Final Media Coursework Edit

Question 4

Evaluation Question 4: How did you use media technologies in the construction, research and planning and evaluation stages?

Research and planning 

As part of the research and planning of the music video we used a a variety of media technologies especially you tube. Youtube was used when researching existing music videos enabling us to understand the conventions of a pop music video and plan what type of music video we wanted ours to be like. We also used vevo for this task where we watched three different types of music videos and from that made a list of 6 key conventions that we noticed in all three videos.

We didn't just use youtube for research we also used it for the construction of our music video we used youtube to download our audio from and download a green screen filter for us to make the home videos look more realistic.

As well as using youtube we also used Prezi and Emaze to present our ideas to an audience. To begin with we used Emaze to present our research ideas on when we where deciding who to pick for to be our chosen artist. Emaze is an online powerpoint software that offers several templates including 3D formats working on through a cloud-based system. Using Emaze also allowed us to present our research on our blogs tracking our journey and decision of our chosen artist "Zara Larsson".
 

We then went on to using Prezi which is another online powerpoint software apart from this has the ability to zoom in and out of slides making it more interactive to the audience. We used Prezi to present our planning and initial ideas for the music video.




To give inspiration and an understanding of our chosen song and build ideas on what we wanted to have for our music video we created a lyric analysis using microsoft word. We began by copy and pasting the lyrics in to word and as a team going through each line annotating what it could mean and how we could show this in our music video.

As an addition to this we also used word count. Word count organises words in to different font sizes according to how many times they are used. Completing this enabled us to find out what the song was really about and what to address to the audience in our music video, we found out that the song was mainly a love song therefore within our next planning stages we have made sure this is clearly shown in our music video and its about love. 

Evaluation 

The evaluation section required us to answer 4 set questions based on my A2 coursework. Therefore I decided to present each question in a different style. To begin with we presented questions 1 and 3 using Emaze which is a software we are already familiar with using. Within the emaze presentation for question 1 there were several images linking our work to existing products in the music industry. In question 3 we used Emaze again using a mixture of images and links to our audience feedback that we have collected throughout the process of construction.    

For Question 2 we used Prezi.

Question 3

Question 2

 

Question 1

Construction: Making The Music Video

In order to edit my music video i began by uploading my footage on to the IMAC. As we had a large amount of footage the upload was time consuming. I then went on to uploading the footage on to premier pro which is a film editing software.  

I then downloaded my music using a youtube converter to download just the audio to use for the music video. I then uploaded this on to premier pro and started to edit some of our footage cutting it to sync with the audio. As we had very long shots and got our actress to sing the whole of the song every time we filmed, syncing our audio and film footage was straightforward.

As part of our original filming plan we decided to incorporate a mixture of home videos and still shots of the actress singing in the locations we chose. To give the home video's more of a home video feel i decided to add a boarder of a recording frame over the videos using a green screen. 

This is how i put the fame over the videos using a green screen:

Whilst editing i found that some of our filming was slightly shaky especially on travelling shots. To overcome this i put a warp stabiliser over the shot, a warp stabiliser "removes jitter caused by camera movement, making it possible to transform shaky, handheld footage in to steady, smooth shots" 

This is how i put the warp stabiliser on:

Planning: Audience Feedback

Audience Feedback
I showed my Animatic to a range of people in my target audience. I asked them a few questions on how they felt about my plan for my music video. They gave me feedback about the changes i could make to improve me music video but also the positives that i had already included. By asking multiple people, I could also see what the majority of people said about my animatic and make changes so that the majority of my target audience liked the music video.
One person said "Your music video tells the story of the song and doesn't feel overly staged as you have included home videos. However, you must make sure the actors are good, as it will need to seem believable to tell the story properly".  I will ensure that i look at how my chosen actor performs in front of a camera before casting them and are able to use their facial expressions to tell story. Another person said 'You need to make sure that the costumes are appealing to the target audience at the time that the music video was released and make sure that the shots clearly show off her clothing that she is wearing as her target audience would want to take inspiration from her.' Because of this feed back I have added in shots focusing on parts of the body so the audience can see individual pieces of clothing but also made sure that her clothing covers a few different style types. 

Research and Planning Self Assessment

Research into existing music videos

I feel that i have excellent evidence of research into existing music videos. This is because i have three examples of different music videos that either my chosen artist or another artist in the same music genre as my chosen artist. This shows that i have looked at different song that my artist has sang but also look at people similar to her and taken ideas from what they have done too. In future i will add Jemma's examples to my blog too as we worked together on these to complete extra work and research for our music video.

Research into a potential target audience

I feel i have good evidence of researching into my potential target audience. This is because i have looked at the audience theory which includes the hypodermic needle theory, cultivation theory, two step flow, uses and gratifications. I have also done work on my chosen artist and the type of audience that would be targeted for her. I will look into the different outfits that people wear of that age and of my chosen artist so that i can get the costume planning correct for our music video. 

