Group overall evaluation

The evaluation featured was created using prezi and xtranormal

http://prezi.com/z4quybs5un3p/group-evaluation/

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/12051454/what-have-you-learned-from-your-audience-feedback

http://prezi.com/5fw_dknewma5/new-media-technologies/

Written by Joshua Featherstone, Emily Stansfield, Ana Rita.

Evaluation of group CD cover and Magazine advert

Check out my prezi for the analysis of specific reasons behind the choices made.

http://prezi.com/xfvl-kj6sfix/group-cd-cover-and-magazine-advert-analysis/

Our own Evaluation

(I have had a slight problem with blogger and its layout throughout the year. That is why some of the sentence structure maybe slightly out of sync as well as lack of imagery)

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

In our pop promotional package we have had to increase our understanding from what we thought we knew of the music industry to so much more.
Instead of challenging previous conventions of media products such as pop promotional packages, we followed suit, to a degree and created our own from previously developed promotional packages that had been researched upon.
What is meant by this is by following previous examples of marketing and promoting of new bands we were able to use this as a foundation to build ours upon.
With this the individuals of the group and I had to research into a pop promotional packages in which we all found interesting.
With this we tried to maintain as much of a likeness to the genre. Due to this, matches could be made with typical stylistics that kept creeping up in the pop punk genre.
For instance, themes of pop punk videos tend to be about having fun by incorporating nudity, pranks and getting into trouble with police whilst stylistically there would be
either facial bruises from the extras in the videos, skulls, motiffed t-shirts of rock legends and others.
All of which was making continuous appearances in pop punk videos.
Similar to the humour of music videos so too were the CD covers and magazine adverts/ flyers that were distributed to promote the band. These varied between cartoon illustrations to dark, destructed locations as back drops for the band.
This genre was made possible to portray so that it would be recognisable to anyone who enjoyed this type of music, also taking into account how the band members wanted to be portrayed which was fun and carefree….A perfect description of what pop punk videos usually are.
So with that in mind we made an instantly recognisable pop punk video with certain aspects that challenged the usual conventions of pop-punk.
From the background research of other bands promotional packages such as the one I did on HURTS and NEWFOUND GLORY we as a group were able to approach the task of promoting our band with different aspects gained from one another. Firstly we chose a typical audience that we would catering for and drove to meet that, obviously fans of the genre but the age range of fans were vast due to pop punk being around for a while so it was only right to make the promotional package favour everyone and not just a typical age.
Certain examples would be adding kissing couples to the music video adding a touch of reality to the narrative as well as a sentimental aspect to it. This I felt catered for couples and older fans of the pop punk genre as well as bringing a different more natural feel to pop punk that hasn’t been seen before. With the thought of usual Editing, cinematography, mise en scene, and stylistics that have been associated with typical pop punk videos we chose to Use jump cuts as our main source of editing style to move from shot to shot. Not only pop-punk use this but also every other music video made except the few made from bands such as ‘ok go’ and others.
Another reason for not using a singular shot is lack of funding to do so as well as time and planning that we just didn’t have. The jump cuts also increased in speed, transitioning between different shots at a quicker pace during the chorus to match the beat of the drums to aid in a more interesting music video.
With the choice of shots, again we were limited because of the shooting of the band performance was done inside a studio but this didn’t hinder the aesthetic look we were all trying to achieve.
With the energetic band performance and certain shots we used such as the ‘handheld’ shot with the singer, this helped to cater to the younger fans as well as those who love an energetic band performance and ‘mosh’ when around like minded fans.
The band performed up to 5x which allowed us to take 3 different angled shots and types of shots on each performance.
In the end we had 15 different shots (some where not possible to use) ranging from close ups of the band members and some wide shots which allowed zooming and panning possible.
I liken it too ‘arctic monkeys-I bet that you look good on the dance floor’ which primarily was just different shots of the band performing which was how I wanted it to look.
Clothing was the bands own due to them wanting to stay comfortable and making it a realistic portrayal of themselves and not a fake one such as making them all wear ‘three piece’ suits.
Also during pop punk music video’s bands are rarely portrayed to wear anything but casual clothes.
　
With the CD cover and MAGAZINE advert we blurred a picture of a couple in love that we had shot to further increase the romantic aspect of the song which is about kissing your loved one!
Certain type fonts that we chose in the colour red with a black background played homage to where pop punk integrated from which was punk Connotations of the colour red is usually partnered with blood and the colour black with death. These connotations maybe slightly ‘darker’ than pop punk. This shows a slight challenge to the former conventions of pop punk fonts. We also chose font type ‘times new roman’ to add a more formal approach, different to the usual titles cd/mag advert covers that pop punk bands usually use.
With the CD cover the blurred kissing couple was blurred to such an extent to make it into a kaleidoscope effect. This was chosen to do because of the album name being kaleidoscope in the first place.
With the magazine advert we took aspects/ideas from former print ads that weren’t necessarily form the pop-punk genre. For instance I analysed HURTS and used idea of having the cd cover as the magazine advert. This gave an instant connection due to being the same image which for promotional purposes was great. By using both images a quicker recognition of the band would be possible either when buying the CD and or checking for live performances in magazine’s or the internet.
Areas that challenged forms /codes and conventions of pop promo’s as mentioned before would definitely be the handheld shot by the lead singer as this is one shot I feel I haven’t seen before. Reason of using this was to give the effect of a POV shot in which the lead singer was swinging his partner.
With the addition of the kissing couples narrative this helped to challenge the conventions of the pop-punk genre by changing up the typical acts of their music videos. This narrative gave a more natural realistic feature to it by having random couples kiss/hug and show what love looks like. This idea was second to the former split screen idea that we had planned but due to lack of equipment we couldn’t make this work which to some degree I am glad that had happened. The narrative we used changed the tone to a more emotional feeling which is what the song is about, just with a more rocked up version of the original.

