Evaluation - Question 4

Evaluation - Question 3

Evaluation - Question 2

Digipack - Ancillary

Evaluation - Question 1

In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real music productions?

 I would say that our music video uses, develops and challenges forms and conventions of real music videos with inspiration from real music videos, TV programmes and films and by following rules of music video editing.

Analysing our video according to Goodwin:

Our music video completely adheres to the rules and conventions of Goodwin’s music video analysis, with strong elements of voyeurism, linking to the notion of looking. The first line of the chorus in the song highlights, “Girl I want to be with you all of the time, all day and all of the night”, In what we played off of this theme. The music video shows the male staring at the girl which is followed by a tracking shot of the female walking but secluding everything but her legs. This particular shot creates an element from Mulvey’s ‘Male Gaze’ theory as the camera lingers on the woman and the event is created from the context of a man’s reaction. Furthermore, these particular shots are placed deliberately during the first line of the chorus where it matches the lyrics of the song in order to emphasise how the band members perceive this woman, but also how the female audience must experience the narrative secondarily by identification with the male. It also shows that I followed Goodwin’s convention of illustrating the relationship between lyrics and visuals.

 

Our music video comes under the category of a narrative performance, with it being split almost  half between continuity and jump cuts. This follows the conventions of many music videos, with continuity highlighting the bands aspect but then jump cuts establishing the rock genre characteristic, again following Goodwin’s analysis.

 

 

 

ntertextual references were key in the music video in order to create references to the 1960’s with a modern twist that the audience would understand. At the beginning of the music video clipped tones of the 1960’s was incorporated into the music video by the radio announcer introducing the band in a way that it would have been done at that time, “and now introducing The Kinks”. In addition the colour pallet we choose represented the transition from black and white music videos to colour in the era. Iconography was created through the choice of buildings as they represented orange tones which are associated with the 1960’s. The clothing was chosen very carefully as in the era we wanted to represent suits as they were often worn but the modern twist was created through the modernisation of the clothing. Furthermore the hairstyles today represent that of the 60’s but again with a modern twist incorporated. The modern twist was played on even more due to modern use of iconography with the Usain Bolt pose used in a single shot. As a group we relied on knowing intertextuality in order to create homage of what the target audience viewed about the 1960’s, but as the music video targeted an audience with a good predomination of the 1960’s should be have already been established as it was where youth is considered to have been created, (emphasised by the artists not taking themselves too seriously). For example the running scenes in the instrumental are developed from The Beatles video ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ where we purposely played respect to the artists by recreating an iconic scene. Through the use of iconography we tried to pastiche the idea of the 1960’s and modern day together with the overall playful nature of the music video establishing the era of the mise-en-scene.

 

 

 

A direct relationship between music and visuals was created through the 1960’s theme that was created with the modern twist. Furthermore a direct link can be made to Levi-Strauss Binary Opposition theory in the way that proxemics are used. Clothing is a key factor in order for the mise-en-scene to have features of the 1960’s era, the male characters wear suits (creating masculinity) and the female in a dress (creating femininity) which indicates the obvious gender roles. The jump cuts furthermore indicate this by indicating specific close ups of the genders body’s, which in turn adheres to the demand of close-ups from the record label. The music video features binary opposition in the way that the jump cuts of the males are more frequent which indicates this patriarchal society that men hold the dominant roles in society and women hold submissive roles. The context of the music video relates to this point as that was how society was in the 1960’s where women wanted to break out of the ‘private sphere’. An example of this is where the woman is faced opposite to the protagonist in the music video.
 

 

 

 Analysing our video according to Vernallis:

The music video also fits with Vernalli’s conventions, especially in the post production process of editing the video. Vernallis states that editing in music videos break all rules of continuity, which was used throughout the music video. The music video was edited by breaking the 30 degree rule by using jump cuts which often cut to a variety of shots, (establishing, close up, extreme clos up and medium shots) on many occasions. The editing also matched the beat and musical phrases of the song.

 

However the music video did slightly challenge Vernallis narrative conventions, following a more filmic form. Vernallis outlines that the narrative shouldn’t have a clear resolution or an ending, but in my music video I do. My video ends with the band members not being successful in winning the woman over and that she was not oblivious to them the whole time she purely wasn’t interested in. The ending is clearly represented to the audience which they should understand when the woman walks away with a different guy.

