evaluation task 4

technology used:
i used itunes to get the song for my music video. it was helpful because i already had the song, however i had to edit the format because it wasn't mp3. itunes changed the format. after that i put it into garage band and took 10 seconds from the end to shorten it slightly. it didn't want to play around with it too much. after that i put it straight into final cut. without the software i wouldnt have been able to manipulate the song the way i wanted, i would have had to find another way of doing it. itunes and garage band were really useful.

for filming i used a sony HDR video camera and a tripod. having an HD camera meant i could get better resolution which meant that my video looked better and more professional. college also have DV cameras available to use. i used a dv camera for the primary school footage. the reason being is because i wanted it to look more abstract and older looking, because in a way it's the story of past events. the HD camera was used for the performance aspect of the video. i wanted it to stand out and look cleaner than the narrative. the blend of HD and DV looks great. some people wouldn't notice but i think it really does show and works well with my theme for the video.

to edit i used final cut. final cut is a professional editing program and i really wanted to experiment more with the software. i'd used it before so i had basic skills but i really wanted to push myself because i felt passionately about making my video the best it could possibly be. i played around with layers and transitions to construct my video and some of the effects i used were colour correction to make the playground footage darker.

for my digipack i used photoshop to maipulate my images and combined them to make my final digipack design. i've used photoshop before but i still find it quite hard to use. i played around with stuff i knew and then pushed myself to get some good imagery. i wasn't sure

evaluation task 2 - digipack

final digipack design

front design



inside design

evaluation task 3 - digipack rough

my rough digipack is very close to my final design because my teacher really liked it. he said that he liked the pixel blur effect i did and he said that the visual style complimented the theme of the album. he said that i had lots of fantastic ideas, but putting them all on the front of the digipack made it look a bit messy. i explained to him that i liked the visual style of the front and he understood what i was trying to show. he then told me to add little things to make it better. such as a bar code and a dvd logo and such. i added the little bits and it made it look more professional. i really like my design because it refers to the album.

he also liked the reference to the bands religion. he thought it made the album cover more personal. the band refer to their religion throughout their music so i thought it was a good tribute.

evaluation task 3 - audience feedback

when my class watched it they gave me positive feedback as well as negative, which is good because it meant i had something to work on to make my video better. they said that they liked the performance part of the video due to the strength of the performance and the lighting. they said it made it look really professional. they didn't understand the narrative part of my video though. they said that i needed a link between the band and the narrative. with out it, it wouldn't have made sense.

after listening to their feedback i combined the band with the narrative so that there was a clear link between the two. it wasn't hard to do and it worked really well so i'm glad that my class gave me clear feedback for me to work on. i didn't need to move my video around that much either which was good. the shots below show what i did. the footage behind the band was there to begin with, all i did was lower the opacity of the band and put it above the playground footage. the feeling i wanted to represent was isolation and the fact that the band were slightly transparent gives the impression that there just a memory.

evaluation task 3 - audience feedback

after i finished my rough cut i rendered it and then we watched them all in class and got feedback. my teacher told me that he thought that it needed more cuts to make it more interesting due to its length. because its longer than 4 minutes, he thought that the video would benefit by adding in more shots of the narrative. i took his advice and added some more narrative. i had about 8 gaps in my rough cut anyway so i used the space to add the narrative without manipulating my video too much.

he also said that i needed more close ups of the lead singer because the shots were too similar and he said that music videos with the same genre have close ups of the singer. i then did more research on music videos and found that in rock music videos, the singer in portrayed in a certain way, and that there are many close ups. i then zoomed into my shots of the singer slightly to make my video more professional.

evaluation task 2

evaluation task 1

1. my first shot shows a link i used between the lyrics and visuals. the lyrics were, 'tell the world how he felt with the sound of the gat'. i then performed the song and visually represented what the lyrics were saying.
2. my second shot is of the band playing on stage. it's a really lively shot and shows a good and strong performance. to me, it represents what the record company would want out of a music video. it shows that p.o.d are lively.
3. the third shot is of an empty playground with the lead singer singing, except he's transparent. the idea was that he's simply a memory passing through the playground. the genre of the song is isolation and i think that this shot really reflects the mood of the song.
4. the fourth shot is of a note that a child has either left of it shows how a child is thinking at the time. in a way, this is an intertextual reference to the dirty little secret music video. in the video, people hold up notes on how they feel. it's the same idea that i used but then turned into my own creation.
5. my fifth shot is of the empty playground. i like this shot though because the sunlight seeps into the shot really slowly; and it's a really smooth pan shot. this shows that i have a good use of camera skills in my music video. i believe that looking back at my previous work shows me how far i've come in terms of camera skill.
6. this shot is a slow motion shot of me headbanging. the lighting however lights up my hair and gives it a tranquil feeling. the lighting in the performance part of the video is fantastic. i'm really happy with it. it shows that i have good use of lighting, especially in this shot.
7. this shot is the same idea as shot 3. the empty playground is in the background and the band fade in and out. this shot reflects the mood of the song. the fact that everyone has felt isolated at some stage in their life. this shot shows that the band understand the feeling. i like the setting for this shot. it shows a good use of mise en scene.
8. this shot is a close up of me singing. in music videos featuring mostly performance, their is always close up shots of the singer. i found this out from watching other music videos such as 'freak on a leash' and 'youth of the nation'.
9. this shot is of all the band playing together. it shows the bands emotion and energy. most music videos i did research on shows the band playing together because it shows the bands energy performing which helps sell the band.

evaluation task 1

1. the first screen grab is from the music video, 'around the world' by daft punk. the dancing in the video relates to the music in the way that they're moving to the beat of the music. it's a very well structured music video.

