Final Music Video

I've finally got my music video up on to YouTube!

Final Magazine Advert

This is my finished magazine advert:

I created synergy between my products by including bright colours in Nadia's dress and the text in blue which looks like a tie. This fits with the old fashioned theme for Chris. It also has a picture which is recognisable from the music video. Synergy is also created by the use of black and white and the black writing.

I used the same font for Yolanda Be Cool as I used for my website and I also included a link to my website, bringing all my products together.

I included the image of the main actors in my music video as the background image as they are the main focus in my music video which the audience will recognise.

I also put the logo's for iTunes and Beatport to show the audience where they can purchase and preview the music.

Final Website

Here is the link to my finished website:
http://abigailkaines.wix.com/yolandabecool

PLEASE NOTE: there have been problems with twitter feeds on Wix and the one on my website home page doesn't work which isn't my fault! Wix is sending me loads of emails about it and they are trying to fix it!

I have added pictures to the gallery and a picture on the 'contact' page. This helps create a link between my music video and the website. I have also included a behind the scenes video, again to create synergy between my products and to provide a more personal link between the actors in my video and the audience.

Evaluation

Question 4

Click the full screen icon at the top right

Draft Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation: Question 4

Question 4 Draft

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

When doing research for my music video I used a mac and my laptop with broadband internet to find out most of my information on Google and Wikipedia. These provided in-depth information on directors and theories, which helped me gain knowledge about music videos. I also watched plenty of music videos on YouTube and analysed them using my blog on Blogger, which has been a useful medium for putting my work on and my teacher being able to view it. I used my blog for the whole process and have put all of my research, planning, construction and evaluating on Blogger. By organising my blog using labels it has helped me to look back at ideas I had and decide what I need to do. I used Wallwisher to write down all of my ideas, which helped me to organise what I was planning on doing for my music video. I linked this to my blog. I used a scanner to scan in my shot lists and storyboards to upload on to Blogger. I used screen grabs and embedded videos and images in most of my blog posts to make them more interesting for the reader and to provide evidence for what I talk about. For my questionnaire results I created a Prezi and embedded this on to a blog post, providing a useful way of looking back at results by using graphs. I used my iPod to listen to a variety of music when deciding what song to use for my music video and iTunes to download and listen to music. My iPod enabled me to listen to music on the go which was useful.

            Whilst constructing my music video I used HD video cameras and a tripod to film on to a memory card. I then imported my footage on to iMovie to create an event. I then imported this event on to Final Cut Express to edit my footage. I used a memory stick to get the right version of the song on to my mac and on to Final Cut Express. To make my magazine advert I used Photoshop and to create my website I used Wix.

(I will be able to talk about my evaluation once I have made the first three questions)

Question 3 Draft

3.     What have you learned from your audience feedback?

      (Podcast)

To obtain audience feedback I sent out questionnaires to a mixed age of people, from seventeen to twenty-seven, keeping within my target audience of sixteen to thirty-five. However, my results were biased due to most of my friends being seventeen and only one person was eighteen and one person was twenty-seven. I tried to remove bias by asking five females and five males. This also kept my results at a manageable level as I only had to evaluate ten questionnaires.

Most people who did the questionnaires preferred a narrative music video and I knew that my idea of an auditioning process would fit into that category. Also, I found that the preferred theme in a narrative music video is romance. To conform to this I could have included romance in my music video, however, the next two favourites were comedy and dancing which are the themes of my music video and I thought that was enough to keep it popular. I also asked whether they enjoyed the auditioning processes on talent shows and the majority said yes, with some saying only the funny ones. All the auditions in my music video aren’t meant to be serious and I’m hoping the audience will find them funny. The majority of people asked said they got their music from iTunes, so I included the logo for iTunes on my magazine advert to advertise that they can purchase the music there. However, I couldn’t link the ‘buy now’ buttons on my website to iTunes so I linked them to Beatport as I knew it had all of Yolanda Be Cool’s music available for purchase.

I also did a few test screenings and recorded people’s reactions to my music video at various stages. I did this to judge how people felt about my music video and I got some laughs that showed they found parts funny. I then asked them what they liked and didn’t like to get some constructive feedback, however they weren’t that helpful and mostly said they enjoyed the dancing and didn’t like the gaps, as I hadn’t finished. Reaction videos proved to be not very useful but I enjoyed showing people my work so I did a few.

If I did the music video again I would probably focus more on the auditions at the start, perhaps starting with a shot of a sign for the auditions, then moving on to the acts getting ready backstage and then the auditions. I used the sequences of Nadia and Chris going to the auditions to provide background information but I don’t think it’s necessary and slows down the pace of the music video.

