Final Cut of Music Video

This is the finished copy of our music video. It took a long time for me to edit the entire video as every time I finished the editing process I would have to change something as I did not feel that the video was as good as it could be. A lot of my time editing was spent on trying to compensate for shaky shots and camera work that was incompatible with the song and the editing style required.

Digipak

Digipak Pannels

Album Advert

This is our advert that we created for the album. We used the same picture for the advert as we did on the album cover and disk panel, with the exception of not adding effect. This is common among album covers as this allows viewers and potential customers to recognise the album due to seeing the advert. Adverts for albums will usually have positive reviews from newspapers and magazines in order to gain credibility and possibly sway people to purchase the album. We also added large font with an eye-catching colour to grab peoples attention, this is especially useful as this is an advert designed to be printed in a magazine or newspaper, so that when a reader is flicking through pages it will get their attention and they may read the advert.

Evaluation Question 1

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

1.

We cut to this shot of the guitar being played close to the camera multiple times throughout the music video. This type of shot is a big convention in videos for this genre of music as it demonstrates the band members playing their instruments and making the muic that their fans listen to. These types of shots are not seen in many pop videos as a lot of the time  instruments are not a part of the music and that is not how the artists identify  themselves, as opposed to indie/rock artists.

2.

This is also a common shot used in videos for this genre of music. Looking into the camera whilst lip-synching allows the viewer to connect more to the lead singer of the band/group. This type of shot accentuates the lyrics of a song as it forces the viewer to focus on the vocals of the song. 

3.

This is a shot that is commonly seen in any genre where the band/group contains multiple members. Generally the lead singer will be at the front, with instrumentalists at either side and a drummer at the back, however in our video we did not use a drummer. These conventions can be seen in almost any music video from the rock genre.

4.

This type of shot is not commonly seen in the genre of music videos that we have created, they are more common in pop, rap and modern hip hop videos. A shot like this would mostly be used for product placement purposes, however we have used this shot in order to assist the narrative and help the viewers understand the story better. Therefore by using this shot we have broken genrre conventions and I believe it majorly helps benefit the video.

5.

This is a shot that is hardly ever seen in music videos and is mostly used in films. A shot like this would generally be used in a romantic context, which is why we used it, as it implies a romantic connection between the two characters. This is shot is breaking conventions completely as it is not only absent in this genre but it is rarely ever seen in music videos at all. 

6.

This shot is similar to the shot of the entire band and the shot of the lead singer on his own, however this takes aspeccts of them both in order to create a different shot. The shot is more intimate than the shot of the entire band as it is closer to the band members and the focus is on less people, although it has a more dynamic feel to it that gives the viewer the imprresson of a band performing. This is a very common convention for the video to switch from a narrative to a band sequence at different angles. 

7.

This is another shot that breaks conventions of a music video as it is not commonly seen in music videos at all, however it follows the convention of a romance story. 

8. 

Our digipak does not break any conventions for our genre as the style we followed is a very common one and we used the same techniques commonly seen in digipaks, especially from the same genre of music that we used. On the included inside we included a message from the band as well as links to the bands twitter and facebook, it is common for a band to put a message to the fans on the inside of the digipak as only the customers that bought the digipak would see it. There is a picture of the entire band and a picture of myself, the lead singer, which is also a commonly seen convention with bands/groups a lot of the time the front-man is who the band is identified by.

9.

We followed the convention of creating a simple album cover, which is simply the image of the werewolf that we also used in the advert with the album name and artist name. The back cover of the digipak simply just contains the song list and has the same editing style on the picture as on the front cover. Half of the panels on our digipak contain pictures from our narrative, featuring the werewolf character, the other half contain images of myself and the other band members in the same location as some of the shots in our video. 

10. 

The magazine advert that we created is effective as we related it to our album cover, by using the same picture, but unedited. We followed the conventions of album adverts by using large, eye-catching font which gains peoples attention. Positive reviews are also seen very often on album adverts as this attracts people to purchase the album.  