 

Album Cover:

The Album Cover for the Kinks also follows forms and conventions of real album covers. The front cover is a large picture of the band which infers the genre of pop but with an alternative rock aspect due to the placement and poses of the artists. The purpose of this was for the audience to establish the bands identity which links to McQuails ‘Uses and gratification’ theory of the audience gaining an insight into one self, (similar personality of the band). As our cover shows a lot about our band, it follows the conventions of album covers, as the image on the front of an album cover should be striking and show the artist identity. The bands logo is written in large and the album name written a little smaller in order to create sizing hierarchy of importance. The image on the front cover continues the narrative of the music video which helps the target audience establish the band instantly as the storyline continues.

 The insert of the album also follows rules and conventions as elements of the didgi pack include convergence from iTunes, Spotify and a QR code generated for easy access to the website. As a group we decided that this was an important feature to include due to the advancements in media as nearly everything single product we have created can be accessed by one device, (complete convergence).

 The back also follows all the rules and conventions too, with all the essential information; bar codes, institutional information and barcode. The back cover also portrays the identity of the band as the image is the exact same as the front cover but taken from behind the band members.

 

 Website:

The website that was made for The Kinks also followed forms and conventions of real artist’s websites. We made all appropriate pages; Enter Site, Home, Video, Gallery, Store and Sign Up.  Through research it was found that many artists’ website pages have an ‘Enter Site’ page where the advertisements for the product are displayed, from the album on where to buy and general information. Links to Twitter, Facebook and YouTube were also put in place on this page to give the target audience the opportunity to keep updated on news. The discourse of the homepage was in columns where information consisted on news of the band and tour dates to select from.  Every page had the navigation bar at the top in order to flick through the pages of the website like they would be able to on a real website.  The theme of the website was also kept consistent, (black, white and blue) with a standardised font used throughput the website.

However, we did challenge the conventions by using Wix, a flash generator site. We did not create the website from scratch like an artist would usually do but instead used a template in order to create and develop a site that fitted the bands image. Furthermore we had experience in using Wix last year at AS and thoroughly loved how easy the generator was to use and develop a professional looking website.

 

Website Complete (Ancillary)

Website Link

http://callumhind95.wix.com/thekinksa2media

Completed Music Video

Completed Music Video

Website Progress

This is the 'Enter Site' page of our website which is pretty much complete. Alternative pages are currently in the process of being completed. We are using http://editor.wix.com to create our website which we previously used at AS level when creating a website for the thriller.

Filming Photos

 

Shooting Schedule

Risk Assessement

Editing Issues - General Information Update

As previously mentioned on my previous 'Editing Issues' blog post, I stated that in an attempt to edit our footage using 'Adobe Premier Pro' we were going to transfer the footage from 'Windows Movie Maker' into a full video format and then try uploading that onto Adobe; with the hopes that Windows will have self-corrected our footage from being corrupt. This has proven successful and we are now able to edit using the more advanced Adobe editing software again.

Due to us having no other choice but to upload our entire footage onto 'Adobe Premier Pro', as a whole video format, we then incurred the process of cutting the video down into the individual shots needed to begin editing each shot in sync with the music. Once this was completed, we then had issues trying to shorten our jump cuts down, to be in time with the instrumental guitar beats at the beginning of the song. We eventually overcome this problem by slowing the footage, along with slowing down the song both by 60%, to therefore cut each jump cut precisely in time to the instrumental.

The stage we're currently at, is waiting for the next available day to complete our filming. This is proving difficult as we need to film on a day that everyone is free and the weather needs to be remotely the same as our first successful day filming... The weather hasn't been entirely on our side this last couple of weeks, which of course has put us further behind. We hope to complete our filming over the half term break, when we have more time available.

Callum, Georgia, Oli & Jem.

Audience Feedback

We showed a draft of our music video so far to our target audience in order to gain valuable feedback. Furthermore the target audience could pick out strengths and weaknesses of the draft on what needs improving and what we are doing well (what they like).

Areas of Success:

- Good attention to the pace/tempo of the music in the cuts at the very beginning (editing techniques).

