Music video and ancillary tasks

                                                  http://laramariemurray.wix.com/isadora

Task 4- How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

To conclude, by using a vast majority of complex digital technologies, I have used technological convergence to ensure that I have produced three products as a part of a successful campaign. Other then the technologies that we all used to produce the music video I personally spent a lot of time using the software photoshop. I was able to manipulate photographs from the photoshoot of the artist that I took using my 5d mark III camera by using the levels tool and contrast tool on photoshop. The ways in which I edited each image from the shoot I used the highlighter tool, also known as the 'magnifying tool' to highlight specific features on her face, like her eyes. I then used the 'burn tool' to make any features darker and created shadowed regions to make the image look more visual contrasting and involve the idea of form into my imagery. I also used photoshop to outline the digipak template and select images that I could drag on and use as the front cover and back cover of the digipak. It was a learning curve because I made at least 3 different digipak's and then asked people what could be improved, changed or added. I used images from the internet and made them my own by editing the 'contrast levels' and 'channel colours' to make the image unique and my own, I used this technique on an image of a rose which is linked and carried on throughout all three of our products for this campaign.

 Last draft:

Second draft:

First draft:

Task 4- How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Director's commentary:

Task 4- How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

For this task as a group we all individually chose a particular section of technology that we would write about and then put together as a script. The section of technology that i wrote about was the offline process of editing and what particular tools we used and what this did to create and help our music video evolve into what it has become. We then chose to record this as 'director's comments' alongside our music video, letting the audience know the creative decisions of our technology. The music video was created through a participatory culture and through technological convergence.


The script:

GH:                 During the shoot, we used various technologies to film our video.  Before each shot we used an ipad that was linked to the surround sound system in the studio.

We held up the screen with the song time to the lens of the camera, until a beep came that signalled the beginning of the song. This therefore told us and the artist lip syncing that he had 4 seconds until the song began, and also made it easier for us in the edit to know where to place the visuals so that they matched the track.

We did the majority of the filming using a Sony FS100 camera and prior to each shot we took, we had to focus the lens and white balance the shot by zooming in on a white area, adjusting the colour and then zooming out and arranging our shot.   As we were filming, each member of our group would take a turn operating the camera, while the other three watched and directed from a TV that was placed out of the way of the set.

CH:                 Having the TV made our filming process much easier, as there would not have been enough time on the shoot day to re-watch our footage so it allowed us to see whether what we were filming worked and if the shots were going to be efficient enough to be used in the edit.

We used a second camera on our video shoot – a Canon 5D camera to film the set where Sasha was upside down.  This was a much better suited camera for this artistic cinematography that we wanted to achieve.   

As we had to be up-close and on the floor, using the FS100 would have been too bulky, and the lens was too close to the ground. By using a lighter camera, physically filming the shots became much easier and we were able to move the camera much more easily because it is so light.  This digital technology also enabled the quick transfer and uploading of footage to a mac computer.

GB:                 Finally, this was our most artistic shot and using a lens that easily focuses on the artists face our shots came out in a very high definition. The only con with using this camera was that we did not have time to link it up to the TV, and so we could not judge whether our shots were usable as we went along.   We then realised when we got to the edit that a lot of our footage was out of focus.

When filming our music video, we used an iPad for playback at the start of each shot. We did this so that when it came to editing, it would be much easier for us to be able to sync the clips to the audio that was already on the timeline, to make it look like our artist was actually singing the words.

We did this by using the arrow keys to slowly move along our footage,  and then we found the point at which the frequency was highest on the playback clip, then we knew to cut the video, using the blade tool at the point and then drag the clip back along the timeline in order for it to be correctly synced.

When we edited our video we used colour grading to help bring out our music video. We used a slight hint of pink to show that our artist is girly as this would relate to our target audience. This made the video look more edgy and appealing to the audience. As our song is very fast paced we decided to make our cuts fast. For example, in the UV set the cuts are rapid, this helps as it goes to the beat of the song and is interesting for the audience to watch.

LM:                  By having four different sets this allowed our artist to be seen in different perspectives. Which makes our artist relevant and can appeal to different types of people, which means our artist can branch out and not just stay with one group of people. We had to export our video into a MOV file, which means it can be seen in high quality, after exporting it we then uploaded it onto YouTube.