2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

The pop punk music video we created as a group worked well with the ideas that we had chosen to use such as the POV handheld shot with the lead singer. This helped to portray him spinning his loved one which I feel was easy to see being portrayed.
As mentioned before, using the studio had caused a few small problems such as lack of space but this was soon overcome. I think that even seeing the light rigs on some of the shots helped to increase its grungy appearance.
The energetic band performance helped to create the incisive decisions to be made that pop-punk was what was being seen alongside the sound of the music as well as how casually dressed we had allowed our band too look. The long hair of our lead singer also helped to incorporate a rock like theme due to the stereotypes of long hair equally rock!.
The narrative which we introduced as a performance/conceptual basis included the use kissing couples and friends/family embracing and showing love to one another. This definitely provided a more natural un-acted feel to the production. These types of narratives are hardly seen amongst music videos and with this I feel will help our music video stand out from the rest.
With these types of moments it helps to enables a happy content feeling to be felt by the viewer when ‘real’ affection is shown by others. A process that usual cannot be achieved until something of enjoyment has happened throughout the day. This again is another point which I feel will help to increase popularity of the pop promotion that we as a group developed.
The CD cover and PRINT advert together helped to further add the development of unusual art with slight meanings behind them, such as the handheld shot with the lead singer has done as well as other shots feaured in the music video. The main picture of the cd cover is a couple kissing which had been blurred to such an extent that time to look at it would have to be taken.
This would cause a longer time reading to be spent on who the band are which thus creates an intrigue to develop. All great promotional benefits for the band as well as the companies distributing their work.
With the choice of blurring the couples together, this gave a slight kaleidoscope effect which was something subconsciously had been achieved, as we had the idea to call the album that very same name. also, by intergratig the couple as ‘one’, the reason behind it is that once in a relationship a lot of things that are done are done together such as decisions/ choices, going out, being together are all done as ‘one’. true essence of being in love which is what the song is about.
Choice of type font and size of font helped to differentiate ourselves slightly from the usual magazine advertisements and CD covers that are usual seen.
The size in which we wrote was large on the information we wanted to get across to the viewer such as the name of the band and the name of the new album. With this a red colour was chosen and a black background which created a vivid contrast between the two, again something we hoped would stay in the viewers mind once they read it.
All three placed together created different representations of the genre that is pop-punk.
Firstly, with the music video you have a typical energetic band performance, one that is seen throughout most pop punk music videos but with certain aspects such as those already mentioned that has helped to challenge some of the usual forms and conventions that are usually seen. In essence adding a softer touch to a harsher genre of music. In some sense creating conflicting scenes from an energetic, ‘punky’ performance which then also moved to a softer more realistic narrative with our kissing couples.
That softer touch, helped along by the narrative was used to cross over into the CD cover and magazine advert, portraying the bands newest songs as romantic rock songs which is something the band had explained to us that they were. Quoted from James once he viewed the music video “ We feel that pop-punk has always been about having fun and jerking around but the more romantic meanings in the genre’s songs has been something that has been missed out. This is where HOUSE hopes to change this stereotype upon the genre”
In essence the ‘star power’ that has been created by us as group has been towards constructing a typical pop punk band into something different from the usual that is seen within this genre.
Their ‘star image’ has been meticulously broken down and rebuilt, adding in aspects that have been missed from other like-minded bands, helping HOUSE in the long run to last a lot longer then their competition. Currently they are seen as a new upcoming band making they’re way into the music industry, hoping to make a difference to the genre and keep it growing with the times but as changes take place, so too will they to keep on top of the competition.

