Goodbye!

After much hard work I've finally finished my blog. I hope you enjoy my final video, ancillary tasks and the rest of this project. Thank you for your time.

David

Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation Question 4 on Prezi

Evaluation Question 3

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

For the evaluation question three Hemal and I wanted to video our audiences feedback and response. We wanted to do so, so that we could easily pick out key feedback and so that the responses would be most accurate as they wouldn't be interpreted they would just be straight from the audience. Here are the three videos which I split into the categories of feedback for: the final cut, the digipack and the magazine advert. As you can see Hemal and I took it in turns to interview our audience whilst the other filmed.

Feedback for the Final Cut of the music video



After asking our target audience what they thought of our music video, "I really like it, I think it's really good, it's got a really good story" Hemal and I we happy with this first comment by a sixth form student as it showed that our narrative as a story was understood and could be related to "The narrative was really good because it shows the relationship between the couple and the breakdown of the relationship, it's really well structured." we were glad that the breakdown was conveyed well as some it could of been seen as ambiguous but thankfully our target audience was able to spot and understand the motion of the story behind the song.
"I think the best part of it was at the beginning when you have the camera moving from the artists feet to his face" I was pleased with this response as I was worried about narrative overpowering the performance or vice versa, but since one student liked the narrative and highlighted key points and the other student did the same with performance it shows we've obtained a good balance between narrative and performance in our music video. When asked "Do you think there is anything you can change from that?" in relation to our narrative and the sepia effects added to it, his response was "No because its shows it's a flashback and that hes singing about all his feelings" the fact that a member of our target audience was able to identify and understand the narrative and reasoning behind it shows that we have conveyed the story well, I was ecstatic that he was able to spot these details out and that there wasn't any ambiguity within these shots. "There isn't any rapid movement or rapid editing which goes well with the song because it's quite a slow emotional song" I'm glad the way the video was filmed and edited, with slower shots and scenes, was noticed. He understood the correlation between the slow pace and the emotional song, this was purposely done as any strong movement or editing would have looked really out of place and off key.

Feedback for the Magazine Advert


When asked what they thought of our magazine advert, we got very good feedback. They all believed it to be very realistic.
"The background is probably one of the best because its so simple the red n black fade brings attention to the artist." I was very happy with this response as the key effect I was looking for when creating the magazine advert was simple yet effective, the feedback showed me that I had achieved what I had intended to do with my design. "When you're looking through a magazine you'll be able to see it, 'Look, this is the new album they are coming out with' " this displayed the realism of the advert as the target audience even related it to running through a magazine in which my advert would stand out amongst the others. "I really like it, the contrast in colours with the red and black, the font is really good it goes with style of your magazine as does the pictures it goes with your target audience." the font was noticed which again I'm pleased about as I really felt I'd nailed the font to match my chosen genre, this was also reinforced with the point that this student said how she felt our pictures went with our target audience and how she then went on to say how she believed that you were able to recognise our chosen genre just from our magazine advert. " I think the magazine advert goes quite well as the red and black theme goes with the genre" again our genre is recognised which shows that we done well in relating to our specific conventions in rock, this was again noticed when he pointed out the use of the Kerrang! magazine review "Kerrang is actually specific to rock", it shows we've targeted our audience well.

Feedback for the Digipack



"The track list is the best I've seen, the way you put the titles around the pentagram" the unique point given to the digipack through this idea really worked, it was a key feature that many people pointed out and said they liked which was what my aim was when creating this on photoshop.
My general feeling on the digipack feedback as a whole was that we really pinpointed our genre and defined it well enough so that it was instantly recognisable. I hadn't received any negative feedback or any suggestions to change anything,  this made me particularly proud of this piece of work as I really felt I captured the audience and displayed all the known and associated conventions of the rock genre.

Directors Commentary Of My Final Cut

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 2 on Prezi

Evaluation Question 1

Final Cut Of My Music Video

Feedback For My Rough Cut

We decided to let Hemal post our video onto his facebook to recieve as much constructive criticism from the 'public'.

