Final Music Video

Final Digipack

Final Website

Artist's Web Page

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

We started with researching music videos through YouTube such as Azealia Banks 'chasing time', Nicole Scherzinger 'Whatever you like', because we wanted an original product we gathered a number of ideas that triggered our creativity. When choosing a song 'Let Go' by Isis Salam we were inspired by these music videos' ideas. Afterwards we made a timeline that highlighted our main ideas. Then we made an animatic storyboard that was shot on Sony NX5 in order to have a clearer overview of a final product. The use of IPad playback gave us the opportunity to sink an image with the sound to make the cutting easier. At the beginning of every shot we had the IPad in of the camera so the time of the song can be recorded. When started shooting, we included materials that were hanging from the celling to create an illusion of a larger space. We got close up shots of bits of materials so we left some materials in focus while other were out of focus. Moreover, we used bright lighting to draw audience's attention to the action. The lighting was crucial to highlight the main elements on the black background. Shots were taken from different angles of the same scene to create a certain atmosphere and to introduce the audience to our powerful settings. Furthermore, in order to elaborate on shot types more we used a crane bird point of view shot afterwards to engage the audience in to the concept of 'dominance'. Moreover, we used Hashing lights to match the rhythm of the music, which is energetic and fast paced. Beams of light were placed at the back of the studio in order to create a club atmosphere that reinforces the dance genre we were aiming for. The use of Sony FS100 with prime lenses that give a sense of depth of field and better quality image was beneficial of making close ups. Also we used things like dolly, tracks, crane and crib in order to have a great variety of shots from different angle. During editing, the wide shot of the protagonist lying on the floor was changed in After Effects because the shot was not very clear and the surface was reflective so the lights went weird. Therefore we added a colour effect because we did not want to loose the scene as it had a good potential. Moreover, saturation was adjusted in order to produce a heavier contrast between the artist and the background. Therefore she stood out more to be in the main focus. Additionally, for the chores we edited shots on the bit to emphasize the rhythm of the song in the program called Adobe Premiere. In fact, the pace of the editing increases as the music continues along with the introduction of a new scene to built on the existing atmosphere and to reinforce the concept of 'escape' more. While editing, we used multilayers from 5 to 10; and we used markers to indicate cutting points to cut to the beat and then shots were cut into continuity. That was done to adopt the technique of successful media products. Furthermore, we used letterboxing to make a more cinematic view. We chose boarders from Photoshop files and made them deliberately wide, so we dragged bars through out a timeline to achieve what we have achieved.

