A2 Final Production

Please find below my final music video production written by 'The Method' for my A2 portfolio.

Final Production- Ancillary Texts

Please find a link below on scribd to my ancillary texts. I have created a DVD cover and poster to support my final production.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/226180723/Final-Production-ANCILLARY-TEXTS

MEDIA EVALUATION: Question 1

Please find below a video of myself talking about how 'my media product uses, develops or challenges real media products'.

MEDIA EVALUATION: Question 2

Please find below my podcast of me discussing how effective the combination of my main product and ancillary texts are together.

MEDIA EVALUATION: Question 3

Please find below a video of myself with que cards discussing what I learned from my audience feedback.

MEDIA EVALUATION: Question 4

Please find below a powerpoint that I have constructed to answer the final question;
How did you use new media technologies in the construction, research and planning and evaluation stages?' Please note, I included transitions which are unfortunately unable to be seen on the scribd website.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/139240763/MEDIA-EVALUATION-Question-4

How do my ancillary texts link together with one another and my music video?

Imagery and Colours-

I have chosen to use similar imagery and colours across both of my ancillary texts so that the audience can subconsciously recognise that they have seen these images before. I have also used pictures from my music video on the DVD cover I have created. By doing this it could make the audience associate these images with previous ones and make them wonder where they have come across them, thus the audience searching for and finding the music video.

Using similar colours across both ancillary texts and my music video, creates a theme and echoes a feeling of the band. I think it is important to have reoccurring colours and themes as it creates a vibe for the band that hopefully audiences will recognise.



Promotion-

The audience can cross-link this imagery shown in the ancillary texts towards the music video for promotion purposes. Recognising an image may lead the person to research where they may have come across this image before, thus re-watching the video, for example, on YouTube, generating more views on the video. This also may lead the audience to delve further into finding out more information about the band, gaining them a wider internet presence.

Skinheads

In the other side of media, we are currently learning about youth culture and collective identity. One subculture that has been identified through analysing films are 'Skinheads'.
Skinheads originated amongst working class youths in London in the 1960s. They were known for their closely shaven heads, Ben Sherman shirts, drainpipe jeans and Dr Marten's. The skinhead subculture was orginally associated with black popular music genres such as reggae. 'This is England' a Shane Meadows film set in the 1960's follows a young boy called Shaun through his summer break from school. It see's Shaun get adopted into this subculture of skinheads and shows how youth can come together from a few simple things to form a collective. Youth are generally portrayed negatively by the media which this film reflects as Shaun engages with his first love, drink and violence. Below is the trailer for 'This is England'

Editing- 5

Today, I managed to complete my final production. I changed the colours to grey scale and added in the typical convention of titles and the start and end of my music video. I am happy with how my production has gone, right from through the planning and editing stages. I have converted it to QuickTime and Youtube and shall be up on my blog shortly!

Editing- 4

I am still continuing to edit my production together. Today I started on editing the first few scenes together. At the moment I am unsure on this and am preferring the ending of my production. I have around 40 seconds of my production to complete now.

Editing- 3

Today in my free period, I managed to edit together the ending of the song completely. I now have just the beginning to edit. I am happy with it so far and hope it continues to go well.

BBFC Ratings

To make my DVD Cover look as real as possible, I must rate my music video according to the BBFC guidelines. I decided to rate my video as a U. I decided this because my video does not contain any violence, swearing, drugs, alcohol, it simply follows a girl on her journey.

Editing- 2

Today, I managed to complete a minute and a half of editing in a double lesson. I also added in my soundtrack which helps make it easier to edit to. I decided to start with the end of the song first, as I wanted to get this right because I feel that the end of the song has the biggest impact and its when it really starts to go into itself.

Research into Similar Products- DVD Covers

I have created a power point looking at two different DVD covers. I have looked for similarities and differences of the typical conventions you would expect to see between them both in hope that these will give me guidance as to what to include on my own DVD cover.

Please click on the link below to view my power point on scribd-

http://www.scribd.com/doc/224121713/Comparing-DVD-Covers

Editing- 1

Today, I started to edit my final production together. I put all of my clips on to Serif MoviePlus where they were organised and I could delete the ones which I didn't want. As I had never used this software before, I played around with it slightly so I could get used to where the tools where and how to use it.

