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

ResearchIn order to create an effective Digipak that not only followed conventions but was responsive to the thoughts and preferences of our potential audience, it was important to carry out varying forms of research to gain a varying and balanced feedback sample. For research, I analysed existing elements of a Digipak (video, promotional package and magazine advert) to further my knowledge and understanding of the key features that appear in these things. As someone who already watched music videos for entertainment in my own time, I had a good basic knowledge of the typical formats a video could take and I was aware how the style correlated with the genre of music. However, this time around I made sure to examine the minute details which can often go unnoticed but collectively complete the video and I looked deeper into the connotations and explored references.

I watched existing videos via YouTube which is video-sharing website that allows people to publish and watch videos for free. Because there is no cost and all it requires is a computer with a web browser, it can be accessed by a huge audience meaning your video could

potentially be available to most of the world. Many record labels publish songs and their videos on the site because it is a great way of promoting the product for the ultimate goal of selling digital and physical copies. Many band’s channels on YouTube, including Bastille, are associated with VEVO which is a video hosting service. VEVO help to brand and market videos for a percentage of the revenue, they are able to offer these services because they are owned by search engine Google in a joint venture with other huge companies: Universal Media Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Abu Dhabi Media.

Videos can also be monetised after a certain amount of subscribers and views to add extra incentive to share these videos. YouTube is also great because it is compatible with my blog site WordPress meaning I can embed the videos in my posts making it much more convenient for those who read my blog as the video can

be played without having to open another window/tab.For the analysis of one of the music videos, to vary the form in which I presented the information to keep my followers interested, I decided to take the video itself and add captions at the relevant points. To do this I downloaded the music video for Bastille’s Fake It using an MP4

converter and imported it into Adobe Premier Pro as a .mov file. Here I scaled down the size of the video in order to create a blank margin where I could annotate without encroaching onto the music video. I then added the titles containing analysis using the playhead to accurately start and end titles on the same frame as the shot the notes referred to. Because I intended for the video to play at a normal pace without having to be paused to fully read my notes I was conscious of the length of each text in relation to the shot. This allows

the video to flow and is a creative way to present my findings. I exported the video as an .avi file and uploaded it to YouTube so that I could then make use of the video embedding function on WordPress and put my own video on there. I did a similar thing again with my analysis of the Mumford & Sons video Hopeless Wanderer except this time instead out opting for a visual

explanation I chose an audio approach through recording a voice-over. This was a way of again adding slight variation to my presentation but also was helpful for me to compare the two methods and evaluate which was more effective at delivering information for future reference. Throughout this coursework, in the lead up to production I have been exposing myself to many types of music videos to gain ideas of what works and doesn’t and what would be appropriate for our song Warmth. I also made a conscious effort to watch those which aren’t as mainstream with a huge budget as I had to be realistic about what we could achieve with almost no funds. A common theme for seemingly low cost productions was a narrative based video because of the free, natural setting and more of a focus on emotions rather than materials. Fortunately, this concept was something that wouldn’t look out of place amongst Bastille’s videos with many following a character’s story. From my research of Bastille videos I was able to identify many common, reoccurring features of their videos (and equally as important, things that didn’t appear) and this allowed me to replicate their motif in my video.

