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

Within the main and ancillary tasks we used the internet as our main digital tool as it enabled is to use many different websites, search engines and also the blogging tool. The main sites we used were:

· Google – this was our main search engine for when researching. Through this we found links to many videos and webpages. Also we gained ideas of photos through the ‘Google’ images site where we were able to view both paparazzi and posed photographs of artists.

· You Tube – This was where we were able to view many different music videos. This was useful as we could then gain ideas of what the conventions of each genre were and look closely into how the conventions were followed.

· MySpace Music – this site is where many unsigned acts post their latest videos and music in hope of promoting themselves. Through this we were able to get ideas of the latest trends that people within our chosen genre were following. This ensuring that our products were current and up to date with the standards held within the industry.

· Blogger – Here we kept an online diary of everything that we had completed. This enabled us to know what was completed and remind us of what had to be done. This blog is able to include videos and images therefore making our research easier to display.

We also used different software. We used the Macs in school, which included the following software that we used:

· I Movie HD – We sued this software least year in our foundation task. This year however we needed to make sure that the audio track added matched perfectly with the lip-syncing and cut rate, therefore making the editing much more technical and precise. We met one difficulty when using this software, as we couldn’t get one of the chosen effects to work. We overcame this by saving our work to an external hard drive.

· Photoshop Elements – This was the first time that any of our group had used this programme and so we took some time practicing and experimenting with all the different tools and effects that you can use to edit images. Once we had got the hang of this we were able to create different layers on the photos and add many different effects without running the picture.

· Preview – Through this we were able to view all of our images.

· Safari – This web browser enabled us to access the Internet and view high quality web streams of videos and audio files.

· I Web – A programme that allows you to make websites easily. This was another piece of software that none of us had used before and so needed to experiment. We found it quite simple to use and were soon able to make a basic layout. One thing we had trouble with was resizing the page as all of the content that we wanted to include would not fit on the given size. As soon as we found out how this was done we had no problem with any other aspect and were able to change the colour scheme and add video clips quite easily.

These were all main things that were involved in our production tasks. We used I movie to import and edit all the footage. This was the main piece if software that we used to create our film and without this we would have not been able to create as effective a film as we did. Photoshop was a new programme we used to edit our photographs. None of us had used this before and so this was a development from our AS course and a new skill we were keen to learn about. It helped us create professional standard photographs and add effects that we otherwise wouldn't have been able to achieve. Preview, is a programme that enables you to view your photos. Safari is the Macs version Internet explorer, so it allowed us to access the Internet. I Web was another programme that we had never used before and so we had to experience with this as well. Through all our research into websites we knew the layout we wanted and so found it really easy to translate this into the programme and make the product we desired.

If we were to do these tasks again I think we would have liked to have used the a newer version of I Movie as this may have enabled us to do more with the video and add more exciting transitions and effects. Otherwise I think we used the technology and software that we had on offer well, and got the best out of our tasks because of this.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

From researching into the target audiences of similar artists we discovered that the most likely target audience for our artist would be the age group of approx 16-24. This would mainly be students in full time education and probably mostly female du to the appeal of the artist. The target audience would probably listen to other music from artists such as Jack Penate, Jack Johnson and maybe bands such as Coldplay and The Arctic Monkeys. As we are involved in this age group we know that this genre of music does appeal to people of this age and so therefore whilst making our products we were able to refer back to people we knew to ensure that our tasks were correctly applying to this audience.

The research we undertook to discover this audience was through looking into similar artists and acquiring what their fan base was made up of. We did this by looking at their websites and by researching into the radio station audiences that their music is played on. For example, James Blunt and Jason Mraz were played more on Heart fm rathe than Kiss because of the genre of music. The audience for Heart fm is around 16-35 as they play a mixture of old and recent music. When comparing this the audiences of the artists we were then able to come up with a suitable audience age range. Another thing we discovered was that the audience is mixed gender but the male artists tend to appeal to girls slightly more than boys.

