The internet was a large part of the research and planning process of our products. We used YouTube in the development and creation of Lila as we took major inspiration from other artists from YouTube, which we would have not be able to do without this technology. We watched videos from Taylor Swift 'Everything has changed', Cher Lloyd 'Want U Back' and One Direction 'Story Of My Life'. We looked at the narratives and mise-en-scene of this videos to see if we could incorporate aspects of them in our music video as well as new things we could add to suit our narrative strand. Furthermore, we used Google to see what artist were relevant in popular culture and take major inspiration from this, especially in the mise-en-scene in the video, including Lila and the boy's outfit. We firstly researched other artist’s websites and music videos online such as Taylor Swift, Ellie Goulding and Jess Gylnne. By studying these websites closely I was able to be inspired by these and consequently make our artist a more realistic and successful artist. This also influenced us to begin considering the type of star image we wanted to create for our artist and how we could attract an audience through this.
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| Using Youtube to research music videos |
From this research, we were able to begin using a presentation website called Prezi to plan possible ideas for our video. The website was easy to use to include text about our ideas as well as images to back it up. The way the slides also move from one to another is useful to show the progression, flow and development of our ideas and how we built them up to our final video concept.
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| This is an example of a Prezi we created to discuss our first idea for our narrative |
Further use of new media technologies such as mobile phones and iPod have allowed us to record interviews with prospective target audiences to gain insight into what they looked for in an artist and music video. As this information was digital, it enabled us to easily be able to watch back the footage to continue developing our idea through the audiences responses. This was good as we could ensure we were taking into account all the feedback we received to make our video appeal to the audience.
This is an example of feedback we recorded on a mobile phone
After deciding the type of video we wanted to create in terms of narrative. We went back to the internet and search platforms like Google to research into star image and mise-en-scene. We searched for different artists previously mentioned to look at their star image through the types of clothing they wear and the way they are styled. We also looked at clothing websites such as ASOS and Forever 21 to research costume options for both the artist and the male character. This enabled us to pick outfits to suit the 'girl next-door' star image of our artist as well as the pop genre. We also searched about where to purchase props we wanted to use and how to create things from these for the setting such as making the polaroid pictures for the bedroom and studio scenes. This then took us back to YouTube to re-watch the videos of artists videos similar to ours to decided the locations we were going to use. We put our research on locations on another presentation software called Emaze.
Survey Monkey is a website that allows users to create their own survey's to post to people more feedback about various things. This technology played a key role in receiving audience responses to our ideas and then, later on, feedback post-production. The first survey we made was to help us to establish our target audience and then see what they thought of our ideas with questions such as 'who do you think our artist is similar to?'. We wanted to get to know what sort of genres, music videos and artists they liked in order to cater to this when going into production of our products. Post-production, we created a Survey Monkey to get audience feedback on all three of our products, by asking questions such as 'what did you think of our music video and why?' to see if they enjoyed all three of our products. Therefore, through the use of this technology we were able to easily identify the likes and dislikes of our audience which in turn helped us to create changes to improve our products pre and post-production.
This was the most practical aspect of the task as a whole. The process of filming and editing was orientated around the used of technologies. The first thing we did for our video using technology was filming our animatic. After the lengthy process of drawing out a detailed storyboard to document our idea in an image form, we filmed it using an IPhone to bring our idea to life at an early stage. We edited the animatic on Final Cut Pro to overlap it with the song and cut it to the beat so we had an easy way to identify if we had to make changes or improvement. This also meant that when it came to filming the real thing, we had the animatic along with the timeline for the video to read the plan for the shots as well as watch it for further reassurance and clarity. This was more advanced than AS because then we didn't have the option to watch the animatic if need be as we didn't film one and therefore final decisions for changes were only made when we began the process of filming. The animatic helped us realise that we needed extra shots to fill up the length of the song and get across the narrative as well the performance element. Therefore, when filming we realised after doing the animatic we needed more shots in the studio to show the performance element.
When it came to our shoot day, we began to use a more technical range of technologies to carry it out. We filmed our video using a semi-professional SONYFS100 digital camera. This made our shots high quality and more professional. This was more technical than AS, as then we used an older camera which recorded onto a tape which meant the amount of footage we could record was limited. At A2, the camera we filmed on was newer, digital and recorded onto a memory card meaning we could record more footage. Therefore this advance of digital technologies was a huge benefit when filming our video. To take pictures we used a digital Canon Camera to take high quality photos as well to use within the website and digipack. We were also using a red-head light, which is a professional light, to make our shots look better in quality. This was more advanced than AS level as during filming my thriller we simply just used the natural light as well as a small outdoor light. After capturing all the footage we intended to, we uploaded it onto the editing software provided in our editing studio called Adobe Premier Pro. This was simple at the beginning, as we used the software at AS. However, it was more technically advanced and we were more creative this year as we had to learn to use new features we had not explored before. Firstly, we had to sync the tape to a base track for a more time efficient method of editing that allowed for experimentation, to eventually moving clips by fractions of seconds to help clips cut to the beat to highlight the song and make the edit more seamless. Our video would be a non-linear narrative trajectory in which we cut between the performance element and narrative. We used things such as colour correcting and brightness and contrast to enhance the quality of our footage as well as making a split screen to show the artist next to herself several times. Included in our video was also a zooming effect to bring some of our pictures to life. This was more complicated and had to be done on a separate software called Adobe After Effects. It involved taking a freeze frame of the picture in which we would zoom into and used a flash to stop the image looking pixelated before it become moving. During editing we also discarded shots we didn't want to use because they weren't steady enough, weren't from an angle that looked good or just general extra shots we took to ensure we had enough.These technologies help us to bring our creation to life from starting with just an idea on a storyboard.