Evaluation Question 2

We attempted to make clear links between our main product and our ancillary tasks by using images for the digipak that reflect images seen in our music video. For example, the music video focuses on a character who becomes a werewolf at the end of the narrative, this is why we included images of the werewolf in the digipak. The digipak also contains images of the band that is seen playing the song throughout the song, this gives the viewer a sense of relationship between the album and the video. A number of the pictures for the digipak are taken in a location that is seen in the video in order to create that link between the main product and the ancillary tasks. It is a common trait for artists to link their music videos and album covers/posters/advertisements together in order to keep the consistency and maintain a theme.

Evaluation Question 3

This is a collection of the key words used in the answers given form our vox-pop, focus group and survey. The larger the words the more that the words were used by our target audience, this helped give us a good idea on what our demorgraphic looks for in a music video. This image that I created in an online program called 'wordle' allowed our group to understand that people enjoy music videos that are creative, original, lively and unique.

This is a screenshot from a focus group that we carried out by asking two students about our three separate ideas for a narrative and which idea they preferred best. After explaining the three possible narratives to the students they both agreed that the best idea for a narrative was to create a spin on the fairy-tale 'Little Red Riding Hood'. Although we were already confident on this idea as a narrative for our music video, this focus group allowed us to confirm that this was the best idea and that we did not need to rethink any of our other narratives.

These are multiple screenshots from a vox pop that we created before the planning stage of the process. We asked our interviewees about their favourite music videos, what makes a good music video and where/when they watch music videos. This vox pop enabled us to create a brainstorm of ideas, which we elaborated on in order to get a collection of ideas and start to plan our music video. A vox pop is an effective technique as it allows us gather a large amount of peoples ideas in a short amount of time, which we can edit together and play all the responses to a single question one after the other. Completing these vox pops allowed us to decide what type of video to create and what conventions are needed for a successful music video.

These notes show feedback that we received after showing the rough cut of our music video to students applying to study higher level media at university. This feedback helped us to polish off our last minute editing mistakes and confirm whether our editing style was adequate and enjoyable.

Evaluation Question 4

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

Creating our music video we used multiple different new media technologies, which without using would have meant a completely different filmmaking experience and we would have had to have used different techniques and learn new skills. These technologies include:

• Digital camcorder
• Apple iMac computer 
• Tripod 
• Monopod 
• Boom mic 
• Boom pole
• Headphones
• Final Cut Express 
• Photoshop 
• Blogger 
• Bluetooth
• Survey Monkey 
• Apple iPhone 
• x-mini music speaker 
• Facebook
• Animoto
• Prezi
• Wordle
• YouTube 

Some of these new media technologies I have put into an animated video presentation, which I created in an online software program called 'Animoto'.

New Media Technologies Used

Research:

During the research stage of creating our video we carried out a number of different tasks in order to collect the relevant information needed to learn about music videos and formulate our ideas which would lead us on to the planning stage of making our music video.
One of the tasks we carried out for the research stage was a vox pop, in which we used technologies such as a digital camcorder, a tripod, a boom mic and a boom pole. We used these technologies to interview people about music videos and gather ideas for our video. Later on we had to edit this video and upload it to YouTube, this required us to used Final Cut Express on an Apple iMac computer then upload the video on to the website YouTube. This is a large amount of new media technologies all working together in order to create one task from which we could gather information. We also used the same collection of technology when we created the focus group and asked students about our three possible narratives.
We carried out surveys online using an online service called 'SurveyMonkey' and then posting them on to social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter, we would then upload the results to Blogger in order to track our progress and show the journey. SurveyMonkey is a good service as it displays the results in an easy to read format and will create graphs for multiple choice questions.

Planning:

For the planning stage we did not need to use many new media technologies as a lot of the process involved communicating our ideas with each other and writing them down on paper, such as when we created a brainstorm for our ideas.
We drew out a storyboard and created an animatic so we had a clear idea in our head as to how the narrative would unfold, it was also an effective way to demonstrate the progress and evolution of the music video. For the animatic we took picture using an iPhone and used Bluetooth to transfer the images to an iMac computer on which we could use Final Cut Express to create a video and upload the animatic to YouTube and Blogger.

