Evaluation

In my A2 advanced portfolio my chosen task was to produce a music video which would be part of a promotional package including a digipak and magazine advertisement. As i had many ideas at the very early stages of this project as to what music video genre and narrative i wanted to create i was very hesitant to whether i wanted to join up with a group as i felt they may not appreciate my ideas and also there would be major time keeping set backs if there was conflict within the group. However i decided to involve two members within my group so that we could get much more done in a smaller space of time and to also reflect on each others ideas whilst combining our individual specialised areas in the production process. My first idea was to use the song 'Mad World' by Gary Jules and involve one of our group members as the main protagonist. However after our first shoot following our storyboard i realised that this is not what i wanted to be doing for my music video. This was because i found the song to be depressing and in the end i began to dislike the narrative concept of a depressed young teen. So going back to the drawing board i decided to create something in the style of Film Noir as this was of particular interest to me as i have been studying this genre in Film Studies. The song choice for the new video was 'Beat It' which is one of my favourite songs as it is upbeat, powerful and an all time classic. Taking inspiration from various other Michael Jackson music videos such as ''Billie Jean'' and ''Beat it'' I had an idea of the narrative for the music video and began filming the very same day. The cinematography and directing was left to me as the other members of the group couldn't travel to were i lived which wasn't really a major set back as i felt very comfortable performing these tasks alone. Another advantage of me taking care of this aspect was that i had the perfect location, actors and band to be involved. Michael Davies the main protagonist was great fun to work with as he listened well to instructions and showed great enthusiasm within the filming of the video. The location in which the Band performance sequence was shot was perfect as it reflected the genre and stylistics of the video very well and i was also able to express my cinematography skills learnt throughout the AS and A2 year to there full potential as there was some really good opportunity's for creative and unique angles and shots. When i had completely finished all of the filming I was involved with most of the editing as i felt that the footage i shot was my own and i didn't want anything to ruin it. However i feel that this is very controlling and unfair to the rest of the group as i wanted it all to be perfect and to reflect my ideologies and to produce the film exactly how i wanted it to look. Emma Hirst was very helpful within the group by getting the paperwork such as the edit logs and organizing things like booking in the editing suites. However i feel that if i restarted the project i would definitely work individually because i think that i could of got the same amount of work done on my own. I also think this because in the future i would be happy to be involved in all aspects of the media industry especially the practical side of it such as this as this would of been a great way to express my individual efforts to future employers.


Main Text: Producing the main text was my favourite aspect of the project seeing it come together little by little throughout the creative process.
costume: Keeping within the genre of Film Noir i took inspiration from 'Out of the past' 1947. featuring Kirk Douglas, Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer which takes its audience down a very dark dream of gangster murder and double-dealings. The costumes of the male character within this film are almost identical to that of the protagonist and antagonist within my media text. The Trilbies, cigarettes, Large sun glasses and dark clothing are features of the mise en scene which are all present within film noir and my music video. However in contrast the performance band are in a more modern dress sense as we see Danny in a loose shirt and tie and Mike and Otis in a t-shirt. This dress sense gives off an 'i don't care' punk image which i was trying to achieve and feel i have done.
shots: The lessons in cinematography through analysis of media texts in my media lessons were a huge help in the variety of shots i was able to capture when shooting the film. The Text has a wide range of shots, movements and angles which i thought long and hard about how they would work together when we eventually started editing. Some of my favourite shots in the music video are the closeup shots of the protagonist and antagonist capturing there emotions as they oppose each other. This adds to the intensity of the sequences and helps to break up the action shots giving them more variation and excitement. I especially like the use of many intricate closeups of the protagonist smoking to reflect the genre of the video. One of my favourite shots is the medium upward tilt to reveal the antagonist for the first time. This shot adds suspense and tension as he is slowly revealed. Another aspect of the cinematography that i Really like is the use of long shots to emphasise the length and intimidation factor of the dark back alleys. The only thing i think could be improved in the cinematography is the fact that there is hardly any shots of the whole band together. This is because it was a very small space and was hard to get a frame big enough to capture all three of them and make it look good. However overall i think i did a very good job in capturing the exciting and energetic shots of the performance whilst keeping the shots within the chase scene very orderly and professional.
editing: The editing was really exciting and held a great sense of accomplishment when you see all of the shots coming together. Following the stylistics of Film Noir we decided to put the whole video in black and white to add authenticity and a touch of class. I feel this worked really well. The hardest bit about editing was getting the lip syncing in sync with the actual track. This proved to be very frustrating but we managed to get it looking very effective in the end. I think one of my best skills within the whole of the creative process is how i create the continuity from shot to shot. I feel Ive executed this perfectly as all of the match on action are convincing and all of the shots make sense together.
problematics: The problems i encountered when shooting the main text was that it was very hard to manage all of the costumes every time i had to re shoot as actors would shave, change there hair styles and even lose there clothes. Another problem was getting the material onto the editing suites as there were only a limited number of computers free to work on and most days they were always busy. A problem we encountered as a group was the amount of work that each individual produced varying from each group member as some did more then others which coursed conflict and tension within the group. The last problem was my time keeping skills as i felt i left a lot of the things to last minute and if i started the project again i would definitely get the whole of the creative process going in the very early stages.
how i felt: Overall i felt that the media product was a big success considering the limited number of actors and acting skills they possessed. I felt that the group was a great way of getting things done however i feel that i should of worked individually and created the music video exactly how i wanted it to look.
improvements:The improvements that i would of made to the music video would be to make the stunts bigger and better as the health and safety issues got in the way of making the text more action packed and dangerous. Also i would have improved it by having more willing actors to create a more diverse and exciting narrative.