My more general viewing notified me of the conventions of music videos like how the camera is very active in comparison to other forms of film (as noted by theorist …). I found the genre of music As well as analysing videos, I needed to gain an understanding of the other parts required in a promotional packaging. The first was a look at the Digipak which was the main product and would be the primary source of revenue with the video and advert just ways of promoting it to increase sales of the album. I searched google images for initially just Bastille’s albums to examine the details on them like what type of images (if any) were used for the slides and on the discs themselves. This research helped me to find certain reoccurring themes like the covers of albums like ‘Bad Blood’ and the extended version ‘All This Bad Blood’ were presented in a similar form as a conventional film poster with credits along the bottom and ‘[company name] presents…’ which gives the impression it is more than just a series of songs but a story. Google images also brought up the covers for many of the band’s singles. There was a clear pattern in their designs in that all the song titles were combined at a perpendicular angle with ‘Bastille’ joined by a shared letter. From the all the music videos seen via YouTube I noticed that each single’s cover image was taken from its respective video creating intertextuality between the two products that the audience can easily identify. This research was very useful and was something we would channel into our own promotional package. A google images search is a great tool because I can find digital copies of images like the album/single covers. This is a much clearer and more professional method of presenting an image rather than uploading a physical photograph which inevitably would lose some of the resolution. I can easily copy the image on to a document of my choice (Microsoft Office program or straight on to my blog for example). By using the advanced settings I can also refine my search to show only results of a certain size thereby removing any small, pixelated images and leaving the clear ones. I decided the best piece of software to present my analysis of digipak’s in was PowerPoint. This was because there was a focus on images and the program has a good array of picture formatting options. I was able to assign a cover/ related selection of covers to each slide so the text was directly relevant. Through SlideShare, a slide-sharing host, I could upload my PowerPoint to be converted into an online slideshow that becomes compatible with many sites including WordPress so it can be embedded allowing visitors to scroll through the slides on my blog. This is a huge advantage for general user convenience. The alternative would be requiring them to open the SlideShare site in a separate tab or worse still they would have to download the file. The only disadvantage of this method is that it would be

a tedious process to update the file as any changes have to be made to the original file and everything has to be re-uploaded manually. The other material was the magazine advert which ultimately has the main purpose of selling the magazine and therefore should reference at least one of the other products. I decided to annotate existing adverts for Bastille and Coldplay in Photoshop to create aesthetically pleasing slides that reflect the creativity that should go into in an advert. Photoshop has much better image manipulation capabilities than any other software at my disposal. Because the advert was portrait, I placed it on a landscape canvas to give room for explanations to the side. For each advert I found an image from google that would provide an appropriate and attractive background. For the Bastille poster I searched for a red brick wall to compliment the browns present in the poster. For Coldplay I discovered a weathered concrete wall picture. The concept was to make it look like a physical poster on a wall- I even added a shadow effect to the adverts to give them some depth and inserted nail heads for added realism to the illusion. Since the brick wall picture had a smashed effect, in order to maximise my space usage and blend further, I utilised the pen tool to draw a custom text box that avoided the bricks thereby enhancing legibility. These .psd files could not be inserted straight on to the blog so I had to instead save them as either .jpeg or .png files. I personally prefer JPEG’s because it opens up in Windows Photo Viewer by default which is very quick whereas PNG’s load in Adobe Fireworks which takes a while to load. As well as research into existing products, it was essential we performed some market research to understand the needs and wants of our audience. The first form of audience research we carried out was quantitative which is a method involving objective measurements and statistics. The best way to collect this kind of information was through a survey which had mainly closed questions tailored to incite numerical/ tangible answers rather than opinions. To get these type of responses we created a free online survey using Survey Monkey. This is a very useful service because it allows the creator to select the format of the question to best suit the type of answer required (e.g multiple choice, ranking, matrix). After completing the survey design, it generates a link which will allow anyone access when clicked. This is one way of mediating who responds to the survey and preventing unwanted people from corrupting the results. I can then analyse the results. However, to make some revenue, this free service offers only a limited version- meaning to have more advanced options available to you, you must upgrade to the pro version at a cost. This basic form means we can only ask a maximum of 10 questions and also have a cap of 100 respondents. This limited the depth and volume of feedback we could receive but overall it was a useful, insightful website.