3. What have you learned from your audience feedback

From questionnaires to general research the feedback and personal decisions enabled an overall belief that our music video catered for the age range of anything from 14 upto 30.
Why I have chosen so young is due to the age of adolescence and that one begins to find themselves and start to make their own choices and actions at this age.Typical pop punk bands such as newfound glory play on the immaturity and having fun factors, not only in their songs but also the music videos that they make. Being the age of 14, newfound glory may appeal more to younger ears and to those who have grown up listening to other pop punk bands such as NOFX and Blink 182.
Why I have chosen to 30 and possibly past 30 is down to the fact that the genre pop-punk has been around for quite some time now. If you have grown up listening to that genre, even to the days of punk then you are more likely to continue listening to newer bands of that sub genre that is pop-punk.
If needed to be categorized then our potential audience would be classified to be of a social grade C2 and their VALS to be between strivers and experiences as this covers more of what our believed audience will be, which is a young age with expendable money to buy new clothes, food and in general enjoy what life has to offer but also want to achieve something as well as emulate those that they admire such as the artists of the pop-punk genre. Both of these have definite aspects that were easy to use and relate to the followers of the pop-punk genre.
The main audience attraction we focused on as a whole was use of style and dress attire of the band. This definitely helped to initiate the denotations of band motiffed t-shirts, musical instruments and long hair styles followed by their connotations as a majority of ROCK/POP PUNK.
Certain examples of attracting all of our audience types would be adding kissing couples to the music video which added realism to the narrative as well as a sentimental aspect to it. This I felt catered for couples and older fans of the pop punk genre as well as bringing a different more natural feel to pop punk that hasn’t been seen before.
To start with on our final showing of the finished edit to the band as well as an audience of random participators the overall appreciation of the media text was high. Many believed it to have promoted the band, sub genre pop-punk and the romance of the track itself very well. Due to the narrative of the kissing couples mainly.
This was the feedback generated from our band during their final viewing of the music video.


Are you happy with how you are portrayed?




Yes, it was awesome! I honestly didn't think it would be like that - I really liked it." (Lead guitarist)
"Yeah I've never made a video before so that's really cool, we look like a proper band - Do you have this on Youtube? I wanna show people (laughs)" (Drummer)



What did you like best about it?


Well I really liked the shot with the camera tied on the end of the guitar with the close up of my fingers playing it, it's such a cool shot - I've never seen that before! It looks like I'm actually playing it...but honestly, I liked all of it" - (Lead guitarist)
"Yeah I liked that shot, I also like how you have so many different shots - there was loads" (Guitarist)
"To be honest I cant even remember making that video (laughs) but yeah it's quite good isn't it!" (Alex - Guitarist)
"I like the shots of all the people kissing, the narrative bit. I didn't realise you were going to do it but it works well, it would of just been boring if it was us playing the whole time" (Drummer)
"Oh, and that end bit - where you zoom into my hand after the last strum of the guitar, that's pretty cool" - (Lead guitarist)
"I really wasn't expecting the quality of the cameras to be like that either" - (Guitarist)



Is there anything your unhappy with?


"Hmm I'm not sure really, I think there was too many close up shots of the singer James if I’m honest - there's too much of that" - (Lead Guitarist) (All agree)
"I'm not too keen on that hand held shot of James either really" - (Alex - Guitarist)
"I can't really think of anything, but as a musician, I could tell we wern't really playing live - you can tell I wasn't hitting the symbol" - (Drummer)

"Yeah I noticed that too - the same with the guitars that weren’t plugged in. You notice these things and it didn't look professional. I guess that’s not your fault though!" (Guitarist)

What do you think of the pace and rythm?

