TASK EVALUATION 4

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 in 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:dislike 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 easy to the eye location especially as this it the bands first music video Additionally, I learnt how  bands express themselves within music videos, which helped me choose appropriate clothing the band members should wear in order to make them appear organic.

The internet was useful, as it allowed me to research into star image and genre in order to develop my understanding of how to target my audience. The internet allowed me to research into different theorists such as Richard Dyer so that I could develop my understanding of how effective the star image of a band is and it's relation to the target audience. The research into genre for A2 was far more developed since I was able to look at how other bands portray themselves as well as research into synthetic and organic bands from which I found that it was best to develop an organic start up band. This was also shown as I noticed how other organic  bands such as kings of Leon and the arctic monkey  used a mixture of live performance interspersed into the narrative which helped identify them as organic, rather than synthetic. I was also able to use the internet to research locations that would be best suited similar bands like ours in there music video, leading to the discovery of a live performance aspect being the main feature of some bands of the same music, we decided as a group to adopt this style. To help with this research, I used other  music videos that were filmed as a live performance to an audience such as fake tales of San Francisco by the arctic monkeys gather ideas and feedback as to how we would create our video, as we looked at the camera shots, costumes and also other clips to break up the live performance.

The use of mobile phones allowed me to easily be able to record footage of people to ask them questions about my idea for our music video. The phone we used was an Apple iPhone 7 which has a high storage, thus allowing us to obtain large amounts of data from the interviews. The footage from the mobile phone was easily transferred to a computer at home via USB cable, where the video could be edited to upload it onto YouTube. This feedback allowed me to develop my understanding of similar  music videos and my target audience, which allowed me to define an audience at which I could aim my products. The feedback also allowed me to create the website and digipack to appeal to the ideal tastes of the target audience I interviewed, therefore I was able to create a theme for the products that would appeal to my target audience- thus leading to the darker, grey-scale theme.We used a  mobile phones to film the animatic, which allowed me to be able to understand clearly how my music video would be filmed as it included all of the shots and descriptions along with the timings of each shot. This was more developed than AS as it enabled me to visualise each shot, as the animatic is cut to the beat of the song, allowing me to see if there were any gaps. One of the main areas on which I had to work this year was combining a narrative and performance element and, through filming the animatic,  In addition to this, the animatic enabled me to visualise how the chorus would look and focus on the performance element. From this I was able to work out which lyrics in the chorus required close ups of the singer, as well as which instrumental parts needed close ups of the instruments to ensure that the video looked liked it was featuring an organic band who were playing live.

We also  used the Sony FS100 cameras with 2 lenses, one for more detailed wide shots, and the other for more detailed close ups. These new cameras were better than the ones used to film in AS as they had features that helped the product of the filming look a lot more cinematic and crisp than the ones in AS due to the use of 2 lenses - an 18mm lens for wide shots and a 50mm lens for close ups - as well as a higher density of megapixels in the new cameras, creating much more detailed shots. The filming for the music video required a greater variety of shots than at AS, such as a higher use of high and low angle shots for the narrative element, and more frequent wide shots of the band and close ups of instruments of the performance element. By focusing on wide shots we could show the organic nature of the rock band in a live setting playing all of their instruments in synchronous. We also changed lenses for the close ups so that we could clearly show the expressions on the band member's face as this was the easiest way to present their alienation and disaffection with society.

My use of editing software was more developed at A2, due to a greater length of time and a higher use of effects on Adobe Premiere Pro . Premiere Pro  allowed for a variety of tools and ways to edit, especially since both programs are from Adobe, meaning file transfers between the two programs is easy and efficient- with certain features actually linking both programs together. However there were some aspects of editing that i had to learn off youtube as i was still not an expert at using the software. . Additionally, I was able to use techniques I was also able to combine a variety of colour-correction effects that were used at AS with new effects that  that allowed the colours of the graffiti wall to be shown at a much more concentrated level and increase the contrast of the graffiti against the background. My editing skills were clearly fine-tuned at A2 due to the development of my knowledge, which I believe greatly affected the outcome of the music video and made it look far more professional but organic and homemade at the same time.The notable effects used within my music video are , colour-correcting, slow motion and black and white known as tint. Colour Correction is the process of resolving any colour issues with your footage. Almost every video editing or visual effects compositing software has tools to work with and correct the colour of your clips. In Adobe After Effects, the main tools used to colour correct are the Levels and the Curves effect. The main colour correction for our footage will take place using the on-board "fast colour corrector" that comes pre-installed with every copy of Adobe Premiere Pro. As the name suggests, slow-motion involves the act of taking one's footage and changing the properties of it to manipulate the speed at which the clip will then be played. In our music video, I mainly utilised slow-motion to take the original clip, at 100% speed (normal) and slow it wall the way down to just 30% of it's original speed. The effect of having a clip play so slow is such that, in the example of where the lead singer kicks the stand over, a small shake of the camera was noticed so by putting it in to slow motion, it becomes  barely noticeable .

