Website

https://lbailey54321.wixsite.com/mysite

Screen Shot 2018-04-29 at 11.39.22 PM

in my website i have included a news section, which lets the audience know what Roodmood get up to when they’re not performing.

I have also included a music section where fans and listeners can purchase previous albums.

there is a section for previous show videos as well as my music video

there is a tour section where fans can get info about tour dates and purchase tickets

and lastly there is a the band section where there is a small bio for each member.

Evaluation question 4

 

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

research

At the beginning of the project, i mainly used youtube videos, CDs i and lying around and any websites i could find on google, I found these essential in building my own website, digipakc and video. I made multiple blog research posts analysing different videos, websites and digipacks which made me go to an in depth analysis and really think about how i was going to create my website, digipack and music video. I was already a fan of the rock genre so i already had a broad range on knowledge and ideas for which direction i could go with all of these elements.

planning

I chose my actress because i knew that she would be professional in front of the camera and just perfect for the role, I got gratification for this decision in my target audience interviews. I filmed my music video on a Go Pro and mounted it on a gimbal, the footage was edited in After Effects CS6 and then stitched together in Premiere Pro. After i felt it was finished i uploaded it to youtube with an unlisted setting and then embedded it on my blog, I had to organise filming timed through a plethora of emails back and for the between venues when i finally settled on the royal jersey showgroudns, and then more emails to decided on a date and time where the hall would be empty and that lines up with my actresses busy schedule.  when deciding what props and costumes to use i turned to all the youtube videos i had watched on rock videos, and gave my actress a description of what i wanted, and i brought my mic, stand and guitar to use in the video. I had my pocket size black notebook in which i planned EVERYTHING, whenever i needed to write down an idea or plan anything it all went into the black book; shot lists, digipack ideas, editing techniques it was all in there. I posted all the pages of my notebook onto my blog.

construction

I used a Go Pro Hero 4 to film and mounted it on a Gimbal G4 and extension poles. after filming all of my shot i plugged the go pro into my laptop and downloaded all the footage and edited in in After Effects CS6 and constructed it in Premiere Pro and used effects like camera motion tracking, warp stabiliser, curves and colour correction.  I watched many videos on how to make my video look the way i wanted it to and have linked them on my blog. When i was filming i would play the song on a speaker so my actress would be exactly on time when i would edit it later.

for my digipack, i held a photoshoot with my band in Chordz coffee house, using the exposed brick wall at the back. I used the soft lighting in the cafe as well as no lighting outside at it was early on a cloudy morning, I did individual mug shots in a few different positions so i could have a choice when i was editing them later in Photoshop CS6. I wanted it to look like an airbrushed movie poster and so i watched a few youtube videos to learn how to do this process until i found a look that i wanted, i took a picture of the 5 mile road and some of the rough landscape the sand dunes and then edited a route 66 logo onto it.

on the back of the digipack i put the list of all the songs on the album as well as the small legal print that no one can read just below the list of songs, i used a picture of Roodmood on the inside of the digipack where the CD would go. I used a template given to me by my teacher to size and scale my digipack to the correct dimensions in InDesign CS6.

I used six to create my website, I uploaded a promo video that was made from a few of their live gigs around the island that plays in the background of the website, i also included a bunch of photos i had of Roodmood and the individual band members. I made a few section describing a tour, a meet the band section where it gives a short bio on each member, i also linked previous videos of shows they have performed and made up some previous albums that could be bought. i have make a news sections which gives a bit of insight into what the band gets up to as well as a section where you can watch the music video.

evaluation

in my AS coursework, i have made a prezzie and some blog posts about my evaluation, but my teacher couldnt stress enough how he didn’t want any prezzi’s this time so I’ve made them into scripts and then recorded myself reading them and put them ito a video using visuals to help to illustrate what I’m saying. the scripts have also been put on my wordpress blog incase the examiner cant understand what I’m saying and can read along at the same time. Mostly for the video evaluation i have either downloaded videos from youtube to use as an example or i have screen recorded using quick time player, i used a Rode NT1-A mic to record myself into Logic Pro X and then exported it to Premiere Pro where i fitted it to images and footage. I added some back ground music to make it feel less awkward and nicer to listen to.

