Evaluation

In this course I have produced 3 media products promoting a band of our choice. It gave us the opportunity to develop video, sound and image editing skills we had already learned. Our first task was to find an unsigned band and obtain permission to use one of their songs. This was a very simple task as I have several friends in school who are in a band and have several songs, so gaining permission was easy. Being in close contact with the band was also advantageous since we were easily able to use the proper band members for filming and access any other useful resources they had, such as images and song lyrics. We were also able to consult with them in regards to the direction they would like the video to go.

Planning the video was done in two stages. First I created a storyboard detailing shots and what would happen in them, and then I created a treatment where the songs lyrics were placed against actions in the video to make editing and filming easier. However when it came to filming and editing, both of these pieces were rarely consulted. This can quite clearly be seen in the final product, as one or two shots are recycled.
Filming the video went very smoothly, with dates being set for recording and everyone managing to stick to them. The performance part of the video had to be rushed slightly due to the time constraints involved with using a music studio, so we only had a 50-minute window to record in. There was no difficultly in getting props for the video, as the band all had their own instruments and all the others being easily obtainable around the house. The editing process also went ahead fairly smoothly, since I had used the Mac’s several times in the past I was familiar with how the editing software worked. I neglected to include any effects in the video since they did not suit the tone or style of music. However I did slow down some shots slightly to make them fit the pace of the music, and this was something I had never done before.

Creating my media product has showed me how I can improve several aspects of my production process. When it comes to the planning stage I needed to go into a lot more detail, in the forms of story boarding and treatments. While I created both, they are fairly neglected when we started filming, and this is reflected in the amount of footage we had. While their was enough to produce the music video, its quality suffered because of this. Since there was less footage to choose from, I had to use footage that would of otherwise been discarded, and recycled one or two camera shots.
Audience feedback has been largely positive, though it has highlighted several problems with the video I had also noticed. Some of the camera shots are shaky and out of focus, and in one of the shots the camera slips. If I had more footage I would have been able to avoid these issues, which reiterates the need for improvement in my planning. Some of the editing in places could have been tighter, in some shots the camera is slightly too slow to change to the next shot and it gives an amateur feel to the video. Aspects the audience liked were the settings for both the performance and narrative sections of the video, which suited the band and the tone of the song. Some of the camera shots were also praised, such as the filming from within the recording studio itself. My audience feedback has shown me that I need to improve the planning stages of production so problems such as bad camera work can be avoided in the future.

My finished product makes use of several media conventions, with the video being made up of fairly typical performance and narrative segments. However the narrative section has no real meaning or connection to the performance aspect of the video, other than the band member within it. This suits the song itself, which has no specific message or meaning other than what the viewer prescribes to it. This challenges the convention of most music videos where the narrative segment is usually closely entwined with the message of the song. The setting of the performance segment of the video conforms to convention, as countless bands try to show their serious side by filming in recording studios to give themselves the image that they are about music first and foremost, preferring to film in a drab recording studio as opposed to another more visually appealing location. This suits my music video perfectly, as this is the exactly the kind of image the band wants to put across.

My final product combined with my advertisement and digi pack makes an effective promotional tool for the band. The advertisement is eye catching and bears a very close resemblance to the digi-pack front cover so that the audience can clearly relate the two products. The digi-pack promotes the band as serious musicians, being quite simply done. All three of the products combined make an effective promotional tool for the band that portrays an image of the band and music that the band would like to give.

I have also developed skills I learned from last years foundation course. My ability with photo editing software last year was of a poor quality, and this course has allowed me to improve and develop my skills with programs such as photoshop. I can now make great use of the effects and filters and tools such as the clone stamp. The foundation course also introduced me to blogger, whihc I was not adept at using at first due to the unfamiliar layout. I have now developed my skills with blogger and become mucc more familiar with it, and now I am able to edit my posts to give them a better appearance.