How did you use Media Technologies in the Construction,Research,Planning,and Evaluation Stage?

In the construction of our music video we used a wide range of technologies to research,plan,and construct our video and without any one of them our video wouldn't have been possible.the first piece of technology we used was a 12 mega pixel Sony camera to film our video but also,to take pictures to use for our magazine adverts and our CD promo packs.The second piece of technology we used was the Internet which was used for the majority for our research,we used YouTube to watch other music videos,and google To look at album covers ,and to study the kind of fashion style that we needed to use.We also used the Internet so we could record our work with the use of blog spot where we created our own blogs and recorded all our work on it.Google was a big help to myself and the group alike as it gave us all a lot of new knowledge into the metal genre on things such as fashion,album covers and the image all people involved in metal portray.Using google to research album covers was a big help to us we were able to look at them all and take ideas from them and see what conventions were used in all the albums.This was a big source of inspiration to us as it gave a lot of ideas to work with when creating our CD promo pack.Google also helped us in researching the fashion style of the metal genre,although i myself was very familiar with the fashion style of metal as i wore it myself i still wanted to do some research into it as we were going for the look from the 80's not now as it has changed considerably.The last i and the group used google for was to research the image portrayed by people involved in metal and how society looks at them,this became very useful in the ideas for our video as it became apparent that people involved in the metal music genre were seen as very angry,rebellious and were frowned upon by "normal" society.Having this information gave us a lot of ideas for our video because it now became apparent we couldn't do a happy video with a love story for example,we had to do something angry,rebellious and dark so to stick to the conventions of a classic metal video.The last piece of technology we used on the Internet was YouTube,this was very useful in allowing us to watch other metal band videos,watching their videos enabled us to see the camera angles used,the image portrayed and the style being worn,this could be seen as more valuable than google as it enabled us to see it all put into a functioning video where we could see everything clearly put into practice.To edit our videos we used the technology of Sony Vegas 10 rather than premier pro,we chose to use Sony Vegas because Craig was more familiar with it than premier pro so we felt that we could get much better product if Craig was using Sony Vegas.This program was very useful in the editing of our video and without it we would have not been able to edit our video having this program at our disposal was very useful.Another piece of technology we used was photo shop elements,we used this to edit our CD promo packs and magazine adverts,we also used it to experiment with colours,styles,and different images which enabled us to come up with the best product possible.The last pieces of technology i had to use was the converter to convert the magazine and promo packs into JPEGS which then allowed me to upload them onto my blog.The other piece of technology i had to use was the embed code from YouTube to upload the video on my blog,Massimo made an account on YouTube so he was able to upload the video on to their which then allowed me to get the embedded code and put it on my blog which then made the video viewable on my blog wall.


What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Upon finishing our music video and CD promo pack we gathered a lot of information from the audience on both products about what they liked,what they think could be changed,and if they think it looked professional or not.Everyone that saw our video always commented on the good array of camera shots used in our video for example the 360 degree spin on Craig,and the good cuts in between scenes while keeping in time with the song.Another thing that the audience really liked was the use of effects in the video on things such as the start of the dream scene and the slow motion effect on Craig running,everybody said it gave the video a more professional look.From the comments we received it was said that we had very good creativity in the use of the special effects and camera shots and that we utilized the editing software well to get what we wanted.We had a lot of positive comments of how well the song itself fitted with the story of the video which gave us good piece of mind that we had made the right decision in our story.A very common comment that we received from the audience was a bout the mise-en scene in the video,for example the wigs that were being worn and the clothes.Everyone always had something good to say about the way we looked in the video and the locations we were playing in.Everybody said that our image fitted perfectly with the music being played by us and we couldn't have done any better,Also the locations got some very good comments in terms of people say they fitted very well with the stereotype of people involved in metal music.The main comment received on the video was the tricks performed in it such as me twirling the drumstick at the start and the shot of Chris's guitar solo.People thought this was a very nice touch to and they also said that the drumstick twirl at the start of the video was a very powerful way to start the video off.We received some very good comments on our overall performance in the video in the terms of making the playing look realistic and stylish people said that we looked very passionate about it and must have enjoyed it.One comment we did receive was about the story of the video,they said the story itself was easy to follow and quite apparent but,some scenes in the video were quite random and didn't really have any relevance to what was going on for example at the end of the video when it says on the computer that where coming for Craig their wasn't really any need because technically we already had in the entire video.In the end the audience had good feedback to give us on our video the only thing that they think could be changed was some of the scenes in the video as some did not really make sense,we know this for the future now so we can do better.


