georgiadaviesmedia

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MASTERPOST - Navigating my blog

In chronological order:

PLANNING: http://georgiadaviesmedia.tumblr.com/tagged/planningA2/chrono

RESEARCH: http://georgiadaviesmedia.tumblr.com/tagged/researchA2/chrono

PRODUCTION: http://georgiadaviesmedia.tumblr.com/tagged/productionA2/chrono

EVALUATION: http://georgiadaviesmedia.tumblr.com/tagged/evaluationA2/chrono 

A2 WORK: http://georgiadaviesmedia.tumblr.com/tagged/A2/chrono

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Due to SlideShare’s software, the format has moved the text and pictures around so that some of it is hardly eligible - below are the slides from the PowerPoint instead: 

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Above is the survey for my audience feedback on the following: the Like I Would music video, the digipak, and the album magazine advert. These were the responses: 

Question 1: 

This question serves to confirm my target audience so that I can properly relate it to the answers that are given. The majority of the answers came from people aged 15-17, which is the age, including up to 23, that we have targeted our products.

Question 2: 

This, like question 1, has the sole purpose of confirming the fact that the target audience is largely made up of females rather than males, even though there are male audience members, with 25% of the answers coming from men. 

Question 3:

Overall, it seems like those who answered the survey enjoyed the survey, most noticeably, the colouring of both the outside and inside sections, the way the footage mirrors the music, and some of the editing techniques we used.

Question 4:

In this question we asked whether the audience understood the plot. There appears to be 25% of those who didn't understand, which means that we perhaps didn’t explore it to the extreme. This is helpful as we now understand that even if we, as directors, understand it, not everyone else will. 

Question 5:

As the song ‘Like I Would’ is an alternate R&B track, we wanted to know whether that was shown in the music video. We tried to bring in more of a influence of the alternative side, which is shown in the results: half of the answers said that they thought the music video was an alternative music video.

Question 6:

The whole purpose of a music video, digipak and magazine advert is to make the audience buy the album, which, in theory, we have done. 

Question 7:

Some critiques I received revolved around the plot and how it was at times confusing, which means that we could have perhaps had a better structure to show the differentiating relationships.  

Question 8:

The average rating was 3.75 stars out of 5, which tells us even though it was overall quite successful, there are still areas to improve, mostly to do with the plot of the music video, which brought the rating down slightly.  

Question 9:

Here I asked if there were any noticeable links between the digipak, advert and music video as creating a brand identity and keeping consistency is key to creating a successful product in the media world. 

Question 10:

As said above, the key purpose for a music video, digipak and magazine advert is to successfully promote the album. From what the audience said, the ratings and the overall theme of the products made them want to buy the album as the theme may be reflected in the music video (which is what we tried to do). 

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DIRECTOR’S COMMENTARY

Above is the director's commentary to our music video for Like I Would. Through doing this, we are able to explain some of the decisions we made, especially with the imagery and connotations of some things like the playing cards and the lighter. Of course, we weren't able to go into much detail due to having to keep up with the video, but further analysis can be seen in my evaluation questions.

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ANCILLARY TEXTS: ALBUM ADVERT

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ANCILLARY TEXTS: DIGIPAK

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LIKE I WOULD: Main Task - Music Video

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PLAN: ALBUM ADVERT

Here is a rough plan for my magazine advert, which will hopefully help to make the process of taking the pictures and editing a lot easier. 

A NOTE AFTER FINISHING MY MAGAZINE ADVERT: I didn’t change much from my plan, but one thing I did add was the text, “available for preorder now” and “includes the hit song Like I Would”. I did this to further promote the album and make it seem like a real advert for an album release. 

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PLAN: DIGIPAK

Here is my plan  my digipak. This is to help me when editing as it will make it a smoother and an overall much easier process if I already have my ideas set out.

A NOTE AFTER FINISHING MY DIGIPAK: For the most part, I kept most of the panels the same, for example the front cover, the panel above that, and the CD tray. However, I changed the top left panel slightly: instead of having just one hand, I had two linked at the finger, and outlined it to create an illustration instead of a picture. I also used the reaching hands idea and did the same outlining technique and put it n the back cover on either side of the track list. I also got rid of the lighter image because it was proving difficult to capture, so instead I used more pictures of the main actress Beth, as to tie it to the music video more.