Rough Cut of my Music Video

Digipack Inside Of Album (CD)

Original Image of Hemals Eye

To create this image it started off with a picture of my partners eye. He is wearing a red contact lens in which already gives the demonic effect. I then cropped the eye and put it onto a black background, after which I added several layer masks but individually each so that I could use the gradient tool to fade out the eye. After fading it, I realised it didn't quite go as the normal eye photo bled into a black background, and so to have the image look complete I added the effect of 'rough pastels' which partially cartoonised the eye which enhanced the whole images look.

Inside Cover Final

Feedback:

- I think the image goes really well with the genre of rock and metal, it's so easily identifiable with it as it seems to be a demonic image. (18 year old female)

- I like the use of the demonic image, especially on the red background as this ties in with the colour theme throughout the front and back covers. (17 year old male)

- The goat type image has been associated with rock and demonic images a lot, I think this was a clever choice to use it as it makes the genre easily identifiable. (16 year old male)

Inside Cover Work In Progress

This is a screen grab of the final image of the inside cover and the image I used to create it. The original image is a tattoo on Hemals (my partner in the band) back, to get just the tattoo on its own was very hard. I ended up deciding to cut the tattoo out as a square then used several effects which whited out everything except the tattoo. Then once I had just the tattoo on a white background I put a dark red neon glow onto it the added the posterization filter and the sponge filter to produce this final image.

My Magazine Advert

Feedback:
-Simple yet effective I love the use of the colours and how they amplify the image. I would definitely be enticed to buying this album after seeing this magazine advert (17 year old female)

-It looks so realistic with the reviews from recognised rock magazines, this is reinforced by the iTunes logo and the Warner Bros website, all of which you'd see on a genuine magazine advert (18 year old male)

-I think you've really captured the conventions of the genre, through the use of the 'pentagrams' and the text. The faded image on the red to black background is a simple yet effective and in my opinion looks very professional ( 26 year old male)

Digipak-Back Of Album Finished

Feedback:

- The red and black used ties in with the colour theme of the front cover, I think it looks really good. I think its realistic and would definitely be believable if I saw it alongside other albums in stores. (18 year old female)

- I love the way the titles of each individual song are placed around the 'pentagram', it's a really unique way of having them instead of the traditional 1. 2. 3. etc (17 year old female)

- This is really realistic, the use of the Warner Bros logo and the websites makes it look like a genuine album. The text, colour and use of the pentagram really help the audience to clearly identify the genre that is rock/metal. The lead singer in the middle of the album is a really good effect, I like how he is faded and you can just about make out his eyes this adds a mysterious effect to the cover which again ties in with the genre. (18 year old male) 

Work In Progress-Digipak-Back of album

This is a few screengrabs of my work in progress for the back of my album. It shows the steps that I took to fade my picture in the middle. I did this by firstly bringing in my photo then rescaling it to the size I desired. After this I added a layer mask, I did this so I could use the gradient tool which I knew would fade the photo out, then it was just a case of getting it right. After getting the effect I wanted, I added in a barcode and began to start on the titles of the songs on the album. I firstly put the songs all around the pentagram but then decided to have them rotated accordingly so that they ran along the lines of the pentagram so that the audience would have to rotate the album to read all the titles.

Digipak- My Album Cover

Feedback:

- It goes with the genre well, I like the clear relationship between the font and the name of the band. The colour scheme is well done with the use of black and red continually. (17 year old male)

- I like how the background fades from grey to black. The font combines well with the name of the artist.   The design on the hands helps me to identify the genre.

- I like the colour scheme and how the black and red are continuously used. Even on the artists, one of which is in black and white and the other featuring red, I think this links to the genre very well. The text stands out and relates to the genre very well.

Digipak Work In Progress

This is the work in progress of my front cover. Firstly we took individual pictures with a similar pose, then after uploading them I came across my first difficulty which was that the pictures were the exact same stance. So to overcome this I vertically flipped the photo of myself (in red) so that we appeared back to back.

