NinasA2MediaCoursework: 2012

Friday, 27 April 2012

Friday, 20 April 2012

Evaluation | Question 4

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

In order to actually begin planning we had to use the internet to do research on artists. Search engines such as Youtube allowed us to draw ideas from videos and songs with similar concepts to ours. We got inspiration from Fever Rays video 'When I Grow Up'. The video has a slight blue tint to it which is what we've got in our video. We also got ideas from the likes of Lyyke Li's video for 'Little Bit'. The video is slightly disconnected with random shots and is quite abstract. Which is heavily used in our video to match the music and lyrics of our song. In adadition, we used Youtube to also learn how to edit and add effects on FinalCut to our final product, however it was not all that helpful so we ended up learning and teachings ourselves over time. We also used Youtube to upload drafts of our footage and finally the final product to collect audience feedback. Despite the fact that our final product being in sync on the Mac computers they were slightly out of sync once converted and uploaded onto Youtube. Uploading our video onto Youtube was necessary for viewers to watch, share or comment, and an important advantage when we had to collect audience feedback.

For our animatic storyboard we used a HD camera to film and then uploaded the footage onto iMovie which enabled us to put all the images together. It was a simple and easy process. The software doesn't require much effort as everything is set out in front of you, however we upgraded to FinalCut Pro as it's got better tools for video and you can do much more to your video.

Although when using FinalCut to begin with was a little complex, it was a vital part of technology we needed to produce our music video. It's detail and precision required time however we managed to adapt and use it to its full extent, adding effects and removing unwanted shots. Although it was the best quality camera we used the Nikon Camera took us a while to actually upload all the footage onto FinalCut. We had to upload all the footage onto iPhoto as it was a camera and not an actual camcorder. Then we had to import it to iMovie then onto FinalCut which meant we had to render every bit of footage we cut, added or editied. Other than that the Nikon camera was the easiest to film with, we also used it to take pictures for our ancilary text. The quality of the camera cancels out the time spent underendering footage.

I used the SLR for my Digipak photos because of the quality. The shutter speed was an advantage for my photoshoot, I even took accidental images which came out great. The aperture of the camera allowed me to capture the sunset in a high resolution.

Friday, 24 February 2012

Evaluation | Question 3

Sunday, 12 February 2012

Evaluation | Question 2

Explore the way you have represented your artist across all products.

I'd like to think that my ancillary text and main product combine effectively together. After analysing other media products, digipacks and so on I knew how to produce an effective product of the two. It follows a story narrative, but also has conceptual parts to it, for instance when she drops her capes through the forest or when she finds the balloon. They're both concepts that could be related to the lyrics. We built up a significant link between the mise-en-scene. Unlike real music videos our video didn’t actually portray the artist in any sexual manner. Her red lipstick could indicate a seductive side the other day whereas her dark eye make up suggests that she is 'unapproachable'. Her Red Riding Hood costume isn't so much of an outfit as it is a statement. The location also relates to the well known fairytale, it's set in a forest where the artist is alone and the lighting was consistent throughout. Her hair is down, which can be a relation to the idiom 'let your hair down' which can be seen as a style people only do in their privacy, a subtle way for the audience to engage with the artist. However the album cover she's got her hair loosely tied up and wearing neutral make up, but she's dressed in a long black maxi and it's set in a remote location with an authentic sunset in the background. Both products are slightly mysterious and don't sell an aspirational lifestyle to the buyer and viewer. They're both set in real locations open to the public, in a way allowing the viewers to actually be able to relate to the artists imagery and appearance.

The album cover is a close up shot of the artist, which suggests that the artist is an important part of the sales of the album. In the R'n'B genre many artists typically have images of the artists on the album cover for example R&B artists such as Rihanna, Beyonce and Kelly Rowland all conform to the idea that the sales of the album is down to the artists appearance.

Saturday, 11 February 2012

Evaluation | Question 1

My media product as a whole conforms and challenges codes and conventions. For example, Andrew Goodwins convention is that there is usually as relationship between the music and visuals however, there isn't a significant relationship between the lyrics and visuals of my media product. The lyrics don't clearly amplify the visuals, but when interpreted we can understand that the lyrics illustrate the visuals, conforming to Andrew Goodwins theory.

Rather than just illustrating the lyrics visually like Erik Davis says, we attained a more surreal approach with an intertextual reference to the Red Riding Hood fairytale. The lyrics are about a girl who's lost trust in her boyfriend and is trying to get out of her relationship so we symbolised the forest as the relationship itself and when she finds the balloon it symbolises hope that she'll find something better, in this case the wolf is her boyfriend who she's trying to run away from. Our media product like Davis says is an abstract one that will keep viewers interested as it's all about 'repeatability' and it's a suggestive narrative rather than a realistic one. We also follow Erik Davis' disjuncture convention as our video is clearly disconnected from the music, lyrics and visuals. According to Davis we are 'auteur' directors, because our video is somewhat abstract since there is no obvious link between the visuals and lyrics, but instead all open to interpretation. We are authors of our music video, selling a story to the audience rather than just an artist.

The visuals do however cut to the music which is a typical convention that most R&B music videos conform to. This side of editing was important for our video especially because of the eerie sound it has to it, we used several edited in cuts and black empty shots to relate to the beat. It's supposed to suggest how the artist is feeling disconnected. Our video started with an establishing shot of the location which indicates a story, but as soon as the song starts the first shot is of the artist singing, conforming to real music video conventions. Although she was the main focus of the video, it was important to get the narrative side of the music video across, so we had shots of the location and tracking shots of her just walking in the forest, again conforming to Davis' convention that music videos feature suggestive narrative.

Goodwins conventions state that particular genres have their own video style, for instance my music videos genre is R&B, which usually has the main artist glorified and glamorous. However my video doesn't conform to this convention as the artist is dressed in 'everyday' clothing; denim shorts and a simple white tee. She's sporting her natural shoulder length hair which challenges the convention where most R&B females wear long fakes weaves. Her make up; red lip and dark eyes can be seen as seductive, it was important that we followed this convention when it comes to R&B mainly because she must be the face of her music like other female artists in the same genre.

Unlike real R&B female artists her appearance is easy to emulate and many viewers especially teenage girls may see themselves in her, because she's portrayed as down to earth and somewhat like 'the girl next door'. Again our video isn't a typical R&B video as the artist doesn't sell an aspirational lifestyle challenging John Stewarts convention, but we did however have many close up shots of the artist like most R&B music videos, this was to create an intimate relationship between the artist and the viewer, which conforms to Stewarts code that music videos contain aesthetics of a TV commercial. This was important as the song is about a hurtful 'break-up' so we want to ensure the viewer is able to empathise with the artist and they're able to relate to the song as well as the artist, widening her fan base and expanding album sales.

We also challenged the convention that 'sex sales'. We didn't sexually exploit our artist in order to make sales or expand her fan base, although it's been proven to be an effective strategy it's not a genuine one.

Our entire video is an intertexual reference to the well known fairytale little red riding hood. The artist is seen laying in the middle of the forest wearing a big red scarf. The establishing shot and the first tracking shot of the artist is intended to put the video into context. Although the target audience of the artist herself is 16-24 year old women, the Red Riding Hood reference in the music video widens it to a bigger audience as people of all ages are familiar with the fairytale.

The use of this intertextual reference conforms to Stewarts conventions as we are trying to incorporate an old fairytale that the viewer is familiar with, with a modern nostalgic twist.