Evaluation

In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products:
There are so many different influential videos that we could compare certain aspects of our video to. However there was two particular videos “ The Same Girl” By Usher and R. Kelly and The Original Video Of “The Boy is mine” by brandy and Monica that we used to influence and inspire the ideas we used on our video. Both of the videos displayed a similar Narrative to the video we produced. However we tried to differ the two videos from ours by using different shots and effects, as well as using one girl (Alex) more than the other girl (Kathryn). Doing this instantly showed the contrast between the two girls mainly highlighting the fact that(Monica e.g. Alex) has a higher chance of getting the boy than (Brandy e.g. Kathryn) does. Whereas in the original “the boy is mine” video None of the girls got the boy, and in “the same girl” video they realise and were convinced that the girl they both like was cheating, whereas in the end we see that the girl was in fact a twin.
We chose to make our video a narrative because the pace of the song is slow therefore it is much more effective if the storyline and the song words link together. The style of the boy is mine video is R&B which is often seen as a genre that constantly consists of people showing off their cars, money and success. These are the typical code and convections of R&B. The locations used in the “the same girl and the boy is mine” show that a lot of money was used on the videos, which limited our product because we did not have the high quality equipment and a high income to create a high quality video.
One way In which the “same girl” video inspired our video was the shots in which they used. They used a split screen of Usher and R.Kelly whilst on the phone to show ushers facial expression as he starts to realise, that R.kelly is in fact describing the same girl the he is in love with. We decided to use a split screen in our video as well, however and we made it different from the same girl video is we used an effect that blended and image of the main boy (Eugene) in the middle of the split screen, whereas they had shots focusing and flicking between to two different scenes, the split screen scene and the scene with just the main girl. In “the boy is mine” video there are scenes where both of the characters are discussing their problems with their separate groups of friends . Whereas the form In our version of the video was entirely different because we tried to ensure that there were only three characters throughout the whole music video
I believe our video managed to challenge the terms of producing a real media music video as we used different ideology to the original high quality videos as well as use a completely different scenario. Professional music videos are produced from high tech equipment and technology and seeing that our music video was created at an amateur level I believe it’s at a good standard and highly attracts and connects with the audience.

How effective is the combination of our main product and ancillary texts:

In the instance of our poster advertisement the genre is R'n'B, we chose to stage a scene that illustrated a brief indication what the story was about 'a guy torn between two girls.' In which the boy is holding one of the girls while the other looks on or one where the two girls are looking down at the camera, as if looking down on the boy for cheating. I chose to make it black and white, sketchy looking and tonal so that it looked like graffiti which is associated with the young mainstream urban musical artists of today’s generation. I chose a simple cutting edge font for the advertisement slogans and a classic elegant sans serif font for the title because their are two female remodels featured. As the women being two-timed isn't an original idea; people can relate on some level to personal experience, as it's just as relevant now as it was in the past.

My composition and font choice was inspired by Beyonce's poster for 'I am’. I chose to use the same font and black background because she's a professional celebrated artist and entertainer. I wanted to mimic that image, the stage persona Beyonce's renowned for because she is successful. As is highly respected Dr.Dre not just as a musician but also an actor and American record producer who adopts the same high contrasting imagery.

Here is the Beyonce poster i have refered to:

I decided to include a star rating, as I seen in other magazine advertisements because’ critical endorsement’ is a highly influential form of advertisement. When names of magazines; considered to have a governing authority of mainstream genres is used this will influence the appropriate audience that want to be associated with that identity group. (E.g. VIBE, KING, and RAP R’n’b, Interview ECT’)

Here is some of the older posters:

Here is the finshed and final poster:

We have also used Photoshop to create are CD cover as well as the magazine advertisement.

As the two singers are both girls I have based the colour scheme on a girly theme, so the background is a dark bold pink, with at little lighter colour pink for the words ‘The Boy Is Mine’ going across the background. Then we have used a pure white for the initials ‘B&M’ and ‘The boy is Mine’. But to make the name of the song and initials stand out I have added an outer glow effect to make it brighter and stand out more, especially for a customer in a shop.

The front cover just had these features and after asking the opinion of some fellow classmates and teachers they said it was not very effective and a bit too bland. Therefore I introduced an image into the cover. It was from a one of the photos of which we took for the magazine advertisement. I uploaded the image and removed al of the background using ‘magic wand tool’, then using the ‘Magic lasso tool’ I selected the image and used a colour overlay to make it into a silhouette of the body. Therefore I copied the imaged and horizontally flipped one of them, and placed them either side of the “B&M’. This made the cover less empty and catches the buyer’s eye more.

