Note to Moderator

Dear Moderator,

Welcome to my A2 G325 blog. I have tried to make my journey from my initial ideas to the creation of my music video and ancillary products as clear as possible.
I have 108 posts in total and 99 of those are research and planning posts, which are easily identified by the name of the post. I hope you enjoy reading through my blog. Thank you!
Greta M

Evaluation Q1

Script:







 

Evaluation Q2

Evaluation: Q3

Evaluation q3 from GretaAsMedia

A slidely I created on our initial Target audience.
Overall, I believe that our TA did change,but not significantly. For example, I although the age range did change at the end , the fact that our TA are funatics, want to travel and escape didn't change. The social issues that our TA face (such as alcoholism) didn't change either. And although not much did change, I think that this change was necessary because no matter that they still are the same in some aspects, the music video that they wanted to see might have been different, for example: maybe the original TA would've wanted to see more negative shots that show more of the issues.

Evaluation: Q4

How did I use technology in the Evaluation stage?

Q1:
To complete the scripts, I used a word to type up all of the text and colour coded all of the parts that each one of us were going to say.
For the video, I used Final Cut Pro X and we all recorded ourselves speaking about the shots. Then, we edited the music video by slowing down the shots that needed extra time, and added stills where needed.
For the analysis of the print products I used Thinglink, as I felt it was a good software to use to pinpoint the details which I felt were important to talk about.
Thinglink itself is a really interesting software to use to pinpoint on details in note form,and precision.
I felt comfortable and confident using this software, and overall I think that it's use was successful for this part of the evaluation.

Q2:
For the second question, I felt that using another Emaze was appropriate with a mix of screengrabs from all of the products that we created. I found this mix easy to use and very handy, as the outcome was an interesting presentation.
Spacing out my work proved easy with Emaze, and the software itself was not difficult to navigate, therefore I chose to use it again.

Q3:

PowerPoint/Slideshare:

For question three, I used the technology that I knew I could use with confidence and which would allow me to present my work as clean, easy to understand.

PowerPoint was easy to use and to manage my charts and data with, as all of the work was separated easily, and splitting work did not confuse me, but instead made it easier to read.

After completing my powerpoint, I uploaded it onto my blog with slideshare, which is one of the ways in which you can present your powerpoints with.

I also re-uploaded a slidely that I made on my initial target audience, which I later evaluated using blogger.

Q4:
Emaze, Powtoon, Powerpoint, Blogger.

For the question on which I evaluated my use of technology, I wanted to use a vibrant range of online technology and present my work in an interesting way. To achieve this I used an Emaze, which is in it's essence an online way to create a more interesting powerpoint.
Overall, I feel that this was a successful piece of technology to use, there were no difficulties while producing the presentation.

I also used Powtoon, which I really struggled with not only in A2, but also in AS. This is another way to present written work, however in an animation style. I really dislike Powtoon, however I really wanted to challenge myself and used it for this question. Upon reflection, I feel that it was a good decision to choose Powtoon to evaluate my work, as I challenged myself by using it.

PowerPoint was another piece of technology I used to present how I used Final Cut Pro X in the construction stage of my music video. Although I used PowerPoint before, it wasn't in this way. This time, I completed the Powepoint, and did a series of screengrabs which I uploaded one after another to make a continuous line of work. Although this way of presenting my evaluation requires more work, I think that it was a good decision to use this 

Finally, I used blogger again to evaluate the use of technology in this question, which allows me to present my evaluation clearly. This is by far the easiest piece of technology I had to use, as I have used it thoroughly during my two years of media studies.