Work on storyboarding

I think i have shown good evidence of story boarding on my blog. I have uploaded my animatic of what we would like our music video to look like. However, i feel that i could have added screen shots into the post about how i made the animatic to help explain the process. 

Time management

I think that i have shown good time management as i have caught up on all work that had been done before i joined the course, whether that be watching the videos, reading articles or making and creating posts. I have also kept up to dat with all work that has needed to be done and have completed extra in some parts of the research - for example, the research into music videos. 

Use of digital technology or ICT 

I feel that i have shown good skills of using different digital technology. This is because i have used photos, videos and different presentation software to present different things. For example, using premier pro for my animatic and Prezzie for my pitch. I could use different types of presentation sites to present my work in future to show that i am able to use different types of digital technology.  

Communication skills

I would say that i have good communication skills. I have done lots of writing in my posts and most are grammatically correct, however, i can sometimes use the wrong spelling. 

Level of care taken in the presentation of work

I feel that the level of care in the presentation of my work is excellent. I feel this because i have use different ways of presenting my work. For example, using Prezzie, pictures, videos and keeping all my text the a suitable font. 

Planning: Shot List

	Shot type	Actor	Description
1	ES- REVERSE	Ellie	Ellie will be sat on  a bench (allows viewer to recognise the main cast member) and the film will then go in to reverse
2	CU-REVERSE	N/A	Close up shot of Ellie walking backwards on the stairs
3	TS-REVERSE	Ellie and Harry	The two actors will meet outside the carpark and reverse will stop.
4	CU	N/A	a close up of the stairs where Ellie will be walking up them, the focus of the shot will be of her shoes.
5	ECU	Ellie	Locket necklace that Ellie will be wearing.
6	CU	Ellie	Ellie lip syncing to the song.
7	LS	Ellie	Ellie sat on the bench lip syncing to the song
8	CU, OTS	N/A	Ellie will be holding a polaroid picture of her and harry looking at it.
9	CU	Ellie	close up of Ellie lip syncing to the song
10	LS	Ellie	Ellie sat on the bench lip syncing to the song
11	ECU	N/A	Timetable showing that Ellie's transport is delayed. Amplifies the song.
12	MS	Ellie	Ellie waiting and singing to song
13	ECU	Ellie	Ellie lip syncing to the song
14	TS,CU	Ellie and Harry	Home video of the two looking at each other
15	TS,LS	Ellie and Harry	Home video of the two taking a picture in the mirror
16	LS	Harry and dog	Harry playing with the dog in the park
17	ECU	Ellie	Ellie lip syncing to the song
18	TS	Ellie and Harry	Home video of them making funny faces at the camera
19	CU	Ellie	Ellie lip syncing
20	ECU	N/A	Ellie will be holding a polaroid picture of her and harry looking at it.
21	TS,LS	Ellie and Harry	Both of them holding hands and looking at each other.
22	LS	Ellie	Ellie sat on the bench lip syncing to the song
23	TS	Ellie and Harry	The two actors will meet outside the carpark.
24	CU	N/A	Stairs
25	CU	Ellie	Ellie lip syncing
26	ELS	Ellie	Ellie looking at a wall of polaroid pictures
27	MS	Ellie	Ellie looking outside a window lip syncing to song
28	ECU	N/A	Locket necklace that Ellie will be wearing.
29	CU	Ellie	Ellie lip syncing
30	TS	Ellie and Harry	The two actors will meet outside the carpark.
31	HAS	Ellie and Harry	Home video of the two lying on the floor looking up at the camera
32	TS	Ellie and Harry	Home video of the two looking at each other.
33	TS	Ellie and Harry	The two actors will meet outside the carpark.
34	HAS	Ellie and Harry	Home video of the two looking at each other.
35	LAS, CU	Ellie and Harry	The two actors holding hands
36	ELS	Ellie and Harry	The two actors walking holding hands
37	LAS, Tilt up	Ellie	Ellie walking on a path towards the camera
38	MS, Tilt up	Ellie	Ellie walking on a path towards the camera.
39	ECU, Tilt up	Ellie	Ellie walking towards the camera and lip syncing.

Although we won't fully stick to this shot list i have created it to give us a plan of what shots we need to practice and how we can use variety of shots. To create this shot list i watched our animatic and followed it closely pausing it at each change within the animations and decided on the shot that will best suit the scene and situation.

As you can see we are planning to have 39 shots with some being repeated with the same cast members. Next to each shot and cast member we have included a description so we understand why we have chose to use a certain shot and the meaning behind it. We are also planning on printing this plan out to look at as a reference when we are filming and give to cast members so they can get an understanding of what will be happening.

Planning: Casting

Casting the right person for our music video is very important as they make the piece more realistic. Casting is also important as we need to have the correct people that will understand our ways of communicating and be able to adapt to any changes in our music video. We will be casting a male and female. The male we will be casting typically needs to be comfortable around all people and be confident around the camera. The female will also need to be camera confident, she will also need to lip sync effectively to our chosen song and be friendly to all. We also want people who don't take everything seriously but can see the importance of filming the video and having it completed up to a high standard.

