Sunday 20 March 2016

The Final Video

The music video for 'How You Like Me Now' is finished and posted on youtube. To promote the video there was a live stream premiering all the videos. I shared the link to this on my social media sites and had people share them.

It was shown on LiveStream - a website which companies can stream live videos on. 

It was also uploaded to youtube. I am very happy with the outcome.


The Final Digipak




Here is the final digipak, it has been scaled and proofed several times. I am very happy with the final outcome and think it adds another factor to our successful music video.

The Final Website

Monday 14 March 2016

Evaluation Task Four- Conclusion

By using digital media technologies I have used technological convergence to allow me to create a successful main product and three ancillary products. 

I have gained skills which have allowed me to use new media technologies which has made me a prosumer in the in the online age. This means I can produce and consume products using web 2.0 and platforms such as youtube.
A theorist who is interested in a lot of this participatory culture is Henry Jenkins, He talks about how as humans we do not only produce products in this day and age, we are also able to consume others' creations because of the opportunities web 2.0 has given us. 

 The use of Adobe premier Pro as a piece of editing software has taught me how to select and organise a music video to a very high standard using off the shelf media equipment, I am able to crop footage and edit proficiently now.  I have also been able to share ideas and research global and industry standard products, I have been able to do this because I have access to sites such as, google, youtube and get information from the BPI.  Digital technology has made available to me opportunities to upload, share and distribute my products using You tube as a free online broadcast platform.  

It is also interactive – audiences have been able to feedback, like and comment on my products using features such as subscribe features, and also embed my product into their own social networks such as Facebook or blogger, and other online sites.  These new skills learned on this course have enabled to gain experience not only as a user of digital technology, but also to also become a producer – important to an understanding of the media in an online age and how I can consume products as well. 

Evaluation Task 4 - Director's Commentary

Director's Commentary


Please follow the link to view the directors commentary for 'How you like me now?'


Script

Charlotte: We are here to present a directors commentary on evaluation task four.We chose the song ‘How you like me now?’ by the heavy. There was already a music video for this song but we decided to make a better one because the original didn’t use many conventions.
The lyrics allowed us to devise and present a clear narrative within the video as well as a performance cut. 


Rebecca: We drew out storyboards and filmed these to create an anamatic. This allowed us too see what our overall video would look like and how long each shot would be. We also cut to the beat and saw which shots worked and which of them didn't. 
To film the animatic we used a Sony NX5 camera and adobe premier pro to edit the clips together. 
To create our music video we used a video camera called the Sony FS100. This is a high quality, unfixed lens camera. We also used a tripod.
We filmed a narrative in a meat locker 


Jamie: I used an iPad as a countdown instead of using a clapper board. This was used later in post production to match the track and the video. 
A sound box present alongside a sound technician. This box also controlled the lighting. The original track was played from the speakers and the band played over it when recording. The lighting was controlled and fit in with the performance. 

Kristina: Limitations of music video form require elaborate and expressive editing. We tried to make the selective and appropriate use of shot transitions, captions and other effects so that meaning is apparent to the viewer. We used the Adobe Premier Pro as well as Adobe After Effects and the fist step was to upload the footage to a mac computer. After reviewing the footage, we created a folder called rushes. Then, distinct folders for the narrative and performance were created and we also selected and named the shots we wanted to use respectively (e.g. close up of the guitar). When the shots were too long and contained some unwanted material, we cropped them using a rasor instrument.


Jamie: We edited the group performance first. It was very important to lip sync the shots to the soundtrack and playback first as well as match-en-action to make the performance to look natural and coherent. Several takes allowed us to choose the best shots to use and this was really helpful because in some places actors did not match the lines. It was important to listen to the song very precisely to reinforce some instrumental sounds, using images (e.g. when the guitar was heard, we put the guitarist on the screen).The investigation of the conventions of the music video allowed us to understand that the music video should start with a wide shot of the group to introduce the whole band first. 

Rebecca: We used a lot of close up shots of the main singer because his face is the main focus of the music campaign and music video should market him and represent his star image. We reviewed the performance cut numerous of times to ensure that it looks natural and coherent, the singer matches lyrics, band is playing the right chords and that there is not repetition (e.g. too many guitarists’ shots)
When the performance cut was finishes, we started to edit narrative. Unlike AS , the editing of the narrative was far more complex, including multiple layers, complex transitions, eye line matching, cross-cutting, parallel editing and else. 


Kristina: For example, to show a silent communication (when there was no speech and the context had to be shown only by body movements and eye contact), we used a meat grinder to process the meat in order to show that if the person don’t follow the instructions given by another man, his mate is going to suffer. To deliver this preferred reading, it was very important to make the right editing decisions (e.g. eye-line matches, depth of field and others have to be done very precisely). After creating small narrative sequences, they were put on the timeline. Then their order had been changed several times to create a desired narrative (this is called a sequental order to create cause and effect). 

Charlotte: Eventually, these narrative sequences were put on the top of the performance. At the end, we also used finishing, colouring and grading tools to complete the overall look of the video. It works by bringing elements together for a final product so that the colour, contrast and saturation are consistent throughout the video. The Fast Colour Corrector options display helped us to adjust the tonality of the video (e.g. we added more whites when the image was a bit too dark).Than we added some brown color to the performance to give it more old- fashioned, bluesy feel as well as a blue tone to the narrative to add more ‘cold’ effect.

Evaluation Task 4

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

Throughout the process of my media campaign I have used several digital technologies to create my final products. I have worked with three different types of cameras- a basic camcorder, the Sony NX5 film camera and the Sony FS100. I used the camcorder to take practice shouts to get a feel of how the shots would look.


These cameras are all convergent- this is because I can take the memory card out of these devices and upload the footage captured onto a PC/Mac. This can also be done by using a USB cord to connect the camera straight to the PC/Mac. I used these products to capture the footage and create a clear image, white balance, zoom and panning were all used. Another big piece of Technology used was an Apple Mac.



This is where I used the software- Adobe Premier Pro to edit my footage. This software let me use the razor tool to crop the rushes. I also created lots of bins to organise the rushes. 


After finishing the final cut, it was uploaded to the popular broadcasting platform - Youtube. This is a digital technology which allows us to become prosumers and upload this video to allow audiences to share, comment and like it.
The music video I created was also uploaded to lifestream, there was also an event where the videos were released live. People could watch a montage of all the music videos at the time they were released. This screening gave us a lot of positive and constructive feedback. 

The key skills I have used are team building, group communication. One of the best ways we kept a good level of communication was using the messaging app, Whatsapp- we created a group chat and often discussed responsibilities of what needed to be down when we couldn't physically be together.