Note to examiner

Dear Moderator, 
My name is Natasha Price, my candidate number is 9145. 

My final music video, digipak and website are found at the top of my blog.

Thankyou for taking the time to read my A2 media coursework.

The following links are for my fellow group members: Charlee -  http://charleemillar18.blogspot.co.uk and Grace- http://gracekeyte9107a2.blogspot.co.uk

Every time you go music video - Final Video

 Here is our final media music video, we had a lot of fun making this video and we hope you enjoy watching it.

Final Website

After getting feedback from Mrs Howlett, I went back and changed a variety of different things on my website.
For example, the photo gallery has become neater and more explained, rather than having random pictures everywhere, I got icons of twitter and tweets and instagram icons and next to every picture placed this with a caption. This is to link the convergence of social networking onto my website, but also gives the audience an indication of what the photos are and why they were taken.

http://natashacatherinepric.wix.com/firstdraftwebsite

Final Digipak

After listening to the criticism of my previous digipak I made as many improvements I could to ensure that it looked more professional and better. I struggle a lot with photoshop, therefore trying to do this was difficult, however, I managed to use different effects and tools this time round to make it look a lot better that originally. I tried to ensure it all linked with the Website and the Music video, by using similar images.

 

 

Evaluation

This is a prezi for our evaluation, we have used a variety of different medium within it. The Voki's can also be found in the post below. Through doing this evaluation I have learned that I have developed a variety of skills throughout this course because of the different programmes I have used. By reviewing and evaluating our work, it benefits us as it shows that although not everything is perfect we have a lot of positive aspects within our work. It allows us to understand what we would need if we did have more time spent on it.

Charlee's Voki

Grace's Voki

My Voki

Final Changes

Here are the final changes from our music video. We only had slight changes to do, this was critical feedback. We took these on board in order, as we wanted to make as many improvements as we could before we had to meet our final deadline.

The changes we did were:

Second Draft 



Final Draft

   
We turned the brightness down, as the whole theme throughout the video was always a soft focus. Therefore it would of looked out of place, and wouldn't suit the rest of the video.


Second Draft -



Final Draft



The lip-syncing was slightly off, so we ensured we corrected this, as lip-syncing is an important part of a music video.


These changes may have only been small but they benefitted our final music video, as otherwise it would of looked out place. It might also make it look unprofessional, therefore we felt we needed to do these.

Website changes

I learned from changing my website, that original ideas may look or seem to be good at first, but once they are visually presented it doesn't always work out. By doing further research and by having constructive criticism it has benefited me in ensuring my website is up to an efficient standard. I am happier with the way it looks now, however, I wish I still had images to convey how certain aspects were changed. The few I had can be located in a post below labelled Website Process.

Personal Review

Here is a voice recording of me talking about things I'e learned, what I enjoyed, what I could improve and giving a general review.

Digipak Changes

Here is a prezi showing the changes I made with my digipak. It was beneficial for me to get constructive feedback, as it allowed me to make these changes which makes my digipak look better. I learned how to use different tools, and how to manipulate images and water mark and fade. After looking back at my first draft, it has benefitted me being able to go back and improve.

Deleted scenes

Here is a short video of some of the scenes we had either used previously or felt did not suit our music video. We learned by doing this, that not everything goes right first time, and that there is always room for improvement. It also shows that what we believe would look right in the first places, doesn't always work. Sometimes putting into practice is harder than first imagined.

Music Video second Draft

Here is our music video

Further evaluation techniques

As we had a qualitative method of evaluating our music video through our target audience, by filming our feedback, we also decided to use a quantitative method, a questionnaire, as it will give us a more general idea of how our video is being portrayed to the audience.

Here are our questions:

Coursework feedback

In this video, we have asked members of our target audience what they think of our music video. We thought this would be a good idea, as it is better for us to get an outsiders opinion on our work. In order for us to improve our music video, we need to know what our audience think, whether they think it was clear enough and appealed to their tastes. We aim to ask more people in order to keep evaluating and improving our work until it is at a professional standard.

We might use parts of this clip in our final evaluation as it will be good to compare what we had and what comments we had taken on board. We will possibly ask this group of people again what their opinion of the improved video is. By getting constructive criticism has helped us, as it will ensure our music video will be the best it can be.

Music video feedback

We put our video onto Facebook, here is the feedback we received! We didn't think that many would respond, so we decided to show our video to people in our sixth form and recorded their feedback from criticisms to what went well! 

Here is our Facebook feedback: 

I am glad we got some online feedback, as in our research we found that most music videos are distributed on personal Facebook pages or twitter or other social media! Therefore as media becomes more convergent, it is good to see how well our music video would be received!

