The Costume

We decided to have a white t-shirt,watch and glass to contrast the black background

Blog Evaluation-Question 4

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

Throughout the duration of creating our media products, we used many media technologies in the construction of our projects. Firstly, we researched possible songs to create a music video to. To do this we used http://www.youtube.com/ and http://www.google.co.uk/. This helped us analyse and consider different creations of music videos within our minds. We then put the possibilities to a vote taking in the the ideas of how we would create the video. Calvin Harris was chosen as the group already had certain ideas they would like to carry out as the piece of music was upbeat and expeditious.

After the planning process, we went on a reccy taking images of locations on our camera. This helped us create an idea of positive and efficient places to film. During the filming process, we only had three people within the group so this meant we had to delegate the roles which meant Osman preforming and then myself and Ahmed taking turns using the camera.

During filming, we used a series of camera shots and angles as we wanted to use various shots within our film. We found that we could film all the footage on a tripod, as we needed to film in difficult positions, therefor having to holding the camera ourselves. Also, when going to film on the bus, we realised that the bus would be moving, this would make it difficult to film. However, our teach advised us to use a rig to film as it would create a very interesting effect in our video and we could enhance and add effects during the editing process. We found that this worked and many people commented on how good it was when completed. In addition to this, the scene, in which many people also liked was the low angle used when filming the legs of people walking through the door. This was quite easy to film as we placed the camera on a tripod in a corner where no-one could see it then pressed record when students came in and out the the doors for their lunch break. Many people thought this was efficient.

After filming we then used a usb cable to log and capture our footage on Final Cut Pro where we would edit and complete our video. When we looked at our bin within Final Cut Pro, this made us realise that we would need more footage as when we captured the footage, the quality was not very good and made us rethink the whole process as we would have to go out and re-shoot some scenes again. Also, the lip syncing that we had record was not very efficient as Osman did not know the lyrics that well. This meant that Osman had to rehearse and get the lyrics right for next time. The second time we filmed the lip syncing we decided to film this on a green screen as we did not have enough time to set and prep the theatre. Later on in the process we found it hard to make it look like the one we had done naturally in the theatre using the lighting system as we now had to add different effects to make it look realistic. In the end we managed to this as we added effects, such as;cross dissolves, flashes,glows and light rays. Also, whilst we are within the effects department, during the music video, we increased the pace of the footage many times to correspond to the upbeat tempo of the song. Also, the cuts of the scenes within the timeline had to be very short and pacy as we wanted it to link to the beats within the music. We also, used many transitions within our music video to link present scenes to their previous scenes smoothly and to do this we used cross dissolves and fades in and out.

After completing our music video, we created a directors commentary to show some of the effects that we we used. This gives you a direct audio from the directors of the music video.

This an image of the equipment that we used.

Tripod, Video Camera, Rig and Camera used to take images of locations.

This is an image of our group holding the equiptment that we used.

Blog Evaluation-Question 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

This is a video of our peer assessment. After completing our music video, we gathered some of our peers together and asked them if they would assess our work and give us feedback of what they thought was good and what we could of done better. We filmed them watching the whole film and then asked them questions at the end of it.

When we asked our audience if we could better our media product they told us that the time in which we had to complete the music video was used efficiently, however they did criticise the product and say that the story did repeat itself within the timeline. Although, many peers did like the way in which we matched the footage taken, to the tempo of the song and the effects used were creative. They also liked the way in which we used Osman as the only character, as this is where they understood the theme and concept of the music video. They also spotted that during Osman lip syncing, the green screen was sneaking its way through on the back background and onto Osman's head. Overall,the feedback we received was quite overwhelming as we thought it would be a lot more negative.

After taking in the positive and slightly negative feedback, we held a group discussion and came to the conclusion that we did not have enough time to change everything as our deadline was looming. We sorted the green screen out the best we could as we had to adjust the chomer key.

We learnt that we should of asked for feedback during the middle of the task as we could have had more of an insight of what other people think and how we could of made our product more effective and to the audiences needs.

