1. Question 4
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research,
planning and evaluation stages?
2. Research
The main elements I had too research for the creation of my production were existing
songs and music videos, as well as print productions, genre and audiences. In terms
of researching music videos, SoundCloud was my chosen platform to do so, as it
markets undersigned and independent bands/artists and allows you to contact them.
Rather than searching across the internet, it was easier due to this platform to
discover unsigned British musicians. Across this research we found Choose Wisely
and with his lyrics began to draw up initial ideas and narratives. Prior to the internet,
research would have been significantly more challenging and a range of artists would
have been hard to find. Whereas apps such as SoundCloud provide a level of
accessibility that rendered this task simple and manageable. When researching music
videos and genre conventions I visited YouTube, alongside my own knowledge of
genre conventions I wanted to analyze the Indie genre and take inspiration from
other successful artists. This was hugely useful when executing narrative and making
intertextual references. By capitalizing on existing material, I was able to establish a
greater understanding of the typicality's within the genre, such as natural setting and
common artist shots. In addition, YouTube helped me to understand elements that
the audience found successful, but also how the existing music videos cater and
address their audience, through costume and representation. The genre conventions
I found aligned perfectly with those suggested by Goodwin in his theories on music
videos, especially that of correlation between visuals and lyrics. The print production
research was primarily conducted across the internet, as well as the numerous
existing albums I myself have, which I took inspiration form also. In gathering a basic
understanding of the features needed on an album cover, as well as the themes that
are often presented across print productions I was able to develop a cohesive and
well researched design of my own. Furthermore, visual styles, in terms of art
influenced me too some extent also, especially with psychedelic art as I wanted to
convey disorientation across my print production. With my magazine advert, I
researched across the internet and through magazines such as NME in order to
establish a understanding of typical conventions and styles.
3. Planning
The planning of the music video production was something that needed to be
efficient due to the tight schedule we had based on deadlines and our everyday
responsible such as work and school. At the very beginning of the task, we
established a group chat on the app Snapchat, this allowed us to communicate simply
and set up meeting points and be efficient. Furthermore, we were able to send each
other pictures of our ongoing work and initial ideas, allowing us to brainstorm at all
times. This element of the production would have been much more challenging 20
years ago as we wouldn't have been able to communicate easily, a clear example of
media technologies being vital in all aspects of this task. As well as media
technologies I also used mind maps, storyboards and mood boards to present my
ideas and conduct my planning.
For Premiere Pro and my music video, I already had a basic understanding from my
task a year prior. Through planning I had already established the narrative and effects
that I wished to incorporate within my piece, it was just a matter of applying them to
the program. In terms of my print production, I had never used Photoshop before
properly, so in order to establish a simple understand of the features and possibilities
the program held, I experimented with random images and watched YouTube
tutorials. By experimenting with the program first, I was able to build a simple
understanding of its functions and how to use it effectively. Too further this
understanding I asked my peers for guidance around queries and watched guides on
the internet. Through experimenting with this program I was able to produce physical
images of my initial ideas and see whether they would work or not. This trial and
error aspect of my planning, especially with my print production was key as I
educated myself on the program.
4. Audience Research
Media technologies proved hugely useful for my audience research as I was able to
conduct online surveys, read comments and reviews of current indie music. After my
genre and target demographic of 15 –24 year old's had been established I had to
discover the methods in which to captivate and attract the audience. My first idea
was to comply and make reference to genre conventions and existing material in the
indie genre, such as the monochrome filter for The Neighborhood and the naturalistic
setting for Front Porch Step, both holding large indie fanbases. By referencing such
artists I would be able to attract their audiences and become a part of the indie music
genre. With Front Porch Step, I found many similarities based upon the lyrics of his
songs and the album art of natural settings. With his lyrics addressing topics and
issues that are easily relatable to the target audience and are very typical of the
genre, I felt adopting the styles employed by this artist would be successful. By
listening to his music and viewing his album art I was able to produce more ideas of
my own and establish successful elements that address the audience. Whilst listening
to his music on YouTube, I read the comments of the video allowing me to infer
strengths of the video in relation to the audience, especially narrative and lyrically. As
Goodwin explored, having a link between lyrics and visuals produces a powerful
effect to the audience immersing them. Without sites such as YouTube and apps like
Spotify, this audience research would have been extremely difficult.
In terms of understanding audience feedback, I produced an online questionnaire on
SurveyMonkey that allowed me to collect quantitative and qualitative data quickly
and easily. The importance of this feedback is that I could listen to criticism of my
work and capitalize off of this and produce a more successful product according to
the target audience. SurveyMonkey allowed me too easily distribute my
questionnaire across email and in class to my peers, of which all fell under my target
demographic, further increasing the relevance of the feedback. If I was too undertake
this task 20 years ago, It would have proved much harder and would have taken
significantly longer, as I would have to use paper surveys and hand them out myself.
5. Music Video
For my music video I used Premiere Pro to edit, this allowed me to make sure it looked professional.
Premiere Pro is versatile and relatively simple to use. Although we had used it a year prior, my skills needed
to be refined, to do so I watched various guides and tutorials on YouTube. Premiere Pro allowed me to be
creative in my work adding in different effects and transitions to make my video smooth. Premiere Pro held
many features of which I utilized to make my video more professional, such as lens flares, as seen in the
screenshot displayed. This sue of lens flare allows me to convey an atmosphere of beauty and tranquility.
