Final Music Video

Music Video finalfinalfinale from Haydon Media on Vimeo.


My most updated and recent version of my music video after making some slight changes from the last draft. This includes changing some certain clips to ensure they are slowed down 50% to fit with the rest, and making the sections of the older lady longer as a way of heightening the message of the music video.

Magazine Advert Final

Final version of my magazine poster after completely changing almost the entire video. I decided to change the positioning of the image so it is much higher up which allowed me a lot more room for text. I then moved the name of the band and album onto the picture to separate the visuals from the text. I feel this structure works much more effectively and will appeal to many more audiences compared to my first.

DigiPak Final

Final DigiPak- after receiving feedback from peers in my class and looking at a wider range of existing digipak's, I decided to add three sections of text.

1- The credits which will appeal to super-fans and purists who enjoy knowing more about an artist and an album rather than just an audience member that would want to listen to the album and that's it.

2- A 'thankyou' note from the band making the digipak seem a lot more personal to the fans.

3- A poetic story illustrating how the 'album was born'.

Evaluation Document

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

Digital technology has now become vital in the creation of any media text in all stages; pre-production, production and post-production. Furthermore, due to the proliferation of technologies and the availability of these technologies, creating a media text has most certainly become easier and more efficient. Technology has allowed me to create effective, professional-looking products which can be hosted simply online.

Whilst conducting my initial planning and research tasks, I started by using the internet- Web 2.0 in particular Blogger which is the site I have used to host all of my work. Using a blog service allows me to easily upload documents in any format such as moving image or print. For any texts I created on softwares such as Microsoft Word and Powerpoint, I used a hosting website such as Issuu or Slideshare which transforms the document into an easily accessible, viewable format; this makes my blog extremely versatile and will extend my knowledge of other softwares. Another element of Blogger which I feel is helpful is that it automatically organises all uploads by date and label to support navigation. I created the labels of: final products, production logs, planning, research, audience and drafting. If I was then required to edit any posts, I would not have to search through the entirety of the blog.

One website in particular being YouTube. As I was relatively unaware of the band Kodaline, this allowed me to create an artist catalogue of their music, performances and videos so I could then translate this understanding of the band into my own music video. As YouTube is a video hosting site based mainly on user-generated content, I was able to search for other student and non-professional videos which I could analyse to establish the sort of effect and quality of a video that I need to create. YouTube gave me such as broad spectrum of videos so I could see what works the best and the different conventions of music videos. Moreover, during the post-production stages of my music video, I used Premiere tutorials from YouTube to assist in the editing; all of which were easy to follow therefore making the process a lot quicker and more efficient.

In particular for the research stages, I used conventional formats such as Microsoft Powerpoint and Word but for some I decided to use Prezi which is specifically designed for presentations. Prezi allows me to fly around the screen moving between different shots overall making it look more interesting and exciting. Documents such as the narrative of my music video worked more effectively in Prezi as I was able to show step-by-step guide to my music video through the use of arrows for easy navigation.

During the production stage of my music video, I had to utilize as much professional equipment as possible in order to get the best footage. I found the most important aspect of filming is the lighting. For this, I used 800W Redhead Studio Lights; these allow for authentic performance lighting and if used in the correct way, makes the footage crisp and clear. With regards to lighting, placement is key. I used these as back lighting which washes out the background so all of the focus is then put onto the actors. Moreover, the Red Head lights allow you to adjust the positioning, height and depth of light which are all essential in order to lighting the performance correctly. I found that having higher up pointing down onto the actors created less shadows which is an effect I aimed to create.

The lighting then corresponds with the camera; whilst shooting I used a Canon 550D SLR camera. As this was a digital camera as opposed to analogue, it meant I was able to instantly view the footage which was essential in the long-run as it meant I could see whether anything needed to be re-filmed directly after filming saving having to conduct a second shoot. Similarly, I was able to shoot everything directly to an SD card which held around 60 minutes worth of footage compared to a tape holding around 15 minutes worth.

Canon SLR Cameras also give you the options of both manual and automatic; having the camera using manual settings meant I could adapt hem in order to fit perfectly with the lighting. For example, during the studio shoot with the actors, the lighting was bright so, I lowered the ISO as a means to not wash out the actors. However, during the older lady shoot, I had a much darker setting and therefore needed a higher ISO to keep the footage bright. Whilst planning my music video, I decided to slow down the footage in order to fit with the pace and tempo of the song. Due to this, I had a higher shutter speed of 50fps which allowed me to then slow down the footage to 25fps and still retain the original smoothness rather than looking jumpy and unprofessional. Lastly, changing the focus settings to manual which was extremely beneficial. Although this meant I had to individually focus each shot, it allowed me to create effective focus-pulls and therefore, I, as the director, decided what I wanted in focus at certain points highlighting what the audience are supposed to look at and for certain reasons. For example, within the last scene of my music video, I created an effective depth of focus in the shot of the photograph and flowers; the photograph was in shot as this is what the most essential element in the shot at the time and what the audience must look at.

