4. How did you use media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stage?

CD magazine cover research

Beside developing and finishing of our final draft of our music video, we were told to design a magazine advert to promote our CD and our music video it self. Firstly. which is obvious, we drew inspiration from the cover of the original artist of the song. From here we took the techniques of using a 'pencil drawn' effect, using it in the way of outlining the main performer. However our group decided to input our own original ideas. The ideas we came up with derived from the 'happy' feel that runs through out the music video and to also incorporate the 'hippy, carefree' theme. Looking at other magazine covers we noticed that most are simple but yet send a very effect message of the style of music being portrayed. For example recent No 1 album chart hitter Tinie Tempah released 'Disc-Overy' with one of the most simple covers but yet sends out big signals of his type of music. Below you can see a picture of this :





As you can see, in the centre and enlarged, is an image of himself. He is then holding New York city round his arms, this showing the type of music as being 'urban'. Fianlly the 'stary' background with his dress code shows the contempry and modern style his music also possesses.




From these ideas we can then go on to develop a magazine cover that will incorporate the feel, genre and style of our music video.

Below is a link that will go on to show a range of magazine covers: *click here*

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

Due to the fact we split tasks between the group by having one person working on the CD digipak and magazine avert and others working on building our music video to its highest standard it was a effective technique not only because it was more time efficient rather than us all focusing on one task it also helped each individual gain experiance in using the different media technologies and techniques. This was also effective as we were able to enforce complimentary features within the main product and ancillary texts. For example the idea of the cartoon theme came from research into different CD covers gaining from the abstract style from the theme used by Eliza Doolittle.

We then took this idea and incorporated it into our music video by taking the footage of Matt walking through market  street and used a faded black and white filter to give an almost drawn image, we did at first use a line art effect on final cut pro which gave a strong cartoon effect in black and white this idea we gained from the Bruno Mars song 'Just the way you are'

However we found ourselves at a debate as one member of the group really did not like this effect as he claimed it looked tacky so after some consideration we decided to meet half way and just use the filter as it still complimented our cartoon theme. We also used brightness and contrast in the video to heighten the colour especially in the beach scenes this therefore makes it similar to our abstract colour used in the CD cover in which we have chosen to focus on particular aspects of the photograph and picked out colour this alongside our use of soft focus is similar to the famous  atherial effect used in the 70's, with the 70's being the time of the hippy era in which we have based our music video on. This enables us to bring our main product and ancillary texts together.

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

Luckily we as a group generally have the same music taste therefore we were able to come up with plenty of ideas for inspiration when it came to music videos similar to ours. Although we aimed to make our music video as unique as possible this could be sometimes difficult as the video is also based on typical romance stories which include the girl and the guy, he serenades her with his written song and they are surrounded by beautiful scenery. We incorporated this stereotypical romance into our music video using feminine clothing and a guitar for the mise en scene and using location shots such as the beach and the park. Aside from the stereotype I think we made it unique and more personal by the use of handheld shots when filming the performers looking at one and other in the tree this made the video seem more of a home video than a panned production this is something we intended on doing as our plan was to make the video seem as carefree as possible.


Another aspect which we hope will be original is the use of stop motion to narrate the lyrics although we have seen other groups use this we hope our use of writing it in the sand adds to the idea of romance stereotypes as its a typical thing for couples to write in the sand therefore we hope  this adds to our music video being more personal. In addition, we wanted to carry on this originality by incorporating different aspects of saying 'I'm yours'. As i just mentioned we wrote it in the sand which was our first initial idea, however as production was going on our group got inspired of using a 'homeless person or a busker'. This is due to most romantic films use this whereas in the music world this is very rare and only some songs choose to use it because it only fits certain genres, like our own. So in the end we decided to use this idea and we gave a piece of cardboard having the words 'I'm yours' written on it to a busker in town. This added a different feel and dimension in the sense of a comical feel which deviated from the on-going narrative feel. There was a final  'I'm yours' near the end of the song and we wanted to carry on with this using different techniques of showing 'I'm yours'. It took a bit of time to think but one of our group members again got inspiration from another film 'The last song' of where the the guy writes 'forever' on the girls trainers. In our case instead of writing 'forever' we changed it to 'Im yours'. 
































Me and my group  also feel that our music video is original and does go against conventional music videos, due to the fact we don't only get inspiration from music videos, but we also get inspiration from different media products such as movies. This enables us to come up with different ideas, such as going to Southport beach, which no one has done. Also using inspirational movie pieces adds to the narrative side of our video.  


Finally comparing this to a similar video such as Eliza dolittle's 'Pack up', they are many similarities. Such as the beach style look, the happiness that runs throughout and the overall  sunny and bright look. However the difference between our video and Eliza Doolittle's video, is the urban feel we also brought in. This added our own feel, by mixing an urban vibe with the hippie style that runs throughout the video. 