Construction:

The construction of the video was the part of the process that took the most amount of time and in which we used the most new media technologies. For the filming of the video we used a digital camcorder,  with a tripod and monopod. The digital camcorder was very easy to use and very lightweight which enabled us to transport it easily and go to locations to get shots in a very short amount of time. The tripod allowed us to keep the camera completely still which was especially useful for filming the band sequence as we did not have a fourth member to film us while playing the instruments and lip-synching. The monopod was used for getting smooth shots that we would not have been able to get by simply holding the camera with our hands. 

After the filming of the music video we had to upload the footage on to an iMac computer using a Firewire cable, then we could edit the footage using the editing software 'Final Cut Express'. Final Cut is a very high-end editing software that is used by many professionals to edit films, music videos etc. 

Once our music video was completed we had to create a digipak and an advertisemnt for our album. To take to pictures for the digipak and advert we used our mobile phones, as the camera's on them are good enough quality to use and they are much easier to use and much more portable than a digital camera. We then used Bluetooth technology to transfer the images to the iMac, on which we could edit the images using Adobe Photoshop. These new media technologies that we used were very important to the making of our music video and it would have been a completely different process trying to create a music video without them.

Evaluation:

The final process of creating our music was the evaluation, in which we did not use a very large amount of new media technologies such as in the construction phase, however the new media technologies that we did use were very beneficial and noteable. 

I used an online service called 'prezi.com' in order to create a presentation evaluating how beneficial the compination of our main product and ancillary tasks are. This service helped me to lay out my thoughts and ideas in an easy to digest format. 

I also used Photoshop to create 10 images, comparing our music video and digipak to professional products. Again, this allowed me to formulate all of my thoughts and ideas in a way that demonstrates to other why we done things in a certain way etc. Photoshop is a image editing program that has a rather large learning curve, however as I had already had experience with Photoshop it was not difficult for me to create the images. 

Audience Theory - Suture

Suture implies that the audience gets "stitched" to the media text and feel that they relate to the characters and real world views expressed in a film. The audience are stitched to the text by 'invisible' techniques and conventions that are implemented by filmmakers. These conventions and techniques are those such as non-diagetic music, dramatic camera angles and editing techniques, which all cause the audience to become more emotionally attached to the narrative of the text, this forces them into a dominant reading, desired by the filmmaker. This can be seen in music videos with a strong narrative revolving around one protagonist, the viewer may relate to the character. For example, in our music video the audience may relate to the main characters feelings towards Little Red Riding Hood, throughout the video as the character becomes closer to the female character the audience are happy for the character, then at the end of the video Little Red Riding Hood runs away from the main character and this could be another relatable element to the video.

Audience Theory - Reception Theory

Reception Theory implies that when audiences view media text they interpret it in different ways and have different readings of the text, as the producer/director of the film encodes a message into the media text to be conveyed to the audience. There are 3 different types of audience readings; the dominant reading, the negotiated reading and the oppositional reading. If a viewer takes on the dominant reading, then they are decoding the text in the same way that the producer/director wanted the audience to interpret it. The audience may take on a negotiated reading of the text, which means that they accept the ideology of the text however do not agree with it. Oppositional readings are when the audience completely rejects the meaning of the text and refuses to accept the messages that the producer/director wanted to convey.

This theory can be applied to music videos in the sense that viewers may be able to read into the text and uncover a hidden meaning that the musician or video director has implemented into the video.

Audience Theory - The Uses and Gratifications Model

The Uses and Gratifications Model is the opposite of the Effects Model in the sense that instead of the audience being passive and exploited by the text in order to have an effect on them, the viewer is active and uses the text for their own benefit. The theory suggests that audiences use media text in order to satisfy their needs such as escaping from reality and comparing their lives with those on the television. According to the theory, a person may act out their violent impulses by watching violent media instead of acting violent in real life and committing violent crimes etc. Another way a person may use media in order to gratify their violent impulses is violent video game such as Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty.
 

Audience Theory - Two Step Flow Theory

Two Step Flow Theory is similar to the Effects Model as the audience is still passive, however instead of the viewer being influence directly by the media, they are influenced by an opinion leader. This is when somebody hears or reads the opinions of an influential figure such as a celebrity they idolise, then they swayed by these opinions. Twitter is a very important factor in the Two Step Flow Theory as there are many opinion leaders on Twitter that have the ability to easily voice their opinion to thousands or even millions of people that follow them. Examples of large opinion leaders that have a great impact on the public through Twitter are; Stephen Fry, Piers Morgan and Lord Alan Sugar. These are all people that have a very large following which allows them to be able to voice their opinion and cause many people to agree with them due to people supporting the opinions of their idols.