Whilst filming, different camera mounts will create different effects. Some shots I believed should be completely still and some should have some movement. For example, during the scenes between the two actors, I wanted there to be slight movement which will show different elements of the setting therefore keeping audience’s intrigued; this effect was created using a Shouldermount. In comparison to this, the shots of the older lady I felt should be completely still using a tripod. This allowed the audience to completely focus on both the woman, and the mise-en-scene of the shot. This was vital as this scene is what ties the entirety of the video together and I didn’t feel that movement would support this and instead take away from the message.

I decided to use a 50mm 1.8 Prime Aperture Lens whilst shooting as it created a more dramatic depth of field again, allowing me to turn the focus onto specific points. Moreover, I initially decided my music video would be filmed mainly using close ups and extreme close ups. Therefore, as this lens is automatically zoomed without losing image quality, I felt it would be perfect to fit my intentions. It would enabled audience’s to keep fully engaged with the piece and create relationships through the close ups with the actors as stated by Andrew Goodwin.

During the post-production stages, I used different professional softwares in order to get the best possible results. I edited the entire video using Adobe Premier Pro CS6; this software works through the use of a timeline making it extremely easy to work with both the visuals and audio at the same time. The use of a timeline creates a much easier and effective editing process; I could drop any footage onto the timeline on different layers creating a visually clear workspace. With regards to layers, I decided to create a separate layer for each shoot and then rename them to keep it clear and concis; this allowed me to clearly separate each shoot. I frequently used the trimming-tool in order to cut my footage to create certain shots. The use of single-frame advanced software enabled me to crop the footage exactly where I wanted rather than a few half-seconds out. Another tool which was beneficial for me personally was the speed tool; I slowed every section of footage down half speed in order to keep with the pace of the song as Goodwin stated that the visuals should reflect the song within all music videos.

As my video was set in the 1950s, I wanted to put in a colour overlay to desaturate the footage to give it a much more authentic, vintage look. In order to do so, I created an adjustment layer and ensured it was over the top of all of my footage excluding that of the old lady as this reflects the modern day. On this adjustment layer, I desaturated the colour to 48% meaning it was almost directly inbetween bright colour and black and white. I also applied the ‘RGB Curves’ effect and created a "smooth-S" on the master column. This decreased the brightness of all colours within the shot however, I found that the performer’s faces were still quite bright and stood out for the wrong reasons. So, I decreased the red colour column which fixed this problem.

As part of the course requires us not only to create a piece of moving image work but also print, I used Adobe Photoshop CS6 to edit the images for my DigiPak and Advertisement. Similarly to the adjustment layer made on Premiere, I desaturated the images on Photoshop to ensure the house style and vintage theme ran throughout all of my products creating a sense of synergy. The images were edging on black and white with some of the colours being shown through- for example, my magazine advert image consists of two polaroid photographs on a section of grass. After editing, the images appear black and white but you can see a slight tint of green from the grass, this cuts up the black and white and still remains within the vintage styling. Editing the images makes it look more interesting and aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Lastly, I used Adobe Illustrator CS6 to create the signatures for my Digipak. These were created using the ‘paintbrush’ tool and were easily copied over into Adobe InDesign into my DigiPak.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

In my opinion, consistently collecting audience feedback throughout the entirety of the project has been essential. Without having a main consumer group for the products or without the audience feedback it is pointless and suggests the idea that the purpose has not been fulfilled. This feedback has also given me clarification of my ideas and therefore highlighted the strengths, weaknesses and what works and what doesn’t according to the intended audience.

My main priority whilst considering the target audience for my video was that I wanted to ensure it would appeal to both males and females which I believe it does. Firstly, Kodaline is a band that would appeal to both sexes due to their huge range of songs so it could be said there is something that would appeal to everyone. The video style within itself would appeal to women more due to the nature of the storyline and the emotiveness of it which women are typically more open to. Again, stereotypically women would be more intrigued by the dance element than men would. However, my video would appeal to males due to the idea of using a female and the multiple close ups of the female highlighting the ‘male gaze’ theory. The primary age group of intended target audience would be16-30. This is mainly because if they were any younger than 16, they may not grasp the concept of the video and the 1950s due to a change in generation. Similarly, if they were any older than 30, Kodaline’s music within itself may not appeal to them.

Before I began filming, I decided to gain some feedback from both my teachers and others with a higher expertise of the technologies I would be using such as the particular lighting I should use to achieve my intended aim and the camera settings. This allowed me to confidently use the equipment and ensure it was done professionally and properly the first time to save re-shooting. This feedback was one of the most essential within the pre-production stages.