Blog Evaluation-Question 2

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

Our main product and ancillary texts all display continuity as the same mis en scen has been used throughout the planning of each of there products. As the colours; white and black were essential to the theme we were trying to portray. During the completion of our ancillary texts we misplaced the work whilst transferring the texts to our blog. This was a set back as we panicked at the time left towards the deadline.However, in the end we managed to re-create most of the previously done texts. During the process, we decided to use screen grabs which allowed us to keep the continuity of the music video and apply it to our digi pack.

We think the CD cover and the magazine advert help sell the product enormously as the context of the actual texts both correspond to the music video as the same colours and same character is used.

In addition to this,we also think that the magazine cover and digi pack also represent a mysterious and techno element to the music video and this will make the audience want to buy it. Also, the CD cover and magazine advert does not recommend an age barrier to buy the product leaving the purchasing to a wider audience not a niche market.

We, as a group feel that the relation and the effectiveness of all three products has a very clear and strong combination of correlation.

Blog Evaluation-Question 1

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

Our media product was inspired by many music videos as in the post production we researched many videos and hand picked certain conventions. The theme of our video was being alone. Many artists focus on the theme; being alone and often describe themselves being alone in different situations;for example love,work. However, the song we chose lyrically focuses on being alone in life.

When planning our video, we looked at many videos which the artists were alone in, however at the end of the song they reunited with a friend/lover/family member;this is typical of a music video as the artists always leave the audience with a happy ending. On the other hand, we wanted to break away from these conventions and create a different ending which the audience would not expect. We wanted Osman to still be alone when the song ended, despite looking at his watch throughout the video, making the audience think that he is waiting for someone eles.

Also, the mis en scen, that we chose for our production, was very important to the the theme that we were trying to portray as white and black are two very contrasting colours, as they are cold and have a sense of loneliness and confusion. We took this idea from many videos we watched through YouTube.


These images are screen grabs from two very popular songs of their genre. Chris Brown"I can transform you" and Kylie Minogue "All I see". These are two songs in which we researched and inspired us to use the two colours white and black as they stand out and make the video very exciting as you can use many effects,like we did within our music video. As we did not have their standard and quality of lighting,sound and costume we had to make do with creative ideas and effects which Finale Cut Pro enabled us with. We used the effects to enhance the quality of our film and make it realistic.

In addition to this the costume that we used was all white, as Osman wore a white t-shirt, white watch and white glasses. The glasses that Osman wore within our music video were inspired By Kanye West. As Kanye West wore a pair of white glasses within his video and they became iconic.

To conclude, our main production was inspired by many music videos of the same genre. Although, we created new ideas, which our fellow peers think are very initiative and different.

Devastated

Today we had to apply our print based texts onto a USB. When we did this we lost our work and could not be able to retrieve it. We were devastated with three days to go. We are beginning again and luckily we saved majority of the images and fonts and symbols, however some of it was deleted and now we are trying our best to re-create our ancillary texts within such short time.

Ancillary Texts

When we had completed our main media product we were very pleased however we had to think about completing our print based extracts on Photoshop. We had 1 week and a half and to be honest we were running short of time. we needed to plan and create.

In today's lesson, we decided that we would stick to our original theme and colour scheme within our CD cover and magazine advert. We searched the Internet to attain ideas. There were many images on google of adverts and digi-packs, however we wanted ours to grab the audiences attention;this is when the blog came to our attention as the screen grab that we had recently analysed and applied to our blog of Osman doubled, looked to the group as a brilliant cover of the digi pack as it showed us the theme we were trying to represent;a confused, lonely character who is stuck in a parallel universe as the black background represents a never ending black hole.

