Q3 What have you learned from your audience feedback?

I showed my music video to a few friends and overall they enjoyed it.
I was told some constructive criticism in which me and the other member in our group changed. For example -
* We were asked to place a rainbow effect for all clips during the mid-section part of our music video in which there is a heavy instrumental part. We did this, and were told by media teachers that it looked much better. It also links into my ancillary tasks in which there is a rainbow-esque style theme throughout, in the flower imagery and in the brushes in the background.

Q3 What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

The whole purpose of using audience feedback is to receive comments and constructive criticism. For this, I can look at my ancillary tasks and my music footage and see what needs to be changed, and also see what people like. Also, because you are showing it to a varied audience, it enables you to exactly see and narrow down who your target audience is, or whether it appeals to your desire target audience.

Q2 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Unlike a film, or television program, a music video allowed us to visionary express the song of ‘Nancy Boy’ from our band ‘Vision’. It allows us to creatively show the band's song through the forms of location, costume and instruments. Instead of just hearing the song on the album, instead having a music video allows the audience to look up to the artist as a role-model, seeing the clothes and the attitude that they are representing. If you just listened to the song, it would not have the same impact as a music video does.

Q2 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The location shots that we chose were from two places. One was shot in a drama theatre room, and another was shot in a car park. We used the drama theatre room and set it up so that is resembles the warehouse style setting of the typical alternative music videos. I set the lighting so that it focuses on the members on the band, and the surrounding area looks dark so that all eyes are on the band. We also set up the band so that the drummer was behind the lead singer and the guitarist was behind the lead singer to the right. Because of this, the lead singer was the main focus of the shot always because she was in front and central to the staging.

Q2 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Linear structure is something else that we included into our music video. Our group however didn’t conform to the normalized convention of say a pop music video like ‘Cry me a River’ by Justin Timberlake in which there is a storyline that starts from beginning to end. Instead, we made it simply band-shots like in the music video ‘Rooftops’ by Lostprophets and ‘This Photograph is Proof’ by Taking Back Sunday. This is because we wanted to create an alternative feel, but most importantly it was to show the band off without having the distraction of a storyline

Q2 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The reason behind choosing to do a music video were due to the fact that an artist needs to be promoted and that when a specific target audience views their music video on a music channel or Youtube, they would hopefully enjoy the song and go out and buy the single/album. Another reason that a music video was chosen was because it enables an artist to express their individuality towards an audience. What they wear, their lyrics, their location shots and their style of music all provide a role model for the audience and something that they can look up too. This makes the audience want to follow the artist and buy all of their singles and watch all of their videos.

Q2 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The typical conventions of the alternative/Indie genre are from clothing, locations, and the mannerisms of the artists. For the clothing, typical styles including biker boots, black shorts/denim jeans, chequered blouses or slogan t-shirts, cardigans, and blackened make-up. This is known as ‘rocky’. We incorporated this into our music video with the lead singer wearing a slogan t-shirt, a grey long cardigan, black glitter shorts, black tights, and boots. We felt that this would best represent the artist as it has an alternative style of music and also it would be used as a style that could be looked up to from an audience that is a fan of the artist and music. Another convention is to show the band as a whole (in terms of Indie bands) and in a warehouse-esque style setting, which we used in our music video.

Q2 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

For my A2 media project, I decided to do a music video, and tying into that I chose to do more ancillary tasks in the form of a DVD cover and a music video. The artist that I chose was Placebo, with the song ‘Nancy Boy’. It was released in 1997 under their first self-titled album. It comes under the genre of alternative/Indie.

Q1 How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

The combination of my main product, which is my music video and my ancillary tasks I feel is very effective because I feel that my ancillary tasks that have a slight bold edge to them are reflected in the music video in which are clothing, our attitude and I find some of our camera shots in one of our locations are quite modern, which is what I wanted to show in my music video.

Q1 How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

I used the image of a flower because I felt it tied in with the swirl brushes that I used, and also with the fresh feel I wanted to portray for the band. I took a picture of a flower style of holder, and used Photoshop effects onto it, before placing it on my magazine article.

Q1 How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

I used the Photoshop brushes of vintage swirls in order to create something that would look ‘pretty’ against a black background. I originally had the brushes in the colour white, but I felt that it did not look professional, so I placed a rainbow gradient effect onto it. I then placed a 60% opacity effect on the brushes so that it blended into the background and didn’t stand out so much as it did before.

Q1 How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

I found the font ‘Ultimate Midnight’ on the website dafont.com. I chose this font because I felt it reflected the image that I wanted for the band – modern and sophisticated but with a bold edge – something that would stand out. I originally went for ‘Bleeding Cowboys’ but due to feedback, this had to change to a different font due to illegibility.

Q1 How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

The key element that I tried to incorporate into my ancillary tasks was the feeling of sophistication. I used the images of a flower, vintages swirls and rainbow style colouring in order to create this ‘fresh, modernized’ image for the band. The font that I used was called ‘Ultimate Midnight’ which I felt was bold and showed the clear name of the band which I called ‘Vision’.

