Evaluation

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
We had to produce a music video, along with an album cover for the band’s album and a poster to advertise the release of the album. We researched into videos which were of a similar genre so that we knew what the conventions were, and therefore use the best and most popular conventions in our video. For example, in punk videos there are normally long shots or close ups and few in between, they are also quite fast moving. A modern example of a band which uses this idea is Alexisonfire with their video This Could Be Anywhere in the World, as seen below:

There is a mixture of narrative and performance as Steve Archer’s theory says that there is a need for an understandable relationship between the two, and our audience research showed that most people like to see both. The long shots and close ups are used mainly in the performance as in the narrative many different types of shot are used depending on the narrative used. An example of this is an original punk band, The Clash with their video Should I Stay or Should I Go which has both live performance and their routine of the day before a gig. In our video we decided on a narrative which would illustrate and amplify the lyrics, as Andrew Goodwin's theory says. We looked at the lyrics for our song and decided on having performance for most of the video, but certain lyrics have been illustrated, for example ‘when we walked into the party’ will be a party scene, and some lyrics have been amplified ‘your older brother said we're way too loud’ is a shot of a man shouting down a megaphone.

Those are the ways in which we have used and developed the conventions of a real punk music video. To challenge these conventions we have shots of people doing things that relate to the lyrics but in a different way within the narrative so that the audience will remain entertained. We knew that the audience wanted to see something different but funny due to our market research. With this market research we also found that most of our audience will be men aged around 17-25 as this music appealed mainly to them, Laura Mulvey says that the presence of a woman is mainly for display, therefore we decided to put in a few women with writing on their bodies to amplify the lyrics and appeal to the men. An example of a video which uses this theory is by a band called Good Charlotte with their video I Just Wanna Live as they have the entertainment factor of them dressed up as food, however there is no relation to the lyrics, there are also girls dancing though they are not the main focus of the video. Another way in which we are challenging but also using the conventions is that we are have used a black and white tint, and but have put the narrative in colour so that it separates the two different kinds of shots. The black and white adds to the idea of a low budget video, which our audience also asked for. We thought about this after we saw a video by The Clash which uses a blue tint over the top to make it look more low budget, though the blue tint fits with their video as it is filmed at night; London Calling.
How effective is the combination of your main product and the ancillary texts?
To accompany our main product of a music video, we also made the front and back of an album cover, a poster to advertise the album and the band, and finally the inside pages for the insert of the album. For our ancillary text of an album cover we have used a photo taken during a break from the filming of the performance, we asked the band to pose but not to make it look formal. I then used photoshop to edit in a Polaroid using a brush I downloaded and added text, along with the symbols seen on all CD covers. Taking inspiration from the album covers of bands such as The Clash and The Jam, it is simple, black and white with a picture of just the band on the front with coloured text, and on the back a photo from the bands performance, taken during the filming for the video of a drum kit. We used the same font and colour on the back so that it matches. This will link the cover and the video and should make it more recognisable. However the other ancillary text brings everything together as the poster has dates of release, a photo of the band and the album name and band name in bold contrasting coloured text. These texts are very important combined with the music video as it is the promotional material and without it not many people would know about the album, video or maybe even the band. The inside pages have pictures of each member with their name and the instrument they play in the red text, I edited the photos so that they were in black and white and added 'noise' to them to make them look older, there is also a page of the whole band in the middle which is in colour. To make this one look older I changed the colour levels, this separates the black and white photos to give something different.
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Our audience feedback showed us that our music video and ancillary texts were successful in appealing to our audience and fitting with the genre of punk. Once we had put our project onto a disc, we held a screening in one of the media rooms in a lunchtime and asked males and females in our sixth form to watch it and fill out a questionnaire, as they fall into the target audience age range. This is where most of our audience feedback came from, with the majority of people saying that their favourite parts of the video were the eyes and the writing on the paper and that they mostly understood the video, however if they could hear the lyrics better it would have made more sense to them.

