Now that it has come to the end of the blogging period I can finally relax and say that I have done pretty well. AS was just a taster of what blogging was going to be like in A2 and with my sheer will power and determination I pray that my best was good enough to get me the grade that I so want. This year my initiative has been on top condition, I've blogged almost every step of this process, I followed the blogging checklist and also blogged independently, I have used a lot more media technology in my blogs and also included a lot more colour which I hope will show off my creativity. One thing that I found VERY useful and will continue to do is PLAN!, When I knew that a blog was going to be really long I sat down and planned it before I actually started to construct it, this was very useful :). One thing that I would go back and tell my self to improve on is my timing. I really should of blogged as early as possible instead of last minuet because when I blogged early I had time to go back and change it if something was wrong, whereas when you blog last minute you find yourself rushing and this could lead to a lot of mistakes. Overall I enjoyed blogging this year even though it was the longest thing on the planet I honestly did enjoy it and enjoy looking for different ways to express my answers and blogging about a new thing every week, I will Miss you Blog but its time for me and my pillow to go and get comfortable PEACE OUT! X
Our target audience was mainly teenage girls and guys that are more in touch with there feminine side.
As you can see the majority of the feedback we received was quite positive, everybody complimented on the artist the editing and the overall style of the video. One of the comments we received was about not using external shots, a member from our wider audience member stated that we should of added more external shots, more shots that didn't have the two artist in them. When I heard this I watched the music video back and realised that it was something that we didn't do, there wasn't one shot in our video that didn't have the artist in them and now I think that, thats something that we should've done. Looking at real music videos I notice that they all have minimum of 5 shots of anterior clips which were sometimes scenery, people and anything that didn't relate to the artist so now that I’ve looked into that point that is something that I would've included into my video to improve it. Another thing that a few people said was the chemistry between the two artist was low, they had energy individually but when they were together it kind of seemed like they had been put there to just move around. Thinking about this I realised that as the outsider, the only person in the group that wasn't in the video, I should've seen this and advised them to be more interactive with each other so the chemistry came out well in the video.
It was a really good idea getting feedback from our audience members, everyone I asked was either our target audience or a part of our wider audience. Making films and music videos is something that id like to do in the future and I want my videos to be aimed at this kind of audience so receiving feedback from them and hearing about the kind of things that they want to see in music videos was really good for me as I now know what I could improve on when it comes to making music videos in the future.
A thing that I have learnt from getting this audience feedback is that there are certain things that audience members expect and look for, One person said that there should've been dancers and it made me think about my video having dancers in them and when i vision it i see our audience becoming more interactive whilst looking at the video like bobbing there heads more and dancing around and just enjoying it a lot more and as a producer its taught me that its important to tailer the expectations of our audience as they will be the reasons for our success and therefore if they don’t like it or enjoy it the video wouldn't mean anything. Looking at this feedback has made me realised that there is a lot more to making a video and attracting a target audience then adding enthusiastic artists and bright colours. I realise that there is a huge improvement to be made on my current music video but I did pretty well for a first attempt.
Ancilary Products
The audience feedback for my ancillary products was all really positive , getting the reaction that I received has taught me that if you are aiming your products to a young teenage audience you need to make the product exciting and engaging enough for it to catch there eye. All the people that I asked said that they liked my use of colour and the structure and layout of my Ancillary products , because of this reaction I now know that this is something that I should do in the future when I make media products that are aimed at audience members who are mostly teenage girls and guys that are more in touch with there feminine side.
What have you learned about your audience feedback?
The audience reaction in the cinema was positive. There were plenty of cheers and people were clapping along to the music. Due to their reaction I think our video was well received to the audience and they enjoyed it. When it was finished people complimented us on our chose of locations and also applauded Zara and I on our performance efforts which they felt made the video more realistic and entertaining. This taught me that the performance which goes into the video is just as important as editing and effects, it allows the audience to enjoy the video on an entertainment level as well as technical.
Class feedback after rough cut:
Our rough cut was shown to the class who then shared their opinions of the video at the time. They liked our "fast cuts" in terms of editing and thought it was "consistent" and everything worked out "really well". I was happy with this feedback I've learnt it's OK to take ricks, which we did to personalise our video and slightly stepping out of the conventional formatting of a music video pays off. One critique added that some of the night time shots were too dark, we took this on board and fixed the colouring on Final Cut Pro, This taught me that although we brought a light with us, It's always better to film when the sky is not fully pitch black.
Individual audience reaction to music video:
From Alesha's feedback I've learnt it's important to keep to the theme of the genre.
Ancillary Products Feedback:
I've received positive feedback on my ancillary products which I'm happy with. I've learnt that keeping things simple helps the main product stand out more e.g. having a white background against your pictures. I'm glad that the use of font and brick wall background clearly put across an urban pop genre and my colours mesh together well.
Through the process of filming I've learnt It's important to take loads of pictures and shoot extra whilst your filming as when it comes to making a Digipack and Advertisement you have plenty of options to choose from. It's also important to keep the target audience in mind whilst editing as they are the customers and as well as looking good the video is a product which has to sell to them.
