Monday, 28 April 2014
Superman - The Final Version
Sunday, 27 April 2014
Evaluation Question 1
There are several iconic music videos that have influenced the making of the more recent videos by the different convention that have been used. In Superman, there have been numerous different conventions that have been used in other music videos which has inspired the creation of Superman. In this evaluation question I am going to specify the several techniques that were used.
Looking Through Screens
One of the first conventions that was used in the music video, Superman is where the main actor is watching a trailer of a movie on his phone. This convention is called Looking Through Screens because it is the audience who is watching a video through another screen be-it mobile, phone, television etc. This is generally used in music videos as a way of making the audience know what the person is looking at which can also be called a POV shot (Point of View). This shot was inspired by a music video called Hey Ya by Outkast which was cleverly made.The effect that was used in the music video Hey Ya is represented differently than our music video Superman because they were trying to make the video look older with the use of the old time TV frame, while on the other hand Superman is a lot more modern because instead of using an old TV set to watch a music video; the main actor is using their mobile phone which is most probably the case in today's society.
Editing In Time With The Music
Another convention that I believe will make any music video successful is if the beat of the song coincides with the editing. If a song is really fast paced, you will expect there to be a lot of cuts, fades or transitions in the video so that the music video can keep up. This can also be said about movies where for example, if an action scene was to come up then the editing and music will be much faster. Since Superman has numerous phases in the song where the tempo changes, the editing also needed to change. In the beginning of the song where all of the band members are being introduced, the tempo of the song is fast-paced. When the song comes to the point where the lyrics begin, the editing speeds up and all of the band members eyes are shown in the tune of the guitar strums.
Time Lapse
This type of convention isn't used commonly in music videos but when it is done the results can look incredible. In the music video, Superman there is a section of the song where there is a time lapse in Piccadilly Circus. Time lapse has been used in Superman although there isn't actually any sense that time has passed. Which can be seen as continuity error but there is also an alternative ending in which the main actor is in fact hallucinating which means that the whole song in fact has been his fascination of what would happen if he were to accept the group invite.
Picture In Picture
During the first minute of the music video there is a section where there are all four videos of the band on one screen which is called Picture In Picture. The inspiration for including this in our music video was taken from the song Na Na Na by My Chemical Romance.One of the more difficult aspects of doing this is having all four of the videos allign in the shot but also so that they appear in time with the music. In the My Chemical Romance video you can see that all of the four band members are in their own vehicles and are making their way to their destination. This is used in Superman as well because before the song begins all of the band members are getting prepared so it is very similar to Na Na Na. The preparation of all of the band members is sped up as well. This can be seen as a first indicator to the audience to show that the pace of the song and editing throughout the song are going to change as I have previously explained when the time lapse was shown in Piccadilly Circus.
Use Of An Iconic Location
Seeing as the music video was being filmed in the bustling city of London, the group believed that it would be a wasted opportunity if we were to not capture some of London's iconic locations which include Big Ben, Westminster Bridge, Tower Bridge, The London Eye etc. The ideal use for an iconic location is the fact that the audience will see where the location of the music video has been filmed and will instantly understand what techniques have been used in order to film. This can be seen in People Help The People by Birdy where the opening shot of the music video is the view of Tower Bridge from the inside of a taxi which has been desaturated in colour.The video is about someone who goes around London and and see people falling through the cracks of society and are just disregarded. This ties in with Superman because the main band member is going around trying to help people but he is being ignored and seen as an outcast of society as nobody is paying him any mind.
Hallucination
In some music videos there are effects that have been used to make the music video, movie or even TV show real or vice versa. For example at the end of the Superman music video in order to show the audience who are still watching and remind them that none of this is actually happening, the end clips makes it seem as if he is flying when in fact he is being held up by a swing. Another example would be in the movie Pulp Fiction where John Travolta and Uma Thurman are on the date and she says the quote 'Don't be a square' while drawing a square in mid air. This is a smartly entered part of the movie because it reminds the audience that they are only watching a movie.
Digipak
With the group we had all come to the decision that the digipak was to stay with the genre of the song which was ska. But more importantly all of the promotional items such as the magazine advert needs to be connected with the main music video Superman.
The first thing and that needed to be considered before anything else in the digipak is the background. Since the genre of music that we are using is ska and the costumes that the group were wearing during the filming had the black and white checkered theme, we believe that this would be the most suitable background for the digipak. Next came the pictures of all of the band members. Since everything on the CD packaging needed to be linked together or connected to the genre, the initial thought was to desaturate all of the members of the band to try and bring out the light and dark areas of each band members face although that was not the case and didn't achieve the look that we were going for. Next we used the effect torn edges which ultimately gave us the finished pictures as you can see on the digipak. After this stage is a crucial part which needs to be included into every digipak is the track list. All of the songs that have been inserted into the track list are all of the songs that Behind Bad Luck have produced between 2007 and 2008. Next you will have the back panel of the digipak which will include all of the smaller details which may have some further use to the customer. Things such as the bar code for purchasing, QR code for social sites such as Twitter and recommendations from companies like the Ministry Of Sound who will tell the customer how good the music really is. Lastly, you will have the front cover of the digipak which should contain the main song of the album and some kind of album art so that the customers will understand who has created the song. Normally on the front cover of the digipak it will be the main star of the band or if the whole group is on the cover then the main star will be the person to stand out more.
