2. How do my products use, develop and
challenge forms and conventions or
real media products?
The CD cover that I designed have all of the recommended/conventional features that you’d expect to
find on a standard CD cover. The conventional features that my CD case has is the artist name, the
album title, the song listing, the barcode, copyright information and the image of the artist. I have
challenged these conventions by rearranging the key features in a different formation than usual. The
image has been edited to look more like a sketch, originally I change adjusted the hue and saturation of
the colour of the image, it used the colours purple, green as the main colours (the image is shown
below. I designed the cover in this way because I admired Andy Warhol’s work and I wanted my design
to be unique and attractive, I also achieved this design by styling the models hair in curlers, this gave the
image a 60’s housewife look, I have continued the use of curlers in my music video to follow the theme.
The main image was influenced by Andy Warhol’s famous pop art designs of famous people such as
Marilyn Monroe. Usually the song list is listed vertically, I have challenged this by categorising it into 2
columns horizontally . This makes the layout interesting and attractive to customers. On a conventional
CD cover, the song list on the back of the CD which is what I have followed out, I designed/practised the
font size and layout a number of times until I was happy with the final one which is show on the right.
The design of the back of the CD cover looks like a parcel, the lines look like ribbons wrapped around a
present, this could represent a gift and encourage people to buy the CD as a gift to there friends or
family.
3. Continued...
In this section I will be comparing my project to the conventional features of a real media product.
Below shows 5 conventional features I have used in my music video:
1. Props
2. Main focal point (artist)
3. Fast Cuts
4. Vast scenery and locations
5. The artist is portrayed to look good and important
The song a Kiss with a Fist by Florence and the Machine gives off a fun vibe, the genre of the song is Post-punk revival, indie rock and pop. My
music video follows the conventions as it is staring the main artist who is seen as the main focal point who is seen all the way through
the video. Florence and the Machine is predominantly “popular” in style. The locations I have used in the video are ambiguous as the
audience will never know exactly what the building is, the locations are outside, in a music practice room and then in a room.
4. Changes Made...
In my final music video I have changed the establishing shot
with new footage, because the original was filmed on my
mobile phone, so the quality was dramatically different to
the quality captured from the camcorder. The new footage
allows the audience to see the accuracy of the artists’ lip-
syncing and also the quality is clearer and sharper. Another
feature I have added in my music video is some ‘Stop
Motion’ footage, the reason why I decided to use ‘Stop
Motion’ is because it makes the music video more diverse,
unpredictable and interesting. With the ‘Stop Motion’
being mixed in with a conventional music video, transforms
the video into something unconventional, because its a
technique you don’t usually see mixed.
5. Cameracamera angles and shots , here they are
Since my first draft I have included different
Angles
listed below:
Long Shot- This short length scene captures the artist
Mid- Shot (Establishing)- This is the opening shot where the walking towards the camera to then throw snow at
artist is standing over a male partner, the scene shows her the camera on the lyric “bed”. I wasn't going to use
aggressively shouting at him, whilst he is innocently unaware this clip however I received great feedback about it
whilst reading a book), throughout this scene she is and was encourage to use it in my final video.
consistently stood over him which represents dominance.
High Angle and Canted Shot- This
Medium Close-up (High Angle Shot)- Close-up (Hand held camera effect)- scene captures the artist lying sideways
This scene captures the artist lying on a This scene captures the artist lying on a on a the floor on a white sheet, which
the floor on a white sheet, looking the floor on a white sheet, looking makes it a Canted angle shot. This
directly at the camera. directly at the camera. scene the artist is looking away from
the camera.
6. Medium Shot- This scene is ‘Stop Motion’
where I took over 100 images of the artist wiping
back her smudged make-up for it to end up
polished and perfect at the end of the video. The
order I took the photos in were when the artist
started with perfect make-up and then slowly
smudged it on her face, when importing the
images I reversed them so the process would
catch the eye of the audience. This idea was
influenced from Marina and The Diamonds music
video of ‘I Am Not A Robot’. Here the curlers in
the hair follows the signature image used in all of
my ancillary products.