"Yeah it worked really well with the song, it was quite fast and there were loads of shots so there was so much to look at. How did you do that?" - (Guitarist)

"Well I wish we could have chose our own song because I'm sure we could make a better rhythm! - but yeah, I like what you've done with it" - (Drummer)



What would you have done differently?




"I'm not sure really, I would probably use more props, make the set more interesting I reckon" - (Guitarist)
"Yeah I probably wouldn't want to do it in that same set, It would of been good to have a proper location" - (Alex - Guitarist)




What about outside?




"Yeah, yeah outside! that would have been good" - (Alex - Guitarist)
"Yeah outside would be good, but I suppose it would be hard to take all the equipment out wont it, plus it was winter!" (Lead guitarist)

Would you make a music video again?

"Yeah definitely! it was quite tedious at the time having to do it over and over - but now I've seen how it turns out, yeah!" (Lead guitarist)
"Yeah I would, it was fun - I feel like a proper musician now, I wish I could do more! (Alex - Guitarist)
"I wish we could do it again, I wasn't feeling well at all that day so I wish I could have put more energy into it" - (Drummer)



Would you hire us if you become famous and need a music video? (laughs)

"Ha-ha, yeah I don’t see why not - you done a good job!" - (Alex - Guitarist)
　
The ancillary texts did have some backlash with the band mainly due to the fact that they were unsure what exactly the picture was meant to be, once described that it was a kaleidoscope effect complementing the integration of a couple as one and trying to relate to the album name then it was understood.
This was a bit frustrating as promotion of the band HOUSE might be hindered by the confusion fans may have on looking at the CD cover and Magazine advert and not knowing what it truly is. This was something we hadn’t thought would occur.
Overall a lot of what was said during the meeting was great although some constructive criticism helped to sum up the overall idea of what may have been done differently and what aspects were truly enjoyed.
I personally would have liked to have gained more time during which it would have been possible to have re-thought the first narrative that was had in mind, the split-screen effect. Also the group including me may have been too lenient towards the whole promo package to begin with and didn’t take the ‘bull by the horns instantly‘, taking too much time over the ideas we had created ourselves.
Secondly I’d have moved the band performance to a much larger venue, allowing more movement and a more diverse range of shots.
Being media students within the 6th from you are limited to resources that are available to you in the sense of technology. Due to this reason, ideas whether they are conceptual or performance based just couldn’t be used because of lack of newer technology and instruments such as the budgeted steady cams that we had.
Due to this we had to scrap the split screened narrative which would have looked aesthetically pleasing to the eye if had been achieved.