The back of the CD cover contains the same back ground as to the front, however I have introduced a picture of the two singers (actually Kathryn and Alex) with the boy from the video. This is placed at the top; therefore I have used a fade so it goes into the white background and take over the back cover. I have also placed ‘Brandy & Monica’ beneath the picture as the actual full names are not placed on the front cover. Also I have written the songs, which would be on the CD ‘The boy is mine’, and ‘ The boy is mine (remix)’. We have used the same type of text ‘Riesling’ and the outer glow effect as we did on the front cover for the song names etc. This is so all the writing we used for the CD cover all match up, the same as the theme i.e. background.

I have placed a bar code on the left hand corner and next to the bar code is small print stating ‘’Recorded at BMG studios July 1998, ã BMG Records 1998 Digitally Re-Recorded 2010, Sony BMG Entertainment’’. And on the Right hand corner it has the BMG studios and Sony BMG Entertainment logo. The reason for adding these extras is because it gives the CD cover the real element of an actual official music CD cover. Also the information I have stated i.e. the recording companies are the actual company who made and recorded the Brandy & Monica single, so information I have added is real and official information.

The inside of the CD is very basic. This is because after much research I of CD covers I have found the inside mainly just contains music lyrics and pictures. Therefore I have introduced some images from the photos we actually took for the front of the CD. As we spent a lot of time on the editing and the main parts of the CD cover the inside is not as professional as it could be, so this was a disappointment as we could not get our cover as to a high standard we wanted.

Here is some older versions of the front cover:

Our finshed DC covers:

Front

Back cover

Inside

The poster is effective ,sells the product as it's bold and high contrasting.Especially with the hot pink CD cover featured.As a re-release it sell the sound of 'B&M' but also the image ,trends of todays generation.The image is alike graffiti;one of the creative art forms of todays young artists.The reasons i chose not to use the colour posters is because the composition wasn't as stark or bold therefore less effective as the eye catching as the black and white image.This is also because the image looked a bit cheap,meretricious because the photographs used weren't clean cut, making it look less professional in comparison.I also wanted to make the image identifiable to an urban setting because thats where the target audience are,making it appropriate and effective.

For our CD cover we tried to do it differently to our poster. This is because our magazine advertisement contains the main image of the two girls (Alex and Kathryn) who are Brandy & Monica in the music video, and the colour scheme is black and white. Therefore we have tried to do the CD cover completely opposite. This is because the plain CD cover looks more professional and when placed onto the magazine advertisement it stood out more.I also wanted to make the image identifiable to an urban setting because thats where the target audience are ,in cities.

What have we Learned from the audience feedback:

We received audience feedback from three other media students, who have also been working on a music video project. They have provided us with good feedback and also areas we could improve on. A good point they took on was the narrative of the video and how it corresponded with the lyrics of ‘the boy is mine’ song. Also the ideas what came together in the flash back of the girl receiving gifts from the boy was effective in the video. This is excellent to hear because that is what our group wanted to do, follow the story line and viewers understand what it is about. Also they said the acting of the characters were good and miming was on point. This was key for us as a large part of the video shows the two girls singing, therefore it was key to have on point. Editing was also pick out for when reverse was used for the wedding scene and on shots when separate images would appear.
We also received feedback on areas we could improve on, such as the ending scene as it did not have as much link to the rest of the song and they said this lowered the standards of the video, so this would be a massive areas to improve on. Also it should stand out more to the viewers and be more, so if more special effects were used it could make it more real and appealing. In addition to this the location was brought up as they said apart for the church scenes the rest of the locations were no very exciting and to simple so we should of thought into it more.
So by our group receiving audience feedback be could see more into what the audience think of video and how others responded to the video. Receiving positives and negatives our both great, this is because receiving the positives shows the areas we our more stronger in and was we working in the right roles. But furthermore receiving negatives can be portrayed to our group as a positive. This is because we are then shown the weak points have and how we can all improve in key areas. For example an suggestion was made about the ending of the video, in point of filming and edit we were behind then other groups so we began rushing our production process up and filming things which don’t link as much to other parts of the video. So having that pointed out to us means we can improve on our time keeping more in the future. So receiving audience feedback in reality means there is no negative responses towards the makers because it identifies weak areas meaning areas to improve on, therefore in the future it results in better quality work.

how do you use media technologies in the construction, research planning, evaluation and evaluation strages:

(Directors Comantary)

Editing & Technology

In our production we filmed our footage using a digital canon camera, tri-pod and a memory card. The cameras we used were of a high definition and provided a high quality image for our music video, making it look more professional.
In our postproduction we used the Apple Mac computers, which contain ‘Final Cut pro’ to edit all our footage. Eugene was our main editor and used many different effects, such as a ripple dissolve to fade out some clips and also a ‘colour de-saturate’ was used, with a ‘soft edges’ for the clips which show footage which is a post to be from the past. Using a black and white effect creates the feeling of that we showing past events or the dream and intrigues the views to think who past is still going to be present. So by the end of the video we relies Alex is the one who gets the boy, and we re-introduce the wedding footage however it is the clip of Alex and Eugene doing a confirmation of love in a wedding kiss, this is now seen in colour to show this is now the present and reality.

