Saturday, 20 February 2010

Production- Screen grabs (Question 4)

These are screen grabs that I took from my production process, where i used Final Cut Pro to edit the footage i had taken to produce the video.



1. After capturing the video from the tape, I placed the clips in to the
time line and using the blade tool I started cutting the clips to the length I wanted. I had more footage than was required for the final video so I spent the time reviewing all the clips and made a time line, filtered them down and tweaked their length to fit the music track.




2. I reduced down the amount of footage I had and spent some time trying to match changes of clips to the beats and changes in the music where I could. I added some simple cross dissolves to certain parts to cover some edit points that were not as clear cut as I would have liked. This screen grab shows my video almost completed before I added some final touches. I found the 'Bad TV effect' in Final Cut and tweaked the settings to what I wanted, then adjusted the colour using the colour corrector and desaturated the clips. I wanted to make it look like Jahnoi was being watched by a CCTV camera.





3.
After I was happy with the effect I wanted to create, I exported the video out to finalise the rendering of the effects. I then placed the full
video back in to a new time line so I could add text where required. I used the text tools available in Final Cut to add the text at the beginning
and end, adding some cross dissolves to fade the text in and out. I did this to introduce the artist and track title and when it would be available to download.





4. The final bits of text I needed to add was the record symbol in the top right hand corner of the CCTV effect. I wanted this effect because I wanted Jahnoi to look as if he was being recorded, which showed that he cannot escape and is always under scrunity. I used the text tools in Final Cut to get the style I wanted I then moved them in to the right place on the video, by clicking and dragging it in to place in the right hand video window. The red dot was also it’s own text element. I then copied it several times and placed it in the right places on the time line to give the effect of it blinking on and off. Once this was done the video was finished and exported as you see it now.






Tuesday, 16 February 2010

Feedback from my target audience (Question 3)

On Monday 8th March, I presented my music video to a Year 12 media group of 22. I did this because the ages of the class range from 16-17, which is in the middle of my target audience age. This was also helpful because they are also media students so they know how to watch a piece and analyse it critically and look for things such as narrative, representation and media language. After showing the video three times, they each wrote down their responses.

These is some of the feedback the video recieved. I also took from photographic evidence of the written feedback i received during the session.





  • 'The low angled shots show that the featured person in the video is being looked up to.'


  • 'The estate as an establishing shot shows the it is an urban location, which links to the urban music genre.'




  • The dark setting shows that is is night time and links in with the idea of running from the police.'


  • 'The song reflects what is happening in the video really well. It links the type of music, the shots and the target audience.'




  • 'It is obvious he is frustrated because he is kicking the door in.'

  • 'The REC part gives it another dimension and it is a clear, positive effect.'


  • 'He gives the impression that he has no time for crime because he is alone and not doing anything wrong.'




  • 'His body language (putting his head in his hands) shows that he is in despair and is reflecting on something that has happened.'


  • 'He seems like he wanted to get away, but the CCTV is watching him.'





One student wrote this on their feedback sheet;

  • 'I think he should have been miming to the music.'
Miming is used in different genres of music videos, and is used in parts of Grime videos. I did not include this because my video is unconventional of the stereotype of music videos because the story of the song and the video are different to the conventional Grime videos. The artist talks about reflecting on what has happened and regularly uses ad libs like 'What the hell' or 'Lord Jesus.' This shows that he is despairing and is unsure about what is happening. I believed it was important for the audience to concentrate on what the lyrics were saying, as I took these into consideration when shooting the video. Miming would take away from the importance of what the video and music are trying to say, which is that he wants to break away from the stereotype that his age and ethnicity have, but he cannot escape being watched, and this is shown through the CCTV image.






.

Thursday, 11 February 2010

Question 2

How effective are your products?






- Both products are dark and have a lot of shades such as grey and black. This creates an eerie feeling and show the products to have a dark, mysterious, uneasy and 'grimey' theme.

- Both products expose the artist as being in deep through about motives because in the ancillary texts he is looking towards the camera with a look of desperation because he is trying to weigh up events in his life.

- He shows he is vulnerable when he is sitting alone holding his head and looking around. He looks uncomfortable and uneasy. The same theme is also portrayed in the ancillary texts where he is looking at the target audience. This shows him to be looking for something, but still have authority through his body language and masculinity.

Wednesday, 10 February 2010

Question 1

In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?


Use

Video

- Fast cut tranistions at the beginning to introduce the setting and location


'Friend or Foe' Music video




'She likes to'- The England 10



- Unique features- REC. to make parts of the video seem as the audience are watching CCTV. It also gives the audience something to think about because it is making a statement.





'Friend or Foe' Music video


'I'm a hustler'- Kano





Anxcillary texts

-Simple black background, artist featured with a glimpse of colour.





'Friend or Foe' CD cover and inside





'New age grime' Album cover- Maniac





Develop

Video
-Developing a story with the artist- Evaluating previous events, releasing anger and tension and feeling trapped
. This happens when he kicks the door.

'Friend or Foe' Music video


Anxcillary texts
- Urban framework and infrastructure is featured in the album cover, however I have Jahnoi attached to a wall which shows he is constantly attached and linked to his surroundings.



Friend or Foe CD front cover and inside



'No Point In Wasting Tears' album cover- Ironik


Challenge

Video


- There is no miming in the video
* When a video is done on a small budget, it looks unprofessional when miming is used because the lip sync needs to be accurate and perfect. I believe miming would have taken away the audience interaction and connection that i wanted to create with Jahnoi and no miming would allow them to watch the video and feel for the character involved, which in unconventional for video's from the music genre.

Sunday, 7 February 2010