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

With the accessibility of pretty much any knowledge that you require allowed research to be carried out with great precision. With this, myself and the others in the group were able to research, in depth enough about promoting the band as possible. With our own separate ideas we could integrate them into one therefore achieving a remotely successful package.
The research underwent was made possible with the access to the internet! It made things a lot easier but not as easy as I’d have liked due to the arduous tasks of trying to gain the correct information such as where and who promoted bands like ‘newfound glory’ and not just repeats of the information that wasn’t needed such as who ‘newfound glory were’ sites such as homepages of the pop-punk bands that I had looked at enabled extra knowledge to be learnt of the bands backgrounds, what made them want to play in bands, past interviews, pictures of the styles that portray them such as in what they wear, how they wear their hair in certain ways. All of this information was taken on board and certain aspects were used with our band HOUSE.
Some of these aspects were the certain style of questioning the bands during our first meeting, developing a good rapport from the very beginning. Checking if what they all wore was along the same lines as the bands I’d researched.
The use of YouTube made the analysis of music videos possible. It gained insight into how bands (not just pop-punk) portray themselves when in front of the camera, the certain shot styles and framing that they use, what are the possible messages/meanings behind the music videos, the dress attire they wear and what possible links to their chosen genre of music that may have.
Through our planning stages the main source of technology used was the animatics on the Apple Macs. These were great in placing your band members into positions that may look acceptable for the end result of the music video.
Though nothing beat the standard A4 storyboard sheets that truly allowed the group free reign of what they believed some of the shots and narrative should like.
The research that was completed was compiled onto our individual Bloggers allowing coverage to be kept of the process I was undergoing in learning what it took to make it in the music industry from the likes of Madonna to the new band that I analysed-HURTS. With Blogger the options it made possible were certain things such as placing certain music videos that had been fully analysed onto them. This was great as you could now refer back to these if in doubt of an aspect that you had chosen to use from them.
Within the actual filming of the music video we had an entire studio to ourselves which meant getting used to the ( two way system from sound booth to studio unsure what that is called)
The camera’s that we used to film the music video were large panasonic studio camera's mounted on to tripods with the ability to move diagonally, laterally, horizontally and turn a full 360 degree's allowing very fluent shots to be taken.
The handheld camera was a panasonic hd/dv which was mainly placed onto a small steady cam which allowed as much shaking to be cancelled out as humanly possible when using a very cheap version of a steady cam.
Once all had been shot it was logged and captured using a firewire on to an Apple Mac pro using the editing software Final cut pro. The editing software was great as it allowed the shots to be placed on top of one another in layers similar to a ‘cake’. The layering process meant that seeing a certain shot, all that had to be done was to cut either a section of the shot above or below it, making it very easy and less time consuming and monotonous. Once the editing had been completed and we had a our final edit it was then compressed into a QuickTime file. This could now be placed onto our individual blogs as well as you tube to try and gain some more feedback into what could have been done differently if given the chance again.
During the print production of our CD cover and magazine advert, the majority of the technology that I felt was used was mainly Photoshop. This was mainly down to my other team mates to complete the cd cover and magazine advert as I had the job of editing but I definitely felt that the ancillary texts they created definitely helped to develop a wanting towards who and what the band HOUSE were actually about due to the strange smudged effect that had been used to submerge our kissing couples into one.
With this evaluation that I have written, the use of technologies that have allowed me to complete this are Microsoft works word processor- this is what my writing was done on. The writing was then spell checked and placed onto my blogger account.
Images that I have used are mainly stills taken from the final edit of the music video but there are some that been included which I have simply copy and pasted from Google images whilst using the internet.
Prezi has been a source of presentation that I have used in some of my main earlier posts but not during this evaluation but Blogger was.
This was so helpful by allowing cross referencing to occur from previous work that had already been written. This helped by gaining access to work that had been completed during septewmeber, allowing information to be taken which I had forgotten about as well as being able to see other members of the groups work and what they may have mentioned that I haven’t about the promotional package or if any of the information was conflicting to others from the group.
　
　

11. Own idea for CD cover and Magazine advert

Check out my prezi on the reasoning behind my ideas of my own CD cover and MAGAZINE ADVERTISEMENT.

http://prezi.com/y_1p5bcw97pj/analysis-of-cd-cover-and-magazine-advert/

8-12. Group Call sheets etc

7. Group completed storyboard

18. List of all technology used Pre-Post production

Check out the Prezi and see the majority of Pre-Post production technologies that were being used during the second year of A-Levels and the reasonings behind them!

Click on more once you are on Prezi to view the presentation in full screen!


http://prezi.com/z_i1tgks93pd/technology-used-through-pre-post-production/

23. & 24. Completed CD digipak & print advert on blog & analysed.

13. Groups first initial idea

Synopsis: After we came up with our ideas individualy, my group and I got together to put all of our idea on the table. My group really liked my idea of a couple growing old together so we decided to go with that, of corse the location was not possible to go ahead with, so as a group we thought perhaps we could use some sort of tree as a meeting point for the couple - perhaps with a http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHoT4N43jK8&feature=player_embedded in heart to represent their lengthy love, with the tree being a symbolisim for something that is alive and growing. The visuals would realte to the lyrics that often reffer to nature 'Kiss me, down by the broken tree house' 'Beside the green green grass'.We also agreed to shoot the band performing in the college studio with interesting spot lights and stage lights focusing on key areas and band members to make it more professional and so they would stand out from the black back ground. Filming in the studio would be a lot more practical for us and the band, we could also use the bigger, more proffessional cameras on the dollys so we could track and pan eaier and smoother.
We agreed costume would be dressed up but casual for the band and we also came up with the idea that one of the actors from the narrative would wear a certain peice of clothing (we thought perhaps the male was to wear a red top throughout the three stages of the narrative) which would help represent he is one person, because of corse it would be hard to find three characters which could pass as the same person.