Ancillary text 1. Digipak

The Digipak was really fun to create although i found in quite challenging in the respect that most of my time was took up by the video making the Digipak a very rushed product. I should of managed my time better as i feel i could of created something much better and more professional. Although i think the Digipak expresses most of the major ideology and genre aspects effectively through the use of imagery, font and layout.

Ancillary text 2. Magazine advertisement

I thoroughly enjoyed creating the magazine advert and because of the previous experience i had in the AS year i found that i knew all of the necessary skills to create a forceful and effective magazine advertisement which appealed to its target audience.

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

I feel that the ancillary texts reflect the genre, image and stylistics of the main music video text amazingly well. This is because not only does it use unique fonts that mirror the raw and grungey look of the band actual images are used from the music video itself to give the audience a sneak preview into the narrative and genre of the text.

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

Looking at my music video from a performance aspect it puts in to play many conventions of many music videos especially from the rock genre. The first convention is the lip syncing as on every music video the song which has been recorded in a studio is put over the bands performance. The fast energetic shots give the video a lively and rocky feel creating a more exciting atmosphere for the audience. The music video challenges and develops the narrative from various Michael Jackson videos. The binary opposition of good and evil is mirrored within my music video and Billie jean, which also follows a similar narrative as the detective chases Michael Jackson.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

I feel that my media product would appeal to all sorts of audiences due to the fact that the video combines elements from new age fashion, 80's music and an even older film mise en scene taken from Film Noir. The audience for my media product would be appealing to the younger teen audience as the genre of the track is popular music which they all enjoy and can relate to. Also the idea of a rock bands, rebellious attitude and new age fashion is what appeals to a teenage audience. However the track 'Beat it' is appreciated by audiences of all ages it would be more appealing and memorable to the audiences which experienced it the first time around who would be in the age range of 30 plus. The elements of film Noir would also be very much appreciated and remembered by an audience of elderly people. I think that it is a great achievement to produce a video that can be appreciated by a wide variety of audiences.


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

In the research stages i used various new media technologies to record my findings and also to find the information i need to give me greater knowledge of the texts i am going to create. The main use of technology for the whole of the project was Blogger. This is a great way to record all of your findings and help keep track of the order of the production process and the best part is you can access it from home as well as college. Also it was very easy to use as i had already used it in AS. Within the construction of the music video i used my own video camera and mini dv tapes. The camera was a Sony handy cam which was perfect because it was easily transported and the Dv Tapes were easy to upload through a fire wire cable onto the editing suites. The editing programme which i used was Adobe Premiere. I found this programme relatively easy to use as i have used programmes with a similar layouts out at home in private projects. To create the ancillary projects were both created in Microsoft publisher as it had all the necessary tools needed to create the layout to how i wanted it to look. Again i had used this programme in AS year so it was fairly easy to use. Photo shop CS3 came in very handy because it allowed me to create some professional effect on my photos. As i also study graphics this programme is familiar to me. 'dafont.com' was a brilliant site to be able to take fonts from because they look professional and you Can get some very unique designs. When creating the Animatic i used windows movie maker to get the slides together and also to get them to the duration i needed. I found the media technology to be very comfortable to use as i had experience in all of them.


I found that trial and error is the best way to improve the quality of your outcomes within a production aspect because it is not up to you to decide how good your texts are it is the target audiences opinion that matters.