Premiere Pro allowed me to match the clips of lip sync with the track, this was paramount too maintaining a
level of professionalism. A main element of my music video was colour grading and filters, as this allowed me
to reinforce the themes of the narrative, ensure genre conventionality and make reference to other texts
outside of my own. The colour grading was made simple by the program and allowed me to add creativity
and convey emotion through colour, a significant part of my production. At the beginning of my video I
incorporate a wave sequence, of which it's sound is carried over to the clips after it and slowly fades off into
the track. This was an initial difficulty as I hadn't collected enough footage of the waves too hold a continuous
audio track, but Premiere Pro allowed me to copy and paste then reverse the audio clip, creating a
continuous sequence. A year prior, in my Year 12 assignment these features of Premiere Pro were unknown
to me, by watching guides and experimenting with this program I have built a larger understanding and now
feel my skills have dramatically improved in this field. Another huge part of my music video was cross cutting
clips, this allowed me to merge narrative and performance shots, further emphasizing this idea of relatability
for the audience to the artist. Furthermore it allowed me show how the protagonist is reflecting and thinking
of the past experiences; as well as this the opacity feature allowed me to add in my chess piece motif and
symbolism without breaking the flow of the sequence.
A key element of my music video was the camerawork, of which I wanted to be sharp and composed, this
could not have been achieved without the use of the DSLR, this ensured the highest definition and quality.
The Canon DSLR is known for its reliability, so I was sure this camera would be perfect for the task. One
aspect of the DSLR that I utilized in my piece was the ISO levels, as many of the shots were outside, I played
around with the ISO levels in order to let in more diegetic light to emphasize the fantasy and dream side of
the piece. Suttle changes such as these make my video and camerawork more complex, without this piece of
technology I would have not been able to be as creative as I was. Using a 34mm lens allowed me to explore
more composition techniques such as shallow focus whilst still maintaining a high quality shot. This level of
agency I had with the camera this year is hugely different to that of a year prior with my thriller, as I didn't
have the knowledge of the potential the DSLR held.
As seen in the third screenshot, this is an example of the setup we had for the beach shots, incorporating a
tripod to maintain stability, especially with the wind on the beach being horrendous. The tripod was hugely
useful at many points as it allowed us to use still shots with minimal to no shaking, making the shots look
smoother.
6. CD Cover
For my CD cover and print productions I used Adobe Photoshop to produce an innovative and creative piece.
In terms of visuals and themes I wanted my print productions too closely relate to that of my music video, to
ensure synergy across all productions and reinforce a cohesive image and brand identity. I did this by
incorporating the same male protagonist as in the music video, this is because it shows how anyone can fill the
shoes of the protagonist and the narrative is relatable to the audience demographic. As seen in the first two
screenshots to the right, my front cover is displayed, before and after I edited it. Photoshop's feature of layers
is something that I experimented with greatly, as it resembles a disorientated and fragmented look, which
is exactly what I wanted to portray with this piece. Furthermore, I also explored the use of Hue/Saturation as
an effect on Photoshop, this allowed me to change the colour scheme slightly, and emphasize the oranges in
this situation, and add a purple tinge to the piece. All of my panels and poster for my print production followed
a similar theme of emphasized purples, this is a link to the psychedelic art movement that inspired me, but
also reinforces the theme of a dream or fantastical reality. The inside front cover is another example of how I
incorporated this method of layers to suggest multiple identities and fragmentation. Another feature of
Photoshop of which I utilized was the exposure, by making it slightly overexposed I was able to make the
photo sharp and unique. Photoshop was essential to producing a unique and powerful CD cover as it allowed
me to be as creative and experimental as I liked. The only difficulty of which I came across in this area of
production was the resizing of the images to fit the dimensions needed, but this was shortly overcome by the
use of templates and cropping tool.
Front Cover
Magazine Advert
Similar to that of the album, I chose to directly link the advert to the music video, done once again through he
recurring sue of the male protagonist. Similarly too my four panels, I followed a purple based colour scheme
executed through the Hue/Saturation effect on Photoshop. With the magazine advert, I came into a slight
difficulty initially as the picture wouldn't fit the poster template properly and I would be left with huge black
spaces. To overcome this problem, I mirrored the top of my photo and flipped it, then used the magic eraser
tool to distort and fragment the image, when this was combined with the purple and green colour scheme, it
perfectly resembled the psychedelic and disorientated world I wished to convey.
7. Work Presentation
I used the site Blogger, to document and present my work. This site is hugely versatile and useful when it
comes to organizing my work, this is due to the fact that you can directly write onto blogger, or upload
PowerPoints, Prezi's, word documents or videos. Blogger made it simple for me too creatively present my
work with ease, which in this course is essential as there is a large workload. The different labels and tags
that are available made my work simple to organize and put into each category, allowing maneuverability
around my blogger easy for my teacher and peers. For different tasks different platforms were more suited,
such as for essay based tasks I used Word, but for tasks that need screenshots and annotations, PowerPoint
or Prezi are easier to use. One particular feature of Blogger that allowed me to be creative with my work
layout was the ability to embed videos and PowerPoints. This task, 20 years ago would be completely
impossible as everything would have to be hand written, technology such as this is essential to doing this
task. Another benefit of Blogger, of which I utilized last year and that helped me a lot, was the comment
system. By easily being able to read the comments of my teacher and peers I am able to refine my work to
a higher standard and make necessary changes; after doing so I can change my title of that piece of work to
'UPDATED' thus allowing me to improve my work at an ongoing rate.
Conclusion
To conclude, there is a clear difference in the way I utilized technology this year as
opposed to last year when it comes to planning, research and evaluation. These
differences can be seen through my knowledge of the media technology and the
presentation of my work on blogger. I have conducted a larger amount of research this
year around the genre, target audience and music industry which has allowed me to
produce a much better product. Changes in technology are allowing people such as
myself to produce and market whatever we want, sites such as YouTube and
Soundcloud welcome new content makers and allow a greater and closer interaction
between audience and producer.