How effective is the combination of your main product and Ancillary Texts?

For us to promote our music video we made a cd promo pack which consisted of a back cover,a front cover,and a insert,we also made two magazine adverts alongside this to promote the video even more.With the promo pack we decided to go with a dark very metal induced image which will catch peoples eye regardless of what kind of music they like.All of the images used for the cd promo pack combined with the text are very powerful when put together as they all represent a very metal looking image,The images on the promo pack allow the audience to understand the video better as it is very complex in some places so this breaks it up and allows people to see what the band is like very clearly.The contrast between the two products of the video and the promo pack is not that different but the image of the band alongside with the angry looking text really shows to the audience what the band is about in terms of the way they look and their attitude. we decided to Have these bold angry texts,and loud images because the name of the band and the name of the album perfectly go along side these things.

The magazine adverts that we made both varied in style and the way they looked so that so that they could possibly attract a better audience.
The first advert we made had a very mysterious unclear image on it which was not too clear towards the audience,but when looked at very closely the advert does draw in the reader due to the image used and the style of text used on the image as well.A hidden meaning is behind this advert which not all readers will understand but people who listen to metal music regularly will which is why this advert was aimed at this sort of audience.The second magazine advert was very obvious to the reader of what was going on and what it was about This would appeal to a bigger audience as people can clearly see what is being advertised so they will take more notice.The use of the bold red text and the rating system by a big name magazine also adds credibility to this advert as it will make it all that more noticeable by the people reading it.In both adverts we added a picture of what the album actually looks like on the front which reminds the audience who the band are and what the album is.Its also another form of advertising because people will know what the album looks like so will know what to look for if they go out and buy it.


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

In all of the music videos that i looked at the band was always portrayed as powerful,strong,and would always have a big presence on screen.This is done because the band is very central to the video and is the most important part to it so they must seem very powerful to make an impression on the person watching.In our video we showed this convention of the and being very powerful by doing a lot camera shots which show strength and power.A camera shot we used in the video to show power was on Massimo when he was singing,we used the shot of looking up at him while he was singing which shows he is in control and he is powerful.In sticking with the convention of having a stereotypical metal looking video we should have kept the video looking dark and angry like other we had watched.Instead of doing this we decided to challenge the convention by having a dark and bright location in our video which kind of gives the impression to the person watching it of good and evil.With the use of our instruments in our we decided to stick to the normal look and conventions as in other metal videos for example stylish playing and moving along with the music all go alongside well in a good metal video.We also decided to add some camera shots in when a guitar or drum solo is being played as this gives emphasis on who is playing and allows a powerful image of someone playing instrument to be seen.In the majority of all music videos i watched the story of the video was always tied into the song being played and what was going on on screen they always tied in with each other and complemented each other really well.In our video we kept this convention in as we had a song called "I Disappear" and a very clear story of what was going on with Craig running away from us.Both of these things tie in very well with each other and compliment each other when in motion as Craig running away with the added lyrics from the song of "Its time i disappear" go perfectly with each other.In our story we used the convention of cross media a separate part of the storyline which was not in the main part of the video to start off the video itself.To start off our music video we had Craig watch the band on the computer but not enjoy what he is watching,he then proceed to leave a bad comment on the video and then falls asleep on the computer and go into a dream scene.This act of him falling asleep then starts off the main part of the video with Craig going into a dream scene where he is being chased by us.The use of this dream scene started off with the form of cross media challenges the from of convention but opens up the audience to all form of suggestions,suspense,and excitement because they don't know what is going to happen.In all music videos that we watched all of the videos started off in a very bold and powerful way with things such as explosion,cymbals crashing,or the big bang of a drum.We started off our video with the flick of a drum stick and a smash on the cymbals,we decided to keep this convention in as it makes a very good impression on the audience when watching it and will certainly keep somebody hooked on watching it if they see it at the start of the video as they will wonder what else is to come.The use of these bangs,beats,and crashes in the video suggest that they are angry or upset which makes it good the for the audience to relate to.In our video the audience can relate to the band well in terms of their clothing's used in the video because the clothing we used of,ripped jeans,sleeveless tops are the stereotypical thin gs that people involved in metal wear so the audience can relate well to the and as they look how they are supposed to look.

