our website link

Below is a link to our final website:

http://www.mediasupport.org.uk/examwork/Hannah Sealy/final homepage.html

Update!

Due to the unfortunate circumstances of not being able to film within the train station, we have altered our storyline and changed the setting to a street. Whilst filming here we would need to ensure that we are stay fully aware of any approaching cars and the surroundings. We would also need to be sure that the local residents are happy for us to film on their street,

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Georgia Lateo, Alice Fortune and Zara Pearce for giving up their time to appear in our filming. Especially because the day we filmed was awful weather and they had to wear inappropriate clothing.

I would also like to thank Georgia's mum for allowing us to film within her house.

Finally, I would like to thank Tim; Zara's dad for granting us permission to film his offices even though people were still working at the time.

Question 4

Question 4

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Question 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Audience feedback is a vital part of any task as it allows you to identify both good and bad points to enable you to improve. We have got people to tell us their opinions of our products as we have been constructing them to ensure that the final product is perfect.

The first time that we required feedback was near the beginning of the project when we were brainstorming ideas.We explained to her our idea and she immediately liked the idea and thought that it would work with our song choice, however, she thought that something was missing.she felt that for the length of the song, we would not have enough of a storyline/shots to keep the viewers interesting and to actually make a good music video. She then suggested that the main male character could bump into other people that are in the woods but are dressed up in unusual clothing doing everyday things but only he is able to see them, they cant see him.

whilst we were filming, the other girls within our video gave us feedback throughout and shared their ideas of certain shots. This helped us greatly and gave us perspectives from different points of view.

Once we had finished filming and editing a rough cut, we showed this to our teacher and she gave us some useful feedback.

Unfortunately we were unable to film anymore footage because our main actress wasn't available at any time. Therefore we had to use what we already had and just edit it some more to make any possible improvements.



Digipak

Here is an image of our first draft of our digipak, along with audience feedback.

Website

TEACHER FEEDBACK

•likes the roll over images for the main navigational links on the page - however doesn't like them being pink, would prefer them to be blue
•doesn't like the pink used for some of the font - too many colours on the page, makes it look predominately for girls
•likes the idea of a user form
•like the rollover image of the album cover
•doesn't like the picture used for Georgia as it isn't cut out properly

CLASS FEEDBACK

•likes the header for the homepage
•likes the picture of the main male character in the top left corner of the page
•likes the idea of the user form
•doesn't like the main navigational links being pink

Having taken all of the feedback into account, we altered the website and this is the final product

Question 2

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks?


Our brief was to produce a music video and two ancillary tasks. We chose to create a website homepage promoting the artist and a digipak for the latest album.

Video

'American Dream' Final cut from Daniel Jeffery on Vimeo

Webpages

Digipak

We made sure that there was a clear link between all 3 media products. We decided to use a shot from our video as our front cover of the digipak and on the inside we have used a montage of different shots extracted from the video to show consistency throughout. We have also linked the website and digipak by using bold fonts. As an artists, one thing that you hope to achieve is recognition by their products. They can achieve this by showing a clear link between their products.

Final cut

Here is the final cut of our video having retrieved audience feedback and taken it all into account

'American Dream' Final cut from Daniel Jeffery on Vimeo.

Question 1

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

For our media product we chose to use the song 'American Dream' by Jakatta which is of the dance/house genre. We chose this genre because it has a variety of music videos which would enable us freedom with our ideas. For our video we wanted to combine a range of conventions we have seen being used in existing dance videos and try to bring them across in our video. We decided that our video would tell a story. When it came to our video we didn't want our story to be too serious we wanted to add a playful twist to it. To explain how we did this, i am now going to analysis the general theory behind the forms and conventions of a music video and compare them with our music video.

Lyrics

There are very little lyrics in our chosen song; only of a couple of lines You cannot here them very well in the song, only the hushed voice of woman whispering in a seductive tone. However, there is one word that you can here quite clearly which is 'Overdrive'. The music picks up pace when this word is sung, therefore we edited the video to a fast cut too. There is a constant dream like feel to the song from the constant sighing and humming in the background which makes it work with the storyline of our music video.

Editing

In the general theory, the most common form of editing is fast-cut montage, rendering many of the images impossible to grasp on first viewing, so ensuring multiple viewing. However, we do not have any of this in our video as it wouldn't have gone with the storyline or even the song of our music video. Instead we have used effects such as a cross dissolves to make it flow in a dream-like way. We have also used dissolves with the change of scene and location. We also used blur effects for the going into and waking up from the dream. Without the blur effects, i feel that the video wouldn't have made sense because it would have been difficult for the viewer to establish that the character is in fact in a dream. Throughout the video we have used continuity editing to ensure that everything appears to follow on from each other as it would do in a story.

