Efosa: Music Video: Post-Production: Evaluation: 4) How did you use new media technologies in the research, planning, construction and evaluation stages?

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


The whole project was dependent on the use of new technologies. Without search engines we would not have been able to have the necessary research to recreate a music video from The Prodigy. We had to research the genre and the demands of the record label The prodigy are signed to. This is essential because while it is within the "rock" genre, The prodigy has their own identity and we needed the adequate research to respect that. Without the use of Youtube, we would not have been able to obviously view the original Spitfire video by The Prodigy, in addition we would not be able to have Daniel spitting fire as the youtube tutorials helped us greatly. Facebook was used to communicate with eachother, when we couldn't reach one group member via phone number we would use facebook. We also held group skype sessions in which we talked over what we were going to film the next day. The use of Web 2.0s such as the aforementioned really helped us complete this project.

This shows how we used Facebook to our advantage when dealing with communicating with eachother.

Obviously Blogger was used heavily, with over 100 posts we have documented every single procession in the whole project.  We used photoshop to create the magazine advert and cd cover. We did get help from a template

You can see the amount work put into the image when compared with the original

Final Cut was the only film editing program we used. We debated using Adobe after effects but as the school had Final cut on the Mac we  thought it was best to stick with Final Cut. Daniel edited the footage and the only technical problems we faced were the slow rendering speeds, but everyone faced these problems also.

In terms of filming footage, we used a HTC mobile phone and Daniel's HD video camera.

The camera also came with a microphone added at the top which allowed us to receive better audio quality when filming

Due to the fact the camera wasn't one of the school's equipment we were more confident in trying radical things and thinking outside the box. For example to film the higher shots and mimic the crane shot we hooked up the camera to a wooden stick.

You can see this in action here:

It did become strenous to film with the makeshift jib so we only really used it for the scene with Max.

The photos for the album/poster were taken on one day using a HD camera. It took a lot trial and error but we think the shots we took greatly represent the theme of our music video.

Using Photoshop was extremely difficult at the start but we really got the hang of it as we went on. Me and Max created the CD cover and magazine advert and the whole team is content with the final product. The hardest challenge we faced with photoshop was cloning. We wanted to clone the background of the cd panel so it could appropriately fit the dimensions.

We asked for class feedback and many were not able to tell that the image ontop was edited.

Here are some of images where photoshop was used

Again we were focusing on simplicity and how professional it looked. So we would adjust the saturation, increase shadows and maybe add a touch of blur. We really did not do much more than was needed with Photoshop

In conclusion, we used various mediums and forms of technology to communicate and create a professionally looking project. We had a hectic end to last years media project and said to ourselves we need to keep every thing simple and easy. So this year we focus purely on making the Covers,posters and overall look believable and professional rather than over the top. This could not have been done without the necessary technology.

CLICK HERE TO SEE MY EVALUATION ON WIX.

http://www.wix.com/avantgardemediaprodu/avant-garde#!evaluation-q4

Efosa Osaghae: Music Video: Post-Production: Evaluation 3

3) What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Our target audience we decided on would be teenagers/young adults. To be more specific people from the ages 15-20 years old. Although the demographic of Spitfire is probably a wider range our music video features younger people and address younger themes.  With extensive research of conducting numerous questionnaires we found out that our typical listener would be a 17 year old caucasian male from the area of Essex. The relevance of a caucasian being the target for the video is that The prodigy are not a sterotypical band of any other culture than white. Black people are not the typical demographic of alternative punk rock and we had to create our video on the basis of stereotypes.

He loves alternative, punk and electronic rock. His style is typical of an indie punk rocker and some of his attire would be found in such magazines as NME which is why we chose NME as our magazine.


To appeal to our target audience our artists wore the attire of stereotypical Rock music featured artist. I wore a studded belt, black boots and black and white neck lass.

The social groups we wanted to represent in the video were definitely the younger rebellious teenage audience. This is evidenced later in the video with our actor Luke running rampant through Debden Broadway. We wanted to display this act of anarchy to reflect the lyrical reference to WWII and the anarchy that unfolded in that era. Also inspiration for this was taking from The Wild Ones starring Marlon Brando which was about Brando and his crew antagonizing and intimidating people around town.

Sigur Ros are an alternative rock band in the same vein as The prodigy. When looking for inspirations for videos we extensively looked at the group aforementioned as they were also signed to the XL recordings as are The Prodigy. Fans of Sigur Ros are most likely going to be fans of The Prodigy and certain elements in their video were recreated in our music video. The gas masks and high verisimilitude accentuate the fanatical theme. As in our video the gas masks,topless guitar player and young girl running through forest also showcase a theme of fantasy.

