So here is my last post as I have now completed the process of making my music video and its ancillary products. I have really enjoyed this A2 year media course and believe that I have learnt a lot from this experience. Hopefully I can put it all into practice again one day.
4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
In the process of making my music video, the digipack and my advert I used many different types of media technologies both to help me present my ideas, to plan my ideas and to actually make and edit my products. Below are the different types of technologies that I have used within this process.
Scanner/Printer (Pre-Production, Post-Production)
I used a hp scanner and printer for a numerous number of tasks. The scanner was very useful when I needed to upload images from paper to my blog for example other types of digipacks and adverts plus my storyboard and drafts of both the digipack and poster. The printer helped me with audience feedback as I printed of all of my questionnaires to get a response from the public plus the actual ancillary products themselves to analyse how they would look and see what people thought of the products.
Ipad/Video Camera/Nikon D60 (Production)
I used three types of devices in order to film footage and also take pictures along the way. I used a video recorder in order to film most of my footage for my music video as well as using my iPad to do so also. My iPad has a camera which is very good quality and being so small allows me to take it out into busy places without being noticeable unlike the video recorder. I gained experience in using both the video recorder and iPad while filming a short film last year as well as taking images throughout the last year so I felt very comfortable using these devices. The Nikon was used to take professional looking images of my artist for both the digipack and advert. I believe that these three devices were the most important technologies I used because without them I would not have a music video or the ancillary products.
Iphoto (Post-Production)
Iphoto was an import technology as it allowed me to effect my pictures and make them professional looking. I can use some of the tools I have in Imovie in photoshop however I found it much easier and quicker on Imovie both because it is more user friendly and I have experience of using it before.
Photoshop (Post- Production)
I used this software in order to enhance some of my pictures and superimpose some images. Photoshop is a rather advanced software which at times I found difficult to use even after using it in my As course, however I have come to understand a lot more aspects to the programme and are more capable on how to use more powerful tools. It is such a popular software that if I became stuck I could easily search tutorials on the web and on Youtube which helped a lot in this process. It enabled me to change positioning of text and positioning of images on both my digipack and advert as well as allowing me to crop my artist out of one picture using a lasso tool/magic wand and paste this image onto a different background like a brick wall. It did take up quite a bit of my time but I am really pleased with the results and products that came out of using this software.
Imovie (Post-Production)
Imovie was a technology that I needed in order to create the music video. The video above shows the basics on how it allowed me to import all off my video footage and utilise it in order to make my final product.
Blogger is a technology that I used mainly throughout this process of planning, researching and helping me to extend my thoughts as well as getting audience feedback too. I used this software in my AS studies so I had no problem using it again this year to make post, upload images and photos, make labels and the many more features it offers. I enjoyed using blogger and think it was a great use of technology for me in this media experience and allowed me to get some good audience feedback as without it my research would not have been nearly as good or as accurate.
Youtube (Production, Post-Production)
I made a Youtube account which allowed me to upload my music video and
other videos that I made and that I wanted to be able to post on my blog using
the embedded code. Youtube also allowed me to research other music videos and
tutorials showing how to use some of the other softwares that I used like
Imovie and iPhoto.
All of these technologies were essential softwares and tools that I
needed in order to make my music video plus the ancillary products. I believe
that the technology that was most useful had to be both Imovie allowing me to
physically put together my music video and Photoshop which helped me create my
ancillary products. Imovie and Photoshop allowed me to make my products to the
best standards they could be due to the many tools that they offer. I mainly
enjoyed the editing process of my coursework using both of these softwares and
feel I have demonstrated this with the results that I have produced.
The ipad, video recorder and Nikon D60 were the most important pieces
of technology because without them I would not have been able to actually
record video footage or take images for my main products.
I also think Blogger was an important technology that I used simply
because without it I wouldn't be able to present my media course the way I have
done. After completing this process I feel very comfortable using all of the
different types of technology especially photoshop which I have found very
tricky to use in the past. Due to the experience I have got using photoshop I
have become more knowledgeable about the tools that this software offers and
the different range of features that I can now make. All of the different
technologies came in useful at different times from pre production to
production through to post production.
Pre-Prodution (Blogger,Youtube, Scanner/Printer)
Production (Blogger, Ipad/Video Recorder/Nikon D60)
Post Production (Blogger, Imovie, Iphoto, Photoshop, Youtube,
Scanner/Printer)
Here is the final cut of my music video in which I have moved around some scenes as well as adding and deleting shots. I also made some advanced editing on a few scenes for example overlaying two clips and changing the opacity of different scenes.