Evaluation question 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback

pre-production

Before i started to even think about filming my music video, I looked through loads of music videos and researched forms and conventions of rock videos

I also conducted a target audience interview so i could get an overall idea of what my audience wanted/expected to see in a music video, so i could conform and challenge certain conventions. The response and feedback was very helpful (for the most part) in helping me get a better idea and developing an understanding of what my audience would be expecting to see in a rock music video. For the most part they wanted to see some sort of performance element with a little bit more narrative.

The previous year during my AS coursework, I used survey monkey  to create a questionnaire which contained about 10 questions that would let me collect data for my short film opening, however I didn’t find it very useful as the questions were very leading and it was hard to think of any that would actually help me with my research.

My target audience I suppose is a very varied group, i’d say 15 years plus, and hopefully my music video would appeal to this demographic through my colourations, narrative and performance.

post production

After completing my first draft, I showed it to a few of my friends, after listening to their suggestions and feedback, I added black bars to the top and bottom of the screen, i added the colouration and visual effects to make it more interesting and exciting to look at, I added some 3d camera point titles at the beginning of the music video as well.

If i could do this again

If i could  do this project again i think if i had a bigger budget or access to it, i would have filmed with a DSLR and a gimbal for that rather than a go pro and a gimbal so i could actually see what i was filming as some of the framing is a bit off in my music video, I would also have like do to some more filming but being that my actress is a music teacher, in a band and has a full time job there wasn’t much opportunity to do so. I would also liked to have filmed with a fully operational lighting rig so i could have played around with the lighting, but the would have been one to many zeros out of my budget.

However, I do find that my audience feedback was essential to understanding the expectations of my genre of music video and I hopefully applied it successfully.

Evaluation question 2

 

How effective is the combination pf your main product and ancillary texts?

Through the cover of my digipack and my music video I have tried to hint at a similarity in themes, with the lyrics to the song for my music video including ‘going down the only road i’ve ever known’ i have included a road into my digipack cover which i hope will link and create a noticeable theme between my main product and ancillary text. I have also made a link between the route 66 logo on the road in my digipack, which links to my website where i have included a tour section in which Roodmood have a route 66 tour.  I took inspiration for the linking between music video and album cover from Green Day’s album ‘21st Century Breakdown’ which is an example of a concept album, and one of the music videos on that album for the song ’21 Guns, where the characters Christian and Gloria wow re mentioned throughout the album embrace in the video which is the exact image used for the album cover. So keeping this in mind i decided to make a link to the lyrics of the song and how i would design my digipack cover, using the metaphor of going down a long lonely road in the song to create a physical image of a road for my digipack. I also tried to keep the colouration and ‘vintage retro’ looking style similar as my digipack has a heavily airbrushed and grainy look which would have been how images would have looked decades ago, and the dust and scratches effect on my music video to make it look like it had been filmed on old dirty tape.

I conducted a small photoshoot with the band that kept with the theme of retro and a rock band feel, putting the band in front of an exposed brick wall with similar lighting and colouring to the digipack. I like to think that my band has a unique selling point with having a female lead as the majority of rock bands have a male lead so i make Hannah the largest image and drew more focus to her on my digipack.

Evaluation Question 1

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

The genre I have chosen to do is rock, this is because generally the majority of music i like and that I listen to. I particularly enjoy the music videos of the rock genre because i find they are incredibly varied and have a wide range of style and narrative.

I  researched the forms and conventions for a rock video and tried to include them in my video, but also i have tired to challenge and develop some of the conventions in my product, as I found that the majority of rock bands have a male lead and so a lot of the videos are focused around the idea of being predominantly about the …, whereas the band I have used for my product has a female lead, so i have challenged some conventions in that sense.  I have also used and challenged these conventions in aspects like my digipack, colourisation of the video, and website.

The actress i chose was a young female character to be the main (and only) character in my music video, this followed a form and convention of rock videos as she is the lead singer of the band and there are very few rock videos where there isn’t at least the lead singer in the video. Rock artists and bands such as Halestorm, Evanescence, The Bangles and Heart all have female leads and so their videos reflect this. Evanesce’s video for ‘My Immortal’ throughout the whole video only show Amy Lee, the lead singer and no one else in the band, because is isn’t quite as common to have a female lead it can be a unique selling point for the band and so subsequently most other videos like this focus mostly on the female lead as it will stand out from other videos.

When I went through the process of choosing my actress, I decided to go with Hannah as she seemed to be very confident in from of the camera, and has the charisma and demanding stage presence a lead singer in rock band would have. This i felt was very important when choosing my actress because these qualities are predominant in other artists that are considered very successful such as Lizzy Hale, Amy Lee and Anne Wilson.