Peers passing passing commented that it looked very good and creative as they understood the concept. As a group we wanted to create a series of four panels which would want the audience to buy it as it reflected the nature of the song. Secondly, on the list of to-do was to apply the text. The text on Photoshop did not grab our attention,therefor we began to research different font styles. We came across a website, called; http://www.dafont.com/, we found that this website enabled us to use the correct font which corresponded to our music and style of genre. However, we had a problem downloading the text that we wanted as we wanted to apply the artists name and the song name. We took time figuring our different ways to do this but none of them seemed to work. We then transferred the font the Paint by print screening the page and erased the excess material which we did not need leaving just the font that we did need.We then applied this Photoshop in the top left hand corner of the image above. This was our 1st panel completed of our digi pack . Our next panel was also a screen grab which we used in order to compliment the 1st one . this had no font/text on it as it was just an image of Osman looking bewilded in the distance. The 3rd panel was an image of Osman with a black background however we did not just want the image we wanted the lyrics of the song inserted on top of Osman's white t-shirt in black font to contrast with the white costume. The fourth panel was the last panel which would be the back of the CD cover. This had to be typical of any CD cover as we had to apply certain conventions of CD back covers for example it had to contain a bar code and copyright details.

We also included within our back cover the other songs by Calvin Harris that would have featured within this CD.

Now that was completed we had to focus on our magazine, for our magazine advert we had to create ideas which would be different from our CD cover. We then research the original Calvin Harris to get some ideas. We found this image which as a group stood out to us.

We decide to use this image as a template and create our own based around our own colour theme balck and white. The reason why this stood out, is because the head of Calvin Harris has his techno glasses on and within our music video Osman also wears his own techno white glasses. This then helped us visulise the final product of our magazine advert.

We had now finished the production of our music video and we we had completed it before the deadline. We have to now think of ideas of how to begin our CD cover and magazine advert.

Today we completed our music video. We did this by finishing g the last two scenes of. We had to stay in at lunch and after college time to complete the music video as the deadline was looming the next day.

At the beginning we had two scenes left to complete. As a group we agreed to end the song we would leave Osman alone as there had been ideas to reunite him with someone to show that he is not alone, however we decided not to do this and leave the audience sympathising for Osman at the end of the music video. The journey towards the end of the song was Osman travelling up the escalators and into the food court. To correspond with the beat of the song we increased the tempo of the footage by x100.

Throughout the music video, Osman keeps looking at his watch as if he is waiting for someone we do this to fool the audience as at the end they expect Osman to be reunited with his friends however at the end of the music video we gradually decrease the speed of the footage on purpose so at the end of the video Osman fades out in slow motion.

We also added text telling the audience the name of the artist and song. We added this because it was typical of a music video to display this feature.

The next scene was Osman In Kro bar, looking at his watch as if he were waiting for someone, however top create an effect we placed him in front of the window, therfor we could watch the people walking past. We then increased the speed of the people walking behind Osman as it looked like the whole world was passing him by.

We were coming to the end of the music video. The three last scenes that we wanted to complete were Osman in the bus, Osman in Kro bar and then the food court in Manchester shopping centre. The next scene was the on the bus. Osman wore white glasses for a more techno effect. The glasses that he wore are the same glasses that Kanye West wore in one of his music video. This added to the effect of the contrasting mis en sen.On the bus, we increased the pace of the footage by x200. This helped tell the time of the journey and also the theme of our video Osman being alone throughout the whole of the day. It also corresponded to the tempo of the song as it is still quite fast and upbeat.

We also added a glow effect as when we took the footage the weather looked gloomy and we could see this in the window of the bus so we used a glow effect to fade away the look of negative weather.

The next scene was very important as it was Osman lip singing, we had filmed this a couple of days ago and had only got around to logging and capturing this now. We had to match the precise lip movements of Osmans to the lyrics of the song. We, as a group found this very difficult as looking back at the footage,sometimes the green screen was not put properly and corners of the classroom appeared in the camera angle,however When we asked for help, our teacher told us that we could change the background to whatever we wanted. Although as a group we decided that we would stick with the black and white effect as they were two very contrasting colours and we could use different effects to make Osman look lonely and confused. We used a chomer key to change the background to black, then we used a light ray effect and cross dissolve to smooth the transitions between the lyrics and the beat of the song.

