SCRIPT FOR EVALUATION FOUR

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

During the research stage of creating my products, media technologies played a vital role.

YouTube was the main media technology we used from beginning to end. We first used this during the research progress to find the song "Teenage Fantasy" and we carried on using it to research further into the contemporary R&B genre by watching similar music videos, as well as videos from other genres. This helped us know what conventions from this genre we wanted to follow and challenge. We also used YouTube to download the song so that we could start editing in iMovie.

I also used Spotify because it has a "similar artists" section on musicians' accounts. This allowed me to find other singers that are part of the same genre as Jorja Smith which gave me a wider variety of music videos to watch. As well as this, I looked through playlists that are made either by Spotify or other users to find similar songs and artists. Having a wider range of musicians to research also gave me more digipaks and magazine adverts to look at for my ancillary tasks.

Also, I used Google throughout my coursework to research into artists, music videos, genre conventions, what digipaks consists of, examples of magazine adverts, along with other information we needed to research. Google images was also useful when it came to looking at inspiration for colour palettes but for this I also used social media sites and other music videos mostly on YouTube but on Vimeo too.

When planning, blogger was used from the beginning to the end of the year as it was crucial for putting all of my thoughts together. This website allowed me to create blog posts explaining my inspiration, ideas, and plans. With an easy-to-use layout, it was very simple to organise everything I needed in the labels I want. I was also able to change the look of my blog so that it includes handy links on the side, which includes the school youtube channel (where I uploaded most videos). 

Another software we used to plan was Microsoft PowerPoint to create a pitch for our music video idea. This simple application allowed us to explain our ideas mostly through images. We then presented this pitch to our class to receive feedback which turned out to be extremely helpful.

Furthermore, since we were using someone outside of our group as an actor, we needed to make sure that we were organised with everything. We mostly used Microsoft Office Excel for this as it was easy to organise the timetables for shooting days, locations, what actors we'll need on what days, what costumes, and the props we will need on certain days. Since Excel is easy to share with other people, it meant that we could all be connected in the plans which allowed us to be more organised. In addition to this, we also used WhatsApp to create a group chat with the three of us who were working on the music video together, along with the actor. This meant that we could let each other know if we were going to be late, have to cancel, if we needed a spare SD card, or any other last-minute messages we might have had to send each other. We also messaged each other on WhatsApp to share inspiration and ideas throughout the year.

When it came to the construction of our products, we used different hardware as well as software. Originally, we wanted to film our portrait shots using a camera called "Super 8". This would have achieved the perfect look we wanted and other music videos that include this camera are Dodie - "You". However, Super 8's are extremely expensive and difficult to use so we had to find an alternative that was more realistic. After researching on Google, we then came across the app "Fyuse" which allowed us to create short videos that go back and forth, making a 3D feel to the portrait shots. Unfortunately, this app was downloaded on Julia and Lucy's phone because it's only available on iPhones which became an issue as I couldn't film any portrait shots if I wanted to whilst I was out on my own. Although it was possible to do this without me filming on my own, we could have got it done quicker if I was able to have it on my own phone too. The only other downside to using this app was that it decreased the quality of the videos. However, the rest of the music video was filmed on DSLRs cameras which meant that the high quality hugely contrasted to the low-quality shots of the portrait shots. Since there was a clear difference anyway, it didn't become a problem because it seems as though we purposely wanted it a lower quality which is an effect used in quite a few music videos, for example, Tigers Jaw: "June" (although this quality is a lot lower than our Fyuse shots)

The other hardware media technology we used are mine and Julia's DSLR cameras which were a Nikon D3300 and a Canon 60D. Using these cameras gave us the quality of video that we wanted and having two DSLRs also meant that we were able to capture a lot more footage throughout the day. Since Julia and I had our own cameras, it also meant that we could film whilst we were on our own. For example, I took a few filler shots of trains whilst I was in central London without the rest of the group. This allowed us to take advantage of the limited time we had, rather than sticking to the few days we could all film together.