Music

The majority of the editing of our video was influenced and determined by the pace of the music. Throughout, we have tried to fit the different shots and scenes to the right parts of the music. An example of this is shown when the male character spots the other girls, he looks side to side. At this time the pace gets quicker and it adds suspense. As each new girl appears the more curious the music and video make the audience feel. Furthermore, when he begins to follow the main fantasy girl in his dream, the music quietens and it becomes more surreal and dream like as he wanders off to find her.

Digipak

Having researched album front covers, we found that the majority of covers include either a close up or a medium close up of the artist with a stern direct facial expression. When choosing an image for the front cover, we made sure that we took into account all the conventions. As a result, we chose to use a medium close up of Dan (our main character) with a direct expression. I feel that by using a direct expression it interacts the artist with the fan but also the seriousness of the expression makes them appear more superior.

Website

Here are screen shots of our two pages within our website promoting the artist; Jakatta.

The Homepage

Here is the same print screen but i have annotated it, describing the features used.

The video page

Website plan

Here is the plan that we made before making our website. We used the research that we had already found when looking into existing websites.

Exisiting websites

In order to gain an idea of what our artists website should look like, we researched into existing websites of music artists. One of the websites that we liked the look of was that of Taio Cruiz's. We liked the look of the home page of this site and therefore analysed it to see what looks good and what features we could include on our own homepage.

Other artist's websites that we looked on consisted of:

Rihanna

Tinie Tempah

Calvin Harris

Video rough cut

Here is the rough cut of our video. We played it to our classmates as well as our teacher to gather different feedback to enable us to improve it for a final cut.

'American Dream' Rough cut from Daniel Jeffery on Vimeo.

Here is the feedback from our classmates. We have taken into account that they have probably concentrated on the positives of our video to be nice. However, from all of the feedback that we retrieved, we came to the conclusion that the main improvements that needed to be made were the speed of certain clips needed to be quicker and some clips needed to be shorter in order to be more effective.

Day 4 of filming

Today's filming was the most important part for our video because it was the main event; the dream sequence set in a woodlands. The fact that it was the most important we ensured that we took a lot of footage from different angles. Today saw the introduction to two more actresses who were to play two mysterious girls within the woods.

The main problem that we encountered was that the weather was so cold that it affected the time that we could physically spend outside filming. We had to have breaks and go and sit in our cars to warm ourselves up. I am very proud and appreciate the girls dedication because they were still willing to continue with our video even though it wasn't their a-level at the end of the day. Also Dan did very well today because he was walking around in the wet and mud in only socks. He was frozen but didn't complain once.

Overall I am pleased with today's progress because I feel that we still managed to capture some really effective shots such as an establishing shot of the woodlands. I also liked an over the shoulder shot of Georgia looking at Dan. This is because it included both main characters and the setting in one shot, and it also informed the viewer that he is unaware of her presence.

Day 3 of filming

I wasn't actually available to film today but the rest of my group were able to so the filming went ahead without me. The part of the video that they filmed was the journey that Dan makes on his way home from work. This section is very important as it is the first sighting of Georgia; the leading actress. Therefore setting the correct scene and Dans reaction to her was vital. During this section, Georgia was supposed to disappear once Dan had spotted her. To achieve this, they asked a man if he would mind driving his van past to create the impression that Georgia disappeared.

Day 2 of filming

Today we filmed inside Zara's dad's offices. This is because we wanted a working environment and also wanted to portray Dan as a hard working middle classed man. I feel that we achieved this by the setting that we created and the clothing that we filmed him in; a suit. I am pleased with the filming that took place today as I feel that we took a lot of similar shots from different angles to enable us to edit the video to our full potential.

Day 1 of filming

Our first lot of filming was only of the main character; Dan. We filmed inside his apartment having been at work all day. Firstly we did shots of him sitting watching television and then we filmed the process of him falling asleep on the sofa to which the main plot of the video begins.














Due to the fact that it was our first day of filming, it took us longer than normal as we had to get used to setting the frames and making sure the lighting was sufficient. We began filming but found that the lighting wasn't bright enough, so we re-shot the scene with extra lighting.

Animatics of our video

Animatics from Lauren Jeffery on Vimeo.

Roles within our group

Here is a table of the different tasks that each individual within our group played a part of.

