Finalised Product: Music Video

            

Finalised Product: Website



Click the image to get to my promotional website!

Finalised Product: CD Digipak (EP)

Evaluation Task 4: Director's Commentary

            


This is our director's commentary, a presentation of how we used digital technologies in our process and how we made creative decisions throughout the production of the video. 

Evaluation Task 4 Summary

By using digital technologies and by taking advantage of technological convergence, I have produced three products as part of a successful indie rock music campaign.   Using Final Cut Pro, digital cameras and the song 'Flawless', downloaded from the internet, amongst other semi-professional media equipment, I have become a prosumer - creating media products to a near professional standard. 

After the production of my products, I was able to share them and gain feedback from a relatively widespread audience on the free online broadcast platform, Youtube.  I was able to delve into this research deeper by using Survey Monkey, a free online survey creation site, which allowed me to send surveys out to an unlimited amount of people.  These interactive tools were essential in tweaking my products. 

These skills in convergent technology enabled me to not only gain experience in my use of it, but also to become a prosumer.  I now have a much greater understanding of media in the online age.

Media theorist Henry Jenkins was particularly interested in 'participatory culture'.  I have proved this theory of online participation not only by creating my products, but by having other people respond to my user generated content online.  By developing, subverting and conforming to media conventions, I have been active in producing my own media content and connected with other prosumers.


A summarising quote from Henry Jenkins:

“Fandom, after all, is born of a balance between fascination and frustration: if media content didn't fascinate us, there would be no desire to engage with it; but if it didn't frustrate us on some level, there would be no drive to rewrite or remake it.”  

Director's Commentary Script

Use of Digital Technology: Post-Production

 

 

We used online technology to gain important audience feedback and information.  Youtube detected where people were watching our video and on what devices, while SurveyMonkey collected responses from audience members and automatically made graphs to categorise and explain the data.  Facebook was a good tool to advertise our video with, as we could share the link with thousands of 'friends', many of whom were the target audience, in one click.  Twitter made this possible as well, sending the video link out to even more people.  Microsoft Outlook, or our school email, let us get a very specific sample to test our product, as we could contact them directly and capture their individual attention. We contacted them privately and directly to invite them to our focus group.  All of this feedback helped us edit and update our final products afterwards, particularly the CD Digipak.

Of course, it was essential to go back and proof-read our website on WIX to see if there was any room for improvement.  We also needed to go back into Tumblr to update our feed with photos of the shoot day to make it a more personal experience for the audience members using the Tumblr page. 

I used a Flip video camera and an iPhone camera to record reactions from our focus group and individual interviews so that I could upload the videos to my blog and use the feedback to improve my products. 






























Our music video could not have been achieved without the use of software.  After cutting the video in Final Cut Pro, we used After Effects to make the border and logo in our video.  On Final Cut Pro, we made the video black and white with the de-saturating tool.  This made the video fit into our campaign.  After receiving feedback on the CD Digipak saying that it was not the right size and also that they did not like the fact that there was no spine, I updated it in Photoshop.  In Soundtrack Pro, I edited the song to be shorter and fit within the three minute length of the video. 

Use of Digital Technology: Production

In production, it was essential to use digital technology to achieve the look we wanted for the band.  This mainly involved using a high-quality camera.  We used the Sony FS100 camera with 18mm, 25mm and 85mm lenses for wide shots, mid shots and close ups respectively.  The quality was very professional and the camera was very sensitive to light and focus.  We also used an iPad to display the clapper to achieve the lip synch. The numbers on the clapper helped us in editing to determine where we were in the song.  The iPad was also used to take photos of the band 'behind the scenes' which we then uploaded to our website. 

 

We used a projector in production to project on to the torso.  This was just another element to our video that would attract different audiences.  The light desk we used was for setting up the spotlights, gobos, and backlighting that we used to layer the video. 






























We used online technology to produce our website and social media campaign.  Using WIX, I built the website and included links to Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr to appeal to more people and gain more publicity.  We posted images, videos and text posts on these to try to attract interest and buzz about the upcoming music video.

I used Photoshop to create the CD Digipak, after having designed it on paper.  It was a long and involved process to create a simple product.

Now that all the rough products were created, we needed to go back and edit, re-write and proof them...

Use of Digital Technology: Pre-Production

In our research and planning, we used a range of digital and online technologies.  This helped develop our creativity by allowing us to express our ideas more clearly, communicate effectively and gain knowledge from a range of sources. 

 We used the internet to gain a wide breadth of research, from videos to websites of other artists.  This familiarised us with the conventions of other indie rock bands.  We also researched into our target audience using search engines and research into VALs.  This combined information gave us inspiration for our music video concept.  I made the shot list, costume list, call list and props list in Google Docs and posted them to blogger so that the logistic information would be available to the whole group.