Question 2 Draft

2.   How effective is the combination of your media product and ancillary texts? (Edited video post with images)

I have made many links between my three products, for example, the theme of old and new by using black and white contrasting with colours across them all. I have also used the same font for both my website and advert so that the audience can create links between them and to make it more obvious they are from the same artist. The font I chose on my advert is bold for the colour (new) parts to represent modern trends and for the black and white (old) parts the text is quite flamboyant to seem like an older calligraphy style. By linking my music video and ancillary tasks I have created synergy, an important convention of music products. It helps to gain fans for the artist, as it is easy for them to identify that the texts are from the same artist.

            On my website I have links to Beatport which allow the audience to listen to and buy a release, again creating synergy as it links the music and the website. I have the music video on the home page and it is the first thing the audience will see, instead of having it hidden away on a different page. This will hopefully increase views and get more people interested in the music, who would then go to the ‘releases’ page and buy an album or single.

            On my magazine advert I have included a link to my website, linking the audience to somewhere with more information and the opportunity to purchase music. It is important to link my texts otherwise it would make it harder for people to find out about the artist and could lose potentially money spenders.

            I feel I have created a clear brand for the artist as I have used the same font for the name of the band on both ancillary texts and used the black and white theme for my advert and video. I originally chose the black and white contrasting with colour footage to represent the old era in my music video. I decided this was a significant concept in my video and so chose to use it across my ancillary tasks as well, more prominently in the background image of the advert.

Question 1 Draft

1.     In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

     (Prezi)

Before I started planning my music video I did a lot of research into existing music videos and the conventions of these. There are three types of music video – performance, narrative and concept. Performance music videos are based around the artist performing the song in front of the camera, with a large focus on the artist and/or band. A narrative video has a storyline that relates to the song’s lyrics and illustrates what is being said or is independent from the song and tells a different story. A concept music video is a video that isn’t straight forward and doesn’t make complete sense; it makes the audience think whilst watching. For example, I looked at four music videos in depth; these were Run-DMC - Walk This Way (performance), Rihanna - Man Down (narrative), Robbie Williams – Candy (concept) and Haters – So Solid Crew (performance). When analyzing these videos I compared them to the conventions of music videos. Andrew Goodwin had seven key conventions of music videos so I used these a lot not only in research when looking at other music videos but planning my own music video. His seven conventions are that music videos demonstrate certain genre characteristics, a relationship between lyrics and visuals, and between music and visuals. The record label demands close-ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs/iconography that recur across all of their work. There is frequent reference to looking at the female body and there are intertextual references to film, television and popular culture. The most common conventions I found when looking at other music videos were links between the visuals and lyrics and lots of close ups of the artist.

The conventions I included in my own music video are links between the music and visuals, for example right at the start when Nadia dances to the music and when the judges put their heads down to the beat. I did this to make it entertaining to watch and to make the music video fit the music well. I have also included lots of long shots and mid shots to create emphasis on the actors’ emotions and locations. An example of this is when I used a mid shot of Chris when he is annoyed and checking his watch. I have included a panning shot of Nadia as she dances on the stage to create movement which matches the upbeat dance music. This is a genre convention of dance music which widens my target audience to include fans of dance music.

I have challenged the convention of having close ups of the artist as I have used actors instead. I did this because of the genre of music I chose and I didn’t think it was important to create a relationship between the artist and the audience. I think this convention is particularly relevant when the artist sings the song whereas this isn’t the case with We No Speak Americano.

            The conventions of a magazine advert are to keep it quite simple with little words and a large background image. The colours must reflect the theme and tone of the item being advertised, for example in Katy Perry’s advert for the Part Of Me music video the colours are khaki, browns and reds which goes with the theme of war. The information must be displayed clearly and boldly and stand out from the background image. I conformed to these conventions by using a screen shot from my music video as the background image so that the synergy is obvious. I also used bright blue for some of the text and used emboldening it so that the writing stood out.

            Prior to making my band website I had a look at some others like the official Yolanda Be Cool website as the genre is quite specific. This gave my ideas of what to include on my own website like releases, videos and also a blog. I have an app for Blogger on my website which is linked to my blog which has the whole process of my music video production. This will provide a link for the audience to become better acquainted with the music video.

            The colour scheme of my website reflects my music video as some of it is brightly coloured whereas other parts are grey scale. This reflects the old/new theme of my music video. I have put my music video on the home page so it is the main focus when the audience goes on my website. This helps provide a link between all of my texts. I thought about including my poster on my website but it didn’t fit in well and I didn’t want to make another tab just for the poster as I felt more menu buttons would be too much.

            I have also put an app for Soundcloud on my website which allows the viewers to explore other music by Yolanda Be Cool. On the releases page I have also included links to Beatport, allowing the viewers to purchase music by Yolanda Be Cool. I have been unconventional with my website by including information about the actors in the music video as the artist is not shown. This is therefore more relevant and interesting to the reader than information about the artist as they may not be familiar with the artist.