Once we had footage for the music video, I started to edit it all using iMovie. We had the option of using this or Final Cut Pro and although to begin with, I wanted to use Final Cut, I ended up deciding that iMovie would be a better option. This is because I used iMovie for my AS film opening so I was already confident in using it. This meant that we wouldn't have as wide of a variety when it came to editing techniques because iMovie doesn't come with much but with the variety of cameras and software we were using, we didn't want to use too much "fancy" editing.

When it came to editing on iMovie, I used a range of editing techniques including cropping, split, rearranging shots, saturation,  and contrast. Another editing technique I used in the majority of the shots was stabilization because since we filmed mostly handheld rather than using a tripod, I had to fix the shots that were extremely unsteady. Finally, I downloaded the song from a YouTube to MP3 converter website to be able to insert the audio onto iMovie.

To create my ancillary tasks, I tried out a range of software before finding the ones that I felt comfortable working with. I first tried to edit the screenshot I took from the video on an app called "Afterlight" however since I have never used this before, I quickly went back to the app called "VSCO" which I use regularly for my media work as well as for editing other photos. After this, I took the screenshot to "Picsart". This was going to be where I would design my digipak and magazine advert. I've used this app a few times in the past but I've never needed to use it for anything important, or anything that I wanted to be extremely good quality. Once I finished editing my album cover on there, I sent it to my laptop to then find out that since it was done on my small phone screen, the quality was nowhere near what I wanted it to be. This app also adds a green tint to photos which wasn't the look I was going for. This meant that I had to find another software that would enable me to design my ancillary tasks. After a quick google, I found a website called "Fotor". Although I've never used or heard of it before, it was extremely easy to design exactly what I wanted. It also had enough fonts available for me to use that meant that I didn't have to use the apps I downloaded on my phone (which included "Phonto", "Font Studio", and "AppForType"). Overall, Fotor was extremely enjoyable and is definitely a media technology I will be using in the near future.

To receive feedback to help with the progress of creating my ancillary tasks, I first used a website called "surveymonkey.com" which let me create surveys that I could easily share with whoever I wanted, to receive as much audience feedback as possible.

When it came to creating the evaluations, I used different media technologies for each question.

Since I don't have iMovie at home, I downloaded an application on my HP laptop called "Animotica - Video Editor". This allowed me to put voiceovers over videos and pictures which helped me create evaluation questions one.

For my second evaluation, I used a website called "Powtoons" which although takes a while, I think it's worth it. The problem I came across when using this, is that I didn't realise before that the free trial means I can only have a video of 5 minutes maximum. Since my voiceover was roughly 8 minutes, I knew that I couldn't cut it down to 5. To fix this, I realised that I had to do it in two parts but the only way to export the videos was to upload it to youtube so I then had to use a youtube to MP4 website again and edit the two together.

For my third evaluation, I used a website called "Prezi" which is similar to powerpoint but it's more complicated and looks a lot better.

Finally, for this evaluation which is the fourth, I'm filming it on my Nikon D3300 which is the same camera I used to film the music video.

In conclusion, I used a wide range of media technologies through every step of my A2 coursework. I went back to old technologies that I am familiar and comfortable with, such as iMovie and VSCO, as well as trying out new technologies that I now love, such as Fotor.

SCRIPT FOR EVALUATION ONE

This (as well as the other scripts for my evaluations) are just roughly what I'm planning on saying but I might change it slightly when it comes to recording myself.

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

After choosing what song I would be making my music video for, the first thing I researched was the genres it fell into. To my surprise, "Teenage Fantasy" - Jorja Smith can be categorised as contemporary R&B, alternative R&B, dancehall, and pop music. This meant that I had a lot of options when it came to the conventions I wanted to research. However, I decided to stick mostly to the contemporary R&B genre as this was the style of music videos I enjoyed most. I then looked at different music videos from other artists from this genre. To find similar artists, I first looked at a few I already knew which includes Frank Ocean, Sabrina Claudio and Mura Masa. However, I then realised I don't listen to a lot of R&B so I looked at the "related artists" section on Spotify which helped my find other artists including Shy Girls and Willow. After knowing what the music videos typically consist of, I have deliberately chosen to use, develop and challenge the forms and conventions of real media products from this genre.

