Media Evaluation Question 4 Final

I used many examples of hardware and software throughout the various production stages. This gave me some valuable experience and skill when using them.

In order to gain feedback on my video, I used survey monkey, which is a free online website. This was very useful, as this website is designed for sharing such surveys on other social networking websites such as twitter and facebook.

I put the link of my survey onto these websites, as well as on www.metalhammer.com, which includes multiple forums for me to put my survey on.

In order to gain exposure for my video, I put it on video sharing website www.youtube.com. This allowed me to see where in the world my video had been viewed, as well as being able to receive feedback from comments and whether people 'liked' or 'disliked' our video. I could also see which age group my video appealed to. 

Gender	Age
Male	18-24
Male	13-17
Female	13-17

In order to keep a record of everything I had completed on this course, I posted regularly on blogging website www.blogger.com.

If I ever thought of an idea which could be useful when it came to planning or production, I would blog it in order to refer to it later, or compare one idea to another. This was also a very useful website as it meant that I could access my work from home as well as at college, and I could also receive feedback from classmates and teachers.

When it came to creating my post-production texts, I used photoshop. This was a very useful design tool as it allowed me to access all areas of editing images, such as colour, exposure, contrast and much more. Photoshop is built on a very user-friendly interface, which made creating the texts enjoyable, as it was interesting trying out different types of editing in order to make an effective digipak and magazine advertisement.

CMOS, 6.1, Mega pixal, still image recording. These are some high quality cameras, and allowed us to produce some good footage of the band.We could also capture some high quality sound from the band which was useful when it came to editing the footage. We used a total of 2 of these cameras, as we wanted to shoot as much footage as possible. 

Sony handy cam, HDV, 108i/min DV. This, in reference to its name, is a very 'handy' camera, as its small size make it easy to carry around and film. This would be a very good camera to actively hold and shoot close-up shots. The slight shake that would naturally occur when holding the camera turned out to be very effective, as it's 'out-of-control' style actually suited the genre of the song.

When editing, our group decided to use the 'iMovie' software available on the 'iMac'. The majority of the group used 'finalcut', but we felt that after creating a very good preliminary task and thriller opening in the previous year on this software, that we would be most comfortable using this software once again. This also meant that we could spend less time finding out how to use a new software when we could get on with editing. The iMac itself was originally a very difficult computer to operate, as the entire group was used to windows computers, but after a year of using this system we became very confident, and ended up produces the large majority of our work on these computer systems.



In summary, all these new media technologies were vitally important in the creation and planning stages of our overall productions. All the systems and software were simple to use, but it was the opportunities available to us that was most pleasing. These opportunities were most common in the actual production stages, when it came to editing the footage and creating the post-production texts. The websites we used to share the information, such as facebook and twitter, were very helpful in the sense that our video could be seen by friends, allowing them to give feedback. Our survey on Survey Monkey could then be distributed to these people.

Media Evaluation Question 3 Final

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Acquiring audience feedback was an important part in the decisions made in the production stages of my digipak and magazine advertisement. I gathered a total of 22 responses from the questionnaire I produced on www.surveymonkey.com, and distributed it to friends on websites such as twitter and facebook, as well as several metalcore fan websites. The questions I asked were as follows:

1. What is your gender?
2. What is your age
3. Do you listen to this type of music? if so how often?
4. What could be improved?
5. What parts of the video did you enjoy?
6. Did the video reflect the genre of music?
7. Did you find the video interesting? If so why/why not?

I made my questionnaire fairly concise in order not to put people off answering it, but made sure I included important questions which could help me. I aimed to acquire mostly qualitative data, as this would be useful when it came to applying certain responses to my post-production products and changes to the video. I did however include a couple of questions that provide quantitative data, which would be quick to analyse.

Question 1 - What is your gender?

This was an important question to ask, as I would be looking to aim my texts at people of a certain gender.

The results showed the large majority of viewers were male. This was expected due to the aggressive nature of metal-core music, which would be more applicable to males rather than females. Also, all the members of the band are male, which could make them relate more to the male gender.

Question 2 - What is your age?

I asked this question in order to get a rough idea to which age group the band appeals to. 

All respondents were aged between 16-21. This was expected as the majority of the responses were gathered from facebook and twitter, so would be of my age group.  Fear The Unknown are a young, upcoming band, so it was always likely they would appeal to a younger audience. This information helped me to base my magazine ad and digipak around what would appeal to a younger audience, such as being loud and bright.