Props Needed

* A microphone
* Bass Guitar
* Electric Guitar
* Drum Kit
* Clothing - grungy style, biker boots, leather jacket, shorts etc...
* Lighting needs to be focused on the singer, as opposed to before when the lead singer was not lit up at all.

Refilming

Today is the day that we finally start to re-film our music video.
Initially, we had just band shots that were of no use to us (as to be honest, we only filmed in the night and thus didn't have enough imagination in our creativity and cinematography...) so today hopefully, we can seeing as we now have some form of idea of what we want to do now, we can start to produce a better product. As I have been asked to do the camera work, I hope that what I can produce will be better than what we have already. Myself, I hope that I can make it so that it looks like we are in a warehouse, with the correct clothing and looking like an actual band...

JPEG of Magazine Article

Changes to DVD cover...

Yesterday I had to make some changes to my DVD cover:
* Change the font of my magazine article as a friend described it as being' rubbish, it looks like someone has shot it with a gun'. So due to this I have changed my font to something called 'Bleeding Cowboy's', which looks like this:



*I had to blur the edges of my flowers on both my DVD cover and on my magazine article so that it didn't look like I had just placed an image on my work - instead I needed it to look as professional as I could, merging it somewhat into the background as to make it less harsh and noticeable as a single photo.

* I did think about putting a flower behind my actual flowers, and changing it into a rainbow or black colored burn effect, however when I tried to do this it look to messy and I ended up deleting that layer. If I had get it in my photoshop work, it would of looked too cluttered and untidy...

*On my DVD cover there is a small mistake that I had to rectify - there is some of my rainbow brush effect overlaying my photo of the flower, when it should be behind. So I erased this brush effect so that it looks like the rest of the effect is behind the image.

Things I still need to do...

I still need to scan and upload my original artworks of my magazine article and dvd cover

I need to upload my magazine article from photoshop. For some reason it would not upload this morning due to 'an error'

Completion of Ancillary Tasks

Now I have completed all my ancillary tasks - the DVD cover, the inside of the DVD cover and my magazine article. From appearance, I feel that my magazine article and my DVD cover link very well together. I have a recurring theme through both products - the rainbow-esque style swirls and lettering, the same style of text and also the same photo-manipulation (a flower).
The reasoning behind why I chose the flower was purely due to the fact that I feel it links with sophistication and a 'fresh start' (flowers are associated with spring, spring is associated with a fresh start/change). I also feel that the black background which runs along side the bright blue coloring of the font, and the rainbow swirls that surround the products also link very well - in my opinion it all works together, making it nice to look at on the eye. I didn't want the tasks to be too 'random' or 'bright', I wanted it to be modern and sophisticated whilst still making a statement.

Magazine Article

Now, I have finished my magazine article. It is a lot different to what I first had planned out as now I have the photograph of a flower, as opposed to the microphone that I orginally first thought of.

Magazine Article

For my next ancillary task, I will be working on my magazine article. For this magazine design, I will be creating a border, which is blue and black with swirls. I will still be using the font of GINGA for my title of VISION so it can connect to my DVD cover. I will be placing the flower behind the title of VISION which is in the center of the paper. On it will be:

Vision: The Definite Album!
Featuring the hit songs 'Strut', 'Nancy Boy' and 'Motel/Hotel'

Will also feature tour dates...

INSIDE DVD COVER

JPEG Image of DVD Cover

Font Used

For my Photoshop work, I have used the font of GINGA... which I found on dafont.com.



I used this font because I found that it goes really well with the black and blue bordering of my DVD cover and magazine advert. The unique swirls that this font creates makes it look extremely sophisticated and appealing to look at, which is what I want my band to advertise - sophistication. I feel also, because I want to link my photo to the lettering, it can be easily incorporated into my photoshop work.

Using Photoshop Elements 6.0

Due to myself being off for a few days due to illness, I was unable to start on Photoshop Cs3 (which is the program that is being used in my school right now) so I have had to use my photoshop program at home called Photoshop Elements 6.0.

Photoshop Elements is quite different for Cs3 as it is a purely artwork based program, as opposed to Cs3 which is used for photograph manipulation, which is actually better for myself personally. Knowing how to install fonts and brushes, as well as using layers and effects in order to create a background etc...I have found starting on my Magazine Advert and my DVD cover quite easy (of course this is because I have had plenty of time to practice on the Elements software...)

I have only started on the background, which is black, with a blue stylish theme running throughout. I need to take pictures of a microphone and some shots of the band itself (so I will have to get all my group together...) so that I can start placing them into the photoshop piece.

The photo that I will be using for my ancillary tasks is said flower. I chose it because I thought it would be easy to manipulate onto Photoshop. Also flowers work well with swirls which I am going to be using in my magazine article.