Evaluation- Question 4

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

To present my construction, research and planning and evaluation stages i documented it all on the new media website 'Blogger'. This was because it's easy to access and shows clearly my different stages. I used other new medias throughout the process which will be explained further. 

Research and Planning 

In my research, as i was creating a music video, i looked at different music videos to figure out the codes and conventions of a typical music video. To do this i used the site 'YouTube' which allowed me to search for any music video i wanted by real artists. By looking at multiple different music videos i recognised a lot of repetition in their conventions and i used different ways in presenting these findings on my Blogger. For example, i would screenshot (.jpg and .png) parts of the music video which i thought was significant, using the 'Print Screen' button which i then copied onto Paint to crop the image to how i wanted. Lastly, putting the screenshot next to my text that explained my findings. To upload the music video, which i anaylsed, i used the built in YouTube on Blogger to select the video i needed to put it next to my text, this allowed my viewers to clearly see what i was talking about in the points i was making. Furthermore, there's music video theorists, i used Andrew Goodwin as an example and i presented his theory on the software 'Microsoft PowerPoint' in relation to the music videos i analysed. I uploaded my PowerPoint to my blogger with 'SlideShare'. 

After researching many music videos, i went onto finding which song i'd like to do for my music video. I did this through YouTube because YouTube includes lots of covers for songs and due to copyright i had to use cover. Once i found the right music, i closely looked into the lyrics of the song, i got the lyrics by the new media 'Google Lyrics' which i then copy and pasted them onto my blog and highlighted the parts that i wanted to discuss. 

As well as researching music videos, i researched ancillary products; digipak and magazine advert. I did similar research for both my digipak and magazine advert because they both follow similar themes and use the same actress as we wanted to keep within the theme of our music video. By doing similar research it made it easier for me because it made it quicker and i was able to link them both. Firstly, for my digipak i used screenshots again from some music videos and album covers to present next to my text about keeping the theme between our digipak and music video like other artists had done. Due to using screenshots of albums and music videos i had to use the software Paint again to crop my images. Regarding my magazine advert, i used the new media in the form of 'Google Images', this allowed me to search real artists magazine adverts they've used recently or in the past. 

By this point i have decided on my song, researched music videos and ancillary ideas, i looked into my potential audience. Through the website 'SurveyMonkey', i created a questionnaire to send out to people in my class and in my sixth form. It featured questions which would help me figure out my target audience and what they like to see in their music videos and their opinion on my choice of genre (pop) so i can then cater to their needs. Once receiving back my results, i uploaded my survey as an image (.jpg) to show my viewers exactly what questions i featured on it, i also created pie charts to present my results in an accessible way (easy to understand). To create my pie charts i used the website 'Create-A-Graph' this enabled me to easily to put a large amount data into multiple different pie charts for a better understanding and conclusion. 

After researching and planning what i want to feature in my music video, i then went and explored different locations to use for my music video (even though i already had certain ideas in mind). I wanted to find locations which appeal to my audience and fit with our genre of pop. The first location i decided on was an abandoned building for the dancing scenes because it had a large floor space for the dance and it relates to the original Sia Chandelier music video because her's was in an abandoned house. The second location i decided on was a room with a black backdrop to use for my neon paint and disco lights scenes. When i visited the locations i used the 'Cannon EOS' camera to take pictures for myself to have visuals of the locations and for me to import them onto my computer to then upload to my blog and explain my reasoning for my choices. 


I then began to plan my music video frame by frame. I didn't use any new media software for this step because i think it would've complicated things, instead i simply drew them up using a pencil and paper. Once i took pictures of my story board, i upload the images onto my blog and with the images i added a bit of text explaining, for example, the camera angle or movement and the location. The reason i added text for each frame of the story board was because drawings don't show physical movement and it's harder to tell what's happening in them so the text added extra information for a better and clearer understanding. 

I did the same thing for my digipak and magazine advert, instead using different templates and i added colour to both for better visualisation. By drawing both, this allowed more freedom and for me to be able to make mistakes without it being an issue because i could just rub it out and start again. Due to looking at examples of other digipak's and magazine adverts this really helped me with my design and creating a draft of what i'd want mine to look like, resulting in a better design for both products because of the clear vision i had of them i had in my head and the thorough planning/researching beforehand. 