3. Do you listen to this type of music? If so how often?


This was an encouraging response, as it showed that all of the respondents has listened to this genre of music before, meaning that they will at least know a little about what confirms a metalcore song.

This meant that other responses regarding the music video would be more reliable.

4. What could be improved?

Many people picked up on the 'cartoon' effect we used throughout the video. It was implied that this was a little distracting, but it was advised that this wasn't removed as it worked well in some areas. It was also suggested that the black and white effect was used a little more, as this worked well to reflect the genre of the song.

5. What parts of the video did you enjoy?


Some people enjoyed how we introduced each member of the band at the start of the video. The majority of people however found the switch of colour between the 'singing' and 'screaming' as very effective, as this helped the heighten the mix in emotions of the song.

6. Did the video reflect the genre of music?

This was an encouraging set of results, as the music video did, in some way at least, reflect the genre of metal core. Areas in which I think it does was through the use of colour in the 'screaming' areas of the song. Other areas in which I think it may not could be through the 'cartoon' effect we used, as although some people said it was effective, it may not be as applicable to the overall genre of metalcore.

7. Did you find the video interesting? If so why/why not?

The majority of people found the video interesting, but I found some interesting responses from this question. One person stated that the location was fairly repetitive, and although it was a performance based video, some outside shots would be more interesting. I did feel that this would be the case, but although only one person picked up on this, it may not be in need of change.

Media Evaluation Question 2 Final

How effective is the combination of your main product with ancillary texts?

When creating a digipak and magazine advert, it was important that I combined the visual aspects of both. I looked at successful metalcore examples, and I found products created by Slipknot. As you can see, these two examples show the same image, but both express different things. The digipak is expressing information of the band plus the CD, whereas the magazine advert is showing the tour dates and a brief summary of the band style. This intertextual reference allows people to recognise the band, and therefore this image of the used for both examples has become a particular 'theme' for the band, which is something I looked to create for Fear The Unknown.

As you can see I have used the same image for the background of my magazine advert as I have for a segment of my digipak. This image is a picture of the band, standing in front of a graffitied wall. This is a powerful image as the graffiti symbolises rebellion, which is a common characteristic of the metalcore genre.

Another recurring image I looked to use was the symbol 'FTU', which stands for Fear The Unknown. I used this logo for both the magazine ad and the digipak, again to create a recognisable logo for fans of the band to    adhere to and use when referring to the band.

Other segments I included in my digipak includes a track list and lyrics. It was important that I included the lyrics as they help to further represent the genre of music, as well as giving the audience a chance to learn the lyrics to the song, which is a common characteristic of many digipaks of today.

Another image of the band I used was a combination of 'stills' I captured prior to filming the band. I then submerged these together to form a 'stained glass effect'. The way I merged them appears to show the members as reflections over broken glass. This portrays another sense of rebellion, as the smashed glass can represent aggression and passion, which is very common in metalcore music.

Another way I created intertextuality between the magazine ad and digipak was through the use of font. I used the font 'Trajan Pro', as I felt the block capitals and almost old-fashioned style helped to further portray the genre of metalcore. I chose this font as it appeared to be the style of font used on churches and gravestones, and the dark nature of this made it appropriate for use on a digipak and magazine ad for a metalcore band.

Media Evaluation Question 1 Final

Media Evaluation Question 1

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

Genre

We decided to create our Promotional Music Pack for a local band named ‘Fear The Unknown’. The genre of this band’s music is ‘metalcore’, which is a subgenre of heavy metal containing various elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk. Successful bands of this genre include ‘As I Lay Dying’ and ‘Bullet for My Valentine’, so there were some comparisons we could make regarding the creation of the music video. Typical genre conventions of metalcore videos include darkness, and the portrayal of fear. In addition to this, metalcore videos often shows real passion amongst members of the band when performing. In order to show this, it was important that we included close-up shots of the members singing the lyrics. This allowed us to capture their passion and emotion when singing, which is very popular in metalcore songs.

Shot types

Like the majority of metalcore music videos, we decided to shoot a performance based video. This meant that a lot of focus would have to go on including close ups of the instruments being played, as well as shots including all the members of the band. We aimed to shoot a large variety of shot types in order to give us plenty of material to work with as well as giving the audience lots of different angles to see the band from.