2. the second screen grab is from the music video, 'rock show' by blink 182. the music video features the band acting lively and playing in front of a live audience. this is how the record company wanted the band to be represented.

3. the third screen grab is from 'freak on a leash' by korn. the music video is dark and lively which compliments the music.

4. the fourth shot is from the same video as 3 and it features an intertextual reference. the idea of bullets going through objects is used in bad boys 2 as well as the korn video. it's filmed in the same way and looks stunning.

5. the fifth shot is from the blink 182 music video and features a fish eye lense which is normally used in skateboard videos. this is a good use of camera as it reflects the audience their aiming to reach. the skater culture and blink 182 go hand in hand.

6. this shot is from the korn video and uses interesting lighting. the common factor of the video is death in the form of a bullet. the lighting in the screen grab i chose is filmed in a dark room. the walls have bullet holes in and the lighting seeps through revealing the band playing.

7. the seventh shot is from the daft punk music video i've previously used. the costumes that the dancers are wearing work well with the music because the music is lively and energetic. the costumes compliment that.

8. this screen grab that i took from the blink 182 video featuring a live performance which is often used in music videos because it's a good way of promoting the band.

9. some music videos feature a concept. this means that it isn't a standard live performance, cut back to narrative video. it has an idea and sticks to it through out. around the world is a good example of this. the concept being that you see sounds and hear colours. the dancers move to the music.

magazine advert for cd

like the keane advertisement, this ad features similar visual styles of the album its advertising. this is a recurring thing amongst cd adverts. it features an image of the cd and the word 'madness' is in big bold writing so it stands out. at the top of he page it had a quote that compliments the bands mood and appearance. madness to me have always seemed different and slightly crazy. they featured on 'the young ones' twice. a television show that was aimed at young adults that was completely original and wacky for it's time. the quote even uses the term, 'the nuttiest sound around'. at the bottom of the page there's a small play.com logo. on my ad i'll need to feature a logo of where you can buy thew album.

magazine adverts for cd's

this is a magazine advert for keanes album hopes and fears. it's fairly simple in terms of appearance and style. the reason why it works though is because it holds the same theme as the album. the title is in the same format as on the album. it also has an image of the album in the corner so it shows you what your buying. it has some writing underneath the title. it mentions the fact that it's a deluxe edition. this makes it sounds appealing to keane fans.

the reason why it's a good advert is because it holds the same themes as the album. it should really because the album is what it's advertising. because it's in the visual style of the album (and the band), it's almost homing into fans that will be interested.

junction feedback

the other day we went back to the junction in cambridge to show our rough cuts. when we got there we were introduced to 2 guys who work at the junction. they were going to give us feedback on our music videos and give us helpful tips to make them better. they were Rob Tinkler and Pete Edwards.

after watching my rough cut they asked me about the gaps and i explained that i hadn't finished yet. they then said that they really liked the outdoor playground footage. they thought the dark eery atmosphere complimented the song really well. they thought the band footage was good too. the lighting worked well and it was cut well. they wated more outdoor playground footage and wanted the band footage to be cut more. pesides that they really enjoyed it.

cd research - red hot chilli peppers,blood sugar sex magik

this album made red hot chilli peppers a household name. 5 of the songs from the album feature on the greatest hits album. All photography, paintings and art direction for Blood Sugar Sex Magik were done by Gus Van sant who was a filmmaker. The cover of the album features the four band members' faces positioned around a rose. The lyrics are printed in white lettering across a black background, hand written by Kiedis. The booklet also contains a collage of photos assembled to showcase the band members' various tattoos, which feature faces of Native American tribal leaders, animals and sea creatures, as well as various symbols and phrases. Photographs of each band member alone, and two photographs of the band as a whole are also included.

the cover itself is simple but stands out and is vibrant. i bought this album having not heard any of red hot chilli peppers other stuff. my reasoning was for the cover. it just looked really inviting. i want my digipack to look approachable even to a non-fan of the band.

cd research - korn issues

the album cover for korns fourth album was a competition that mtv organised. the winning design featured on the album. you can buy the album with 2 different covers, winners of the competition from 1st place to 2nd place. in a way, this is a digipack because you can get special and different cover designs for the album. the artist (and winner of the competition) was alfredo carlos. he's was a huge fan of korn and therefore his cover art for issues was his interpretation of what korns image was. and as an album cover, it works. it's given me an idea for my cd design. whatever design i decide to do will be my interpretation of p.o.d's image. hopefully it'll work.

digipacks. who are they made for?

the people who buy a re-mastered acdc album, are those who bought the original and love the music. the people who buy a special cased lamb of god album are really in to them. the people these digipacks are made for are fans. the fans are the people who go out and buy these. therefore the covers and such need to reflect that of the bands 'image'. hence, lamb of god are a metal band, the cover is dark and ties in with the bands image and style.

therefore, if i'm going to make a digipack for p.o.d, i need to aim for the fans. i'll need to find out the style and image of the band. good thing i'm a big fan.

examples of digipacks

digipacks come in all different shapes and sizes. most digipacks are a combination of cd and dvd material. the madness, one step beyond cd is a double cd package with a huge list of bonus tracks. the 'bonus tracks' is what makes it different. this is what makes people buy this rather than a normal cd.

the acdc album 'if you want blood you got it' remastered edition is just a single cd package but the fact that its remastered makes it a digipack. it's what makes it different from the original album.

wrath by lamb of god is a limited edition album with a special cover. the onlt difference between this and the original album is the fact that the case is different. the tracks havent been re-mastered but the different cover nakes it appealing.

digipack

the next part of the project is to create a digipack for our album. i wasn't sure what a digipack was until i looked it up. a digipack is selling the cd but it has something extra as well. it might be different packaging or it might have a poster with it. the old pink floyd albums have posters with them.