We also needed to collect quantitative responses as part of our market research. This is subjective and exploratory. We decided the best method to do this was filming an individual/ group speaking as speech is much more expressive compared to writing. Also because we, the surveyors, would be in the room with them at the time it meant there was the possibility of responding to what we heard to build on the point and explore deeper in the reasons. Using a Canon 600D with a RØDE Mic attached, we filmed a small group watching and then answering questions about 3 videos we had specifically chosen because they represented a range of concepts. The footage we captured was edited in Premiere Pro. The digital video allowed us to easily cut with no risk of permanently losing removed parts. We cut any pauses, stutters or hesitiations to keep the video interesting and flowing. We added title slides and a quick mash up of the 3 songs downloaded from YouTube as part of the intro. This video was then uploaded to YouTube to be embedded on our blogs. It was an efficient and entertaining way of presenting the research. My use of technology in this stage simplified my findings so it was much clearer to interpret as there was minimal confusion. The feedback we collected helped to shape and inspire our music video so that it reflected the desires of the audience. My research into existing productsFacebook video been put on vlog- happened throughout becuas ethis album/tour still progressinglead singer appears in a poster for Budweiser. Only after learning this I was able to discover the band are sponsored by the beer conglomerate.Genius lyricsPlanningThroughout the research stage as well as obviously discussing ideas for our own promotional package in class, my group also set up a group chat on, Messenger. It is a free mobile messaging app for our smart phones that allows us to not only message instantly but share photos, videos and audio files. With this we were able to get in touch anytime which was useful if someone had just had an idea and wanted to share it with the group- we worked collaboratively to develop each other’s ideas, thinking of potential problems and solutions too. Because it allows for multiple media’s, we could use pictures/ videos to justify our opinions. It was responsible for a lot ideas/ themes present in video, digipak and advert. Other than the planning, we used it to arrange and communicate on filming days keeping us organised.

To articulate all of our ideas for the package, I wrote a pitch explaining our plans for the final product. To make it as persuasive as possible, the pitch would require a variety of forms from text to pictures to video so I needed a piece of software capable of providing this. To make the presentation as captivating as possible I turned to Prezi. It’s an online tool offering a similar service to PowerPoint however rather than a linear, disconnected series of slides like PowerPoint, Prezi is displayed on one large canvas and has the ability to zoom and pan to various areas. The path the creator chooses to lead the audience on allows emphasis on certain points and leads to a more dynamic narrative. It is certainly innovative and a much more engaging form than the traditional options. I integrated pictures into it plus a video containing the song we used- this was extremely simple to do as just pasting the link would embed the video. Because it is an online service, it was easily accessible as all that was needed was a web browser and internet connection to sign in and load my saved project. Essentially it meant I could gain access from any computer with no need for a USB stick to manually transfer files. I have had a few mishaps with USB’s involving losing it and accidentally replacing the most up to date files so it was less risk stored digitally. To help better plan the sequence for our video and visualise the types of shot we used I made a storyboard. I decided that the easiest way for me to draw pictures was by hand on a storyboard template. However I also wanted to gain the benefits of image manipulation available through digital technology. To achieve the best of both worlds I drew the pictures in a pencil (and outlined them with a fine pen) then used the scanning function of the multi-purpose printer which created a digital copy of the 12 pages and sent them to my email in .pdf form. I opened this up in Adobe Photoshop and using the magic wand tool I selected isolated areas of the pictures which could be registered by the tool. It works by detecting the tone and colour of the pixels so, assuming I had sufficiently closed the shapes in my drawing it could recognise an area of white in contrast to the black pen. With the paint brush tool I could colour in the white space appropriately. I soon realised to increase my productivity, if I held ‘shift’ when selecting parts that I wanted to be the same colour with the magic wand I could chose multiple areas at once and fill them without affecting any accuracy. It was a slightly fiddly process but I definitely believe it accomplished better results since thanks to it being digital: if I made a mistake I could simply undo it, the range of colour was unbelievably broad and the brush fill was much more consistent- all of which wouldn’t be possible with a physical copy. As part of planning for the digipak and advert, we drafted versions in Photoshop. The 6 individual slides needed for the digipak were inserted into a single Adobe InDesign file. Because the two are part of the same creative package they are specifically designed to be integrated. Photoshop brags more detailed design options to precisely edit whereas