‘Adobe Photo Shop’ was used for the making of the CD cover and magazine advertisement. This means that we would be able to produce a good quality cover and magazine advertisement as photo shop is the same type of software, which is used by the professionals. We could use a wide range of different image styles effects and colours to make our products stand out. However looking at the text fonts provided by Photoshop are limited. Therefore I went onto the website ‘www.dafont.com’ and downloaded new fonts such as the ‘Riesling’ which was used as the text on the CD covers. The downloads were a huge complement because they helped produce a good quality cover.

Posters

Research into Music posters:

Rihanna/Beyonce/Mariah Carey/Alicia Keys.

Kanye West/50cent/Eminem/Dr.Dre.


Fugees

The Purpose of a poster is to advertise an artist’s tours/concerts and CD releases, often featuring the artist and their logos. The genre of the music dictates the elemental decisions of the design such as mis en scene (I.e: a Hip Hop poster might have people in baggy clothes like 50 cent and diamond teeth grills and medallions etc') The successful posters are the most vibrant ones like fugues pictured [Above, left] They both have a good use of colour even their light monochrome picture has a bold orange Fugee logo, with Iconic Lauryn Hill head on in the front, Wyclef Jean and Pras Michel at her back in a profile stance. Dr Dre's poster is effective because the lighting and shadows emphasize his features, as he is a recognizable face. The outlining white of the gothic font of his logo makes it stand out on the black background. Kanye West’s poster stands out because its different, brightly colored Florissant green and framed with white on a black background which is high contrasting. His name is bold and the font is instantly recognizable as his logo,even though its plain and Serif.

The females posters tend to be overall more vibrant as well as more attention to them featuring dominantly ,taking up a lot of space on the page in comparison to the male artists. Demonstrating that their physical appearance ,how attractive they are is correlated with their success as they always have a mid or full body shot. whereas the men just have their face or a scene that is relative to their themes that run through the album;in some cases musicians get graphic designers or illustrators to make their album covers in the confidence that they are famous enough the logos/trade name will sell itself without an image of them.

CD covers

Resarch:

The purpose of a CD cover in to grab the customers attention, promote the CD and artist etc. The design on the cover can have a link to the artist or the name of the CD/Album or it could just be completely out of the ordinary.

If we look at the CD covers above we can see a wide range of styles. The Usher, Brandy & Monica, Trey Songz, Bashy and Ironik covers all have their photos on them, so here they are showing it is their music and the customer will automatically recognise their photo and know if they like the artist and if they wish to purchase the CD. We can also see that the Usher, Brandy & Monica and Ironik are all done simply and not many effects have been used and not much editing have been put into them. However some look more significant than others because if we look at the Brandy & Monica cover it doesn’t seem to stand out at catch the eye. On the other hand if we look at the Usher cover it is very simple but look much more effective this is because we automatically know who the artist is, the cover looks of a high standard and more professional.

Now if we look at the Bruno mars cover ‘doo-wops and hooligans’ and The Mission District ‘So Over You’ we can easily see that the cover has no link at all with the artist or name of the CD/Album. However they do catch the eye and would stand out in the shelfs in the music store due to bright colours being used.

Modifications

Throughout the filming process we modified our idea several times, when it came to the scheduling of filming the baby scene was changed to an over the shoulder lip singing scene as the weather was not suitable to perform this task.Therefore we scrapped the scene for more access able one on college grounds as our deadline was near.The scene's were simple memory sequences but they synchronized nicely and were relative to the narrative of the song. We have also used effects and additional footage that we had filmed in other locations to fit into the deleted scenes. When we inserted our new footage into the video it still looked effective and professional, even though we did not film our planned scene.

Editing

We are currently going to our last parts of editing our Music video.
The song was orginaly 4minutes long, however this seem to hard to fill the whole 4minutes and we did not have enougth time to change our ideas and song, therfore we cut the song down to just over 2minutes 30seconds.
As we went along with filiming we edited our video at the same time so we new exacly what we had left to film and if it looked ok.
As we filmed on the screen screen we need to fill in the backgrounds on them shots, so for this we have left to our final day. This is because once we have put all our footage together and added any effects needed, we could just do the backgrounds last.

