joseph beard - media evaluation

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For our Media Studies coursework, we had to do one of the following for our advanced portfolio: • Music video • Soap opera • Film trailer Me and Roxanne, who I worked in a group with, chose to make a music video for our project, which consisted of making and producing a video, designing a Digipak CD cover, and making an advertisement poster that would appear in a magazine. We decided to use our own band, Undershot, to base our coursework on. Using our own song for the video, it meant that we had to record and produce our single track We both took equal part in filming and worked together on both making the music video, and the ancillary tasks. Although we both worked on the whole project, I was in charge of editing the video, although Roxanne also edited, and she was in charge of the ancillary tasks, with help from me.

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Page 1: Joseph Beard - Media Evaluation

For our Media Studies coursework, we had to do one of the following for our advanced portfolio:

• Music video

• Soap opera

• Film trailer

Me and Roxanne, who I worked in a group with, chose to make a music video for our project, which consisted of making and producing a video, designing a Digipak CD cover, and making an advertisement poster that would appear in a magazine.

We decided to use our own band, Undershot, to base our coursework on. Using our own song for the video, it meant that we had to record and produce our single track ourselves, which is called ‘Jarhead’.

We both took equal part in filming and worked together on both making the music video, and the ancillary tasks. Although we both worked on the whole project, I was in charge of editing the video, although Roxanne also edited, and she was in charge of the ancillary tasks, with help from me.

Page 2: Joseph Beard - Media Evaluation

The first step of our project was research. This meant that we had to research bands similar to ours, what type of record label our band would be on, what our target audience would be, and how we would present the band.

We started by looking at bands such as Foo Fighters and Alexisonfire, who have a similar image to our band, with the more rough “jeans and t-shirts” look.

The similarities of our band’s image and these band’s images are very close.

We looked at branding in order to look at the categorization of bands. This would be the typical band image with relation to their typical genre. For example, a casually dressed band of males with long hair is usually a rock band.

Page 3: Joseph Beard - Media Evaluation

As part of our research, we looked at what our target audience would be in order to plan our project to relate to them.

We decided that a target audience of 16 – 21 is most likely the age group that would be most interested in the type of Rock band that ours is.

The way that we found this was by looking at what age group appeared at concerts of bands similar to ours, such as the bands discussed before.

Through this research, it gave use the idea of a more serious approach to making our music video, based mostly around the music and performance. From this, we decided to make a performance video.

Page 4: Joseph Beard - Media Evaluation

For our music that we used in the video, we used our own song that me and Roxanne both performed in and produced using a recording studio. As it is our band in the music video, we decided to use our own music, which meant that we had to produce a song to use for the music video. We used Logic Pro Studio 8 software on an Apple Mac Pro. We wanted to keep our coursework as original as possible and we wanted to make it realistic.

Page 5: Joseph Beard - Media Evaluation

Our music video starts with the title, which types across the screen.

When the video starts, it starts in black and white, showing equipment being set up in a music studio, from when we recorded our song, and also preparing for the performance for the video. We used the greyscale effect in order to show the ‘behind the scenes’ part to the video.

The song starts with an extreme close up of the kick pedal of the drum kit in order to emphasise the beat of the song.

We then use an establishing shot in order to set the location of performance and to introduce the band.

Our video challenges the usual media approach to music videos as ours is solely about the band, with no story to it.

Page 6: Joseph Beard - Media Evaluation

We used a create selection of different shots in order to show the performance in a closer perspective. We used close ups, extreme close ups, and many, many more.

This included shots of the drum kit, the bass guitar, and the electric guitar. These are in order to emphasize the performance in a more ‘up-close’ way.

(E.g. Bass Guitar being played – strings, Mid shot of drummer playing)

We decided to make the video as ‘raw’ as possible, in order to show a more music-based approach, and to represent a band that would not be on a major record label, but on an independent label.

Page 7: Joseph Beard - Media Evaluation

Many shots are used through out, such as mid shots, mid-long shots, and close ups. We decided to have a variety of shots to make the performance-based video interesting, and not boring.

Throughout, there are greyscale shots of vocals being sung in the recording studio, which is used as a documentary-like way to show the recording of the song, and the different ways that bands are represented, rather than the typical gig representation.

