Nikki Evaluation.

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

Before we shot our video we had to think about conventions and what makes different videos. as our genre was rock there were certain convention we had to apply although a few we adapted to make it our own and some that we challenged. we researched several videos an similar styles of videos to the idea we wanted so we could work out the typical convention we needed to include.
the main theme we carried on with was black and white alot of rock videos especially backstage/tour style videos like ours are shot in black an white for arty effect aswell as giving that vintage look
by shooting a backstage style video it invites the audience and our fans to see us as just regular people and giving them that little bit more it also gives us the chance to reach out a little more to our fans.
one more convention we carried on with was the theme of live performance although we didnt have an actual live performance we had band rehearsals and the guys playing with their instruments thus maintaining the live performance feel. this links in with horton and wohls parasocial theory where there is a one sided relationship usually between the audience and celebrities where one knows more about the other such as fans knowing more about celebs then they do of the audience.
one other well known video that uses this is Bon Jovi - Living on a Prayer.






one convention we adapted was the idea of band rehersal we normally see the band practising just playing instruments where as we have our band practising signalling to the sound tech guys to change the volume/pitch taking it that little bit further we also took the idea of promoting there merchandise within the video blink 182 wear alot of there own brands such as travis barker wears famous stars an straps we take it one step further by andy wearing a tshirt that says the croft thus promoting official merchandise.

one idea we challenged would be our ending the last shot is of the band walking towards the camera in a way pretty standard although we have a slightly more controversial scene as they walk towards the camera will lights up a cigarette and andy flips his finger at the camera giving an 'i dont care we break the rules' image. although alot of rock bands give off this image aswell we take it further by swearing at the camera to reiterate that point. people expect celebrities and famous people to have a holesome image and to be role models but within the rock industry its slightly different they set out to break the rules and push the boundaries.

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





How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts



what have you learned from your audience feedback?

Jack's Evaluation

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


In this video I discuss the various technologies I used during the whole process of developing our final product(s), whether it be physical hardware devices or software I worked with.

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

Our rock music video wouldn't have been a rock music video if we didn't apply certain conventions. I feel we did well in portraying our band and video to meet rock clichés and conventions.


Use

One convention we used was making our music video's colour desaturated. This creates a 'retro' feel and we used it to reiterate the "back stage", "band on tour" look, by reminiscing the past, and inviting the audience, back to the past and behind the scenes. The extreme close up of the bass guitar, which actually had its motion slowed down, and with the desaturation of colour, reinforces the retro feel. This has been done many times in rock videos such as Bon Jovi - Livin' On A Prayer (see screenshot below).

 

Another convention we used was showing the band performing together on stage. This is used in the majority of all rock videos. We thought it was a necessity to show the band playing together on stage because it is really what rock music is all about; a band playing coherently together. It is probably the most expected thing to expect when watching a rock video, so it was pretty necessary for us to include this, it also authenticates that the band are real, and it shows the audience, what band members are doing/playing what.

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Develop

Within the back stage feel and look of our video, the bands rehearsals were shown, to give viewers an inside look of what goes on behind the scenes. As you can see here in the first screenshot, is Axl Rose rehearsing, performing a sound check, in the video Pardise City by Guns n Roses. We took this and developed it by videoing the lead singer testing the microphone and saying to turn it up while gesturing too. By doing this clearly shows the bands genuineness, and makes the behind the scenes/ rehearsal theme seem even more authentic. We used a mid camera shot here, like Guns n Roses did, to fully portray the sound check and contain it within the frame.

Costume and Mise en scene plays a part in conventions in music videos. Here you see Travis Barker, the drummer of Blink 182, sporting a 'Famous Stars and Stripes' T-Shirt which is the clothing line he created. So to some extent he is subliminally advertising the brand. We developed this by having Andy wear official band merchandise during the recording session. This is to do with Horton and Wohl's parasocial theory of having a relationship with the audience. By sporting goods that fans could potentially sport themselves, it may make them feel capable of having a relationship with the band. Whereas fans of certain rappers, may feel unable to relate to the expensive clothes, suits they wear.

 

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Challenge


The song 'Everything's Undone' is very much about love, heartbreak and it has some deep meaningful lyrics. In the same context, the song You're So Last Summer by Taking Back Sunday lyrically explains the sad remorse of heartbreak. The first screen shot is the ending scene in the video for 'You're So Last Summer'. It shows the lead singer looking lonely, and the his head positionally facing down implies he is sad. Also with hands in his front pockets, he looks quite withdrawn and closed up. Compare this to the ending in 'Everything's Undone' in the second screenshot, you see the lead singer, looking strong and rebellious by gesturing a rude finger signal to the camera. This shows a typical, bad, rebellious, doesn't care, type rocker/lead singer. Which is fine within the genre, however it challenges the forms and conventions within the context of the song as it is more of an emotional rock song about love and heartbreak etc. So it doesn't have much to do with being a rebellious punk.

