Feedback on Director's Commentary

Affi

Hector, Jake Karis and MiMi

Sound and considerate understanding of the technologies used in production of the video, for example in terms of set design quality and the use of FCP to create ‘earthquake’ effects.

There are evident links between creative decision making and use of technology on both productions of the video using professional digital cameras and in the post production editing process – in discussion of match of action, lip syncing and graphic matching – in glitch effects and blinder lights in production. This is sustained and thorough and accurate in discussion of the branded themes of the MV of urbanism and a social realist feel.

The commentary shows a discrete awareness of the use of new media technology and uses discriminating examples really well, particularly to selection and construction of narrative, using masks and editing techniques, such as cross cutting and the pacing used. Excellent command of terminology and well presented – understands and discusses convergence really well if implied in the commentary.

There is sustained justified decision making links between the technologies used the product and audience reception in terms of the Grime genre. Recognises the need to account for errors in the post production stage.

This is a well considered documentary, well done and Well presented work.

Directors feedback on how we used new media technologies

This video above discusses how as a group we used new media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages.
what we didn't discuss in the video was the use of Photoshop and the design of our CD digipak and music poster. I will be discussing this below in detail.
Firstly we used Mac technology software, final cut pro in order to edit the video, this consisted of selecting and arranging various clips we had shot. We used final cut pro in order to edit the shots to cut to the beat of the music track.        http://www.apple.com/finalcutpro/top-features/


Although a more important tool we used for our posters and digipaks was photoshop. 
Using photoshop enabled us to manipulate images and graphic design. By working in layers and using digital tools, it allowed us to dramatically transform images into posters and digipaks. We used photoshop as it allowed us to be creative designers, as we could revise our photos, edit images, use layers and enhance quality and definition. Also the use of colours and filters enabled us to play around to find the correct balance of excitement relevant to our artist. We wanted to create a digipak and poster that would be  bold and Bright, and not only give a statement but send the message across of where Affie belongs in his inner city world. As you can clearly see with our promotional poster, we played around with using black and white, all over but then contrasting the headliens and titles with a bold Font in order for them to stand out. We added climpses of colour by the recording company, and introducing new media technologies such as facebook, twitter etc.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Photoshop

Here is a print screen of me editing my promotional poster, we cleverly used photoshop which allowed us to edit images and use layers in order to build up a final design. Although it was a time consuming project, it required effort and precision as before we started editing we had to come up with designs which would attract customers and our target audience. We changed our idea from using colour to changing our design completely and doing a black and white theme throughout. Although we added colour through icons and symbols such as the facebook and twitter logo. In order for our target audience to connect to Affie and find out more about him daily and accessibly. I feel that our promotional poster still needs a lot of work done as it dosen't feel creative or professional enough. Thats why as a group we will sit down and adjust the design elements before we finalize it. I feel it is too empty and needs something else going on, possibly to fill the white background spaces.


As well as our poster, we also used photoshop in order to create our digipak, this was a more challenging task as there were four panels rather than one. And each panel had to be different and link back to the music video itself or have some contextual meaning behind it, which would leave the audience questioning the artist himself. Here are some print screens of the process we took into making the Digipak. We choose four different pictures, one was the blinder lights which created a mysterious silhouette, another was the starcloth we used in order to potray affies in his own world, possibly space or somewhere no one else knows.
The front panel of Affie in prison, is the mug shot this was very difficult to accomplish and required many layers on photoshop. We also added effects to the picture of Affie and adjusted the contrast and exposure of the pictures in order for them to stand out and be obvious to the target market. 
At this stage of my Alevel course, i feel i have used a more advanced level of photoshop than i did last year, with my as course, this was due to using more buttons than the basic ones in order to produce a higher standard digipak. 

Evaluation task 4- pre production

Media technology played a very important part of all process within my media production, particular in pre production. In digital video, photography, television and film, pre-production refers to the tasks that must be completed or executed before filming or shooting begins. This includes tasks such as hiring actors or models, building sets, budgeting, planning, scheduling, renting equipment and tests, to name a few of the many pre-production tasks.

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/P/pre_production.html

At this stage of the process, we were researching and considering possible genres we wanted to take on, having used the search engine google, we researched the grime genre and grime artists, which we could possibly use.
Firstly wikipedia, a very famous online enclopedia gives the defniition of grime as- Grime is a style of music that emerged from Bow, East London, England in the early 2000s, primarily as a development of UK garage, dancehall, and hip hop. Pioneers of the style include Dizzee Rascal, Wiley, and Roll Deep.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grime_(music)

Other websites included- http://www.nohatsnohoods.bigcartel.com/

no hats no hoods, was our final grime record company. The reason why we chose this company was due to its reputation and brand image.It has been said that,  No Hats No Hoods is the UK’s leading Grime label. Created in 2007 when Grime releases on 12” were few and far between and the market was flooded with mixtapes, No Hats No Hoods set out to bring back vinyl culture to the scene. The label was born out of also the only regular club night in the grime music at the time, Dirty Canvas.