As we are part of a sixth form it was not hard to find people appropriate to the age range we had decided upon, and we easily found a mixed gender group that had a similar taste in music and were fans of the acoustic, easy listening genre. This group, however, only covered the younger end of the age range and so to even this out we had family members and teachers that fitted the age range and requirements also take a look at our products.

We presented our finished music video to the audience by sitting them down and explaining what we wanted them to do. We gave each person a short questionnaire for them to fill out, this then enabled us to process and group all the information quicker. We asked them to read the sheet, watch the video and then fill in their responses. This worked well, as they knew what they had to look for before the film and so they weren't just watching it without thinking, therefore making the answers given more accurate and useful.

As stated in my blog, the audience gave useful feedback that we took into consideration. The main problem they had with the video was that they found it slightly confusing as they didn't understand the connotations of the symbols. Other than that they found the standard of the video very high and enjoyed the song and performance.

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

For our ancillary tasks we chose to produce a website homepage and a digipak to accompany our music video. We decided upon these as we felt they all complimented each other, we can incorporate the music video within the digipak and promote this on the website. In a real life situation these both of these would be used to help promote the artist, in today’s modern world there is a need for an online presence that anyone can look at for information also from a marketing point of view both of these create a brand identity that will become recognisable from a fan and consumers point of view. Another reason we chose to create a website over a magazine advert was because we wanted to broaden our range of skills. To make a website we needed to use a programme called Iweb, this is something that none of us had much experience in but were keen to learn about. Another thing that influenced are decision in choosing our ancillary tasks was that we wanted to include photography elements in the making of our practical tasks. From choosing the digipak we were then able to start planning some artistic shots to help promote and make the album stand out. On the website we decided we would include promotional photos and so were also able to organise a photo shoot. This helped us develop another set of skills in using cameras, lighting and photoshop software. Overall, our choices of practical tasks work well together and enabled us as a group to try out different media techniques.

Before starting on the planning of our digipak we researched into what they were, what their purpose was and their layout. We found out that a Digipak is a patented style of compact disk or DVD packaging. We noticed that a Digipak can have as many panels as you like, we decided a 6 panel version, like the one above, however ours would obviously only hold one disk. Also the use of booklets within a digipak is not essential as not all of them involve it, therefore this is something that we may not include. We will however include the main conventions that we have discovered a Digipak includes, these are:

· Cover Image

· Back Cover Image

· Song Titles

· Bonus Feature

· Colour Scheme

· Other Images

Before starting the production of this task we did some research into the websites of the artists that we had chosen to be within similar genres to that of our artist. From my blog you can see images of the websites that we chose to focus on:

· Jason Mraz

· David Grey

· Jose Gonzalez

We chose these artists as our main research tasks as they were the ones that had different features within the website. The main conventions that we found were:

· Links

· Upcoming Dates

· Media

· Easy to navigate

These are the things that our target audience expect to find and so we ensured that these were the main things that we endeavoured to use in our task.

Within the ancillary task our main focus of achievement was to bring a sense of cohesion between the tasks and the main production. We wanted to ensure that each tasks aims were different but that they clearly all linked together. We used the same background for the website as the front cover for the digipak to use this as an anchor image for our artist, and considering this is his debut album to create a recognisable feature/style associated with him. We chose a colour scheme of black and white with the only colour used being teal for the text. We chose the colour as it appeals to both the male and females within our target audience. By enduring continuity of the colour scheme between our ancillary tasks and the main product we are creating a real image of as if this artist was actually being promoted. We had different aims in mind for each of the tasks, this was to ensure that they all solely fulfilled the requirements that they should. The Digipak needed to show an insight into the artist and promote his music. We did this by using pictures of Josh, taken at our photo shoot, to help publicise him. We also used the digipak to launch the music video by adding this as a bonus feature to the album. This would not only help the album sell, but would also give the buyer their own copy of the video. This links to the aim of the website, which we decided needed to give out all recent information about our artist to keep fans and any other visitors up to date, we also posted videos for exclusives, enabling the viewers to think they are keeping up to date. We did this on the homepage by having a recent news update and twitter blog, this also helped keep the website personal to the artist. A biography about Josh at the beginning gave the reader background information that they wouldn't be able to get from any of the other tasks. Finally, our music video had the aim of portraying the inner feelings of the artist not only through the lyrics but through the action and performance. By using different angles in the performance element of the video the audience are able to see different sides to Josh, also by having him ending the video in shot we can see as a viewer the journey through emotions he has taken through the song, starting off quite happy, but the eventually feeling reminiscent and slightly depressed.

