PROJECT EVALUATION; Question 4...

Question 4:
How did you use new media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages?
From the perspective of a 21st century Media Studies student, I would think it practically impossible to create a decent music video without the help of the multiple new media technologies the world has to offer! Throughout this entire process, new media technologies that I was already aware of, for instance the help and advice for all blogging queries existing inside today’s thriving cyber culture, have assisted me limitlessly as well as the many more I have discovered since the project began. Nevertheless, each of the various technologies I used played an essential role in the construction of each of the research, planning and evaluation stages of this project- even including my actual blog itself!

Research:
I found new media technologies to be crucial at this stage of the project for a number of reasons. In the last seven months, I have needed to research a variety of different things- ranging from: the Piano Rock genre to distribution of bookmarks as an item of merchandise and every time I have immediately used the Internet- quite possibly the most used form of new media technology. A brilliant source for websites that assist in establishing common codes and conventions of existing media products in the current market, I gathered extensive research from three main search engines: 

GOOGLE

 

YAHOO



ASK

which helped lay the foundations for the project as I learned what needed to beincorporated inside both my main and ancillary tasks.

However, as the project progressed, I found myself time and time again referring back to:

YouTube

 I found this website a fantastic source as I was able to search for music videos within the Piano Rock genre, identify common conventions and most importantly- gain instant feedback! A video that frequently acted as inspiration for my blog, ancillary tasks and music video is:

It was through searching for links from this video that I saw the opportunity to leave feedback and saw that here was ready made feedback from our target audience! Later I discovered that Facebook offers a similar option. Here are two screen shots from below: the first is from YouTube and the second is from Facebook; this information helped shape many aspects of the group's final cut:

Feedback left by fellow YouTube users about the music video above.



Facebook: Another source of feedback for music viceos that I used.

 
Evidently, throughout the research stage, I conducted the majority of it my work using both the school's computers and my own laptop. Along with this several other new media technologies were also used:

USB Stick: to transfer files from school computers to my own laptop.



Ranger Outpost: also to make file transfer easier.

Television: to watch music videos on.

iTunes: software used to listen to music.

it is odd to think that it has become habbit now just to use them- if I wasn't looking back through it now I doubt I would have even realised I had used them all!

Planning:
Frequently using many of the aforementioned new media technologies, the planning stage saw an explosion in the use of software! Before entering A2 Media Studies, I tended to shy away from using the softwares that my teachers frequently encouraged but now I have learned to use several and am very happy with my progress! During the planning stage, here is the software I used:

Adobe Photoshop: Used for the planning of my Billboard ancillary task.

Adobe Illistrator: Used for the production of my Tour Poster.

Adobe InDesign: Used to plan my DigiPak ancillary task.

Microsoft Work: Used to take note and type up useful research.

Flickr: Used to upload any and all video footage, here it was easily organised.

Photobucket: Used to upload and organise all media images.

These new media technologies have enabled me to produce ancillary tasks of a professional standard, a look I was keen to emulate, and have taught me an awful lot about designing. Now when I look at existing products I am instantly aware of the hard work that actually goes into making them!

Construction:
In terms of the new media technology used during principle photography, we used the school’s equipment which consisted of:

Video Camera: used to capture footage.

Tripod: supports camera and helps construct camera angles.

For the construction of still images, I used a variety of equipment:

Samsung camera: photographing locations for blog use.

Nikon Camera: used for capturing images for the video.

iPhone: used to capture quick videos behind the scenes.

We captured moving footage to record not only the video scenes but also for behind the scenes footage ect. We captured still images to record our progress for the sake of the blog, for our ancillary tasks and also for snapshots used in the video. I found it really helped an awful lot to have such a high standard of equipment.


During the construction process of this project, each group was assigned a specific media computer- my group was assigned TriMedia 3. On these computers we were able to use the programme Adobe Premier Pro:

Another form of new media technology

to build the music video. It took me a few weeks but I soon learned how to use the software, it’s quite simple once you know how. But the actual construction of the music video was not my strongest point and I took point in other aspects of the project. I always gave my input to the decision-making process and regularly attended editing meetings however on more than one occasion it so happened that we were editing over each other’s work, which caused problems. Through this evaluation, I can now see (had I the chance to do it again) maybe some sort of log should be made to record changes to the video or not have everyone focus separately on editing the video as I feel it was one of our groups weakest point.