Further research was carried out on the older end of our target audience, with the video shown to working adults in the media profession, aged in their 20's and mainly males. They said that they liked the black and white tint on the performance and the lip syncing was done well. There were few criticisms, with only 4 people saying that they did not understand the running down the street as they could not understand the lyrics. Other than this, people seemed interested in our video and understood the humour as I watched their reactions whilst they watched the video, they thought the song was catchy and that the certain parts of the lyrics which were hard to understand were not an issue. The reason we were able to fulfill the wants of our audience was due to our audience research at the beginning of this project, before we started storyboarding, and by watching videos of a similar genre so we could use the popular conventions. The main conventions people said they wanted to see were the band performing, naked ladies which we have used in an appropriate way, and 'random s**t' which we have used in the man running down the street and policeman. As shown in my audience research blog post. After we had shown our audience the music video and they had filled out one side of the questionnaire, we asked them to look at our ancillary texts and answer questions on these. The results for this were also mainly positive, with people giving an overall rating for the album cover and poster between 4 and 5, at the top of our rating scheme. Out of the 14 sixth formers we asked, only 2 said that the poster would not make them want to buy the album or listen to any of the bands music, however both of their reasons were that they do not listen to music of the punk genre. Every member of the audience agreed that both ancillary texts fitted with the punk conventions, saying that they liked the black and white photos with coloured texts, that their clothing matched the genre of music and they fact they could see the two fitted with the music video. The general market response was very good, having every member, apart from the two people who are not fans of punk music, saying that they would attend a gig if the band played close to home and would buy or download the album or single.

How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

In order to construct our music video we used many types of media technologies, some which we had used before, and some which we had to learn how to use this year. First of all we had to research into the conventions of a punk music video, therefore I started by watching videos on YouTube and looked at the statistics and comments left by the viewers. As shown in this blog post, you can see that the people who left comments on the Gallows video, a modern band, referred back to original punk band members and the genre of music which shows that we had to appeal to both fans of modern and original punk music. To do this we used the wide angle lens, used in modern rock videos such as You Me At Six-Gossip as it looks like a fisheye, a more modern editing and filming technique. To appeal to the fans of original punk music, we used a black and white filter which looks as though it has noise and therefore looks like an older camera has been used to film.

We also used a forum on the internet called Edition 38, which Chris is a member of, and posted our questionnaire in the music section which gained more responses than we thought which was very useful. The results for this were also posted on this blog by Chris as he was the only one with access to the forum. During filming we decided to use Chris' Panasonic HD camera as this gave us the opportunity of filming whenever we needed to in high quality due to our school only having one HD camera available. However to film the performance section of our video, we booked to use the school's HD camera so that we had two cameras of the same quality and could get more shots in one run of the song. It also meant that when it came to editing, we had more choice of shots to match together and some would flow with the lyrics. Before every shot we did a few practices so that we could test the lighting and overall look of the shot. In order to get a shot with a high enough angle for the scene of a man running down the street we used a monopod and waited until there were no cars, the lights from shop windows and street lamps were enough to light the shot correctly.

For other shots which needed to be steady we used a Jessops tripod, for example the short shots which amplify the lyrics.

This helped us to get these short shots to match with each other better when it came to editing, and connects all the short shots together, giving the video a better flow. When it came to lighting our video, we used three different methods. The first was for the performance, for this we used an industrial halogen lamp and placed it behind the drummer so that the performance was backlit and stood out from the rest of the video which used spotlighting and lighting to one side. For the scene of the party we used a strobe light set up in the left hand corner of the room, meaning that this was lit almost in the foreground. The last method of lighting we used was the spotlight for the short shots filmed in the drama studio with a lighting board. As seen in the video of Jasmine below

Finally, we had to edit all the shots we had filmed into a whole video. To do this we used a software called Final Cut Express 4 on the Apple Mac's. This involved many problems which we managed to solve, for example loading the footage from the cameras onto the Macs, as there is a different technique to uploading HD film. We also had a problem with the clip below as the first attempt did not flow as we had wanted it to, there was no way around this and therefore we had to film again. With this new clip we rewinded it and cut out the sections in which my hand is showing, we then sped it up and placed it all together:

Another very time consuming task was the 'only as far as the eyes can see' writing, however overall this was worth it as many people said that this was their favourite part of the video. To do this, I wrote each letter of the word down while Chris and Jasmine pressed record on the camera and paused it while i wrote the next one. This meant that when it came to editing each letter had to be cut and placed together. This added something different to our video, and helped us to respond to what our audience said they wanted to see. I wrote it in capitals and uneven writing so that it gives the impression of rebelion and carelessness, in fitting with the punk attitude.