Task 3: What have you learned from your audience feedback

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

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




In order to understand the relationship between the music industry and its audiences, it is important to consider the roles of music stars. Richard Dyer has written extensively about the roles of stars in film, TV and music. Irrespective of the medium, stars have some keys features in common – a star is an image, not a real person, that is constructed out of a range if materials. Stars are commodities produced and consumed on the strength of their meanings. Our star reinforces to Dyer’s definition in a way that although she is an existing person which her own style that is carried throughout her work, we cannot deny that Komali is not affected by advertising. In order to be sellable she has to be attractive to the target audience so she is a commodity that is consumed on the strength of her stylistic elements which are represented in the music video. Everything Komali does is channelled to the public and media recognition. Therefore, some common values that her products emphasize are youthfulness, rebellion, creativity and talent. As regard to the music video, we focused deliberately of the close ups of her because she is the main image that we are trying to sell and make it appealing to the target audience, which are young, creative, enthusiastic young people who think differently about the world. Moreover, we combine her image with stylistic elements such as materials and designer clothes. These are highlighted throughout the whole music video in mid shots mostly to draw audience’s attention to the fact that the star and her style are inevitably linked together in order to provide a full picture. An example of a real media product would be the star image of Azealia Banks. She is the main focus of all her products because her image is very sellable – she is young, attractive, motivational and talented and with remarkable sense of style. By looking at her, you are engaged in her reality and are encouraged to follow her way. This was achieved mainly through the emphasis on close ups of her. The recent music video “Chasing Time” would be the perfect example of this – white plane background with her and dancers only. So, again, the audience is involved in the dance atmosphere with the reference to the star and her style. In fact, she was the great influence for us as we followed the same pattern – one performer who gets most of the screen time and dancers representing the club atmosphere and being fashionable. Both Komali and Azealia Banks are fashion icons that have an outgoing and forever-young lifestyle. The same massage can be seen on a digipack. We made it completely black not only because it is stylish and contributes to the star image, but because black stands for mystery and unknown. Thus you do not know where Komali is going to be tomorrow – may be in Milan, may be in New York. All you know is that she in unpredictable so this engages the audience even further into the concept of the artist. Although it is mentioned above that Komali herself represents the concept and the sellable star, we did not put her on the cover of digipack because whereas the music video aimed to attract the target audience, the digipack reveals the style. When it comes to music, lyrics are all that matters, therefore, when you open the digipack there is a picture inside where you can see only Komali’s face at the background – this implies that she is behind all this. As a result, we there is a girl on the cover covered with the material from the music video, you can barely see her. The hidden meaning is that everyone can be Komali in their own way – and that was sells the most. It makes the artist stand closer to you and guide you. Regarding the website, it is a portal to Komali’s world that helps to advertise her. There fans can find the recent news, listen to her music, watch the video etc. The website really come as a last piece that sums up all mention above. Slideshow on the homepage adheres to selling the star image. Komali is an idol and the website is the way to worship her (for fans, obviously). Moreover, the website represents the paradoxes described by Richard Dyer – the star must be simultaneously ordinary and extra ordinary of the consumer. In fact, on the homepage we see Komali quite ordinary, wearing normal clothes. Moreover, you can watch her on Ellen’s show where she is closer to the public. However, do you really know her? She appears in all her versatile image, she is like a star you cannot reach – that makes her extraordinary. Additionally, she is simultaneously present and absent for the consumer. Although you can see her upcoming concerts and watch her live, however it is always ultimately unsatisfying so fans feel they want more so they will continue to demand her products. Overall, the website is the crucial element of the whole picture because it tells the story of Komali and it is an excellent commercial tool. The example form the real media product would be Rita Ora’s website. We can see her image in the front page and there are underneath Tweeter posts so automatically we are encourage to fall for her style and star image and also to feel that she is a real person and we can communicate with her. To conclude, the music video, the digipack and the website work together perfectly to advertise the star image. The incoherence of the star image ensures that audiences continually strive to ‘complete’ or to ‘make sense’ of the image. This is achieved by continued consumption of the star through her products. Fans will go away determined to continue consuming the star in order to carry on attempting to complete the image. Therefore, all 3 things are aimed to target a specific audience; all aimed to embrace creativity and talent of the artist and all aim to highlight the style.

Task 1: • In what ways do your media products use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Audience Feedback

We showed our final cut to the class and we got a mostly positive response with a few constructive criticisms.

The tin foil masks were tacky in comparison to the very high quality costume and contrasted with them, it could have possibly worked better with a different material.

Concept - the audience were confused as they wondered if there was a storyline that they were missing, however they understood the idea of escape which is good.

Some Scenes were over used.

Perhaps use more of the silver dress because the shot was stunning.

they thought it was very middle eastern

They thought it was dark, sinister and mysterious, which is very positive as this is the effect we wanted to achieve.

Some thought the ending was too abrupt (I personally think this works).

There were mixed opinions about not including the indian scene we had filmed. The reason behind this was because the two female leads looked very mature and the two actors doing the Indian dancing looked too young.

I believe that the feedback was very helpful because getting secondary opinions is a very important aspect for improving our skills through which we send messages especially.

Time-lapse of Production Day

Phootoshoot for Website

Trying to design the website we had to do a photshoot . This was done with the artist, Fatima against a white backdrop to contrast with the concept of the music video which is very dark., and also to show more edginess and attitude within the expression of the images. Mainly because the images from the shoot day were giving her too nice of an image. Now we are mixing the now with the old to create more attitude while still being cohessive within the conventions of our music video package.

