Audience Feedback

What we learned from Audience feedback main task:
Positive:
- They thought the cinematography was effective, and professional
- They said the settings were effective in conveying the idea that these were middle, class bourgeoisie characters, such as the lavish houses in the background and the sports we played such as golf and bowls. This was very pleasing as we were worried we wernt communicating this idea as well as we’d liked.
- They said it suited the style in that:
- Our Target Audience was clear and they felt it was appealing to a teenage audience, in the costume and the persona they were trying to achieve, as this is an idea a lot of teenagers have today.
- They also said that it suited Dizzee Rascal as an artist, as his songs are generally quite comedic and humourous, and humour is often used in his videos, seen in such videos as Dirtee Disco. This was again pleasing to hear as this was something we planned and it was good to see it came through.
Negative:
- The Lip Syncing – they said was sometimes out of time and generally in places a bit unclear. This was something we realised would be difficult as rap music involved talking at incredibly high speeds, so we did find it difficult to keep up with the fast pace as amateurs. If we were to do this again this is something we could build on.

What we learned from Audience feed back (ancillary Tasks)
Positive
- Suits Target Audience, bright vibrant colours make it stand out in a shop
- Suited typical conventions of an advertisement
- Information was useful on the advertisement
- Names on the digipak ‘theodore’ ‘cornelius’ were effective in conveying the message
Negative:
- Font colour choice of orange they questioned, they felt it was an odd choice on the advertisement and didn’t reflect the ‘gangster’ effect the boys were attempting to achieve
- Positioning of some of the shots, Kate felt that it looked slightly unprofessional in places due to a lack of symmetry in the advertisement with James out of shot slightly.
- More about Dizzee Rascal the artist in the digipak, it looked like we were the artist.

Discuss how your advertisement uses typical conventions of a layout - Martin Woodhatch and Joe Jones

Below is an annotated version of our advert:


We researched a number of advertisements before eventually constructing our own. To do this we researched different types of advertisements such as Florence and the Machine's advertisement and also UK rap sensation Tinchy Stryder. After our research, we included the following conventions:

Comments from Newspapers and Magazines:



Details of the record release:



Clear display of the artist name and song title:




An image or picture that conveys the mood of the video:



We feel that you get a real sense of the mood of the video, the intimidating expressions and the low angle shot, suggests a threat and dominance, however, this is juxtaposed with the young, fresh faces that sport them.

Advertisement - Martin Woodhatch ft James Wilson

This is our advertisement for Dizzee Rascals single 'Fix up Look Sharp'

"Fix Up, Look Sharp" video

Conventions of a Music Advertisement - Martin Woodhatch

Music advertisements are very important within the release of a record. The music advertisement depicts to the audience the theme and style of the record and video. Typical conventions that are usually used within a music advertisement would be comments/ratings from other newspapers or magazines, details of the release of the record, photos of the artists and finally the ongoing theme that has been running throughout. Each of these conventions are usually used in a music advertisement and therefore can be considered to be conventional. Each convention allows the audience to gain information about the product and what they will be expecting, therefore it is vital that our music advertisement shows and portrays to the audience the correct theme and concept.

Conventions of a Digipak - Martin Woodhatch

Digipaks have many different types of typical conventions. For our Music Video to be successful we had to look to follow these typical conventions. By doing this it would allow the viewer to understand the concept that we were trying to portray. Typical conventions that we could have looked to use would be Front cover page with song title and group members, a list of songs that are on the CD, lyric sheet of the main song that we are using, comments and ratings from newspapers/journalists and pictures introducing the individual group members that starred in the film.

As we were limited to six potential slides we had to choose are options carefully. We also had to make sure that our choices were relevant and tied in with the theme that we had currently been trying to portray. We decided that we should definitely choose the front cover as this would inform people of what they would be viewing and it was also a first introduction to the characters that were involved. We then decided that we should have a lyric sheet and a list of songs that are on the CD our reasoning for this was that they are two of the most typical conventions used in a digipak and they should be included. We then had three slides left that we had to fill. As there were three characters in the music video and three slides left to fill we decided upon having a full length shot of the characters and there individual names on there slide. This also tied in with the running theme of our music video which was a parody, this was because the three pictures of the characters show them attempting to look like a gangster when in fact they are not.

