Question 1

Question 3: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Questionnaire

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

Final Digipak and Magazine Advert

Music Video Final edit

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

Through using a DSLR camera instead of a point and shoot camera, it allowed us to be more creative because a DSLR lets in more light into its lense, therefore creating a more ambitious and aspirational picture. This in turn let us target our younger audience which belong to the ‘street artist’ subculture/tribe, which involves trying to get their “voice heard”. Therefore, this aspirational look appeals to them because they can relate to it. Moreover, the DSLR had a wide variety of settings and modes we used which allowed us to be more creative again, because for example in my digipak I could change the aperture or focus allowing me to implement different depth of fields for the viewer, to make it visually interesting for them.

Also, the older filming cameras were not HD and because they used film, you had to edit in a linear order. But because we used a newer HD camera, we could edit in a non-linear sequence. So, for example this allowed for us to go back and re-shoot if a shot was poor or if we needed more footage. Therefore, allowing us to be more creative again because it’s also in better detail, this also allowed us to have a wider variety of shots.

One of the issues we found with using this DSLR cameras was because of its shape, was certain angles and shot types. However, through using other technologies like tripods, we solved this problem, so rectifying any creativity we would have lost.

By having the access to this variety of tools which made us more creative, we felt empowered, as we didn’t feel confined by a lack of access/tools to only being able to shoot certain shots in a certain way.

Using Adobe PremierPro to edit our footage enhanced our creativity again because there was such a variety editing tools we used to make our final video. From simply cropping a clip to the exact length you want so it matches a cut, creating synchronicity therefore the effect of power and control for our characters. To more complex techniques such as using a razor tool to create a jump cut, allowing us to discard the boring/unnecessary moments easily. As there were so many possibilities of editing tools we could use, it made our music video have more variety. Uploading the raw footage onto a computer allowed us to look it on a larger screen, so look closer for mistakes and also allowed for my collaboration between me and my editing partner, as we could both easily look at the wide monitor screen while one of us editied. Adobe Photoshop gave me the same principles as PremierPro, except I used it to edit my still images for my digipak. For example, I could sharpen my image making it more eye catching for the viewer, therefore they are more likely to listen to this underground unknown artist. Not only is this part of my target audience’s characteristics, but it allows the artist to feel empowered as more people are listening to his music; this could lead to him having more collaborations with other artists or record labels or new fans etc.- adding variety; people communicate more through his music as hardcore fans or new fans etc. So, by using editing techniques for my digipak and music video, it also enhances others experience in the film industry, not just my own.

Both aspects of using a camera and editing improved my digital literacy. The easy use of trial and error, by simply clicking a ‘go back’ button, meant I could play around when editing helping me learn new techniques. Newer technology having large storage systems (SD card) meant I could take 100s of photos and shots, and it wouldn’t matter the setting I had just played around with, to try and learn new things, because there was plenty of space to re-shoot in different (more safer/comfortable) settings if it didn’t work out.

The use of the internet was also key, YouTube and SoundCloud gave us huge access to a variety of artists to research into to find an unsigned one with a good song to do a music video for. SoundCloud was especially useful for this because the website brand themselves upon giving new artists a format to break out on, having 10,000s of songs that can be easily narrowed down through genre or similar songs, having a “Discover” section. YouTube was more useful when researching codes and conventions of the genre, as we could look at other music videos within the genre easily, but it’s still useful because it allows anyone to upload anything they want. Spotify also helped because it came up with specifically Samuel Fords related artists. In this way, YouTube and SoundCloud are empowering because they give anyone with a recording technologies the ability to upload their creativity on the internet and share it with the rest of the world. Therefore, these websites are also democratising, because the content you upload could be political, often giving ordinary people a means of spreading their voice/awareness., allowing for digital citizenship. Furthermore, these sites allow for even more collaboration and communication, with the ability to comment on videos/songs and personal message anyone, this can be a form of feedback for the artist so they can improve. And the messaging is a more professional means than for example social media, this communication allows more creativity.

Blogger was creative because it allowed for many formats to be uploaded to it- videos, pictures, Slideshare, Isuu, Scribd etc. through hosting sites, this also helped with my learning as seeing things in different ways made me remember it more, therefore when it came to filming I had more knowledge to easily refer to in my head.  Moreover, Blogger itself is customisable therefore we feel more individualistic as we can make it how we want, not for example how the teacher would want (within reason). Overall Blogger was incredibly empowering because of this customisable choice, and because I can express myself in a variety of ways, as can everyone else in the world with access to the internet, I don’t feel creatively confined. Additionally, Blogger is very collaborative because it allowed for the teacher to comment on posts on improvements to my work. It also allowed me to get inspiration from other people’s work, especially useful as I worked in a group of 4, they may have creative ideas I couldn’t think of, helping me gain knowledge and alternative viewpoints. Many of my friends doing politics have blogs where they talk about political stuff, so Blogger is also democratic in its ability to let anyone openly share their viewpoint, and let anyone comment and debate back.

Social media has been incredibly beneficial in communicating between my group and the actors. As we have access to it near enough all day and anywhere on our phones it made arranging filming, discussing things and asking each other questions very easy.

Adobe Kuler is another site allowing me to be creative, it constructs colour palettes from photos allowing me to analyse conventional ones of my chosen genre, or to analyse my own to see if they fit in with the genre.

When doing my target audience research there were many effective websites I used. YouGov allows for you to statistically look at people, and their interests and hobbies it gave us a lot of access to help us tailor our video and digipaks specifically for our target audience. For example, it told us that they enjoy nature and museums, therefore we used a lot of scenic nature shots in out video. Moreover, another website called FindYourTribe allowed us to identify the subculture they are from. Therefore, this is why we used a DSLR I talked about in the beginning.

Story boards

 These are rough story boards we will follow so we know what to film, we will also film a lot more variety of shot types and angles, and b roll shots.