Elliot - 4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? (Filmed)

Here is the filmed evaluation for question 4. My part starts around 4:12.

Elliot- 3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

We gathered audience feedback by giving people in other groups a feedback form (see above), with which we could gather audience opinions and see what we did right and what could be improved. From what we gathered the audience really enjoyed the narrative side of our video. They thought it was funny and held their attention throughout the video (a particular favourite was the POV shot when the chav tries to get served at the pub). They also thought the performance side was very good. However, they did see some issues with the lighting (it seemed to be a little dark and unclear at times) and the performance is out of sync at some points (which personally I disagree with). A general complaint was the lack of effects and transitions throughout the video. However, we wanted to avoid using effects and transitions for the sake of it as we knew it would look cheesy. We also knew that had we used them people would have complained about our transitions and effects! Apart from these minor issues the audience enjoyed the video. I agree with most of the issues raised, however seeing as we did this exercise after we had finished the video there is really nothing we can do about it. The criticism was fair and we took a lot on board.

Elliot - 2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

In my opinion we have maintained a clear image and theme throughout our campaign. Our focus has always been combining the suburban grittiness of indie with the retro, vintage feel of the 80s, which is appropriate as this is when our chosen band was active. Our photoshoot was set in the bike sheds of our college. This was a stroke of genius as it allowed us to keep the urban theme while also adding a touch of class with the bicycles, which is most prominent on our inside CD cover. We kept the vintage theme by using Photoshop to give all our photos a vintage hue. This was consistent on both the CD cover and the website. I think the video, digipak and website are all very effective at selling the band and targeting our audience. Our clothing choice of checked shirts in the performance was appropriate to the genre and gave a working-class look to use while still looking "dapper".  Our theme throughout the "campaign" has been urban yet classy, and I think with the mixing of modern and retro we have achieved this effectively.

Feedback for Question 3

Music Video - Comparing script to final product

Throughout song: Shots of performance (both single members + whole band/party) shown throughout the narrative.

Intro: Typical “Indie Kid” walks down suburban street smiling. When drums kick in, he gets pushed out the way by chav, the “Charming Man” of the title. When the chav is not in shot the camera effect is in an “80s vintage” style, when he appears the camera returns to normal. - We decided not to use an effect as the effects we had available on iMovie looked cheesy or were not what we wanted.

A punctured bicycle
On a hillside desolate
Will nature make a man of me yet ?

The chav rides a moped down a hill to meet his friend. - We could not find a moped to ride therefore we had to replace this scene, and the subsequent car scene, with subway cutaways and performance.

When in this charming car
This charming man
Why pamper life's complexity
When the leather runs smooth
On the passenger seat

Through these lines he is in a old, “banger” style car with his friend, “raving” and looking like a general idiot. - As stated above, could not find a suitable car in time. We also felt it would be more appropriate and effective to have our chav as a loner, rather than having friends.

I would go out tonight
But I haven't got a stitch to wear
This man said "It's gruesome that someone so handsome should care"

Chav at his house with friend. Posters of various “gangsta rappers” (2Pac, Eminem, 50 Cent etc.) adorn the wall. He is asking is friend what shirt to wear, showing 2 clearly awful t-shirts. The friend cannot choose either. - This scene was moved to the second chorus, after he finds out about the party. We felt it would be more appropriate in this order.

A jumped up pantry boy
Who never knew his place
He said "return the ring"
He knows so much about these things
He knows so much about these things

Chav goes to a small corner shop and tries to steal a typical “chav” item (White Lightning?), but is caught easily by the shopkeeper and is chased away.

I would go out tonight
But I haven't got a stitch to wear
This man said "It's gruesome that someone so handsome should care"
Na, na-na, na-na, na-na, this charming man ...
Na, na-na, na-na, na-na, this charming man ...

Chav sees a status on Facebook from “Indie McMorrisey”, saying something about a party. He then goes to the bathroom and grooms himself, trying to make himself look good. This of course fails, but he still thinks he’s God’s gift anyway. - Clothes scene was added after this scene.

A jumped up pantry boy
Who never knew his place
He said "return the ring"
He knows so much about these things
He knows so much about these things
He knows so much about these things

Goes to the party with his mate, the band are performing at the party. Chav looks in through the window then rings the doorbell/knocks on the door. The door is opened by the same guy he pushed over at the start of the video. The mate gets in but Chav gets rejected. - Only difference here being that the chav comes on his own due to our decision of him being a loner.

Outro: Slow tracking shot of Chav walking away glumly and band finishing performance

 

As you can see, we kept a lot of the video the same where we could, with a couple of scenes changed around and a few scenes taken out and added in. The parts we took out were due to a lack of resources (car, moped etc.) and this is partly why we filmed so many cutaways. For the most part, we have stuck to our original script.

Music Video Complete

After months of hard work, preparation, filmimg and editing, our music video is finally complete. Here is the finished product.