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Talent Release Form

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Music Video Analysis: The 7th Sense - NCT U

In NCT U’s music video for their debut song ‘The 7th Sense’, many different camera shots, movements and angles are used. The video starts with a wide, long shot with a straight angle, focusing on the group: 

This not only allows the audience to see the members of the group for the first time (due to the video being their debut), it makes the audience recognise them as talented dancers. Dance is a key convention of the K-Pop genre, and also aids the fact that the music has a slight R&B influence. Andrew Goodwin’s point of demonstrating genre characteristics in his Music Video theory is proven here. The opposite, a close-up, is also used throughout the music video:

This straight-angled shot helps to fulfill another of Goodwin’s criteria: the need for close-ups of the artist(s) to let their fans see them up close. This also, incidentally, aids the fact that this music video acts as NCT U’s debut, allowing the fans to see each member for the first time. This shot also conforms to Blumler and Katz’s idea that people consume the media for their personal identity, one point in their Uses and Gratifications theory. Through the close-up, we are able to see that he is wearing fashionable clothing, and the artist is following many beauty standards that are popular in Korea, like the straight eyebrow. Because of this, members of the audience may look to dress or style themselves similarly. 

The low angle and slight panning during this shot conforms to general theme of K-Pop, which is extreme. Many of the shots, angles and movements in the music video for The 7th Sense are exaggerated, like the ones above and below.

As parts of the music video are dance-based, the camera usually tracks the members’ movements (around 2:03). The camera-work not only makes the choreography seem better, but makes the audience focus on the dance moves. It also creates a sense of disorientation, which may lead some to re-watch the video to fully capture the bits they missed. 

Lighting is a key feature in the music video for The 7th Sense. The different array of colours used is very eye-catching and people, as a general rule, are usually drawn to brightly-coloured and aesthetic things, which this lighting achieves. 

The different coloured-lighting for different scenes and members also keeps the viewer’s interest, due to its changing nature. The symmetry of many shots also creates an aesthetically-pleasing shot, for example: 

The long shot aids the mise-en-scene of the parallelism of the arches on either side of the wall, and helps to focus the audience on the centre of the shot, which are boxes with some of the artists inside. In the second shot, the blue and purple lighting and the plants running alongside each wall suggest an exotic theme. 

The sections in which the group dances are usually set in a box: 

This is conventional for the K-Pop genre; a ‘box MV’ or ‘box music video’ describes a video that looks as if it has been filmed within a box, and rarely features things such as extreme camera movement or cuts whilst inside the ‘box’. Choreography is usually performed here as there isn’t much to distract the audience from as the choreography is the main focus, which the video for The 7th Sense conforms to. 

Like many music videos, the MV cuts on the beat. This gives a sense of continuity and fluidity, and is altogether more pleasing for the audience to watch. A key editing feature used throughout the video is replacing the members’ silhouetted forms with clips, such as fire, falling shards of glass, and coloured smoke: 

Not only is this very aesthetically pleasing, it uses an alternate way of displaying an image or clip, whilst also including the artists. It gives a very startling effect and, through its uniqueness, will come across as entertaining. This ties in with a section of Blumler and Katz’s Uses and Gratifications theory, which states that people consume the media for the need to be entertained. 

Stuart Hall’s ‘Audience Theory’ can be applied to many different media types, including music videos. His theory states that, in a media product, there is a Preferred Reading (what the institution wants you to take away from the product), a Negotiated Reading (when an audience member agrees with some parts of the product and disagrees with other parts) and an Oppositional Reading (a different reading from the institution’s preferred reading is taken away). In The 7th Sense music video, we can tell that the company, S.M. Entertainment’s, preferred reading is that their new group are something new and unique, and that they have talented rappers (it’s a well-known fact that S.M. Ent. doesn’t produce the best rappers in the K-Pop industry). This is shown through the frequent close-ups and focus on Taeyong, the main rapper and leader of the group: 

And in the choreography sections, he is usually in the centre of the shot: 

These factors lead the group to be represented as fashionable and fresh. Their representation is one of the most important sections of the music video as it was their first video and debut song, which means they had to create a strong image in order to draw a fan base and be successful in the future. 

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Day 4 of Shooting: 31/01/17

Because we had to get additional footage, we filmed again in the house. This time we decided to capture the friendship between Lauren and Beth, the “good” relationship. 

To add more light and colour, we put purple cellophane over the spotlights in my room. In addition with the blue light, it gave a really nice effect. 

The shoot was successful and we hope now to carry on editing.

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Day 3 of Shooting: 23/1/17

We decided to shoot more material in the centre of Bristol as we realised we didn’t have a sufficient amount to continue editing. 

The day was a successful one, as we filmed many of the shots that we had wanted, and there were no complications. 

All we need to do now is film the beginning of the music video, which is set in our house and is scheduled to be done this weekend (28th-29th Jan 2017). 

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Day 2 of Shooting: 04/12/16

During filming we shot most of the interactions between Ruby and Beth, portraying their broken and abusive relationship. 

Again, we used the photography light covered with coloured cellophane to achieve the different coloured lighting. 

Next, we need to film the scenes in the centre, which will be done sometime in the New Year.