Ancillary Task Final Draft

This is my final draft of the ancillary task; Album Cover 

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

I used a wide range of media technologies during all of the stages of creating this project.

RESEARCH/PLANNING

• When creating our research and planning blogs, we used a blogging website called Blogger, allowing us to document everything that we did within planning and research and allowing us to upload visual material to help back up what we were doing. When creating our research and planning blogs we had to focus on using the correct terminology and using appropriate images and parts of videos to back up what we were saying with text and to show our research and planning in a media influenced way.
• Secondly within our research part of our blogs we used lots of still images and video clips from youtube to show what we were saying and to give examples of specific real media. Using the still images we captures lots of different things i researched for example for the genre we chose I created a mood board which I took a still image of and  uploaded it to blogger.
• In our planning blog we used many different media technologies for example we created an animatic using still images, final cut and then finally uploading onto youtube then embedding it to blogger. We used three different media technologies when creating one piece of work to show what we were planning the music video to look like. Secondly I also used Google docs to create a questionnaire which I later turned into a table of information summing up the results of the Questionnaire, using pie charts and bar graphs to make it look visual and take full advantage of the media technologies available.

 

CONSTRUCTION:

• during the construction of our media products, we used a wide range of media technologies such as Photoshop and Picnik which are both photo editing suites, I used these to create the ancillary task, using different aspects of the program to change the contrast, lettering, hue/saturation of the image to make it suit our genre and look like a real media text. We also used the website DaFont to find a font that suited our genre well, and that reflected the type of ancillary task we wanted to create. Once you have chosen a font you download it into photoshop and start using it.   (INSERT PHOTOSHOP PRINTSCREEN)

• We also used the tripod and the fig-rig when filming parts of our music video to get steady shots to look professional and also to get movement shots to portray the energy within our music video, and to show different angles of the performer. Once we had filmed all of our footage we then used Final Cut to edit the footage and make it look like a real music video. We used lots of different effects within final cut to show that we were confident when using it. We captured both moving images and still images using the HD video cameras that we used.

EVALUATION:

• for my evaluation blog posts I used many different technologies also, Ive used youtube and quicktime to get short clips from real media products to compare the effects and camerawork that they use to some of the work that I have produced. Secondly I have also used Final Cut to the social networking site Facebook to get people to give me feedback on my music video and give me ideas to work on within my video. I have also used screen grabs to show what I am talking about when analysing my video.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

We used many different medias to find audience feedback for our media products. In our initial planning and research part of the project we used Google docs to create a questionnaire for people to answer questions on what their ideas of the genre we chose were. We then changed this information into visual material such as graphs and pie charts. 

From this audience feedback I learnt what needed to be in my music video to make it successful. All of the questions are related to what I was going to do when I made my music video, and what concepts and parts of the genre were key to include. 

Once i had made a first draft of our music video, I then put my music video onto youtube, and then uploaded it onto Facebook where people commented and put what they liked and didn't like about the video, they gave me constructive criticism and suggested what I could do to improve my first draft. They commented on what I could do to suit it to the genre and incorporate my concept of the music video into the product further.  

After recieving this feedback, Me and my group further edited the music video working on the points made. We made sure there was a clear ending and that the music video came to an appropriate end for the genre and also to show the concept of the music video. We worked further on parts of the lip syncing which were not exact yet, and tried to fill a few more interesting shots to suit the conventions of a rap music video.

I got some audience feedback on my final draft of my Music Video and collected the clips together on Final Cut. :

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

I believe that our main product and our ancillary task compliment each other and work perfectly together advertising the artist 'Frame'. The music video shows the artist Frame as the most dominant performer within it, as he has the most screen time and all the other artists seem to relate to him in some way. The concept of the music video also helped us to show him as the main character as the concept of 'Good Morning' involved using cut aways during the introduction, to show him waking up in the morning. The CD front cover shows the artists full body from a lower stance to show that he is looking down on you; the body composition shows power and money. Secondly the advert that we created also promoted the artist Frame and helped to give him power and stance in the media by having a low angle shot and showing him as the brightest object in the picture and by showing the darkness in the background he looks important and looks as though everything around him is irrelevant, making him look superior and giving him respect.  The music video and the ancillary task show he is dominant and is someone to be respected.
INSERT POWERPOINT DOC SHOWING PICTURE ANNOTATED
The music video also replicated the theme of Rap music and Hip-Hop music, these two genres are then portrayed in the ancillary task by using dark colours and brick walls. Brick walls show an urban underground environment, common within underground rap artists such as Ghetts. Some of the settings we have chosen within the music video are successful in relating to the urban environment, such as when the two artists are standing on the roof top, you get to see the whole of London. This shot shows pride and control over a city, they believe that they are underground artists, whose music is influential within the city of London. The back cover of the CD Cover portrays the male as powerful as he is leaning against the brick wall with his leg up against it, slouched. Because this is taken from a slightly lower angle it does show power but it also shows the he feels he owns the area and isn't afraid to act the way he wants in it. This CD cover is similar to Scorcher's CD cover where he shows power by being the brightest main focus of the photo against a dark background.
INSERT POWERPOINT DOC SHOWING PICTURE ANNOTATED