Digipak - 3D

This is our final digipak design in 3D view. To create this we uploaded a template off the Internet into the program Photoshop and used tools such as 'Magic wand' and 'Free transform'. Using the magic wand were able to delete the unwanted areas of the template and then with the free transform tool we changed the shape of our front cover and disc to fit the template. We also used the paint brush to make the background green. To ensure that the colours were the same throughout the products, we entered in the specific resolutions.

Digipak - final draft

This is the final design of our digipak.

We decided to design each panel with the same setting to show clear consistency throughout. Having consistency makes the digipak appear more professional.

I feel that the inside panel is the most effective out of the whole digipak. The image that we used is an establishing shot that we took while filming in the woodlands; were the majority of our filming took place. The text that we have included within that panel has been taken from the permission letter that the original record company of 'American Dream.' We wrote them a letter seeking permission to use their song for our project, to which they granted us permission to do so but asked if we would be able to display their credits somewhere.

We chose to use the image of the back of the main character for the back of the album as we felt it was effective representation. I feel that image we took was effective as it not only sets the scene but also gives the impression of being alone in the middle of nowhere, which is the effect we were portraying throughout the video. We have also included the record company's name (Rulin Records) in the bottom left corner, and a barcode in the right to make the digipak more realistic and as you would find them in the media world.

Having researched album front covers, we found that the majority of covers include either a close up or a medium close up of the artist with a stern direct facial expression. When choosing an image for the front cover, we made sure that we took into account all the conventions. As a result, we chose to use a medium close up of Dan (our main character) with a direct expression. I feel that by using a direct expression it interacts the artist with the fan but also the seriousness of the expression makes them appear more superior. The other image that we decided to include was of the other three characters. Using the gradient tool and colour contrast, we edited the image to give it a dreamy effect to be consistent with the plot of the video.

Overall I am pleased with our final product. I feel that it appears professional and could be seen in the real media world. We have managed to keep consistency throughout the project; between each panel and also between our main and ancillary tasks.

Digipak - 1st draft

Here is our first draft of our digipak which we made using Adobe Photoshop. We showed our teacher and fellow classmates our draft to which they gave us some very useful feedback to enable us to improve our design.





From this feedback we established that we needed to improve the overall look of the digipak by adding different images rather than just using the main character as it is too similar throughout. Also, we needed to make slight changes to the font for the panels apart from the main title 'Jakatta'. The positives to the digipak was that we wouldn't need to make any changes to the top right panel as it already appears professional and is simple yet effective.

Digipak

Initially I was unaware of what a digipak actually was. Having carried out some research I discovered that it is a product that I am familiar with, however I know it as being an 'album'.

In order for us to create our own digipak, we first needed to know the conventions. We found out that they were:

• usually a singular picture of either a logo, band member or actor on the front cover
• the name of the artist is clearly presented on the front cover
• most usually have the tracking list placed on the back of the digipak
• the same theme is carried throughout the front and back and also on the inside of the pack to show continuity
• a barcode is placed at the bottom.

Target audience

A key part to this project is finding out who would relate and appreciate our video, and who the video should be targeted to.

Uk Youth Of Today

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Editing our rough cut

Below are a few pictures of my group editing our video for our rough cut.When editing you have to consider many things. One thing is matching the shots and cuts to the music. This is a task that can be very challenging and time consuming. Other tasks involved are importing and rendering.




This picture shows us putting in a cross dissolve to our video. We did this because it creates an effortless flow between a clip. This is done by going onto effects and clicking dissolve and choosing cross dissolve. When placing a cross dissolve in you must make sure it is placed in the middle of both clips so the dissolve flows correctly.




This is a picture of us changing the speed of a clip. We did this so the clip would run in parallel with the music. By slowing down the clip it becomes bigger so it takes up more of the time sequence.

Problems so far

As the weeks have passed we have encountered a number of problems with our filming process.
We have a had a major problem with the weather and finding a day when it isn't raining and there is sufficient lighting to film.
Also finding a day where everybody included in the filming is available
When we looked over our initial footage we realised that we needed more shots than we had filmed, therefore we needed to go back to the same setting and film some more which is very frustrating and time consuming.
However when we went back to the train station to film some more, we were told that we weren't allowed to film there. Therefore we had to quickly find another spot to film without changing our whole video idea completely. We decided to film along a road as it would show the actor still on his journey going home.

Video Cast

Leading actor: Daniel Jeffery

Leading actress: Georgia Lateo

Actress: Zara Pearce

Actress: Alice Fortune

Response

Here is the response that we received from the record company whom we contacted for permission to use their song.

Song lyrics

Jakatta - American Dream

You bring new meaning to the word delicious,
You put me in overdrive

I like it when you do it like (moaning)

Our chosen song

We chose this song; American Dream by Jakatta, because we had decided to go with a mysterious fantasy like theme and we felt that this song portrayed this and would go well with the theme. As a group we could all picture our video idea as we played this song.

