THE FINAL SUNDAYS Izi Nic Dais Steph 1.m4v

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

During our product we had to use media technologys in order to track our progress and improve the standards of work that we were producing. in order to achieve this we used teh internet in many ways to help us plan for our project. we used seach engines such as 'youtube' CLICK HERE to help us to look for video that we were then able to analyse and help to construct ideas for what our video wanted to look like. The Internet also came in very handy and it allowed us to research more information about the band (The Saturdays) in a lot more detail using sites such as 'Google.com' click here in our researching stage. by going on websites such as this we were able to get a clera idea on what the genres for the pop video culture intail. we were able to do research into image and sound and video style in order to help us construct a video that was true to the genre.
We found what bands in the pop genre and other girl bands bring across to their target audience, such as using bright colours to stand out but feminine revealing images to bring across a seductive female image. aswell as this we found that they dressed pervogativly and it jelped us constrct make up styles and dress ideas.
During the constrcution on the music video and ancilary tasks we used Photoshop and the editing software was a main resource. Photoshop allowed us to edit and improve the layout of our images. It allowed us to adjust the brightness, contract, size and position of our images to make them look more professional and fit with our genre design.


















To create our CD cover and magazine advertisement it allowed us to add in text, change font styles and colours and adjust the size of the font in order for it to follow the codes and conventions of existing CD covers and magazine advertisements. As well as this we were able to add in images to see what worked best in the picture that was being constructed.
We found that using photoshop was a very effective way to make and change our images.

During the construction of our music video we used editing software which allowed us to add in special effects to our music video such as slow motion and faded effects. The editing software also allowed us to improve the continuity of our video and create a smooth flowing video when cutting from shot to shot. The importance of this was to make sure that our video looked professional and stuck to the conventions of the genre, which included snappy shots and continuity editing.
We also used Social networking sites such as 'Facebook.com' OUR FACEBOOK PAGE to help promote our video and get feeback from the audience to see what they think and what they think we could improve. it was therefore, useful during the evaluation stage of our practical because it allowed us to gain audience feedback about both our main practical and anciliary tasks.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

From the start of the making of our product we had made a face book group in order to get people to see the progress that we are making and comment of what we can do better in our production. Whilst in the production stages and to help us to decide were to film and what camera angles to use we uploaded different bits of the video and looked at the feedback.
Once we had uploaded a rough cut of our video we had feedback from people in our media class and people outside of the class, we were told that we needed more narrative to include in our video.
Furthermore we asked members of our class what they thought of the product during production. We were informed that we needed to improve our editing and the way to do that would be be add more effects into it. To improve our product we itroduced more fadind to black effects and panning shots to make the video look more polished. These effects helped to shpe the video more and make it look alot of professional.

We used tools such as social network sites to also help to get feedback from our target audience facebook this enabled us to ivite people to look at our work and as social networking sites such as facebook are open to people around the age of our target audince it was the perfect place to do it. On facebook we were able to find out that people though that we should chnag ethe loctaion of our back drop for the dance sequence. This was then changed to the 'dance room' back drop and this was decided looked much better and fitted in the with the genre better.















We also uploaded our finished video to YOUTUBE, by doing this we were able to get a wider range of viewers to look at our video and tell us what they think of it. We were also then able to compare our video to the originals out there to help us to see what a good video entails.

















We were then able to upload pictures on to our blog and in order to get feedback and see what people thing we could do in to improve it, we did this with our ancillary task and this meant that we were able to find out what work outfits people would prefer us to wear and what locations people would prefer us to shoot in. during the construction of our product we found this very useful as we were then able to construct a ancillary task that we knew our target audience would like and relate to.

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

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks?
Our ancillary task and our main product are quite important to one and other in terms of finishing our product. For our ancillary tasks we did the CD cover and poster, the pictures inside the CD cover and the poster promoting our music video.
We took many different shots for the ancillary task as we wanted to make the pictures look effective using the outfits that we were wearing and the back grounds that were used. We decided to take a few different pictures in different locations to see what worked as we wanted to tie it in by making sure that it look conventional and our images all looked the same but we each had a personality that shone through.

We wanted to wear outfits that symbolized us as a girl band but gave us our own identities just as is done in the CD cover for the single used for the real music video. We did this by using our own different coloured tops and the same skirts; this is done similarly in the real CD cover. We all decided that we would sit on a chair that was taken in the same place, but we all wanted to have different sorts of positions. We did this by each of the girls having a different posture and have our legs positioned in a different way. To see the anciliary Click here
Our poster that promotes our song conveys the message of work and for our ancillary task we incorporated the 'work' ethic and turned it into us dressed up as different types of work people. We all stood in different ways that would show us in authority, this would therefore convey the message of ‘girl power’ that is found in other girl band products in the industry. This fitted in to the genre and the branding by having this type of pose. This is done in many of the saturdays own brands as we can see here. By looking at the stances of these girls and the stances of ours, they are quite similar and by doing this people will be able to recongnise them as the saturdays which what we hope to do by doing a simular technique with our branding.
















