A Final Note

Dear Sir/Madam, 

My brief for my A2 Media Studies Coursework was to research, plan, film and edit a music video. I also had to create a digipak and webpage to act as merchandise to advertise this music video. 

On this blog you will find such products along with the research and planning that has gone with it. 

Thank you,

Holli McGann

Music Video

Digipak

Webpage

http://jackjohnsonofficial.weebly.com/

Evaluation Q4

Created with Padlet

Evaluation Q3

Evaluation Q2

·    My Colour schemes reflect the Autumn setting that we went for with the reds, oranges and browns. 

·         The photos that I edited reflect these colours but also having just the guitar yellow draws us towards the fact that he plays guitar which sells him as an artist. 

·         I used the same mise en scene across all 3 of my products to ensure that the link is made between all 3 which sells them as one individuals piece of work. 

·        We represent same type of person and music throughout to ensure that the audience are able to grasp a feel for what the acoustic genre is. 

·         Logo creates his brand for other products that he may sell which is why I used it on the digipak and the webpage. 

·         Brand name ~ Aloha Records. We came up with this ourselves looking into words that people link with Hawaii which is where Jack Johnson is from. This means that there is a discrete link between  his music and his lifestyle which is what he likes to have by promoting what he believes and promoting his own life experiences as an acoustic artist. 

·         The polaroid matches webpage. This gives off the vintage look that we are going for which represents the elements of acoustic sound. This also enhances the vintage look we went for in our music video by altering the colours in order to give a more vintage looking filter and soften the colours so that they weren’t so bold which is associated more with pop song music videos.

·         The name of the album is ‘In Between Dreams’. He is looking away from the camera on the front making it look as though when he is with his guitar, he is in his own world and almost in a day-dream like state.  

·         I created a brand logo for the artist to be used across different media artefacts. The font is called ‘pacifico’ which makes us think of the sea and surfing which is a big part of Jack Johnson’s life. By using it on the website, it creates a brand for him as an artist.

·         Autumn leaves from website reflects the setting in which we filmed our music videos. People will associate that with him as an artist. 

·      The lip syncing to sells him as an artist so that the audience can see that his face is linked to the song through the close ups. 

·         Couples represented through activities that we associate with couples doing ie. Walks, photos together, holding hands, fireworks, wedding.

·         Rom coms are popular and this isn’t too cringe worthy for people to watch

·         Our intertextual link is from a popular British movie with big British actors.

·         Appeal to our target audience of teen and young adults that are female with the idea of love and romance.

·         No dance routine as it wasn’t appropriate for the genre of the song and does not fit the conventions of an acoustic music video. 

Evaluation Q1

·         Through our research that we carried out when beginning our project, we were able to map out the conventions of acoustic music videos which is the genre of the song that we chose.

·         We found that a lot of the music videos had a very basic narrative allowing their audience to make their own interpretations on what they think is going on in the music video and to what the message that is the artist is trying to put across. In our music video, we did just this. We put the couples together looking happy in scenes that people associate with couples and friendship such as firework displays, wedding, first dance, friends being together, sitting close to each other, holding hands, talking and laughing etc, ending in the artist being with someone in the end.  This narrative was not too in depth as we wanted the audience to make their own minds up as to what they thought was meant by ‘better together’ and who and how you can be. This allows us to show the feel that acoustic music has in that it is relaxing and the nature of the lyrics of this song are not too in depth so that too much thought is not having to be put into it.

·         We made links with the lyrics and the visuals so that when ‘better together’ was sung, there was a couple so that the audience get a hint as to what message we were trying to put across.

·         Due to the nature of the song being relaxed and easy listening, we decided to use soft cross fade transitions rather than jumping from one clip to another in order for it to fit the sound. This makes it easier for the audience to follow.

·         The idea of a music video is to sell the artist as you cannot see them when you listen to their song. In order to do this, we made sure we established him as an acoustic artist. As soon as the lyrics come in in the song, we can see him on the screen. The close ups we use also highlight his key features his face such as the colour of his hair and the nature of his face. The use of his guitar was essential for the selling of him as a singer songwriter. It helps the audience with the visuals matching the music in that they can hear the guitar and see him playing it as he sings with it.

·         We did not have a dance routine as it does not match the genre of the song as dance routines are commonly found in pop genre music videos. We did pay attention to the beat of the song and ensured that discrete details such as the pace that he walked, couples walked etc. matched the beat of the song. 