In a metal music video probably the most important factor is the physical appearance of the band.The clothes we wear and the way we look all need to convey the conventions of a normal looking metal band.A tattoo sported by James lent a lot to the whole metal image of of him and made him look a lot better than us in some aspects.The thing that's most important in a metal video is the facial look of all the band members,this is because in metal the lyrics that are song often require the singer to scream,grunt,or shout,so a lot of emotion will normally be shown in the face.A lot of singers will normally grow a beard or have a facial piercing to just express their emotions a little more when singing because the camera will normally be close up on their so a good image is what a lot if singers will try to obtain.We used this convention in our video as Massimo grew a beard because he was the singer so would have a lot of closeups so he felt the beard would give him a lot more persona and would would make him look more metal.In our music video we used a lot of conventions from other music videos such as camera shots and the the whole image of the band the only thing we decded to challenge that we also thought turned out very well was the cross media at the start of the video Because we felt this gave the audience a lot to relate to in terms of recognsing a metal band and also giving them a good story to watch in the music sourt of like a journey or adventure.

Music Video "I Dissapear"

this is our finished promo pack all together with front cover,insert,and back cover.We also inserted a spine onto our cd pack to make it look as professional as possible.Looking at other metal/rock albums i think we have done well to stick to the conventions of a stereotypical looking rock album by using the bold artwork,dark colours,and band images.

This is the back cover of our cd as you can see we went again with the dark colours and the image of the band so to stick the traditional conventions of a metal album.We used a shot of the band with their instruments so to give the album a more professional feel.We added song titles,a bar code and statutory rights and a record label to the album all in the aim to make it look as professional as possible.In the process of this we decided to go with a more neat approach to the back of the cd so the picture and writing could be clearly seen.with this in mind we went for some traditional black writing to write down the album songs.For the album title we used the same colour blue we used for the lightning on the front cover.We did this because we thought it reflected quite well from having lightning on the front to the same colour text on the back,kind of like a carry over effect where we were trying keep with the style of the album throughout.



This is the insert cover of my cd promo pack.We all agreed to go with the classic band shots and band roles for the inside cover as this is a normal classic image in any metal/rock album insert so we did not want to stray away from this.We kept the background a darkish colour so that the metal theme was still present but not completely over the top as it would not have fit in with the images of the band that we decided to use.Having this simple yet effective image i think was a very good idea as some form of artwork i think would ot have been over the top but i think not right for a insert in a cd although some bands do do it



Here is our front cover,as you can see we have stuck to the normal conventions of a metal/rock album by using dark colours and very powerful images as seen in this with a very old predominant image of Massimo with a guitar.All rock/metal albums will have on their front cover either artwork or a picture of the band,artwork will normally consist of an image relevant to the album but with things added to it to give that so called metal look of evil for example if the album was called death is coming,The artwork may be a picture of the grim reaper coming to get someone.A image of the band will consist of the band as a group posing in some way towards the camera with maybe some kind of effect round them and sometimes props.On our front cover we decided to go for a mixture of both artwork and a band shot,as you can see in the image only me and Massimo are present on the front cover James and Chris are missing so it is not a full band shot so holds some mystery as too why this is.In the background we decided to add some artwork of lightning in the sky and a vortex image on my drum kit.We have Massimo turned around looking at the lightning in the sky to say to audience something is coming hence the name of the album lightning fear which would convey to the audience that the lightning on the album is something to be feared.having both of these together i think worked really well as their was not all four of us in the image so i think adding some artwork really gave the image what it needed to become professional looking and eyecathing.Having both artwork and band shots n the CD cover challenged the conventions of normal CD cover as the majority of albums will have on or the other not both as they feel it will make the image confusing and unattractive to the public.

