the film get a chance to listen to the feedback and make changes if they have too. Feedback is vital, because your product is aimed at the audience so if they aren’t happy with it you’ve got to change it to benefit them, as they are the people that can make or break your creation
Pippa -
New media technologies mean more opportunity to get across our ideas in the way we really want to. Different pieces of software were designed to create a variety of media products. We used Final Cut Express alongside Photoshop to create our animation within our music video. We designed our individual characters and backgrounds in Photoshop and then imported them into Final Cut Express to fit them all together and animate them. Our final outcome worked really well and our video links well to the genre of the song and the target audience. The new media technologies are easy to use as they are designed to be democratic so it did not take us too long to become confident at using them. We also used to internet to research for our band and gather ideas for our final pieces. The internet allows us to have access to a wide variety of resources and we were even able to email the band! Unfortunately they did not reply.
Tuesday 1 December 2009
Feedback
the products do promote the band,
you would have to no the band to realize its there's.
the DVD is a stronger product than the magazine cover
The product does have continuity of style similar colours, but should have used the actual oak tree in the DVD cover.
very bold and stands out, good creativity, images that were in the video it self which is effective.
it says kiss fm and thats only cambridge and ely.
you would have to no the band to realize its there's.
the DVD is a stronger product than the magazine cover
The product does have continuity of style similar colours, but should have used the actual oak tree in the DVD cover.
very bold and stands out, good creativity, images that were in the video it self which is effective.
it says kiss fm and thats only cambridge and ely.
feedback
Good use of font on the dvd cover however the font on the magazine ad should have been the same.
Ties in well with the music video
imaginative picture however it's kind of irrelevant
satisfactory information on case (special features etc.)
Ties in well with the music video
imaginative picture however it's kind of irrelevant
satisfactory information on case (special features etc.)