On the photo on the left I made it black and white before bringing it into the main image, I then aded a filter (posterization) to the image to give us the hazed look you can see. Then I simply used a gradient for the background which was simple but effective. 

The text was 'Bleeding Cowboys' which I downloaded online from a free font website called 1001freefonts.com I found this font to be very fitting to my chosen genre. I then added a wind filter onto it and put an inner shadow through it to give it the two coloured effect.

My Storyboard

Rolling In The Deep Annotated Lyrics

Linkin Park Lyrics Annotate

Questionnaire Results

Questionnaire Results Media

My Questionnaire

Props + Locations

My Rock Moodboard

Artist Website

 The intro on Linkin Parks website is a charity to help the people that have no electricity and live in the dark. This gives Linkin Park a positive image as it shows they are contributing to help people and giving to charity. It also helps the chairty as fans may see this and follow Linkin Parks footsteps in helping and donating. Also it creates awareness as electricity is taken for granted and people may not know that 1.3billion people live without light in the world.

 This is the top of their website, they have sub-categories which help you navigate the website making it user friendly for the audience. They have a search bar which also makes it easier to navigate and specify what you want to see . There is also social networking which direct you to their websites on the social network such as twitter and facebook. This appeals to the people who use those networking websites to keep them updated about the band. Also it has links to downloading the latest EP which redirects you to apple itunes website.

  


The website has the same layout as a normal blog page. They blog the latest updates which are also posted on their social networking so people who comment on them automatically are shown on the website. If you don't have a social networking account you can sign up to the Linkin Park website and comment and like posts. 

This is the Music store on the Linkin park website. They have different singles, albums and mix-tapes. You can either download them through third-party websites such as itunes. Or you could buy the albums and singles through amazon if you want a physical copy.

Representation In Music Videos

For my music video of Rolling in the deep covered by Linkin Park I have decided to stick to the generic conventions of the rock genre in order for the audience to be able to easily identify it. Rock bands generally feature a much more aggressive and ‘dirty’ look because the audience has been accustomed to seeing these particular themes within the videos. I’ve decided to play upon this and include well known features such as black eyeliner, piercings and dark clothing. The darkness of the genre is usually shown through lowkey lighting which can mirror and emphasize the atmosphere and song.

Another characteristic I’ve noticed is the posture and gesture of the lead artist; this would include when a singer screams into the microphone and either pulls it in close or leans into it. The band is shown frequently such as, during solo riffs, but emphasis is generally on the singer throughout. This emphasis is normally shown through close-ups of the singers face which can show emotion within the lyrics that can reach out to the audience.

Rock is a predominantly male dominated genre. This has always been the case, even since the early ages of punk in the 80s. Although there have been a few female rock stars, the life and style of this genre is suited to the male gender. The way in which the male gender is portrayed is through the ideals of being a sex symbol and being idolised as a heterosexual powerful figure. The way in which I’d reflect this interpretation of the male gender would be to play on the heterosexual side of it, but instead of being the stereotypical sex symbol I would include more depth and dimension into my characters persona.

Digipak Research

Linkin Parks Digipak

Bob Marleys Digipak

Justin Timberlakes Digipak

Evanescences Digipak

Rolling In The Deep Lyrics

There's a fire starting in my heart
Reaching a fever pitch, and it's bringing me out the dark
Finally I can see you crystal clear
Go ahead and sell me out and I'll lay your shit bare
See how I'll leave with every piece of you
Don't underestimate the things that I will do

There's a fire starting in my heart
Reaching a fever pitch
And it's bringing me out the dark

The scars of your love remind me of us
They keep me thinking that we almost had it all
The scars of your love, they leave me breathless
I can't help feeling
We could have had it all
Rolling in the deep
You had my heart inside of your hand
But you played it to the beat