Evaluation:
For the evaluation stage, I used practically all of the new media technologies that I had used in the previous stages combined with two more:

Kindle: Used to upload Blog work and record feedback.

Dictaphone: used to record interviews, conversations and comments for feedback purposes.

Overall, I am amazed at how many different forms of new media technology is so readily available for me to use. I can clearly see now that it would have been possible to produce the work that my group has without it.

Lily-May Smythe

PROJECT EVALUATION; Question 3...

Question 3:
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
I am a member of the target audience that my group’s music video and ancillary tasks are appealing too: late teens- early adult women with a rough age range of: 17-25 years. Despite this, I soon found that I am not actually a fan of the ‘pop-piano rock’ cross-over genre which meant that both my research and feedback were crucial to the success of my contribution to this project. Immediately I was aware that what little knowledge I had about our chosen genre was going to need to be heavily supported by that of my peers and teachers. Therefore I found myself constantly questioning my friends (who, fortunately, were also within our target audience) for their suggestions and improvements on my work.

At numerous occasions throughout the development, production and evaluation stages of this project my group received extensive feedback for our music video. The majority of this was from our teachers as they oversaw us during our time spent on the editing computers. They were frequently available to check over work, analyse footage and help make difficult decisions. I learned from their feedback that, if ever you have a doubt about any aspect of the video, your teachers are always there to offer their help but at the end of the day it is your video and the decision is yours to make. I found that it was usually best to try and solve the problem myself but, only if that was absolutely impossible, there was the option of asking for help.

Unfortunately, and something I would change if I were to re-do this project, the major feedback our music video received actually occurred after we had submitted it! Therefore we were unable to make any changes- but fortunately I don’t think we needed to! Our video was shown to a group of mixed boys and girl of about 15 years of age and they all looked as if they were enjoying it. Although they were not quite our target audience their feedback seemed mostly positive which pleased us; as there appeared not be any glaringly obvious lapses in judgement- I think our music video was a success. From this technique, I learned that it is probably the most honest form of feedback possible as what they thought was instantly shown on their faces- be it good or bad. I found that the various locations we used made the video and storyline quite relatable and the constant movement made it enjoyable to watch. I was happy with the feedback I received at this stage.

From people I spoke to about my video, mostly the other media students in my class whose opinion is slightly more relevant than most, I learned that our narrative was fairly easy to follow: the simple girl meets boy, falls in love and has her heart broken. The generic locations, simple costumes and use of flashbacks made the concept slightly more interesting with one student: Cerise Gibbins, stating: ‘your characters reflect the lyrics really well!’ The shot that received the greatest praise was our last shot- the one where Melissa’s hands slip out of Aaran’s; I think this was because it was so dramatic as it was edited in slow motion.

In terms of my ancillary tasks, I was assigned the construction of a:

• Tour poster
• Billboard design
• Digipak

I saw feedback from my teachers, feedback from my peers and feedback from my target audience as three very separate categories. I made sure I gained feedback from all three and have featured this on my blog throughout the development process. From my teachers I found their comments to be much more technically-minded. I found it to be more about ‘filling dead-space’, ‘alignment issues’ and ‘suitable font choices’ which I learned, in the long run, is exactly what you want to hear. I continuously acted on their comments and made any and all necessary changes but it was not my teachers that I went to for feedback in terms of the type of images they’d like to see as they were not members of my target audience. Therefore when I had questions about costumes and make-up, I would immediately ask my target audience for their advice. Fortunately, they never failed me! Feedback from my peers was also rather difficult as I still to this day don’t believe you can believe everything your friends say when there is an option for criticism! I did find that sometimes friends were too nice and ended up complementing every aspect of the work, which in the long-run doesn’t really help anyone. This meant that I rarely asked my friends for feedback and chose to either ask for the skilled opinion of my teachers or the headstrong opinion of my target audience- who always seemed to know what they wanted.

