Institution Information

As an additional piece of work i produced this 'fictional diary', which shows what a annual plan might look like for an artist. I tried to highlight main areas like, touring, releases, promotions and awards. I also thought carfully abour distances between then all and dates that are appropriate.

How to advertise etc
how the bands promote their work and how they target their audiences,

Evaluation Question 4

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

Throughout the enitre media project i have used a number of media technologies. Each was used for different stages and different areas. I feel that the different programs I used helped me to produce a successful piece of work.

For the research stages of our project I used the internet a lot. Sites such as YouTube and Wikipedia allowed me to do relevant research with helped me in the production of my work. I got to see exisiting products, information about music and what makes a good product.

The only media technology I used in the planning stages was Celtx. I used this in my planning stages, as it allowed my to make a detailed storyboard. This program gave me a chance to bring in pictures, choose what camera shots i wanted and add descriptions. I found it easy to plan out how i wanted my video to flow, it also gave me the option to go back and make changes, where as without this technology i would have drawn this plan out, and changes would have been hard to make.

Once I had moved onto the construction of my project i needed to learn how the camera equipment. The camera I used was very professional and I feel this showed in the quality of my video. At first i found the camera difficult to work with but after a few tries i was able to see what worked well and how the camera should be used. This technology allowed me to watch back and re-do areas of my work. It also helped my to produce my steady camera shots.


After shooting my film all the media technology was to edited my film and produce the supporting products. Premier Pro proved very succesful as an editing program. It provided me with the relevent effects and a self explanatory set up. This helped me with my confidence and allowed me to experiment with a number of ideas. We were also using Mac computers which are known for there success in editing programs.
 

I used photoshop for both of my supporting products. Photoshop is a very successful program and enables you to manipulate images to become what you want them to be. Although I sometimes find the tools hard to work out, you always have a professional finish when using the program. I feel like this program gives you the independence to make a piece as individual as you want it. I think photoshop benefitted me greatly as it allowed me to gradually build my products whilst taking away and adding new ideas as I went.

For me to be able to produce my supporting products i first needed to take images that i would be able to include. The camera I used was a Digital SlR. It is one of my own and i am very familiar with it. This enabled me to experiment with different shot, distances and lighting until i came to the photo i wanted. It was also nice having different settings on the camera to see if any f this complimented the photo.

During all three of these stages i have been keeping a detailed blog, outlining my prgression throughout the course. This blog shows all areas of, research, planning and construction. I found blogger a good way to look back at my work and develop my ideas or refresh my memory. The site also allowed my to upload my video for others to view and comment. This helped me evaluate my work and look for areas of improvement.

As well as posting my video on Blogger I also posted my final piece on Facebook, the popular social networking site. On here others, rather than just media students were able to comment. 

Evaluation Question 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback??

Another way of me getting feedback was by posting my video on the social networking site FaceBook. By posting it on here I was able to get fresh feedback from random watchers, and not focused media students, who know what to look out for. This was a good way for receiving comments, however not all the responses were detailed enough, for any evaluation benefit. All my comments were very positive and gave me the confidence to see that my video would be successful against real media pieces. I would just like to highlight how one of the comments received shows an understanding of the bright lighting i have used in some of the 'other world' scenes. This gave me a positive feeling, compared to the number of people from other areas of research, that felt this light was an interference.

Evaluation Question 2

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



Hi I’m Broden and this is the Music video I Produced for my A-level Media. I used a song by Florence and the machine, called ‘Rabbit Heart (raise it up), taken from the album ‘Lungs’.

As Florence and the Machine are known as an Indie soul band, I wanted to reflect this through both my main product and supporting products. The band appeal to ages between 15 and 30, so I made sure all my products met this criteria.

I wanted my artist and other subjects to have a very relaxed but edgy look within the video to match with the song style and theme. I also tried to use lighting, mis-en-scene and camera movements to reflect this style as well; this was easy due to my previous research.

The story of my video took an “Alice in wonderland’ type theme. To do this I created another world, where everything was different and dream like. This was made clear by the effects I used setting them apart.

The effects I used on these ‘other world’ parts effected how I went on to design my Digi-Pak and magazine advertisement. I wanted to keep a house style, which would be recognized by an audience. I did this by making my Digi-Pak a limited edition version. This means that although albums do not usually focus around one song I was able to.

Digipak Appears

The way I made these similarities clear with all the video, advertisement and Digi-Pak was using the same effect i had used on the' other world' shots, which was changing the Brightness and Contrast, and then changing them on both Premier Pro and Photo shop. Once this theme had been set I was able to focus on making my Digi-Pak as eye catching as possible. I did this by using a number of images, brief text and attractive colours. With my previous research I was able to see what this type of band usually use and tried to keep within this boundaries, but still adding my own uniqueness. I wanted the digipak to focus on the artist. I feel that it is important for an artist to be recognised, and her face is what audiences will see. I like the collage used for my back page, I have seen this style frequently used and think it is really effective on an album. I also added a Thank You page, with a signature, as if she had signed it herself, firstly because this is attractive to an audience, also because i mentioned it on the advertisement, and it brought them all together.

Magazine Advertisement Appears

Here is My Magazine Advertisement. As you can see it follows the same theme as my Digipak. I have used a similar but different image, but with the same card over the eye. It also has the same border and card them to the entire page just on a larger scale. I also used the same font styles and colour blocking. This advertisement also includes text, so these areas mentioned are then displayed within the Digipak. I feel that this advertisement, shows the importance of the Alice in wonderland theme. Its displays directly what song the album focus on. The links between this and my Video and supporting products clearly match the music style and genre.

Overall I feel that my three products all have clear similarities and reflect what the audience and record companies are looking for as well as promoting the band successfully. I also feel that all my products were well produced based on my research and own ideas.

Evaluation Question 1

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