Question 2 video

This is the finished question 2. The question is about combining the 2 ancillary texts and the music video. We focused on explaining the question in detail instead of creating a parody of a programe to ensure the question was as detailed as possible. 

Goodbye!

As we have come to the end of the project, as a group we have learnt many things that will help in the future, if members of the group are wanting to progess in uni or jobs. Many of the skills and qualites we have learnt or developed are being determinded when people have dropped out, being innoative when planning ideas for the music video, advert and digipak and photography (film capturing) when shooting the music video.

Furthermore, in this A2 media coursework we have finished it with a proffessional product, which can be shown to future employers or unis. This shows to an employer or uni that when we are given deadlines we can stick to them and achieve a proffessional product.

Evaluation deadline day

Today is the day that our evaluation of the each aspect of the project must be in. As this is our last piece of the A2 Media coursework we must finish on a high! Furthermore, was also needs to be handed in is the finished blog that shows all the planning and a guide throughout our project. 

Question 4 Antiques Roadshow Theme

We chose to use Antiques Roahshow as the theme for the majority of this question to add a sense of humour to the evaluation. This allowed us to analyse and discuss each piece of equipment in detail and explain how we used them. The common questions asked on the show relate around the purpose of the antique, the owners use for it and how good/effective it actually is. These questions were perfect for discussing the equipment as we explained our strong understanding of what they are used for, which shots we used them in and finally how they gave us an advantage over other methods.

We diccussed The Crane, The Dolly, The Shoulder Mount, Redhead Lighting, LED Lighting and the Dixon Camera. The setting we used was the Gazebo in the Courtyard, which helped to meet the posh conventions of the show.

The Day Before the Deadline Day

Today we are filming the finishing touches to be able to have less stress and hassel tomorrow. Manly we will be recording voiceovers for each question where it is needed. However, a lot of the editing will be needed to be done tomorrow which will cause stress levels to be high if someone is at the computer for 5 hours straight.

Filming Question two and three

Today, we started and finshed filming question two and three. For question 2 we used the green screen as this questions is all about how the digipak and advert reinforces the conventions used in the music video. By using the green screen we were able to point to different principles on the products being talked about, to be able show the examiner excatly what we mean. We decided not to base it around a tv show or movies etc, as we thought that this question needed a deatiled explaination for point made. So it would be subtence over style.

For question 3 we decided to base it around Big Brother and having the target audience being in the diary room. By using this style we were able to have the target audience deicussing our video and what we could do to improve it. Then as a group we talk about the results of the target audience feedback and how we acted on it, from our rough cut to our final cut. We also decided to use the green screen for this questiopn as well.  

Question 4 - How did you use media technologies in the construction andresearch, planning and evaluation stages?

Within this question, it will be split into different sections. One section will be Matty talking over a screen cam of what he is doing using a running commentary. This meant that the audience can see what he used during the filming process. It also allows them to see personally how he achieved some of the effects used in the video. This will be shown step by step.

When it comes to the section about the products used to film, we will use the antiques roadshow parody. The parody will be ironic as its stereo typically for the older generation and talking about antiques, where as the products we are using will be almost all modern.

We will be filming this question and also question 1 at the same time due to them being the longest questions and involving the most information.

12/12/2014 Filming

Today, we filmed and began to edit question 4 and question 3. We felt these two questions held the most information and would take the longest to film.We began this morning during our first lesson to film question 1 in front of the green screen. We placed 4 chairs in front of the screen and had wrote a script the night before which meant we were organised and knew what we were saying.

We filmed in front of the green screen so that we could edit the background to look like the video was behind us or whatever product we were talking about within that question. This was the best way to go around things because it allowed us to explain the answer in detail without any information from the answer getting mixed up or missed out.

When we had finished filming question 1, we then moved onto a section of question 4. For a section within question 4, we chose to do a parody of Antiques Roadshow as we thought it was an ironic approach to new technologies etc. that we had used when creating the film.

We shot this section in the courtyard in the new solar hut which resembled where antiques roadshow would of been filmed. Laura was the presenter, Matty played the part of Joe who was an expert and Bethany also played Joyce who was also an expert of the technologies and products used.

After shooting both of the sections of the questions, we encoded the clips onto the editing computer and began to edit. Matty was in charge of editing, whilst Bethany encoded the other question to which he was working on.

Question 3 - What you learned from your audience feedback?

Question 3 we have decided to film a big brother diary room parody, in which we will sit the target audience on the big brothers diary room chair whilst they answer the big brother questions. We used a mind map in order to plan out what we were going to say and which questions we were going to ask the audience.

We began to go through each of the blog posts we had made on the target audience research and chose questions we remember helping us make valuable decisions within the video and what we asked the target audience for their feedback on.