Audience Theory - Cultivation Theory

Cultivation theory suggests that audiences get desensitised to violent images after repeated exposure to them. A good example of this is films that got banned on release such as The Exorcist (1973) and The Hills Have Eyes (1978), however now the younger generation would not see the problem with films such as these as they tend to watch more violent and horrific images that they have become desensitised.  It also states that heavy TV viewers are shaped by the media they watch. This can be applied to music videos in the context that viewers may get desensitised to images such as nudity and violence. For example, genres such as rap and hip hop have a high amount of gang culture in their music videos, which in theory could cause audiences to be desensitised to the idea of drugs, weapons and the gang culture.

The Effects Model - Moral Panics

Scene from Child's Play 3

In 1961 Albert Bandura carried out an experiment called 'the Bobo Doll Experiment' which implies that people, especially children, are easily influenced by watching violent images. This model combined with cases of real life murders such as the murder of James Bulger caused a lot of controversy and moral panic among the public. The public was lead to believe that the two children that had killed James Bulger after watching the film 'Child's play 3' which shows many violent images and tourture techniques. This led to a public outcry to get the film banned along with many other violent films. Many people also accuse violent video games of causing people to become violent and carry out violent acts, for example games such as 'Grand Theft Auto' and 'Call of Duty.

Audience Theory - The Effects Model

The Effects Model examines the link between the consumption of mass media and people's behaviour following the consumption of these media texts. The model states that media texts have an effect or influence on the audience, which the viewers are powerless to, making them passive, these effects are mostly perceived as being a negative effect. The Effects Model is also known as "The Hypodermic Model"as it is like a syringe injecting the audience with powerful messages and the audience is powerless to resist. This model was first theorised in the 1920's and 1930's by the Frankfurt School stating that mass media is used for propaganda such as in the war.

I believe that the Effects Model can be applied to my music video in some ways, however maybe not exactly how it is outlined explicitly. For example if my music video was viewed by millions and made for a song by and influencial figure then a viewer may watch the video, see the products used by the band members and want to own the same products, such as an iPhone or Xbox.

Album Cover Exercise

We were set a task to create an album cover with a randomly generated band name, album name and cover picture. We then had to use Photoshop to create an album cover using techniques such as adjusting the colour, lighting and text etc.

Album cover I created.

Rough Cut - Audience Feedback

The audience feedback on the rough cut of our music video was for the most part positive feedback, apart from some errors that occurred in the editing stage of the video, however these can be easily fixed and will not be a problem.

Rough Cut of Music Video

What is a Digipak?

A digipak is a way of packaging a CD so that it is more artistic and unique to the artist. Digipak's generally consist of 6 panels that fold out to display the disk in the middle and artwork on either side and the track-list usually on the back. Most people will prefer a digipak over a regular CD case as it is usually higher quality and feels as though you are getting more for your money.

The style of digipak we will be designing.

There are other styles of digipak's with different layouts such as the one pictured below, which are made to be more artistic and original, however we are just going to be designing a basic 6 panel style digipak. 

10 panel digipak

Album Cover Analysis

I have chosen to analyse the cover for the album Nevermind by Nirvana, as I believe it is one of the best album covers created. The reason why I believe it is one of the best album covers created is because everybody knows it. No matter whether someone likes Nirvana or not, there is an extremely high chance that they know the image of the baby swimming with the dollar bill. The image is made to represent humanities obsession with materialistic possessions and that how even from a young age money starts to rule our lives. This album cover is so iconic that it in many cases it will be the first thing that comes to a persons mind when thinking of Nirvana and people appreciate it for the piece artwork that it is, as well as appreciating the music. 

Album Covers

Album covers are an important factor an artist has to take into account when releasing an album as it is the first thing a listener will notice when seeing the CD in a store or downloading the album on iTunes. In many cases the listener will automatically remember the album cover and associate it with the song on that album, making it easier to remember the name and the artist.

