My Final Music Video

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

I used new media technologies in all stages of my coursework. In the construction, I used video editing software ‘Final Cut Pro and iMovie’ to compile and edit my video. Using these software were not easy at first but by the time I’d finished editing the video, I was confident in using the basic features. I used ‘Photoshop’ to produce the CD package and background to the magazine advert. I am very familiar with what this software has to offer due to using it in AS Media Studies. PowerPoint I used to create the rest of the website and this evaluation. Though you might not expect this software to be able to create a website, I found it very good. When doing research and planning, I used the internet and it’s services like YouTube that offer me music videos that I can analyse using ‘Microsoft Word’. I also used ‘Blogger’ to present my work electronically as a blog. This shows that I am capable of using a variety of different new media technologies.During the production of the products, I have used multiple types of technologies. During the research of my chosen brief, I used the Internet and PowerPoint to make an interactive and appropriate way to view the final research. In AS media, I didn't use this form of presentation, so using this software was different from the essay form that we used last year.Another technology that we used was the blog that I set up to display my work in an easily accessible and creative way. By using the blog to let other people view my work, I used a variety of ways to display my work in a more creative way compared to last years AS coursework. For example, this year I used PowerPoint presentations (uploaded onto www.slideshare.com ) and images such as spider diagrams to show all my work in a clearer way. In the filming of our music video, I haven't  used the new digital camcorders available from the media department to film our video,instead I've been using my FlipCam, which made the whole process much faster and easier.The editing process was different for each of my products as I used different products to create different effects that I wanted. I used software such as Adobe Photoshop. By using software like this I was able to produce professional looking products that were eye catching and interesting. In the editing of the music video, I used Final Cut Pro on the Mac Book computers. We didn't use this software last year so it took me a few lessons including extra sessions on the weekends to get used to this software, which at the end was worth it! For the magazine advert, I primarily used Adobe Photoshop. I used this software because it made it easy to put pictures and text where we wanted it to but also gave me the option of putting effects on images and adjusting anything I wanted. I found it very easy to use Photoshop, also because I was lucky to have a tutorial in my class, therefore it made it easier and quicker. 

What have you learned from the audience feedback?

The audience feedback has helped me to improve and produce a better product, whether it was my music video, the digipak or the music advert.
After producing a rough cut of my music video, I showed my music video to my two media studies teachers  to get some initial feedback from the potential audience so that I could make some changes to the music video. After making some of the changes they suggested, I then previewed my music video to the whole of our media class and received more feedback to help me to be critical about my work and identify my strengths and weaknesses in the production of my music video. From the audience feedback, I have learnt a lot about the preferences of different audiences and also what they ask for from a house music video genre in order to make it successful. It also helped me to be more critical about my own music video as I was able to identify the problems I had in the video and know what I could improve to gain a high quality product. One of the feedback forms that I received helped me particularly to improve my music video, by changing thew lightning of the whole music video to Black and White, and only change it back to normal when the scene cuts back to the different Clubs. However, there were some back feedbacks as well, where some people did find some of the effects that I used repetitive. I think that the strong factor in the music video are the shot of all the different locations, which makes it all more professional and added to the over impact of the music video.

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

I feel that the combination is very good. I have tried very hard to link all of my products together and I think it shows. After making the main product (the music video) in black and white. I thought it would be appropriate to make the two secondary products (the website and CD) a bit different by using colors. The CD also features similar material and the picture of the different locations are linking it back to the video.I think that the CD and the magazine advert link together very well. All the fonts and main colours that I've used are featured on both, the artist logo is Spread throughout both products and the CD is even featured on the magazine advert as an upcoming album that can be pre-ordered. I think this is how artists would do the same. They want their look and logos to be widely known and this can only happen if they spread their conventions across their products. Though I have only used conventions here, I feel it’s the only way that it would even be done in the real world.Within my magazine advert, I tried to reuse certain elements from the music video, such as fonts, text, layout of words and pictures to link together all of the products and create a ‘brand’ for the artist single. By creating a sub-brand for the single and the additional products available, audiences are able to recognise the products and also the artist, which increases their popularity and boosts income. When designing the products I established the colours, fonts and images  for all of the products in order to create similarities within the products and easier to be identified. By having this already produced and designed I was able to produce the products within the style and reinforce the ‘brand’ feel to the products. For example, by using the same background in each of my products I was able to make a continuous style for the products, which were easily recognized to be a similar or "sister product". I moved this further, by creating a logo for the artist using the artist name, which was printed onto each of the products (printed and the music video).

