Ancillary Task Research:
http://mikeedwards64.blogspot.com/2010/11/a2-research-into-existing-products-club.html
http://mikeedwards64.blogspot.com/2010/09/on-busted-album-all-band-members-are-on.html
http://mikeedwards64.blogspot.com/2011/02/magazine-advery-anaylsis.html
Music Video Research
http://mikeedwards64.blogspot.com/2010/09/hurt-johnny-cash.html
http://mikeedwards64.blogspot.com/2010/09/paulo-nutini-new-shoes.html
Planning:
http://mikeedwards64.blogspot.com/2011/05/gant-chart.html
http://mikeedwards64.blogspot.com/2011/03/music-video-ideas.html
Ancillary Tasks:
http://mikeedwards64.blogspot.com/2011/04/magazine-advert.html
http://mikeedwards64.blogspot.com/2011/02/digipack-middle.html
http://mikeedwards64.blogspot.com/2011/01/digipack-back-cover.html
http://mikeedwards64.blogspot.com/2011/01/digpack-front-cover.html
Music Video:
http://mikeedwards64.blogspot.com/2011/05/blog-post.html
Evaluation:
http://mikeedwards64.blogspot.com/2011/05/main-task-evaluation.html
Friday, 6 May 2011
Wednesday, 4 May 2011
Main Task Evaluation
After finishing both the ancillary and music videos tasks set we are happy with our final product. After initial research and planning of ideas, we created our digipack, magazine advert and music videos. We started with the animation side of our video, before adding the film later on.
Through the use of animation and film combined we've successfully challenged the 'typical' forms and conventions expected for a dance techno music video. Although the use of animation, and animation and film combined, has been used in other genres of music in videos, such as indie and alternative, it's rarely used in techno music. The fact that the film footage and animation link in the way they do made the effect even more interesting as they both contain the same character (Mario) but in two different forms. This was another intentional contrast; the use of more old fashioned media (pen and paper to draw Mario) contrast incredibly well with the use of more modern technology (the animated version of Mario), especially as they juxtaposed each other, with the animated version coming 'out' of the paper directly after as part of the narrative. This was another part of the overall plan to appeal to a wider range of people, ages and generations.
This added uniqueness to our final product, and, we felt, successfully appealed to a number of different audiences and generations through its style and execution. The idea of the music itself, modern remixed versions of classic theme tunes, encapsulated this, emphasised by the corresponding video, which linked directly to the music itself. Although this was challenging, as the music contained no lyrics in which to create our video around, we could use the overall sound, and contrast in sounds, to create something which challenged these typical conventions.
Although the ancillary tasks and the music video have a contrasting feel, we felt this worked effectively, as, like the music and the video it created somewhat of a paradox on which the video is based upon. The subtle use of images on the digipack and magazine advert was a sharp contrast to the 'loud' and bright images seen in the music video. This depth shown in the ancillary tasks would attract a wider range of consumer, who could then adapt to the contrast of the music and its wide range of appeal to different generations and age groups. This links directly to previous contrasts, such as the subtle differences between the music and the video
There could be an argument that the brand name wasn't focused or sustained enough between the ancillary tasks and music videos and this is something that, despite intentional contrast, we could have executed better. Using the brand name more may have been more effective
The audience feedback we received early on in terms of deciding the genre of our work and the type of music video we would be going for was absolutely vital. Most of our audience said they preferred something unique and different to the norm in music videos. This allowed us to brainstorm ideas and eventually come up with the more surreal and unique final design and execution. The feedback we received in terms of genre was also important - many agreed that they weren't a fan of the typical, stereotypical dance music videos, predominately set in a club environment so we felt it would stand out to do something that completely trashed this stereotype - that dance techno music can be more interesting and have more depth.
We also received feedback during our filming and animating process. The feedback was mainly positive early on when we were solely focusing on the animation, which gave us more confidence in the overall animation idea. However, some feedback we received as the piece progressed suggested we needed a better introduction. After some discussion this gave us the idea for adding the film footage early on to make the introduction more interesting and engaging.
Through the use of different software on the computer we effectively combined the use of film footage and animation to create the contrast seen in the final piece. We used the editing software Sony Vegas to implement and edit the film footage, after using the camera for filming using an over-the-shoulder shot to create a close-knit, personal feel. We used Fireworks and Windows Movie Maker to piece together the animation, before combining the two in the same software. The animation stage took a lot of time as we used the stop-and-go technique - saving images with every movement before piecing it together to create movement. We used different transitions effects - such as slow motion and fade - in Windows Movie Maker to piece the video together more fluidly.
The use of the internet for gathering images to create the animation has been useful and updating the blog has been important in keeping up to date with our workload. We also used Microsoft Excel to create a Gant chart which, again, was vital in organisation and keeping up to date with when different parts, including research and planning, had to be completed by.
In research, we used the video sharing site YouTube to gain vital style models and video techniques which we implemented into our pieces. We then embedded this into the blog to show our thought process. Google images also helped in our ancillary tasks - creating a mood board of album covers and adverts. This, again, gave an idea of our thought process as we explored different ideas, especially in terms of audience and purpose of the ancillary task and music video.
We also used cameras for audience feedback, but, unfortunately, due to technical issues, the footage was lost. This wasn't the only problem we had to overcome. The use of different software turned out to be problem as it became increasingly difficult to move different files from one software to the next, especially as we were using film footage on one and animated images on the other. We did manage to overcome this by placing every file we'd made onto one memory stick before moving it.