Treatment: One member of my group also came up with a brilliant editing idea for the narrative - we thought using a split screen (the right side concerntrating on the female and the left on the male) we could also use the different sides of the screen to show the same scenario, but at different angles and different depths. For example, the right hand side has a close up of holding hands, whereas the left hand side perhaps a long shot of the couple holding hands..seeing the whole of their body. We would also follow my original idea regarding cinematography - making sure there are many close ups of intmate expressions or actions, making sure we apply the concept of voyerism (looking) and making kissing a key element . Of corse this means there would be a wide variety of shots and would keep the video interesting and unique..the inspiration for this idea came from 'Stromae's' video 'Alors on danse' - Snap shots of this video can be seen on the right hand side. To achieve our desiered effect for the music video we would need to use final cut pro software on the Mac computers. Here we could easily log on what we filmed to edit and manipulate the shots until we're happy with what we created. We would also use a variety of cameras to film different angles of the performance and narrative, by using three cameras instead of one would speed up the prossess increadibly.

(written by Emily Stansfield)

5. & 6. Group Final Idea: Synopsis and Treatment

With our deadline for course work approaching, my group and I began to panic about our first initial idea. Although it would of been brilliant if it were achievable, we experienced some difficulties during the production stage. Firstly, it was hard to get together 3 different sets of people who were happy to be filmed being intimate and who had enough time to spare to be in our video and the idea of a split screen was too out of reach, especially when considering our time limit. We did actually do a test of split screening where we had to have a grid on the screen of the camera and keep the actor only on one side, for example, when we filmed the female we had to make sure she was on the left hand side of the grid at all times - and using a different camera, the male must stay on the right hand side at all times. After filming we could merge the two takes together to create the split screen effect, but of course to film a whole narrative like this would be very time consuming and difficult to create the exact look we were hoping for.
With that idea scrapped, it was clear my group and I had to come up with a different idea for our narrative quickly, as by this point we were starting to film the band performance.

Final Synopsis: The final idea for our music video would involve a band performance in the college studio, we would have prefferd to locate them somewhere more adventurous and perhaps outdoors but we had to think about practicalities and budget, not to mention we were filming in the middle of winter! Although we have a basic set to work with, our knowledge of lighting and mes-en-scene would help create a professional, interesting 'stage' for the band to perform on. Soft and hard lights would be used in a way to A/ focus on important areas (mainly meaning the lead singer) and B/ To create depth from the black curtains surrounding them, making the band step out from the back ground instead of blending in. The band would be dressed in casual, yet a little more dressed up than everyday clothing - like they effortlessly look 'cool' which would be part of their star construction. Their set-up would be the typical band set up, with the lead singer at center front, drummer at center back, lead guitarist one side and the other two guitarist on the opposite side. We would get as many shots as possible - using different angles, depths and camera movement in order to make sure our video is exciting and fast and also to make sure each band member gets camera time to do their thing and get recognition. Like many similar bands to House, we would like band members to be fun and energetic in performance, with hopefully some sort of interaction with each other to show their closeness, again which wold help their star construction.

Our music video would not only involve a band performance, and like other videos, we would need a narrative. Not straying too far from our first idea of a young couple growing old together with shots of kissing throughout, we decided to get a large variety of kissing and hugging shots from the general public or family members. What we wanted to portray through this idea was a general feel of love and affection, from all age groups and all different reasons to love, it would be quite a personal, emotional and light hearted montage throughout the video which would suit the music and topic of 'Kiss Me'. When regarding mes-en-scene and props, we must consider that our band would only be in a small college studio and not many props would be needed - just having the band stand infront of a black background with spot lights and stage lights surrounding them would be enough, and would also bring all attention to the band - the idea of our video is quite simple and 'home made' as it is, so I think the simple set fits into this theme. We would not really be able control the set, location or props of our narrative montage because we are just going to be asking the general public if they would be happy to quickly kiss for the camera (of course after explaining the reason why we are filming!) - but we're not anticipating a certain location because again, we are after a natural, home-made sequence.

(Written by Emily Stansfield)

19. & 20. Groups roles in the creation of our pop promotion.

My group consisted of myself and another two A2 media students, although our teach chose our groups for us we was all happy to be working together as we each have our strong points within media studies and could take control of our specialized areas to produce our best possible final piece.
As a group we did all take turns in all areas of pre and post production, however for the bulk of it we stuck to our individual roles.