By having it on YouTube we can see who, when, where and why people are watching our music video. We can also see the age of our viewers which will enabled us to see if we successfully grabbed our target audience.

By using Adobe Premier Pro as the software to edit our music video we were able to complete the offline and online process of editing in a quick manner. In the offline process of editing we watched through all our clips to see which ones were effective and could be used in our final product. After sleeting these clips we put into a folder known as the ‘rushes’ folder. We then named each clip to help us identify the clip without having to watch each one over and over again, making the editing process faster and more manageable.  We used was the ‘razor’ tool to allow us to cut and shape our clips so that they could match with the pace and the tempo our chosen song.

After organising the clips we placed them onto the timeline by looking at the playback times and syncing the lip-sync of our artist up with the lyrics in the song, this made our video look more realistic and adhere to all of the ‘pop’ conventions in a music video.

Task 4- How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

In class we discussed as a group all of the individual online technologies that we used in our A2 year. The most important technology that we used in our A2 was the sony FS100 film camera which allowed us to film the elements of the models moving in synchronisation to the song 'clap snap' and really capture the fun and girly hypothesis that we set out to create. We edited our music video in stages of offline and online editing on the software, adobe premier pro, which allowed us to match clips to the fast tempo beat of our chosen song. In the A2 year, I have expanded my horizons and started using new and more complex technologies to improve the quality of our chosen campaign. More of these technologies are listed on the 'digital technologies' diagram below.

As this task continues I will hopefully hone and develop my skills of using more complex technologies and will continue to present work and chosen elements of my campaign in more visually interesting and complex ways. Honing my skills has helped me create the other two ancillary tasks for this campaign and help combine themes to show that all three elements link in corresponding and effective ways to the artist of our music video.

Final website edit

http://laramariemurray.wix.com/isadora

This is the latest edit of our website towards our campaign. From looking at the feedback from our target audience we decided to make our website more user friendly and make it simple so that the artist image can stand out in a more modern website design.

This home page is a perfect example of how we have gone for a more modern graphic design approach whilst still incorporating the girly designs by using pink and sweetie hearts as the typeface for our artist. By using the same pink background for each page it links each page together and allows the viewer to read the information on the artist and other specific text features easy to read and see.

For the 'About' page we used links to link the artist to social media website like her twitter account which we made to promote the artist and her tour. We chose to use a different typeface for this heading because the home page needs to stand out more as it is the first page the viewer is introduced to, making a first impression vital for our artist. 

This is the gallery page for our website. We decided to use a 'honeycomb' and hexagon template to show the image because it makes it clear on which ones the viewer wants to see and it makes it visually interesting and different from the layout of the other pages because not everything should be exactly the same, otherwise it becomes boring for the viewer.

Final digipak edit

This is the final edit of our digipak. I made changes to the original edit because of feedback from our focus group video. I decided to simplify the artwork by making each side, mirror each other. I did this by using the same theme throughout the digipak because the feedback from other people suggested that there was too much going on and there were too many elements added to each photograph. I think that i used too many images on the digipak before so by using the reference to the roses on the cd and then using it on the inside cover. I think that this makes it look more artistic, rather than all about the artist, it shows her other interests. I didn't want the rose on the inside cover to just be a plain rose so i researched Egyptian poems on the internet and i picked this extract from a poem i chose. The poem expressed how strong and powerful love and war is, which i think compliments the stereotypes of what pop artists talk about in their music. This is the full poem:

The Wakening Trumpet 

Sacred waters with fatted reeds
rusting sands hold my Egypt
sun-planted palms against sky-blue
the salt marsh dries her ancient armor.


Scorpions on the granite sphinx
bloody altars with tarnishing bronze,
gold of gild, plumes upon Antony's helmet
finding the cause of Kings and Pharaohs
stretching like a sleeping cat -
a queen in Cleopatra
knows the heart of the scorching desert.


Over dunes came drumming legions
across a perfect child's stare
beyond the mirage of temples
beyond those angled pyramids. . ..


O Copper palm, tree of tree
by hot sea
crossing a thousand centuries -
an empire for your beads
and your bursting history !