- Good choice of location and proxemics due to the idea wanting to represent a 1960's era but with a modern twist, (represented in the mise-en-scene).

- Good range of camera shots/angles.

- Extremely enjoyable so far.

 

Areas of Improvement:

- Ensure the song is in the highest quality of recording.

- Some footage is slightly over exposed which needs to be edited by adjusting the brightness.

- Continue to build on the narrative which plays to the actors' strengths.

 

Consideration of comments:

As a group we will take on all the comments that our target audience have given us. We are aware of the amount of editing that needs to be done, especially adjusting the lighting in a few of the shots. The audience feedback has been extremely beneficial because as a group we now know what we are doing right and what needs improving in order to gain marks for achieving level 4.

Textual Analysis - Single Cover (The Kinks)

Typography:

The font incorporated within the album cover which is a reoccurring feature of what The Kinks did throughout the peek of their career. Its important to take into consideration the context of when they produced their album covers, (1960 - onwards). Today a bands logo is standardised in order for it to be recognisable and iconic, however I find it significant that The Kinks regularly changed their logo, almost as if it fitted with their image at the time the album/single was released. This is a feature that I would not suggest incorporating as the group and I are only producing one digi pack.

 

Theme:

The black and red theme stands out but almost indicates mystery suggesting conventions of rock. Furthermore a band your parents wouldn't want you listening to or purchasing their products.

 

Design:

The image of all the band members standing in the exact same position and all wearing a similar suit indicates the conventions of pop. I think its important for the group and I to ensure that the band do portray features of both rock and pop by trying to include similar features.

 

Sponsors:

This single/album does not include any sponsors but again the context of this album wouldn't have due to the lack of technology. In the 1960's buying vinyl would have been the only source of consuming products. Due to the advantages the internet has created today its essential that the group and I include sponsors such as iTunes.

 

Record Label:

This image of the single/album cover is limited as the back cover may feature the record label which is where the group and I would most likely place it.

 

Sizing hierarchy:

No elements of the sizing hierarchy occur as 'Kinks' is the only written writing which stands out due to it featuring alone. The 'Kinks' is put in huge writing standing out in order to get the name recognisable to audiences in order to purchase the product. Also the context is an issue as in the 1960's it was not essential to incorporate the single/album name on the cover (no written rules like there s today).

Textual Analysis - Single Cover (Preliminary piece)

In the last few weeks of AS media in the current group I'm in we made a practise music video in which we created a practise digi pack.

 

 

Analysis:

Typography:

 

As a group we considered our typography carefully by finding a font which was almost identically which matched the 'One Direction' font without copying it directly in order to avoid copyright infringement. The font used portrays conventions of a boy band which is relevant as The Kinks were a pop band but also rock which needs to be taken into consideration when typography is chosen. As The Kinks are a band from the 1960's era it might be worth finding typography which creates a convention from that era and not 2014.

 

Theme:

A black, white and red theme was used throughout the products we created in the practise piece (digi pack and magazine advertisement). As a group we have decided to stick to the black and white theme in order to create this 1960's era feel. We will add an additionally colour which hasn't been decided upon yet, possibly red again or maybe a medium blue. This theme will continue throughout the digi pack and website home page.

 

Design:

In the practise digi pack we created a design where the front cover of the single was a photo facing forward and the back single cover the exact photo but backwards. However, due to limited time to complete the task I, the idea did not get completed to the best of our abilities. For example, we had no other choice to take a photo on school premises which did not link to the genre of the song, (pop). We have decided to stick to this design for the single front and back cover for the A2 digi pack. As a group we really want to complete this design exactly how we want in relation to the codes and conventions of The kinks (pop/rock).  

 

Sponsors:

The iTunes logo features on virtually all albums/singles that get released, which acts as a way of advertising for the company (alternative way to purchase the product). We found that it was essential to incorporate the logo in our single back cover. This may again get incorporated but it may be important to consider alternative stores which may sponsor company's to feature on albums/singles, e.g. Spotify.

 

Record Label:

To avoid copyright infringement, we found an almost identical font to the record company's in order to include the record company's logo on the back cover, which is important as the record company own the band.  It is essential that the record label features on the single cover but due to The Kinks no longer being signed to a label and majority of their songs owned by Universal Music Group, it is an  important consideration  to take in to account if the single features it. An alternative would be whether the group and I decide to create our own music label.