In hindsight, as a group we felt that the ancillary tasks were not as focused upon as the main film. This was because the filming aspect and editing process seemed to be more important whilst in the completing stage. We did spend time over our ancillary tasks, but this could have been better organised and the work load spread more equally across the group.

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

For our media product we chose to make a music video. The purpose of a music video is to promote the artist and boost record sales. Music videos are played on music specific channels and therefore acts as a kind of advertisement for that artist. Therefore the video needs to catch people’s attention and be memorable. Firstly we researched into the conventions of this media form to ensure that the features included replicated that of the actual media product. The main forms that we discovered were dependant upon the separate genres. Music Videos use a wide range of film making techniques that can be portrayed through various different styles:

Narrative

Abstract

Animation

Live Action

Documentary

You can also have a mixture of a few of these key styles, through this music videos are able to explore lots of different stylistic features. Also dependant upon the genre of music the styles may vary. For example live action from concert gigs may be used more by acoustic artists and more narrative story lines for r 'n' b and rap videos.

We researched into popular artists from different genres of music and viewed videos from each:

Rock – Bruce Springsteen – Born in the USA

Hip Hop – Vanilla Ice – Ice Ice Baby

R 'n' B – Rhianna – Take a Bow

Blues – Eric Clapton – Tears in Heaven

Country – Johnny Cash – I got stripes

Acoustic – Jack Johnson – Breakdown

Metal – Iron Maiden – Holy Smoke

Indie – Jack Penate – Second, Minute or Hour

Easy Listening – Jason Mraz – Im Yours

The most common features that were used in videos from different genres were:

Slow Motion

Mixture of performance and narrative

Black and White

Performance - guitar shots

Close Up, Panning, Tracking, Establishing

These are therefore things that we shall endeavour to include in our media product.

When looking for a song we chose one within a genre that we knew we could easily replicate. We choose from the genre of easy listening acoustic as we felt this was the genre we all knew the best and had a clearer idea about. Also the target audience of this music is for our age group upwards (16 - 24) mainly students still in education. We feel that the main bulk of the audience would be female because of the appeal of the artist, however and so we are able to retrieve feedback and know ourselves what needs to be included in the video.

We found that the most common conventions of the easy listening genre were the presentation of the artist. In each video from the genre that we watched the artist was where the main attention was held with no real narrative being portrayed. Also the choice of location in most of the videos was suburban and low-key, for example in a backstreet or park. This again matches the ‘independent’ style of the music and doesn’t take attention away from the performance, which we have discovered is the main aspect.

We felt that for the song we had lyrics that did not suggest a clear narrative: as there is only one verse that repeats, instead we decided to develop the feature of a narrative and instead create a thematic collection of images to relect the idea of the song (The City). This way the video still holds a sense of direction but isn't actually retelling a story. The conventional genre features we chose to replicate were:

Man & Guitar – this appeared in most of the videos we researched – e.g. Jack Johnson, James Blunt, Jason Mraz - we decided to cast Josh Embury, the singer/songwriter as our performer. This was not only because he knew the song but also as his style matched exactly the image we were looking for, laid back casual.

Editing Techniques – change of colour in a shot or perhaps speed

Locations – usually set in quite a isolated place

We used these conventions within our video to help replicate the genre and match the style of music. Editing techniques of ghost trails, time reverse and slow motion, were used within our shots of the traffic to create a busier scene. We combined the features of a man & guitar with the location as we set our performer in a quiet place with no one else around. By sticking to these conventions that we found helped us ensure that the video kept within the chosen genre which help us to relate both the song and video together.