We have mentioned Eliza Doolitle earlier on in our blog as we used the music video for 'pack up' as a form of inspiration in our detailed analysis. Eliza's music genre is very similar to that of our chosen song in the way that it has a care free vibe giving off a 'feel good' atmosphere because of this we thought it would be a good idea to research into her CD covers as it is more than likely that hers will bring some inspiration for our own.
Confirming our original assumption, Doolittles CD cover presented aspects which were exactly what we wanted to incorporate in our CD cover.
The picture on the left shows Eliza's album cover which is an example of abstract art, it includes different photographs of things obviously close to her heart such as Brooklyn and Manhattan bridge in New York (the place to make it big), London's Big Ben therefore showing patriotism as Eliza is from England and also a leg with a hightop sneaker Eliza's signature piece of clothing. The picture on the right is for Eliza's Pack up single, this also includes different aspects of Eliza's personality such as the sneakers and the tribal print yet this cover gives off more of a hippy theme with its inclusion of sunshine, flowers and rainbows.
We have taken ideas from both of these CD covers as the first one has inspired us to use a photograph of Matt (the male performer) taken on the bonet of an abandoned car at the Rusholme mansion. We intend to make the whole picture black and white and then through the use of photoshop we would like to create a 'cartoon' image of Matt making him look almost drawn and then taking aspects of the photograph and adding in some colour. The photograph on the right inspired us to find photographs on the internet of things such as suns, cartoon like flowers and signposts and adding them into the photograph therefore creating an abstract and hopefully unique theme.

Potential CD Covers

We then looked at the above CD Cover by our chosen artist Jason Mraz, the theme throughout his album was in fact similar to that of ours which is to run a 'cartoon' theme. Although the overall effort put into the cover is probably minimal because it is high in simplicity we believe it is very successful because it is something we as a group have never seen before. Even the use of the slogan "we sing, we dance, we steal" adds to this simple intelligence. The triple structure of the verb phrases are striking to the audience therefore making the CD cover even more appealing. By looking at this CD cover it has definatly confirmed for us to go forth with our idea of a cartoon almost hand drawn look.

3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Audience feedback
We asked several members of another group to give feedback on our music video, judging it on overall impression, three positive points about the video, one area to improve on and to analyse one technical area. This is the feedback we received.

Overall Impression
The overall impression of the video was that it was very creative in terms of performance and lighting. It is a cheerful video that reflects the mood of the song well. There is also a good use of locations, and effects to create a summery feel to the beach scenes especially.

Positive points about the music video

• "The lip-syncing is accurate and on time"
• "I like the soft focus effect used as it creates a softness to suit the tone of the song"
• "In terms of mise en scene, the location was successfully chosen in order to fit well with the theme of the song"
• "The costume was well chosen and thought through"
• "Good ideas such as writing in the sand and on the converse"
• "Use of stop motion with writing in the sand to make it look as if it just appeared"
• "The filters used work well with the camera and mise en scene"
• "Camera work has been well thought as it cuts to play well in combination of the music"
• "The pace of the music and video is a very good combination that work well together between scenes"

Area to improve

Could use more point of view shots to show what the focus of the characters is. Another point was that the stop motion with the sand, the shots move to much which draws away attention from the writing. 

Analyse a technical area

In terms of camera work, there is lots of handheld to make it personal and allow the audience to empathise and see things through the eyes of the performer; this was good. As well as this, the different camera angles used helped to emphasise this. Also, the camera work in the video was of very good quality. There were creative ways of following the action like when they fall to the floor. This gives a very professional feel to the video. The editing is very good, in particular the work with filters. It certainly adds to the video.

Evaluation of Audience Feedback
The members of the group who gave this feedback saw our finished version of the music video with our finished effects added. However, before we added the effects to the music video such as soft focus filters we got feedback and constructive criticism from some of our teachers. One of our teachers suggested we think about some effects to enhance to the romantic nature of the narrative and that it was a good song with good locations but we definitely needed to enhance to romantic quality by adding effects. Other teachers agreed that there was something missing and that it should be more `music video like`. We therefore, took advantage of the possible effects we could add to our video such as soft focus which created a more etherial look. We also brightened the scenes on the beach to give more of a `California beach` feel to it, even though we were filming in October! This brightened the atmosphere and emphasized the summer theme of the music video. After we added these effects, one of our tutors then told us that "The addition of the effects have greatly added and enhanced the music video".