Baby, I have no story to be told
But I've heard one on you
And I'm gonna make your head burn
See me in the depths of your despair
Making a home down there
Cause mine sure won't be shared
The scars of your love remind me of us
They keep me thinking that we almost had it all
The scars of your love, they leave me breathless
I can't help feeling
We could have had it all
Rolling in the deep
You had my heart inside of your hand
But you played it to the beat
We could have had it all
Rolling in the deep
You had my heart inside of your hand
But you played it with a beating

Throw your soul through every open door
Count your blessings to find what you look for
Turn my sorrow into treasured gold
You pay me back in kind and reap just what you sow

You're gonna wish you never had met me
Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep
You're gonna wish you
You could have had it all
You could have had it all
Rolling in the deep
You had my heart inside of your hand
But you played it
You played it
You played it
You played it to the beat

Copyright and Permission for my Chosen Track

Warner Bros. Records are the record label that Linkin Park are currently signed to. I have looked for an email address in order to email them asking for their permission to use their track but have found out that they do not have a specific email address for this and so only accept letters. The address for which is:

Warner Special Products
3500 West Olive, Suite 800
Burbank, CA 91505
Labels: Atlantic Records, Elektra Records, Giant Records, Maverick Records, Quest Records, Reprise Records, Rhino Records, Sire Records, Warner Bros. Records, and Warner Sunset Records


Dear Copyright Holder,
I am an A Level student requesting your permission to use Linkin Park's cover track of ‘Rolling in the deep’ originally sang by Adele.
With your consent, the track would be used in our current A2 level Media Studies project, which consists of creating a music video, including an album cover and a magazine advert for our new and upcoming artist. The artist featured in my video will not be using Linkin Park's name, as we will be creating a completely new artist and image.
If I receive your permission, this track would ONLY be used in an educational context and will be viewed by my media class, my teacher and the OCR exam board moderator. It would NOT be used for any financial purposes or gain, neither the institution or intend to make any profit out of using your artist’s track.
The artist and your record company will be fully acknowledged throughout the pre-production stage and the final video itself. A copyright worded notice, provided by you can be incorporated in the records of the project. If this is required, please send full details to us.
We look forward to hearing from you soon.
Kind Regards,
Mr David Hanley
Park High School, UK

My Chosen Track

The track I've chosen for my media project is Linkin Park's cover of Adele-Rolling in the deep.

The Evolution of a Star

Evolution of Jay-Z on Prezi

Transformation of a Boyband Member

Transformation into a boy band member on Prezi

Research Task

Research Task on Prezi

Possible Music Soundtrack

Possible Music Soundtrack

Possible Music Soundtrack

Video Analysis (Goodwin) for Jay-Z-On to the next one

On to the Next One is a single by American hip hop rapper Jay-Z, released as the fourth single from his studio album The Blueprint 3 on his Roc Nation label, also released as the fourth single in the United Kingdom after "Young Forever". It features guest vocals from producer and rapper Swizz Beatz.

Using Goodwin's conventions of a music video, we can see that throughout the whole of the video there are clear links between the lyrics, the music and the visuals.

We can see in this image a demonstration of genre characteristics, as expensive cars are widely associated with the genre of hip hop as it shows that the artist has ‘made it’ but with this particular video it shows that Jay-Z has gone beyond making at as such an expensive car is barely a feature in his video whereas most other hip hop artists have a very heavy focus on cars.

This screengrab is of Jay-Z saying “Hopped out the lexus” as he motions driving, this shows a relationship between the lyrics and visuals and yet again in reinforcing the fact that Jay-Z doesn’t even need to feature the car unlike most other artists of this genre.

This is a very clever idea used by Jay-Z in the music video, as the drop of the beat starts these cables move up and down to amplify the music through visuals. It looks to be based on amplitude graph which is to do with sound, as the motion of the cables and the line of the graph are very similar.

Record labels tend to demand clear visuals on the artist, which is why we see multiple close ups of Jay-Z throughout the video.

This image shows voyeuristic treatment of the female body, which is another main convention of a hip hop video. Although, Jay-Z has gone against the stereotype and has only shown a silhouette of the woman rather than showing her in full light in a skimpy outfit as most other hip hop artists would.