In the early stages of the course, we researched numerous music videos such as Jay Z's 99 Problems. 99 problems was very much lauded for it's frantic and quick shot-changing. There was literally a different shot every two seconds. This was due to the director Mark Romanek and his experience of directing Rock music videos. Usually the shots reflect the style of music and rock  music is usually vibrant and frantic, this is evident in the Jay Z video despite it being a Rap video.


Taking this into consideration we applied the same direction to our video and how it reflects the genre. The genre of Punk Rock has generally quick edited music videos. We decided to mirror those conventions by having no more than 1 shot every 5 or 6 seconds.
 


Some of the feedback we received for the music video were very constructive.

"Very strong use of effects, but not OTT"
"Could imagine it on MTV"
"Really Proffesional Looking"

That was one of the main aspects we wanted to cover when making the video-How professional it looked. When looking at music videos that other sixth-formers of the past had made we thought that many had gone overboard with the effects and overall look. When you contrast this with MTV-type music videos, the effects look effortless and well done. I think we achieved this look.

The digipack took strenuous hours of trial and error on Photoshop.





The feedback was similar
"great use of photoshop"
"unbelievable photo quality"
"looks so real"
"Font is prominent and proffesional"

Again we wanted the digipak to look as professional as possible. The use of colours which were prominently red,green and white. The prodigy used these colours frequently on their album covers and we thought it would be appropriate as it not only connotes power and action but they are typically "war-themed" colours also.

The feedback we received after showing our poster was also very positive

"great use of photsohop"

'amazing pictures and quality'

'could easily imagine it in a magazine like NME'

"I like how the effects are subtle and don't look too much'

Again we wanted the poster to look as proffesional as possible rather than just crazily edited. Looking at a number of music video posters for research told us that simplicity is much more effective

The unique selling point of our video was probably Chloerayne herself. As with Paramore Haley Williams has created her own cult fan worship despite being in a band of four others. This is also why I think the video would be a widely released video in terms of the The Prodigy album. This would be the main video on the album they'd promote because of bizarre theme and the attractive lead singer.
What we felt went amazingly well was the album cover and poster. The photos we took and effect we used really made them both look professional. What I think we could have improved on was our research into the demographics and target audiences. I felt we could have better represented social groups and portrayed them in the music video more than we did.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW MY EVALUATION ON WIX
http://www.wix.com/avantgardemediaprodu/avant-garde#!evaluation-q3

Efosa: Music Video: Post-Production: Evaluation: 2) How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

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

In regards to our branding of the music video the whole atmosphere of the video is quite grungy with a scary undertones. But it is not obvious what is actual scary to the audience. The prominent features of the video are the mirror, baseball bat, gas mask and the white contacts that I wear.These four objects have nothing in common with each other and this sense of confusion is carried out throughout the video.

In the video we decided to go with a very simple ident that did not give away too much into the video.  Avant garde productions fading into a background sufficed.

        

In the digipak we kept the branding consistent by continuing the brush and colour scheme. We got hold of some war-themed brushes that really brought out our identity.

This was one of our first drafts and it evolved into the image below. We felt the grungy, dirtier colours would much better represent the values and attitudes linked with our music video. We felt it looked much more professionally made as well.

The reasoning behind the skull was taken from inspiration of watching Jay Z's On To The Next One. The skull is one of the most symbolic features of the video and we thought it would be quite good to use one of the most popular rap artist's video for one of out intertextuality features. Even though it's not in the same genre as a Prodigy song, the video harbours very similar themes.

Another instance is the shots of the guy with black gothic makeup. Which was modelled after Brandon Lee's "Crow" and Ledger's Joker.

                                               

                          

                               

Chloeryane is made to look like the Angel of  Darkness or something similar. In editing we increased the dark colours to really make the gothic, dark nature element of that shot prominent.

The colour red bears the connotations of action, violence and power and these themes are all relevant in the  music video. Action being Chloerayne running through the forest being chased, violence being Max holding a baseball bat with the intent of attacking with it. And Max has power over Chloerayne throughout the whole chase as he is the one chasing her. In addition in the rough cut edit we have so far, we can see that there are some red cuts in it.

The inspiration behind the toxic waste brush at the top was the fact nuclear weapons were a prominent part of WWII, which is a theme of the Spitfire. We added the spitfire on the bottom right because it's the subject of the song and the embroidered flowery pattern going left to right was used to increase the relevance to the setting of the forest. So all the brushes were some how related to the song lyrics or music video.

these 3 brushes appear on all the insets albeit on a smaller scale.

The process of making the CD cover was long drawn and required many sketches and thinking. Our initial ideas were from the images we first took. 

The image above was the very first image we drafted for the CD cover. We did not proceed with it purely because it would have been too unrealistic to recreate. Plus we were not skilled enough in Photoshop to create such effects.

