Evaluation Questions: 4: How did you use new technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages?

Without the use of new technologies this project would have not been possible. Nearly every single piece of work has been created on computers or on-line. 


Throughout our research stages, the internet was used a considerable amount. Existing products were seen on websites such as YouTube and Vimeo, specifically Bruno Mars' previous work. However, it was not just music videos that were researched, CDs, posters and leaflets were all easily accessible on the internet. The lyrics for 'Marry You' were also found on the internet, something that aided in the location planning and filming, when the actor would go over his lines. As a group, to make communication outside of school more accessible we all signed up to "Dropbox" so that we could share our files on-line and access them from any computer that we was at, this website also enabled us to make notes on each others work and enhance our project as a whole.

Again, throughout both the research and planning stages Microsoft Office was used regulary, both our pitches were created on Power Point, with the handy note pages on each slide so we could give a professional and slick presentation. However, all was not produced on computers! All of our drafts were completed by hand and then scanned onto a computer so they would always be there to refer too for future reference. 


For me, my mobile phone became a handy camera as I often didn't have a digital one around. Many of the pictures within this blog have been taken by a camera phone. This form of technology also allowed to group to be in constant communication if any of us came up with new ideas or were about to film.
All of our ancillary tasks were completed on Abobe Photoshop, Illustrator CS3 and InDesign. These programmes consisted of both the simple tools required and also those that would enhance our work and push it up to a professional standard.

Social networking also played an important part within the completing of my blog. Whilst using my camera phone to take pictures of my products, I uploaded them to Facebook to then download them onto my computer, a quick and handy way that enabled me to complete my blog. Not forgetting possibly the most important thing; my blog. In previous years all of my tasks and evaluations have been made into portfolios, however all is different with the majority of my work being accessible on the internet, including the music video.

New technologies that our group used was the video camera, camera and the VEM machine. Without any of these three elements our video would have been non existent. After we had completed the filming we would transfer our footage to the VEM machine then using Premiere Pro, something that the group had only previously encountered. Video 'timeline' were created to complete a successful and full video and then added to the original Bruno Mars song.

As mentioned earlier, the evaluation stages of this project was completely different to what we have been previously used too. Blogging regularly became a habit for us as we could easily update our peers and teachers as to what we were achieving. Alongside these blogs there was also constant feedback coming back from both peers and teachers, something that enabled us to better our work, something that was not always possible on paper. 

New technologies have been the soul of our production, these technologies have been weaved into the research, construction, planning and evaluation of this project. As a group we have all encountered many of the programmes that we used and could use them seamlessly, however we all learnt how to use Premier Pro, to me, the most important bit of technology that was used. However, it must always be taken into account that none of this would have been possible without any of these new technologies.

Evaluation Questions: 3: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Throughout my four years of media I have always been aware of how important audience feedback was. However, it has become increasingly apparent that audience feedback is absolutely vital within a project as large as this. As the designer of a project, it is hard to critique your own work and with such a great deal of time and effort going into this project it is hard to see the faults, therefore, audience feedback has never been more necessary. 


Throughout the early months of this project receiving feedback was important as it helped us change faults that were minor to repair. However, it was when we thought our video was completed that the big blows came. At a creative arts evening held by the school, all of our work was displayed and feedback then received. It was on this night that we were made aware of details that were not accurate within the video. For example, lip-syncing, lack of shots, quality and other minor details. As a group, we watched the audience as they watched our video so that we could get a small insight as to what they were thinking with their facial expressions and body language, it was during this when we realised there were errors within our video. During this feedback I also realised that they were not totally dismissing the video just giving constructive criticism that would help us, not hinder us. 


It has become apparent to me and my group that after continuous editing, day after day our judgement had become clouded as to the standard and quality of our video. However, this feedback, although harsh and critical was valuable as we were told exactly what was wrong, from unbiased views and this aided us in re-filming sections and being able to better our grades. 