Finally, we put all our clips together and made sure that the audio fitted in time with whe visuals.
For our evaluation, we needed to know what our audience thought of the video. Therefore we held a screening one lunchtime in a media room and used a SMART board and projector to show it on a large screen as we thought this would have more impact than asking our audience to watch it on a computer screen.

Editing

Today we spent 10 hours on editing and completing our video, we also started and finished the digipack of the album cover (back and front), the inside pages and promotional poster.
We all spent time editing the video to start off with; putting all of our clips together, deciding on which ones to use and when, however after a few hours we decided that we should take it in turns and start on the digipack. Jasmine carried on with editing the video whilst Chris and I started on the album cover. However we both did the front cover and had to do a vote on which one we would use, people preffered my version as it was more fitting with the punk genre and Chris agreed. After this communication problem, and as Jasmine was doing well with editing the video, we decided that Chris would start on the back of the album cover and I would start on the pages to go on the inside of the album. In the last two hours, I finished the poster and helped Chris and Jasmine with the video editing. We added a watermark to it and put the digipack onto the Mac's so that we could burn it all onto one disc. Using iDVD we put both medias onto the DVD and made the main menu fit in with the punk genre.
This was a very successful day as wel managed to finish everything and make sure it was as good as we could make it.

Final Shots

During our free periods today we filmed the last of our shots, for the lyrics of 'it's only as far as the eyes can see' First of all we went to the sixth form block and asked three girls if we could use them to film their eyes, we blocked out the light at the end of the corridor and used the light on the camera. They stood close to the camera and we told them to look around and the back at the camera. These are very shot shorts, but should look effective when we have edited them in.
Finally, we went to the art department and drew one of the eyes on a piece of paper using paint, then brushing over it so that it is not longer visible, when we edit this we will reverse it so that it looks as though the eye appears from the paint. The second eye was drawn on a whiteboard. For this one, we wanted it to look as though it was a wink, therefore I drew it open first, and then closed. When we come to edit this, we will speed it up and make it look as though it is a wink. For the last one, I wrote the letters one by one on a large piece of paper, to make up the words of the lyrics. Jasmine and Chris then filmed each letter and when we edit this it will flow quickly. This will take a long time, but will hopefully look good.

Filming short shots

Throughout the week we have been filming the shots that go inbetween the performance. First of all we filmed me for the shot of the megaphone using the same lighting and positioning as we did for Jasmine's 'Gimme, Gimme' shot so that it all connects and flows. This only took four trys to get lip syncing in time as we played the lyric of 'won't listen pretty mama, won't you hear my plea, got me on my knees' until it was right, out of this we got two useable shots.
After this we filmed the shot for 'your older brother said we're way too loud' using Chris, another group member, again using the same lighting and positioning. We also played the part of the song and got two useable shots.
Two days after these shots we filmed a friend being a neighbour and a teacher being a policeman for the 'might be your neighbour or the crooked 5-0' lyric. We used a policeman's hat from the drama studio and gave Mr Fletcher a long black coat and a shirt and tie, this made him look like a policeman from the original era of punk. For the neighbour we found a long green coat, a hat and a stick so that he looked like an angry old man.
We then went to Bishop's Stortford to film another friend running down the highstreet for the 'now they're runnin after me, like the right hand of the law' lyric. To get this shot, we used a monopod and waited until there were no cars. Olly then ran down the highstreet in front of shop windows as the lights were on, we asked him to look behind him and make it look as though he was being chased.
We will upload these shots on monday and start editing.