After editing my adverts for a while, the above are my final two choices. I decided to change the image of the front so that it would cover most of the A4 page but add a little image of the main album at the bottom to show the artists album. I kept the advert in black and white like the album cover to create a type of snergy between the two products and also due to the fact that I think it is high class. Please could you comment below on the advert you prefer. Thank you for your time. I also have posted a tweet to my twitter followers in order to get feedback on which advert they think is more appealing.
Here are images of my final 6 paned digipack and below that is a template just to show the arrangement of how the digipack will actually work. My digipack will be made out of cardboard so there is no need for a spine, if i had a spine within my digipack it would very plain with just the artists name and the album name "Wonderful". The CD will slot underneath the middle inside pane (page 3) instead of having a pane dedicated to itself.
Above is a piece of work I have made on Photoshop which includes all of the actual features that I want and would expect to be covered in an advert. I have included:
An image of the artist
A review
The record label and Itunes logo
What the album incudes (CD/Limited Edition DVD/Download)
A small image of the actual album cover
A black and white colour scheme
Release date
I will now go on to edit the advert more and improve my design and layout of this poster.
Here is the first design of my advert. It shows a completely new image of my artist. I have kept the font the same as the album cover to give the poster and album some type of synergy between the two. Other features that will be included are the date the album was released, a small image showing the album cover, reviews that the album has had, the records labels Angel is with and lastly what is in the album (CD/DVD)
Here is my second design where my picture is the same as the picture of the album cover. It again has the same style writing which will appear on the album cover to create synergy between the two products. At the bottom again it will show that the album is out now, the record labels Angel is with, a review from The Guardian and what is contained in the album (CD/DVD)
Lady Gaga is known for her wild and outrageous outfits but the way this poster has been designed has toned her image down just a little even though we still do see some extravent hair pieces and hairstyles. The poster has been put into black and white which I think is really effective and makes this poster stand out as the pictures look very sharp and powerful as well as having a hard edge to them. At the top we see a picture of Lady Gaga where her hair and the background are opposite colours but is contrasted very well. We then see the artists name written in bold white writing infront of another quite dull image of Gaga with a second headline underneath showing the album name "The Fame Monster" again written in bold with white font. Other pieces of text we see is a quote "The defining pop star of 2009"- Rolling stone which is a great unique selling point for Lady Gaga's album. We then see two small images showing a copy of her albums with text showing where the album is available to buy and also what features on it. On this poster two songs in particular are mentioned and this is due to the fact that they will be the most popular songs on the album and audiences will be easily able to recognise the songs which also means that fans and target markets will be likely to go and buy the album.
This is poster generally fits the codes and conventions of an album advert as it has many different features. This is an advert promoting Katy Perry's first ever album called "One of the boys". It is different from Lady Gaga's album because it is very colourful but is also landscape compared to Gaga's which is portrait. We see a long shot of Katy as a young teenage artist in this picture and this is also reflected by the lolipop she is holding plus the clothing she is wearing. However we also see some sex appeal as we can see some skin and her choice of clothing is very tight. The image is very effective as it covers the whole of the advert and is very aesthetically pleasing to a wide range of audiences and will stand out when people see it. We then have Katy Perry's name written as the main headline in a very bright pink and white colour to attract the target audience and also to promote her as an artist as this is her first album. Below her name is the title of the album "One Of The Boys" which is written in a small font in a sky blue colour which fades in with the colour of the background. It is very hard to actually see that part of the poster which I believe is because the album name doesn't matter as much as her name and really she is promoting herself as a new artist. Then again the same as Lady Gaga's advert we see one of Katy's most famous songs "I Kissed A Girl" spread across the bottom in bold white writing that stands out against the background as well as the date of release. Lastly we also see a copy of her album cover imprinted of the advert so that audiences can recognise what the album will look like. The album and advert poster have a very similar look which shows the style of the 50/60's reflecting on Katy's personal, unique, quirky style that she has. I really like this advert because it is fun and exciting.