One of the ways in which I used conventions is through the colours of the music videos. I noticed that in these professional music videos from the same genre, there tends to be a large amount of highly saturated shots including the primary colours yellow, red, and blue. I specifically made sure that we were filming in locations with bright colours and told Lucy and Julia, who were the main characters throughout the narrative, to wear bright colours. However, I chose to contrast this slightly with some monochrome colours throughout too. Although bright colours are often used in R&B videos, it hugely contrasts with the colours of the original music video of Teenage Fantasy as it is all in black and white.

Another convention I noticed is that a lot of R&B videos are based on performance. For example, Oliver Baxxter - "So Slow", and Sabrina Claudio - "Unravel Me". I wanted to challenge this convention by having a video that's heavily concentrated on the narrative. However, I decided to develop it slightly by having the last shot be performance. During this shot, Lucy is also breaking the fourth wall which leads to her having more engagement with the audience even more. To create a narrative for our music video, we took most of our inspiration from the lyrics. After researching narrative videos, I found out that this is what videos tend to do from the indie music genre. For example Amber Run - "I Found". This research that I did out of my genre helped me expand my ideas and challenge the forms and conventions of real R&B media products meaning that I could combine the conventions from R&B videos as well as other genres.

A huge part of my music videos were the portrait shots I chose to include scattered throughout the video. This is often used in R&B videos as well as Indie videos. I did this so that the narrative can seem more "relatable" for the audience For example, Declan Mckenna - "The Kids Don't Want To Go Home", and Mura Masa - "What If I Go?"

Furthermore, after receiving class feedback, I found out that I had to include the song title and artist name. Originally, I didn't want to do this as I thought that not a lot of music videos did. However, it was part of the specification so I included it anyway and I thought I'd research and find some other music videos that also include it. I found that "So Slow" by Oliver Baxxter includes it at the beginning, as well as the original music video for teenage fantasy.

MUSIC VIDEO DRAFT

We've now finished the first draft of our music video so we have uploaded it to get some audience feedback.

STABILIZATION

Since we filmed the majority of our music video using POV shots, it meant that a lot of it was quite shakey. Although we knew this would happen before we started filming, we didn't realise that filming on a train would make it even worse.

To fix this, we chose to stabalize certain shots using iMovie however we didn't want to stabalize all of it as to do this, it crops some shots which effected how we wanted it to look.

FINISHING FILMING PORTRAIT SHOTS

Here are screenshots of the various portrait shots we took using the app "FYUSE".

We filmed these over a long period of time as it took us a lot longer than we thought it would to find enough people who were willing to be filmed for a few seconds. However this meant that we were able to include a variety of locations as we didn't film them all in the same place and time.

SATURATION

Throughout our music video, we wanted to make sure to have fairly high saturation. However, we had to pay closer attention with this when it came to the portrait shots that we filmed using Lucy and Julia's iPhones as the colours weren't as vibrant as when we used mine and Julia's DSLRs.

EYE-LINE MATCH

Two people (who didn't know they both said it) pointed out that it looked as though we tried to include an eye-line match but it was done quite badly and confused the plot even more. The eye-line match wasn't on purpose at all and was completely by accident. When filming, we didn't think of including an eye-line match, especially at this point in the video and it definitely doesn't fit the narrative.

Since two different people stated the same thing, I realised that it was crucial for us to change it. This meant that we had to change the order of a few shots.

Below you can see that the eyeline match is in the last shot in the top row, and the first shot on the second row.

FILMING SCHEDULE 2

We're going to be filming on these days.

FILMING DAY 3

Today our original plan was to go to Camden to film more portrait shots. However, because we went on a friday morning, once we arrived we noticed that most people were either in school, or at work. This meant that it we didn't end up finding anyone to film portrait shots of. We then made our way to another area of London hoping to find more people by lunch time, however we still had the same problem.

We didn't want to waste the entire day so we took this opportunity to take establishing shots of the area to use as fillers and cutaway shots if needed.

FILMING DAYS 1 AND 2

We first started filming on Thursday and mostly concentrated on the portrait shots as well as a few shots of Julia on our cameras and using Fyuse. To do this we went to Shoreditch as we thought it's a location with people and an overall vibe of what we are going for. On this day we had a few problems with the SD card however since we had two cameras, and our phones, we managed to make it work.