Evaluation of Our Digipack

 

 As we haven't yet filmed the music video our digipack is not finalized as we need the pictures of our artist to go on the front cover and the inside left area of the CD. What we came up with recently  differs to our initial ideas of entitling the album 'Let Go', therefore we created something more sophisticated and original in the same time, as the Indian title now relates to the actual music video and looks more interesting. We decided to keep it quite minimalistic so that it brings up it to a professional standard but it also becomes more effective and the audience can remember it much easier; Besides this makes it have a mysterious flair. We have also created suitable name tracks that would link in smoothly with her style, personality and genre. I believe our design has been successful as it fulfills the criteria and features that we hoped for and has the perfect look that would suite our artist. 

Initial Idea where we have further explored and turned into 'BlackOut'

Digipack Draft

The Template

Getting the right size for the digipack is important. After viewing a couple of digipacks and finding out the typical dimensions, this was from 12.5 CM height and 14 CM length. It is really important finding out the template early on in the stage so then we wouldn’t have to resize the pictures and possibly ruining them the process. I Googled some templates to help me out with the process as well as looking at some online and a few that were at my disposal. 

Here is the template that I decided to use: 

Rough Cut

We've been checking-in in the editing suite frequently during the post production stage and we have now managed to complete the rough cut of our music video. We are very pleased with the product and it's exciting to see it finally coming together! There are many interesting shots that have been emphasized throughout to portray something about Fatima and Darina; such as trying to connect with the audience using gestural movements. By doing this Brandon and me were able to link the scenes up; this is important as although the scenes are all different in their own way; they need to be coherent, it need to flow nicely. We feel that it needs to be less repetitive through adding some different shots. 

Evalution of the Shoot Day

We began to get ready the day before we shot the video. We constructed the first set which involved hanging materials from ceiling.The next morning we set up the the cameras and got all of the cast in costume on time and on schedule. The first set took longer than we expected to shoot as the set looked very good and we wanted to capture it from many different angles and try lots of different shots. Because of this we had to rush into making the second set which was Fatima lying on the floor. This scene we shot with a crane and we put water over Fatima. We spent some time shooting it and it went okay, not as well as we had planned. Because of the water we had to spend some time clearing up to get ready for the next set. The rest of the sets we managed to shoot all according to schedule. Some things that caused complications was the scene with all of the flour on the floor as this took some time to clean up, especially to get ready for the last scene. The last scene involved putting down a structure with smoke machines which we put pebbles all over to look like a hot coal runway. This last scene was the most complicated to shoot as we had a tracking shot going around 180 degrees, as well as two of our group members holding the elastic back to constrain Darina. The scene which we had planned to have the silhouettes of two dancing girls did not pan out as we had expected, as the shadows did not cast as well as we had thought, but this was not a big issue as we had plenty of good footage from this scene anyway. In Summary I am pleased with the way that the shoot went, and I am glad with the work that we did. We also did some very good camera work using equipment such as the crane and tracking shot. We were also very good as a team and we worked very well together, and the cast that we had selected also did not let us down.

Shoot Schedule

Animatic and Feedback

After creating our animatic storyboard which was really helpful we managed to get a clearer overview of how the music video is going to look. We managed to rethink some of the sequences as they had a strange visual look and it didn't flow smoothly. I believe that after changing these we are more confident towards our outcome. 

Reserach for the ancillary Tasks Websites & Album Covers

We have researched into various Websites of performers that would be appealing to what our artist's image looks like

 Main features

 Black Minimalistic Websites

Videos 

Links to Instagram Twitter Tumblr Facebook YouTube iCloud News 

 About the Artist 

News

Tours 

Rita Ora

Beyonce 

Album Covers 

We focused on an individual's face to get a stronger connection with the audience at that is also easy to recognise by its style. 

M I A

Angel Haze 

Lady Gaga

Music Video Concept (Treatment)

Research into Target Audience

Research Into institutional Context

Research into Similar Artist