Posted by: haydut on: March 26, 2010
For my A2 Advanced Portfolio work we were given a choice of 13 briefs. I decided to choose:
A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options:
I chose to make a music video as this was new to me. I’m very interested in music and watch a lot of music videos, so I decided I would enjoy this coursework task a lot. When considering which of the three options to choose it was pretty obvious which two to choose. I had never made a website before and realised this would be a difficult task to do as I have no knowledge of making websites, and there was a limited number of people to help me with this.
I had used Photoshop before and knew that choosing a magazine advertisement and a CD cover would be the best options for me. Using Photoshop in my AS year for both media and photography meant I had already gained a lot of skills to help me with these tasks and I knew I would learn some more along way, seeing it as a way to improve the skills I already had.
Therefore i was creating a music video, a CD front cover and a magazine advertisement for the CD.
Before starting my research I made a set of SMART Targets. We used these in the first year and they really helped me organise myself and my work. SMART Targets must be:
S – specific, significant, stretching
M – measurable, meaningful, motivational
A – agreed upon, attainable, achievable, acceptable, action-oriented
R – realistic, relevant, reasonable, rewarding, results-oriented
T – time-based, timely, tangible, trackable
(you can see my SMART targets on my blog post with the title SMART Targets by clicking the link). I did not stick to my SMART targets well throughout the coursework task. I feel this was due to underestimating the workload as i had never produced a film before and didn’t realise the amount of time it took. Other factors affected this aswell, such as weather conditions(as i had planned for most of my video to be filmed outside), organising when i could use the music block at my college to record the song also took a lot of time-I had to wait untill the equipment was free and the students to have time to learn and record the song. If i had to go back and start this project again i would definitely plan dates and times in a more formal way, and make sure i stuck to them, as this threw off my time management for my whole project.
I started my research by brainstorming my original thoughts about the music video i wanted to create. At first i thought of using my sister to be the singer and star in my music video, so i thought i would mainly research music videos, where the lead singer was female.
During my research i came across a music video which stared a female singer and also a lot of extras during the video. I liked this idea and knew that i wanted to include this idea in my music video.
This is when i realized i really wanted to use a green screen in my music video. I had used green screens before and had a good knowledge of how to use them correctly, I also managed to get permission from a media tutor to use the green screen we have at the college. I found music videos which had somewhat the same idea as i had for mine and i also watched many videos on how to use a green screen correctly. I felt these videos helped tremendously and i learned a lot from them.I did not end up using this idea as this would have taken a lot of time, and i did not have a lot of time after i was ready to use it. I still used the same idea of having a background sequence, but i used this as the main video and instead of having the band infront of it, i included clips of them.
It was during my research that i decided what song to use. I really like the song and felt i could picture brilliant imagery for each line fo the song, it made sense to use this song. Copyright then imposed a problem, i could have emailed the band and asked if i could the song, but i wanted to make it my own, as it was my music video, so i decided to find people to play the song in their own way. I had a bit of trouble with the orignal singer who i had planned to record with, but i soon found a replacement and he was very eager to learn and record the song. after finding the people who were willing to play this song as an acoustic version for my music video. After finding the people willing to do this for me, i started a photo shoot ready for my CD cover and magazine advertisement. I then focused on research for these while i was waiting to record the song. I also started to location scout, this was difficult because iw anted to put a negative twist on a positive song.
I decided to research CD covers iw ould look at exsisting one’s and compare what they shared and how they differed from each other. Most covers showed continuity between the front and back cover, i knew this is what mine had to include to look professional. I then started producing mock ups of ideas for my album. I made to different mock ups and then held a focus group. This focus group wasn’t as succesful as i had hoped as the results of it were really close, and i still did not know which one to choose, so i decided to play around with the two and mix them up to contain aspects of both. This was a risky idea as i had not made a mock up of this attempt, however i feel the finished product was better than either of the two on their own, and i feel i made the right choice in not choosing to go ahead with the focus group ideas as they were really close.
I started to make my album covers using the picture i had taken myself, the photo shoot was successful and was very happy with the choice of pictures i had. I am extremely happy with how professional my album cover looks. I kept referring back to my research to see how well i was doing, i then found a website which would give random names which i could use for my track listings. I felt i used my original photo shop skills and gained some more on top of this. I pushed myself to get the very best results, and this worked really well.
My research for my magazine advertisement did not go to well. My research into CD covers i managed to do using covers off the internet, however i could not find any magazine advertisements on the internet, so then i had to go through magazines looking for advertisments. It was difficult to find advertisments, and i think this was due to new media technologies and the fact that they can advertise to more people than magazines now. The internet and T.V are more popular than magazines and more people use these. However i did find a few examples and used these as a basis for my own advertisement. I kept my advert very basic and i feel this was the best choice as my audience gained the information they needed and it was not too complicated. It was fairly easy to produce, once again using my skills i had already gained on photoshop. I made three of these.
To decide which one to use i thought another focus group was best. Focus groups work well as my CD is mostly aimed at teenagers (due to the band members being young), so i thought i would ask teenagers which one they would pay more attention to whilst flicking through a magazine. The idea of an advertisement is to catch the readers attention, so this feedback was greatly appreciated. 6 out of 10 people preferre my third attempt of a magazine advertisement. The background matches the CD cover and there was an image of the CD on the advertisement. This image stays with the reader so that when they go out they will spot the CD, thus more chances of it being brought.