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
In the cinema, the reaction from everyone was positive after our music video was shown. Clapping and cheers which made my group and I feel good about our video. I personally thought that our video was amazing, so the reaction from everyone reassured me of this. When asking people after what they thought, people said they really liked it, I couldn't record them there and then as they were quick comments and feed backs but everyone was being really nice and enjoyed watching our music video.
Teacher and Class feedback.... after showing our rough cut.
From this we felt happy with our editing as comments were made about how good our cutting and pace was in the video. "It was good" "editing was just really smashing" "clear, cut, concise image" A negative comment was about the darkness of some of the clips, this was because we filmed late at night around 6 so it was nearly pitch black - to improve from this we re - filmed some of our clips and did some projection shots to replace some of the dark footage
Here is feedback from our friend, Alisha.
Here are a couple of V - Logs while we were filming, we were consistently updating what we were doing and where we were at with our filming.
This was one of our first V - Logs that we did showing us after we visited a few locations and practised recording some shots for our video. This was just to get a feel of what it would be like when were actually recording our real footage for our music video.
This was one of the last V - Logs we did of the last day we were all out together filming, this was when we didn't realise how some of our footage came out dark so technically it wasn't our last day filming, however on that day we were out from morning to night and did get a lot done.
After showing my sister our music video, this is what she had to say...
After hearing what my sister had to say, I think it was really positive and felt our camera work and editing was successfully done and portrayed well to the audience. Im happy with the comment about how our music video stood out because my sister watched a few of the videos and felt ours was one of the best, which is really good. Listening to my sisters comment on what we could of improved on - I think slow motion could of given a deeper effect in terms of portraying emotion as the chorus lyrics are more sad and upsetting in a way, but apart from that, our video was extremely good.
Personally, I thought our music video was a huge success. I think you know how good your video would be given the time and effort you put in, and my group and I were filming consistently day after day, sometimes we spent the whole day out going from location to location which wasn't always easy with the horrible, cold weather. But we pulled through and kept filming, because we knew in the end it would all pay off. Everyday, before filming, I remember packing several outfits as we would go to more then one location and had to change outfits. There have been a lot of good memories and it will be fun to look back on one day and remember all the laughs, myself, Tina and Christelle had. Ancillary products Feedback From My Group On My Ancillary products.....
After listening to these comments, I feel extremely pleased with my Digipak and Advertisement. My use of colours contrasted well with each other and the images I used complemented each other also. It's also good to hear that the pop feel came across in my ancillary work as it is important when reaching out to audiences, as they will know what genre it is by the look of the album.
<<Using the quick selection tool to outline the artist in different images so I could use the figures on my digipak.
Pasting the figures onto a white background and then using the magnetic Lasso Tool to create an outline.
Used the Lasso Tool to create an outline over an image.
The Outcome
Use of Gradient
If you look closely you will see that the Graffiti image in the background has been faded out. This was done using the Gradient Tool. The red xo strip at the top was the result of the tutorial I found on the internet.
How effective is the combination of your main product (video) and ancillary texts (digipak and advertisement)
Synergy = Sunglasses
How we planned to use it.
Originally we planned to use colorful sunglasses, we said that our duo would be wearing the sunglasses throughout the music video and also during photo shoots, public appearances, interviews and anything else they would do to promote themselves. Another reason why we chose sunglasses is because we dont really have a large budget and during our research we were looking for a product that would be cheap and effective to use. We got the idea from rap artist Kanye West. He used sunglasses as his Synergy Item for his graduation Album, particularly the single stronger. The sunglasses were seen on the single cover, in the music video, during performances and out and about. By doing this it made him easily recognizable by his fans.
Combining our Products using Synergy
I think that I did a pretty good job ensuring that my promotional package linked to the music video. We made sure that in each verse and chorus there was some shots of our artist wearing there chosen sunglasses and in every image on my promotional package the duo are wearing there sunglasses. Sunglasses in the music video
Sunglasses on the digipak Front Cover
Advertisement & Inside
CD Disc
Not only did I rely on our synergy item to make sure that my promotional package linked with my music video, I made sure that the costume and hair was the same swell. On our filming days we took out a camera so we could take images for our digipak. The main reason we did this was so we had images of our artist with the same hair and costume they have on in the video. Costume in the Video
Costume in digipak
Another thing that links the promotional package is the Red strip seen at the beginning and ending of the music video. At the beginning it says 'Excuse My Rude' and at the end it says 'XO' repeatedly to establish the Duo's name. I put the 'XO' red strip on all items of my promotional package so the as are bombarded with it a know that if they were to see that red strip anywhere else it would be related to the duo.