Josh Featherstone: Editor...Camera...Set designer
Ana Rita: Producer...Music control...Set designer
Emily Stansfield (myself): Cinematographer..Camera...Set designer

Description of my role: As cinematographer my main role was to make sure everything on-screen was exactly how we wanted it; this varied from lighting positions, crew and band positions and camera angles (we used three cameras and done three takes with all of them in different positions, ultimatly leaving us with nine takes). I also had to make sure the band was up-to-scratch in performance (although they didn't need much encouragement) and to ensure we have all our desired shots before wrapping up. I enjoyed taking on this role because when I have an image in my head, I will try my hardest to make sure it becomes reality to the best possible standard. During the editing stage, when group member Josh went through our various shots I helped choose what footage is usable and works well.
I also worked behind the cameras during filming, for this I had to ensure we had as many interesting shots as possible. I used zoom ins and outs, tracking and panning in various positions of the room to make sure we cover all areas of the band, I was aware that some moments of my filming was wobboly or just a general bad angle but I knew we had and would get many more shots - although I would still correct my areas to ensure all shots we did get was of a high standard.

Description of Joshuas role:Josh felt the most comfortable when it came to editing, and he really was brilliant at it. For this he used final cut pro on the mac computers and was knowledgable when it came to this software. After we all looked through every take from all cameras and chose which ones we prefferd and what would work best, Josh began to cut takes and put together a rough sequence. I think the hardest bit was trying to make the music and the footage in sync, and after many trials and errors he managed to do this well. Finding the best footage from nine different takes to go in the right space took a fairly long time, but once we was all happy with the rough edit - Josh then began to polish the edit by making cuts sharper and more in tune with the music.

Josh also controled some of the cameras whilst filming to make sure he got shots he was happy with and also helped ensure we were happy with the set.

Description of Ritas role: Rita took on the role as a producer, she helped ensure the rough edit turned into the final edit and that we were all happy with the final production. She also came up with the idea of a montage of couples kissing and went out to get some shots of this from her family. Rita was good during the research stage as she enjoys this genre of music more than the rest of us, so when discussing target audiences and audience profile, her knowledge helped. She also knew the general feel simular music has to offer - so we tryed to portray this throughout our own production. Rita also helped during the filming by working one of the cameras, but what she done more of was the music control - making sure the band knew exactly when to start playing at the right point of the start of the music.

(Written by Emily Stansfield)

19. & 20. Groups roles in the creation of our pop promotion.

My group consisted of myself and another two A2 media students, although our teach chose our groups for us we was all happy to be working together as we each have our strong points within media studies and could take control of our specialized areas to produce our best possible final piece.
As a group we did all take turns in all areas of pre and post production, however for the bulk of it we stuck to our individual roles.

Josh Featherstone: Editor...Camera...Set designer
Ana Rita: Producer...Music control...Set designer
Emily Stansfield (myself): Cinematographer..Camera...Set designer

Description of my role: As cinematographer my main role was to make sure everything on-screen was exactly how we wanted it; this varied from lighting positions, crew and band positions and camera angles (we used three cameras and done three takes with all of them in different positions, ultimatly leaving us with nine takes). I also had to make sure the band was up-to-scratch in performance (although they didn't need much encouragement) and to ensure we have all our desired shots before wrapping up. I enjoyed taking on this role because when I have an image in my head, I will try my hardest to make sure it becomes reality to the best possible standard. During the editing stage, when group member Josh went through our various shots I helped choose what footage is usable and works well.
I also worked behind the cameras during filming, for this I had to ensure we had as many interesting shots as possible. I used zoom ins and outs, tracking and panning in various positions of the room to make sure we cover all areas of the band, I was aware that some moments of my filming was wobboly or just a general bad angle but I knew we had and would get many more shots - although I would still correct my areas to ensure all shots we did get was of a high standard.

Description of Joshuas role:Josh felt the most comfortable when it came to editing, and he really was brilliant at it. For this he used final cut pro on the mac computers and was knowledgable when it came to this software. After we all looked through every take from all cameras and chose which ones we prefferd and what would work best, Josh began to cut takes and put together a rough sequence. I think the hardest bit was trying to make the music and the footage in sync, and after many trials and errors he managed to do this well. Finding the best footage from nine different takes to go in the right space took a fairly long time, but once we was all happy with the rough edit - Josh then began to polish the edit by making cuts sharper and more in tune with the music.

Josh also controled some of the cameras whilst filming to make sure he got shots he was happy with and also helped ensure we were happy with the set.