InDesign is specialised for processing multiple, large documents and organising them. In preparation for production, we also created a rough font that would appear in all three products to create synergy and a brand identity. This was done in another Adobe program- Illustrator. The ‘Lemon Milk’ font was downloaded and then ‘Bastille’ and ‘Warmth’ was typed out in it. To then make the font less generic and more unique to our product, the anchor points on the letters were tweaked slightly which reshaped them. A rounded corners effect was added to as well for a slightly softer finish. This file, with a transparent background, could be inserted straight onto the video or image. ConstructionThe footage for the film was recorded with a Canon 600D- since there would be no diegetic sound in our music video there was no need for a separate audio attachment (although had we have changed our mind during filming, the camera does have a built in mic). It was highly helpful to be using a digital camera. For me, it’s most useful feature is the LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) for many reasons. Firstly it allows for a greater range of options to choose from to best suit the setting and action- our use extended only as far as editing the brightness or exposure to capture the most appropriate lighting (this could regard decreasing exposure when there is too much light and we are trying to depict a more dull scene or likewise increasing brightness when the protagonist is supposed to be happy). The display screen also showed the framing of the shot so we could see the field of view as well as how the camera was focused. In essence it does the same job as the viewfinder but the larger scale meant it was easier to see if the subject in the frame was correctly focused- it was also better for this group project as we could collaboratively decide the most effective framing whereas only one person can look through the viewfinder at a time. The fact the LCD showed the framing was a huge reason its ability to move was so useful. In compact spaces where the camera was up against a wall to accommodate everything we wanted in the shot, the camera operator would still be able to check everything was how it should be by tilting the screen which could fold out and face any practical angle. In one shot where the camera crabs, I am crouched holding the camera above my head so it can be as flat against the wall as possible all whilst looking through the display screen to ensure the actor’s head is in frame. This saved filming time as there were less reshoots and also improved the quality of the one’s we did take. The ability to playback footage we had just captured was invaluable. On many occasions we: watched back the shot we had just taken, evaluated whether it was acceptable, decided it wasn’t, changed what was causing the problem and retook the shot, repeating until it was right. This instant feedback was so much more efficient and swift than any alternative and certainly saved us a lot of time and effort- especially on those with a miniscule time window like the sunset clip.

The improvements in technology has meant hardware is getting more powerful whilst all the time getting smaller. The DSLR we used, though it wasn’t as tiny as a compact digital camera, is still incredibly small for what it offers which is full HD video. This allowed me and anyone else operating the camera to get into awkward positions and still be able to manoeuvre such as the shot where I am filming from a tree and tilt down as the protagonist runs under me. Its size also meant it could be used for a POV shot. In both cases, it has helped to introduce a larger variety of interesting shots. This was also helped by the different accessories that the camera was compatible with including a tripod and shoulder mount both of which had their unique uses. The tripod was the best option to keep the camera steady when the camera’s actual position wasn’t changing (not including pans and tilts). For when the camera was following the action (tracking or crabbing), the 600D could easily be screwed securely into a shoulder mount thereby reducing any shake when moving. These items helped to enhance the potential and performance of the camera. The only real drawback we encountered with the camera was that it had to be focused manually using the focus ring- this was fine for stationary shots or when the distance between the subject and the camera doesn’t change (e.g. tracking shots) however for shots where the subject was moving and the camera wasn’t or the rate at which the distance between the two changed significantly it became difficult to stay in focus with no automatic feature. This was mainly because the ring was very sensitive to change and the focus became too shallow/ deep. This resulted in poorly executed shots and therefore limited our variety. We did use the manual focus elsewhere to a different effect- in the streets of the city centre I set it purposely to a range that nothing was in meaning everything in the frame was out of focus and appeared blurred. This was to represent the lack of personality and human connection in our everyday lives.Throughout the filming process, we had planned to take pictures in certain significant settings for the digipak and advert so there would be intertextuality between the tree texts because they reference one another. This was simple to do because the 600D has the capacity to take both pictures and videos. After we had finished gathering material, we could quickly transfer the files from the SD card (which provides high-capacity memory in a small size) onto a computer (via an SD card reader if the computer had no specific slot). Once the .mov and .jpeg files have been safely transferred onto the computer and backed up on a USB stick, the card can be cleared leaving space for the next time. The battery can also be removed and recharged which is more economical than replacing it each time. The video was constructed in Premiere Pro (PP). For our intro, which was a montage of terrifying/shocking news clips that the protagonist is shown to