In order to display my research we used E-Blogger, this online tool helped me publish dynamic and creative peices of work. Within my blog, i dicuss my personal interpretations and thoughts of i used new media technologies in order to construct, reserch and plan ideas for our music video. Blogger has a creative format which can meet anybodys needs, as can be redesigned and you can upload work from powerpoint, slideshare, word, prezi etc.

http://www.blogger.com/tour_start.g

For our tests shoots, which we called prelims, we used the Hardware of Sony cameras F3 to shoot the footage we wanted. With these Sony cameras we shot our animatics too, we shot storyboards on camera in order to bring the planning to life.
Other pieces of equipment we used was mobile phone cameras, in order to cast the actors for our music video, we took photos of them and uploaded them to our blog. It was a quick and effective way to capture pictures of our actors. Once we had all the footage we then used the software Final cut pro in order to edit our simple footage.

http://www.sony.co.uk/biz/product/xdcamcamcorders/pmw-f3k/overview 


One of the difficulties we faced was in fact finding the music track, we needed a specific digital file (WAV) audio file. We needed this a specific  audio file to use not only for post production but also for the shoot day, so we could shoot in time to the song. Having done plenty of research on the internet we had difficulties finding the digitalised wav file, so we thought of emailing Mikill pane himself and asking, we emailed him but got no reply. We just used an ordinary music file which was a little distorted but it worked well, and produced a good enough sound. 

Task 3- What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Having published our final product on you tube, we achieved a lot of positive and constructive feedback. The reason we chose you tube, was because it's a free video sharing tool, interlinking social networking sites with society. Here is a screen shot of some of the feedback we received, overall we received а lot of facebook on the editing and use of shots, as well as our powerful lighting such as having used blinder lights and the starcloth as well.
In order to receive feedback, we used a variety of approaches in order to receive a variety of information, this ranged from Focus groups to personal questionnaires.

Focus group- A focus group is a form of qualitative research in which a group of people are asked about their perceptions, opinions, beliefs and attitudes towards a product, service, concept, advertisement, idea, or packaging. Questions are asked in an interactive group setting where participants are free to talk with other group members. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focus_group%20

Having looked at our audience feedback, it is evident to say that we can base the audience readings from the narrative within the video. Narration is concerned with how an event is presented; as a group we decided for our music video to be more performance based than narrative based and therefore we rationed the information an audience requires, generating curiosity amongst the readers. I decided that the beginning, middle and end are not contained in an individual scene, instead they're created by the relation ship between different elements. Such as my character Affie and the mysterious, anonymous girl. These are essential parts  of a narrative, as its the part which provides the most vital information, allowing our audience to construct meaning and form their own interpretations. This was evidently shown, through a range of readings and interpretations which connotes that various people within the same target market can have preferred readings open to questions, which differ from other people in the same target market. Its fair my music video 'Party Animal' contains narrative and it also provides a structure of meaning, an organising principal for audience to decode the text ( music video) and form personal opinions and judgements.

 Theorists such as Roland Barthes claims that a narrative can be broken down into 5 codes/rules. The codes direct the reader into making sense of the story, helping our audience form there opinions and interpretations. There are many reasons for these codes, firstly texts are polysemic, meaning they are open to many different varieties of interpretations by the audience.

Overall i have learnt that our finished products were aimed at a niche market and range from 18- 28 years old. Our market is niche because the genre of Grime music is not as popular as genres such as pop. Therefore by targeting a niche market we are advertising the genre to an audience that we know will enjoy the music. Because an audience has already been built after Dizzee Rascal and Wiley brought the grime genre to the mainstream audience between 2003- 2004 we know that we have an existing audience. Although it was brought to the attention of the mainstream media Grime / dance is still considered as ‘Underground Music’.

On the Jictar scale our target audience is under the categories of-

A- higher management/administration/professional

B-middle management/administration/professional.

C1-supervisory/clerical/Junior management.

We would use a physiographic segmentation- under the teenage VALS (various attitudes, values, beliefs and lifestyle choices). Our target audience would be categorised as-:

- rebels

-trendies

-drop-outs

-innovators

We believe our target audience would be from a black, urban, working class community.The most important thing that i learnt from our audience feedback was that each individual had interpreted the narrative in a different way, it was evident that our music video was more performance based although people admitted they were confused with the whole narrative, and that is due to the fact that we left the music video on a 'Cliffhanger', a device television dramas and soaps use in order to keep the audience on there toes and leave them intrigued and demanding to watch the next episode, keeping there interested. This technique was used in my music video in order to allow our target audience to interpret how they wanted to. Mainly due to the fact that our text is polysemic, and open to interpretation, preferred reading is very relevant as it is down to the individual and there opinions. Although on the other hand, my group challenged typical stereotypes of black, urban rappers against societies views, we created Affie who is representing a godly figure, looking down onto the mysterious, anonymous girl caring for her, allowing her to step out of her shell, and stop being a recluse. This challenged the audience as usually black, urban grime artists are considered to be dangerous, hard and tough, this changed as Affie yes has a very strong stage presence although this juxtaposes due to the worldly, concerning issues he sings about, out to the audience.

Underneath is a focus group of our target audience being intereviewed for there opinions and the aspects they struggled to understand or liked-

Feedback

You make many good points in your presentation which I feel is an excellent address of the evaluation task.  In particular you bring together many points in relation to the campaign and the marketing mix that you want to create, with suggested areas of development.  there are one or two things that you need to do to ensure that the evaluation fully meets level four criteria.  First check your spelling in the slides as errors are evident.  I do feel that you need to revise who the target audience for your campaign, an 18 year old has very different tastes to a 28 year old.  It might be better if you argued that you had a primary and secondary market with different if similar sets of VALS.  Also try to use Dyer's arguments on the star image and you have created a brand identity for your artist.  I am not sure if grime is a feature I would expect to see in NME magazine.  Can you please blog evaluation task one.
Thank you, well done an excellent effort.

TASK 2

Task 1

In order to complete task one, we thought it was appropriate to create a PowerPoint. We chose stills from our video, two panels from out digipak cover and our promotional poster to discuss. These stills are clearly shown in the PowerPoint with some text which explains how it illustrated our choices in using or challenging exisiting forms and conventions of music marketing.

Final product, on Youtube.