Magazine Adverts

The images we used for our magazine adverts are completely different to what we used for our cd promo packs,as in the magazine adverts we wanted to have more of an emphasis on the actual album and the music rather than just the band themselves.In the first magazine advert we decided to go with an image that shows real meaning to the video we did so we went for obvious choice of a person disappearing as the name of the song is i disappear.I feel this worked very well as the reason why the person is disappearing is very obvious to the audience so they don't really have to think to hard what the video is about which is what a metal/rock music video should be about.The bright colours we used in this made a good change from the usual dull blacks and greys that metal is associated with as it gave a fresh perspective on something and may even attract a wider audience due to it not being so dark and evil looking like most magazine posters for metal and rock albums are.We added a rating of five stars by the famous metal magazine metal hammer which would give it more of a professional look and should make it a lot More eye catching to people looking a it.We also added text saying best album of the year which for any album is a massive achievement so haven't this written on will defiantly give a big amount of credit to the album.

The second magazine advert was more of a traditional style metal/rock album advert as it was dark and dull but the image on it held significance to the album.Having this image on the advert gave a certain sense of mystery as you are not completely clear what it means so you don't really know what to think of the album itself but at the same time the advert stays true to the traditional metal style by having the dark colours and dark atmostpehere.The slogan the end is near i think is a very good catchy piece of text which will draw the attention of the public because they will instinctively think that with this it may be the last album the band makes so they should prepare themselves.In the bottom right corner we displayed the album again as a sort of little preview so people know what the front of the album looks like.

Re shoot/Re edit

In the filming of our video we filmed in sections to fit the pieces of the music we wanted them for.This was much more productive than filming just a long video shoot of the entire song when you may not even use all of the footage.After our first video shoot in the garage was complete we decided to start the editing process on our video,as we were editing we noticed we would need more footage from the garage than first anticipated therefore we had to go and film more.Our first video shoot took place on the 16th of October in the garage we later returned on the 19th to film more footage for the garage.

When we had finished all of the filming in the garage we started to film the woods scenes on the 27th of October.On the 29th of October we decided to start filming some scenes in the junkyard on that day we filmed a lot of footage which we were able to put to very good use in the editing sides of thing due to this large amount of footage we didn't have to return to this location again to film anything else.After this we resumed editing our video and made a lot of progress with it until we realised that we needed more shots of the band in the woods to make a decent storyline for the video.The other reason for this was that when the group were filming the shots in the woods for the story i was not available on the day so i was missing from the video which is a very big continuity error which would have made the shots look very bad.We returned to the woods on the 6th of November to do more filming of Craig in the story and also some more band shots which would now involve me as i was their to be filmed.After this we then resumed again with editing which became a lot more harder as we had to rearrange a lot of shots or replace them all together so that the story was a lot better and all of the shots fit well together.

After we had completely finished our editing we decided all together that we want to make some changes to the start and the end of the video as some of things in the video were quite unclear and it would hard for the viewer to figure what is going on and why.We came up with the idea of Craig writing a bad comment on one of the bands videos on YouTube and then have him fall asleep and enter a dream sequence which would be our video.We shot all of this on the 19th of November at our school at a desk with a computer.After this we then did some last minute editing so that we were completely satisfied with out products we tweaked some scene so that they fit in well and we also added some cross fade effects to make the scene with Craig dreaming look better.

Just before we though we had finished the video we noticed that the end scene with Craig didn't fit quite well as we hoped so we had to change it so we went back to the woods on the 26th of November just to film the last bit we needed to make our video perfect.After this shot was filmed we then returned to do our final bit of editing to incorporate this shot into the video to make it fit properly.After this was done we then had just the last couple of timing issues to sort out where some guitar strums didn't go with music or a vocal note didn't match with what was being said,after this was done we were completely finished with out music video.

why i chose to do a music video

I chose to do a music video because i thought i had a very good ability to pull off a good music video,the reasons for this are that me and my group already had a good idea in our heads of how we wanted the video to play out and what we wanted it to look like.We all felt in our group that we would much prefer to do a music video than a film trailer as we would get more enjoyment out of it which should ultimately make it turn out a lot better than if we had chosen to done a film trailer which we wouldn't ave enjoyed making.The other reasons are that myself and the others in the group are very passionate about music so we all have a good knowledge about the music itself and what we were putting ourselves in for,also beneficial for us as Massimo was very skilled at guitar and owned his own,and i was very skilled at the drums and had my own drum kit so we were all ready one step ahead.Having this knowledge of playing the instruments and having the actual knowledge of rock/metal music itself i think gave us a huge advantage in the making of our video as we knew how to make it look good so that it stay true to the stereotypical look of rock and metal music videos.