To gain the correct people we made a application form and asked a selection of males and females to fill it in answering the questions we provided and give details about themselves. After we had received all of the applications we shortlisted it down to 4 people that we thought fitted the description we asked for. We then found out more information about them and went on to write a small summary about their strengths and weaknesses included with pictures of themselves which we have included within this blog post. By completing this it gave allowed us to pick between who will be the best for our video.

  This is a screenshot of our application form

 that we made and gave to individuals.

This is Ellie, Ellie is a friendly individual who is confident around people of all ages and abilities. She is also a singer meaning she has experience of singing in front of large crowds and at times in front of a camera.This is also a bonus as she won't be afraid to sing in front of people when we are filming and she will be able to make the 'lip syncing' realistic. Ellie can be very mature at times and at times relax and be immature. As we will be having two sides of fun and seriousness i think Ellie will be suitable for this as she can make the two personalities realistic. She is usually busy at weekends but will be willing to change some of her plans and is free weekdays after 3pm.


                                                             

This is Sophie, Sophie is very confident and loud around those she is comfortable with for example her friends and family. Sophie is very camera shy and doesn't like having photos or videos being taken of her. She also finds it hard to stay serious this isn't suitable for our video as in parts she will need to look serious and sad. Sophie also has no experience of performing on her own in front of large crowds. She doesn't have a lot of space in the week for us toarrange a filming time with her as she is dedicated to other things such as her job and out of school clubs.

                                                                 

This is Harry, He is a very committed person to anything he  to anything he is involved in .This is a good thing to have as we will need someone to be committed to the filming schedule we have made and won't back out at anytime. Harry is a friendly,confident person around all people and doesn't have    a busy timetable resulting in a possibility of him being free when we are  planning to film our video.

                                                               

 This is Jake he has experience of performance but is extremely shy when he is infront of a camera and looses his self-esteem. This isn't suitable for what we are looking for although he has experience in the industry we are studying confidence is a key factor that we are looking at and he doesn't have this. Jake is committed to his school work and with exams coming up is unable to find a free space.

                                           








Out of the two females we decided to short list we chose Ellie to have the main role. We chose Ellie as she has more experience than Sophie as a performer she will make the video realistic and after we did a lip sync test with her decided that it will be easier to edit as she has this experience. She is also more willing to change her plans to film and to us seems more passionate and enthusiastic about filming our video than Sophie.

Out of the two males we decided to pick Harry due to the fact that he is more confident than Jake and has a less busy schedule therefore we will find it easier to arrange times of filming with him. Harry also has the commitment 'factor' which stood out to us as we need someone to realise how important this is and be committed to filming and not let us down.

We did some practise lip-syncing in the school theatre with Ellie before we cast her so that we knew she was comfortable in front of the camera , could learnt lyrics to songs and could use her facial expressions to tell a story through the song.

Planning : Filming Locations

House 1 - Kitchen

We have chosen this location because there is a lot of space in the kitchen. This will make it easier to film in as there will be enough space for the cast and the camera, enabling us to move around and get different shots and angles. The kitchen is also a well lit room and has basic colours therefore it won't distract the audience and will make them just focus on the actors. Although it is a bright room we may need extra lights as at certain times in the day it can get dark and we need to keep it the same contrast of lighting throughout so we can get a clean shot and if any re-filming needs to be done this can be completed.

House 2 -Kitchen 

We have chose this location is a different kitchen in a different location to the first one. We have chose to have this as it has an island in the middle of the room therefore we could have the actors around this and film from an appropriate angle allowing the audience to understand what they are doing. We have also chose to use this kitchen as it shows what type of relationship the couple have, going round to each others house and spending time with their families. 

House 2 - Back garden

We picked this location as this is a large grass area and links the kitchen to another part of the house. It is a suitable surrounding that has a lot of light areas which will allow our shots to be clean and clear.This is also a typical garden in a house that a normal family will have which we are trying to convey that our actors are just a typical couple teenage couple spending time with each other.

Park

We have chose to use the park as it is a place where a lot of teenagers hang out and families will go to. The park is also seen as a romantic place where couples will go to spend time with each other and we want this to come across in our video as the song is about love and being in a long distance relationship.

Train Station - Waiting room

This has been chosen as in the song it refers to a airport waiting room. Unfortunately there isn't an airport near by to where we live. So we have decided to use the train station waiting room instead as this is typically the same place but will avoid showing things such as train station signs in our shot. 

Car Park

This car park was picked because this was the car park outside the train station and replicates the one at an airport. It is also close to the train station waiting room so that we can change some filming of the actor walking away, into reverse for our opening of the music video. We are also using the car park as a place where the couple say goodbye to each other and also become reunited.

Bedroom

We are using this bedroom because this would be a place that a couple may go. It will be a bedroom in house 1. It has a mirror in and this will be good to use as we can film the couple in the mirror so that we can see them both in one shot.