Evaluation Task 4

How have I used digital technologies in the research, planning and creation of my products?

In order to create our artist through a cohesive package consisting of a music video, digipak and website, we had to use a range of digital technologies during our planning and research, as well as creating a series of promotional products. 

In order for us to develop the idea we had for our narrative and performance, we researched into music videos with similar narratives for inspiration. Using YouTube we watched music videos such as Eric Prydz ‘Call On Me’ and Ariana Grande’s ‘Side to Side’ as these videos involved gym or dance routines which included elements that we were looking to include in our music video. We took note on which routines we liked and also the ones we knew our actors would be able to replicate. We also focused on what the actors wore in these videos, and noticed that their costumes were mainly bright and vibrant colours which would fit in with the 80’s theme of our music video. We also noticed that common gym clothing in these videos included wristbands, headbands and leg warmers, so therefore this inspired us for the costumes of our actors in our music video. Furthermore, to illustrate the synthetic and mainstream star image of our DJ, we researched into the music videos of similar artists such as Chris Brown and Martin Garrix and took note of the close ups and medium shots that were used in order to demonstrate their image to the audience. We also looked at how strobe lighting was used in the performance element of these videos in order to connote the pop genre of these artists, which therefore influenced us to use this type of lighting in our music video to highlight the DJ status of our artist. 

During the research and planning of our product we used our mobile phones in order to interview our prospective audience to gain further insight into what they looked for in an artist. We interviewed our peers in our class as they fell into the demographic of our target audience which was 14-25 year olds. We asked them questions such as what sort of look they would find appealing on an artist to attract them to watch a video, and if they like the genre of music that our artist represents. From the feedback we received
we were therefore able to apply this to the development of our artist’s star image and his promotional products, so that we knew that our products would appeal to our target audience and that we were targeting the right demographic. 

We also researched into genre and star image by using the internet as a research tool to aid our development and understanding. We researched into media theorists such as Richard Dyer to get a better idea of how to effectively promote the star image of our artist in order to attract our target audience. We also used the internet to research conventions of pop videos so that we could apply this to our own music video. For example, we found out through our research that many pop videos focus on the star image of the artist such as what the artist is wearing. Furthermore, we noticed how pop videos also include many close ups of the artist in order to highlight their mainstream star image. From research into digipaks of pop artists, we found that the artist is generally not put on the front cover, as the artist is already well known so people would buy their album just by seeing their name on the front. We applied this convention to our digipak by not including an image of our artist on the front, however we did include an image of him on the inside cover as we felt that we still needed to promote his star image. From researching the pop genre, we found that it is most popular with younger people, therefore this reassured us that we were aiming our product at the correct demographic and enabled us to make our artist identify with his target audience. This research into genre and star image aided our developed as it helped us understand the conventions needed to create a cohesive package that would promote our artists star image. 

The use of the internet also helped me when looking at locations to aid my narrative ideas. From researching music videos of similar artists such as Calvin Harris, we noticed that during the scenes where he is DJing, the location tends to be in a nightclub with strobe lighting in order to create an energetic and party atmosphere. As we could not gain access to a nightclub, we decided to replicate this by using a room in someone’s house, dimming the lights and using a disco ball to create the strobe lighting effect that you would expect to see in nightclubs. Furthermore we also researched music videos that involved a gym setting, such as Eric Prydz’s ‘Call On Me’, and took note of how there were a lot of mirrors in the room and what gym equipment the actors were using. We therefore managed to hire out a gym similar to the one in the call on me video, as the gym we filmed in had 2 mirrored walls and had treadmills, rowing machines and weights. By using the internet to research locations we were therefore able to develop our narrative ideas in order to fit the genre of our artists music. 