Filming the band

Today we filmed the band at the youth centre in Bishop's Stortford. We decided to do this at around 7pm as we knew it would be darker and therefore our lighting behind the drummer would look more effective. We set up the mise en scene whilst the band prepared to play the song by moving the microphone stands and wires so that they would fit into our shot. We wanted the mise en scene to look low budget as when we did the audience research into what they wanted to see, this is what they said. To do this, we used the black sheet we borrowed from the drama studio and hung it from pipes behind the band and found a white cage to put up to add to the punk image. We used an industrial work light and put it facing the drummer so that the camera would not pick up just the light, and the band would be seen. We asked the band to wear a shirt with skinny jeans and maybe a tie or jacket so that it would fit in with the style of punk and I think it looked very realistic as they already have an edge, we just added to their look, we also asked them not to do much with their hair and to make it messy. Using two cameras meant we could get two different types of shot per playing of the song, therefore we only needed the band to play the song twice in order to get four different camera angles.
Overall the day went well and next lesson we will upload this footage to the mac's and hopefully start editing.

Filming Jasmine

Today we filmed Jasmine for the shots with the 'gimme gimme' lyrics which is sang three times within the song, and as it amplifys the lyrics it is quite important to the video. I think this went well and because Jasmine is in our group, she knew what we wanted to do to how we wanted it to look, meaning we got the shots we wanted. We made sure that the drama studio would be private for Jasmine by making signs to go on the doors and checking there was no one in the dressing room for when she wanted to get changed. To make sure the writing would show up on camera we did a test on my arm using two different pens and decided on the thicker one, I then wrote onto Jasmines back, stomach and arm. We will upload these clips as soon as possible and start cutting them and putting them in time with the lyrics.

Evaluation of filming the first scene

We filmed the scene of the party on Monday. Chris used his HD camera and I gave everyone punk style clothing to wear so that all the people at the party fitted in and looked similar. However we asked the goon to wear chavier style clothing so that he stuck out and would be noticed as being different. We had the first problem of only having one black curtain to cover the windows, however this was very effective on the main window, we used a dustsheet from Chris' house to cover the other window but saw that it was not dark enough, however we solved this problem but using green tarpauling as well, tucked into the edge of the doors which we then closed to keep it all secure.
I had empty bottles of Jack Daniels, however this was not enough so we asked people to bring some if they had them, which we filled up with tea so it matched the colours of the original liquid, we scattered these around the room so that it would look more like a typical teenagers party, I think this idea turned out quite well.
We put on music from my laptop, played it through speakers and asked people to dance, talk and just act as they would if they were at at party. Chris walked around with the camera using many different angles whilst people were doing this, however we did not tell them that they were being filmed so that it would look less staged and more realistic, hopefully when we edit all of our shots together and fast forward this scene everything will fit.
Overall, I think it was a successful day of filming as we filmed many shots so that we had a lot to choose from, everything turned out as we wanted. We will bring these shots in on tuesday and upload them to the mac's so we can see what we have.

Progress Report

So far we have:

• All the props and costumes needed for the filming of the party scene.
• All the necessary cast
• Completed our storyboard so we know about timings
• Decided on a time and date to film; Monday 12th October from 12.30pm until we have finished.

We will need to:

• Organise a time in which we can fim the band
• Upload the film which we would have recorded on monday to the mac's at school
• Decide which of the shots we will use
  

Costume, prop and lighting preparation

We went to the drama department and borrowed a number of suitable items of clothing, to dress people who appear in our video.

We will use this lamppost in our shot with the policeman, filming inside the drama studio, with high level lighting using the available spot light and a secondary light in the lamppost to create a feeling of reality.

We have borrowed a huge black curtain so that we can black out daylight as most of our video consists of filming night shots. This can also be used as a back drop for when we film the band performing. This curtain can also be used to affect with filming narrative sections of the video with backlighting through the curtain.

For lighting Chris can get hold of a number of high brightness lights on stands to achieve whatever effects we want.

Location one

This is the layout of my kitchen and the possible ways in which we could use it.

