More research into fonts

Looking into other fonts used on the album covers of Neyo, the font is generally in capitals and bold. Usually dark colored, making it look smart, making it connect with the costume, which is normally a suit, with a hat. If the albumn cover includes a name of the song or the albumn, that font is straight underneath and normally a completely different text, like calligraphy style. 

HERES AN EXAMPLE OF CALLIGRAPHY TEXTS

Research into fonts.

HERE ARE SOME EXAMPLES OF THE FONTS USED ON NEYOS OTHER ALBUMN COVERS

Our Director's Commentary

Filming our directors commentary

We went into the black room and started to film our directors commentary we decided to take it it turns with asking the questions and changing us around to answer them. For example Will would ask a question and then Saffy christian and ollie would answer it, then we would swap round.
We found it difficult filming our answers as we would continuously forget certain points, and things that we have included in our video which gave it a usp, we also forgot things like Good-wins theory point so we then had to re-film towards the end and add in things.

SCRIPT IDEAS

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

• Discuss what we researched and how this helped us to develop our video - we looked at lots of Neyo's videos and other RnB music videos such as Jason Derulo, Beyonce etc, famous artists, with famous videos with similar narratives.
• What are the codes and conventions of real music products and how did we include them in our product? - we used a romantic narrative, slow pace, singing to the camera, lots of two shots of the couple together in romantic scenes or locations.
• Did we stick to/use any of Good-wins Theory points? Yes we used links between music and visuals and lyrics and visuals, demand of the record label and voyeurism.
• Discuss ways in which we used genre conventions to make our product look more professional, and make the genre obvious - using things like dance moves, close ups of singing towards the camera, and effects and filters are all conventions of RNB genre.

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

• Did all three products work well as an overall package? The ancillary texts linked well due to the idea of the hat, although the music video doesn't link as clearly.
• What concept were we trying to show?  - we was trying to emphasize the fact that the artist was in a day dream of imagining a relationship with someone he saw walking by.
• Do they attract the target audience? our video is targeted to all ages as its a certified PG due to the classification and guidelines of the bbfc, and there fore all our content is acceptable for all ages and our video uses a romantic feel, and narrative therefore attracting any age and any gender.

what have you learnt from your feedback?

• feedback on initial pitch- Our initial pitch didn't seem to attract a lot of positive feedback at first, because the idea we had in mind for the video lacked creativity and originality, so we felt we needed to make a change based on our feedback. We created a whole new pitch which had a real sense of originality to it to respond to the feedback.
• Feedback on rough cut - Our rough cut lacked enough clips and there was not enough pace between the cuts to give it a music video feel, we learnt from this and went out and recorded even more clips to add in for our final cut and also added clips on top of longer clips to allow more cuts.
• Feedback on final cut - After finishing our final product a lot of the feedback which noted the flaws of our product was about how they didn't really understand the quick reverse clips in the middle of the video. If we could improve these clips now, we would add either a clip of a clock running in fast reverse or a text box with the date/time running quick reverse.

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

• What ways did we use these products - We used photoshop to construct our digipak/magazine ad and used Final Cut to edit our music video to a high quality. We used blogger to write up our evidence and keep up-to-date with progress. 
• How did they help you create a successful product -
• What ways did/didn't the technologies help you be creative - 

Ideas for filming the script

We have decided instead of writing out a massive script with blocks of writing, we have written out the four questions we had to answer for our evaluation so that for each of the questions, we can make little notes underneath saying what we need to talk about and that way everyone can get involved and have an opinion so the audience can hear different views we may have. Also it looks  bit more professional expanding on short notes you have made rather than the whole group passing round bits of paper to read from because not only can the audience not see your face and emotion which is key, they also may find it hard to hear you properly if you are hiding behind a camera.  

Evaluation; Saffy.