Here is a poster promoting Madonna's greatest hits album named "Celebration" and this advert is very different to the other adverts I have analysed This advert goes a little bit against the codes and conventions of a poster, due to some features not appearing such as the image of her album cover. However Madonna's advert is very unique and extremely interesting to look at. The colour scheme is mainly black and pink, they are also the colours used in the writing as well as having black background and pink featuring in the image. We see her name spread across the top of the page in bold writing and underneath the album name. Then at the bottom of the page it gives out information such as the album release in stores and mentions that the album has 34 songs that "changed the world" including a special mention of the title song "Celebration". Lastly the cartoon like image is powerful as it is simply just a mid close shot of Madonna's head with many more images inside the head and has been effected with lots of colours which are contrasted together very nicely.
The type of advert that I am going to research into and make, will be in the form of a poster to advertise my artist and his album. On the poster you will often see:
The artists/bands name
An image
Album/song name
Release day
The album picture may appear on the page
I haven't decided whether my poster will be more appealing landscape or portrait. I will research other posters to decide what i think looks best and will appeal to the audience i am targeting. Below are posters that appeal to me. The Rihanna example shows her image with just a few lines of text and i think that it is striking in Black and White. I think the poster portrays Rihanna's style and genre of music. The Britney Spears poster is brightly coloured and features no images, just colourful text. It is made to look like a poster you would find, which would be advertising a circus which is in town.
My two possible back covers are very similar but just show two different images. The first image is in black and white and I think shows my artist to be very fashionable and smart but the bottom shows my artist in colour and is also blurry which I believe makes the image quite interesting. The top image i think fits better with the album cover because it is in black and white but please can you vote which you think is the final best back cover?
I decided that I would prefer to have a plain front and back pane as the inside panes will be very bright. I also thought that this close up image looks high class as well as professional in black and white. I did contemplate and play around with the A in Angel being a red, pink or green but it looked much nicer and effective in white.
The third outside pane I wanted to be a little different compared to other digipacks, so I decided to make a collage of images of the artist both in black and white and the orginal colour. To make the collage, I used a website that allows you to create a collage and then I saved the image and imported it into photoshop. In photoshop I then made the image fit to the digipack dimensions which are 12.5 height nd width.
Above is an image I took when i visited Hong Kong using the panorama gadget on the iPhone. I am using this picture for the three inside panes on my album cover because the size of the image will fit well within the panes and I also think the image suits the type of genre that my artist represents (RnB/Elector/Dance). Lastly my album cover, back cover and inside pane are all lots of images of the actual artist himself and mostly in black and white so I think this picture will be a good contrast to have within the digipack itself. The CD will slot inside the middle pane which is going against the codes and conventions of most RnB artists digipacks.
The software I have used is Imovie which is a video editing software application and is specifically for the mac and iOS. It allows me to import and implement my video footage or photos files which I can then edit. It lets me:
Add titles
Add music
Add effects
Basic colour correction
Enhance the video
Use transitions (dissolves, fades)
Allows me to also do very basic adjustments like crop and rotate
I have also used Photoshop which is a photo editing software. It allows me to import images and edit them using a number of different tools like different colouring tools and also allows me to crop images and paste them onto different backgrounds. Lastly I have used iPhoto just to import my the images and video footage so they can be transferred to the two above softwares. On iPhoto it lets me do basic editing skills only on jpeg files like crop, remove blemishes and red eye and lastly changing the colouring of a picture e.g from normal to black and white etc.
Island Records, is a very big record company which is owned by Universal Music Group,which is the biggest record company in the world as well as a huge global conglomerate.
Universal Music Group being the biggest corporation music group in the world actually owns Island records which operates as a division of The Island Def Jam music group. Island Records actually originated from Jamaica and was founded by Chris Blackwell and this company produces all genres but has a main focus on pop and rock.
I have been playing around on photoshop and decided that it could look quite effective if my album cover had a background to it. So using the many available tools on photoshop like the lasso tool which allowed me to take my artists body out of one picture and on to a new background. Below are some little images of possibilities for album covers after playing with photoshop.
Dafont is a website with a range of different fonts and below are some images of many different fonts that I will possibly use on my digipack. Please comment below which font you would like to see on the front of my digipack.
Here is some evidence of editing a picture in iPhoto. The first image shows the original picture which is then changed to black and white in the next image. The third picture shows the blemish tool which allows me to remove blemishes on the face or background, for example a spot to make the artist look clear skinned. On the artists forehead to the right I have actually removed two marks on his face which appeared removed on the last image.