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

My media product, a low budget music video, incorporated many of the conventions found in our genre. The genre we chose was Rap/Hip-Hop; we chose a song called Good Morning. I think that our music video develops the idea of editing within the commercial rap music videos, because we focused on what made a Hip Hop video that genre, and analysed and researched in such detail we made sure we assessed all aspects of it. We edited the music video to show the convention of alternative editing. In rap music videos instead of just using cuts and fades, they use editing that goes with the beat of the music. We used this convention and developed it by using lots of different effects, For instance there is a lyric that says 'Cold Flow' and to show this within the editing we used a wave effect, changing the amplitude of the image; Making it appear to look like a water flowing through the picture. Another editing effect we decided to use, to follow convention was an 'Earthquake' effect to make it look like the image is shaking, really emphasising a part of the song or lyric, or beat. An example of the earthquake effect is found in a music video performed by Sway.

An example of me using this effect in my music video :

 

Secondly some of the camerawork used compliments that of music videos of the same genre. For a few lines in the song the we use a tilted frame, to create an edgy look for the video. This makes the music video more interesting for the viewer because they are not always looking at a completely still image and do not get bored of the music video. We also took a variety of shots from many different angles in lots of different locations so that we had the footage to cut to the beat and so we were not looking at the same frame for more than 5 seconds. By doing this we kept the upbeat feel of the music, without making the video appear sloppy.



An example within my music video of when We used Editing to the beat;

Lastly the performance of the artists in our music video are suited to Rap/ Hip-Hop. The performers all give their all using hand gestures and really appearing to feel the music they are singing. By performing so well, they look as though they are a real established artist with confidence in themselves as an artist, which makes the low budget music video look more believable. The actors really convince you that they thought of the lyrics themselves as they are showing them through immaculate performance and lip sync. The lip syncing in our music video challenged the idea of lots of cut aways and some singing, found in conventional music videos; by having an impeccable standard of lip syncing and having many different shots, angles and locations with various different lighting and compositions to keep the audience interested in the music video and not wanting to look at other things.




An example of performance in my own music video is of when the female artist is performing, she shows enthusiasm and shows that she enjoys the performance:

In my music video we focused on the performance value of the video because we found that is one of the key conventions of a rap music video, we developed this further by also including a female artist, who showed all the conventions of an upbeat rap music video, and had the same performance value, instead she was a female. 

Thirdly, another convention/form that we challenged in our music video, was the gender. Conventionally in rap music videos you only see male artists, who represent money/power/fame. We decided that we would challenge this convention of a real media product by having a female artist, we tried to make it so that the female artist had as much screen time as the male artists, so that they looked equal. There are some real media texts in which you can see female rappers, but nowhere near as many as male rappers. She appears to be confident and shows that she is confident in being an artist and not there for the pleasure of the male rappers. Conventionally in rap music videos the women are seen as sex objects and often portrayed with no clothes on and being there as rich mens indulgences. We decided to go against this negative convention of Rap music, and have a female artist, not portrayed as a sex object. An example in real media of this is: 

In my music video the female artist, is fully clothed, and not scantily clad like females in the music videos provided :

Ancillary Task: 

For my ancillary task, we followed the conventions of a Rap Music Video and developed them to suit our sub-genre of underground rap music. One convention of album covers that we tried to use in our album is having extreme close up, big close ups and close ups of the artist so that you can see the artist and so that the focus is on the artist himself. In a lot of rap album covers, you see simplicity and not too many fancy effects on the pictures, to show the artist and to make them seem important and powerful. Much like Wretch 32's Album Black and White: 

A second convention that we follow within Rap Music album covers is that the font and text that is shown on the music cover is often representative of Graffiti style music that's based on rap music. The text often looks as though it has been hand written to show the artists work and thoughts that have gone into the lyrics. The lyrics that artists produce often reflect their internal thoughts and experiences. Therefore it gives the album a personal touch. This can be seen in Eminems album cover for his Album The Eminem Show. (2002) And in Plan B's Album Who needs actions when you got words' 2006. 

Another convention that we found in rap music album covers is that the covers often have dark lighting in the background of the images and brighter lights focused on their faces so that the artist is the main focus in the album cover. Secondly by having the darker background it makes the artist look like a positive person inside a negative youth environment, possible connoting that young people and rap music is often seen as a negative influence. We also portrayed this in our music video, similar to that of real media texts such as, Scorcher's Album- and Also DJ Ironik's album. 

Another convention that we followed and also developed within our ancillary task,  was that of representing the area that you are from. Conventionally a lot of rap artists will have albums which show a big scene of London or America, representing where they are from. It also shows what they have power over. (Power/support of a city). By having the city they are from, or have support from makes them appealing to the audience because they then show they have a wide fan base and that they are a powerful artist. This can be seen in Tinie Tempah's Album- Disc-overy and Scorchers album.:

This particular convention has been developed within our album cover, by using the brick wall and underground setting it shows that it is underground rap music and also that it is in London, It has the feel of a London tunnel/bridge but making it look underground shows that my Artist Frame is a powerful artist in the underground industry rather than the commercial industry. 

Evaluation Question, Peer Marked. 09/03/2012

This is my peer evaluation of some of my evaluation by Abbie Graves.