At this stage, we were half way through our music video, however we still had alot to get through. Our next scene to complete was of Osman in theatre looking confused. When one of our teachers looked at the rough cut in our blog, he was very pleased as he thought that with good editing and effects, it would look very effective.

To start with, we applied individual cuts of footage to the timeline as we did not want one continuous shot. When we did this,we realised that we wouldn't have enough footage as the footage that we wanted was 3 seconds longer then the one that we had as we wanted to speed up the pace of Osman moving around erratically. We tried many ways of lengthening the other scenes in our timeline, however the scenes then did not correspond to the lyrics and it was confusing for the audience to watch. We then realised that the background of our footage is black, as we blacked out the college theatre and put a spotlight on Osman to make it more effectinve.Also the mis en scene was contasting to the background as the costume was white:watch,glasses,and t-shirt.

This meant that if we increased the pace of the footage to match the beat of the song that we could do individual cuts and leave seconds blank on the timeline, as the background of the theatre is black and also if you leave the timeline blank then a black screen appears. This meant we could cut to an individual cut to match the beat of the song. Near the end of the lesson,we managed to complete this and fit it the timeline accordingly. However, the screen when watching,looked very dull. So we then added a flashing light to the timeline to heighten the contrsting effect of the colours used;black and white.

The next scene we had to edit and attach to the timeline when the tempo increases and the pace of the beat becomes the most important part of our music video. To begin with we needed to look at our bin and see how much footage we had of Osman in the theatre changing seats. We then marked in and out the footage we needed and then applied it to our timeline. We then decided that we would edit it according to the beat for example; 1 beat- change seats,2 beat-change seat,3 beat-change seat.

We continued to this as the change of seats were very affective as it showed the time passing.

After we had put all the scenes togeather, it was still quite slow and dull.We then went into the effects and speeded the time up by 200. We also sampled many effects for example;earthquake,distort,ripple etc.However, these did not work, we then used a dazzle effect which we had to key frame so the dazzle would come on the screen each time before Osman changed seats.

Still editing. Today we continued editing. The next scence in which we had to edit was the feet walking throught the door. We had synchronise this scence to attatch to the exact lyrics on the music video, however, there was too much of a big gap between the previous scene and the lyrics so we decided to leave that 10 second slot for Osman to lip sing in. We then continued, the added the footage to the timeline, however, it looked boring so we then decided to speed the pace of it by 200, this helped the idea of "many people walked through the door". We also added a glow effect.This image shows a low angle of people walking through the door. The image also shows shadows of the shoes, this shows you the pace as we increased it.

Only 2 and a half weeks left till our media production deadline and we still had alot of editing to do.We started the day of by having a group meeting, as we needed to discuss exactly what needed to be done to fill our timeline. We managed to discuss where the footage was going to placed on the timeline. This helped us focus on what needed to be done.

Back to the editing, as we had already began our timeline,we decided that we would place the footage in the timeline in chronological order of Osmans day. Our next piece of footage which needed to be edited was the scene in the food court within Manchester city center. We applying this scene we had to shorten it, as we did not need all of it. We also wanted a variation of shots within our music video, so we marked in and marked out the zoom in of Osmans face opening and reading the newpaper by himself drinking a cup of coffee. We added these neccessaties(newpaper and coffee cup) as it made it look realistic.
When we applyed this to our timeline, the colour of this scene was very dark and did not flow correctly with our previous scene. We then went into effects and tryed to find a suitable effect that would allow the scene to become lighter. In the end we used a simple colour corrector as it lightened our scene , also, it was the only effect that we could use to make it look as though we had filmed it that way ourselves.

Before the colour corrector.

After the colour corrector.

Still Editing

At the beginning of the lesson, we looked at our bin and agreed as a group even though we had alot of rough cuts and edits, we still did not have enough to go along with, which made us agree that we needed to film some more footage to add to our music video as the music track that we are using is fast paced therefore we will be using fast edits and also speeding up the pace of different shots when the beat of the song kicks in. We then decided that we would film Osman lip singing, as we did not have enough variation of that. However, we could not do this in the lesson as we were to busy doing editing.