1) Our media product not only uses but also develops and challenges the typical forms and conventions of real media products. We use the forms and conventions through the use of researching other proffesional media products and putting these ideas into our own media product. For us the main thing we wanted to focus on was to make sure that our video had a clear and understandable narrative, however as a group we found it difficulkt to come up with a narrative for the song as the lyrics were very repetative, and couldnt tell much of a story. After researching into other music videos we quickly came up with a narrative we felt would work and sell a story to the viewers. We tried to ensure that we stuck by Goodwins Theory by using his points to help us make our product look more proffesional, we wanted to make links between music and visuals, we used the pace of the shots, with the pace of the music but then challenged this convention as we reversed the second half of our video, therefore it changed the overall pace of the video which the audience would not be expecting although we had posotive feedback from this effect.
Aswell as this we also tried to stick to other conventions such as demand of the record label, which is why we have used excessive use of closeups of the artist, to show that the artist is the main focus of the video. Also the links between lyrics and visuals, which we found a little tricky, but when the line is ''think about it you and me together'' where we have got the artist daydreaming about the being in a relationship with the female character, he is also singing to the female character in some parts of the video, we've included romantic scenes and locations to emphasize the lyrics and almost exaggerate it when he says, ''loving eachother, you and me together, think about it''. Therefore i think we do use many of the conventions aswell as trying to develop and challenge some of them.

2) When putting together our media product and our anchillary texts, we tried to ensure that there was an obvious link between them. The main combination we have between them all is the main focus of all 3 being the artist. For our magazine ad we have used one large image of the artist standing up, and linked this with the digipak by using similar images of the artist in the same costume, but the main iconic part of the anchillary texts is the hat we have used. We have tried to make it a 'theme' of our anchillary texts, and after researching about our artist we found out that our artist is well known for the amount of hats he owns and the fact he is always seen in one, therefore making it easier and more recognisable to the target audience to know our artist.
Unfortunately in our video we did not use a hat, but we hoped that being an obvious RnB genre music video (aqnd hats being a typical feature) that the costume itself, and the dance moves and other conventions of RnB would show that there is a link between the video and the anchillary texts, even though we didnt use a hat. However we did try and cooperate a less obvious link between our media product and anchillary texts, by using certain colours. In our magazine advert we have used black and white colours, aswell as some redish colours, which have also been used in our digipak, and this links to our video due to the fact alot of our shots we have filmed in black and white and we have tried to use the red to pick out the lighting we have used on certain clips. I think that the combination of the 3 is relatively effective as the audience would be able to recognise it quite quickly.
When thinking about our anchillary texts we had to ensure that it was suitable for our target audience, and as our video was classified a PG it was clear that we also had to use these guidelines throughout our magazine ad and digipak. We did this by ensuring that there was no hint of any sexual references between the two characters, and no promote of drug use, we were careful of wording, and also we thiought about things like colour and layout, as this would also be important when thinking about the suitable ages for our media products.
3) After looking at all our feedbacks it is clear that we have improved hugely since our first pitch. From when we first did our ideas from our pitch, it lacked massively any kind of narrative, or theme, or ideas, and we struggled as a group coming up with anything, so majority of our feedback was to try and come up with something and then repitch another time, so after alot of thinking we came back and repitched and got our first lot of feedback, having the feed back helped us to establish the negatives and posotives and what we needed to improve on. We continued on to producing our roughcut in which our response was overall posotive, we had included many of goodwins theories, and used some good effects, such as a split screen, and reverse shots,also we had used good locations and lighting, really emphasising a relationship, aswell as using a good variety of shots.

Directors commentary; Saffy.

A directors commentary is almost like a voice over or an additional track that is played over the original video/clip, whilst commenting on the events and other things happening in the video such as how the ideas come about. There are lots of different ways of presenting the directors commentary, the main two are Partial or scene specific, which comments on different selected scenes or sections of the video, and the other is feature length or screen specific, which is recorded all in one go. Generally the commentary will include comments from not only the director but also cast members and other members of the group (producers etc).  It is typically used that the director will use this as an almost interview like video, using different kinds of questions, some DVD's also include other commentary's in which film critics are used.
Overall the point of the commentary is to give information about the video that the video can not tell itself, and this information can be displayed in a serious or entertaining way.