Throughout the course I have decided to constantly collect audience feedback whether it be formal and recorded data or informal. I have also been able to establish the positive and negatives out of these different forms of feedback collecting which I can use for projects in the future. The most essential and utilised form of feedback was simply asking my peers their opinion on certain small elements such as the positioning of an image on my print work or a specific shot/sequence within my music video. As all of my peers are media students, it allowed me to gain an insight into a more technical opinion using their own knowledge and experience of a music video. Moreover, media students typically tend to be very critical which my class are; this allowed me to feel confident in what they were saying and that they would not be afraid to make any changes. I find this way is also very positive as I was able to get feedback on very small sections, sometimes even just one shot, rather than the entirety of the music video which at times, for an audience member can be quite daunting to evaluate 4 minutes worth of footage all in one go. Although receiving feedback off of the other media students within my class has been extremely beneficial, it also comes with many negatives as they could all be classed as ‘similar people’ based on their knowledge of the specification and requirements. If I were to gain feedback off of others within my target audience that weren’t media students, it may have created a more generalised opinion that was not from a media-background and simply what looks aesthetically pleasing and interesting for them.

The first piece of feedback I decided to formally conduct and record was for my initial idea. In order to do so, I picked 5 students at random from my class and filmed their responses to my idea. Gaining feedback from such an early stage was highly supportive and influential throughout the creation of my music video as it told me that I was on the right track and that this idea, if done well, is something that really would appeal to my intended consumer group. One positive of using this method means that I constantly had this footage to refer back to as they also gave some opinions on what they think could develop the idea even further. However, due to the small number of people that gave feedback, it may not appeal to the different people within my target audience such as somebody in the higher age range e.g. 28. From this feedback, I noticed that my target audience were really excited to see the 1950s element of the video and said to ensure I heightened this through the mise-en-scene which is something I then focussed on during pre-production.

Another form of audience feedback I thought would help me with the development of my music video during the production stages is an online survey. I used the website Survey Monkey which allowed me to create a free survey which I could send to anyone of my choice and get them to fill in the questions I entered after watching the first draft of my video. The concept of an online survey is an exceptional idea due to the nature of how easy it is to create and access however, I found that this was ineffective and did not help me to develop my music video. As Survey Monkey collates all of the responses together to enable the creator to analyse the results, I noticed that the formal written responses did not help. For example, I received comments such as "make sure they are both the same person" despite an explanation of it being a first draft and instead of giving constructive criticism, they were all very basic, minimal answers. However, this may be due to many reasons. One of which being the sort of questions I used; if I were to use shorter questions which enabled me to get a much clearer, concise answer about small sections it may have been more beneficial. Furthermore, I published my survey on social networking websites such as Twitter and Facebook which would attract the same sort of people, e.g. same age range and of the same educational status being either sixth form, college of university. This may have altered the overall responses and next time I should attempt to reach out to a much broader range of people to ensure a non-biased response.

Lastly, after I had finished an almost final draft of my music video I decided to again post it onto my personal social media page on Facebook and Twitter. Similarly to the negatives of posting a survey onto these sites, I got mainly informal responses from the same age range of people. However, the feedback I did receive was highly positive giving me confidence in the fact that my music video has fulfilled the sole purpose and has appealed to them and has given them a sense of enjoyment from watching it. Additionally, gaining feedback of the emotional responses it had on people such as them crying, further reinforced the idea that I have met my intended purpose as I wanted to create an emotionally, moving music video. The only small criticisms for my music video from this draft was to extend the sections of the older lady as a way of heightening the overall message of the music video and also ensuring each clip is slowed down by 50% to retain the smooth, slow-paced video throughout.

Overall, I found the most vital format of audience feedback has been conferring with my peers in order to get a media-influenced, critical view and also from the clarification of this feedback from my teacher to get an opinion from someone with an expertise. With regards to changes to feedback, next time I would hold more focus groups which will allow a group of people to have a free discussion of all of my products. I also will use a much broader approach in the sense that I would ask a lot more people and of wider backgrounds, different cultures and ages. However, overall I feel that without the amount of audience feedback I have received throughout, I would not have been able to create an as effective product that would cater to a specific audience as much as I have done.

How effective is the combination of your main task and ancillary task?