With the group choosing to pursue an overall Gothic styling with a red, black and white colour scheme, I must admit that my initial ideas were rather poor- I even had one friend bluntly state: ‘that looks terrible!’ in reference to an early design for my tour poster. The problem was that I had slightly over-used the colour red disproportionately to the black and white neutrals with the same friend concluding that it looked: ‘more like an advertisement for a Fright Night than a concert tour poster’ and so I wisely chose to change it! I am very glad I did this as, surprisingly, the final product actually favours the colour white over the other two now. It consists of a large white background, interrupted only by a red-rose border behind the key image: Melissa, and I have been given several positive reviews when it comes to comparing the before and after designs- suggesting improvement.

For my tour poster, I gained feedback through conversation and some quick note taking with my teachers. We met at our review meeting to discuss the overall project and it was here that some improvements were suggested.

For the design of my billboard, I decided to receive feedback in a slightly alternate style. I had never attempted anything like this before with the majority of my feedback only ever being conducted through an informal conversation. Yet when the idea of recording actual footage was suggested, not only did I think it a great idea but also quite a sensible one as it made future referencing simple! Therefore, using my camera, I asked a member of my target audience for feedback on my work.

I found this type of feedback very useful as it was much easier to remember when it came to acting on it. In future, when I need to receive feedback, I would seriously consider using this method again.
 
And finally, I also learned alot from the feedback for my DigiPak. It is strange to see how different the final product is from my original designs! When conducting the feedback, I used three people from my target audience and two people who were not in order to get an all-round idea of what my demographic would like to see and used a Dictaphone to quickly record the data. It is from this that I was able to select quotes that would help redesign my product:

"Yes I think they do! I've just bought Birdy's new album and her DigiPak actually very similar to this one."
- Elanor Bradshaw

Then I transferred the information onto graphs:

This helped make referral that much quicker in the future and is definitely a method I would choose to use again. From the feedback of the DigiPak I learned alot about what different demographics like and what they don't like. From asking the two boys what they found appealing about my design, I learned that different aspects stand out to different people and that we all look for different features on a product. Therefore, I decided what features were the most important and chose to focus my design on those.

All in all, I have learned that feedback is absolutely essential when designing anything. People seem to know what they like and what they don't like and when you are designing a product for someone else it is crucial that you listen to them because you don't always know what's right!

Lily-May Smythe

PROJECT EVALUATION; Question 2...

Question 2:
How effective is the combination of your main and ancillary texts?
Personally, I am very pleased with the outcome of both my ancillary tasks and my group’s music video and feel that there is a clear connection between them. From the very beginning I was aware that there needed to be a distinct linkage between both my main and ancillary texts and worked on them both separately with this in mind.

In terms of the development and production of my own ancillary tasks and the music video, the major way in which I tried to achieve consistency was by highlighting codes and conventions common in both. An example of uniformity in both texts was Melissa’s costumes. Due to our Gothic styling, Melissa wore a lovely white coat during the video, which I later photographed her in for the key image of my tour poster. This demonstrates a clear link, easily identifiable by our audience, between our main task and my ancillary task. To reinforce the link amid the group’s collective work, the majority of the photoshoots were conducted together which meant that our ancillary task’s images maintained a homogeneity in terms of costume, make-up and lighting. Therefore there is an effective combination of our main and ancillary texts which can also be seen in our consistent choice of text: Vivaldi, Arial and Impact and colour schemes: red, white and black.

For one of my ancillary tasks, I designed a billboard which consisted of one large, edited image:

I lightly edited the image using Adobe Photoshop to blur Melissa’s entire environment without touching her; I did this so that the text would be easier to read. The environment was Frank’s Park- a woodland area mostly containing lots of leafy green trees, bushes and grass. This choice reflects the Gothic mood of the artist well and demonstrates how my ancillary tasks support the main task because the same location in the photograph is also used in the video.

The link between my tour poster and the music video is the prominent use of roses:

These feature not only on the tour poster as a small border but they are also featured in the music video. This consistency would be easily recognisable to our audience. Also reinforcing this link is the DigiPak's use of roses, shown here:

Therefore, because of links such as this- I believe the combination between my main text and ancillary texts is effective to a certain extent in that you can see they are related.

Lily-May Smythe

PROJECT EVALUATION; Question 1...