Evaluation Task 3

Evaluation Task 3 Word Doc

Survey feedback results

Focus groups

Here are the videos from our focus group. From these videos we were able to gather comments on our digipak, video and website. We decided to chose a group of females within our target audience members, ranging from 16 to 25 year olds.

Audience feedback - Youtube statistics

What this image tells me about our music video is that it has had 1,352 views between the 4th December to 30th January and even more now. A large majority of our hits came from when we first released the music video and are still ongoing now. This is mostly because the song 'clap snap' has just become popular via the public so our music video is another way of advertising and promoting Icona Pop's song.

This screen shot allows me to see where the views for our video have come from. In England we have the most views, which is what i suspected it to be because the production of our music video is english as well as the school and the people in our music video. What shocked me about this feedback was that Brazil was our second country that was the reason for 16% of our music video views. I will look further into the reason as to why this is popular in Brazil because it may be popular due to it being a festive time in Brazil as they are currently undergoing their annual carnival period and maybe the variety of colours and artist sets in our music video have had an effect on the audience type.

The beginning of our music video starts of as a frequently watched area of the our music video. This is expected because a lot of people exactly get moved onto this music video and turn it off within the first few seconds. What this graph does tell me is that the most popular areas that people watched were the dance routines and the uv sets, this is because the creative colours make it different to other music videos but at the same time our distinguishing conventions of a pop video that people tend to like or expect. Our video has been gradually watched all the way through, which means that we have successfully created a music video that people do not get bored of. I was a bit worried that our music video would get boring towards the end because pop videos like ours often have a repetitive sequence in them. 

This statistic shows the ratio from female to male that watch our music video and the particular age that our audience are. What shocked me about this music video was that it is an even ratio from female to male that watch our music video. I never assumed that we would have that many men that would be interested or watch our music video because we use girly stereotypes in our music video such a s our floral pink set at the beginning of our music video. Our most popular age group in Brazil is from 35 to 44 and i never expected us to appeal to an older minority because our target audience was fro female 16 year olds.

Task 2 - conclusion

How effective have I been with my campaign?

Overall, I personally believe that I have been effective in communicating the theory of the 'star image' and implementing it into my campaign. I have been able to use parts of the star image that i need to convey a 'pop' genre. For instance i have used a pink and floral theme throughout my music video and ancillary tasks to create a parallel understanding between the artists and her fans, creating a relationship built on a glamorous lifestyle and commonalities between the viewer and the artist. I have considered the distribution of the product and the brand image by adhering to a majority of 'pop' and girly conventions in all three elements of the campaign.  Ultimately the brand image I wanted to promote was a fun and girly artist that can appeal to a female audience age range from 15 to 25.  This is vital for any campaign or concept because the audiences need to be able to read these conventions and benefit from all three elements otherwise the products are of no use to them and this means that our artist won't be popular and we will not succeed at feeling the artist's look. In the campaign for example this could be compared to actual artists like Katy Perry and Nicki Minaj as they too, use a variety of fun and girly colours to express the artist emotions and show her character to the audience who will be open enough to receive and like it.  Emily Teadrake from Polydor records argues that the pitch for any concept had to be consistent and marketable. This is proof from how they made Ellie Goulding's music video. The music video was the main reason for the success of her song and promoted it in a way that the song could not promote itself. This is because songs need imagery beside them to explain the song and the interpretation of the song to the audience otherwise they would feel as if they could not relate to the artist thoughts.

I also feel that I have given the campaign a unique selling point through the star image. The star image I have promoted is a glamorous and unique lifestyle that audience members would want to have and therefore they would look up to Isadora and hope to be like her. A unique selling point used in a coherent campaign will provide different opportunities to market the star image. An audience who is able to spread word of mouth about a publicity campaign can ensure success through the engagement with the  ext as a form of online media. The spread and publicity of the campaign in an effective way ensures that the artist will become popular and gain fans. I have technically delivered a coherent looking campaign through the use of floral images in all three elements so that they link together and combine in an effective and readable way.  The music video promotes a release from the album and shows the meaning of the song in a visual interpretation. Whilst the website acts as an effective online tool which helps distribute and promote meaning for a fan base.  The circulation and spread of meaning by the intended audience helps with co-option and participatory culture believe that critic, Boyd has stated which aids me with the marketing and promotion of the album.