Constructing the music video was the most difficult task on this coursework brief, as i had never filmed and edited before. I filmed most of my music video before i had recorded the song, this was so once the song was done I could just start editing. Storyboarding was diffcult, and my finished video shared little scenes with the storyboard. This was one thing i had done badly. I did not know how difficult it would be to find people who could/wanted to star in a music video and who were available at the times i needed them. This meant a lot of scenes had to be cut. The chorus’ of the song were my favourite to film, sticking to the idea of adding more and more extras as I went along. There wasn’t as many people as i had hoped, and it is not on a plain background. However i feel this worked because it creates comfort and a relaxed environment, as if the band want you to come closer. This was another one of my ideas from the start. I am extremely happy with the finished video considering i had never filmed before.
Recording the song took a day, and i used some help from some of the college students because i had never used the complicated equipment before. However the finished song is better than i had expected and i feel it fits with my negative to positive idea very well. Even without the music video behind the song i find it is a very strong song, this means that when being played on a CD or the radio (which attracts a lot of different aged listeners) it would still be popular, and the catchy guitar and voice makes it even better! The song is acoustic which means it would be appropiate for the radio.
Editing was difficult, but i feel i learned skills and picked up quite quickly. I decided to change my film to black and white. This was for two reasons. The first was i simply prefer videos in black and white and wanted to include some of my own preferences into my video. The second was that because my film was filmed at different times of days in different lighting conditions, it looked really messy unless it was in black and white. This was fault of my own and i should have thought about this in the planning section. However i feel the finished product in black and white is perfect, and i am very happy and proud of the results.
I wanted to create my music video to show life as it really is for some people. When planning my music video i wanted to use the idea of juxtapostioning (putting a negative image next to postivie lyric), so this took a long time to think about. The song is such a positive song and i wanted a negative first half. For example, i placed images of a bullemic girl witht he line ‘Lets party in the supermarkets’. I’d imagined the images to be a lot more powerful than what they are, this was not the case once editing had been finished. However, after sitting and watching it through it shows it how it is. Issues like domestic violence and bullemic are powerful enough, and do not need to be exaggerated through the media to have an impact on someone.
During planning, i realized that most music videos have a twist, this is why i decided to make the second half of the music video happy and positive. For example, the bullemic girl is eating normally, and the alcoholic is pouring the alcohol away. This works well, and i feel it portrays the idea that people can change, and everythings not always negative, and that people can ‘fix’ themselves, it just takes realisation.
I feel i used a lot of time to producde the music video. However the finished product is what i had hoped for, the only thing i’d do if i was to do it again would be to organise my time more efficiently.
Throughout my project i knew continuity was important, and i knew this was one of the key componants i needed to focus on to produce a successful package. Looking at each of my products i can see how they all relate. An image of the CD is on the magazine advertisement, and the song title is on the CD and on the advertisement. The brick wall that is shown on the CD and on the advertisement is a way of spotting they belong to each other. The brick wall was not only there to do this but it also holds reference to ‘street life’ as it is, as this was going to be my main theme, however it changed to real life as it is, but i felt the bricks worked in each product so the remained there. If these were real media products beign sold in shops they’d be seperated, but i feel the audience would still be able to see they are all part of one package. This is one of the most successful things i managed to do with my media package. It was never an issue of having to change something to make continuity mroe obvious.
I feel my products represents it audience well. Whilst i know anyone can listen to any style of music and that there is no age limit on any genre, my products attract the people it needs to. Teenagers are more likely to listen to music more often, and they are also more likely to be bigger fans of a new artist/band. Therefore i made sure the song, the video, the CD and advertisement were approachable from a teenagers point of view. It’s very relaxed and the bands dragging you in with their cheeky smiles throughout the video makes you feel involved and part of their group. This is aimed at attracting more fans, as more people are likely to ‘fall in love’ with them. The feedback from my peers told me that this works, and a lot of people feel the end of my music video topped it all off (when the guitarist smiles and laughs). Many people in my class said that if they heard a snippet of the song they would want to hear the rest of it, they also told me that the video was what they wanted to see. This meant that my task of attracting a specific target worked rather well.
I understand that my music video is not up to the standards of being shown on television. This is due to my lack of expertise in filming. However i do feel it fits in well with other home-made music videos of which i have watched online. It also challenges some forms and conventions of existing media products. A lot of music videos which i have watched on music channels promote the band as much as possible, achieving more sales. However, i feel it should not all be about sales and people should enjoy listening tot he song and watching the video. Therefore band promotion was not a big issue to me. The appear on the back of the CD cover, and not the front, which is unusual as bands are either on the front or botht he front and back. This was because i wanted the music to be seen as more important than the band, yet i wanted the audience to remember that the band was behind the music. I also feel my music video challenges conventions as it shows real life as it is, without it being exaggerated or ‘fluffed up’.
My products not only challenges some forms, but in places it fits in. Watching music channels such as Kerrang! and Scuzz (channels which are to my preferance) iprobably would not see my music video being played on there. This is because the song is acoustic and the band is a duet. However turning my attention to channels such as MTV2 which plays alternative/indie style of music, i can see my song, and video being played. The song not only suits the channel (and vise versa) but my black and white attempt at a music video would also fit in here. Knowing that my video could be played on such a popular T.V channel, made me realize that everything i had set out to do and been achieved.I had created a succesful music video which attracts a target audience, challenges yet conforms with other music videos and i could see it’s place on a music channel.
I ended up with a brilliant sounding sound and a video which was as good as i had hoped, and aslo a CD cover and an advertisement. I found it hard work getting to this completed stage and i know now that i should have used my time appropiately, however i am very ploease with all of the finished products. I increased my knowlege and skills on photoshop, and learned how to use Final Cut Pro (which was a film editing programme i had never used before). I also learned a lot along the way, such as how to use a blue screen (in more depth than i had previous knowlege of), and about media industries and conventions for music video’s. I feel this Advanced Portfolio was successful, and i am very proud of my finished coursework.