Documentary style shots are also used at the beginning of the video which features shots from a music recording studio, and also the band getting ready for the performance.

Page 8: Joseph Beard - Media Evaluation

Mid long shots/establishing shots are essential to the video in order to show the band as full. This is used in order to show that the music is by the band, for the audience, and that performance is important.

From both left and right, we captured footage in order to show variation, and to make the shots of the full band much more diverse.

These are used throughout, in order to bring the band together, as opposed to the various shots of band members and their instruments.

It is obvious by the appearance of the band that the image of the band is a ‘grungy’ look.

Page 9: Joseph Beard - Media Evaluation

We edited the video to have shot changes on the beat of the song, which make the video run smoothly. We did this because this is a typical technique used in most music videos. Using Final Cut Express on the iMac computers, we edited the video to look professional. We decided to make the video natural by only using a rough story board, and letting the video shots fit in naturally together, to give it a real performance ‘vibe’ (See video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz9rhSmXixM )

Our equipment used was essential. As the band is a rock band, it meant that it had to consist of real instruments.

The equipment we used were:

• 2 x Electric Guitars

• 1 x Bass Guitar

• 3 x Amplifiers

• 1 x Drum kit/Cymbals

Page 10: Joseph Beard - Media Evaluation

As part of our project, we had to create a Digipak CD cover design of four sides. As part of our planned, we looked at CD album art of many rock bands. For our CD front cover, we included the band name, ‘Undershot’, and the album name, ‘This City Is Going Up In Smoke…’, along with the artwork.

For the whole Digipak, we stuck to the typical conventions of a rock band album. We did this by using black, white and red colouring. Many bands such as Green Day and The Blackout and good example of rock album covers...

Page 11: Joseph Beard - Media Evaluation

The Blackout’s EP, entitled ‘The Blackout! The Blackout! The Blackout!’ uses few colours, which is typical of a rock album.

Foo Fighters also carry this trait with their album ‘One By One’.

As we wanted the band to be presented as a typical rock band, such as Nirvana or Foo Fighters, it meant that the band had to have a message to say, through their music and image. This message was that it is ‘about the music’. This meant that the Digipak had to be designs that either had a concept about them, such as the name of the CD, or have images of performance

Page 12: Joseph Beard - Media Evaluation

For our other ancillary task, we had to design a poster for the band’s CD. We designed a poster that would most likely be in a magazine such as Kerrang! Magazine as many bands have similar advertisements on a weekly basis, usually on the back cover of the magazine, or inside. We used the same colouring as the Digipak, with colours of the band’s image, as well as the front cover of the CD shown in full.

An example of a poster that appeared on the back of Kerrang! Magazine is the advertisement for AFI’s latest album, ‘Crash’. It shares the similar conventions of our poster. These consist of eye-catching design/logo, and the short, brief information that is quick and easy to read

Page 13: Joseph Beard - Media Evaluation

For our audience feedback, we asked the following questions.

1. Did you enjoy the video? YES (100%) NO (0%)

2. Was it effective? YES (70%) (30%)

3. Did the video need a story to accompany performance? YES (80%) NO (20%)

4. Was the video typical of it’s genre? YES (100%) NO (0%)

5. Do you think the video fit the right conventions? YES (90%) NO (10%)

From the 10 people asked for feedback, it is clear that the video would have been more effective if it had a story to accompany the performance. When we asked what improvements could be made to each person, the majority said that it could be improved if it had a story.

Page 14: Joseph Beard - Media Evaluation

In conclusion, I believe that our music video, Digipak and poster are effective as they have the typical conventions of a rock band. The music is original and our own which makes the project creative. Although I believe there could have been a few improvements, such as the location and the lack of story, I think that the video was well presented. It ticked every box that we intended it to.

What made our product original and different from all other projects in our class was our music that we used. It kept our product as ‘organic’ as possible, making it our own.

Using Adobe Photoshop, Final Cut Express and Logic Pro Studio 8, we put effort into our video, which is shown through all of our tasks.

I think that both I and Roxanne worked well together as a group and made an effective and interesting portfolio.

View the video here:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz9rhSmXixM

Page 15: Joseph Beard - Media Evaluation