Harry Garside 9070: Final Production and Evaluation

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

Evaluation Question 2: How effective is the combination your main product and ancillary products?

Evaluation Question 3: What did we learn from our audience feedback?

The target audience for the album/artist is 12-29, this is because of Garratt’s indie pop genre that he often incorporates into his music. This is similar to artists such as Lana del Rey and Adele, who are also placed in this category. Consequently, we are trying to appeal to a wide pop demographic which is stereotypically young, despite some of the serious messages conveyed in Garratt’s music, such as bereavement/break-ups. It was important to test our concept in pre-production to an audience (in our pitch) because we were able to discover the audience expectations for our music video. The results showed us that the narrative (of two brothers both young and old, as well as George alone) was extremely strong, and visually interesting. We also used an audience questionnaire shortly after this process, where we discovered many other expectations from our demographic. This included which shots we should incorporate, for example pull-focus shots and tracking shots. As well as this, we also discovered that our audience believed we should adopt both a slow and fast-cutting rate in our piece. This particular process of a questionnaire gave us several ideas as to what our audience want to see in our music video.

Evaluation Question 4: How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, evaluation and planning stages?

We used blogger.com as a collaborative e-portfolio in our group throughout the planning, construction and evaluation. In terms of group posts, it was useful to input clips such as production logs in order to update our progress. As well as this, blogger.com was particularly practical in terms of planning, for example, in posts such as the treatment, where we were all able to contribute to the post using a group login. Furthermore, blogger.com was a very useful form of web 2.0 in terms of individual planning. This is because it enabled me to embed videos and pictures, for example when referring to videos which inspired me e.g. Pull me Down (Mikky Ekko, 2015). Furthermore, I have managed to input more detail into my posts, using more images to allow a better understanding. On the other hand, at AS I used far less images, with the majority of my posts being presented as purely text. This is an example of a far more presentable post in comparison with AS, utilizing web 2.0 to attach images (http://twgsbmedia15a2group9.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/hg-comparison-of-two-music-videos.html). Another progression from AS is the way I have commented on my colleagues' posts, advising them on how we could possibly incorporate their research into our piece. An example of this is below.

Survey Monkey

We carried out audience research prior to our pitch using Survey Monkey, this was useful as we were able to gain a variety of responses, utilizing both open questions and closed questions (which, in particular gave us a more detailed idea from our demographic) Survey monkey was particularly useful as once the results were gathered together, (18 responses in total) it had the ability to put our data into tables/graphs in order to compare our results for each question (there is an example of a graph to the side of this text). This particular result showed us clearly that we should either use a slow-cutting rate, or interchange between both. Ironically, we utilized both elements in our piece, showing the important of the results to our final product. This is an example of web 2.0 as we are using an online survey to generate results from our target audience. As well as this, the previous process was also completed through the use of web 2.0, as I had to email several people inside our demographic to ask them to complete our online survey, with the response rate being fairly high.

Camera

Similarly to AS, we utilised the Canon EOS 600D digital SLR. Because of the quality of the camera, we knew we would be able incorporate focus shots, including pull focus shots. Therefore, in the survey we asked which shots our target demographic would like to see most (the evidence of this question is to the side of this text). This showed that tracking shots, zoom shots and pull-focus shots were the most popular shots, of all of which we managed to shoot in our video. We were very fortunate to be able to use this camera as it meant that our shots were of a higher resolution (600D).

Premiere

To edit the video, we used Adobe Premiere Elements 9.0. The main task that we encountered in Premiere this year was the use of fades, which we hadn't used previously in AS. The image to the side of the text showed how we were able to input a fade into our piece. The circle around the blue segment has a yellow line across it, which controls the efficiency of the fade. We dragged this line diagonally downwards, meaning that the brother would fade out gradually. To complete this process, we had to drag the dissolve transition (which is circled) on to the timeline.

Another task we faced was using the black and white filter to show George in the present. This particular idea challenged conventions of music videos, this is because usually the past would be in black and white and the present would be in colour, meaning that this element of our video was very much unconventional. The screenshot to the side of this text shows the process of the black and white filter in Premiere. The circle at the top right of the image showed the filter we wanted to use (Black and White), we therefore had to drag this filter to the segment of footage we wanted to change (where the other circle is positioned). The use of the black and white filter enabled us to convey the mood dejected and solemn mood of George, which coincided with the flashbacks to the brothers when they were younger.

Photoshop

In Adobe Photoshop, we completed our whole digipak and advertisement campaign. In terms of the digipak, this is evidence of the front cover. We decided on an image of Tom, who looks similar to our artist Jack Garratt (in terms of his clothing, iconic hat and beard). In terms of the typography, I used a font named 'Typographica' which is similar to the font that Jack Garratt uses. As well as this, after doing some research into Garratt, he has a stylistic feature in his typography where he cuts off a section of the letter 'A' which we replicated in each of our panes. In terms of the editing of this pane, I originally decided on black and white, however, a colourful pane is more conventional of our artist (when looking at other EP's such as Remnants) and therefore, we chose to use a red/green/black effect on each our panes for continuity. In terms of the front pane, we used two different gradient colour mixes, selecting the three colours in order to achieve this colour effect. Furthermore, in terms of the typography, we used tools such as 'Drop Shadow', and 'Inner Glow' to make the dark text look more obtrusive on a colourful background. As well as this, at first the image with the gradient mixes was extremely vibrant, which was not the objective due to the solemnity of our campaign. Therefore, I enhanced the contrast and decreased the brightness to create a darker effect.

Photoshop continued

In terms of the middle panes, we chose the tree location at Bedgebury to go across two panes. This is because we wanted to create a parallel to our video, as it is where most of the memories between the brothers take place. For this particular image, we again (similarly to the front pane) enhanced the contrast, however, due to the image already being dark, we also enhanced the brightness. As well as this, we used the hue/saturation tool to further adjust the lighting of the pane. We also utilised the same colour scheme, though, this time it was far easier as we simply had to copy the layer, creating an adjustment layer on the new pane. This meant that the colour scheming for these two panes was almost identical.

Photoshop continued

When discussing the back pane of our music video, we utilised the same colour scheme as the previous pane, creating an adjustment layer and copying the gradient mix into our piece. In terms of the original image, we took a shot focusing on a pair of headphones to connote that Garratt is a recording artist. In terms of the typography, we used the 'Typographica' font for the songs in the album 'Phase', deciding to follow it around the edge of the headphone. Furthermore, when discussing the editing we altered the hue/saturation, as well as using a black and white effect on top of the colour scheme. Furthermore, we also had to add the island records label, a bar code, and also our own record label information, which we inserted into our piece.

Photoshop continued

In terms of our magazine advert, we decided to again create a parallel with our music video, this is because the two brothers are prominent in the advert, as well as the video. To create continuity, we again decided to use the same colour scheme, creating a copy and adjustment layer with the same gradient mix. Despite this, we added many new features which were dissimilar to the digipak, for example the call to action- iTunes logo, the web address and the release date of the album. Also, in terms of the typography we used the same font, though, because of the dissimilar woodland background, we had to make sure it still stood out. Therefore, we had to change the colour from black, to black and white, as well as a drop shadow 3D effect.

Challenges

The challenges we overcame were mainly how to end our video. We had many discussions throughout, but ended up having to film our piece without knowing what the narrative resolution would be, or whether there would even be one. We finally decided on a graveyard scene, connoting that the younger brother had died, meaning that there is a clear distinct ending to the video. Another challenge we faced was deciding whether to have one image across two panes, as we felt we may have been marked down due to the simplicity. Therefore, we had to make it more visually appealing, hence why we used the red and green colour scheming.