When considering the design and layout for the website for our band, there were a few things we had to take into consideration. First we had to decide where and how we would make this website, in terms of whether we'd use a program or an online web designer. Josh and I came to a decision to use Wix.com as we had been recommended by a friend who has designed multiple website. For the website specifically Josh would be the main designer of it.  In terms of the colour scheme, our idea was to continue the black and  white them although with a hint of one colour like the red seen in our album colour. In this case we decided to use black and white with a hint of green just to give it that eye catching and organic edge. The reason for these colours is that they complement each other well and the black and white still keeps that homemade, organic look with the green combination will helps to promote the image of a new start up pop/rock band. 

After researching thoroughly into similar digipacks as a group we were able to improve and acquire new skills that included manipulating images to create a visually appealing digipack. I used Photoshop to alter images and work with a variety of photo enhancing and editing tools that allowed me to create a professional digipack that would conform to the stereotypes of popular organic bands like the Arctic monkeys. By looking at other digipacks where a logo was involved we saw that by continuing a particular logo/image of the band from website-CD cover, we also sae that it was put on to other merchandise items such as jumpers and puzzles forming the band into a sellable product as well.We studied a few bands album covers but felt that the way The Beatles dressed in album cover reflects the bands star image. This is what we want to succeed in doing and therefore we were inspired by the idea of wearing smart outfits; like how they do when performing and in their music videos, and followed suit and replicate this in The Frontrunners digipak. This is because we want out bands star image to be the centre of the digipak as it is a key selling point towards our target audience. These both show how we have developed from AS to A2 in terms of our creativity when researching and planning our digipak as more able to disassemble other album covers to help create our perfect digipak that would appeal to our target audience. To create the digipak we used a variety of tools. These tools allowed us to be more creative when producing the digipak. We had to make sure that we were creative so that the final product got people intrigued and wanting to listen to the bands latest music. The tools that we used were added a tint to the picture and used it to add a red tint. As well as cropping and adjusting the bands picture so it fits perfectly with the font so that the band members face are not covered by the font. We also used the tool on canva to develop the perfect font and font size. This was important as we wanted it big enough so people walking past it on the shelf instantly knew the band name as well as not too big that it took up the majority of the digipak and covering too much of the band. We used a tool to turn the font white so that it contrasted with the rest of the album cover.

After the band photo shoot, As a group we let sam develop his simple skills in Adobe Photoshop through the manipulation of the images from the shoot. Due to the simplistic nature of bands image, the photos of the band were taken while performing and setting up before live performances, however the main picture of the band is a casual photo of the lads leaning up against a wooden background. Many shades, tints and filters were used to come up with the most organic and original looking photo we could produce with the small skills we had gathered over a short period of time.

Using a website called 'Surveymonkey' I was able to create questionnaires and gather feedback online, which would help me with post-production of my products. I was able to use social media to send out the links to the survey in order to receive qualitative feedback data. I was also able to compare the answers online in order to analyse different opinions and thus discern the areas of my products which needed change.They gave us a mix of detailed and general feedback on all aspects of our band as a product which could be taken into serious consideration when producing the next idea in the music industry

The use of digital technologies was helpful in compiling the feedback since I was able to receive a range of different opinions from people. From the feedback I was able to learn how audiences viewed my product and what they felt was good, and I was able to get varied opinions on improvement, such as fixing minor lip-syncing issues and other tweaks that may need addressing. I specifically requested feedback from my target audience as, ultimately, the products are aimed towards them and therefore it allowed me to see if they were engaged by my media products.