Facebook and other social media also helps with the publicity of a video as it creates a bigger audience and bigger views through the 'share' or 'retweet' buttons. 

Snapshots of filming

Here is the final snapshots from our last session of filming.

Digipak process

Here is a flippagram of the process of my digipak, it shows the different changes I made throughout. I learned a lot throughout this process, such as manipulating different images, and trying out which effects will be the most sufficient for my digipak.

Website process

The process of making my website has taught me a lot. As I had never used a software to make a website before, it was difficult to get the hang of, but once I knew what tools did what and how to navigate myself through it, it became a lot clearer. I learned that most websites need different pages, which is what I tried to pay attention to. For example the News, it updates the readers, also Photo pages, as when researching into audiences, they like being updated with photos (surveillance).

Polydor Records

Research into Ellie Goulding's record label.
By doing this I was able to see the different artists on the same record label and compare and contrast with it.

Polydor records - Media Coursework from Natashacp

Digipak

Here is my completed Digipak

Website research

Here is a short video on some of our discussion when researching websites.
We felt it will benefit us more looking at websites, as we are able to see the general codes and conventions, this will help us know what we need on our homepage and other pages to make it look realistic. This will make our final piece look more effective and professional, as we can then compare them to the research we have done.

Reviewing our work

Here is a short video of us as a group sitting down before a filming session. We decided to go through our whole video and write down a few notes on what we believe we need to refill. This is beneficial as although we may have new ideas, it also allows our old ideas to still be involved, but made better. By being critical of ourselves we allows us to progress and improve our work further.

Website drafts

I played around with different effects for my background, I decided to do three different images and tile them as a background. On Ellie's Goulding's website, she has added colour and dual tones, to make it more exciting. I thought this was a good idea and decided to do a similar theme for mine.

These are the three different edits I did, by using Pixlr.

I like this one, as it is vibrant and bright, but I thought it might make it look more youthful, also it is more significant of a dance pop genre than an indie pop genre.

I also liked this once, as it is girly, and has a subtle mixed tone, however, as it is a pink, blue and slightly purple, I thought this would look too much like Ellie Goulding's as she uses similar colours.

I chose to use this one, as it is quite bright, it doesn't hide any of my features. It is something that people will remember.

Filming 15/1/14

We attempted to correct some of our mistakes in our video. We wanted to make sure our videos were more stable, as this was a criticism given to us by other members of the class. Therefore, we got a tripod, we spent time trying to make sure it was straight and not at an angle. We were able to practice with the tripod and see what we could use, a d learned how to assemble it ourselves, which is a good thing. We enjoyed learning how to use new equipment, and we understand how this will make our video look much better.

Digipak image

In today's photoshoot I was able to get the image I wanted for my digipak.
I like this as I am using direct gaze. In media studies and our research, when looking at audience theory, you want your artist to connect with their audience, by staring at them directly it acts as though you are creating a personal relationship and attracting them to buy your product. This is what I want to come across within my digipak. I like it being on the bed, as I think our album will be called, 'Wake me up' and in the 'Everytime you go' video it is based in a bedroom. Therefore I felt this would be the most appropriate setting for my picture.

Digipak Photoshoot

Digipak Photo's

To link our digipaks and websites together, we used the same outfit, to show that it is all connected and will be associated with the artist at this period of time. We wanted to link our digipak image to the title of our album and the music video. Therefore, we used the bed, and used me laying down, as it is called 'Wake Me Up' and most of our scenes in Every Time You Go is set in the bedroom.

Website photoshoot

Website photoshoot

Here are the images that we took that we will use for our websites. At the moment, we're not entirely sure on which one each of us wants for our background. However, we made sure we had a variety to chose from opposed to all of them looking the same. From our research we learned that most websites do use their artist as the background, but they always look dressed up and posed. This is something we paid attention to, as in our video our outfits are everyday and normal, so we used a dress and emphasised hair and makeup to make it all look professional.

Website ideas

Here is a prezi of some of our ideas on what we want to include on our website. These are just generalised as although we are working together, we will have our own interpretations of it.  By putting together collective ideas, it benefits our final pieces, as it means our ancillary tasks and music video will link. We may also decided to make each of our websites look like they each link with one another like they are part of a set.

 

Website - Getting used to the software

We found a photo on the mac that we was using to help us get some ideas before our photo-shoot for our website, this has influenced some of the ideas we want. By doing this we have got used to the software, as we know how to move, edit and add things onto it. This will benefit us in creating our final website, as it means we understand what tools do what, how to add pages and give us an idea of what we want our final piece to look like

Website planning

In todays lesson, we was learning about websites. We looked at the website Wix, this is what we will use to create out website. As our websites are individually judged, as a group we decided that we will have a running theme throughout them all. We will have similarities so they look like they are a part of a set. 

