Wednesday, December 16, 2009

MYSPACE WEBSITE

please click on the link below to visit our artists' website

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

EVALUATION - QUESTION 4

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

For research we mostly used the web. We looked at music videos on youtube and band websites of facebook and myspace. We used a still camera to show evidence of our process. Such as timelines and storyboards
Editing on adobe premier pro allowed us to capture our footage in blocks. We were able to edit in a non-linear style and were able to make different timelines to put different parts of our music video on. We were also able to add a lot of effects such as 'black and white, contrast, brightness, dissolve, fade to black' to make our music video look glossy and professional. The only disadvantage of using HD cameras was that capturing took longer and we were not able to see what we were capturing on the big screen, so we had to look through the small camera screen to know when to stop capturing. The Adobe programme would also become very slow or would not open with sound which was a problem we couldn't overcome. 
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This is a photo of Loren and I with all our equipment. The list includes: Sony HD cameras, Paglights, HD tapes, Adobe premier pro and Adobe pohotoshop.

EVALUATION - QUESTION 3

AUDIENCE FEEDBACK



We decided to have a screening to get some audience feedback. We started screening at 1.00pm and handed out questionnaires to find out what people think of our music video. Here is a photo of our screening in process:




EVALUATION - QUESTION 2

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








In order to make sure the audience can create a link between our main product and ancillary texts we have made sure the same image, genre and style runs throughout each product. 
The theme of New York runs throughout the products. - The images/montages in the music video, the background and side images on the website and the 'I LOVE NY' tops and New York Skyline on the album cover. The constant reminder of New York remind  the audience that we are from different parts of New York. 

The second location, the dance studio, also links our media products together. On the back of the album cover is an image of myself in front of a dance bar - signifying our dancing dream. Images of us in front of this bar are also on the website and in the performance shots of our music video, therefore creating a link between the three products. 
Lorens make up for the album cover shoot was the same as the make up used for the performance shots. Furthermore, the black tops we are wearing on the album cover image are the same ones we wore during the dance routine in our music video. 


The album makes most of the money for the artist, it works with the myspace and music video to entice their target audience. The album cover helps sell the album. It can be bought instore, downloaded online or through itunes or just watched on youtube. The album cover is vital as it will always show up however you purchase the album. 
Finally, the tour dates on the myspace website allows the audience to book their tickets quickly and easily. The well known venues make the artist look professional and successful

Overall, our products worked well to promote the artist, however more could have been done to make them individually unique  yet still link together as a package. 
The image on the front of the album cover could have had a yellow background to follow on from the colour scheme throughout the products (the taxis and yellow font of the website.) Another thing we could have done was have more 'behind the scene' photos of shooting the music video on the inside pages of the album cover.  This would make the audience/fans feel like they have a personal relationship with the artists.  
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EVALUATION - QUESTION 1

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







Talking about album cover:




Talking about myspace:



Vernalis / The music video: Vernalis states that the structure of the video may appear disjointed. In our music video, the narrative flows smoothly until the end where there is a montage, (at seconds 3.08minutes) of shots of New York, the dance studio and our performance shots. The narrative is what drives our music video forward, - from the audience following the actors into the studio room up till watching them perform a dance routine. 
During the dance routine, both Loren and I move to the beat as we choreographed it this way. However, through the video our walking pace also matches the beat. 
Vernalis states that a clear convention of music video editing is breaking or disrupting the 'rules' of continuity editing. We have shown this in our music video, for instance when I put on my nike shoes whilst sitting on the chair, I have a gold hoody on. However, throughout the dance routine I only have a black vest top on.  At 2.38 minutes to 3.00 minutes.
 The editing is also very clear between the dancing shots of Loren and I to create emphasis on the different moves and solo parts (the shots are broken up by an additive dissolve)  There is no even pace throughout the music video. As the music video opens, the shots are very quick making the pace very fast, however in the middle they slow down. 0.00 minutes to 0.30 seconds.  
Finally, our music video obeyed Vernalis' theory as the diegesis was revealed slowly in order to suspend the audiences' disbelief. We started off by simply showing the actors feet at 0.03 minutes, as they walk through the streets of New York, followed by a montage of New York shots (at 0.11 minutes to 0.15 minutes) to emphasise the location and then the audience was shown who the actors were. 


The album cover: Our album cover followed the conventions of a typical debut album cover with the images of the artist on the front and a list of their tracks on the back (along with an image, barcode, institution information and websites) and the name of the album,serial number and the artist on the spine of the track. The images on the album cover signify the hiphop/RnB genre of our music video. Gold jackets, red lipstick, hair out and voluminous are all stereotypical RnB/hip-hop styles. After looking at other debut album covers we thought it was ideal to have a close up image of us on the front as this would create a great impact on the audience as it is very eye-catching and will also help promote the artist.  The inside of our album package is a photo of Loren and I merged with the New York skyline. This imitates how lorens' and my life is merged together through having the same dream. Our album cover is similar to 'Girls Alouds' album cover. - black lines separating the individual sections of each member of the band. I think this is an effective way to promote the artist/band. 





The Myspace website: Our myspace website is very bold, trendy and young. With glittery red banners and glossy slideshows, our website reflects the artist' identity and genre. It helps sell the new debut album, promotes the artists' merchandise and makes the audience feel connected with the artist through their face book and twitter links.
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We have a playlist and dates of our tours a the top of the page. This is one of the conventions of the myspace websites. The playlist helps create customer awareness and advertises the artists' tracks. We have also listed our likes/dislikes and a story about our childhood and background - making the audience feel enticed and special about knowing more about the artists' personal life. The record labels on the side of our website helps create fan awareness and promotes the record label through viral marketing.


Here are the links for the videos i spoke about: 




EVALUATION - REFLECTIONS

On Tuesday 8tb December, Loren and I had to present our media evaluation in front of a camera. Although both of us were very nervous about the evaluation I feel it went very well. Our evaluation lasted much longer than expected and we had still forgotten a lot of things we wanted to say. Although Loren and I planned the questions together we thought it would be easier if she said answers to questions 1 and 3 and i said the answers to questions 2 and 4 as a discussion would not have worked as well with only two of us in the group. We've both decided to type up what we missed out on our individual blogs.

Monday, December 14, 2009

PHOTOSHOOT

When Loren and I went to the dance studio for our reshoot we decided to capture images for our album cover on the same day. We used the bar as this is a known signifier of a dance room- something our music video is based around. Here are a few photos we took:

LOCATIONS FOR OUR MUSIC VIDEO

Fifth Avenue - Lorens' route
Brooklyn, alley ways, graffiti walls  - Nishas' route
Dance studio - Performance and audition room.