We then asked for audience feedback from members of our class. In their overall impression of the video, they clearly picked up on our added effects of brightness of the beach and and thought this created a more summery feel, which is what we were aiming to create. The added brightness just emphasized this, which is noticeable in our video. Other good points of our music video commented on; were things such as the soft focus creating a softness, which suited the song and the filters worked well with the mise en scene. This was shown particularly in the park scenes as the autumn style filter fitted in nicely with the leaves on the ground and bare trees creating an overall autumn style memory.If we hadn't have changed our music video before hand, these comments would not have been made. Another comment was that there is a good use of locations. One of our best locations was filming around Southport and on Southport beach, which took a lot of organization an advance preparation. This comment proves that our precise planning and going out of our way to travel to Southport payed off. In one area to improve, it was suggested that the stop motion of im yours in the sand went too fast; therefore taking the focus of the words. In response to this we slowed the stop motion down slightly to make it more visible, as we appreciate that those who have never watched the video don't know whats about to happen and therefore may not have enough time to take in what the words in the sand say. When asked to analyze a technical aspect of the video someone made a comment about the parts of the video when we used handheld camera, saying that it was like they were seeing what was happening through the eyes of the performers. We were happy with this comment as we intentionally filmed it like this as we wanted to create a personal feel to our video allowing the audience to gain a closer insight into their relationship. Someone also mentioned that the way we showed action in the video was very creative which shows that our filming and editing was very precise when trying to create and highlight a certain action.

Overall, our music video received extremely positive comments. The comments confirmed to us that if we hadn't had added the effects to our video we would have received perhaps slightly less praise in terms of the technical aspect of it and the overall mood of the song. However, putting the effects aside, the comments were still very promising in aspects such as creativeness in terms of mise en scene - location, costume and camera work and our use of stop motion. We also learned that it helps to have an outsiders view on our music video to help with the creative process, as they can discover something that people working inside the group can not. An example of this would be when we were told that the stop motion in the sand went to fast, therefore taking the emphasis off the writing. Because of this comment we slowed the stop motion down, but we would not have addressed this issue if it had not have been raised to us from some one who is not part of our group.

16th November

Although scheduling to film on Friday we were unable to do to due to one members personal priorities this therefore became another hurdle in our music video making marathon this however metaphorically gave the group a 'kick up the butt' in which we concluded to spend the 4 hours we all had free on Tuesday to bring our filming to completion.

After meeting in Manchester town centre we headed to the top of the Arndale car park to produce one of our favourite ideas of the entire music video which was to reinact the line in the song 'open up your eyes and then your free' by filming the Male performer holding his hands over the eyes of the female as they both walk towards the camera and presumably towards the edge of the roof top. We then walked around the carpark in search of the best view (much to Fawaz's dismay as he is terrified of heights!) once we were satisfied with the view we had found we carried out an establishing as the male performer held his hands over the camera and opened them up therefore turning the shot into a point of view from the female performers perspective. After this we carried out a few more different angles of the two performers looking over Manchester. We not only included this estanlishing shot of Manchester to create a romantic setting but also to show a sense of patriotism to present where we come from. After this scene we departed the carpark and headed to market street in which we proceded with the filming by doing a hand held tracking shot of the male performer miming the words and playing his guitar. We will use this particular sequence in the part of the song where music heightens and it seems as though people are singing along with Mraz therefore we chose to do the market street scene at 12 mid-day when we could certain that Market street would be at its busiest. The hand held tracking shot was particularly difficult due to the 'hand held' aspect as even the steadiest hand is going to begin to shake after 3 minutes of constantly holding your hand in the same position whilst walking backward through a chaotic croud however after we later reviewed the footage we found the obstacle had hardly affected us as we had done quite well in keeping the camera still.
We then headed towards the gardens in search of a busker willing to be involved in our music video and hold the 'Im yours' cardboard sign which we had made earlier. After we found a kind guitarist who was more than happy to participate we filmed the male performer continuing his walk through the town centre but from a side shot therefore getting a long shot of the grinning busker (who got a nice tip for his participation!)

The last location of the day was the abandoned building in the heart of Rusholme. On the journey to the mansion the group was slightly apprehensive over whether the building would still be remaining abandoned as scaffolding and builders isnt exactly the scenery appropriate for our 'natural' theme or whether it would be private property there for forbiding us to film on the land. However our luck was in as the location was fitting Matt's description exactly therefore making it perfect for our music video.
We began the shoot by filming some solo shots of the male performer miming the lyrics of the song whilst perched on the bonet of a doorless neglected car amongst the trees. We then used the the holes where the doors would be as a framing for the couple as we then filmed the section where 'im yours' is written on the sneaker. We involed the make converse into the music video because Converse is typically a brand wore by the younger generation therefore relatable for our target audience. This section involved a tracking shot of the male peformer walking towards the car, then a close up of the male performer holding the female performers shoe, in the same way the prince holds cinderella's when trying on the glass slipper and then to finish an extreme close up of 'im yours' being written on the toe of the sneaker.
We felt the day was very succesful as we accomplished all tasks we had set out to do so now we aim to focus fully on the editing aspect of the production.