Copyright letter

Dear Copyright Holder, Rulin Records

We are A level students at Wilmington Grammar School for boys and we are writing to ask for your permission to use on of your tracks. The track that we would like to use is ‘American Dream’ by Jakatta.

If you were kind enough to let us use your track it will be used as the song for a video that we have to film for our A level Media coursework. We also have to produce an album cover and a magazine advert for the artist.

If we receive your permission, this track would ONLY be used in an educational context and be viewed by our media class, our teacher and the OCR exam board moderator. It would NOT be released to a large audience or uploaded to any public video websites.

The artist and your company would of course be fully recognised throughout production and the final video itself. A copyright notice, with wording supplied by you can be included in the records of the project. If this is required, please send full details.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,
Daniel Jeffery, Chelsey Martin, Hannah Sealy

Risk Assessment

Before we began filming we carried out a risk assessment to assess any possible risks during filming and the precautions we need to take in order to prevent them.

• one of our locations is Chislehurst station. Therefore the priority is to ensure that we find a big enough area on the platform that is away from the track
• also at the station we will need to be aware of the attitudes of the public towards us filming in a public place, To prevent any arguments occurring we would have to ask any members of public who may be in line with any shots whether they would actually mind appearing in it. If they do then we would have to find a different area in which to film. Also we would need to check with the people who work within the station whether we are actually allowed to film on the premises.
• another setting for our video is within a woodlands in West Kings Down. Here would need to be wary of any fallen branches on the floor to ensure that nobody trips over.
• Also, for the day of the filming within the woods, if it is poor weather, we would need to ensure that appropriate footwear is worn to prevent anyone slipping over. Furthermore, we would need to take extra clothing so that the actors can keep warm during shots

Chosen idea

As a group we decided to steer away from the original genre of indie/rock and to instead concentrate more on the dance/club genre that we came across when the song 'Flashback' came up in a previous idea.

One thing that our previous ideas all had in common was a factor of randomness, allowing us freedom with our filming. As you can see with previous posts, we have decided to go with the song American Dream by Jakatta. We chose this song because we feel that it goes perfectly with our video idea. We chose to base our video with a fantasy like theme, which we are going to portray in a woodlands setting with fairy like clothing such as tutus.

The video will begin with a man leaving work after having a hard day. He will set off on his way home by entering a train station. This is where he will have his first sighting of the fantasy girl, staring at him from the opposite platform.As a train passes by, she disappears. He doesn't really understand what is going on but he puts it all down to him just being tired.Time passes, but he can't get the figure out of his head, he nods of into a dream...He finds himself in the middle of a woodland. He wanders through the woods trying to figure out where he is. As he walks, he passes various unusual activities such as a woman and a pram dressed very peculiar. He sees the girl from earlier who tempts him to follow her further into the woods. He then sees two more girls teasing and taunting him. He picks up the pace. He then slumps down at the foot of a tree as he begins to get tired. The two girls suddenly appear from behind the tree and kiss his cheeks. The main girl then appears and looks him straight in the eye. She leans in to kiss him and just as their lips are about to touch, he suddenly wakes up back in his own living room. However he does have lipstick marks on his cheek, raising the question was it all just a dream?

Practice music video

Last year in our groups we were set the task of making a music video displaying an element of change. As this was only a practice to give us an idea of what it would be like this year we were only given a 2 weeks to film and edit it. My group, consisting of Hannah, Dan, Lucy, Louise and myself, chose to make our video to the song 'She moves in her own way' by the Kooks. We achieved an element of change throughout the video by creating a 'Geek to Beauty' situation where a once bulled girl transforms into a beauty that is desired by all the boys at school. I feel that by completing this task we have gained valuable experience in the filming and editing required in making a music video. Considering it was only a practice i feel that as a group we put in great effort however i do feel that this year our standard will need to be improved vastly.

Practise Music Video from Lucy Simonds on Vimeo.

Having now had more research and experience with music videos, looking back at our video I can clearly identify both negative and positive points. Below, are screen shots of the video and I have fully described the negatives and positives of each and any improvements we would make if were to film this again.



This shot is near the beginning of the video. The main character is currently leaving the classroom as she is being bullied. A negative with this is the framing. At the time of filming we didn't realise that the sandals on the desk were visible. If we were to do this now, we would be thinking about the framing of the shots throughout at all times. Furthermore I have realised that we didn't concentrate on the actresses clothing very well because in this shot you can also notice that she isn't actually wearing any footwear, which realistically a girl would be if at school.