Magazine cover

Digipak Idea

For the back of our DVD case, we will attempt a montage collection of photos in the style of polaroid camera photos. This makes it look like the DVD has had photos attached to it and gives it a stylish feel.

In order to pull off this style we will use the AutoShape tools of Photoshop, we will make white rectangles in the shape of a polaroid photo. We will then put photos on the layers above the white rectangles to give it the look of photo prints on the DVD cover, this will give off a really nice effect we feel as it seems professionalized.

Polaroid print template

Digipak

On the front cover of our Digipak we have a large photo of the artist (Christian) with a 'poster edge' effect on it, and on the front cover we will include things like the name of the artist and the song, as well as the album name we will also include things like the classification. We have also included a basic font that has become very effective for the overall front cover and makes it easy for the audience to read and understand.

On the back of our digipak we will include a number of small images that will be positions around the page to form some sort of appealing pattern. This will bring more attention to the digipak. A number of quotes and song lyrics will also be added in our digipak, these will be positioned beside the different images located around the Digipak.  We have also added some reviews and star ratings, so that the viewers are more likely to be interested in buying as it would have good reliable reviews from reliable sources. From looking at other professional Digipaks, we found that the back generally includes barcodes, classification ages, and also a little about the producers etc, but in very small print at the bottom of the back cover.

Looking at other Digipaks

In lesson we looked into other Digipaks on the internet and found a few we liked. We liked the look of the madonna one, as it had a similar idea to ours, as the concept throughout involved a hat, which is what  our artist NEYO is most known for in his photographs and music videos. 

We liked the idea of having the front with the artist in a hat and the back just of the hat, because then the viewers know that there is an artist but then the digipak isn't overpowered by photos of the artist. Also throughout this digipak there was a continuous colour scheme of the rainbow, and we thought we could also take ideas from this idea and keep to a certain colour scheme making the link better and look more professional all together.

We then tried to look into other digipaks where we found a digipak from beyonce a famous RnB artist, and then we took ides from the inside, looking at the CDS and taking ideas from the font and as you can see on the 3rd section on the disk it displays the track listings, which we thought was a good idea, as well as this we noticed that on the first section of the digipak there is a large photo of the artist as-well as other smller photos of previous/out coming albums, which we thought was a good idea as it would notify the buyer that there are other albums / more coming out soon, so therefore they might be more tempted to buy them, we took all these ideas into consideration.

22nd November 2011 - Progress

During this lesson we continued to work on our magazine ad, adding the "OUT NOW" banner and other typical features of a magazine ad, such as a review quote along with it's source to encourage the magazine readers to give the artist a listen. We also added the release date for the album and the name of the album below the information for the new single.

To give the artist more recognition we have put a picture of him on the front cover. However, we are looking to change this picture for the next lesson to suit the typical portrait of Ne-Yo (wearing a trilby hat for example).

Next lesson we plan to finish our magazine ad by adding a few small details and having a new picture added.

Digipak ideas

When thinking about our digipak, we thought about the front, the back, and the 3 sections of the inside.
We thought about having the front a long shot of the artist wearing the hat, looking to one side. we then decided to use the inside sections as pictures of the artist putting on the hat in different ways, and the back using either a black background with the shot of a hat, or a similar photo to the one below, however we may use this idea as one of the inside shots.

IDEAS FOR OUR MAGAZINE ADVERT

This is our idea of how we want our magazine ad to come out.

Final Edit Of Our Music Video

This is the final edit of our music video that we have been working on. We have made a lot of changes to our video. Examples would be that we have made most of our video into black and white so it looks more of a dream, it is a lot loner than it was before and also the shots we have used are a lot better quality.