 

Sizing hierarchy:

Sizing hierarchy is an important feature of the single as it portrays importance. We decided to make the band name/logo the biggest font size as this is what draws the attention of the audience in. The record label and single name would then follow as this is who the band are signed by, (the band promoting the label) and the name of the single which audiences will also be drawn too. The sizing hierarchy we used in the practise piece will most likely stay the same in the A2 single front/back cover.

 

 

 

 

 

 



Editing Issues

After we had completed our first filming attempt of our music video on the 2/01/14, we then began the editing process as soon as we went back to school from Christmas break. We initially faced editing problems when we uploaded our footage onto the editing software 'Adobe Premier Pro', as the shots began to freeze and crash the software. Although the cameras we used (9 & 10), were supposed to be compatible with 'Adobe Premier Pro' without having to transfer the footage onto 'Video Cam Suite' initially;  we attempted using 'Video Cam Suite' regardless, to see whether this corrected the problem. After more failed attempts after our second day filming and changing computers multiple times, the problem persistently continued to occur. We then concluded that certain files were corrupted as they were in a format not compatible with 'Adobe Premier Pro'. The problems we faced are best to be described as having similar characteristics to a computer virus. This is because after the footage was transferred onto the video timeline, it then would begin to cause problems such as crash, show a blank screen, certain shots would state they're corrupt, and would eventually cause the software to crash entirely. We tried rendering the footage after each attempt at editing but the rendering process would only last a little while before cancelling or crashing the software.

Due to the circumstances we have been forced to begin our editing using the free editing software 'Windows Movie Maker', firstly through converting the files to be compatible with 'QuickTime Player' and then uploading them onto 'Windows Movie Maker' on my home computer. So far this has been working perfectly fine, no problems like what we experienced with 'Adobe Premier Pro' have occurred. We hope to complete the first stage of editing on this software as soon as possible. Unfortunately, this editing software only has the very basic functions to cut and trim shots to fit in synchronisation with the song. It does not contain many professional transitions and fade effects which we initially hoped to include within our music video to make it appear as professional as possible. In order for us to include these effects, we will need to try using 'Adobe Premier Pro' again once we have transferred the finished product on 'Windows Movie Maker' into a video format. We will then transfer the footage onto 'Adobe Premier Pro' with the hope that Windows will have corrected the video format to one that is suitable for Adobe editing system. This way the shots shouldn't appear corrupt and crash the system.

Unfortunately the issues that myself and the group have faced have set us back two weeks; trying on multiple attempts to fix the problems with 'Adobe Premier Pro'. This is valuable time wasted which we could have spent perfecting the editing for our music video and beginning our ancillary products.

Callum and Georgia.

Filming!

As a group we filmed on the 2nd of January 2014 in the hope that we would get all the filming done. However, when we returned to school and looked over the footage we had captured we decided that the jump cuts were not a higher enough standard to what we wanted. Reasons for this would be that we did not come as fully prepared as we should have done for the day of filming.

Therefore on the 13th of January we decided to film again and this time filming was successful! We came fully prepared and organised and got all  the shots films that were a necessity.

We have planned to film on Wednesday 23rd of January due to an external actor needing to be used. Filming should be straight forward and done in under an hour, that is if the weather is suitable for filming. Further filming will be done on Friday 24th January of jump cuts of the girl in the music video and the beginning of the music video, due to the footage being filmed is at a different location. A time lapse is yet to be filmed but due to it being at the end of the music video for the moment it is not an urgent component of the music video.

 Filming locations

We found that filming in certain areas of Chesterfield were quite difficult and time consuming due to it being a busy town. However, majority of our filming was done near the Town Hall which was a much quieter part of the town which allowed us to work efficiently.

Filing additional jump cuts of the girl will not be a problem because they will be filmed at an old traditional phone box in a small village. Also the beginning of the music video which is yet to be filmed will be filmed in a house which creates no issues. Finally the time-lapse will be the easiest to film because its a case of letting a Go Pro take thousands of pictures and going back to it after 12 a day.

Georgia and Callum.