This project has really made me realise that audience feedback is one of the most important things when constructing a project and feedback should never be put on the back burner, as it is critical in achieving a better grade.

Evaluation Questions: 2: How effective is the combination of your main and ancillary tasks?

In all honesty, I struggled at combining both my main and ancillary tasks. As our music video was a group effort there were many different ideas as to how the video was filmed, costumes used and the body language that was needed for the video to be represented in the right way and for this to then continue on into our individual ancillary tasks. However, as our video progressed and ideas were proved or disproved we each found that combining the two tasks to show continuity was easier than expected.

As the video is a romantic one, I felt that the genre of romance needed to be portrayed in my ancillary tasks. Love is a key feature within the video and pictures were needed to represent this. During these photo shoots the actors wanted to achieve a realistic chemistry that wouldn't look awkward or staged, something that was achieved. This chemistry is also portrayed extremely well with the use of the mise-en-scene within the video.

The target audience; 14 - 25 year olds were always at the forefront of the groups mind. With this in mind, both the ancillary and main tasks needed to have their similarities as it would be the same group of people looking at the two sections. This has been shown with the consistency throughout the video and ancillary tasks. The use of costumes have been an important feature within both of these as the costumes are the same within both the video and ancillary tasks. Establishing this by the use of the costumes shows that the combination of both the video and ancillary tasks are one together.

Gaze theory plays an important part within the combination of the main and ancillary tasks. The majority of Mars' audience are female, however a small minority are male. It is often seen within Mars' videos that there is an attractive woman within the video, and of course Mars' himself, showing that gaze theory is prominent. As a group, we used gaze theory in both our main and ancillary tasks to combine them even further. Both of the actors are young and attractive, thus both male and female audiences have something to aspire too; females, a lovely man who will sweep them off their feet and males who aspire to be the man who can get any woman he wants. Within my ancillary tasks pictures of both the male and female have been used, again weaving gaze theory throughout both tasks with both the tasks them complimenting each other. 

The combination of both my main and ancillary tasks were extremely effective. With the use of the same locations and costumes within my main and ancillary tasks as well as the prominent use of gaze theory it is clear that both tasks are linked with each other, something I am very proud of. 

Evaluation Questions: 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Bruno Mars' music videos normally consist of two male characters; a male and a female due to the majority of his songs being romantic. 'Just the way you are', 'The lazy song' and 'It will rain' all have a female companion, however one song does not; 'Grenade'. At first, as a group we wanted to subvert what Bruno Mars' usual does by just having one sole performer, acting as Mars, however we decided that this would not be as effective as we would hope due to the narrative becoming to strained. 'Marry You' does not have a music video, therefore no guidance could be taken from it, something that acted in the groups favour as the video was 100%, completely original. 

However, as a group we thoroughly researched Bruno Mars' existing media products so that we could enhance our personal ideas. Many of Mars' videos are filmed in outside locations, although in considerably depressing areas due to the majority of his songs being about heartbreak. Yet, interestingly enough 'Marry You' completely subverts all of Mars' previous work as it is about happy-go-lucky, young and impulsive love. Therefore, we decided that we would use the idea of filming in outside locations, but make them bright and extremely spacious with the perfect place being on our doorstop; Abbey Ruins. However, to counteract the happiness that is between the couple in the outside locations we used a home to show the struggles faced between the couple as the actress is planning the wedding with the help of her family, this is where the conflict comes in, giving the narrative even more depth. I believe that this challenges Mars' existing media products as there is two sides to the story; conflict and happiness, whereas usually in Mars' videos it is mostly conflict. 

Another aspect of Mars' existing media products that we used to our advantage was Mars' body language throughout his videos. During most of his videos he is sitting or standing and singing directly to the camera, an element that was included in our video. Mars' movements were mimicked throughout our interpretation of the video, purely so there could be a link between ours and his videos.  