Once being given my briefs, I understood that I had to create a sense of synergy through all three tasks. In order to do so, I decided to create a unifying theme that audience’s would be able to recognise and identify with either the artist or the genre. Due to the nature of my narrative being set in the 1950s, this instantly gave me a theme of nostalgia which I coupled with love. Both of which first of all are universal themes that the majority of people would be able to relate to instantly giving audience’s a connection without even having to watch the music video. This narrative allowed me to clearly portray the themes throughout all tasks; for example, I created an ongoing pattern that my DigiPak and Magazine Advertisement would be based around Polaroid images. Obviously, this are limited in use of today’s society therefore highlighting the idea of memories and looking back on the past which is reflected in my music video. I believe all three of my products were extremely successful in relation to highlighting the themes however, they may be classed as being somewhat ambiguous and that it poses an enigma. The music video would be ambiguous in the sense that it would be interpreted differently by different people that watch it based upon their own cultural reference points. Similarly to the advertisement and Digipak, a younger audience that would be a fan of Kodaline, may see these and not make links between the idea of Polaroid images and nostalgia due to the technologically influenced society we live in today.

Setting my music video in the 1950s has allowed me to create a media text that could be described as timeless. Because it has already been given an era that it conforms to, it cannot get any older and therefore will still look as effective in ten years’ time as it would in two months’ time. The music video simply will not date compared to artists such as ‘The Spice Girls’. Their music was clearly of its time and music and music videos have increasingly progressed from this era. Moreover, the mise-en-scene elements support this idea as their fashions would not be worn in today’s society as it simply looks outdated. However, it could be argued that soon enough, magazine posters and digipaks will be rarely used due to the proliferation of technology and online music purchases and downloads.

Another recurring theme throughout all three products is the fact that ‘Kodaline’ have not been included within any visuals; this is one convention of Kodaline videos as they tend to follow a structure. This would take away any focus from their appearance, being 4 average males, so all of the focus is on the music and lyrics which is the most important aspect for them. This contrasts to artists such as Lady Gaga who mainly focus upon their appearance and it could be said that more time is spent on creating an overall performance and a ‘show’ rather than the music itself. Artists, typically pop artists, create the idea that you must be huge within the public eye in order to be successful. However, Kodaline and fans of Kodaline would not agree due to their huge success without being photographed on the front page of every magazine. I decided to stick to this idea throughout all three texts of purposely not including the artist’s faces purely due to the message and themes I am trying to convey to an audience.

I primarily demonstrated the unifying themes of nostalgia and love through the narrative and the mise-en-scene of my music video. The narrative consisted of an older lady watching an old performance back of her and her late partner who was now no longer with her. This is shown through effective shots towards the end of the music video as the audience are exposed to the television playing the music video and then a shot of the older lady on her own looking at a photoframe with an image of both the male and female in it. This would enable audience’s to create an emotional connection with the video and therefore keep them engaged.

The DigiPak’s are then just as important as the music video itself as it was a way of promoting the album in a more creative, personalised way for fans. More importantly, the proliferation of digital downloads may stray audience’s away from buying a hard copy so therefore a Digipak would be an effective way to persuade and capture the attention of audiences to buy them as a collectible. As with my other products, I wanted to create the idea of the band having a personal relationship with their fans. In order to do, I created a short-poetic paragraph describing the making of the album and also a thank-you note. This will influence audiences, in particular fans described as purists, to purchase a hard copy rather than a digital as it is aimed at them.

I have created an extremely minimalistic magazine poster due to the nature of the band. Kodaline simply do not need extravagant eye-catching posters and their main aim is to appeal to their initial fans and ensure they are up to date with their latest album. Strong fans would recognise the font and typography used and therefore notice it is advertising that particular band rather than from a huge image of the artist. I had to create a hierarchy of importance with regards to the information required on a poster such as the band name, album name, release date and different forms of the album. To ensure I clearly different each section, I used a wide variety of fonts and font sizes; the most important information would be in the biggest font and the most eye-catching compared to the least important which would subsequently be the smallest. The first thing to catch an audience’s eye would be the band name and the release date which in theory are the most vital aspects of an advertisement poster. Overall, I believe that the poster is aesthetically pleasing to the eye and suits all of its purposes and aims. The polarised layout creates a sense of symmetry and therefore all looks quite perfectly laid out. The visuals are clearly separated to the information so an audience would be able to choose where to look first and can easily locate information. The easily locatable information would also be essential due to the placement of the poster; it would be placed in certain locations of which the target audience would be ‘waiting around’ such as at a bus station, train station or billboard on a road. Therefore, a huge chunk of text would defer people from reading it meaning they would not gain any information about the band and therefore the poster could be pointless as it’s not fulfilling the purpose of promoting them.

In order to ensure the combination of my three products clearly suggested the 1950s time era, I edited all colours using either Photoshop for the print-based work or Adjustment layers on Premiere for the moving-image work. On all three, I desaturated the master colours in order to give the image a more authentic, vintage-style look to fit with the time period. This is the main element that tied all three products together as it was clear to see that they were all representing a theme and deeper meaning.