To create the digipack we did photo shoots using a digital Canon Camera. We took a range of pictures to ensure we had a wide selection when it came to picking the ones we wanted to use for the digipack as well as the website. We used Adobe Photoshop to create our digipack and edit pictures for our website. We used this to make the dimensions for the CD cover correct and add the barcode to the back cover. Furthermore, this software was useful in allowing us to create the polaroid pictures for the front and back cover, adding a shadow effect to make it more realistic like it was coming off the cover. We also used the blend and transparency tool on the inside cover to blend the picture into the glitter background. We kept the glitter theme across all three products to make it more professional and recognisable branding. We also experimented with the fonts for the CD cover, choosing to use the same on the cover and the website to give consistency between the products. The positioning of the artist was also important and something we played around with in order to ensure Lila would stand out and sell her star image. In addition, Photoshop allowed us to cut round pictures to remove the background so we could place an image on any background we wanted. This meant when placing them on the CD cover and website they didn't ruin the look of them. We got feedback from the class to see if they like the CD cover and they didn't think the original black background looked right so we decided to change it to white to appeal to our target audience. Overall, using Adobe Photoshop allowed us to create a digipack that would appeal to our target audience and be cohesive with our music video and website.
The website
Using digital technologies was also key when creating the website. We used a web based design software called Wix to do this. This was a useful tool allowing us to create a website to cater to our preferred style and theme. We used one of the websites pre-set templates in order to give us a head start on what a professional website should look like. The colours, fonts and overall style for the website was designed to show a connection between it and the music video and digipack. Black, grey, white, pink and glitter were the main colours we used in the website which linked it to our digipack and video. The font of the artists name is also consistent between the digipack and website. This makes it seem like a real artists package as other artist's products would show consistency. We also used the internet to create merchandise for Lila and look up potential tour venues to put on the website. Touring and merchandise were something we noticed was quite common on other artist's websites and therefore was something we wanted to create to make our artist seem more realistic. We used Jess Gylnne, Ariana Grande and Tori Kelly as research for our website as they gave us inspiration and guidance as to what we wanted our website to look like. The website went through a few drafts until the final one as we experimented with different styles and layouts until we finalised the one we liked the most that would also appeal to our target audience. The accessibility of Wix made it easy for us to play around with the aspects of the website to achieve the look we wanted for the end product. The audience feedback we received on the layout also made it easier to make changes that we knew would appeal more to our target audience. Therefore, digital technologies such as Wix, and the internet in general, allowed us to be far more creative at A2 than at AS because we were able to learn to use a website that would let us put our own stamp on our own products which we created ourselves, something which we did not encounter at AS.
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| Digipak - first draft |
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| Digipak - Final |
Using digital technologies was also key when creating the website. We used a web based design software called Wix to do this. This was a useful tool allowing us to create a website to cater to our preferred style and theme. We used one of the websites pre-set templates in order to give us a head start on what a professional website should look like. The colours, fonts and overall style for the website was designed to show a connection between it and the music video and digipack. Black, grey, white, pink and glitter were the main colours we used in the website which linked it to our digipack and video. The font of the artists name is also consistent between the digipack and website. This makes it seem like a real artists package as other artist's products would show consistency. We also used the internet to create merchandise for Lila and look up potential tour venues to put on the website. Touring and merchandise were something we noticed was quite common on other artist's websites and therefore was something we wanted to create to make our artist seem more realistic. We used Jess Gylnne, Ariana Grande and Tori Kelly as research for our website as they gave us inspiration and guidance as to what we wanted our website to look like. The website went through a few drafts until the final one as we experimented with different styles and layouts until we finalised the one we liked the most that would also appeal to our target audience. The accessibility of Wix made it easy for us to play around with the aspects of the website to achieve the look we wanted for the end product. The audience feedback we received on the layout also made it easier to make changes that we knew would appeal more to our target audience. Therefore, digital technologies such as Wix, and the internet in general, allowed us to be far more creative at A2 than at AS because we were able to learn to use a website that would let us put our own stamp on our own products which we created ourselves, something which we did not encounter at AS.
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| These are examples from the first draft of our website |
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| These are examples from the final website |
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| More examples of the final website |
2. filmed animatic on an iPhone to allow us to be able to move it around easily as we filmed each hand drawn shot. We cut the images of each scene to the beat to know where everything was going to be.
3. filmed music video on digital SONY FS100 camera with 18mm for wide shots, 50mm for close-ups. The fact it was digital allowed us to be more creative as we could film more shots form different angles and positions so we had more to work with when it came to editing. This is because it was filmed onto a memory card which could store more than at AS (which was on a tape with less storage). We used a range of shots including close-ups to sell her star image and medium and long shots to show more of the scenery and for the audience to be able to relate to the locations used. Panning shots to show her clothing and style for her target audience to further identify and relate with her so they realise they can be like her. These shots also make the video more interesting to watch rather than just sticking to the basic shots such as close-ups and medium shots.
4. Edited using premier pro and after effects. Did new things such as cutting lip syncing to the music. Did zooming in shots to bring images to life and split screens.
5. Digipak created on Photoshop and website on Wix. The combination of our main product and ancillary texts was effective as all linked, connecting themes, style, colour scheme, polaroid's, buy cd and watch music video on website.
6. Filmed different range of shots such as close-ups to sell star image, medium and long shots to show the locations to add to the narrative, panning and tracking shots to show her style and look so the audience can relate to her and make the video more interesting to watch as they add something different to the regular range of shots used such as close-up and medium shots.
6. Filmed different range of shots such as close-ups to sell star image, medium and long shots to show the locations to add to the narrative, panning and tracking shots to show her style and look so the audience can relate to her and make the video more interesting to watch as they add something different to the regular range of shots used such as close-up and medium shots.
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