Evaluation Tasks

Task One

This clip here (0:32) shows one of the multiple shots we did of the band performing the song. Focusing on one band member at a time allows us to show off their individual skill, which is a genre convention for indie rock music videos. Because of this we have included a lot of these shots in our music video, either of the bassist plucking the strings, the drummer hitting his symbols or of the singer strumming the guitar. To keep in time with the song and to make sure the video is engaging these shots are kept short, at most only lasting a couple of seconds before we switch to a new shot.

Here (0:34) we see an unusual shot type we experimented with in our music video of the camera moving down the bassists guitar neck. We used this because during our research and planning stage we found that a large number of indie rock music videos use a wide array of shot types including more experimental, unconventional shots such as this. This shot was easy to accomplish and it fulfilled our need of interesting shots that stick with the convention of this genre.

In our video we used tracking shots in both the narrative and the performance sequences. The screen shot here (1:00) is during a narrative sequence. Here we tracked the singer leaving his house, but we also edited the shot to create an interesting image. Again this type of editing is used frequently in the indie rock genre as it creates a "quirky" off-kilter vibe for the music video.

At this part of the music video (1:34) we have used a tracking shot as the singer makes his way towards the centre of town and to his friends. We wanted to keep this interesting and off-kilter we decided to use an action in this shot to help with that. Here we see the singer throw away both his coat and his shirt only to have his coat inexplicably thrown back to him. We used this because we noticed that there was a continuity error we had missed while filming as we filmed on separate days, the singer was wearing a different top. I then came up with the idea of using this type of shot/action to create an interesting part of the video, fix the continuity error and stick with genre conventions.

This screen shot (1:52) shows a major genre convention we have stuck to. This is a performance sequence with the bad as a whole. This was featured in just about every single indie rock music video we researched so we obviously took cue and followed suit. This shot shows the band as a whole, playing the song to give the audience an idea of how the band act together, and what they might be like live. Unfortunately because of a lack of space, equipment and band members, we were only able to use 3 people in the band. While there are various 3-piece indie bands, e.g. The Subways, unfortunately we can quite clearly hear instruments that are not being played on screen.

This split-screen (2:38) was used under the suggestion of our teacher Holly. The split-screen effect is used in certain indie rock videos and multiple other music videos from a wide range of genres. We kept ours relatively short compared to some videos that use this effect, but because of the movement used and our inclusion of other important genre conventions it is still effective at attracting audience attention.

At this section of our music video (3:02) we seen our singer finally reach his destination and meet up with his friends. We shot this at a sunny time and location because we wanted the lighting to reflect the mood of the singer as well as reflecting the mood of the lyrics. This is another genre convention we have used, narrative that reflects the lyrical content, to create a better music video than if we had ignored it.

Here is our finished magazine poster. As you can see with have kept this style minimalist featuring only a face for the poster. This is a genre convention as most of the posters and magazine adverts we saw for indie rock groups kept the designs minimal and a large amount used a head or a face, usually with some form of "twist". An example we looked at while still in the research and planning stage for our ancillary products was this Kings of Leon poster. Here you can see that it has used a collage effect to create an overall head from composites of the band members. However they use a very muted colour pallet whereas we decided to go against convention and keep ours brighter and more colourful. We decided to do this because we felt it better reflected the band we had chosen, whom mainly compose songs about and aimed at late teens, as well as being able to attract other audiences better.

Here is our final digipak design. We created an obvious link between our two ancillary products, the posterised faces and the background patter. This again was a genre convention as most examples we researched had some form of obvious link between the two, whether it be the cover or a general theme. We have again kept this light, using a pale blue for our background and having the band members in shades of bright colours. The only dark parts of this are the black backgrounds against the white text. We have used this because it creates a feeling similar to that of old Polaroid photographs.



Task Two

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

Task 3

 

Task 4



Oh Yeah
by: BeachesAndShores

Evaluation Tasks

Evaluation Task 1

Evaluation Task 2

Evaluation Task 4



Task 3

 

Final Ancillary Texts

This is our final version of our magazine advert. We have put all needed information on this advert. The audience will know who's releasing the digipak, what the digipak is called, when it'll be released and where they can buy it. We have also included information on how to contact the artist.

Final Music Video Feedback

We received feedback for our final music video from all the groups in our class. When all feedback was reviewed, we spotted a number of things:

• The music video definitely has appropriate content
• Mise-en-scene has been payed close attention, as there were use of costumes and different lighting techniques
• There was controlled use of the camera
•  A lot of different camera angles were used
• The editing was effective of creating a linear meaning
• There were a few effects and transitions included in the video
• The editing worked perfectly with the pace of the song
• Lip syncing was effective
• Apparently the star persona is not clear
• Overall, the music video was well executed

Taking this feedback into account, we believe the music video we creating is outstanding. One thing we should improve on in the future is making the star persona more clear to the audience.

Final Version of Music Video

Digipak Ideas

After experimenting with using posterization in photoshop, we have agreed that this can create an interesting and effective cover.

We have discussed using all 3 members of the band on different sides of the Digipak, with Michael, the lead singer in our video, being on the cover.

Using this we can create a continuous feel for the digipak. Saying this though, we do feel that while minimalism is a genre convention of indie rock album covers, using just posterized faces like in our previous post may be too simplistic/minimal. 

To combat this we are thinking of inserting a continuous pattern into the back ground. An example of this would be from the band Kid, You'll Move Mountains, who in both their advert for their album "Loomings" use an interesting pattern.

Here, in the advert for the album, it is used to create a wave like effect, which we like. We are thinking about using this kind of pattern, or one very similar, to give a more interesting and diverse look to our cover while maintaining an indie rock and minimalistic feel.

In the album cover, the same pattern is used to a different effect, rather than creating a wave-like effect, it acts more as a background pattern to break the monotony of the image.

Digipak Test Posterizing

Here we have an image we posterized manually of popular musician Neil Fallon of Clutch.
We have done this so we can assess the effectiveness of using posterized images for our digipak and/or magazine advert.

Here is the original picture for reference:

And this is the version we posterized, and we believe that this technique can be used effectively for our Digipak if done well: