Ever since I started my Advanced Production I knew that I wanted to aim the digipack and music at a younger age group similar to myself. Because I was able to study a lot of music magazines I could see what kind of things the audience look for in a sucessful magazine.
The things I found were most popular when I carried out a survey on 50 17 - 24 year olds was that they don't like to have a lot of wordy things on a magazine advertisement. They said they'd like to be told directly who the album is by, what it is called and how they can get there hands on it, three features I have included on my half-page magazine advert.
When it came to the digipack, lots of them said that they like to be able to look at an album cover and see exactly who it is without having to look for the name or the title of the band. The most popular observation when carrying out this survey, in the form of a questionnaire, was that the audience liked to be able to know what the album would sound like. As the album is a 'debut' along with the single the image on the front of the album tries to tie in with the content of the rest of the album. For example, it is rare to see a heavy metal pnk band with an album cover featuring rainbows and daisy chains. By this I mean that I have tried to suite all three of the tasks, music promo video, digipack and the magazine advert by using the same font in all three for the informative parts. This ensures the viewer/listener/audience that the album has been carefully thought out and is making it a trademark for the featured individual to be of the same style throughout all of the music on the album.
Much of the audience feedback I recieved for the proposed images without them being edited was positive however, they suggested I should maybe focus more on the musician rather than the rest of the image. From this I cropped the photo, even though there wasn't much to crop out only the background of the photoshoot it was good to have this audience feedback as it helped me develop the image into something stronger.
Thursday, 12 May 2011
Software
When producing my Advanced Production I used a vast variety of software ranging from programs suited to Apple Macs and programs suited to PC. The programs I used on the Mac were :
Pages - to help me with the print and publishing side of the course. It enabled me to used effects with images and different kinds of fonts. I was already quite skilled when it came to working on pages because of my Foundation Production where I had to produce a magazine cover, double page spread and contents page, all of which I designed and published on pages.
iMovie - This program was very useful when I had to sequence my moving images and make sure they were all suitable for my music video, in length and picture. WIth this program I was able to use transitions and effects with text and with picture colouring. iMovie was very helpful because it was easy to use and as I haven't produced anything like a film before I was able to get to grips with the content quite quickly.
iDVD - I used this program when I had to burn my music promo video to a disk. It gave me the oppurtunity to use themes and backgrounds for the opening of my film piece which was quite different from what I had expected.
iPhoto - When I took the images for my print pieces I knew that I wanted to edit them to make them look a certain way. The way I did this was by using iPhoto to change the contrast, saturation and tone of the picture. The colour of the feature girls lips has been brought up to give them emphasis and create an edgy look, the kind of thing I had in mind when I took the images. I also used the 'crop' tool to take out any unwanted image on the photo. I wanted the central focus to be on the feature individual and think I created this quite well as I have focussed completely on her face and nothing else. With the hair being tossed around in an almost animalistic way it helps the audience to feel like the album they'd be buying would have a classic rock edge to it.
More programs I used that are not featured on the Appl Mac I used for my work are:
Word - I drew up preliminary plans on Microsoft Word so I could keep track of what I needed to do/what I have done. These were for my own records as I had quite a lot of tasks to complete with my Advanced Production Portfolio.
Windows Movie Maker - I also experimented with Windows Movie Maker because I wanted to see which format was better when it came to film production, iMovie or Windows Movie Maker. In the end I went with iMovie because I found it more simple to use and it offered me the option of putting in effects common to music videos which was relevant and helpful.
Overall, the software I used proved to be the best I could use for the production of my Media Coursework. I managed to learn how to use the programs very quickly and didn't have any trouble with them when it came to the technological side of things.
Pages - to help me with the print and publishing side of the course. It enabled me to used effects with images and different kinds of fonts. I was already quite skilled when it came to working on pages because of my Foundation Production where I had to produce a magazine cover, double page spread and contents page, all of which I designed and published on pages.
iMovie - This program was very useful when I had to sequence my moving images and make sure they were all suitable for my music video, in length and picture. WIth this program I was able to use transitions and effects with text and with picture colouring. iMovie was very helpful because it was easy to use and as I haven't produced anything like a film before I was able to get to grips with the content quite quickly.
iDVD - I used this program when I had to burn my music promo video to a disk. It gave me the oppurtunity to use themes and backgrounds for the opening of my film piece which was quite different from what I had expected.
iPhoto - When I took the images for my print pieces I knew that I wanted to edit them to make them look a certain way. The way I did this was by using iPhoto to change the contrast, saturation and tone of the picture. The colour of the feature girls lips has been brought up to give them emphasis and create an edgy look, the kind of thing I had in mind when I took the images. I also used the 'crop' tool to take out any unwanted image on the photo. I wanted the central focus to be on the feature individual and think I created this quite well as I have focussed completely on her face and nothing else. With the hair being tossed around in an almost animalistic way it helps the audience to feel like the album they'd be buying would have a classic rock edge to it.