We included a few examples of panning shots, especially during the intro, as this was a good time to show the entire band before the singing began. Despite this, the majority of the shots were fixed. We did vary the angles of the shots, especially when showing Con, the back-up singer and guitarist, as this helped to show a towering effect over the audience when the low pitched notes were sang, as this did help to represent fear and conform to the genre of metalcore.

Camerawork

We used two CMOS, 6.1, Mega pixel, still image recording cameras and two Sony handy cams, HDV, 108i/min DV cameras to shoot out music video. We also used two Manfrotto tripods, (190 x B). We decided that we would base one of our large CMOS mega pixel cameras on a tripod at the front of the room for the entire duration of filming. This allowed us to see the entire band, but with the main focus being on the lead singer. We then decided that we would use both of the handy cams to get a close-up of the instruments being played. We also used our second large CMOS camera to be based below the second singer/guitarist.

Editing

In order to relate to the metalcore genre, we have decided to include plenty of fast-cuts in order to show a fast, aggressive style. As we were filming a performance based video, it was important that we included plenty of cuts between different members of the band in order to show what instruments were being played. It was important that we used colour as a way of signifying the genre of metalcore. During the parts of the song which were a lot more fierce and loud, we decided to darken the colour of the shots.

Whilst we were researching some metalcore bands for inspiration, we found contrasting the colour for different parts of a song was very effective. The song ‘Tears Don’t Fall’ by metalcore band ‘Bullet For My Valentine’ used this technique. It appeared that the louder notes being played and sung were more effective as there was also a change in what you see rather than just what you hear.

Locations

Our music video was filmed at Earth Studios in Sprowston. This was perfect as it was fairly local, and had enough space to fit in all the filming equipment and the band as we were shooting a narrative based video. Performance based metal-core music videos tend to be performed on a clearing or on a stage, but we found that shooting in a room like this would be equally effective as the focus was always on the band.

Digipak

This is my digipak in comparison to another metal-core genre digipak made by slipknot. As shown, successful metalcore digipaks should include lots of colour and vibrancy. This helps it to stand out, as well as giving it an aggressive style, which is very similar to the nature of metalcore music itself.  I also noticed that many metalcore digipaks included pictures of the band, so I have decided to include this as well. A genre characteristic of metalcore is blood, so it was important that I included a lot of the colour red. I used this theme throughout my digipak, but decided to make sure I used it on the front cover of the digipak, as this would be the first thing people see, allowing them to realise the genre of the band without already opening it.

Magazine ad

This is my magazine ad in comparison to ‘Kerrang!’ magazine, which often includes plenty of metalcore content. The ‘Kerrang!’ example included an image of the band ‘Biffy Clyro’, which is similar to what I have included on my example. In addition to this, like the digipak examples, there is again a lot of colour in order to mimic the metalcore genre. Again, like the digipak, I made sure I included the colour red somewhere on my magazine ad. I decided to use this for the logo (FTU), as not only does it represent the metalcore genre in general, but it also directly relates it to the bands name.

Application to theory

I can apply 6 of Goodwin's elements to my music video. These are:

• Relationship between lyrics and visuals

Throughout the song, there are plenty of examples of reference to death and fear. It was important that we expressed these through what the audience sees when listening to these lyrics. We therefore decided to darken the visuals when these more effective and violent lyrics were sung. For example, “I am, I am the watch tower, I watch, but I only watch them die” makes reference to death, so in order to portray these visually we needed to show darkness. Also, it wasn’t just the actual lyrics being sung which would account for this, but also the tone and speed. We therefore decided to darken the visuals when low pitched lyrics were sung at a fast pace. After this, when the lyrics seem less aggressive and the pitch and speed returned to normal, we needed to lighten up the visuals again. 

• Links between Music and visuals 

As we filmed a performance based video, it was important that we kept what was being seen (the visuals) in time with the track in the background (the music). In order to do this we kept cameras placed predominantly facing the two members of the band singing at all times. We also always had cameras facing the members playing instruments for inclusion in the video during solos, as these would be the focus of attention for a short period of time

• Genre characteristics

As referenced above, applying the traditional genre characteristics to my music video was very important. In order to do this, i had to match the characteristics of darkness and fear, as well as following the characteristics of a narrative based music video.

• Intertextual reference

The band members all wore clothes which they would wear if they were playing at a gig. In addition to this, they played their own instruments. This was considered in order to make the band more recognisable, as well as showing the audience their own personal identity.