Question 1:
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My media products consist of:

• Music video
• DigiPak
• Tour Poster
• Billboard Design

and each in turn develop and challenge forms and convention of real media products in a variety of ways.

Music Video:
A key feature of our music video that challenges the forms and conventions of exisiting media products within the Piano Rock genre is our use of still images. Our music video repeatedly features the use of still images of both Aaran and Melissa, acting as flashbacks- really illistrating the close relationship the two had once shared. It is clear within the video that there was a purpose for this, however due to extensive research, it is fair to genrealise and state that most Piano Rock genred videos do not adhere to such a convention. Therefore this is a common code that our video clearly subverts. I think the reason for this was merely practicality, we had quite large gaps to be filled and little footage to fill them. However the final cut looks great! Having said this, our music video has been a great success as it adheres to several other codes and conventions such as our choice of locations. In order to create that fairytale ambience, we used popular locations suggested to us through our feedback. ie: the park.

DigiPak:
All in all, my aim of design a DigiPak that fully adhered to the codes and conventions of exisiting media products was acheived. I feel that my use of large images across double pages was successfull as I had seen this technique in previous products:

My Design



Existing Design

Because of this I feel there is a clear resemblence of a proffessional standard.

Tour Poster:
Again my final design for the Tour Poster conforms to the majority of codes and conventions of exisiting media products, for example the key image. I feel this image adheres to Gaze theory of using an attractive image as a centre point- enticing the audience to look. However, I feel the poster also challenges the common convention of a coloured background as I chose to use a block neutral. I hope this choice was wise and has the same effect.

My Design



Existing Design



Billboard Design:
This is my favourite of all my ancillary tasks as I think that if I were to see this product in the real world, I would take notice. From feedback I have found that it communicates it message of advertising the album well and this was exactly what I hoped for! Adhering to more conventions than I feel it challeneged, as I did not see any reason not to follow the norm, the use of a striking dominant image, three star rating and encouraging quote from a music mogal- I feel the Billboar Design is a success.

My Design

Existing Design

Overall, I am happy with my ancillary tasks.

Lily-May Smythe

STAGE 3: OVERALL EVALUATION...

DEADLINE!
Today: 28th March 2011 is the year 13 deadline day! My group have fully completed our music video and all our ancillary tasks have been handed in. It was a struggle but I was finished by 2.30pm! I am so relieved that it is finally over; all that there is left to do is complete my blog evaluation over the half term.

I shall complete my evaluation by answering, in detail, four questions about the entire process- thus completing not only the evaluation but the entire project!

Lily-May Smythe

EVALUATION...

The DigiPak:
Just as with my other ancillary tasks I have decided that the best course of action, in order to gain the very best feedback, is to approach my target audience. I have shown them my final design for the DigiPak and asked them a series of five structured questions in order to gauge their reaction and learn whether or not the product is suitable.

I decided to ask three people from my target audience:
- Natalia Alekseev: 15 years old, female
- Elanor Bradshaw: 16 years old, female
- Natasha CarMichael: 18 years old, female

and then, to get slightly more varied feedback and then an awareness of outside opinions, two people not from my target audience:
- Nikolei Alekseev: 21 years old, male
- James Moretti: 18 years old, male

After taking note of their answers using a dictaphone, I transfered the data onto pie charts for two reasons: the first was to give myself a greater general impression in terms of what alterations to make to the design and the second was for easier reference.The five questions, answers and pie charts are as follows:

1.) Do you think my choice of images are suitable for a product such as this?
"Yes, I think they reflect the theme of the record well as they are in quite dramatic locations- for instance the one with Melissa in the leaves."
- Natalia Alekseev

"Yes I think they do! I've just bought Birdy's new album and her DigiPak actually very similiar to this one."
- Elanor Bradshaw

"Yes, they're quite consistent seeing as the locations are all outside; makes me think there is some sort of earthy theme. "
- Natasha CarMichael

"Yes, the one with her lounging on her own by a tree seems like quite a girly thing to do and this is a girls record."
- James Moretti

"No, I think smaller ones would have looked better, I'd have seen more of the artist."
- Nikolei Alekseev