More programs I used that are not featured on the Appl Mac I used for my work are:
Word - I drew up preliminary plans on Microsoft Word so I could keep track of what I needed to do/what I have done. These were for my own records as I had quite a lot of tasks to complete with my Advanced Production Portfolio.
Windows Movie Maker - I also experimented with Windows Movie Maker because I wanted to see which format was better when it came to film production, iMovie or Windows Movie Maker. In the end I went with iMovie because I found it more simple to use and it offered me the option of putting in effects common to music videos which was relevant and helpful.
Overall, the software I used proved to be the best I could use for the production of my Media Coursework. I managed to learn how to use the programs very quickly and didn't have any trouble with them when it came to the technological side of things.
Sunday, 1 May 2011
Evaluation of Production
Because of my knowledge and skills I had already learnt during my Foundation Production the print side of my Advanced Production wouldn't prove to be so difficult. However, when it came to the moving images side of the task I found that I wasn't the most confident. Because the task was new to me I decided to take inspiration from some of my class mates that were more in the know when it came to making films.
The software I decided to use to make my collected moving images into a music video was iMovie, a program made for Apple Macs. It enabled me to be able to sequence my clips into an organised and fluent video with transitions from image to image. I also edited the moving images to make them black and white and brighter so the film didn't seem so dreary. As the video is set in the countryside I wanted to give the audience the feel that it is a summery day and the sun is shining. Editing the brightness on the film automatically adds a light hearted and warming tone to the images.
For the print side of my Advanced Production I predominantly used Pages, a publishing program again on Apple Macs. However, for some of my work I used iPhoto to edit the still images. Because I already have skills used in the Foundation Production from Year 12 it didn't take me long to get to grips with using Pages once again. I was able to use all the correct tools to get the images the correct size and the dimensions of my digipack just right. For my magazine advert I took the dimensions from one in a normal, big brang magazine and measured a half page advertisement. I used the rulers on the side of the page to make sure the dimensions were the right size.
The software I decided to use to make my collected moving images into a music video was iMovie, a program made for Apple Macs. It enabled me to be able to sequence my clips into an organised and fluent video with transitions from image to image. I also edited the moving images to make them black and white and brighter so the film didn't seem so dreary. As the video is set in the countryside I wanted to give the audience the feel that it is a summery day and the sun is shining. Editing the brightness on the film automatically adds a light hearted and warming tone to the images.
For the print side of my Advanced Production I predominantly used Pages, a publishing program again on Apple Macs. However, for some of my work I used iPhoto to edit the still images. Because I already have skills used in the Foundation Production from Year 12 it didn't take me long to get to grips with using Pages once again. I was able to use all the correct tools to get the images the correct size and the dimensions of my digipack just right. For my magazine advert I took the dimensions from one in a normal, big brang magazine and measured a half page advertisement. I used the rulers on the side of the page to make sure the dimensions were the right size.
Thursday, 14 April 2011
Evaluation of Research
Research was a major part in my Advanced Portfolio Production. Because I hadn't produced any sort of video before in my Media Studies course I had to do a lot of research into what features were key. I used multiple websites and previous students work to help me with my own because I like to learn from others experiences. One website that was very useful when doing research into what I needed to incorporate in my own Advanced Production was mediaexemplar.com. It gave me the oppurtunity to look at previous A2 work and understand how the music video was to be produced.
Much of the audience feedback I recieved was positive and any criticism I recieved on my initial ideas I found very helpful because I asked people that would be most likely to buy the album/magazine I was planning on producing. This was more effective than asking young children or older adults because they aren't my target audience and although the praise would have been nice, the feedback would have been irrelevant.
One task carried out for the research part of my Advanced Production was magazine content analysis, specifically on album adverts. I was able to acquire 50 music magazines dating from 2005 to 2009 all with a vast range of music artists featured inside them. Because these magazines are solely music magazines, the adverts they contain are 75% music/album related. Through this research I found out that the majority of music album adverts take up half a page, I figured this was because on the bottom half of the page there was the magazine advert and on the top half it featured upcoming tour dates, an album of the similar genre or an atricle relating to the artist advertised.