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

My media products predominantly use conventions of real music videos, CD digipaks and Music Advert. My music video has taken ideas from videos that I analyzed. I wanted to do it in black and white and for it to be focused mainly on the story rather than on the artist. My audience are used to the conventions of music videos, most of them being focused on the different locations. They are not however used to them being in black and white. So here, I have had a balance using and not using conventions. I found a variety of different music videos to analyze, including ones that are and are not in black and white, and ones that are and are not focused on the story. My bands digipak front cover reflects upon those already on sale. It features the band name on the bottom right corner and also the album name . Much like many of the ones that I analysed. The rear of the CD package features common conventions like the track names, but the track names fit in better with the background image by flowing down the curves. I feel I have developed on a convention here by improving viewing pleasure. Comparing it to ‘The Temper Trap’ one I analysed, I feel it features much more by having more to look at when first viewing. The artists Blog that I've done is also another way to develop forms and conventions of real music products, by adding information about the artist and the genre, backgrounds, pictures, videos and statistics. The software I've being using to develop a real media music video has been a vital part for the great result of my Music Video, softwares such as Final Cur Pro, iMovie, Microsoft Power Point, Adobe Photoshop CS5, Adobe InDesign CS5 which also have expand my technological knowledge of this programs to develop forms of a real media products. Overall, all of the products created are linked together in some form or another, which makes the set of products obviously part of a brand. They also have characteristics from the genre in each of the product that would make them popular and fit the style of product associated with that type of music.

Alternative Rock

Alternative rock (also called alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a genre of rock music that emerged in the 1980s and became widely popular in the 1990s.
Alternative rock consists of various subgenres that have emerged from the independent music scene since the 1980s, such as grunge, Britpop, gothic rock, and indie pop.
These genres are unified by their collective debt to the style and/or ethos of punk rock, which laid the groundwork for alternative music in the 1970s.
At times alternative rock has been used as a catch-all phrase for rock music from underground artists in the 1980s, and all music descended from punk rock (including punk itself, New Wave, and post-punk).
While a few bands like R.E.M. and The Cure achieved commercial success and mainstream critical recognition, many alternative rock artists during the 1980s were cult acts that recorded on independent labels and received their exposure through college radio airplay and word-of-mouth.
With the breakthrough of Nirvana and the popularity of the grunge and Britpop movements in the 1990s, alternative rock entered the musical mainstream and many alternative bands became commercially successful.

Origins From Sweet Disposition - Temper Trap

BAND TEMPER TRAP

The Temper Trap is an alternative rock band from Melbourne, Australia noted for its atmospheric sound, featuring grand guitars set to pulsating rhythms. The band is signed to Infectious Records Michael Gudinski's label Liberation Music, and in the United States it is signed to Glassnote Records.The band released their debut album Conditions in 2009 to favourable reviews and commercial success.Members of the Temper Trap met at Wesley College, Melbourne. worldwide, except for Australia and the United States.

History

The Temper Trap first attracted the attention of the worldwide music industry after playing to sell-out crowds at the Musexpo in London in October 2008, and then at South by Southwest in March 2009. The BBC chose The Temper Trap in its top 15 Sound of 2009.
The band finished recording their debut album, Conditions, with veteran music producer Jim Abbiss in March 2009 in London, after 4 weeks recording the bulk of the album in Melbourne in late 2008.Mandagi said his key influences when recording Conditions included Radiohead, Prince, Massive Attack, The Jester People and U2.The album was released in Australia on 19 June 2009, and debuted at #9 on the Australian ARIA Charts. It was released in the UK on 10 August 2009.
The band moved to London in early May 2009 to "spend a bit of time on the continent and try and build a fan base over here", according to lead guitarist Lorenzo Sillitto. He says "it was always our dream to at least come over here and give it a good crack early on". In August 2009, the band played the Reading/Leeds Festival. In September 2009 the band embarked on their first headlining UK tour to largely sold out venues, such as the 250-capacity Hare and Hounds in Birmingham and the 300-capacity Arts Centre in Norwich. The tour started in Brighton on September 17 and finished back there on September 29. They were supported by the Goldhawks.
On 5 August 2009, The Temper Trap played an intimate performance on a Balcony over London's Camden Lough promoting the release of their single "Science of Fear" on the music viral show BalconyTV.In late November 2009 the band canceled sold-out show dates in Germany to return to Australia to perform at the ARIA awards.
Throughout 2010, the band continued to tour extensively throughout the UK as well as appearing at several music festivals such as Oxegen, Glastonbury, Rock Werchter, Roskilde Festival, V Festival as well as Big Day Out and Splendour In The Grass in Australia. In the US, the band embarked on their first headlining tour, with the single 'Sweet Disposition' receiving significant airplay and appearances in commercials and television shows. Shortly afterward the band received an APRA songwriting award for 'Sweet Disposition'.This was followed by comeback tour in Australia in July, playing to crowds of over 5000 people; their second largest to date, being the first one Mexicos City's Corona Fest on october 16.
In an interview with a Melbourne newspaper in July 2010, the Temper Trap revealed that they are planning to work on their second album in the near future - as soon as their scheduled tour comes to an end - and slated the release of their 'crucial second album' as being sometime in late 2011.