Evaluation

Even for my evaluations i featured some new media technologies to present them in an exciting and original way. 

For 'Question 1', i decided on simply using 'Microsoft PowerPoint' by using multiple slides to answer the question, including images. The text and images were over colourful slides with coloured font writing to match with my vibrant blogger and for it to be interesting for my viewers. To upload my PowerPoint to my blog i used 'SlideShare'. 

Secondly, 'Question 2' evaluation i decided to do on the new media website 'Prezi' because it enabled me to compare my music video and ancillary products easily and my audience will be able to flow from one to point to another because of the built in navigation system. It also allowed me to upload images and videos to back the points i was saying which is essential for this question. 

'Question 3' i used a new media website called 'Emaze', i made it into a presentation with fun slides, colours, and images. This website allowed me to add my own images which i needed to do because it was about my audience feedback and i added my pie charts from 'Create-A-Graph' to show the results of my audience feedback.  

Lastly, 'Question 4' i decided on doing it on Blogger because it allowed me to easily write up my answer to the question and i used it to its full potential and added images of the logos for all the media programmes i used throughout my process. 

Evaluation- Question 3

Evaluation- Question 2

https://prezi.com/p/nlwmqxtiej78/

Evaluation- Question 1

Evaluation question 1 from LucyBurrows112

Final Music Video

Final Digipak

Final Magazine Advert

Changing of digipak idea

This was what our first draft of our digipak looked like:

We then decided to make a couple of changes to it because we felt that all the images and colours didn't tie in very well together. In result, we changed the broken wine glass and the image with the song titles on because they didn't match the other images and the background colour of the wine glass is an off white whereas the song title image is white, this made them not fit together well and look unprofessional. We decided on making them all on a black background and changed the wine glasses outline to neon because its keeps up the continuity of all the products. 

We also changed the font colour of the song titles because after making the other improvements there was no red on the digipak anymore so the titles didn't match the rest of the digipak. The colour we chose was white because white stands out on black backgrounds and the title of the CD cover is in white also. 

Finally, to make our digipak seem realistic we added a bar code in the corner of the back image and put in Madilyn Bailey's name to the front cover because after researching other real life digipak's a lot of them have featured the artists name and we wanted to make it as authentic as possible. 

Editing magazine advert

Before adding anything to the magazine advert, i felt like my image needed editing because it wasn't how i wanted it. I used the tabs on the right side under 'Adjustments' and turned the brightness down because before her face had too much light on it when i wanted the image to overall be quite dark. After adjusting the brightness and i slightly turned up the contrast to balance out the neon paints on her face and the dark background. 

Lastly, under the same Adjustment tab I turned up the vibrance of the image because i wanted the neon paints to be more vibrant but also when i turned the vibrance up it created a blue hue from where we were holding the UV lights, which i thought looked nice with black background and colourful paints. 

A quick edit i did for a touch up was smoothing out around her lips because the neon paint wasn't very neat and didn't look very professional. I did this with the 'Blur tool'. 

Editing first draft digipak

To edit my digipak, i used Photoshop because it allowed me to use tools that helped make my digipak look realistic. 
Firstly, i put a template of a four cover digipak onto Photoshop which i then added my four images which i took with my group and placed them in the correct places (bottom right front cover, top right inside, top left inside and bottom left back cover). 
But before we could place them on the template we had to edit the image of the dancing girl because originally it had a domestic background which we didn't want, so we used the 'Crop tool' to crop out her body from the background. To neaten up the edges we used the 'Erase' tool and selected white to go round her and make sure there's no wobbly crops. 
For the two bottom images we simply used the 'Text' tab on the left to add writing over the top because we wanted to add the title of the album and the song titles included on the album. The bottom left text was made red simply by selecting the red we want from the colour block in the top right corner. 

Digipak draft pictures

For one of the pictures in our digipak we wanted a picture of our dancer doing an impressive pose to put beside the song titles. After taking multiple practice shots of different poses we decided on the image in the middle because the quality of the image is good and my group all agreed they liked the pose. However, the other pictures weren't up to par because the left one her foot is blurry and the form of her stance isn't as neat as we wanted. Furthermore, in the last picture the lighting came out darker which we didn't want and it doesn't look professional.