Having a 3 piece band within this genre to some extent challenges conventions of the overall ensemble of the band. Being without an extra guitarist causes our band's image and music sound to be different in relation to bands in the same genre. As you see here in the first picture, Avenged Sevenfold feature 5 members and within the second picture Foo Fighters have 4 members. Whereas our band (bottom picture) only feature 3. Having 3 members, and the absence of a rhythm guitarist, makes the sound of The Croft different to similar bands. It also adds extra responsibility to the lead singer by having to operate a guitar as well. This may add to the desirability of the artist by multi-tasking roles within the band.

 

 

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

Due to the absence of other group members, Andy and I took it upon ourselves to discuss the combination and relationships of our main product, the music video, and our ancillary texts, the digipack and the website.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

We received audience feedback from a group of people that viewed our video. We then processed the results and annotated our video with the feedback we received.

Our audience feedback firmly tells us that our video is authentic and seems real. This is good as it what we was aiming for. However some viewers felt that certain areas seemed fake (the settings and the instrument playing) and that throughout the video it was repetitive. So I've learned that the video fits the rock genre because of the mise en scene as one viewer stated, and that it is very authentic and realistic due to black and white effect as many of the audience declared.

On the other hand, it didn't satisfy some watchers as they felt it was quite repetitive and some areas could have been developed. With this information taken into account, had we the chance to improve upon our video, I would record more adverse footage, perhaps even adding a narrative to counterpart the video. I would also organise a live performance including a full crowd within the audience, and enhance the setting by having various lighting, and possibly a more technical recording studio.

Andy Watts evaluation

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

In this video I am explaining how we have used, developed and challenged conventions in our media product.


What have you learned from audience feedback?


in this video we have annotated it with comments and information about our feedback.



This tells us overall that the video was successful in the areas we aimed for such as the authentic feel using black and white image processing and playing instruments on a stage which is common in our genre range. Unfortunately most of the answers we received did not contain reasons as to why they picked these answers.

They understood that we couldn't do a real stage performance due to our limits i.e not having a willing audience available to film. They did however say that it would be better with a live audience.


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


In this video I take you through the software, hardware and freeware used in the overall production of the video.




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


This is a meeting between me and jack talking about what connections were between our digipak and video

COMPLETED DIGIPACK & WEBSITE

DIGIPACK

At long last we have finished our digipack. Will made the back cover, and half the front cover, and Jack finished the front cover and made the inlay. This was all done using Photoshop.

Front Cover:

Back cover:

Opened up inlay:

Back of inlay:

WEBSITE

Here is our website located at http://www.thecroft.co.cc

The domain is blocked on our school network, so if it doesn't work, here are shots of the website:

Digipack Research

I had a look at other bands albums and digipacks respectively, for digipack research.

It very much appears that bands in relation to our band, have album covers of images and artwork rather than pictures of the band. This may be because they don't want act commercial and portray themselves as desirable artists yet they want to be known for the music. Whereas a pop artist may want to glamourise theirselves, and have a photoshoot of them to put on the front cover.

Following the media blog

I've set us up to be following the A2 media blog so that we can keep track of the developments of our evaluative films regarding the technology we used

Screenshots for our evaluation

 

Evaluation.

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

In terms of conventions I think we've done quite a good job.  During our piece we managed to blend live performances, cinematic photography and offstage band footage.  The first of which clearly sticks with the typical conventions of rock, as artist very frequently forego narrative or a storyline in favour of professionally filmed footage of the band performing.  Various popular camera shots include longshots to view the entire band, close ups on the singer's face or the guitarist's hands, shots that zoom out from the front of the stage which slowly reveal the entire band or shots from a slightly higher angle.  A good example of this that includes narrative would be "Relentless Chaos" by Miss May I.

This video is full of fast-paced cuts between the band's performance, the vocalist in solitary confinement and the mild narrative involving the vocalist, which ends in the same room that the band is performing in.

Our video focuses more on the band offstage rather than on it, as well as preparing for a show.  A good example to compare to would be Bon Jovi's "Living on a prayer" where the first half of the video consists of the band exchanging banter and preparing for a live show, just generally being themselves around their crew.

 The majority of footage is of the band members interacting with each other or preparing for a stage performance.  I was to be the fun member of the group, and as such various parts of our piece may convey this. Andy was the moodier member, and certain sections, for example his refusal in certain parts to be filmed were intended to reinforce that image.  Typically within a band's image there are certain "types" of member, such as the angry one or the quiet one etc: we attempted to go with this kind of setup.  During our filming we wanted to get as much of the band members "being themselves" as we possibly could, this was more difficult than we originally thought it would be because it meant that we had to be acting almost all of the time. 