Magazine Advert
For the audience to be able to figure out that the digipak, music video and the magazine advert are all connected, it would make sense to use an image that would be used on all of the promotional material. This is exactly why the image that has been used on the magazine advert is the same image that has been selected to be on the magazine advert. Most of the material that is on the magazine advert is similar to the digipak. This can be seen from the type of font and colour that has been used for the title, the QR code which is on the back panel of the digipak and all of the same companies that were present on the digipak. Even though most of the same material has been generally copied over to this advert, we believe that to state that we are also trying to create a motif for the ska genre by repeatedly using the same checkered design which can be looked at in the bottom section of the advert. Magazine adverts which are usually linked with ska type genre music tend to lack colour apart from the select pictures that aim to stand out and draw the customers attention. This technique has been used in Streetlight Manifesto's album cover which has all of the other areas of the cover in black and white while you have the vibrant red stick out which will draw the customer to that section. Now very similar to the digipak in order for it to look a lot more professional it was advised that we were to add a rating from a company and add a quote from them.
All of the promotional material that has been created with the Superman music video consistently has had inter textual references to different kinds which have been made aware above. While we may have used the above influences a lot in our music video, digipak and magazine advert a lot of the creativity came from the group.
Looking Through Screens
One of the first conventions that was used in the music video, Superman is where the main actor is watching a trailer of a movie on his phone. This convention is called Looking Through Screens because it is the audience who is watching a video through another screen be-it mobile, phone, television etc. This is generally used in music videos as a way of making the audience know what the person is looking at which can also be called a POV shot (Point of View). This shot was inspired by a music video called Hey Ya by Outkast which was cleverly made.The effect that was used in the music video Hey Ya is represented differently than our music video Superman because they were trying to make the video look older with the use of the old time TV frame, while on the other hand Superman is a lot more modern because instead of using an old TV set to watch a music video; the main actor is using their mobile phone which is most probably the case in today's society.Editing In Time With The Music
Another convention that I believe will make any music video successful is if the beat of the song coincides with the editing. If a song is really fast paced, you will expect there to be a lot of cuts, fades or transitions in the video so that the music video can keep up. This can also be said about movies where for example, if an action scene was to come up then the editing and music will be much faster. Since Superman has numerous phases in the song where the tempo changes, the editing also needed to change. In the beginning of the song where all of the band members are being introduced, the tempo of the song is fast-paced. When the song comes to the point where the lyrics begin, the editing speeds up and all of the band members eyes are shown in the tune of the guitar strums.Time Lapse
This type of convention isn't used commonly in music videos but when it is done the results can look incredible. In the music video, Superman there is a section of the song where there is a time lapse in Piccadilly Circus. Time lapse has been used in Superman although there isn't actually any sense that time has passed. Which can be seen as continuity error but there is also an alternative ending in which the main actor is in fact hallucinating which means that the whole song in fact has been his fascination of what would happen if he were to accept the group invite. Picture In Picture
During the first minute of the music video there is a section where there are all four videos of the band on one screen which is called Picture In Picture. The inspiration for including this in our music video was taken from the song Na Na Na by My Chemical Romance.One of the more difficult aspects of doing this is having all four of the videos allign in the shot but also so that they appear in time with the music. In the My Chemical Romance video you can see that all of the four band members are in their own vehicles and are making their way to their destination. This is used in Superman as well because before the song begins all of the band members are getting prepared so it is very similar to Na Na Na. The preparation of all of the band members is sped up as well. This can be seen as a first indicator to the audience to show that the pace of the song and editing throughout the song are going to change as I have previously explained when the time lapse was shown in Piccadilly Circus.Use Of An Iconic Location
Seeing as the music video was being filmed in the bustling city of London, the group believed that it would be a wasted opportunity if we were to not capture some of London's iconic locations which include Big Ben, Westminster Bridge, Tower Bridge, The London Eye etc. The ideal use for an iconic location is the fact that the audience will see where the location of the music video has been filmed and will instantly understand what techniques have been used in order to film. This can be seen in People Help The People by Birdy where the opening shot of the music video is the view of Tower Bridge from the inside of a taxi which has been desaturated in colour.The video is about someone who goes around London and and see people falling through the cracks of society and are just disregarded. This ties in with Superman because the main band member is going around trying to help people but he is being ignored and seen as an outcast of society as nobody is paying him any mind. Hallucination
In some music videos there are effects that have been used to make the music video, movie or even TV show real or vice versa. For example at the end of the Superman music video in order to show the audience who are still watching and remind them that none of this is actually happening, the end clips makes it seem as if he is flying when in fact he is being held up by a swing. Another example would be in the movie Pulp Fiction where John Travolta and Uma Thurman are on the date and she says the quote 'Don't be a square' while drawing a square in mid air. This is a smartly entered part of the movie because it reminds the audience that they are only watching a movie.Digipak