                                                   
The image which is going to go behind the actual CD is following the theme of the neon paints and UV light, like in our music video. To achieve these images we simply splattered the neon paints onto a black piece of paper then held the UV light above the painting then took a picture. Out of these three images we decided on using the last one because of the galaxy effect it gives. Whereas the other images are blurry and the first image had the flash on accidentally so it doesn't look as neon as it should.  

Digipak CD Cover draft

 This is our draft drawn idea for our digipak. This is what we would like it to look like and what images will be using for the front, middle and back. 

On the front cover, we'll be taking a picture of the same actor we used in the music video (Phoebe) and having the UV paints dripping down her face, whilst up against a black background. We've decided on this image because we believed that it portrays our music video perfectly as we use the UV paint in it too. The dripping paint is to portray her sadness and depression and her facial expression will show this (closed eyes). Me and my group decided on the title 'Addiction' because the song 'Chandelier' is all about drinking to access and partying a lot and by just having it be a minor sentence it makes the word more powerful and meaningful. 

The two middle images we've decided on is a smashing wine glass with the wine splashing out onto the floor and in the air. The background is going to be mostly white to have the contrast between the two colours and make the red stand out more and to follow the red connotations of danger, fear, death (like the red cloth in the music video). Furthermore, the idea has come from multiple song titles: "Broken Glass", "Red" and "Take a Sip" because the other images don't physically show alcoholism and they're all hidden within the other images so we wanted to have a picture which clearly showed this. Instead of having just a normal glass standing up, the idea of having it dropping mid air whilst smashing shows the broken feeling and being unstable. The image we're putting next to it below the CD will be a black background with the UV paint splattered all over it, this was purely to just relate back to our music video during the UV paint scene and keep within our theme of partying. The messiness of the paint splats, again, convey the feelings of being in a bad place. 


Lastly, our back cover is going to have our dancer (Emily) in a 'ponche' to the right of the cover because on the left hand side we're putting the song titles. The writing on the left will be in a bright red font because it links back to the red cloth in our music video and it'll match the colours of the red wine image because we didn't want too much black and UV colour as that would be too repetitive. 

Digipak Information

Artist's Name: 
-Madilyn Bailey 

Album Title: 
-Addiction 

Song  Names: 
-The After Party 
-Me And You 
-Broken Glass 
-Escape 
-Opposites 
-Take A Sip 
-Monster
-Liquor 
-Red
-Illusion 
-Two-Step
-Chandelier 

Digipak Template

This is our digipak template we're using for our CD, including our own pictures which we're taking ourselves. The template was very useful during our digipak production because it gave us a clear idea on how the CD will turn out and how many images we're going to need but also helped us decide which image will go where, depending on the importance of the image if it'll be on the outside or the inside. 

Digipak Ideas- Magazine Advert

To go with our CD cover, me and my group have to also design a magazine advert which advertises our artists tour dates which tie in with the upcoming album. Similar to our CD cover idea we wanted to stay in the theme of our music video for the same reasons, that our audience will be able to recognise that it's for the song 'Chandelier' and our music video. Our original idea for the magazine advert was to have a picture of colourful graffiti on a blank wall, the reason for this is because in the music video our dancer is dancing around in an abandoned building which has bright graffiti all over the walls. However, we've started to move away from this idea because we thought it wouldn't represent our music video as much as we wanted and the song is very emotional and graffiti doesn't represent much or any emotion. This Coldplay magazine advert is similar to how we would've done our orignal idea because it's graffiti but also in UV paint, which relates to both parts of our music video; abandoned building and close up of Phoebe's face using UV paint. 

