Insomnia Final Cut

Question 4

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

When researching into the genre for our music video, we primarily used Google and YouTube, as they are very effective tools for finding out information. We also looked in some other websites and magazines.

When we filmed the lift door shot, on the first day of shooting, we had to make sure that the camera was locked down, on a tripod, to ensure that we didn’t have to deal with camera movement, when tracking the text onto the doors. It would have been possible, but it was much easier to just avoid the issue altogether.

I also made sure to put small pieces of black electrical tape on the doors, so we could track the points to add the text. However, due to the way the light reflected off of the doors, the tracking points did not work, so I had to go by every few frames, making sure that the text stayed on the door.

We used a crane for many of the shots in our video, mainly the bedroom shots. This allowed us to get a birds-eye view of the actor, making them seem smaller. We also used the crane for a shot of the car driving away in the car park.

Many of the shots were done with the Canon 6D on a steadicam. This helped us to get smooth tracking shots, lending higher production value to the piece.

When it came to editing the music video, we used Final Cut Pro X to put it together. Once we had finished editing the video, I started the visual effects for the lift door shot. We then realised that for one of the driving shots, we would have to split it into three parts to colour grade it, as we were changing it from day to night. After that was completed, we were told that it didn’t make much sense, in the narrative, having the clock saying half past six, when Ben walks up the stairs. I fixed all of these issues in the compositing software Motion 5.

To make my evaluations, I am using iMovie, with a USB microphone.

Question 3

 

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Audience feedback was very useful when we were making our music video. From our feedback we learned that several parts of the music video were unclear. For example, one person thought that the main character was the person who mugged the girl at the start and someone else thought that the necklace that was stolen was actually a pair of earbuds.

Finding out that these aspects were unclear prompted us to make the storyline make more sense and be more coherent.

Another piece of feedback we received was that the timelapse section lasted too long and became boring towards the end. It was also suggested that we replace part of this with a flash back of the mugging scene. This helped to make what had happened more clear and understandable.

Some feedback for our digipak told us that the inside panels were quite boring as they were just pictures on their own. We fixed this by adding a small reel of screenshots to each side. This made the inside panels more interesting for the audience.

Once we had completed the first draft for our magazine advert, we were told that it seemed more like a book cover than a magazine advert. This prompted us to add more text and include ratings from music magazines and websites. These additions helped to make it look more professional and helped to promote the artist further.

Question 2

 

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary products?

We have decided to use the same picture for the magazine advert and the digipak front cover. This picture links to lip-syncing sections of the music video, which helps to give a sense of synergy among the three products. This means that someone who had seen one of the products would instantly recognise one of the others.

In the digipak, for the inside cover, we used a picture from the timelapse section of our music video. This also helps to give a sense of synergy between the products.

Using synergy makes the products more effective as it makes them more recognisable to the target market.

Question 1

 

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

In our music video, we have challenged conventions of the electronica genre. For example, we decided to have a largely narrative based video rather than the performance based videos of other artists. This is because we felt that the song was better suited to a narrative based video.

At the part in the video where Ben drives past the victim and the paramedic, we have illustrated one of Goodwin’s seven points – the artist is seen to be looking/watching the girl.

We have decided to use the colour blue in some points, as well as while colour grading, to connote a feeling of sadness and guilt. We did this partly because we found that people associated guilt with the colour blue during our questionnaire, and also because it is used very commonly in electronica music videos.

The shot of the lift door at the beginning of the music video, conforms to electronica conventions, as these videos often have a small visual effect used to introduce the title.

Humbug Digipak Analysis

The very dull, dreary colour scheme reflects the title, humbug.

The picture, as it looks like it was taken with a very old camera, could connote that the band like to use older recording techniques, making the album reminiscent of older music styles.

The "warning moderate impact coarse language and/or themes" label shows that the target audience is a bit older than that of their previous two albums. The use of the generic label - "and/or" - portrays the band as if they don't really care and they are very easy-going. This is further supported by the picture, showing the band members relaxing.

The track list doesn't have numbers. This also suggests that the band want the audience to think that little effort was put into the album cover, possibly because they feel the only important part is the music. Also, the back panel has a large amount of dead space, further supporting this.

The record label, Domino, has a logo on the back panel. The logo is very small, connoting how, as the band is indie, the institution had little to do with the music produced.

Faithless 2.0 - Avicii Genre Magazine Advert Analysis

This magazine advert is for a remix, by Avicii, of Insomnia by Faithless.

It uses very bold colours to connote that the remix will be very bold and impressive. Apart from the main colour, purple, the reds and yellows used pay homage to the original music video, in which these were the only colours used - the rest of the video was in black and white.

The plain white colour of the text helps to make it stand out against the background.

The font for the '2.0' section connotes an alarm clock, which fits in with the theme of the song - not being able to sleep.

Having the original artist, Faithless, walking away in the picture, connotes that the old version of the song is leaving and it is time to listen to, and accept, the new version, by Avicii.

The stage lights either side of the original artist connote the location of a rave or nightclub scenario. This implies that the song will be good to dance to, which would make it popular among its target market.

Featuring the original artist's name and image on the cover implies that Avicii respects him and wants to make it clear that this isn't his original work. This helps to make the audience respect Avicii, as it shows that he isn't trying to rip off the original artist.


Analysing this magazine advert will help me when making my own, as t has shown me how colour and positioning can be used to connote a deeper meaning.