• Notion of looking

The main priority of the video was to show the whole band playing for the majority of the song, but we did pay compliment to the notion of looking. Examples of this include when we show a close-up of the drums being played. It appears that are looking over the shoulder of the drummer (Callum). Not only did this help to show the aggressive style of the drums being hit hard, in relation to this genre, but it helped to make the audience feel closer to the band.

• Close ups of artists

We did aim to show an even share of the band members, but it was natural to have more shots of the lead singer (James) and back-up singer/guitarist (Con). We did however show many close-ups of the other band members playing their individual instruments to vary the notion of the shots as well as showing all the different areas of what was going on during the performance.

Media Evaluation Question 1 (Draft)

Media Evaluation Question 1

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

Genre

We decided to create our Promotional Music Pack for a local band named ‘Fear The Unknown’. The genre of this band’s music is ‘metalcore’, which is a subgenre of heavy metal containing various elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk. Successful bands of this genre include ‘As I Lay Dying’ and ‘Bullet for My Valentine’, so there were some comparisons we could make regarding the creation of the music video. 

Shot types

Like the majority of metalcore music videos, we decided to shoot a performance based video. This meant that a lot of focus would have to go on including close ups of the instruments being played, as well as shots including all the members of the band. We aimed to shoot a large variety of shot types in order to give us plenty of material to work with as well as giving the audience lots of different angles to see the band from.

Camerawork

We used two CMOS, 6.1, Mega pixel, still image recording cameras and two Sony handy cams, HDV, 108i/min DV cameras to shoot out music video. We also used two Manfrotto tripods, (190 x B). We decided that we would base one of our large CMOS mega pixel cameras on a tripod at the front of the room for the entire duration of filming. This allowed us to see the entire band, but with the main focus being on the lead singer. We then decided that we would use both of the handy cams to get a close-up of the instruments being played. We also used our second large CMOS camera to be based below the second singer/guitarist.

Editing

In order to relate to the metalcore genre, we have decided to include plenty of fast-cuts in order to show a fast, aggressive style. As we were filming a performance based video, it was important that we included plenty of cuts between different members of the band in order to show what instruments were being played. It was important that we used colour as a way of signifying the genre of metalcore. During the parts of the song which were a lot more fierce and loud, we decided to darken the colour of the shots.

Whilst we were researching some metalcore bands for inspiration, we found contrasting the colour for different parts of a song was very effective. The song ‘Tears Don’t Fall’ by metalcore band ‘Bullet For My Valentine’ used this technique. It appeared that the louder notes being played and sung were more effective as there was also a change in what you see rather than just what you hear.

Locations

Our music video was filmed at Earth Studios in Sprowston. This was perfect as it was fairly local, and had enough space to fit in all the filming equipment and the band as we were shooting a narrative based video. Performance based metal-core music videos tend to be performed on a clearing or on a stage, but we found that shooting in a room like this would be equally effective as the focus was always on the band.

Digipak

This is my digipak in comparison to another metal-core genre digipak made by slipknot. I As shown, successful metalcore digipaks should include lots of colour and vibrancy. This helps it to stand out, as well as giving it an aggressive style, which is very similar to the nature of metalcore music itself.  I also noticed that many metalcore digipaks included pictures of the band, so I have decided to include this as well.

Magazine ad

This is my magazine ad in comparison to ‘Kerrang!’ magazine, which often includes plenty of metalcore content. The ‘Kerrang!’ example included an image of the band ‘Biffy Clyro’, which is similar to what I have included on my example. In addition to this, like the digipak examples, there is again a lot of colour in order to mimic the metalcore genre.

Relationship between lyrics and visuals

Throughout the song, there are plenty of examples of reference to death and fear. It was important that we expressed these through what the audience sees when listening to these lyrics. We therefore decided to darken the visuals when these more effective and violent lyrics were sung. For example, “I am, I am the watch tower, I watch, but I only watch them die” makes reference to death, so in order to portray these visually we needed to show darkness. Also, it wasn’t just the actual lyrics being sung which would account for this, but also the tone and speed. We therefore decided to darken the visuals when low pitched lyrics were sung at a fast pace. After this, when the lyrics seem less aggressive and the pitch and speed returned to normal, we needed to lighten up the visuals again. 

Digipak

Magazine advert