 

We was looking at different templates, to see which ones we feel are more suited to our genre and what will be the most effective. This will benefit us, as by looking at different templates it will generate more ideas.

This was our favourite template, as we feel it will suit our ideas best. I believe that this will suit the genre best and is well fitted around the ideas I have.










We began playing around with the website, and getting used to the software. I'm glad we got to practice, as it will help us when we are doing it.

Photoshoot Planning

Here is a Pixton comic of what sort of shots we aim to get in our photoshoot. We will try and get a range, however, medium/ medium close up is the shot type we mainly feel will be the best for our websites. By having a plan, it will benefit us ensuring the photos are taken efficently and reflect the ideas that we have in our minds. By using pixton, we can invisage what images we want for our digipaks and wesbite.

Digipak ideas

Here is a first draft on the ideas I have for my digipak.
By drafting my ideas it has helped me because it gave me a basic outline of what I want to do. This means when it comes to making it, I will not be confused and waste time, as I have an idea to follow.

As I now have a template, I may need to rethink some of my ideas to make sure they can all fit. For example, I might use the collage on the CD disk page, or leave the tracklist off the back page. I will continue to do more research. Also I think once I have all my raw materials and put them onto photoshop my ideas might alter, and I can visually see what works and what doesn't.

First Draft of Music Video

Here is our first draft of our music video. We feel it has come along together nicely and are proud of what we have, however, we know there is still more to improve on and more footage that needs to filmed.

Editing process

When editing our music video, we went through clips and looked at different effects that will make our video look better. In some of the scenes the main effect is called 'Romance', this makes certain parts of the video look as though it is in a blurry daze, which is to reflect the 'love'. In one scene we turned it from day to night, as it was meant to look like a night time scene. In others we used darker effects to show the arguments, and black and white to show its in the past. We have learned how to do this by playing around with the different buttons on the macbook, we think it will benefit our work if we manipulate some of the clips with visual effects. We have learned that post-production is important as it is a way of putting together all the raw materials to make a decent video.

Personal Preparation

In order for me to make sure my lip syncing is correct with the song, I often have it on repeat to make sure I've learned the words. It also helps me figure out what sort of emotion and expressions I need when filming, as I want it to be realistic. 

More changes

We hit a problem when me and Charlie broke up before we got the filming finished. However, we found a replacement, Cameron. Luckily he is a performing arts student, and is not shy in front of the camera, therefore we can create a convincing performance that we are the two people involved in the narrative. We are happy with the footage we have so far with him, as it all links well with the idea we have in mind of how our video should look.

Digipak research

For my research, I decided to find some CD's and look through their digipaks, this was to give me some ideas. I was able to look at similar genre's, as I wasn't sure about what to put into digipak's, it gave me a general view on what is usually expected. For example, most have lyric pages and images throughout. This benefits me, as I know the codes and conventions that I will need when doing mine.

The process

We spent an entire day on filming and editing. We began by looking at what we had and rectifying certain errors, after we had done this and added more into it, we was able to see what was missing. This was the day we had Cameron round to help us with the narrative part of the video. We filmed scenes in different locations of the house and outside. After we put these onto the mac and added them into what we feel are appropriate places. We then found we needed more footage, therefore we filmed some more. By doing it like this, we were able to get our ideas to develop properly, and visualise what our video should look like. This benefitted our video a lot, as from our earlier attempt it has become more snappy, consider and looks more like a real media music video. However, there is still more that needs improving and more than needs to be filmed. We learned a lot from this, as it shows how much work that needs to be put into when making a music video look professional. By using this routine we were able to improve our video a lot.

About the filming

As we've gone on and filmed more, we've realised some of our older footage doesn't fit in with our current ideas. Main examples are, in the earlier stages of filming I looked awkward and shy, but I have managed to overcome that in our recent filming sessions. Also footage with Charlie cannot be used now, as we didn't have enough to finish the video, so by doing filming in different parts we have benefitted, as our ideas become stronger. Due to this, we have realised that nothing is straight forward, so we have learned that we need to constantly plan and try and avoid problems. However, we become closer as a group, as we decide what we can do to fix our problems

Filming snapshots 2/1/14

Here we have pictures that our camera takes whilst filming, we like to keep these as they're natural and show the ideas we've tried to put in our video. Also some of them may be useful for our digipak and website.