Filming

Over out production process our group spent may weeks preparing and filming our production. We had difficulty over time due to other lessons schedules and people in our group un-able to take time after college due to work and personal reasons. However we overcame this problem and filmed our production right up to the day before we had to finish editing, but throughout our filming we uploaded our footage to ‘Final Cut Pro’ where we edited along the way.

Here are some photos we took whilst useing the Green screen, of the equipment we used.

Here are some photos of the costumes 'Alex' and 'Eugene' used for the wedding scene in the Chaple.

Filming Days Schedule:

*Tuesday 19th October > Green screen of girls singing - 9.00am to 11.40am (Completed)
*Tuesday 26th October House/Kitchen Scenes - 9.00am to 11.40am (Completed)
*Tuesday 4th November chapel/wedding scene. - 9.00am to 11.40am *Canceled*
*Tuesday 9th November Car Scene - 9.00am to 11.40am (Completed)
*Tuesday 10th November Chapel Scenes/wedding - 4.00pm to 5.00pm (Completed)
*Tuesday 16th November Park Scene - 9.00am to 11.40 am (Completed)
*Tuesday 23th November Building Scene & Elevator Scene - 9.00am to 11.40am (Completed)
*Wednesday 24th November Stair Scene - 1.00pm to 1.50pm (Completed)

Story board

the boy will walk in to the shot and walk of with the girl - Panning and medium shot.

The judge in a medium shot, will take wig and cape of to revile a new girl.

Goes into a make belive court room - Both girls looking into each other faces singing the lyrics (the argument) to each other.

Girl 1 - walkes out wearing one set of clothing, goes back in to the other room and out again with a diffrent set of clothing. Therefore we will make it look like there is no cuts, by keep the camera in same place very steady.

Girl 2 - putting make up on in mirror, using over the shoulder

Singing to some of the lyrics

Close up of a sale sign / Sold -> close up of handing house keys to the girl -> Long/Medium shot of her reaction and running into house.

They fades back into the green screen for the chourus.

Trnasition back to reality of the 2nd girl singing - close up -> fade back to vision

Long shot -> of the 2nd girl and the guy psushing a baby in a pram - > medium shot to them together smiling.

Day Dream 2 - Girl 2 (Kathryn)

Close up of the girl singing to the lyrics. Then a transition to her day dream

Back to the dar dream -> The boy gives car keys to the girl, wth a close up shot of handing them over. Medium shot of girls reaction.

Then fade transition out of day dream, to a shot of girls singing infront of day dream.

Day Dream 1 - Girl 1 (Alex)

It will go into a vision of the first girl getting married with the boy -> long shot to medium shot -> Transition back to reality of close up of the girl singing

Green Screen - Split Screen - Two girls singing the chourus of the song

Photos dropping to the floor to the time of the beat - Girl 1

Medium shot of Girl 2 holding love note, and cuts to over the shoulder shot of the love note

Long shot of 1st girl (Alex) walking into bedroom, following a close up of her face

Then a Long shot of 2nd girl (Kathryn) walking into diffrent bedroom, then followed by a close up of her face.

Last Lessons Of Planning

Tuesday 12th October & Thursday 14th October 2010

As two of our group members were away on a college trip the following week, our group is at the moment behind on the planning. However we are taking out our spare time to finish any planning.
Today we finished of our story boards and shot lists, and we are preparing our props and costumes for when we start filming. We have discussed a range of locations to film from inside college for the green screen to outside college when we will be filming in parks and houses etc.
We are now going to plan our filming days depending on the weather, if It is not good enough weather outside we will use this time to film any inside footage, editing and updating our blog regularly.

Costume Research

Our video consists of 3 characters, one male and two females.

Eugene plays a boy torn between two girls, were he has to choose who's company he enjoys the most, he plays the role of a normal good looking teenager, his costume designing would match the one of a clean, good colour co-ordinated teenager.

This is an idea of what we intend to make eugene's character look like, well bright in colour.

For alex's character we thought to design a more of a self independent,

pretty girl but kind of shy.

Her costume

designing matches one similar to beyonce's swagger. High heels, tight jeans, nice curves, n

icely done hair.

This image is an idea that explores the modern style of both the female characters, in the past future and present



events in the video, this dress sense would show that the video is at a present moment











This image shows the costume which alexandra images her future wearing getting married to

eugene, in the video we hope to use future and modern dressing sense.








In the video Kathryn imagines her future with eugene were they have a baby, we thought to use a pram as a prop to

connote that idea of having a child, having a human baby or doll would have made the production a lillte more

complicated due to having to buy a doll baby or find a mom that would let us use her small child for

filming purposes,

so we thought taking a short of Kathryn pushing a pram would connote and portray the idea clear

enough.