Our main product was effective also as it used really similar locations and similar shots and ways of editing just as girl bands do in their videos. We have also included some special effects that improves the editing and makes it look more professional. We did this by using effects such as zoom and pan, this gives the audience a chance to look at the performance in different ways and get a good look at the dance moves we are performing. Narrative used in our product also is found in our genre of music and it also helps to give the audience something to play along with and pay attention to in addition to the dance and performance. Again the concept of branding came in to make it seem effective, by doing so we made sure that each memmer was recognised by having slightly differant outfits rather than us all looking the same.

Each of us all had a sepreante part to sing which made us all look in sync with one and other but have differant parts of the voice in which we can be recognised by. This helps make the music video be more effective again because it introduces that concept of branding which makes us look more professional and polished.


Our main and our ancillary tasks are also effective together because with them complimenting each other it makes it look professional and looks like a real music CD cover and video. I think our group did a good job on balancing out the work to do on all of the pieces and together they look like a good finished product.

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

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

During our media project we both developed and challenged conventions of real media products.
we studied the music video work. We needed to ensure that we followed the conventions of our chosen genre which was pop. We were able to study the genre and help to develop ideas of our own by looking at videos already published by artists such as the Saturdays and the spice girls.
we noticed whilst studying the videos that most of the videos want to convey a 'girl power' vibe to the audience, we wanted to help to do this by using the convention of the power triangles used in the video we were studying and other music videos we have seen. We also used the conventions of sex appeal that we found were being used in videos with a similar genre. This effect is used in other videos were girls wear racy or tight clothes that show off their figures and wear seductive make up and well groomed hair. This is done to attract a wider audience and appeal to both genders.

costume plan < by clicking this link you are able to look at our costume plan that we devised in our planning stage. This shows the costume ideas that we had initally and by looking at this link
costume comparison we are able to see the simularities with the style of prevogative outfits.




Another convention that we found to be quite common was an incorporated dance routine into the video. In the 'work' music video by 'The Saturdays' a music video was incorporated and we decided to use this convention but however, not copy the dance move for move but challenge the convention and add some of our own dance moves into it. The position of the group in the dance routine also uses the conventions of traditional music videos in the genre of pop.




















The locations we used were also conventional to the music video 'work' that we studied; the dance in the original music video was filed on a stage looking back ground. In our video we also did a similar back ground to our dance, to make it look like a stage. We also have back ground such as walls and steps that look similar to the ones in the original music video.


















In terms of camera angles we were able to use a varity of differant camera shots and angles which are conventional to girl band music videos. In this picture you will be able to see that in the 'Saturdays' video they use a variety of high and low angle shots, this shows the dominance of the girl group and also gives the audience a chance to see the girls performance from differant angles.




















We also challenged some conventions as we incorporated some of our own ideas into our music video; this is such as doing the dance routine on our own and filming outside with the sunshine in the back ground. This meant that we were able to give new ideas to the video production but still appeal to our genre and target audience.

Ancillary task

Our finished ancillary task is this. We were able to edit the final girl into the poster and make it look preffesional. we are all dressed as an occupation of 'work' for it to tie in with the song work. Conventionally girls look pervogative in thier poster, by doing this they show some skin and have nice hair in make up. They are also normally set out in a certain order with differant levels of standing and sitting, we tried to introduce this into our poster also for it to look as proffesional as we could.

Ancillary task, inside the CD cover.

For the second part of our ancillary task we decided that we would do the inside of the cd cover and the front and the back. This is a screen shot of all the pictures that will be included in the cd cover. we wanted to all have a segment in the cd cover that showed our own personalitys just as the saturdays do. Each of the segments have teh lyrics that we each sing in the music video next to us to show the audience who sings it and what we look like. we all decided we would wear differant colour tops just as the saturdays as you can see in the other picture but all tie in together in some way, just as we do by looking at the lower part of our clothing.

NARRATIVE

After making a rough cut of the video we realized that we didn't have enough narrative that a typical music video would include in our genre. Narrative refers to a type of story line that the audience will be able to connect with that some how connects with the song lyrics. We decided that we would do something that narrated power to women just as the song connotes. So we decided we would include a boy in our video and control him in some way. This would create a sence of girl power and create the illusion that to song conveys. This is that 'the girls were in charge' and that the boy would have to 'work' for our attention in order to be with us.

