Creative arts evening & feedback!

Earlier this evening we held a creative arts evening where teachers, pupils, family and friends came together and watched our videos, among other things. 

Both our ancillary tasks and video were displayed, sadly, however, we had mixed reviews. Throughout the majority of the feedback it was decided that the narrative was exceptionally clear, thus being easy and understandable to watch. In terms of narrative, what we had done was achieved as the audience clearly understood that when the couple were together everything was fine and their relationship was wonderful, however, when apart there was obvious problems. Other positives of the video were that the mise-en-scene matched the song well (happy-go-lucky and carefree, represented with open spaces etc) as well as the obvious chemistry between the actors, again showing a good representation of the song. 

As mentioned, we did have some negative feedback. Year 8 and 9 media students were given the opportunity to watch our video and were also given feedback sheets. The majority of people commented on the lip-syncing being out and could have been worked better. Shots were also deemed out of focus, with people then becoming slightly bored and not wishing to watch the video - an upsetting thought - The majority of the feedback also commented on how the shots were too simplistic and again, boring. 

Although disheartening for the group, once again we came together and worked through the video picking out individual points which could be made better. Filming here come!  

Final edit - Hurrah!

The final edit of our video has been completed! As a group we are overly excited at the finished product and feel very proud of our achievements. 


However, all is not finished! As a group we will now ask our peers/teachers as well as people who do not have an objective view on this task due to them being outside of school, for feedback so that we can continue to improve our final product. 


Looking forward to receiving the feedback! 

More ancillary!

Personally I feel as though I am lacking in my ancillary tasks, something I am in the process of changing. I decided that it was a silly idea to start both tasks and try to complete them simultaneously, thus I have stopped working on ancillary task one to complete the more demanding task two. 

Normally, a CD insert is a booklet (see above) however, to me, this has become dated and tired. I decided that a new, more contemporary look was needed, to match the mise-en-scene of the album and genre. Whilst looking across CDs I found the soundtrack to 'Alien Autopsy'. The insert to the CD was a single piece of paper which was folded continuously to fit the size of a CD case. When unfolded it was a poster on one side with the song titles. However, it must be taken into account that this CD is a soundtrack for film - NOT a normal music album. 

The poster of Alien Autopsy on the back of the CD insert. 

Although my CD insert is for an album, I do wish to take on the conventions of this insert so that my digi-pak is individual. 


Progress will be made!

Editing, editing and more editing!

Just a quick note!

Over the past few weeks our group has been working tirelessly on the VEM so to complete our editing and hopefully the final edition of our video!  

Nick working hard!

Ancillary Part Two - Drafts.

For the second part of my ancillary I drafted up ideas using the folding technique that I previously mentioned in my part two research.

The poster side of my ancillary. The font Nueva st, the font that was chosen by our group to be the house font can be seen here - 'Bruno Mars' and 'Doowops and Hooligans'. Both of these fonts will have a drop shadow added to make it bolder and brighter and more attractive to the eye. It can be seen that yellow has been used - the house colour - and will be a consistent feature throughout all of my ancillary tasks. At the bottom of the page credits have been added using 'Steel tongs' an attribute normally seen within a film poster, but is being subverted as it will be used on a music poster. 

The back for my poster - as you can see it has been separated into six different sections, with each being folded to make it into a little booklet. Again, another movie convention can be seen here with movie reels being used in the top, middle and bottom, with pictures and writing being located within each section. 

The CD cover. 'Bruno Mars' has been repeated over the cover to reinforce the singers name. This technique is also seen on the back of the poster as it will be repeated in the same way but the opacity changed. 

The back cover for the CD case. This backing tray, is very simplistic, however I feel that this simplicity will be balanced out by the detail that has gone into the back of the poster. An image will be placed on the left hand side with the opacity being changed, so to relate to the back of the poster with the repetition of 'Bruno Mars'.

Hopefully, the overall effect of this task when made will compliment the video. 

Ancillary Task Two Research!

For my second ancillary task a digi-pak must be created, it must include a CD, insert and a back tray. My research for this consisted of looking at published CDs. 

Brandy - Album 

 Alanis Morissette - Album 

These two very different albums with very different genres each show how different a CD can look. For example, the CD insert from Morissette's album is plain and somewhat boring, the simple white background with black text shows that the album could be considered slow, moving and perhaps depressing. Whereas, contrastingly, the insert from Brandy's album has an image of her, an image which is also using gaze theory to attract both male and female audiences. Although both have white backgrounds, the font is different within both and Brandy's album has contrasting images in the background. 


However, both of these styles are not fitting of the genre that I have chosen. 

Ancillary Task - Part two!

Not forgetting our ancillary tasks I decided that I better begin with my second - a digi-pak. For this I am going to design and make a CD, including the CD itself, insert and back page. 

For this more pictures have been taken. In the video there is a section where it is designed so they look as though are in a photo booth (see previous half term blog) So using this idea pictures have been taken and then edited so it portrays a realistic photo booth.

This image will be used within my digi-pak. 

Extra Filming!

Whilst editing, the three of us, me, Priya and Nick thought about how we could show the youthful side of the marriage within the video and to also show the progression from engagement and planning to then the actual wedding day! 

As a car driver, our group always had a car on hand, something that have us the inspiration for the extra filming that we undertook. A typical tradition of a wedding day is when the bride and groom drive off in a car with banners, balloons, ribbons and cans attached. Seen here in the recent Royal Wedding:

Sadly, I do not own a vintage car! Therefore we used my C1 - the mise-en-scene of which represents the fact that the couple are young and on a budget!

Whilst filming a tripod was used to get various shots of the car in motion - only from behind and the side (whilst driving) to show the sign. Confetti was also used to back up the importance of the wedding theme.