Although the lyrics of the song are very simplistic, we wanted our video to have depth to it, something that is often found within music videos as they have multi-layered story lines. A prime example of this is FUN with their video 'We are young' alongside many of Mars' very own videos there is a great deal of depth within the narrative. 

The editing of the video also conforms to the required conventions of a music video and especially to existing media products. As a group we decided that it was better to try and limit the amount of transitions used within the final edit so that it wouldn't dazzle the audience or make them grow tired of the video itself. The amount of locations used within the video also conform the the usual requirements of a music video. However, throughout my research I have noticed that using a limited amount of locations has become increasingly popular, again 'We are young' uses only one location as well as Bruno Mars' 'The lazy song', something that in hindsight I would have perhaps liked to have done. 

Although our music video does generally conform to a Bruno Mars' video, we did however, challenge his existing media products by using several locations instead of just the one, and also created conflict within the video. However, I believe that the song in itself, although simplistic, was hard to create the right kind of video, as we needed to decide as to whether or not we would subvert or conform to the normal techniques that Bruno Mars' uses. 

Final products!

After a long process mine and my groups final pieces are finished!

Below are the final video and my ancillary tasks!

Here is a small flyer to advertise upcoming gigs - the image used has been edited and can also be seen on my main poster. Again, the house colours and font has been used to show the continuity between my tasks. 

Here my main poster can be seen. Although it could be considered very simplistic I believe that this works and sets of the the CD case, due to that being full of detail. The picture from the flyer has been used within this poster, with the house font also being used. 

This is the final CD case: including; insert, CD and backing tray. I feel that there is a great deal of continuity within these three ancillary tasks that I have completed, as well as the continuity being seen throughout the groups individual works.   


Here is our groups final video, a personal achievement for all of us.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0xSVCOuntc&feature=player_embedded#!

Filming (again!)

After we collected all of our feedback, we decided that our best bet was to re-film certain aspects of the video, whilst using different camera angles to add a variation within the video,  the quality of the video and to use more equipment whilst filming to better the overall effect. 

During our re-film we concentrated on the sections that we thought were particularly bad. We got more shots of the actor singing so that the lip-syncing could be improved, as well as shots of the couple together to show a great deal more romance within the video to reinforce the genre of the song. 

Ancillary Part Two - Update!

Progress has been made within my digi-pak. I decided to choose the alternative style of producing my CD insert, something I believe has turned out well. 

The back of my insert - As you can see it is very similar to a film poster due to Steel Tongs being used at the bottom. Bruno Mars is bold along with Doowops & Hooligans (the name of the album). However, I believe that it is the image that confirms, that although it looks like a film poster, it is not. 

My actual CD. As you can see it is very simplistic, something that I aimed for as the insert itself is very complex. The repetition of 'Bruno Mars' really stands out and is a continuous theme throughout.

As you can see this is the other side of my fold out insert. Certain sections of the  insert are upside down, however when folded correctly all the images are where they should be. The background of the insert is the repetition of 'Bruno Mars' - again continuing the theme.

Again, the same image but with the alternative view. 

As you can see on this side of the insert (see above) film reels have been used on the top, middle and bottom. This movie theme continues on from using Steel Tongs on the poster side of my insert. I believe that this ancillary task has worked well, especially with using the conventions of a generic film poster. The elements of the film poster will be used on my second ancillary task. 

Peer Feedback!

After the creative arts evening we wanted to gain further feedback to get an even broader idea on how we could make our video better.


Here is 6th Form, Media student, Daisy Russell giving us valuable feedback.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=w2-nLz9B7y0

Further feedback was given to us by younger members of the school.

The student commented on:

• the quality of the transitions used
• the quality camera shots
• the emotion within the video and its relation to the song

however, the student also pointed out some things that could have been improved:

• the picture quality (something that we will make every effort to re-do)

Aside from the one bad point, our group believe that this feedback is good and are also very pleased with the fact that the student clearly understood the narrative and that it was for young teenagers.