Description of Ritas role: Rita took on the role as a producer, she helped ensure the rough edit turned into the final edit and that we were all happy with the final production. She also came up with the idea of a montage of couples kissing and went out to get some shots of this from her family. Rita was good during the research stage as she enjoys this genre of music more than the rest of us, so when discussing target audiences and audience profile, her knowledge helped. She also knew the general feel simular music has to offer - so we tryed to portray this throughout our own production. Rita also helped during the filming by working one of the cameras, but what she done more of was the music control - making sure the band knew exactly when to start playing at the right point of the start of the music.

(Written by Emily Stansfield)

21. Feedback on pop promo package from the band HOUSE.

Of course, those opinions who's matter most is our clients - the band HOUSE. If we were to make a music video as a real job and were getting paid for it, its the most important thing to make sure the client is happy with the final product because they are the ones on screen who will ultimatly want to make money off it, promote themselves and impress followers, fans or potential buyers.

My group and I were fairly nervous on the way to meeting our band, hoping they are happy with the work we have created - plus we havnt seem them since filming them a few months back! The whole band apart from the lead singer turned up to view our video, which was unfortunate because the singer was the main focus throughout. Our band, plus a few members of another band crowed round our sceen in excitement to see their very first music video, when the video ended the first thing I heard was 'Wow! that was really good, I'm really happy with that!' - Lead guitarist.

We then needed to get some feedback - hopefully with complete honesty, it was evident the band seemed genuine throughout the discussion, but we needed to bare in mind that the band did not have the same knowledge of media terms as we do

1. Are you happy with how you are portrayed?
"Yes, it was awesome! I honestly didn't think it would be like that - I really liked it." (Lead guitarist)

"Yeh I've never made a video before so that's really cool, we look like a proper band - Do you have this on Youtube? I wanna show people (laughs)" (Drummer)

2. What did you like best about it?

"Well I really liked the shot with the camera tied on the end of the guitar with the close up of my fingers playing it, it's such a cool shot - I've never seen that before! It looks like I'm actually playing it...but honestly, I liked all of it" - (Lead guitarist)

"Yeh I liked that shot, I also like how you have so many different shots - there was loads" (Guitarist)

"To be honest I cant even remember making that video (laughs) but yeh it's quite good isn't it!" (Alex - Guitarist)

"I like the shots of all the people kissing, the narrative bit. I didn't realise you were going to do it but it works well, it would of just been boring if it was us playing the whole time" (Drummer)
"Oh, and that end bit - where you zoom into my hand after the last strum of the guitar, that's pretty cool" - (Lead guitarist)
"I really wasn't expecting the quality of the cameras to be like that either" - (Guitarist)

3. Is there anything your unhappy with?
"Hmm I'm not sure really, I think there was too many close up shots of the singer James if im honest - there's too much of that" - (Lead Guitarist) (All agree)
"I'm not too keen on that hand held shot of James either really" - (Alex - Guitarist)
"I can't really think of anything, but as a musician, I could tell we wern't really playing live - you can tell I wasn't hitting the symbol" - (Drummer)
"Yeh I noticed that too - the same with the guitars that wern't plugged in. You notice these things and it didn't look proffessional. I guess thats not your fault though!" (Guitarist)

4. What do you think of the pace and rythm?
"Yeh it worked really well with the song, it was quite fast and there were loads of shots so there was so much to look at. How did you do that?" - (Guitarist)
"Well I wish we could have chose our own song because I'm sure we could make a better rythm! - but yeh, I like what you've done with it" - (Drummer)

5. What would you have done differently?
"I'm not sure really, I would probably use more props, make the set more interesting I rekon" - (Guitarist)
"Yeh I probably wouldn't want to do it in that same set, It would of been good to have a proper location" - (Alex - Guitarist)
What about outside?
"Yeh, yeh outside! that would have been good" - (Alex - Guitarist)
"Yeh outside would be good, but I suppose it would be hard to take all the equipment out wont it, plus it was winter!" (Lead guitarist)

6. Would you make a music video again?

"Yeh deffinatly! it was quite tedious at the time having to do it over and over - but now I've seen how it turns out, yeh!" (Lead guitarist)

"Yeh I would, it was fun - I feel like a proper musician now, I wish I could do more! (Alex - Guitarist)

"I wish we could do it again, I wasn't feeling well at all that day so I wish I could have put more energy into it" - (Drummer)

7. Would you hire us if you become famous and need a music video? (laughs)

"Haha, yeh I dont see why not - you done a good job!" - (Alex - Guitarist)

(written by Emily Stansfield)