RESEARCH INTO THE BBFC

One thing we need to consider when thinking about our music video is the BBFC classification, they have guidelines for each particular music video to make sure they are appropriate for the ages that they have set. We as a group think that our video would be appropriate for all ages therefore making it a 'U', the guidelines are as followed:

‘U’

Universal – Suitable for all

It is impossible to predict what might upset any particular child. But a ‘U’ film should be suitable for audiences aged four years and over. ‘U’ films should be set within a positive moral framework and should offer reassuring counterbalances to any violence, threat or horror.
If a work is particularly suitable for a pre-school child to view alone, this will be indicated in the Consumer Advice.

Discrimination

No discriminatory language or behaviour unless clearly disapproved of Drugs
No references to illegal drugs or drug misuse unless they are infrequent and innocuous, or there is a clear educational purpose or anti-drug message suitable for young children.

Horror

Scary sequences should be mild, brief and unlikely to cause undue anxiety to young children. The outcome should be reassuring.

Imitable behaviour

No potentially dangerous behaviour which young children are likely to copy. No emphasis on realistic or easily accessible weapons.

Language

Infrequent use only of very mild bad language.

Nudity

Occasional natural nudity, with no sexual context.

Sex

Mild sexual behaviour (for example, kissing) and references only (for example, to ‘making love’).

Theme

While problematic themes may be present, their treatment must be sensitive and appropriate for young children.

Violence

Mild violence only. Occasional mild threat or menace only.


Overall I think that this classification best fits our music video.

PLAN FOR 14/11/11 LAST LESSON OF EDITING

PLAN

With this being our last lesson of editing we need to ensure that everything is in the video thats needed, and all the shots, transitions, text, colouring, everything is done to perfection and looks as professional as possible, if any more work is needed we are prepared to stay in extra after the lesson to make any last finishing touches. We need to make sure that we have used all the shots to the best of our ability and made it so that there are no gaps in the video at all, and that the clips have lastest the length of the song, not only that but we need to make sure that the narrative is apparant, and the viewer will understand what the video is about and whats happening in it.

We will also need to make sure that every clip of miming has been put in at the correct times, and the fade in fades out are long enough and are the right colour, we also need to ensure that all background noise has been taken out, that is not needed in our video.

We will have to work efficiently to make sure that everything is done by the end of the lesson, and that the standard of our work is to what is expected.

PLAN FOR 11/11/11 EDITING LESSON

PLAN

Unfortunately due to our last few lessons being cancelled it meant we couldnt use those lessons to continue editing, so on the 11/11/11 we are hoping to do double amounts of work to make up for it.

We have decided to focus mainly on making sure we finish adding in all the shots that we have finished, and make sure that by the end of the lesson each of our shots are the right colour and all of our clips of the artist singing fit in exactly with the lyrics, and looks as professional as possible. We will also use our lesson time to insert any transitions and effects needed.

Whilst 2 of us remain doing the editing, the other 2 members of our group will continue to blog about conventions of music videos and any other research we need to include when thinking about our video.

This lesson we are also going to take a look into classifications, making sure that our music video would be appropriate for the viewers, we will blog all of our research and also blog how we expect to incorperate this into our music video.

transitions research

CUT - The most common transition — an instant change from one shot to the next. The raw footage from your camera contains cuts between shots where you stop and start recording.In film and television production, the vast majority of transitions are cuts.

MIX/DISSOLVE/CROSSFADE -These are all terms to describe the same transition — a gradual fade from one shot to the next. Crossfades have a more relaxed feel than a cut and are useful if you want a meandering pace, contemplative mood, etc. Scenery sequences work well with crossfades,as do photo montages. Crossfades can also convey a sense of passing time or changing location. 

FADE - Fades the shot to a single colour, usually black or white. The "fade to black" and "fade from black" are ubiquitous in film and television. They usually signal the beginning and end of scenes.Fades can be used between shots to create a sort of crossfade which, for example, fades briefly to white before fading to the next shot.

WIPE - One shot is progressively replaced by another shot in a geometric pattern. There are many types of wipe, from straight lines to complex shapes. Wipes often have a coloured border to help distinguish the shots during the transition.Wipes are a good way to show changing location.