The research I did for the music video included finding a track to use that hadn't been copyrighted. I was able to find such a track because I was able to get my hands on multiple demo CD's which means they are allowed to be used on individual projects but also TV opening credits, film soundtracks and advert themetunes. I chose a track called "Flower Fields" which was very convenient for me and it fitted perfectly with the style of video I was aiming to produce. I wanted my video to feature lots of scenery and flowers. The track has a slow introduction but soon picks up into a repetitive beat however, not too repetitive to become boring. It is only 2 minutes and seconds long and therefore doesn't have the time for it to get dull to list to or dull to watch. On the video's I looked into throughout the research stages I noticed that towards the end the tempo of the transitions pick up. This is a feature I decided to ue in my video because I was able to use multiple segue's and other techniques learnt throughout my study of film in Year 12 media studies.
Much of the audience feedback I recieved was positive and any criticism I recieved on my initial ideas I found very helpful because I asked people that would be most likely to buy the album/magazine I was planning on producing. This was more effective than asking young children or older adults because they aren't my target audience and although the praise would have been nice, the feedback would have been irrelevant.
One task carried out for the research part of my Advanced Production was magazine content analysis, specifically on album adverts. I was able to acquire 50 music magazines dating from 2005 to 2009 all with a vast range of music artists featured inside them. Because these magazines are solely music magazines, the adverts they contain are 75% music/album related. Through this research I found out that the majority of music album adverts take up half a page, I figured this was because on the bottom half of the page there was the magazine advert and on the top half it featured upcoming tour dates, an album of the similar genre or an atricle relating to the artist advertised.
The research I did for the music video included finding a track to use that hadn't been copyrighted. I was able to find such a track because I was able to get my hands on multiple demo CD's which means they are allowed to be used on individual projects but also TV opening credits, film soundtracks and advert themetunes. I chose a track called "Flower Fields" which was very convenient for me and it fitted perfectly with the style of video I was aiming to produce. I wanted my video to feature lots of scenery and flowers. The track has a slow introduction but soon picks up into a repetitive beat however, not too repetitive to become boring. It is only 2 minutes and seconds long and therefore doesn't have the time for it to get dull to list to or dull to watch. On the video's I looked into throughout the research stages I noticed that towards the end the tempo of the transitions pick up. This is a feature I decided to ue in my video because I was able to use multiple segue's and other techniques learnt throughout my study of film in Year 12 media studies.
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
Evaluation of Planning
When planning my Advanced Portfolio Production I took ino consideration all I had learnt from my Foundation Prouction and thought about how I could incorporate these skills within my next production. I knew I was able to make good pieces when it came to magazine adverts and print work but something I would need to learn how to do was make a piece of film. Because I hadn't done this type of work before I laid out multiple ideas for the possible music video and then narrowed it down to three ideas.
When choosing which type of music video to produce I knew that I wanted a calming song with an edge to it so I chose a piece without lyrics as it ties in well with type of music video I wanted to produce. The ideas I had about the image I wanted to portray for my artist were that she was quite edgy but also had a soulful tone and meaningful vibe to her image.
As it came to planning what type of digipack I was to produce I went for the type that would fit inside a jewel CD case. This meant I would have to produce and front cover, back cover and a spine for the CD. I planned on making the digipack first because it enabled me to then produce the magazine advert with the CD cover at hand to incorporate in the advert as the audience would need to see what the album cover looked like if they were to then go out and buy the album.
For the magazine advert I thought about which skills I had already learnt in my Year 12 media studies and used these ot my advantage. As I had already produced multiple magazine features in my Foundation Production I already knew what features were a must have in magazine production i.e. creating the correct image for the correct magazine and using the product placement well.
When choosing which type of music video to produce I knew that I wanted a calming song with an edge to it so I chose a piece without lyrics as it ties in well with type of music video I wanted to produce. The ideas I had about the image I wanted to portray for my artist were that she was quite edgy but also had a soulful tone and meaningful vibe to her image.
As it came to planning what type of digipack I was to produce I went for the type that would fit inside a jewel CD case. This meant I would have to produce and front cover, back cover and a spine for the CD. I planned on making the digipack first because it enabled me to then produce the magazine advert with the CD cover at hand to incorporate in the advert as the audience would need to see what the album cover looked like if they were to then go out and buy the album.
For the magazine advert I thought about which skills I had already learnt in my Year 12 media studies and used these ot my advantage. As I had already produced multiple magazine features in my Foundation Production I already knew what features were a must have in magazine production i.e. creating the correct image for the correct magazine and using the product placement well.
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