Progress Log ~ 6th February

Yesterday I posted what we think is our completed music video onto facebook at 4:15pm. I set the scene as to what we had to do and what we used for inspiration. 

We have been overwhelmed by the feedback we have been given and by 2:30pm today, it has got 191 views on YouTube! 

It has been shared over 10 times in that time period and we have recieved a huge amount of comments!

Today, I have been working on my question 4 of my evaluation as I have chosen to use prezi to present this question.

Question 4 ~ Prezi Link

Progress Log ~ 22nd January

Over the Christmas holidays, I managed to get a small amount of footage when I went to a family gathering which will be good to include in our music video. 

Progress Log ~ 21st January

At the weekend, I went down to Devon to see my cousin (who's wedding video footage features in our music video) as she has had a baby 2 weeks ago. I was able to take footage of the baby scans and of the baby sleeping which i think will be a nice piece of footage to use in our music video. 

Progress Log ~ 13th January

Today, I started the improvements on my digipak.

I manipulated a new photo on the front using Adobe Photoshop, I made the image black and white bar the guitar in order to be eye catching and selling him as an artist. I made the album name text smaller in order for his name to stand out and moved the design around. In order to keep a simpler colour scheme, I kept the font to just the coral and black so that the yellow guitar stood out.

 

Q4 Evaluation ~ How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Our research and planning was the first stage of this project. The main element that enabled us to carry out such a wide range of research which helped us gain inspiration and more knowledge for when we started our production process of filming and editing was the internet by using Google mainly.

·         Google – Research

·         Blogger – Research, uploading our work

·         DaFont – To create my logos

·         Mobile Phones – During filming for song, using social media, using editing apps for photos and filming with camera, group communication, quick research

·         Apple Macs – Editing stage

·         Digital Camera – My Nikon to film and take images

·         Final Cut Pro – To edit main piece

·         MoviePlus – opening text and quote  

·         Photoshop – Editing photos

·         Audio Recorder – To record our opening quote

·         Facebook – Group communication

·         Youtube – To upload our raw footage and drafts and questionnaires during research. 

Q3 ~ What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Will put it on facebook to get feedback

Use online surveys

Email it to people

Show to people

All from target audience

Questions:

1.)  What do you think is good about our music video?

2.)  What do you think could be improved?

3.)  What would you have done differently?

4.)  What message did you get from the music video?

5.)  Would this digipak draw your attention in a music shop?

6.)  Would you ever look at the artists webpage?

7.)  If so, what would you be looking for?

8.)  What do you like about this webpage? 

Q2 Evaluation ~ How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

·         Colour schemes

·         Autumn setting

·         Photos

·         Same mise en scene

·         Represent same type of person and music throughout

·         Audience put the two together.

·         Logo creates his brand

·         Brand name ~ Aloha Records. We came up with this ourselves looking into words that people link with Hawaii which is where Jack Johnson is from. This means that there is a discrete link between  his music and his lifestyle which is what he likes to have by promoting what he believes and promoting his own life experiences as an acoustic artist. 

·         The polaroid matches webpage. This gives off the vintage look that we are going for which represents the elements of acoustic sound. This also enhances the vintage look we went for in our music video by altering the colours in order to give a more vintage looking filter and soften the colours so that they weren’t so bold which is associated more with pop song music videos.

·         Same mise en scene that we used throughout ensuring that the 3 products are linked together and feel up to date.

·         The name of the album is ‘In Between Dreams’. He is looking away from the camera on the front making it look as though when he is with his guitar, he is in his own world and almost in a day-dream like state.  

·         I created a brand logo for the artist to be used across different media artefacts. The font is called ‘pacifico’ which makes us think of the sea and surfing which is a big part of Jack Johnson’s life. By using it on the website, it creates a brand for him as an artist.

·         Autumn leaves from website

·         Acoustic music – chilled and relaxed, raw

·         Lip syncing to sell him as an artist

·         Couples represented through activities that we associate with couples doing ie. Walks, photos together, holding hands, fireworks, wedding,

·         Rom coms are popular and this isn’t too cringe worthy for people to watch

·         Our intertextual link is from a popular British movie with big British actors.

·         Appeal to our target audience of teen and young adults that are female with the idea of love and romance.

·         No dance routine as it wasn’t appropriate for the genre of the song and does not fit the conventions of an acoustic music video.