MEDIA STUDIES BLOG 2015/16

http://joshspivack1.wixsite.com/mysite When looking at our website for our band we wanted to represent them as an organic and real band. This is why we have gone for the black and white style to give them that authentic image. We have gone for this type of theme throughout all our products including the music video and the digipak. We wanted the star image to come across on the website showing they are a simple band who just want to produce good music for their fans. As well as not having abstract colours to draw in fans as we focused on the music side of our band to increase our fanbase.  Our front page is different to many other bands website similar to ours. We wanted a big bold photo of our band to draw the attention of the audience to the band so they become more recognisable and well known. This is because we want to sell their image as a real and authentic band so we had a black ad white photo of the band in their smart clothes. This draws all the attention to the band in wh

We chose to change the text to white as we thought that it was much easier to read and also fit our theme better as it matches with out band logo.  We also included the record label logo on the CD so the audience is able to see what music company the band is represented by.  To create synergy between our digipak and music video, we used still shots taken from some of our edited footage. We chose shots that we felt best reflected ideas from our album such as being organic. On the inside we chose to use a picture taken on the day of filming our music video of our band members which is aimed to represent their love for music and making music. The tint of red is done to appeal more to the public when the album is on the shelves. 

My technological skill set developed between AS and A2, allowing me to expand and develop  a greater range of skills. These technologies were extensively used when it came to creating my media products. To research music videos similar to mine , I used YouTube, the most popular video broadcasting website in the world. This site allowed me to search for different pop/rock bands related to the product I wished to create and view their music videos i n order to gain an insight towards similar music videos. I used YouTube to investigate famous  bands such as kings of leon , the arctic monkeys and some some from one republic  I also investigated the like:dislik e ratio, which led me to understand what components within the music videos were liked by audiences, affording me a greater knowledge of what makes a successful  music video. I learnt about various aspects of music videos from a range of organic bands, such as how they are typically seen with there music instruments in a simple and

FEEDBACK FROM OUR WEBSITE From the feedback we have received, everyone gave very positive feedback. They all very much liked the black and white theme which continued from the music video. Furthermore the simplify of the website made it easy to navigate to the different parts of the website. They also believed that the hint of green was a nice addition and overall all the people interviewed loved it. FEEDBACK FROM OUR DIGIPAK The people that we interviewed like the photos of the band as it made it look like an old-school band cover.  They  also appreciated the choice of colours, although some did believe that the website should of been a bit brighter. However they did think that the font needed to be a different colour to stand out and catch the eye. FEEDBACK FROM A FOCUS GROUP some feedback given to improve our music video is that, they believed there should of been more of a narrative in the music video with a wider range.

Media Interviews 1 - What other bands are similar to yours and how have you influenced from them? We’ve noticed similarities between our band The Front Runners and bands like Arctic Monkeys, Kings Of Leon, Queens Of The Stone Age and The Killers.  However, we were also inspired by the style of different bands, shaping the fashion style in a similar way. We looked at how these artists created a smart, unique authentic look through the clothes they wore. They also presented a cool but smart look, suggesting to us that their image and appearance is not the most important thing in their success. We wanted to create an image which would make us stand out and be an organic band, which meant conforming to this style and the way that these artists dressed in order to help create an effective star image. 2 – Why did you focus solely on a live performance element for our music video?  The reason we wanted to do

What are codes and conventions? Codes and conventions and the predictable  and familiar forms and techniques used by media to communicate certain ideas or convey a desired impression In order to understand how codes are used, it is important to understand the signs systems and their conventions or rules. The reading of signs is therefore essential in analysis and this way of interpreting the signs is called semiotics and is applied to reading visual imagery. Signs can offer denotations and connotations to the audience. Conventions our generally established ways of doing something. They are an unspoken rule that we have learnt to accept and identify. Conventions become so familiar and natural that they become something that as audiences, we expect to see. They can be used, supported or reiterated as well as subverted. Different conventions can be applied to different media concepts such as narrative and genre.  Both codes and conventions are used to create mea

When we first set out our website and started to add features in we got some feedback from other pupils and our target audience to see what they thought of it so far. From the feedback we received people felt it was easy to use, and go to different tabs on the website which is a positive thing. However, we knew we needed to make improvements as it wasn't complete. The majority of people said it lacked pictures and that we should add a picture gallery, and more merchandise and colour on to the website in which we did so after receiving this feedback.

After developing our digipak even further we got feedback on our most updated version of it. The majority of the feedback all indicated that the two different colours used on it was a bad idea and needed changing. However, they all liked the pictures chosen and used were effective and positive for the audience. After this feedback we decided to keep the photos we were using as people liked those, however we would change the colour of it and stick to one of them.  This actually led to the digipak looking more organic and helped represent our band as organic even more. It was said that the track list was wonky and therefore we adjusted it to be straight and arranged perfectly next to each other. This resulted in the digipak looking more professional.

We posted the music video onto Facebook where each of the members had over 1000 friends so that it reached a number of people. Furthermore we put it on our website so that fans could access the video and give feedback

1. The main chorus build up consisted of the drummer however we didn't have shot of him drumming so i decided to two use the same shot twice re running it so it was in time with the build up before the final solo to where chorus started. 2. while filming we also decided to shoot some high angle shots from the theatre balcony however we realised when editing that the band was to one side and half the stage was black so we the CROP tool to cut as much out as possible to focus on the band 3.Again for the next part all that was necessarily needed was to implement the already cut shots into position with the following. Further to this the only thing required was to add the shots in that were missing no editing techniques were used excepted implementing them to time so the words match the mouthing of the lyrics which was implemented on Premiere Pro

During our shoot days we film over 300 individual clips, some useful and some not but the most challenging thing was going through each clip and working out which ones to keep and discard which took and awful amount of time, this however made sure we had the best footage available  to put into video and make it the best we could, we did however keep some clips that were similar and at the highest quality possible to compare how they fitted in with the rest of the clips either side of it. Finally we did take extra shots for our film but those parts never the cut as we realised the film would become long winded and slightly boring for the viewer. However i did include some timelapses  which i shot on my Mobile device to add some effect to our project. As a group we also came to a conclusion that it was better that we made the whole video black and white which meant researching and understanding how to adjust our clips normal to black and white. To make the shot black and white thro

We made sure that we were extremely prepared for this shoot day and to do this we had a pre prepared a shot by shot list that we were going to follow. We set up the equipment during lunch so that we could maximise our time after school and not wasting time setting up. While we were setting up we videoed the whole thing using two separate cameras so that we will edit in at the beginning of our music video. We feel this would be a good idea as shows the audience what we are like behind the scenes giving the fans a closer relationship with the band. We set up the drums in the middle of the stage with the lead singer slightly ahead with the guitarist on the right of our main singer. We also used this time to get pictures of all band members for our website and album cover. When our official recordings started; after school, for our music video we began with close ups for our band members, beginning with close ups of the lead singer from different angles, and then going onto the drum