Here is a link to my research about other bands:
http://prezi.com/tvu3mdl3x0ss/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Here is a link to my research into our target audience:
http://prezi.com/7uguukwvf4hg/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

 

I used cameras to record images of our band, our process and to film our storyboard to create the animatic.  We used smartphones with internet capability to upload images we had taken right on to our website, Tumblr and Facebook promotional pages.  We learned how to use the Sony FS100 camera in preparation for the shoot day.

I used Soundtrack Pro to speed up the song to double speed so that we could film in slow motion.  The song would be at double speed with the film at half speed, meaning that the song would appear to be at normal speed while the movements of the band were in half speed.  I used Final Cut Pro to edit my animatic, and Word and Powerpoint in my research and planning stage, for example in researching into other bands.  

 

Updated Final Product: CD Digipak

After a few sessions of audience feedback, we decided to improve our CD Digipak by adding in a spine and making the layout of it more explicit (for people who will be producing it, not when it is actually printed) by labelling the panels.  The result is a more clear, conventional digipak.
NOTE:  We chose to put 5 tracks on our digipak as it is an EP release, and so has less track since THE DMND are a new band.

Evaluation Task 3: What have I learned from audience feedback?

Interviews

I chose a very specific sample in order to gain feedback on our website.  One, a female indie fan and another, a male rock fan.  These two should give a clear indication on whether the website was well-constructed and designed.  Here are samples of the interviews:

 

 

Response to the Music Video on Youtube

 

 

We have gathered responses to the music video from Youtube.   This lets us know who is watching it, from where, and on what kind of device.  It is crucial market research to know how to best target potential buyers and where to make the video more accessible.

 

Collecting Data From Our Questionnaires

Still awaiting more responses from our questionnaires, I am planning how to present the data once it has been found.  For each question, Surveymonkey gives the user the option to present the responses in bar graphs with tables below, a very clear way to present the data:

 

We still need more responses, but can easily see with this survey where we succeeded and where we need to improve!

Reaction Group

We held an audience reaction group in our house centring around our music video.  We chose people with a range of music tastes in a sort of random sample.  Here are some of the reactions to the product:

Audience Profiling Questionnaire

This audience profiling questionnaire will help us identify the type of person that enjoys our campaign, and who would be best to join our focus group:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/DS6S9KD

Audience Feedback and Response

We need to know if our campaign was successful, therefore we have created a postal questionnaire which will go out to a random sample.  Using SurveyMonkey, we created basic questions about the video, digipak and website, which will help us get a large amount of results.  After this, we will narrow down our market research in focus groups and interviews of a chosen sample.

Here is a link to our general survey:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/D2R9GB9

Focus Groups

In order to gain feedback from the market, it is crucial not only to give out questionnaires, but to really have them experience the campaign and discuss what they liked and didn't like about it in a way that will be constructive. 

This is why I have chosen to hold a focus group, where we will be not only showing the video, but having a discussion about the design of the digipak, as well as allowing the chosen sample to navigate the website.  This will directly give us ways to improve our products and how the campaign works together. 

Here is an example of some focus groups:

Task 2: How effective is the combination of our main and ancillary products?

Using, Subverting and Developing Conventions: Digipak

Here is a simple diagram highlighting the conventions that we used, subverted or developed in the production of our CD Digipak.  As I have already highlighted the conventions of a CD Digipak in the post below, I will explain here the non-conventional and developed aspects of our design.

Non-Conventional - We did not use promotional stickers on our album cover, as is a convention, because we felt that they would take away from the album artwork and simple design.  The picture of the band is non-conventional in an indie rock digipak, as most bands from the same genre would only have graphics and possibly the picture of the main singer, as can be seen in The1975 and The Neighbourhood. 

Developing Conventions - We developed the black and white colour scheme by using it across all of our products.  This is not conventional for a digipak because the dark colours may not be noticed in a music shop, however it may be noticed in an online store. 

Conventions of the Music Promotional Website

An Interesting Infographic...

Real Media Conventions in Our Music Video

Conventions in My Music Video

Conventions of the Music Video

Music Video Conventions

Real Media Product Conventions in Our Website

Conventions in My Website

CD Digipak Conventions

What are the typical components that go into making a CD Digipak?  Click play on my Prezi to find out!
 

Task 1: How did you use, develop or challenge real media conventions in your products?

In our products, we used a range of media practises to lead to our final, original piece of work.  From the research stage, we knew what conventions we wanted to use, and which ones we wanted to challenge and brought these ideas into our planning.

I will examine each of the products in the following posts and explain our choices in using, developing or challenging real media conventions in the following posts.