We created our own identity for this media product by deciding to reflect the lyrics less literally than in some music videos by using a selection of symbols (-> + <3 = ?) this showing the confusion of choosing between love and heading somewhere new. This is a strong continuing motif that we use throughout the video and is clearly recognisable feature that could be related to our song.

I believe our product has achieved a professional standard as throughout the editing stage we have been very precise with how we cut and put our footage together. Also when adding the music we ensured that everything was exactly in time to avoid lip-syncing problems. Therefore when watching the audience aren't constantly frustrated at the song not being in time with the footage and can just view the video as if they are just watching a performance. Overall our music video generally followed the conventions set but we did develop and challenge a few of the features, for example the use of symbols to reflect the lyrics instead of a clear narrative.

Photoshoot

We conducted a photo shoot of Josh Embury our performer. We used the drama studio at school, this is a black box studio meaning that with the use of different lights, flashes and shutter speeds we could achieve many different effects.

We decided that Josh should wear casual clothes to represent him. His music appeals to the easy listening/indie audience and

so his style needed to match this. We used two outfits:

1. A polo shirt and cardigan
2. A shirt

Through the use of these items of clothing they reflect his laid back attitude and accentuate his fashion taste. Also through the use of quite plain colours we

are then able to possibly play around with different tints and effect upon the photo. If he had

worn something quite bold and outgoing the photo would not

be focused upon him but more on his clothing. As

the photographs are to promote the artist he needs

to be the main aspect of each image.

Here are a few of the images that we took:

We used different shutter speeds, flashes, light placement and exposures to achieve the different effects that you can see, for example the 'bubbles' of light were achieved by a flash from the main camera and from behind, triggered through the use of an infra-red sensor.

We used Photoshop to edit the photos, placing a more professional edge onto them.

Here are a few of the edited photos that we went on to use within our ancillary tasks:

Digipak

For our ancillary task of the Digipak, we researched into what these were and how they were presented.

We found out that a Digipak is a patented style of compact disk or DVD packaging.

Here are a few examples that we found:

We noticed that a Digipak can have as many panels as you like. We quite like the 6 panel version, like the one above, however ours would obviously only hold one disk. Also the use of booklets within a digipak is not essential as not all of them involve it, therefore this is something that we may not include. We will however include the main conventions that we have discovered a Digipak includes, these are:

• Cover Image
• Back Cover Image
• Song Titles
• Bonus Feature
• Colour Scheme
• Other Images

These are therefore all things that our Digipak will include.

We found this net on the internet which tells the exact measurements needed to make the Digipak the correct size.

We will use this as our guide. After asking our technology department in school what the best way to make this would be they told us about a programme called 2D Design, this will allow us to input all the measurements into the computer and then add our Digipak to them. Then a special machine which the computer is linked up to creates and prints the project.

We have chosen to use the following image as our cover shot:

We used photoshop to create the pop art effect by using the layering tool. Then changed the colour scheme to just black and white. We wanted to keep it quite simple and effective. For the title and artist test we experimented with many different fonts and colours before choosing. The colour of our Digipak will be black with colours only in the text (which we shall use teal for) and in the pictures that we chose to include.

Website

On of our ancillary tasks is a website homepage. We chose this as it was something that none of our group had ever experienced making before and so would be a new skill that we could all learn. From using Mac's we knew of the software IWeb and so decided to use

this to make our site.

Before starting the production of this task we did some research into the websites of the artists that we had chosen to be in the similar genre to ours.

Jason Mraz:

• Voiceover
• Different Links: Home, News, Media etc.
• Abstract Layout
• Animation - Head moves

David Gray:

• Basic Insights all on homepage
• Latest News
• Tour Dates
• Links

Jose Gonzalez:

• First page click to enter site
• Simplistic/Boring
• Formal
• Discography
• Video
• Downloads - Screensavers

From looking at these websites the main things that need to be included are:

• Links
• Upcoming Dates
• Media
• Easy to navigate

So these are the things that our target audience will be looking for, so we shall ensure we include these in our site. Also we will make sure that our site is interesting and eye catching so that people enjoy looking at it.