Sourcing extra feedback

Social Networks

I decided that now that I have completed my media project that I would send out some questions through social networks in hope that people would respond. Ad you can see from previous updates and posts I have placed some items on Flickr, though I thought to relish feedback even more for my evaluation I could try some new methods. This included sending out E-mails to my friends and tweets on twitter. As I don't have Facebook, that site was not an option.

Email-

I decided to e-mail a range of contacts that I have on my e-mail with the link to my music video to see that if I could get some more feedback on my music video. Although, I only received detailed feedback from one person it proved worth while posting this on my e-mail and getting the feedback. The feedback was as follows:

I was very happy with this feedback, as it understood why I used the creative flare, the smooth transitions from painting to video footage etc.



Twitter-

I also published a tweet on my twitter account to get people to give some feedback, this also received some feedback commenting on the professional appeal off the video. I was very happy with the feedback as the whole point of the project is trying to emulate what the music industry create in music videos on a smaller level. Which I think that this feedback deciphers.

Sourcing Feedback

Survey Monkey

I have just completed a survey monkey online which is a programme online that allows me to send my survey out on mass so that a lot of people are in reach of the survey and in turn I get more clearer results. The thing that I like about this type of media platform is that I have complete control over what is sent to the audience and I can use many different question types that may only be usable over an online platform.


The questions that I asked were mainly about the tone, feel and the location of the music video. I felt that these were essential factors to do with the video thus, the need to mention them and get answers. I used six questions in total and this is because I do not want the people that are filling out the questions to have a long list that is never-ending. I thought six was an acceptable amount of time to fill out also. Though I think I could also send out another questionnaire online that incorporates images and more interactive attachments that envision the artist as a whole.

This  though is not a problem as I can send another later on in the process. I did face difficulties when I came to making this survey and this was especially clear when I came to try to actually upload files. I overcame the problem by re-focusing the question and trying to make it fit more; though it was annoying as the extra information would have been beneficial for the audience to see. I may even try later on sending again on another computer as the computer may have been the problem.

To try and make the questionnaire more fun I used different formats such as:
-Ranking systems.
-Comment Boxes
-Preference listing etc.

The one question that was on my questionnaire that I feel was crucial to making my music video was the Locations question and this is because this question basically shows that I am involving the audience in the  decision. I also need the result soon as getting the results back is crucial to making the music video and I need to start the storyboarding soon. I listed all the locations that were most organic and accessible for me such as:
-London
-Greenwich Park
-The woods etc.

I now await the results for that question.

I plan to publish the results of this questionnaire soon and I will do this as soon as the results are online and there are enough responses.

I plan to also add onto my blog audience research into the font.

Rating of using this provider: 79%

Blue Notes Record label; Chosen.

Planning Costumes

Costuming:

I have chosen to comply with convention of my artist looking very organic but relatable to the greater public. This is because my artist; Ruby Collins is an artist that feels that the music is far more important than the image of an artist. Therefore, I have chosen to dull down the image of Ruby Collins without presenting her as lame or visually uninteresting.

I think that floral and white tops will be essential to creating a relatable vibe to the greater public because that type of trend is in fashion. I think that the top half of her image i.e. the tops and jumpers she wears are far more important than her bottom half as there has to be a balance for the eye. Meaning that Collins will predominantly wear loud tops but plain bottoms. The colours that I think will go well together are blues, purples, browns and reds. This is because these types of colours go alongside the overall tone of the song which is quite feel good factor.

I plan to avoid dull and dark colours as although they may go well on the model they may not work well with the song itself, which is an incredibly important part to the project. I  also think that the colours that I have chosen are also a good idea because they present Ruby Collins’ hair correctly, by this I means that because the colours are quite understated they allow the blond hair to shine on top; allowing the image to be very cohesive.

Although, I am saying how understated the image will be, I do have to recognise that any artist aims to stand out from the crowd thus, I will attempt to modernise Collins’ image by making her wear more trendy styles of clothing such as kimonos and marbled tops.

 

Characters/Actors

Characters for Music video and for my digi-pak

When thinking about who I wanted in my music video I had to select a character that would embody the type of genre that I am trying to create. The image of the star is essential as if the star, doesn’t have that edge about that them that is cohesive to the name of the artists and the genre they will not be taken seriously in the music industry.

What I am looking for in the main character of my music video.

-A natural look that is very organic.

-Less is more. No superficial look that is created through the use of make-up.

-Natural look

I looked at all of the  people that I knew and thought out of them which person would be the most likely to represent the genre and which of them would actually want to be in the music video. I only need the one main character and this is because i want the music video to revolve around the surroundings and setting of the music video. Otherwise the video will start to move into conventions of other genres such as dance and pop.

So out of the people that I asked I had a shortlist of: Robyn, Claire, Lauren and Samantha.

I chose Lauren, the reasoning behind this is because Lauren is very natural, she is not controlled by make-up and had the most original look that is cohesive with the genre. Were as the other people that I asked did not have the exact look, there were inconsistent height difference and the other three candidates had brown hair; which I didn’t think was consistent with the natural and organic look of the music video.

Mood Board

We were all set the breif to estabish our artist via a mood board. this gave us all the oppitunity to establish the artist visually noticing what worked about the artits and what could potentially be re-focused and looked at for change. This was a great opportunity for us to start looking at what was essential in the music video to make the artist more coherent and concise.