Band's positioning

I thought about where the band members should be standing when they are playing, conventionally it is set out with the lead singer at the front in the middle, the bassist to the right and the guitarist to the left with the drummer at the back and slightly to the left so they can still be seen. I think we should stick to these conventions as the original bands within our genre used this layout, however i will discuss this with the rest of our group to see if they agree

Costume for the band

The band need to be dressed in punk clothing in the style of bands such as The Clash, the Sex Pistols and The Jam

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This is the style of punk clothing we will ask the band to wear, with black or white skinny jeans,with rips or zips, tshirts or vests with logos, brands or paint on them. I also know that most of the band members already own the style of shoe as you can see in the picture of The Clash, therefore we will ask them to wear these. However i also think that we should not stick entirely to the conventions and add an element of the 'mod' fashion by asking one or two of them to wear a skinny tie with a jacket as shown by The Jam in the picture below;

Cast needed.

We thought about all the people we need in order to make our video. We hope to get most of these people from our sixth form, however we may need to ask outside friends if these people are unavailable. They are as follows:

• Goon-Male, he will need to look 'chavy' with diamond earrings, tracksuit bottoms and a tshirt
• Girl-To be with the goon, she will need to dress like a punk with a ripped band tshirt, tights, a jacket and boots. She will look like the girl all the punk guys would want to be with.
• Girls to be written on-Between 2 to 6 girls who wouldn't mind being in little clothes, hopefully with different hair and figures.
• Policeman-Adult, male, we hope to ask Mr Fletcher, a drama teacher however if he declines we will ask a friend who looks quite old and is quite tall.
• Neighbour-Male or female, they will stand at a door if we decide to use this idea.
• Older brother-Male, will need to look older than the girl with the goon, other than that there are no preferences.
• People at the party-Between 10 and 20 friends, mixture of people dressed like punks and chavs, however not as striking as the main characters.
  

Ideas for video and necessary props

Looking at the lyrics we decided that it would be better to do mostly performing with certain lines using other people and acting out what the lyrics say. So far we have decided on the following, and for this I have thought about what props we will need to accomplish this:

• "But you won't catch me sippin' out your cup of Baileys" For this line we plan to have the lead singer holding a glass or a bottle of Baileys and dropping it so that it smashes, therefore we will need an empty bottle or a glass which we can smash or at least drop onto a pillow.

• "So its BANG BANG BANG" We had the idea of using a bang gun for this shot, therefore Chris bought one off of eBay, however as there are three 'BANG's we will need to decide on what we will do for them.
  

• "Or the crooked 5-0" We hope to find an adult male to stand wearing a policeman's outfit, and had the idea of him taking the hat off to reveal a phrase or word to do with the lyric written on his head. We could find this outfit in the drama department which I will look for tomorrow.
  

• "He knocked my teeth out" I had the idea of taking still photos of one of the band members and blacking out one tooth at a time, then making it into film. However we would not black out all the teeth, just three or four at random.
  

• "Gimme gimme just one little look" For this we had the idea of writing on girls as most of our audience said they wanted to see naked ladies, however the girls will be wearing clothes though the writing will be on their backs, stomaches and maybe chests. Therefore we will need a pen which rub off easily, eg. a drywipe pen.
  

Disclaimer

Our chosen song contains a number of explicit lyrics due to the nature of the song, therefore it must picture a parental advisory sticker as part of the album cover.

Track Upload

This is the recorded version of our track

Three O Sevens - Gash.m4a

Idea's for contents

• Coloured tint (blue/b&w/red/sepia)
  
• Part performance, part narrative and unrelated actions
  
• Band members performing, may need other cast members for non performance parts
  
• Band member sprinting down road - sped up
• Knocking on the door (twice)
• Lyrics written on skin/paper/objects
• 'BANG' gun as literal play on words

Locations

This is a list of a number of possible locations that we can film sections of our video

• Stortford Youth Centre - Band Practice
  
• Dark Alleyway
  
• In front of a brick wall (youth centre?)
• Clarice's front door
• Stortford Skatepark
  
• Stortford high street