Elliot - 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The Smiths - Nowhere Fast

Oasis - Supersonic

Our Music Video

It is clear that we have used the forms and conventions of indie music (both contemporary and "classic") in order to establish our genre and target audience. The most obvious way we have done this is include a solid performance, with a full band (in the video for Nowhere Fast, The Smiths take the performance to the extreme by setting the video in the studio, seemingly as they record the song), in an urban/suburban location. We have also used the idea of a house party to appeal to our target audience (teenagers/young adults) as this is what they are now notorious in the media for. This is a way of showing development of the conventions of indie, adapting them for a contemporary audience.

 Our mise-en-scene, sound and shot types/editing are all fitting within our media form and genre, including locations such as pubs and petrol stations. This is similar to Oasis, who filmed the video for their debut single Supersonic on a rooftop. The shots are quick and punchy, with fast editing, as they should be in an effective music video.

 One way we have challenged the conventions of our genre is by having our main character as a Chav, completely subverting audience expectations, as they would expect to see a more "indie" individual as the main character in an indie music video. This is why we show the indie lead character at the start of the video, to create a false expectation for the audience. This is a form of irony, as you would expect to see a charming, dapper man in a video for a song called "This Charming Man", not a Chav. Despite the seemingly miscast lead character, the video works on the basis that the Chav is seen to be the complete opposite of a "charming man", which is what the song is about. This is including irony in our video. Also, our target audience would enjoy seeing a chav trying to fit in with them and failing miserably.

We did not explicitly use postmodern ideas in our video, however we did use modern social technology by including a Facebook status. This will appeal to our social networking target audience. This is a form of intertextuality, as we are utilizing another media form for our media form. This is also developing the conventions of the indie genre, as Facebook has become the replacement for the "flyer" method of promoting bands. Instead of physical flyers promoting band's gigs, as many famous bands used when they were starting out, Facebook pages and events are used to promote gigs, as we use in our video.

Unused content

This is a promo we created however decided not to use it for the final website. We thought the more content we had the better, however it is frustrating creating unnecessary content. Although, the more we make, the more practice we have and the better the outcome of final ideas.

Learning with iWeb

Initially, we thought that in order to create a reflection, we had to manually create it through photoshop ourselves. Therefore, much more work was put in then necessary. Eventually we discovered you could do it through iWeb itself. Which was annoying however saved a lot of time.

This is how we were creating reflections for half of the project:

Website influence

We followed this website as a rough guide for how our website wanted to look. We both agreed it was an ideal website and best suited our band. As you can see it looks similar to ours in a sense that the header is very large and catchy. An ideal way to show off the band and promote the site.

Vintage Effect

We used various tutorials on how to add a vintage effect to our photographs. This is one of them:

We found this tutorial especially helpful and adapted the effect to best suit our needs.

Inside Cover

This is the inside cover of our CD. We used the bicycle as our theme for the inside. The basket and the wheel both compliment each-other. We added a vintage indie effect to all our photo's, the same method so that there is continuity throughout. After adding the effect, we cropped the wheel to the shape of the CD.

Website Footer

The footer of the website includes photos of the band members, these have been color corrected, adjustment layers added, to achieve a vintage, indie feel. We then added a reflection to each photo to add a contemporary, fluent effect which fits with the rest of the website.

Tweet Feed: In detail

We had an idea to create a tweet feed what would refresh and update to the most recent news of the band. We print-screened the twitter news-feed as it were, we then edited the text to make it in the context of the band. Added a border, and text explaining what the function was. Also an "updating..." section. We then hyper-linked the image to the twitter homepage. This was an innovative idea created by us. Unfortunately, our ideas were copied and spread by the entire class, and no longer seems unique. We were the first to come up with the tweet feed idea.

Merchandise

We have added posters to the website to promote the band and create a realistic, band like, website. We created the outline of the t-shirts, as well as the designs so the poster is 100% original content. We hyper-linked the poster to an official smiths website.

Tour Dates

We decided to create a table to show the tour dates and status of tickets for the band. We made this via photoshop. We used the font "American Typewriter" to keep continuity. We added the ticketmaster logo to add realism to the poster. With the font, we added drop shadow and altered the font color depending on the status of the venue and tickets.

Embedded Video

We decided to embed a video to make our website look as legitimate as possible. We took a screenshot from what we have already shot, the graffiti shot being a distinctive, interesting shot. We then added a player icon to add realism, we did this through photoshop. We then hyper-linked the image to Youtube and where the video will eventually be.

Website Text

The website text consists of information about the band, its history, influences etc. This is the key to the home page of the website as it explains the band. We used white text on a black background with the same font we have used throughout the project, "American Typewriter".

Website Aesthetics

This is the look of our website, we used photoshop and iWeb to create diverse looks, we played around and experimented with our site to get the best looking image.

Screenshots

We have taken the following screenshots showing our editing and parts of the video.

Editing the video on iMovie for Mac. 

 Part of the subway scene, where the chav hangs around on his own.

Part of the intro for the video, where our indie lead walks down the road in a happy manner.

The introduction of our lead character, the chav. He is introduced by pushing the indie lead out of shot.

The pub scene, where to chav tries to get served at a pub.

... and then he gets rejected.

Facebook status advertising the party. This shows us utilizing modern technology and social networking.

Another part of the subway scene. The chav is barged into by a tougher youth and fails to stand up for himself. Even includes a director cameo!