Although we only had one use of the camera on our film (at the start) we felt it was used effectively. The over-the-shoulder shot added a sense of intimacy for the viewer, which linked to the magical nature of the Mario character 'coming to life' and walking of the page. We edited this effectively (speeding it up and fading it in) so the meaning was easily recognisable for the viewer - this simplistic approach kept up the cartoon effect and the simple grey background and white paper made an intentionally sharp contrast when the bright coloured Mario appeared on the page. We didn't use a variety of shot distances as we didn't felt it was appropriate to the material and would have made the piece unnecessarily confusing to the viewer - the key to our music video was making sure the viewer was fully aware of the narrative and the structure.
Through the use of animation and film combined we've successfully challenged the 'typical' forms and conventions expected for a dance techno music video. Although the use of animation, and animation and film combined, has been used in other genres of music in videos, such as indie and alternative, it's rarely used in techno music. The fact that the film footage and animation link in the way they do made the effect even more interesting as they both contain the same character (Mario) but in two different forms. This was another intentional contrast; the use of more old fashioned media (pen and paper to draw Mario) contrast incredibly well with the use of more modern technology (the animated version of Mario), especially as they juxtaposed each other, with the animated version coming 'out' of the paper directly after as part of the narrative. This was another part of the overall plan to appeal to a wider range of people, ages and generations.
This added uniqueness to our final product, and, we felt, successfully appealed to a number of different audiences and generations through its style and execution. The idea of the music itself, modern remixed versions of classic theme tunes, encapsulated this, emphasised by the corresponding video, which linked directly to the music itself. Although this was challenging, as the music contained no lyrics in which to create our video around, we could use the overall sound, and contrast in sounds, to create something which challenged these typical conventions.
Although the ancillary tasks and the music video have a contrasting feel, we felt this worked effectively, as, like the music and the video it created somewhat of a paradox on which the video is based upon. The subtle use of images on the digipack and magazine advert was a sharp contrast to the 'loud' and bright images seen in the music video. This depth shown in the ancillary tasks would attract a wider range of consumer, who could then adapt to the contrast of the music and its wide range of appeal to different generations and age groups. This links directly to previous contrasts, such as the subtle differences between the music and the video
There could be an argument that the brand name wasn't focused or sustained enough between the ancillary tasks and music videos and this is something that, despite intentional contrast, we could have executed better. Using the brand name more may have been more effective
The audience feedback we received early on in terms of deciding the genre of our work and the type of music video we would be going for was absolutely vital. Most of our audience said they preferred something unique and different to the norm in music videos. This allowed us to brainstorm ideas and eventually come up with the more surreal and unique final design and execution. The feedback we received in terms of genre was also important - many agreed that they weren't a fan of the typical, stereotypical dance music videos, predominately set in a club environment so we felt it would stand out to do something that completely trashed this stereotype - that dance techno music can be more interesting and have more depth.
We also received feedback during our filming and animating process. The feedback was mainly positive early on when we were solely focusing on the animation, which gave us more confidence in the overall animation idea. However, some feedback we received as the piece progressed suggested we needed a better introduction. After some discussion this gave us the idea for adding the film footage early on to make the introduction more interesting and engaging.
Through the use of different software on the computer we effectively combined the use of film footage and animation to create the contrast seen in the final piece. We used the editing software Sony Vegas to implement and edit the film footage, after using the camera for filming using an over-the-shoulder shot to create a close-knit, personal feel. We used Fireworks and Windows Movie Maker to piece together the animation, before combining the two in the same software. The animation stage took a lot of time as we used the stop-and-go technique - saving images with every movement before piecing it together to create movement. We used different transitions effects - such as slow motion and fade - in Windows Movie Maker to piece the video together more fluidly.
The use of the internet for gathering images to create the animation has been useful and updating the blog has been important in keeping up to date with our workload. We also used Microsoft Excel to create a Gant chart which, again, was vital in organisation and keeping up to date with when different parts, including research and planning, had to be completed by.
In research, we used the video sharing site YouTube to gain vital style models and video techniques which we implemented into our pieces. We then embedded this into the blog to show our thought process. Google images also helped in our ancillary tasks - creating a mood board of album covers and adverts. This, again, gave an idea of our thought process as we explored different ideas, especially in terms of audience and purpose of the ancillary task and music video.
We also used cameras for audience feedback, but, unfortunately, due to technical issues, the footage was lost. This wasn't the only problem we had to overcome. The use of different software turned out to be problem as it became increasingly difficult to move different files from one software to the next, especially as we were using film footage on one and animated images on the other. We did manage to overcome this by placing every file we'd made onto one memory stick before moving it.
Although we only had one use of the camera on our film (at the start) we felt it was used effectively. The over-the-shoulder shot added a sense of intimacy for the viewer, which linked to the magical nature of the Mario character 'coming to life' and walking of the page. We edited this effectively (speeding it up and fading it in) so the meaning was easily recognisable for the viewer - this simplistic approach kept up the cartoon effect and the simple grey background and white paper made an intentionally sharp contrast when the bright coloured Mario appeared on the page. We didn't use a variety of shot distances as we didn't felt it was appropriate to the material and would have made the piece unnecessarily confusing to the viewer - the key to our music video was making sure the viewer was fully aware of the narrative and the structure.
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