A blog post that help us a lot was the audience feedback that we received from the rough cut as they had many improvements in which we could make and ensure that the audience enjoyed the video. We showed a number of different shots from the roughcut to the audience to see if they felt it should be changed to one of the suggestions made and this would help us make the final decision on whether to carry out the change to the video. 

Script for Question 1

Question 1 was scripted in quite a lot of detail and seperated so each of our group members had something to say. The 2 scripts presented above are made for the music video, and the digipak. Unfortunately last minute the advert script was lost on the day of filming, however we still had the points so were able to briefly improvise for filming that day. As you can see the script for the music video is in much larger detail, this is because there was a lot more to say for this product on question 1, as the music video is the main product, and the digipak and advert are smaller aspects of the project.

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

For this question we shall be sitting in front of the green screen with the sections of the project we are talking about in the background. This way we can go into depth without loosing any valuable information too the answer. It can all be heard and understood clearly.

We used a mind map in order to brainstorm ideas about what we could talk about for the section. The most important thing to think about was that the way we filmed the question meant loosing no information from the answer.

Filming the Introduction of the Evaluation

Today, we started the filming for a final piece of the project, which is the evaluation. We filmed an introduction to the evaluation. As a group, we decided to imitate the Geordie Shore opening titles. Each member of the group had one line which link with the roles they had taken on in the project. This established the televised influence which we will use consistently through the evaluation.

• Ella - " The hardest graft I've ever done is the blog!". 
• Bethany - " I'm a Geordie girl with a PhotoShopped edge!".
• Matty - " I should have a degree in Adobe Premiere!".
• Laura - "Hop on the metty and I will take you to the evaluation station!".

In this filming session, we decided to use the green screen to be able to achieve the same effect as Geordie Shore's opening titles.

Final Advert

This is the finished advert. I made the advert as simple as possible so that it could be easily seen by all audiences. We have kept to a simplistic and stylish theme so that the band were easily recognized and created a brand for themselves. The main colour scheme was black and red. This was because it is the main colour scheme within the logo and this meant that the band could be associated with the colour scheme. This meant further branding for the band. 

The digipak background was against the decaying brick wall in which we shot this image also as it meant that the two could be linked together. This allowed the location to recognized By keeping the background of the band the same, it meant there was a continuity throughout the project as the location of the performance was filmed in the warehouse and the images for the digipak and advert were also shot here.

When important information had to be told, I added a background of the conventional arrows. This used the logo continuously throughout the advert and meant it had a common trend throughout. It also meant that when the audience was reading the advert, all important information was written on an arrow would recognized the future as the band exodus's arrow. This was another idea to brand the band. 

I used the same font from the digipak with was a downloaded font called BEBAS. I wanted to carry on using the same font so that it all linked together and combined the two products as one. I used the red font throughout which could also be shown through the logo and meant the logo and the advert were also linked. The image that is used is found in the digipak inside cover which meant it easily identified for the audience of EXODUS and could also be used a poster. 

Photoshopping Lewis's Head

As the inside cover was the band walking towards the audience. A lot of the feedback that I had informally received in class said that Lewis's Head should of been facing the audience. As we did not have an image of the 3 band members looking up with Lewis doing the same, I took to photo shop in order to edit one of the images I had of Lewis looking up into the photo in which I wanted to use.

I first of all select the photo that I wanted to transfer and copied Lewis's head to the other image by using the selection tool. Screenshot below.

This allowed me to copy the image over the image. I then changed the colour of the image which was currently just a layer sitting on top of the image with the other band member looking the correct way. I used the adjustments within photoshop to do so. This is shown below in a print screen too. 

After carrying this out I resized the head that was on top of the image I wanted to fit Lewis Body in order to make the new head look realistic. This was difficult however it was manageable. 

I created a mask then to blend the likes of his neck into the skin and also this allowed me to match the brick work again as this would of been in a different formation to the other image. The mask looked like this: 

To edit the mask, I used the white brush to get rid of anything that I did not want to be seen and also the black to show things from the layer I was editing. This would allow it too be seen. It was possible to change the brush size in order to make the editing easier and look smoother. 

The Before and After of the photos are shown below. 

Before: 

After: 

Creating the Logo Arrow

I created the logo using Fireworks. This was a graphic software which I was very familiar with due to taking ICT for many years. After carrying out the target research, the clear winner was our favourite also, this was definitely a benefit as it meant that i got to create the one I felt was the best also.

I downloaded a font from dafont.com which allowed me to type the band name in. This was called Revolution. I added this font to fireworks and then began to make an arrow.

The Screen cam below shows how I made the arrow on the logo. I found the arrow on Google, and replicated it onto fireworks, this was only the arrow head and from here I then added more black lines to extend the arrow so that it filled the top of the EXODUS text. This is demon straight below in the video by using the small rectangle tool from the vector box. I used a fill of 2 and the colour black to do this.

Question 2 - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?