We then researched some artists and their magazine adverts for some inspiration and ideas. The two which stood out for me and my group was Sia's magazine advert for the 'Chandelier World Tour' and Lady Gaga's 'Applause' poster. Sia's poster stood out because it's so simple yet effective because of the dark lighting and everything being in black & white. If we decided to go with this type of magazine advert we would use our dancer in the picture because i feel like by her doing an impressive dance pose it'll help the magazine advert stand out and bring in the elements of emotion but also dance. Secondly, Lady Gaga's magazine advert is very similar to some of the themes in our music video. She has colourful paint all over her face and like in our music video she has paint below her eyes like tears and smudged paint, like lipstick, on her lips. We would take a close up image of Phoebes face, using the UV paints and imitating the paint marks she makes in the music video for the picture. 

Digipak Ideas- Rihanna

Rihanna's digipak for her 'Loud' album is a good example of a successful digipak because it's eye catching, follows a continuous theme and well made. The audience will be able to tell that this album features the song 'Only Girl in the World' because in the music video it's got the same edit over the tip with the hue's of navy blue and lots of reds and pinks. The music video also features a red wall of roses which is on the digipak too.  

Me and my group thought this was a good example of a digipak because this has the conventions which we're looking to use, the theme and making it easy to know who the ablum is by and what single is on the album. However, on our digipak we'll only have 4 sections and  have the song titles on the back. 

Digipak Ideas- Starboy

Starboy is the Weeknd's new album. We decided we wanted to do the same as what he's done and relate the CD cover to his most popular song and it's music video. 

The themes which are in both the cover and music video, is the featuring of a cross, he carries a glowing one around with him in the music video whilst wearing the same one he has on in the cover. He's also wearing the same leather jacket in both too. They've even used the same sort of lighting, in both it's quite a low light with a hint of blue. As an audience you can feel/see the same mood between both by his facial expression and the lighting, in both he look's very serious and maybe you could say annoyed also. I think this looks effective because it shows the audience a clear theme throughout his album and they'll be able to recognise that it's his song/album through the particular themes. 


Another example of him carrying along the theme, is in his other song's music video; Party Monster. Again he's wearing some sort of leather jacket, with blueish lighting & it features a cross throughout.

Digipak Ideas- CD

Before beginning to create our digipak, me and the group discussed what ideas we could do for the CD cover & we all agreed on using colour powder paints or neon paints on our actor/s because it links with our music videos theme but also looks effective. We thought it was important to stick with the theme of our music video because the  viewers will be able to tell the CD is for our music video. 

                                                       

Development of Idea on Feedback

Because the feedback we got from our peers and teacher suggesting to film more extreme closeups of our actors face to show emotion, we've come up with the idea of using neon paints on Phoebe's (actor) face and hands to still go with the theme of her partying and the disco lights. We'll also use the paint to represent messages, for example, we'll have her smudge it below her eyes like she'd been crying or have her drag her hand down her neck like she's been strangled. 

 We took these test shots of using the neon paints on our hands and putting them next to the UV light to see what it looked like on the camera to see if we liked it. When looking back at the pictures we then came to the conclusion that we're defiantly using this idea because the paint shows up really well on the camera and we think it'll be effective in our music video. 

Me and the rest of the group wanted to do something with neon paint but coming up with the idea & to see if we think it would work we watched 'Super Bass' by Nicki Minaj which at the end of her video features her and some dancers all in glow up outfits and makeup. After watching the video, we thought it looked cool and we then decided we wanted to use the paints, however, even though we used Super Bass as inspiration we'll be using the paint in a different way and for it to represent different meanings because the context of both of the songs are completely opposite from one another. 

Feedback on Rough Cut

Once we had our rough cut of our music video finished, we pre-viewed it to our teacher and peers to receive their feedback and to help us develop our music video further. This was their feedback: 

• Teachers feedback- He said our ideas and what we already had was good and had potential but due to lack of camera shots and emotion it came off as boring and slow paced. He suggested to watch the Miley Cyrus 'Wrecking Ball' music video to give us inspiration on what to add to ours. At the start of the music video it was an extreme closeup of her face and she was crying whilst miming the lyrics for 30 seconds and this gave emotion and drew us in to watch the rest. 
• Peers feedback- More variety of different shots, for example; extreme close ups. 

Overall the feedback we got from our peers and teacher shows that we defiantly need to do some more filming and the content we will need to film is close ups and extreme close ups of our actors face to show the emotions of the song, which will add more depth to the music video but also make it less 'boring'.