Final Music Video

Ancillaries: Final Digipak

Ancillaries: Advert Final

Ancillaries: Digipak draft 6

Ancillaries: advert draft 8

Ancillaries: Advert Draft 7

Ancillaries: digipak draft 5

Ancillaries: Digipak draft 4

Ancillaries: advert draft 6

Ancillaries: digipak draft 3

Ancillaries: advert draft 5

Planning : Chosen song names for digipak

From the song names that Rhea came up with, we decided that these are the final 10 song names that will go in the digipak:

1: Old Yellow Bricks
2: Take a trip
3:Like Minded
4: Beginning Of The End
5: Ain't It Funny What You'd Do
6: Distant Memory
7: Misbehaving
8: Don't You Know?
9: Cigarette Dreams
10: Fumes
11: Ridin' high
12: Deep end

Ancillaries: advert draft 4

Ancillaries: digipak draft 2

Ancilaries: advert draft 3

Ancilaries: advert draft 2

Ancillaries: advert draft 1

Ancillaries: Digipak Draft 1

During the drafting of the first digipak I took a screenshot of what I have done so far, to record the progress of the drafts. I feel like doing this will help me see the journey of improving and completing the digipak. Seeing the drafts getting closer to completion really makes me excited to see what the final outcome will be.

rough cut 2 for music video

Blueprint media: Dave

Today, Dave from Blueprint came to give a presentation and a speech which helped us improve the quality of our music videos. The information that he gave out, especially about the editing that we didn't know how to do was extremely helpful. I feel that with this our music video has a more professional look, and this would've been hard to achieve without that information.

FINAL TA RESEARCH

TA research 4 focus group of 17 rough cut 2

Q1: Do you understand the narrative of the music video?
Preferred encoding reading achieved: 10
Negotiated reading: 3
1-It wasn't completely clear,
1-The song and the music video do not narrate clearly but it is understandable
1-I understand it in some respects, for example, I understand it is about a relationship and alcohol although I didn't put the two and two together.
Oppositional reading:
4 -The actual story is unclear
Action: 
Check if the lyrics and the visuals match, check continuity of the narrative (GOODWIN)

Q2: Do you understand the relationship between the two characters and how it changes?

Preferred encoding reading achieved: 10 yes
Negotiated reading:
-I feel the change in their relationship isn't obvious enough or more contrasting
-Not sure how the relationship changes
-Other times it is slightly unclear
-Implied shots are sometimes foggy to understand
-The relationship is evident but not the change
-I understand the relationship but not the change
Oppositional reading: 4
Action:
Check if the lyrics and the visuals match, check continuity of the narrative

Q3: Did you notice the costume changes? Which costume do you prefer/ remember/ like the best?

Preferred encoding reading achieved: 16 yes
Negotiated reading: -
Oppositional reading: 1 No, not really
Action:
N/A

Q4: Do you think the locations are effective? Which location do you feel worked well?

Preferred encoding reading achieved: 17 Yes
Negotiated reading: -
Oppositional reading: -
Action:
N/A

Q5: Do you think the visuals and lyrics matched?

Preferred encoding reading achieved: 15 Yes
Negotiated reading: 1
-Music was out of time
Oppositional reading: -
Action:
The reason why the music is out of time is because the sound from the original video is not extracted yet. However, we will remove it at the end.

Q6: What was your favourite shot and why?

Preferred encoding reading achieved:
 6 - Red Shoes
 3- Lyrics on cards
 1- Head to head shots
 1- In the abandoned place
 1- Myles running and Emily on the skateboard
 1- Panning shots
 1- Emily laid on the floor
 1- Smashing the bottle
 1- Brick wall shots
Negotiated reading:
Oppositional reading: 1 unsure
Action:
N/A

Q7: Which shots didn't you like? Didn't understand?

Preferred encoding reading achieved: 4- Likes all shots
Negotiated reading:
2- Clicking of the shoes repeated too many times
2- Going around the pole/ lamp post
1- Vandalism scene
2- Filming out of the car
1- Didn't understand the shots with the beer bottles
1- Skateboarding
1- Head to head
1- Close up of face shots
1- Didn't like the shots of the actors together
1- The cards
Oppositional reading: -
Action: Reduce the amount of red shoe shots in the music video. No action will be taken regarding the closeup shots as this is a promo video.

Q8: Do you understand the meaning behind the cards? What do you think they represent?