Examples of Music Adverts - Martin Woodhatch

This is an example of an advert for a song called "Take Me Back" by Tinchy Stryder featuring the vocal talents of Taio Cruz. In the advert, we can see an image of Tinchy Stryder, who is sporting his trademark sunglasses and necklace combination. This helps the audience interact with the poster as they can possibly associate with the style of clothing Mr Stryder is dressed in. Furthermore, the poster makes use of Mr Stryder's logo, which can help the audience recognise the artist immediately after seeing the logo. The colours used in this advert also stand out against the dark background, thus drawing the magazine reader's attention whilst they are flicking through the pages. From this, we can obtain that some of the conventions of a song advertisement that is seen in a magazine are an image of the artist, the name of the track & artist and the use of bright colours.

Christmas Break - Ned Keating ft Martin Woodhatch

Over the festive period, we, as a group, had several discussions regarding our evaluation of how the task had gone so far. We believed that the ideas conceived so far had been of a high calibre and that the forthcoming digipak and adverts would have to follow suit. We also believed that one of us should learn over Christmas how to use Photoshop efficiently so as to aid the creation of said digipak and advert. In addition to this, the group premiered the video to their respective family and friends. The reception to the music video was extremely positive and we were all pleased with the feedback received. Let's hope we can continue this form this year.

Dimensions of a digipak - James Wilson ft Martin Woodhatch

When creating our digipak it was important that we knew the correct dimensions so that we could create the correct sized images and fonts to match. By doing this it gave us a guideline to follow, and acted as a great template to create our ideas. The dimensions of a digipak: 5" x 5 1/2" x 1/4". The dimensions of a digipak are universally the same, so that they can fit into rack stand.

Tuesday 7th December - Martin Woodhatch

In Tuesdays lesson we went over and reaffirmed the conventions of a typical digipak. We did this by collectively as a group deciding upon which conventions are usually used in a digipak. We then decided to select which conventions of the digipak related to are music video and which would fit in best to our own digipak. After this we decided to start planning our digipak, we did this by drawing out what we were going to put on each of the six sides of the digipak. To do this we had to sketch our potential digipak and decide on what pictures we wanted on each page. We also decided that because we were doing a rap song we should include the lyrics on one of the pages.

Examples of DigiPak - Martin Woodhatch

This is the Cd digipak for Curtain Call. The outside cover shows The Album title and the artist name with a warning label. The background suits the genre of the album by depicting Eminem's strong star image. The connotation subvert the genre as Eminem is standing in a theatre whilst wearing a black suit. This therefore is not a typical convention or the rap genre. However the image of the gun does depict the conventions of the rap genre.

The black cover has a similar image, including the track listings for the CD. Also included is some small print about the record company, the record company logo and a barcode. The spines have the cover text and record label name written as well as a code in small print at the bottom.



The inside cover has a black and white picture of Eminem being interrogated by someone. This therefore fits in with the perceived nature of Eminem's songs as most of them are about bad experiences that have happened to him. Under the discs both images are black with a border in the corner. One shows Eminem's logo, with a dictionary definition of the album title. the other shows a picture of the artist pointing a gun towards the viewer, this is another typical rap convention and shows the audience the theme of the album. These two images are very contrasting as one is quite shocking whilst the other is informative. The two panels work well together as they show contrast.

Adverse Weather Conditions - Filming - Martin Woodhatch

Whilst we were filming our A2 Media project we encountered some problems which hindered the production of filming. The reason that problems were encountered was due to the fact that on our storyboard we had many shots which were being filmed outside. Therefore the problem was that there was a lot of rain which meant that the quality of the shots may not be of the standard which we had expected. Not only did it rain but it also snowed which meant that we were unable to film outside due to continuity. As we didn't want to waste valuable filming time we decided to incorporate extra shots into the production. So we had a crisis meeting and then decided upon new locations which of the new locations was suitable for our project and we were able to immediately film. This then allowed us to use a wider variety of shots and gave us more choice when editing the final piece. The extra shots that we filmed were indoors so that the adverse weather conditions didn't completely hinder our filming process.