Beyoncé's cover for her album "4"

Different genres of music usually have different types of album covers. For example, a pop artist will usually have a picture of themselves on the cover, especially if the artist is female, this is because most people recognise pop artist by their face as they are in the public eye more than other artists. Groups such as rock bands will usually have a picture that holds a meaning behind it and relates to the message that the album is trying to convey.

Biffy Clyro's cover for their album "Opposites" 

Fall Out Boy's cover for their album
"Save Rock and Roll"

Eminem and his album covers: 

The Eminem Show (2002)

Some artists put more effort into their album covers than the average artist and although to the average person it may not seem like the cover is anything special however to the fans there is a lot of meaning behind it. One artist that does this extremely well is Eminem, as his albums all tie in to each other he has album covers that all follow each other too. For example his three albums "The Eminem Show", "Encore" and "Curtain Call" all follow the theme of Eminem being is the spotlight on stage, and as you can tell from the names of the albums they follow the structure of a concert. The first picture is him preparing for the show, then then next cover is him bowing down at the end of the show preparing for the encore, finally the album is the end of the show, the curtains are closing and roses have been thrown at his feet.

Encore (2004)

Curtain Call (2005)

Eminem also done this with another series of albums that all tie in together about his struggle with drug addiction; "Relapse", "Refill" (bonus tracks for Relapse) and "Recovery", Eminem made the album Relapse after a 4 year hiatus from recording music due to being in rehab for his extreme addiction to pills (mostly sleeping medication) and almost dying from an overdose. This inspired a lot of the tracks on the album and to reflect this the album cover that was chosen was Eminem's face made out of pills. He then released an album a year later called Recovery apologising to his fans for his absence and vowing to never drink or touch drugs again. There are two alternate album covers for this album, one of them illustrating Eminem walking away from his past life and an open road into the future. The other cover showing Eminem boxed off from the world, maybe referring to his time in rehab and the fact that although he is caged off from the world he is still in the public eye and cannot escape. 

Relapse (2009)

Refill (2009)

Recovery (2010)

Another set of albums that tie in with each other are "The Marshall Mather's LP" and "The Marshall Mather's LP 2". These two albums are Eminem's most personal albums and this is why he name's them after his real name instead of 'Eminem' or 'Slim Shady'. The first MMLP is about Eminem's struggle's growing up and about his family etc. this is reflected in the cover by Eminem sitting on the porch of his childhood home in the slums of Detroit as it is about Marshall revisiting his childhood and almost reliving the experiences that he struggled such as not having a father, his mother neglecting him and taking drugs, and his brother being taken away by child services. He then released the MMLP2 thirteen years later and he describes it as being a revisitation to the first MMLP, he tries to right all his wrongs by apologising to his mother for previous songs directed at her. The album cover is the same house from the first MMLP although now it has been boarded up at the windows, the garden is overgrown around it and Eminem is not sitting on the doorstep as he has now moved on to a better life. Also the deluxe edition of the MMLP2 has a cover that gives the image of looking out on to the house through the back window of an expensive car, almost as if we are looking from Eminem's perspective as he drives past his childhood home. 

The Marshall Mathers LP (2000)

The Marshall Mathers LP 2 (2013)

The Marshall Mathers LP 2 (2013)

Most Watched Music Videos of 2013

1. Wrecking Ball - Miley Cyrus 

Miley Cyrus' music video "Wrecking Ball" was a massive success with over 480 million views since the video was released 4 months ago. This video was extremely controversial with many people expressing their positive and negative views on social media websites such as Twitter, leading to it gaining more and more peoples attention and within a week almost everybody was talking about Miley Cyrus. This video was not Miley's only controversial antic of 2013 but more the pinnacle of her spot in the limelight. Miley was the center of attention at the VMA awards where she dressed extremely provocatively and 'twerked' on Robin Thicke's crotch. The fact that Miley was a child star on the Disney channel is what causes a lot of discomfort in viewers as one of their favourite childhood idols has now changed her image for what many would say is the worse.