Preferred encoding reading achieved: 7
1- That they're a game
1- The red gamblers, the relationship was risky
1- Taking a risk, love being a gamble
1- Is it that life is a gamble
1- Love's a gamble
1- Represents the risk of love
1- Yes, words in the song
Negotiated reading: -
Oppositional reading: 
9- No
1- Did not answer
Action: Embed a code that the love cards represent the love and their relationship, and the black cards signify the difficulties.

Q9: What representations have been created?

Preferred encoding reading achieved: 
1- Alcoholism
1- Red shoes, Dorothy back home
2- Anger
4- Unstable relationship
Negotiated reading: -
Oppositional reading: 
2- Did not answer
7- Do not know
Action:
N/A

Q10: Does this music video launch the male singer as a new star? Would this video make you look online for more information about him?

Preferred encoding reading achieved: 12 Yes
Negotiated reading: -
Oppositional reading:
2- Did not answer
3- No
Action:
N/A

Improvements that need to be done:

• Embed a code that the love cards represent the love and their relationship, and the black cards signify the difficulties.
• Reduce the amount of red shoe shots in the music video. No action will be taken regarding the closeup shots as this is a promo video.
• The reason why the music is out of time is because the sound from the original video is not extracted yet. However, we will remove it at the end.
• Check if the lyrics and the visuals match, check continuity of the narrative

Planning: Group post - Ta research 4 , questionnaire for rough cut

1]  Do you understand the narrative of the music video?

2]  Do you understand the relationship between the two characters and how it changes?

3]  Did you notice the costume changes? Which costume do you prefer/ remember/ like the best?

4]  Do you think the locations are effective? Which location do you feel worked well?

5]  Do you think visuals and lyrics matched?

6]  What was your favourite shot and why?

7]  Which shots didn’t you like? Didn’t understand?

8]  Do you understand the meaning behind the cards? What do you think they represent?

 

9]  What representations have been created? 

10]               Does this music video launch the male singer as a new star? Would this video make you look online for more information about him? 

Group Post: TA research 5 focus group of 14 FINAL VIDEO

Q1:  When looking at the music video, do you understand what affects and harms the relationship between the two characters?

Preferred encoding reading achieved: 14 Yes

Negotiated reading: -

Oppositional reading: -

Action: -

Q2: Do you see the reflection of the genre through costume in the music video on the stars?

Preferred encoding reading achieved: 13 Yes

Negotiated reading: 

1: The smart clothes contradict the genre of the video

Oppositional reading: - 

Action: If we had more time to do this music video, challenging this convention would still be in our mind, as we want to portray the youth as people who can dress stereo-typically, and not at the same time.

Q3: Do you think that the cards and the bottles represent something negative in the music video e.g: the social issue that the youths face which should be addressed?

Preferred encoding reading achieved:  13 Yes

Negotiated reading:  

1: It is but it's very subtle

Oppositional reading: -

Action: Next time we would include more specific shots, for example of the female drinking.

Q4:Would a music video of such genre spark interest and tempt you to find out more about the male star and his music?

Preferred encoding reading achieved: 8 Yes

Negotiated reading: 
1: No because this isn't my type of music
1: Would listen to music, however from a different artist

Oppositional reading:  4 No

Action:  Next time we would make sure the artist seems more authentic to appeal to our audience.


Q5: Do you feel that the yellow is one of the main colours used in the music video? E.G do you see them in the title, shots, costume?

Preferred encoding reading achieved: 9 Yes


Negotiated reading: 
2: There was some yellow, but there could've been more
1: Not really, spray painting, smashing yes, but could've been seen more  

Oppositional reading:  4 No


Action: Next time we would include yellow edits, props, makeup, and make yellow dominant in locations.

Q6: The music video contains a lot of shots with drained colour, and some that are heavily edited, for example the shaking screen, 3D effect. Do you feel that this suits the song and the genre of indie?

Preferred encoding reading achieved: 12 Yes

Negotiated reading: 
1: Yes, could've had more steady shots to give a sense of professionalism
1: No, but I never seen indie music videos before

Oppositional reading:  - 

Action:
Next time, we would Include more closeups, shots of the main star in general to make it seem more like a promo video.

Rough cut 1 for music video