The problem we had with the image was that the mise-en scene was not completely appropriate for the video. The ladder on the right is visible and Chloerayne's Iphone which was used to take the image is in the shot.  Also there was too much empty space behind and it gave too much away in terms of our video setting.

In the end we decide to choose the most visually ambiguous photo because it gave the viewers no clue as to what our video was about.

The lights and the mask are particularly weird to look at because it is complete juxtaposed to Chloerayne's petite and innocent frame.

Inspiration was taken from images such as these:

The tusk(mask) used on the face of pretty girl creates confusion and confusion creates interest. That was our thinking behind the cd cover. To create interest, which we feel we have done successfully.

Efosa Osaghae: Music Video: Post-Production: Evaluation 1

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

Our music does not really follow a narrative direction. It follow a non-linear narrative direction in the sense there is no apparent story line or context. The whole idea of the video is a young girl being chased through a forest for no reason. The viewers find out half way through the video that it was all just a video that this guy had been watching. He then goes on to mimic some of the features of the video he was watching such as chasing people. The main inspiration for this idea was the very much controversial film Human Centipede 2 which is about this guy who recreates Human Centipede 1 after watching it. This also relates back to the exam topic of moral panics and how games/films can affect viewers' minds. We felt adding this aspect to the video would help us through the exam as we'd have first hand experience working with this in our video.

Taking the music out of the music video and the video would be typical of the horror movie genre as the cliche theme of getting chased by a monster-like entity is very horror based.

A lot of our shots despite the chase scene were focused on the artists.



This is an example of the star theory by Richard Dyer. Mostly adhering to "stars as contructions" Our artists are representations of stereotypes, cultures and values. They were not representative of real people . This was evidenced by the extravagant attire and props. Despite Chloerayne being the star Max and I both get screentime where our face is clearly in shot. Though its not clear on camera we wanted it to look like the boilerman, Max and me were all in the same band. This was us mirroring the conventions of numerous music videos through mise-en-scene as they'd feature a narrative scene with performance based scenes

A good example of this is Paramore and their Decoded video which was one of the main videos off of the Twilight soundtrack




both screenshots showcase the mixture of narrative and performance shots, which we recreated in our music video. In addition we were referencing Goodwin's theory of music analysis and making the most out of inter textual references..

The inspiration for this shot was taken from Paramore's Decoded.





Chloeyrane's attire inspiration was derived from a scene from schindler's list where the





The meaning of the red dress girl in the Schindler's list is that she is standing out form the masses. This underlying theme was apparent in our video as Chloerayne running away from her pursuers shows she's trying to break away from confinement.

The inter-textual link between Spitfire and Schindler's list is war. Schindler's list was set in WWII and spitfire references the same war. In addition, the mise-en-scene such as gas mask were used to accentuate the war-themed lyrics.







This above image is from the 2006 movie Dead Man's Shoes in which the main character is seen wearing a gas mask. When drafting out the original costume ideas, this was one of the main inspirations for Max's character. You can clearly see how similar they are.




The shot
Throughout the video Chloerayne is seen as the victim. This was also one of the main reasons we chose her to star in our music video, she has a vunerable aura to her because of her slight frame. If we had chosen a taller, stronger girl the effect would not be the same. This is a trait in many music of the type.




In many of Paramore's videos it features Hailey Williams as the front with male characters as backup artists. The is an instance of Richard Dyer's star theory and how the record labels demand the directors focus on the star as they in effect sell the records, rather than the actual music. We thought about this and it's clear that Chloerayne is the "star" in our video. She is the main feautre of the CD Cover for this very reason.

An attractive young girl that teenage girls look up to would increase sales of records on her own, that is the reason a few rock bands decide to have a female as their lead signer. If this was a real music video of The Prodigy Chloerayne would have been played by a music video model or famous actress.



We also applied the Mulvey's gaze theory  to the shot above, the camera panning across her hands in a seductive fashion. The juxtaposition between the sharp, dangerous nature of the mirror and the soft feminine nature of her hands. Not only does the video adhere to the theme of voyeurism as the audience is basically watching this young girl running through the forest, it's adheres to the principle satisfying the target audience and record label.

The frantic panning shot is one that we saw was consistently used in music videos of the alternative rock/punk rock genre. The frantic panning shot is usually used in conjunction with a frantic part of the song

The relationship between the song and the lyrics is portrayed through the tribal paint that was used on me. Fire being used as the keyword as the strong imagery sets the tone for the video, evidence with such colours as red.



Overall the what I think went well was how we mirrored the conventions of the atypical music videos of the punk rock genre. This is conveyed through our use of camera angles, mise-en-scene and costumes. What I think we could have improved on was the differing away from the usual conventions of the genre. In hindsight we probably took upon too many inspirations and resulting in maybe too much intertextuality.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW EVALUATION ON WIX
http://www.wix.com/avantgardemediaprodu/avant-garde#!evaluation-q1