With the group we had all come to the decision that the digipak was to stay with the genre of the song which was ska. But more importantly all of the promotional items such as the magazine advert needs to be connected with the main music video Superman.The first thing and that needed to be considered before anything else in the digipak is the background. Since the genre of music that we are using is ska and the costumes that the group were wearing during the filming had the black and white checkered theme, we believe that this would be the most suitable background for the digipak. Next came the pictures of all of the band members. Since everything on the CD packaging needed to be linked together or connected to the genre, the initial thought was to desaturate all of the members of the band to try and bring out the light and dark areas of each band members face although that was not the case and didn't achieve the look that we were going for. Next we used the effect torn edges which ultimately gave us the finished pictures as you can see on the digipak. After this stage is a crucial part which needs to be included into every digipak is the track list. All of the songs that have been inserted into the track list are all of the songs that Behind Bad Luck have produced between 2007 and 2008. Next you will have the back panel of the digipak which will include all of the smaller details which may have some further use to the customer. Things such as the bar code for purchasing, QR code for social sites such as Twitter and recommendations from companies like the Ministry Of Sound who will tell the customer how good the music really is. Lastly, you will have the front cover of the digipak which should contain the main song of the album and some kind of album art so that the customers will understand who has created the song. Normally on the front cover of the digipak it will be the main star of the band or if the whole group is on the cover then the main star will be the person to stand out more.
Magazine Advert
For the audience to be able to figure out that the digipak, music video and the magazine advert are all connected, it would make sense to use an image that would be used on all of the promotional material. This is exactly why the image that has been used on the magazine advert is the same image that has been selected to be on the magazine advert. Most of the material that is on the magazine advert is similar to the digipak. This can be seen from the type of font and colour that has been used for the title, the QR code which is on the back panel of the digipak and all of the same companies that were present on the digipak. Even though most of the same material has been generally copied over to this advert, we believe that to state that we are also trying to create a motif for the ska genre by repeatedly using the same checkered design which can be looked at in the bottom section of the advert. Magazine adverts which are usually linked with ska type genre music tend to lack colour apart from the select pictures that aim to stand out and draw the customers attention. This technique has been used in Streetlight Manifesto's album cover which has all of the other areas of the cover in black and white while you have the vibrant red stick out which will draw the customer to that section. Now very similar to the digipak in order for it to look a lot more professional it was advised that we were to add a rating from a company and add a quote from them.All of the promotional material that has been created with the Superman music video consistently has had inter textual references to different kinds which have been made aware above. While we may have used the above influences a lot in our music video, digipak and magazine advert a lot of the creativity came from the group.
Evaluation Question 2
I have produced a Popplet explaining how effective the digipak and magazine advert are and tie in with the main music video of Superman.
Evaluation Question 3
Getting feedback from the audience is always the best way to ensure that the target market was met and how successful the product was. But on the other hand it could also be an indicator that there are things that need to be added to make sure that it reaches a much broader target audience. After the Survey Monkey questionnaire had been completed, the best place for it to have been filled in was to send a link to Facebook and Twitter which are both the top social sites in today's society which mean there will be a much higher chance that it will be completed.Survey Monkey
On the right there is a print screen from one of the responses of the survey that I have created from Survey Monkey. One of the aspects of the response to this survey was the last question in which they left a comment in. The feedback received was different from all of the other response because they all referenced music videos that were tied in with the R&B genre type of music while Michael Jackson's song seems to be more pop. One of the questions that I believed was important to whether or not Superman would be successful is if when the audience is hearing Superman would they be interested in the song or the video. This is an interesting point to research because people will listen to songs on the radio or TV but have never seen the actual video to the song which may also be the whole reasoning behind the lyrics. In most of the responses that was received from the questionnaire, as i suspected, most teenagers will watch the video to the music but from the other pieces of feedback that I have collected people who are over the age of 18 are less likely to search and watch the music video.YouTube
Rough Cut Feedback
As you can see from the print screen on the right, there was not as much success on the rough cut as there was with the main music video Superman. This is clearly seen by the much smaller amount of views that the video has received and also the lack of comments. Seeing as the rough cut didn't help with the process of figuring out if we have reached our target market, the group then decided to each create their own surveys and show them to the general public which, did in fact, give us the results that we were hoping to get from the rough cut.
Saturday, 26 April 2014
Evaluation Question 4
- Photoshop
- Camera
- Final Cut Express
- Phones
- Unsigned.com
- Microsoft Word
- Survey Monkey
- Blogger
How did you use new media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages?
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)