2. Diamonds - Rihanna

Rihanna's song "Diamonds"takes the number 2 spot with over 380 million views over the whole of 2013. This is a very catchy song with memorable lyrics that stay in the listeners mind, when a song does this it helps the video gain a lot of views because people like to replay the song. Just like the majority of Rihanna's music video it is very appealing to watch, mainly for the fact that she is an attractive and talented person which is appealing for both males and females of almost all ages to watch. There are also a number of images and shots in the video that the viewer retains in their mind so it is easy to remember and come back to.


3. We Can't Stop - Miley Cyrus 

This video gained a lot of attention due to the controversy that Miley Cyrus has created around herself. Although the video has over 330 million views, it has almost a 50:50 like to dislike ratio, which just goes to show that although a video is watched by a lot of people it is not necessary enjoyed by a lot of people.


4. Scream & Shout - will.i.am ft. Britney Spears 

This music video became popular because of it's unique collaboration of artists and because the two artists are so well know and famous in different groups of people, as Britney Spears is an older artist and popular among a large group of people whereas will.i.am is a newer artist that is popular among the younger generation. 

5. Roar - Katy Perry 

This music video was the 5th most watched music video of 2013 with over 325 million views in the 4 months since its release. Roar is a very good video and it is easy to see how it can get so much attention. Katy Perry is already an established star and has a very big audience and holds the record for the most followers on Twitter. The video appeals to a number of audiences for different reasons, for example, young girls may enjoy it as Katy Perry is a relatable character and is conveying a positive message in the video. Teenagers and males may enjoy the video as Katy Perry is an attractive female and does not wear much clothes in the video. 

Most Watched Music Videos of 2012

1. Gangnam Style - Psy

The reason that Gangnam Style was the most watched video of 2012 was mainly due to the fact that it was so quirky and different. Most people had not seen a video like it before, so the novelty of the video is what gained it a lot of publicity. The dance for the song is another big factor too, as the dance was very easy to replicate many people remembered it and also wanted to show other people how funny and odd this dance is. Gangnam Style is a music video sensation with over 1.8 billion views!


2. Call Me Maybe - Carly Rae Jepsen

This music video I believe was not popular because of the video but rather the song itself. The song is very catchy and memorable for almost anyone that listens to it, whether they enjoy it or not, the lyrics will be stuck in many peoples head after hearing it on the radio or in public, which will make the search for it and find the video. However, I do believe that the video does appeal to a certain audience, which is most likely young teenage girls, largely due to the fact that there is an attractive topless male in the video and a relatable teenager-looking female.


3. Boyfriend - Justin Bieber 

This music video takes the number 3 spot with views 301 million views and I believe one of the main reasons for this is due to the fact that it is a Justin Bieber song, and as Justin Bieber is arguably the biggest pop-star on the planet his videos are bound to get hundreds of millions of views. The video is not a very generic pop video, with the star wearing expensive clothing, being surrounded by attractive females and expensive cars it's almost as if Justin Bieber is trying to change his image and move slightly towards the rap genre.


4. One Thing - One Direction 

One Direction are the biggest boy-band and the biggest group in the world right now, so whatever they do is bound to be a success. Their main audience is young teenage girls and this video is made to appeal to that audience by showing the five members of the group acting silly and joking around with each other. Every member has a small part where their are looking down the camera singing to the viewer so that every girl with a favourite member will have that part of the video that their can feel as though they have a connection with that member.


5. Where Have You Been? - Rihanna 

Rihanna carries all the traits that are necessary to be a successful pop-star and she has mastered all of them. She is an attractive female with an appealing body for both males and females to view, and she uses this by not wearing much clothes and dancing provocatively which this video consists a lot of. She wears many different outfits throughout the video and shows off almost every part of her body at one time or another. The video also has a lot of eyecatching shots such as dancers with glow-in-the-dark body paint and eyecatching video effects.

Fifth Day Filming

Today we went to Davids house in order to film the 2-3 shots we still had left to do that we did not manage to film last time. We had to film a shot of crossing dates off of a calendar with and without the wolf mask, which was not very challenging, although we had to make sure we got it right first take because for the best effect we had to use permanent marker. For his shot we wanted to give the impression that it was dark in the bedroom, as it was night time. To do this we turned off all the lights in the room and used a small mood-light a it gave off a nice even amount of white light, almost like a moonlight effect.

The mood-light we used.

The bedroom we used.