Red strip seen in the video
Strip seen on Digipak Advertisement
CD Disc
Front, Back & Fold
One more thing that makes both of these products link is the urban theme & Iconic locations. We shot the video in an area that has a lot of graffiti i.e. Brick Lane and places that are well known to the world like London Bridge and Camden . What I did to make sure that the 2 link was made a well known graffiti image 'Hackney Peace Mural' from a well known area 'Dalston' and made it the focus for the front and back of my album covers. I Also used an image that we took of the duo in front of a colourful graffiti piece we found in south bank Graffiti in the Video Graffiti on the Digipak Graffiti From Waterloo South bank
Hackney Peace Mural in Dalston
Due to all of these links between the video and my digipak, I believe that our target audience will recognise the 2 as linked products and therefore I believe that the outcome of my products is a success. What I managed to do is something that me and my group planned to do, we wanted to create a pop video and ancillary product that kept to the conventions of the pop genre but has an urban feel to it so it would reach out to the younger audience. Overall i feel proud of my designs, i think they would appeal to the audience members because the design is very bold and quite in your face, they stick to the conventions of ancillary products and the pop Genre at the same time and it also represents the youth which is something that we wanted to do.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
We were always looking to use synergy across our media products. We had a low budget so couldn't use something designer clothes or gold chain as the clothes would be too expensive and a gold chain would be more a convention for R&B but we are a pop group so thought sunglasses would be better. The aim was to make sunglasses our synergy, for example when the artist would perfrom and go to interviews, they will be seen with the sungalsses on which will be there key signature. This will make them more recognsiable to the public and fans. Although sunglasses are popular for many artist, we thought it would look good for our artist aswell and looked well in the video. Also the sunglasses are a different style to what other singers used. So even though we were influenced by these singers, we made sure to not copy exaclty and had a different style.
Here is a short clip showing our use of synergy in our music video " Excuse my rude".
The syngery of sunglasses are also conveyed through my Digipak and Advertisement.
Also the clothes and setting in the pictures on the album are also seen in the music video, this shows an interlink between my digipak and advertisement to our music video.
Here are two clips showing the clothes on my Digipak and Advertisement in our music video too. Also these clips show the use of our synergy too.
The audience will recognise straight away that the artist are from our music video 'Excuse my Rude' and also my ancillary products as the same clothes and sunglasses are being presented. Also the artist would be easily recognisable by there faces. Most importantly, the syngery we used ( sunglasses ) works well in noticing our artist as the group XO.
I think our main target audience which is 16 - 24 year old females would defienelty make a connection bewteen the music video and Digipak/advertisement because of how successful they are in interlinking with eachother. For example, by wearing outfits which were in the video on the album cover would spark audeinces to realise where they have seen the clothes before.
How effective is the combination of you main product and you ancillary texts?
Our main use of synergy were our sunglasses. We felt that these would be appropriate as there is a trend in pop culture of Pop and Rap acts wearing sunglasses and making it a key part of their act. Due to our budget this was the easiest way to incorporate synergy into our act as we were able to purchase the sunglasses at a low cost, we felt that if the two artists has different sunglasses it would help our audience identify who was who and pick which pair was their favourite. Sunglasses are also useful because there an array of designer sunglasses, with the duo's popularity would come endorsements and a popular sunglasses brand such as Ray Ban may want to invest in the artists as their fans will want to look like them and therefore go out of their way to invest into Ray Ban.
We were mainly inspired by the artist Kanye West, his album Graduation featured a cartoon teddy bear as it's mascot and was the protagonist of most of the albums music videos and also featured on the album cover. Throughout the promotion of the release of the album the teddy bear would always wear a pear of shutter glasses which were never seen before (see image below)
(Form of synergy -Kanye West- "Stronger" Single Cover)
Rapper Kanye West would always wear these original glasses and they grey highly popular amungst celebrities and fans.
(West promoting sunglasses)
(Influential Celebrity Paris Hilton sporting the shades)
(Shades finding their way into mainstream pop culture and media)
Finding a life of their own due to popularity the glasses originally designed by a Alain Mikili the glasses began to get sold around the world in different shapes and sizes becoming a fashion statement, making Kanye very popular and boosting album sales.
Another example of someone who's used sunglasses in their synergy is Lady Gaga for her album The Fame-
Sunglasses were the first thing people associated with Lady Gaga when she first appeared on our screens in 2008, in her debut video for the hit single Just Dance we see her sport them throughout the video:
(Synergy -Screenshots from video)
(Synergy- Promotional posters)
How I used Synergy:
My Digipack & Advert
On the cover of my album I used an image where the duo are sporting the same outfits and sunglasses they wear in the music video. I used the same Image on my advertisement so that main image of the the duo that will people will recogonise will be the album cover and the audience will recogonise these linked products because they are the same images. I think our audience will respond to our synergy well as our core audience if girls ages between 16-25, sunglasses is a trend which is associated with them and girls with in this age bracket do follow celebrity/pop culture. Even if they didn't sunglasses is an accessories worn by people of all ages and both genders, so all audiences can sport the trend. Synergy is also apparent in the clothing as these clothes are also worn in the music video, they are not designer or overpriced so our audience can realistically achieve the same look if the wanted to.
(Sunglasses worn throughout music video)
Keeping the images consistent throughout the video, digipack and advertisement makes the artists clothes and accessories familiar with the audience. This way they will keep seeing the same items and grow to like them as they are fans of the artist they will also start to become fans of their looks and everything associated with them such as their iconic sunglasses.