For locations, I wanted to use an industrial, large and open area as I felt it reflected the lyrics and atmosphere of the song well, so I ended up filming at The Royal Jersey Showgrounds, I was influenced by ‘While She Sleeps’ by Fur walls which is also filmed in a large warehouse looking area. I filmed all of the video in this one location, which challenges a form and convention of rock videos as usually the performance and narrative elements are separate and filmed in different locations, i challenged this convention because the idea i had in my head i felt jul work a lot better with the performance and narrative being linked in the same idea and same location, and the showgrounds gave me a lot to work with in terms of space and inspiration.

The colouration and visual effect style of my video changes from the start at the video, where the slower synths are playing at the beginning of the song, which has a plainer less stylised colouration, having a flip book effect at the start emphasises the narrative and story of the video, when the beat picks up in the song the style and colour of the video changes to a more stylised bright and vintage look with old tape style dust and scratches. this convention of rock videos being made to look like it was filmed decades earlier is shown in videos such as ‘Mr Bright side’ by The Killers, ‘Supersoaker’ by Kings of Leon, ‘In Bloom’ by Nirvana and ‘Buddy Holly’ by Weezer, all of which i have taken strong inspiration from.

For my costumes, I wanted them to reflect the band’s persona as well as the genre and the song. I chose a sleeveless top that had the logo of another rock band on it, fishnet tights and denim shorts, boots, leather hand strap fingerless gloves and a leather jacket. I got inspiration for this costume from Lizzy Hale in Halestorm’s video for ‘Mayhem’ where she wears dark leather clothing. this costume conforms to the conventions of a rock video as they usually have dark clothing that are tight fitting and leather.

I chose to use my Fender Stratocaster guitar for the solo in the song, as well as a Rode NT1-A recording microphone and a mic stand for props in my video. I used these for the performance element of my video and this is a common convention is rock videos to have the artist play their instrument in the video in time with the song, I used …… as inspiration for this element in my music video. On the other hand i have challenged this convention by for the rest of the video either having the actress mouthing along to the song with no prop or just dancing along without mouthing,   I used The Killer video for ‘All These Things That I’ve Done’ for inspiration for this element in my music video.

Many of the camera angles in my music videos were inspired by watching multiple music videos not just of the rock genre so i could get an idea of the kind of shots that make up a music video, for some of the performance shots i used long duration panning and moving shots, which i got from watching Bon Jovi’s ‘Bed of Roses’ and ‘In These Arms’. I used a gimbal and go pro because i wants to have a smooth moving image that would challenge see forms and conventions of rock videos as i noticed a lot of the shots were stationary so i wanted to make my video stand out in that sense.

When I conducted my interviews I didn’t tell my audience what I was planning to do for my music video until after id asked them what they would do and to chose between a variety of themes for different elements. My main aim for when i was planning and filming my music video was that i wanted it to be different and i wanted to challenge forms and conventions and i think i have achieved that based on the answers from my target audience analysis interviews.

For my digipack, I was more inspired by the idea of a concept album, the more heavily narrative based record and so i looked at album covers such as ‘Sgt. peppers and the lonely hearts band’ by The Beatles, and ‘Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge’ by My Chemical Romance, and that then lead onto looking at graphic airbrushed movie posters, like ‘Indiana Jones’ and ‘Star Wars’. I took very heavy inspiration from the movie poster for ‘Baby Driver’ as I wanted to make a subtle reference to the classic rock and roll heavy sound track.

For the website, I looked at the official website for Blondie and took a lot of inspiration for that, the sophisticate layout and style is something i aimed to replicate in an original way. Some of the conventions for a rock artist website it the meet the band section which i have included with picture of Roodmood and a short bio on each of the four members.

 

Roodmood

 

Roodmood are the band I have decided to use for my A level project. They are a local band and the no. 1 band to get for events, they’re a real crowd pleaser. I chose them because they’re teachers at Chordz coffee house and music school and Charlie owed me for standing in on Bass in some rock schools, also they’re probably the best musicians I know and the logical choice for a band.

They predominantly play classic rock covers and have an impressive set list of bangers, they regularly play live and so getting footage and photos won’t be an issue, the only problem is that they are very busy, being teachers and performing as well as holding down other jobs doesn’t leave them a lot of free time so finger time to get picture or film may be difficult.

Design a site like this with WordPress.com
Get started