Question 4 - Miss Georgiou

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

New media technologies refers to the use of blogger, YouTube, Final Cut Pro X, Photoshop CS6 and an SLR camera throughout the various stages of production. The use of media technologies was vital to the success of not only the music video, but the artist as well due to the fact that we were required to create 2 ancillary products (a magazine advert and digipak) in order to advertise and promote the artist to the audience through the use of images that allow the audience to see what she looks like and her name and list of her song names that show the audience what they can expect to hear on the album. Artists often release singles before the actual album, therefore if the artist has listened to some of these singles before and like them, they will be more likely to want to buy the entire album.
During the research stage, for example, the use of blogger provided us with a place to go to in order to confirm and lay out our ideas and to remind ourselves of what needed to be done in order to finish the music video. The use of Google was important when it came to identifying different artists such as Ed Sheeran and Gabrielle Aplin from within our chosen music genre because it enabled us to visit the homepage of these artists, as well as iTunes where we could listen to their existing music, both of which helped us to gain a better understand of their individual style. Moreover, we were required to use YouTube in order to watch existing and successful music videos from the researched artists in order to identify common features from within all of them, for example, in the song 'wings' by Birdy, 'home' by Gabrielle Aplin and 'how long will I love you' by Ellie Goulding the audience are shown close up shots of these artists in order introduce them as the artist into the music video, allow the audience to see what they look like and how they are feeling at specific points within the music video, and to give the video more of a personal feel due to the fact that the close up exposed the artist to the audience, therefore they understood exactly what her emotions were.
During the planning stage, blogger was also used in order to record our group meetings such as the creation of our storyboard and initial ideas so that we had something to refer back to in order to remind ourselves of what needed to be done in order to complete our music video before the deadline and to provide evidence that our final production was actually our own. Moreover, the use of a digital camera and tripod were required when we carried out the photo shoot whereby we took images of the artist to use for the ancillary products (the magazine advert and digipak) that were to be used for the advertisement and promotion of the artist and her album. This was important due to the fact that we had to make sure the audience were aware of who she was and when her album was going to be released in order to maximise her sales and success and aid her longevity within the music industry.
The construction stage was arguably the most important when using new technologies such as Final Cut Pro X, Photoshop, YouTube converter, iTunes and a green screen. A positive of using Final Cut Pro X was that it allowed me to divide up the sections of narrative and performance which helped to make the video more interesting for the audience to watch. Foremost, the use of performance allows the artist to show off her talents such as her ability to play a music instrument which the audience may appreciate as it shows them how committed she is to her music due to the fact that it often takes a lot of time and effort to learn how to play. This may be subversive of what the audience would expect of an artist due to the fact that the music industry is a wealthy industry, therefore people within the industry are often known for being wealthy and people may question whether they do what they do because of the money. On the other hand, the use of a narrative helps to express the deeper meaning of the lyrics to a song due to the fact that the visuals often tell the audience a story and explain to them what the lyrics actually mean. To achieve this division I was required to crop the selected footage in order to make sure it was an appropriate length so that we only incorporated the visuals that were needed. Moreover, it was important for the shots to transition quickly and smoothly due to the fact that we had to tell the audience a story within the space of 3-5 minutes. On the other hand, a struggle when using Final Cut Pro X was making the filters such as 'combat' strong enough for the audience to see due to the fact that I kept the % at which they were applied quite low. I made a purpose of not using too many filters due to the fact that I wanted to give the music video more of a realistic feel to it and to portray the artist as being more natural which is conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that the indie is often perceived as being old fashioned and not fitting into the mainstream, however, the genre is also more realistic and relatable for the everyday audience who are unable to the idea of wealth that is often associated with the music industry.
A benefit of using Photoshop (PCS6) was my ability to change the images of the artist so that they appear black and white in order to give the products more of an old fashioned feel which is conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that the genre is known for having a vintage feel and for not fitting into the mainstream like the pop genre. The colours black and white arguably connote the idea of the past which is conventional as indie artists often release songs that are based on real life experiences, therefore the ancillary text will feel more personal to the artist and will allow the audience to get to know more about her. Moreover, I was able to download fonts from 'dafont.com' onto Photoshop CS6, in particular, fonts with a handwritten and typed appearance due to the fact that I felt this style would help my ancillary texts to appear more personal because it looks as though the artist has written the information herself, this included her name and the name of the songs from her album. This is arguably conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie artists are known for writing their own music based on real life experiences, therefore the lyrics of the songs will relate directly to their life and be more personal to her allowing the audience to get to know more about her life. The use of a handwritten font such as 'Sunshine' and 'DK Lemon' for the song names could imply to the audience that she has written the songs herself.
Furthermore, a benefit of using an SLR camera is that enabled us to use more advanced and complex forms of cinematography such as shallow focus which can be seen in my music video when the artist is seen walking through a cornfield performing for the camera. In order to achieve this technique we positioned the camera on a tripod at the same height level as the artist herself, therefore the camera was directly facing her eye level. As she walked closer towards the camera, I turned the lens at the front of the camera so that the image of the artist gradually became clearer and the background blurred, thus causing the audience to focus directly on the artist and giving more movement to the visuals. Moreover, the quality of the images from an SLR camera were much better than that of a digital camera, therefore we were able to produce clear visuals of the artist which is beneficial for her and the audience due to the fact that she was new to the music industry, therefore not many people will have known who she was or what she looked like, however, now when they see her image they will be able to recognise her in other aspects of the media which will potentially increase her exposure and boost her longevity within the industry. Furthermore, due to the fact that indie is not mainstream, indie artists will not make a lot of money therefore it will be unlikely that they will be able to afford high quality equipment to film with, however, the SLR camera will help the video to appear as though it has been created with expensive, high quality equipment, thus giving the video more of a profession feel to it. On the other hand, one thing I struggled with when using the SLR was keeping the camera stable due to the windy and outdoors environment that we were filming in, therefore I had to use the stabilising tool in Final Cut Pro X by selecting these specific sections of the video and dragging 'stabilisation' onto it.
In conclusion, new media technologies were important when creating my music video and ancillary texts (magazine advert and digipak) due to the fact that I had to think more about the branding of the artist in order to ensure her longevity within the music industry due to the fact that her career and relationship with the audience is more on-going in the sense that even after the music video has finished she will continue to produce music for the audience to buy. Moreover, the narrative within the music video relates directly to the artist due to the fact that indie artists will often write their own music which suggests that when the audience see her in the music video she is being herself rather than a made up character, thus allowing the audience to get to know the real her. The use of a close up image of the artist in both my ancillary texts and music video helps to give these products more of a personal feel due to the fact that the audience can clearly see what she looks like and how she is feeling which is beneficial to the artist due to the fact that she is new to the music industry, therefore not many people will know who she is. Now, however, the audience know what she looks like and will therefore be more likely to recognise her in other aspects of the media. It is also important that the audience know who's music they are buying into so that they have someone that they can relate the songs to. The main software's used for the evaluation stages of the production were YouTube and Final Cut Pro X, for example, the rough cut of my music video was uploaded onto YouTube 2 weeks before the deadline so that we could received target audience feedback in regards to what they liked and disliked about the music video so far and how we could improve it, therefore we had the chance to go back over the video on Final Cut Pro X where we had created the video and change the identified weaknesses of the music video in order to help our finalised music video appeal to the target audience.