As a group we decided we were gong to have a boy on a chair and we would torture him in some fun way. We used a boy frim our media classs and decided we were going to feed him poisoned cake. This would create a illusion that the boy would be 'helpless' and that he had to put up with the torture in order to stay with us, this would then make him feel nervous around us and in the end run away. By incorporating this into our video we are able to include some sort of story line that is normally found in a conventional music video. After filming this and putting it into our video it will help the video flow better and imporve the over all performace of the music video.

Narrative

For our music video we need to include some narrative, which means that we need to add some more of story line into the video. We have decided that we need to add some sort of 'girl power' as our narrative. we decided that we were going to include a male into our video and to make him 'work' and tease him. to do this we wil

POSTER

This is the poster that my band mate izzi designed as a much up of the ancillary poster that will be used in the video and as the poster to promote our band. the positive of making a poster to promote our band is vital to attract our target audience and advertise the song.

MOCK UP

This is a version of what the poster to advertise the song will look like,it envoloves differant

Construction

What is working well?
Half way thorugh our filming we have had some positive and negative comments about the work that we have already done. Our strenghts are that we have all jelled well as group and have shared the rolls out well and individually. We have finished our rough cut promptley and hit the deadline. We have also been able to come up with a finished sequence for the dance and been able to film it quite a few times to make sure it looks prefessional.

What needs to be improved?
We need to make sure we have a wide range of single footage of the single verses to make sure that we have alot to choose from. We also need to widen our range of locations for the shoot to make sure thats it not all same old and repetitive. In order to meet our dealines we have decided that we need to book the studio for next week in order for us to complete the filing before the dealine.

costuming

For our anciliary and the actual filming of our video we made sure that the costumes fitted in well with the genre of the video that we were filming. Thease are the pictures of a few of the cotumes used in our filming and anciliary tasks.

Audience feedback

We have created a facebook page for the audience feedback. This page includes a rough cut of our filming which enables the audicnce to look at the video and give us feedback on what they think that we can improve. we uploaded our video of our rough cut in order to see what our audience would like us to change

ANCILARY TASKS

We looked at other posters that represent artists and company's, we found that they connotate something to do with the title and picture. This add for 'got milk' involves a celebrity for endorsement, it also involves the milk which encorporates the product trying to be sold and the celebrity endorsing it. we can take ideas from this to imporve our song and the group itself. For our song we can endorse it by including the word 'work' into our product and have differant aspects of work in the picture.

We have decided to do the work shoot and incorporate the roles into the picture, this may include a police officer, builder ect. This just like the 'got milk' campaige speaks in pictures rather that words.

Editing of rough cuts

Using the MACS we made a rough cut of the dance routine and performance combined. by doing this we are able to really test out what worked and what we could improve. We used a variety of differant shots to create our video and make it suitable for our target audience. After completing our rough cut we uploaded it to facebook in order to see what feedback we get.

ANCILARY TASKS

Costume Plans

In our group we have had discusions into what costumes that we will be wearing and changing into through out the performance on our music video.

We have decided that we will be using a colour scheme to our clothes in the video, therefore in some preformances we will be wearing black and have our hair and makeup to go with the clothes that we are wearing. We have also discussed that we will be wearing coloured dresses in one scene rather than the black ones all the way through.

Teacher Feedback

1) I think that you need to have a look at a few more music videos from similar artists:
The Spice Girls
Girls Aloud
And actually textually analyse the videos looking at:
Mise en scene
Editing
Sound
Camera shots/angles/movement.
2) You need to make sure that you have records of the discussions that you have had with your group about costume decisions

Risk Assessemnt

Order to plan and create our video to the highest and safest standard, we must look and asess the risks in our plan and music video videoing.
One risk that must be taken into consideration is that whilst we are filming on the zebra crossing we must protect the equiptment and the camera from the rain, so therefore we must look at the ricks and asses it. another wish is to make sure that we dont get hit by a car whilst filing so we must have a clear view of the road to make sure that this will not happen.
Another risk is that when we are filming and doing tracking shots we must make sure that the wire is not on the floor for someone to trip over, we over came this by having one of the team hold up the wire as we walked so no one would fall over it. Oter risks include slipping over, falling down the stairs and falling over in the high heels that we are wearing.
One of the locations that we filmed in was a bloc of concrete stairs which meant that we had to be very careful when we flimed on the stairs that we didnt trip or that it wasnt raining so that the handle bar would be slippery.