be watching, I downloaded some generic news footage. By also downloading one of Bastille’s own official videos from the same album ‘Fake It’ I was able to crop down their video to leave just the news ticker that was moving at the bottom and place it over the stock news footage I had collected. I used theirs over any other standard banner because the fictitious news company fabricated by the band themselves that it belonged to was ‘Wild World Communications’- a company that heavily features across many of the music videos in this album as well as actual promotional material from the band. Therefore this created a connection to their other videos and added to the ongoing theme. I then transferred this clip into After Effects where I applied a horizontal venetian blind effect to simulate the TV line aesthetic more commonly seen on older TV’s. Because this is the first thing the audience will see of the video, the TV effect suggests to them that they, within their own screen, are watching another screen which is likely being viewed by a character in the video therefore immediately making them share the point of view of the protagonist, compelling them to relate. The newly edited clip was replaced into PP where I then could begin to splice and jumble the initially separate clips into a sequence where the cuts matched the beats of the song. After this I began placing our own footage onto the timeline. It was simple to do this because the videos taken from the SD card could be imported straight in in their original .mov format. It would also allow me to select a folder and import its full contents rather than selecting individual files. I placed the clips roughly in narrative order first. Because of its digitally enabled I don’t have to commit to the position of a shot or cutting its length either like I would with an actual film reel so I can experiment with them a lot more to find the most effective combination. I clipped every video at the start and end to narrow it just to the action we wanted. To edit the cuts between two videos or action on the camera to sync with a beat in the song I firstly located the beat roughly by listening then used the playhead to advance a frame at a time until the sound bar, which registers the volume of the selected layer, peaked. I placed the playhead on that exact frame so when cutting or extending a video, it would snap to that exact point. Most of the editing done to the videos was fairly basic but it was only possible to do in post-production because they are digital. Many edits were done for a dramatic reason, this included: increasing the speed of a longshot in the city centre by 150% to emphasise the lively but ultimately meaningless activity; tweaking the contrast or brightness to convey the character’s mood; rare fade to black transitions when the music dies down just before the chorus starts. The seemingly uninterrupted shot where the camera goes through the wall following the actor outside the house was achieved by blending two individual shots. The first, inside, ended completely black because the camera was moved behind a door frame. The second, outside, started close up to a brick wall so it’s red with the white of the mortar. I cut the first as soon as the