The second day of filming went along a lot smoother as we didn't have an issue with the cameras. We also filmed more than we did on the first day.

POV / HAND HELD SHOTS

We decided from the very beginning as a group that we wanted to include more hand held shots rather than structured shots using a tripod. This was because we want our entire narrative to be relatable for the youth and having the majority of the video be hand held made it all feel more personal.

After receiving some feedback, a few people told us that having the whole music video be only hand held shots was a bit too much.  I then thought it would be a good idea to have a few more structured shots as fillers in between scenes, to allow there to be contrast.

Here are the filler shots we used:

After putting these shots throughout the video, we asked for more feedback and found out that people agreed that this looked a lot better.

FILMING SCHEDULE

To use our time more efficiently, we have decided to plan out when we are going to film. We are filming in quite a lot of different locations as well as with different actors so we needed a plan to know when we are going where, and with who.

SUPER 8 CAMERA AND EDITING ON FYUSE

The portrait shots we want to include we also want them to have contrasting editing to make them look more "vintage". One way that we can achieve this, is using an app called "Fyuse" which enables us to take short videos which can go back and forth to give a slight 3D effect. Here is a quick example we did during lesson today and edited with a filter on iMovie.

Another way we wanted to achieve the look we were going through is by using a Super 8 camera. This will be a lot harder and more expensive however it will give a great effect. Here are two example of someone using this type of camera.

Here is an example of a super 8 camera being used to film a music video:

MUSIC VIDEO IDEA 2 - TEENAGE FANTASY

A theme we would want to include throughout this music video is "journeys" and we will show this by focusing on public transport. This will be to reflect that a lot of what the characters are going through are daily events and it's something that a lot of people can relate to. Having various shots on public transport will also subvert common soul and R&B conventions as after watching several music videos, I have noticed that they don't include a lot of this. However, it might become a problem when filming as we aren't sure on if we will be allowed to do this without asking for permission.

The main line in the lyrics that we are focusing on is "want it when you can't have it but when you have it you don't seem to want it". The idea will be to show a couple doing everyday activities, such as going on public transport as well as casual dates in a park or shopping. However, the to relate it to the lyrics, the girl in the relationship won't be in love whilst the boy is. There will also be another character, outside of the relationship, who is single and is wanting to be in a relationship. Showing the contrasts between the two will help portray the idea that once you have something, you might not want it however much you previously did.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN FILM OPENING AND MUSIC VIDEO

Through constructing a music video for my prelim and a film opening for my AS coursework, I have learnt that there are many differences between the two.

For example, music videos are much more fast paced and require more editing throughout. The individual shots to make up a scene are all usually a lot shorter meaning it takes up more filming to make up the same amount of time as you would for a film opening.

Also, during a film opening, you don't have to think about editing to the beat whereas in music videos, that is vital. In music videos that include lip syncing, you also have to match up the lips to the lyrics which can sometimes be very difficult to get the exact timing.

FLIPPED

Whilst filming our prelim, we noticed that a lot of the shots were reversed and we filmed with the two characters the other way round. However, we decided to keep it like that and flip it in editing. We didn't previously know how to do this but after a quick google search we figured it out. We had to go on iMovie, video effects and click flipped.

PRELIM VLOG - FILMING DAY 2

PRELIM VLOG - FILMING DAY 1

PRELIM SHOOTING SCHEDULE

To be able to film our preliminary task as efficiently as possible, we have decided to create a schedule so that we are more organised.

We will first film the forest scene on the 23rd of June where we will go to Hilly Fields to film it. We are hoping to get it all done within an hour or so.

The shot where the glass breaks and the shot with the blanket will both be filmed on the 27th of June

After this we will then film the argument scene on the 2nd of July which we will hopefully get done in a few hours.

Anything we may have to re-film will be done after we look at all the footage so we can film it all again at once, making our schedules more organised and efficient.

PRELIM PROPS

There won't be many props needed for us to film our prelim. We will only need a glass which we will need to break, a bed sheet and some paints to cover the bed sheet in. We are planning on finding the glass and paints in poundland or charity shops but will hopefully find an old bed sheet we don't mind ruining.