Extreme Close-up Shot – This scene focuses on
the artists lips, originally I filmed this scene when
the artist wasn’t wearing any lipstick, however
after negative feedback I decided that I need to
remake this scene, so we re-filmed when the
artist was wearing bright pink lipstick, this gives
off a feminine look about the artist and keeps the
audience watching.
Long Shot – This scene has been captured in the
hand held technique. This clip shows a natural
side to the artist where she is having fun , playing
on the drums. This shows an affectionate,
loveable side to the audience that would
encourage/ touch a wider heart felt audience.
7. Medium Shot Medium Close-up Shot
This scene involves two separate footages, the background video, is flames that I captured at home
at the fireplace. I then saved it as a video and then projected it onto a white screen and then had
my artist perform whilst being projected on, the fire represents the lyrics “set fire to our bed” from
the song. This scene is a unconventional scene, usually music videos would use a green screen so
the flames would be behind the artist where as I thought the video would look more effective
when the fire was portrayed on the artist as well as the background. This scene was influence by
Rihanna- ‘We Found Love’ music video.
Medium Shot This scene is set outside where the artist stands in front of a Close-up
Medium
pebbled wall, this makes the music video look urban and edgy,
that could encourage a wider audience.
Close-up Shot – This scene focused on the foot hitting the drum peddle at
the same pace as the beat. The idea of a heel shows the artist is feminine.
8. Survey
A few weeks ago I researched existing music videos that follow the same genre I
have chosen for my music video. Over the past few days I have set out a survey
asking 20 members of the general public on there opinion on my final designs.
Here are survey questions (rate out of 10) alongside the results (average score):
What did you think about the editing (cuts/pace/quality)? 8/10
Was there a variety of costumes used? 6/10
Is there a good use of locations? 7/10
Did the lips move at the correct timing? 9/10
18. What have you learned from your
audience feedback?
Most of the project was independent however at times I did
work in groups for a few different reasons. One was help for the
filming, I needed someone to play the music and someone to
star in the video. Another time was for positive feedback and
constructive criticism. I made sure I helped others as much as I
could by commenting on there blog the positives and negatives
of there products. By observing the faults of others work it
helped me to avoid making similar mistake on my projects. Also
when observing I saw difference admirable ideas that I could
then incorporate into my own work. Finally receiving feedback
from my peers helped me to achieve the best that I can do, each
one of us were very honest because we all wanted to do well in
this project.
On the right is a comment I have sent to a
fellow pupil. I have gave her constructive
criticism as well as positive feedback.
19. How did you use media technologies in
the construction and research, planning
and evaluation stages?
During the construction of my media project I have used 4 different types of software. For
the image I used Macromedia Fireworks and Microsoft picture tool and for the video
editing I have used Pinnacle Studios and Windows Movie Maker. For the construction of my
media product I have used two pieces of software that I have used predominately for many
projects in the past. Although I was familiar with the both types of software I was still
learning and adapting new skills, the main editing techniques that I used were the
brightness, contrast and colour of the image. I experimented a lot with the colours until I
was happy to consider the simple yet effective black and white which falls perfectly against
the green and pink banner alongside it.
When editing my music video I used an updated version of Windows Movie Maker which
was something that I wasn’t use to, it was a complete transformation from the original
Windows Movie Maker that I had used in previous years. This software was very time
consuming as I needed to learn how to use all of the features, fortunately after a couple of
practices I then soon picked it up, and have made all of my video with Movie Maker.
Pinnacle is a more advanced software compared to Windows however Pinnacle takes a
while to load up so now I only consider Pinnacle when I need to download my filming off
the camcorder onto the computer.
Below is the Microsoft Picture Tool Bar that I used for editing photos:
Here is a print screen of Windows Movie Maker:
20. Overall how effective is the
combination of your main products
and your ancillary products?
My main product and ancillary products are bright, unique, attractive. My
ancillary products follows a consistent image with the artist wearing the
curlers in her hair, this look represents a 1940’s house wife look. The aim of
this image is to re invent/modernise the 40’s look which will catch the eye of
customers and increase the sales of the product. The products all include
conventional features such as the main image, title and sponsors. Another
convention that is seen effective is the title/name that I have consistently
used on all of the ancillary features, the title has a unique “signature” look,
the A is the key feature to the title, I have designed it to look bigger than the
rest of the text and it has a more handwritten affect with the flick.