screen was completely black then added a fade from black opening transition to the second video. It created the desired result- a beautifully flowing, slick shot. The edits weren’t just used to add extra meaning to shots but in one case it was used to salvage some footage. A certain shot of the man running towards the camera was very unprofessional (the camera wobbles and he is mostly out of focus) and there were no feasible other takes to use instead either. So to solve the problem and be able to use it without taking away from the overall quality of the video, we reduced the speed by 50% to double the amount of useable film which in the end worked well.In a scene where the protagonist checks his phone to read a notification, the sun reflects on his screen so it’s difficult for the audience to read the message and its contents is fairly important to the narrative of the video. To overcome this problem, I copied the clip into After Effects where I would create a notification pop up next to the phone that is much more legible. Firstly I created the message in Photoshop, taking a generic speech bubble from Google images and filling it black. To replicate the 3D depth an iPhone message has, I added a smaller white shape that looked like a reflection/ glare. On top of this I added a BBC News logo and curved its edges by deleting the inverse selection of a rounded rectangle to stay true to the aesthetic. Knowing that the image needed to blend with environment in the video, I decreased the opacity to around 70%. Finally I added in the same text from the actual notification. This .psd could be placed straight into After Effects. Here I wanted the text bubble to literally pop up. I did this by placing markers at the point in the video where I wanted to specify the size of the image so at the first marker where it was about to appear the scale was set to 0%. The closer the next marker was meant the quicker the shape would increase/decrease in size to that value. My scales went: 0%, 120%, 90% and 100%. This fluctuation in size created a nice, realistic bouncy effect. Now because the phone swayed in his and there was slight camera shake, the text looked to be too far away at times hence with the track motion feature I was able to make the text follow a certain point of the phone. This was a bit time consuming because for it to work there needed to be a clear colour/ tone contrast the software could recognise to track the movement. After a few tries it finally registered an appropriate path that the message could follow. The tracking and scale change worked very well together to create a professional, realistic effect. This was my first time using the program for a complex graphic like this. While it is not intuitive to use (I had some problems with the null objects necessary for tracking) I was able to learn how to do this via YouTube tutorials. There is certainly no way I could have achieved this without them. Something worth mentioning is the dynamic link that connects all the Adobe software. When I changed the image in Photoshop midway through the After Effects process to make the box shorter it automatically replaced the file with the updated version

meaning I didn’t have to manually go through the whole process of applying scaling saving a lot of time and effort. The separate parts of the digipak and advert were created initially in Photoshop before the digipak was assembled in InDesign. The pictures had already been taken while we were out filming in the same locations. Many of the images had a hue applied to them to make the overall colour slightly more yellow as to reflect the warmth of the sun. For the digipak cover, the previously prepared (in Illustrator) band name and CD title was placed over the image. However the white text did not show up well against the part of the picture where the sun was. Having been unable to decide on a different colour that contrasted against the brightness of the sun and worked with the other colours, we applied a thin, black stroke outline to make it stand out but not look tacky.The same text was used for our magazine advert to create synergy but there wasn’t a need for a stroke this time. In the picture we had originally taken, the subject was just to one side of the centre. We decided after, he should be in the middle but moving the picture across the canvas would leave a white blank space to one side or if cropped part of the top or bottom would have to be sacrificed to compensate. Our solution was to use the content-fill tool. It cleverly detects the colours and patterns from the image and fills the selected white space to continue the pattern/image. It worked fairly well mainly because the image is quite simple- there are no complex, detail-saturated parts that could make it look unnatural. It definitely was effective as the advert looked much better with everything aligned down the vertical centre.The three inside slides of the digipak were done in a single Photoshop file because the background was a ‘panoramic’ picture and so it made sense to keep them connected. It isn’t a single picture though, two separate photographs were taken, both panning left and right respectively from a single fixed point. This was done because the camera didn’t have a panorama function but I knew I had access to software that could in essence create the same effect. Knowing I would have 3 digipak slides, all scaled 1x1, I set up a canvas that was triple the width of its height. Once both pictures were inserted and colour adjustments were made to compensate for the slight change in exposure to the sunlight I used the blending tool down the vertical line that they crossed. It helps to soften the sharpness of the change. From this image I took two identical circle outlines for where the discs would go (left and right third) selected the inverse and then lowered the brightness to leave the discs with the same bright appearance and help them to stand out against the background- it implies the CD and DVD will brighten up your day. The same text was used as from all the other products. ‘Live’ written on the DVD, was repurposed from the original ‘Bastille’ text. I took the ‘L’, ’I’, and ‘E’ directly just by selecting them with a box and creating a new layer. The

‘V’ was cut down from the ‘A’ stylised by Bastille as ‘Δ’ by flipping 180° and erasing the horizontal line.Evaluationhorizontalhjg