This shot follows on from the previous one. A negative with this one is that we can see another student and Louise who was filming at the time, in the reflection of the glass. We didn't think about this at the time. If we were to do it now we would have to find solution, maybe it was due to the light coming through the window. However, if it wasn't for seeing the reflection of Louise with the camera, and we only saw Jack, the other student, it wouldn't have been a problem as it would be a more realistic school setting.
















Here is a shot of the two girls running up the stairs. To do this we have short cuts from different angles which I feel looks very effective. However, the downside to
this is that we filmed it over two days and I (the geek) am wearing earrings here whereas the shots before I'm not. This is something that we would be more aware of in our filming this year.





















Here is a shot that I feel is a positive of our video. Here we have used a technique called an Ellipsis. An ellipsis is when time changes between shots however you don't physically see the change, it is just evident through the different shots. We have used it here to show the girl going into the bathroom dressed unfashionably and then appearing again in different clothing. Although we don't actually see her changing her clothes and the time is quicker than it would be realistically, we still are aware of what she has done.










We didn't realise this at the time of filming, we only noticed when we watched the completed video back but our friend Zara can be seen using the computer in the reflection in the mirror. If this was part of the video then it would be fine but the fact that she doesn't appear in the video at all and isn't supposed to shows how inexperienced we were. However i don think that it is too obvious that she wasn't supposed to be there, nut this is going to be a priority of ours when filming our music video this year.

Geri Halliwell - Its raining men

For part of our research, as a class we watched the music video 'Its raining men' by Geri Halliwell. We then analysed it thoroughly to establish any effects, shots etc that we particularly liked to give us more ideas for our own videos.

• the video starts off like an audition from the film 'FAME.' Geri Halliwell is also wearing a FAME top displaying intertextuality
• it is very upbeat and active throughout
• there is a clear contrast between Geri and the judges whom she is performing in front of. They are very formal wearing suits and appear to look down their noses at Geri as if they are thinking 'What are you doing here? All they say to her is "In your own time miss Halliwell" which is very formal and patronising
• there is a lot of focus on her physique
• having been watching the video for almost a minute, the audience are still unaware of what Geri actually looks like. This causes anticipation and makes us want to watch more
• this video is used in the film 'Bridget Jones' Diary' supporting empowerment of women. The dancer is in control
• it is a form of song and dance routine borrowed from musicals
• the video is drawn heavily to flash dance
• at the beginning of the video, Geri puts on a vinyl rather than a CD this is showing authenticity and is also iconographic
• there are diegetic sounds of her footsteps and her putting the vinyl on at the beginning. All we can see is fragmented shots creating a sense of anticipation and enigma
• when the music starts the camera is positioned being framed by the judges. This is the notion of looking throughout the video with over the shoulder shots making us see the dance from their view
• this notion of looking continues with fellow students watching her through the door
• when she sings "humidity's rising" she raises her hand which at the same time the camera scrolls up echoing the word rising
• as the verse builds, people flock to see her dance
• by the end of the first chorus, the judges have taken their glasses off and are tapping their feet to the music which we are aware of by having a foot level shot. They have abandoned their stern looks and appear to be enjoying the performance
• as the chorus begins, the other students burst into the room and dance carnival style, jumping and rolling wearing colourful outfits
• however Geri is always framed in the centre
• in the 2nd phase of the video, Geri breaks down patriarchal barriers by crawling across the table and kisses the head judge
• she also has an outfit change into yellow hotpants
• she is seen above the other dancers by a low angle shot making her visually dominant
• her 3rd outfit is a red top which we see the top half of as she is given a close up shot of her face and she is singing to the camera, which personalizes the video and engages the viewer
• when she sings "barometers getting low" the camera scrolls down revealing her 4th outfit which is a blue top and jogging bottoms
• there is emphasis of the other dancers as they come in front of the camera doing splits etc however we don't see their faces
• in the 3rd phase of the video we see Geri doing aerobics/ crunches portraying how she got her physique that has been emphasised throughout
• this video is a typical American teen film - rushing to lessons
• there is a contrast between the two dances seen in the video. She is no good at ballet however she leads the flash dance
• towards the end she bursts through the front doors wearing a leather jacket, portraying rebellion
• the filming is taken outside to what becomes a street party tightly framed to make it appear busier
• on the words "stormy weather" there is chromakey present. The shot is low angle and the movements are slow motion. The lighting gets darker which we are lead to believe is to do with the storm
• it starts rain which her actions appear to be sexual
• at the end she blows a kiss to the camera