MoviePlus

Research into Similar Products- Dance a la Plage

Similar to my chosen band 'The Method', 'Dance a la Plage' are a new band that have started from no where. Both bands have recently played at the O2 Academy in Oxford and are looking to make it. 'Dance a la plage's music video 'Need to Know' links to the BacktoBasic's video produced for 'The Method'. Both videos take simple concepts and shots to produce a music video which works well. I decided to look at 'Dance a la Plage' as they are very similar to 'The Method' and I wanted to find out what they did to create a music video for themselves. Below is a video of 'Dance a la Plage's video 'Need to know'.

Ancillary Texts- Movie Poster

As I am beginning to edit my final production, I thought it would be a good idea to research into my ancillary texts. I have chosen to do a poster and a DVD cover.

From researching the internet, I came across various music advertisements. The main things I picked out that were on all the ones I looked at were; the name of the artist, name of the song, and the date released. I also noticed, like with the poster below that they linked with (if they had a video) with the music video also. Like the one below, Katy Perry is shown as army like on this poster, this links to her video as in it, she is seen in an army camp training. When making my own poster, I will consider this typical conventions of a music poster and incorporate them into my own.

Filming- Band Scenes

I was really pleased with todays filming. This morning, I was worried it may have to be called off due to the weather, but luckily it became really sunny and we were able to film. We did a range of scenes today, with a range of shots in mind. When it comes to shot lists, I don't find them very useful. I have an idea in my head of what I want everything to look like to go by this; it's almost like a mini shot list in my own head. Everyone turned up really organised today and we were able to get things done quickly but unfortunately the band members weren't wearing exactly the same clothes. This annoyed me slightly as I asked them too but from previous discussions we are thinking of having the music video in black and white so it hopefully won't make too much difference. From this I have learned to make sure everything is planned, even down to the minute detail!

Now all my filming is complete, I can move on to the editing stage.

Shot List- Band Members

As I stated before, I have a clear idea of what I want to achieve on a day of filming. For the band members, I am looking to get close ups of each of the characters singly so the audience can establish them seperately. I am also looking to gain wide shots of the band as a collective so the audience can see them as a band. For their instruments, I am looking to get extreme close ups so that the detail can be recognised. Hopefully the filming all goes according to plan!

Filming- Date

Over the christmas period, I took a step aside from media as the band were unable to film. Recently, I have got in touch with one of the band members and they are also keen to get this music video finished and editied together. We have decided to meet on Friday 1st February to finish our filming. I have informed them of what I need to film and they are happy. We will be filming shots of each of the band members walking towards the barn from different locations. Hopefully everything will go well!

Don Broco

As one of my pieces into research into similar products, I have decided to look at a four piece, alternative rock-band known as 'Don Broco'. They formed in Bedford in 2008 and the bands debut album 'Priorities' was released in August 2012. The band originally formed in University where they played their first gigs at socials and in pubs and clubs, playing in similar locations to 'The Method'. This year, Don Broco have performed at the O2 Academy in Oxford, something which 'The Method' have also previously done.

I have chosen to look at just one of their music videos- 'Whole Truth'. Whilst researching this band, I found it interesting that 'Don Broco' themselves have directed a few of their own videos, specifically the one I have chosen to look at. I found this interesting as 'The Method' (the band in my music video) have been having some directive input on my own music video.

From previous audience research, it has become clear that audiences are keen to see the band in a video, as well as a narrative or story line to follow. 'Whole truth' uses both of these conventions, and this is something I am looking to do in my own music video.

From watching this video, I liked the close-up shots used of the band members whilst also showing the band as a whole. This appealed to me as it introduces the band separately, almost like you are being introduced to different characters yet it also takes you back, making it clear that they are a group. I also liked how the frames switched between the band and the story line, making a clear link between the both of them. 

Both of the things I have picked out have really appealed to me, and I shall be looking to take this ideas further and try and develop them into my own music video. Below is the link to 'Whole Truth' so you can check it out for yourselves and see what you think about what I picked out!