Day 1 of Filming - Martin Woodhatch

Following the previous mentioned crisis meeting we decided upon TopGolf as the location which was most suited to our project. TopGolf was chosen because it was in close proximity to our location and not only was it indoors but it also tied in with the theme of our project which was upper class kids acting like gangsters whilst still remaining upper class. Before we were able to film at TopGolf we decided to ring them to make sure that we would be able to film as the company may not allow us to film on there property. Fortunately for us TopGolf allowed us to film on the property and we were therefore able to start the filming process. Before we began filming we had to decide upon which lyrics would be lip synced at TopGolf. This therefore meant that our main actor had to memorise what he would say and the act it out whilst we were filming.We decided to film ourselves lip syncing whilst playing golf, this therefore meant that we could portray the fact that we were trying to act like gangsters but were unable to because we were playing golf. We also decided to get shots were two of us were swinging the golf club at the same time. Although at first we weren't sure of the idea when it came to editing this was one of the better shots that we filmed on the day. Another shot that we decided to perform was us walking towards the camera and acting like gangsters as if we were trying to gain the most attention. Are reasoning for doing this was that a huge percentage of the music videos from the rap genre included this and we therefore wanted to do this as we believed that it would portray our theme.

Radiohead - No Surprises - Martin Woodhatch

No surprises by Radiohead was released in 1998. Although the song isn't that popular the video is far more popular due to the fact that it is filmed in on shot. The video is of the lead singers head being submerged in water.

Also the lyrics are being put up on the screen but they are being shown backwards. This therefore portrays as a script for the singer.

Also the lighting in the song changes throughout and starts off as being extremely dark and then changes and becomes bright were the singers face is fully visible.

The song is also cyclical meaning that although the lighting changes to bright it then reverts back to the beginning when there is pure darkness.

The music video is not a typical video as most generic music videos involve a variety of shots and are exciting to watch. In comparison this music video is just the one shot and although is not very exciting to watch it is intriguing for the viewer as you want to know what will happen to the singer. The music video doesn't have a narrative as the song is not really relevant to the video. Although the song is not that popular the video has proved popular nearly 2 million hits on youtube.

The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony - Martin Woodhatch

Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve was released in 1997 and was instantly a hit with the consumers. This was due to the brilliance of the song and also the reputation of the video. The video is filmed as one man walking down the street and is perceived by the consumer as if he doesn't stop.













The music video is extremely well known within the music industry due to the fact that it is just a man walking down the street. The video is filmed on a busy street and there are many different obstacles in the band members way. These obstacles are ignored by the man as he just walks straight on without stopping.













Although the concept of the music video could be considered boring it works really well as the viewer is intrigued and enticed by what will happen next. The music videos pace is also relative to the speed of the song as both are slow paced with no quick cuts. The video also has a flow to it which means that it becomes engaging to the viewer and interesting to watch.

Coldplay - The Scientist - Martin Woodhatch

The song that I have chosen to evaluate is Coldplay – The Scientist. This song has many different conventions of a typical music video. This is because it uses a variety of shots to portray the mood of the song; this is due to the scene as well. The scene of the song is very dark and depressing which is very much like the song. The song is not upbeat and exciting but is more focused on the lyrics of the song. The video matches the song due to the fact that the lyrics often talk about reversing something or rewinding time. This is in tune with the theme if the video as it is being played in reverse.

The fact that the video is in reverse means that it is not a typical music video as a generic video would be done in real time and not be in reverse. The fact that the music video is in reverse makes it compelling to watch as you want to see what will happen next. This is due to the fact that the viewers are likely not to have seen many music videos in reverse meaning that they are intrigued and interested. The fact that the video is in reverse makes it seem far more appealing to the viewer and also gives the audience a ‘Hook’. The ‘Hook’ is the part in the video which gets people watching and interested in it. This means that if somebody was describing this video to another person they would talk about the video being in reverse.

In conclusion this music video has many typical conventions meaning that it is relatively appealing to the audience. Also the viewers can see that the video very much relates to the song meaning that they can understand the reasoning behind the video further. This video is considered appealing due to the ‘Hook’ which is very generic within music videos.

Practice Music Video