We also used technology by using our phones to create an animatic which enabled us to visually see the order of our scenes and what shots we should take. We created our animatic by drawing out each scene onto a piece of paper, placing them in order onto an A3 sheet of paper and then writing a short description of what was happening in the picture underneath. We then filmed the scenes that were on the A3 sheet of paper and added the music of our song which we found on the internet. We then filmed each shot according to the duration of time that was stated on the sheet. This enabled us to visually see if the music and our shots worked well together and if they were long enough in order to fill the duration of the song. From filming our animatic we decided to include more scenes of the DJ to enhance the performance element of our music video by focusing more on the artist rather than the narrative. Without filming our animatic we wouldn’t have been able to visually see the narrative of our video and therefore wouldn’t be able to see if our idea for our narrative worked well with our song. This was more advanced than AS because at AS we didn’t create an animatic and instead relied on a shot by shot guide which didn’t give any information on the narrative of our film, therefore we didn’t know if the shots to our narrative worked well until after we had filmed our thriller. 

Our filming this year was more advanced than last year as our camerawork skills this year demonstrated the way we had improved as we weren’t matching generic conventions and had more choice over the way we represented our artist. We used 2 adaptable lenses rather than last year when it was one fixed lens as this enabled us to make sure that the close ups were in high definition so we could focus on the artist. The 50mm close ups were effective for selling the artists star image of a synthetic DJ, whereas the 18mm lens for the wide shots enabled us to focus on the narrative of our music video by showing the girls working out in the gym. In addition we also used whip pans which we couldn’t master last year which enabled us to match the energy of the song with the vibrancy of the fast paced movement of the camera.

Our music video required more advanced editing skills than at AS and enabled us to use after effects as well as demonstrate how our skills progressed in Premiere Pro. As we had more footage and were creating an artist’s image from scratch, we had more freedom and therefore used discontinuity editing to cut from the performance and narrative element frequently whilst ensuring that our song was cut to the beat. We cut from the performance to the narrative by using quick cuts in order to match the fast pace of the song and adhere to the conventions of dance music videos. Our skills had developed as we used after effects by using chroma key to enhance the authenticity of our video and colour correcting to make sure our video matched the colour palette of 1980’s TV shows. As some of our footage included medium shots we used the motion tools to scale the image into a close-up so instead of zooming in we were blowing up the image to make the close-up sell our artists authenticity during his performance. 

We gathered audience feedback on our products by using online tools in order to create a survey monkey questionnaire which helped us make changes in post-production. We composed several questions and sent them to a number of our target audience members to see what they thought about our products. This enabled us to gather a wider variety of qualitative data that we could analyse in order to improve our products. Once all of our audience members had responded to the questionnaire, we analysed the data and were then able to apply the responses to our products in order to increase their appeal to our target audience. 

My further research into similar digipaks also enabled me to develop my understanding of how to manipulate images and create a digipak. We used the editing programme photoshop in order to create the images to use on our digipak as well as researching digipaks of similar artists so that we conformed to the conventions of pop digipaks. One of the digipaks which we looked at was Avicii’s album ‘The Nights’, where we were able to see that a common feature of pop/dance digipaks was that the artist was not featured on the front cover. Instead, the front cover of the album consisted of the title of the album in the middle centre, an image of people dancing in background and the artists name in small letters at the bottom of the image. This influenced our idea for our digipak as we wanted our artist’s digipak to apply to the conventions of the pop/dance genre so that he would appeal to his target audience. 

In contrast to last year, we had to create a website for our artist in order to help sell their star image and their products. In order for us to understand what content to include for our website, we researched into the websites of similar artists such as Chris Brown. We noticed from this research that these websites included a homepage that advertised notices such as his new music video and album which appeared consecutively across the page. We also noticed that these websites included bookmarks for merchandise, tour dates, an about page and contact information so that fans can easily navigate the website and find the information they’re looking for. We applied this to our website by using the website creating page ‘Wix’ where we were able to develop new skills and have a better understanding of how a star’s image is emphasised on their website. 

We also had to make sure that our website included other online technologies such as Facebook, Twitter, Spotify and YouTube. We created links to our artists profile on these online media sites so that our artist’s audience can easily access these pages directly from his website. By linking these pages we were also able to spread the message of our artist to a wider audience through the use of the internet.