The live performance part of our video went well though, playing along with the song helped us to fit in the with convention by which the first half of the video will consist of the band members out of performance or rehearsal, being themselves and mucking about, the second half or segment of the video is more devoted to actually seeing the band play live, whether it be a rehearsal or in concert.

A lot of the time the camera zooms on the instrument that is being played or the focal instrument at the time, for instance, this is a shot from Foo Fighters' "The pretender"

This is a shot from our video, of the bass in mid-play, we thought that this would be a good conventional idea to stick to, as it draws focus away from yhe prominent singer and plays more to the rest of the band, as the singer is often heavily focused on.


Other conventions of a Male rock band might include the "bad boy" image portrayed by Andy, or the "rebellious" image, as well as using lots of fast-paced themes. (For example, the sped-up shots of the car or the camera out the window.)  Incorporating these was much more difficult than we had originally thought it might be because we hadn't originally planned to include these shots, so we decided that placing them early in the song to coincide with the speedily played intro music would be the best course of action.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
As a combination, I believe that our product and texts work very well together.  Our video was in black and white, which is a very simplistic way to present a music video but as such it seemed to work quite well when our audience feedback is considered, we were given a lot of good feedback about the use of black and white.  Because of this we decided it would be a good idea to keep within thie monochrome themes of simplicity and darkness.  As such we designed our digipack and website with similar themes in mind.

We made the front cover of the digipack first and decided to continue with the same sort of dark, wet theme with light sources only being indirect or reflected.  This was continued with the back cover and one of the inlays, seen below to the right.











This picture on the left is the first Inlay, seen as soon as the digipack is opened.  Within the digipack are CDs and pictures of the band.


The continuity of our texts seemed to work well, the dark moodiness of the video and digipack were reflected in the website we made.
A link to the website can be found here:  http://www.thecroft.co.cc/
As you can see, the website is predominantly black and grey, and is set out so that it can be easily navigated.  It contains information pertaining to the release of the digipack.  This makes the whole project seem more realistic, as the look and feel of all the parts conform to the overall theme.  We felt we had taken the initiative well in terms of our digipack design by including a second CD containing the music video we filmed. This also helps to make the whole release seem more believeable and authentic.

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



What have you learned from your audience feedback?

The Croft's Website is [half] ONLINE

I've uploaded the website to the internet so it is now accessable.

http://www.thecroft.co.cc/

Still need to add content, and 2 of the links don't work, however I need other group members input of what to add to the content (such as news, tour dates, general band information etc)

Album front cover

After looking at a few different album covers of a similar genre to ours we discovered alot of the album covers had motifs or designs rather than photos of the band or a fantasy style photo of the band.

We looked at several foofighters covers and all of them had pictures rather than photos and andy analysed the cover.

We designed a few different covers one we took silhouette photos of a guitarist drummer and bassist and then put on a split black and white back ground the top half white bottom half black using a bold outline.

After much discussion we decided that the front cover looked to 'pop' almost we chose a different design going with a back ground of a cobbled road we tinted it green.

We added the name of the band which is essential and the album name again is also essential we used photoshop to edit the text in using a translucent text with an obvious outline.

THE CREATION OF THE CROFT WEBSITE

AS part of our digipack, we need to create a digipack and magazine advert or website. Being an avid web designer during my spare time, I thought it would make sense if I made a website for our band. So now I'm at home using Photoshop and Dreamweaver to create a website. In this post I'm going to explain what I've done and why in brief detail.

Firstly I created a template on photoshop as you can see:

As you can see it has blue lines, ignore these, these are just lines to slice up the template into images to import into HTML code.

I chose to use dark colours as we're a rock band (which conforms with typical conventions) and so I made a dark grey background with a black diagonal pattern, and a plain black content background. I also made a small banner, showing the band members with "The Croft" next to it. I made the pictures black and white to relate to our music video and also it gives it a retro feel. I then added the navigation below, (home, the band etc..).


From there I imported the sliced images into dreamweaver which is a program that helps you write code for websites. There isn't much point showing a screenshot of this program, as the code just looks like "jibberish".

I thought it would be a great idea to include our video on the main page of our website, primarily promoting it, and making it stand out to viewers, instead of linking to the video, so it attracts more attention. So I coded this up in HTML and CSS, and here's how it looks in my browser:

The content such as news etc and general information will be underneath the text at the bottom, however this is yet to be added.

Quite pleased with what I've done so far. So I'm going to take a break, however I will keep this updated.

Photo shoot

Uploaded these pictures to blogger so I can use them at home when I create the website for our band.