2.) Can you read all the text easily?
"Yes."
- Natalia Alekseev

"Yes."
- Elanor Bradshaw

"No, the writing on the back is really tiny!"
- Natasha CarMichael

"Yes."
- James Moretti

"Yes."
- Nikolei Alekseev

3.) Does this product reach a proffessional standard?
"Yes!"
- Natalia Alekseev

"I do."
- Elanor Bradshaw

"Yeah."
- Natasha CarMichael

"Yes."
- James Moretti

"Yes."
- Nikolei Alekseev

4.) Does this DigiPak provide you with all the information you need?
"Yes, I'd only ever open this booklet to check lyrics."
- Natalia Alekseev

"Yes, I think so."
- Elanor Bradshaw

"Yes, I don't really understand what it is."
- Natasha CarMichael

"Yes."
- James Moretti

"No, I want to know producers!"
- Nikolei Alekseev

5.) Have you any suggestions or improvements?
"No, it's fine."
- Natalia Alekseev

"No."
- Elanor Bradshaw

"Maybe make the font on the back slightly bigger- I really can't see it!"
- Natasha CarMichael

"No, it's great."
- James Moretti

"None."
- Nikolei Alekseev

For the last question, I was unable to produce a grid- so I just took on board their comments when it came to making changes to this design. I have learned all I needed to from this evaluation and look forward to seeing how it will influence my work.

Lily-May Smythe

Ancillary Tasks...

FINAL PRODUCTS:
Below are the final drafts of my ancillary tasks; I am very please with their outcome as I feel they resemeble exisiting media products well.

Billboard Design-

Tour Poster:

DigiPak-

Lily-May Smythe

Final Product...

The Digipak-

My DigiPak is now complete and I hope to show it to my teachers before the deadline in order to see if there are any improvements that need to be made.

Lily-May Smythe

Music Video Complete...

Rough Cut-
Our music video is now complete! We have a rough cut and there are just a few finishing touches that need to be added. The group hopes to complete these as soon as possible.

Lily-May Smythe

DEVELOPMENT...

Digipak:
The development stage began for my digipak when I constructed the initial draftwork. Inspired by the existing products I had analysed during my research, I started drawing various design ideas to see what I could come up with:

First set of 8 boxes

Second set of 8 boxes

Seeing as I have already been told what fonts I am to use and our photoshoots have already taken place, the design for my Digipak is quite straight forward. I intend to create a 16 page booklet featuring three pairs of pages with large, edited photographs on. I also hope to include the common convention of an acknowledgement page.

Melissa has already designed the front and back cover for the Digipak:

Front Cover

Back Cover

and so it is crucial that the rest of my design is inkeeping with these.

Soon I hope to progress to using Adobe InDesign to complete the task.

Lily-May Smythe

RESEARCH...

Further Research into DigiPaks-
Out of all three (four including the attempted bookmark!) of my ancillary tasks, the Digipak concerns me the most as I find it the most difficult. With approximately 16 pages it's also a lot of work but I am confident that I shall get it done by the deadline.

With my time using the software (InDesign) rather limited, I am putting alot of effort into the planning so that I can basically copy it from paper to screen. Therefore I have conducted further research into existing Digipaks in order to gain a few ideas:



Here is a two-page spread from a Digipak currently in the market. It is an Acknowledgements Page which is a convention I am keen to incorporate into my own design. I like the use of key images on this page, subverting the common code of mainly using copy. I may choose to follow this example or I may adhere to the usual use of a double-page spread largely covered in text.



On the left-hand page, which I assume is the back of the DigiPak I noticed some small logos. On closer analysis I saw that they represented various companies that have helped construct the artist's record. I will ensure that I follow this convention when it comes to my own design.

Due to the tracklist being designed by another member of my group, there is only a small selection of songs- much less than what I have found to usually be incorporated inside a DigiPak. This means that I am left with quite a few blank spaces in my own design and this example offers a great way to use them! I really like the idea of just using images to fill the space, something I am keen to do. I have several suitable outtakes from previous photoshoots with Melissa and could edit them using Adobe Photoshop to make them suitable for the DigiPak.

After this research, I feel much more confident about the task and shall immediately construct some of my own designs and submit them for feedback.

Lily-May Smythe