Evaluation task 2 - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? (group)

Website

This is the link to our website for our artists campaign. For this we tried to make it modern using inspiration from Tinashe's official website to make them look more professional as an artist. We wanted it to be more graphic and visual then filled with loads of words. Conventionally for a pop artist they should be portrayed as an individual artist and i think using imagery rather then words tells the viewer enough about the artist.

http://laramariemurray.wix.com/electro-pop-singer
Tinashe's website:

Digipak

This is our digipak design template that i have made towards our artists campaign. Although this idea is not set in stone this is what we have come up with at the moment. To create the images i did a photoshoot using studio lighting and used my sisters bedroom as the location for this shoot. These images will also be used for the website and i was able to edit them in photoshop as well as create layered images of more then one photograph (as shown on the front cover). For the photoshoot i wanted to create a fun and 'sassy' range of images, a similar mood that was portrayed in the music video. For the design i used similar girly conventions such as 'roses' and 'glitter' as a recurring theme in the music video to make a complimentary campaign.

Task 1 part 4 -In what ways does my website use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real websites?

Our website for Isadora adheres to the conventions of any female and young artist that would also appeal to a young audience democratic. We used a large 3d typeface for our website so that it is not text heavy and simple to use by younger audience members. Similarly to Nicki Minaj's website, there is a lot of pink objects, fonts and details to both websites because this exaggerates the femininity of our artist. We wanted to incorporate at least one detail that compliments the digipak and the music video, this being the incorporation of roses and flowers to complement our 'pink' website.

Rihanna's website is an example of how you can convert ideal conventions of a pop artist. Instead, she has used a more modern approach with less artistic designs but i think that this works towards her audience because she has fans that are older then the 14 year olds intended to watch and enjoy the presence of our artist. Something that both websites have on their first page is the latest work of the artist, which is ideal because it advertises both aspects of our campaign in one feature. The music video also compliments our background designs and pink fonts that they look and appear like an actual campaign.

Katy perry and Nicki Minaj both include videos and pictures to illustrate the 'social' section of their website. We have also done the same because we didn't want our website to be too text heavy. AS you can see in these real website adaptations for real pop artists, there is a lot of shapes and bright and girly colours to represent the artists image. We have subverted to these conventions by using a black and white and graphically sinister approach to a social page background. This is because it completes the projections used in our music video and sometimes fans and audience members like and enjoy being unexpected by not adhering to what is expected of a pop artist, so we have tried to appeal to all types of people.

Images are a big impact in to what audience members will know and see about the artist. In beyonce's website she is made to look stylish, feminine with the variety of floral colours and decoration and the use of a girly lipstick. We have tried to incorporate big images of the same portrait and close up framework in the photography of our artists. This convention of any female artist allows the audience to relate to them, want to be them and therefore want to buy their album and become a fan of their music and their overall 'image'.

Task 1 part 3 -In what ways does my digipak use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real digipak's?

Task 1 part 2 -In what ways does my music video use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real music videos?

Kat Deluna - 'Run the show'                                     Our music video 'Clap snap'

Overall our music video adheres to all of the conventions of real music videos rather then challenging them. This was something that was planned because when we were planning what we wanted the music video to be like we looked at pop videos like the ones i have discussed in this post. It was important for us to adhere and follow these stereotypes because these artists have developed a huge fan base because of the ways that they have been portrayed so if we were to mimic these conventions then hopefully our artist would be just as important. Also it is important for audience members to recognise straight away the theme within the artists music and by following these conventions of a pop video this helps to retain ad emphasise this theme.

Task 1 part 1 - In what ways do your media products use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The term, convention is not always written in a media text and in the case of our music video conventions would be the stereotypical aspects that would be usually seen in a pop music video. For our website it would be both written and visual aspects that would be seen to portray a pop artists personality to the public eye and the same goes for the digipak artwork. An example of this for pop videos is that our music video adheres to the conventions of a pop video because the girl/ artist is always the main focus of the video, this is shown by Sasha always being in the centre of the frame for each individual shot. In this task I am going to compare my music video, digipak artwork and website to other pop artists videos, albums and websites and see whether they adhere to the same conventions or subvert them.