I felt that my artist is not mainstream but does have mainstream influences as these surround everyone everywhere. The representation of her as a female is quite typical, and this is clear from the mood board in which she is presented as a female, who adopts typical colours associated with females as well as a female that is portrayed as liking female associated items such as flowers and antiques. I felt that the task was quite successful in the sense that it has visually displayed the way that i can see the video turning out and from this task it is clear  that the music video will have a very earthy and organic essence surrounding it.

The influences that I can see the music video taking inspiration from are norah Jones and Kate Nash and this is because as artists they have integrity in the music industry and don't try to pigeon themselves into a certain route to be more appealing. instead they are true to themselves and the music that they intend on making; which is endearing in this day and age.

On the mood board as you can see I made reference to the music video that I am making a music video for. This is clear in the sense that it has reference to the three little birds that comes in the music video on the window pain. I also envisioned the vibe and essence that i can see the music video going down- an antique route.

The antique route was expressed through the:
-Birds Cage
-Old Record Machine 

When asking some of my peers in my class if the mood board seems coherent it was clear that they thought that it was coherent in color schemes, nature and the artists that I plan to reference in the music video. If i could improve the outcome of this mood board i think that i would try and possibly use more images, but it was quite difficult to add lots of images as, i had to do the task individually.

I purposely chose to call my artist Ruby collins and this is because the surname Collins is quite usual and i feel that with integrity comes relation to the public. Thus, meaning that my artist would have to be relatable to the public if i want the artist to have integrity.

So Far...

What I have Found out so far;

From all of the work that I have done so far that is genre specific, I have found out that I need to incorporate some sort of artwork that is appealing to the demographic and the genre that I choose, it also has to have a close link to the albums title and the artists styling that I am trying to portray. This was apparent in the Ella Fitzgerald album artworks where she chose to apply drawing based images onto the main cover. I think that this worked well, and to try and make this work just as well on my cover I have to ensure that I make sure that I choose the colours correctly as this was the main item that made the album artwork for Fitzgerald successful.

I did though, learn when colours come into play that less is more and just because there are so many accessible to hand does not mean that they should be applied to the whole Digipak. As, it ends up working against the overall feel and overcrowds the covers. From the genre that I looked at I think that It would be successful if I started to consider a narrative that I could explore on the cover as it would help to take the people who purchase it on a journey.

I think that I should also try and start looking at a font that keeps with the whole theme, which I can see was handwritten as it has a very natural feel. If I could I think that like the Nash artwork with the house that was mystical, I could try and present the cover as very mystical and fairy-tale-ish as it would give off the vibe that the overall thematic is a utopian fairy-tale. I do though want to try and avoid being too cliché with this vibe as it may start to become slightly Disney. The other artwork that I looked at such as the Jones cover was also very understated and I think that this helps to create musical integrity for the artist. I would like to try and create this seeing as I created a brief that envisioned my artist as a female that has just come out of music college.

From the Digipaks i learnt that......

The swiss colour scheme would work very well as it is understated but is clean and precise so will work with the drawing element that i have created. I think though, where I want to use red in the album cover I do have to try and be careful with the color so that i avoid the mainstream route. I also learnt that too many images of the artist is generally what mainstream artists using.

A-ha Music Video Analysis

A ha-presentation from ThomasMadden96

Norah Jones; "Don't know why?"

Norah jones presentation from ThomasMadden96

Spider Diagram of the idea

Today, In lesson we had to make a braintorm that entailed what we was making for our music video. Mine is above and it disusses exactly what I feel i want to creat in music video.

Analysis of Bruno Mars

Bruno mars from ThomasMadden96

Culture Identity; Adorno and Horkeimer

Cross Media Case Study- Katy Perry!

Katy perry cross media anaysis from ThomasMadden96

Thomas Madden; Ryan Adams Research

Ryan Adams Research task in which I completed.

2/07/2013 Notes

Thomas Madden                                                                                                              Tuesday 2^nd July 2013

Codes and the conventions of the music videos in the modern day.

-Moving Images since the 1920’s

-Bessie Smith one of the first recorded music videos.

-Bob Dylan is known for his music style in one of his music videos it is simply typography that is reeled off of paper as the song follows; the lyrics are in connection to the lyrics and create a sense of continuity in the music videos.

1970-Record industry’s starts to realise that the Television can be used as a means of advertisement so music companies start to use it to promote the music acts. Before, this music videos used to experimental not promotional. As proliferation took place the music videos got to more people meant that the acts could become more mainstream.

1975- Bohemian Rhapsody – First real music video- started the codes and the conventions that music is today now following as a framework. This was the first ground breaking amount of visual effects used in the music video.

Technical codes and conventions.

Cinematography-

1. Movement, dynamic shots- emphasis on the character.

2. Close-ups of the artist dominate because of the size of the screens unlike films

3. Common Editing- Fast Cut montage. - A lot of what you actually see is not what you actually see as it is quick and fast paced making you watch it again which creates BUZZ.

4. Special Effects. – Green Screen –CGI

There are now no limitations to the amount of effects that can be used unlike when the first music video was produced when there was limitations as the effects was not yet created or adopted by the industry.

Music Videos have now started to use 35mm because this effect is cleaner in film but, it is more expensive at production.

Monday 8th July 2013; Lesson Notes

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