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

1. a shot that shows a link between lyrics and/or music and visuals

I have picked this early part of the music video because it shows a link between the lyrics and/or music, it is a shot where the only thing the viewer will focus on is the main person (Ben) while he is rapping along to the lyrics, the reason why this is best for the shot is because the rapping and the scenery is a visual and audio example of the main characters lifestyle and his roots. The link between the video and the song is shown in the actors facial expressions and body language, he is emotional involved in the song and he's open with his experiences. The visual effects via editing show the cinematic effect which amplifies the rappers life.

2. a shot that typifies the way a record company would want their artist to be represented 

The reason as to why I chose to select this image is because of the urban city scape, lots of crowds in and amongst our main actor, but you notice how he stands out a little from the rest, him in his green bomber jacket. He's facing away from our camera's. If an audience member see's this shot they'd be intrigued and think that he is a mysterious figure. We want the audience to see him in this way because it will make them interested in it and in the hope they will want to dive deeper into the video and the story behind what's happening and the lyrics as well. 

3. a shot that illustrates how your video uses music genre

The shot is linked to the genre of music, you can perceive it in a similar way as Stormzy or JME would be represented in their music videos, dark lighting and not a clear view of the actors face. It has links with the grime genre and rap genre too. The music vide os a story where we follow someones footsteps and we show the struggles he goes through such as being in debt and being followed by other people who he owes money to. He isn't from a wealthy background and a lot of rap culture comes from the streets. The story is narrated by (Ben) the actor who sings, the actor in the story is who we are following. His story is being told via the lyrics of the song. Where as in a pop song the lyrics are repeated and there possibly isn't as much of a story to follow. A way this is shown is that in our video there are no repetitions and it is all individual shots that haven't been used several times. 

4. a shot that shows an intertextual reference (an image we have seen in another text already – a film, tv show or other music video, for example)

I chose this shot because it is something that can be found in a lot of other music videos, the generic shot of the car being driven to a unknown location. It is something that we had seen in a music video called Schoolboy 1 by John Muir and we gained inspiration from some of the shots and decided to make our own twists and implement it into the video. The over the shoulder shot is something that cinematically looks good for the viewer because it's a more interesting take on it to be able to see where the characters are heading and also being able to see what is going on inside of the car, I believe it's better than the normal basic front facing shot just purely showing the characters face where all you can see is their facial expressions. 

5. a shot that demonstrates your use of camera

The use of camera work fro shot 5 was important as we needed to be able to show the audience a shot that allowed them to see the exchange at several different angels, we thought it would help the scene look visually better. We believed it was key to be able to see the exchange of the drugs from a side view with a slight upwards angle perspective in some regards, we thought it was important because you can actually see what is happening.
So for a viewer they can clearly see the scenario going down. Throughout this scene in the video you can see there is a vast amount of shots such as tracking shots, another over the shoulder shot etc. From a visual standpoint we wanted the scene to look dark and mysterious, it seemed somewhat realistic too as it may be a location as to where a drug deal may go down. The secrecy and the discrete nature of the exchange.

6. a shot that demonstrates your use of lighting

The screen shot I selected displays our use of lighting in the video, in this shot the lighting is dark and eery in a way and it is because we wanted to give off a anticipating atmosphere before the drug deal hit. We put a filter over the top to change the colouring but when we filmed in the location the lighting was dark and this helped us because it fitted into what we wanted to achieve. We liked the dark nature of the location because we felt it would be a more realistic location for something of the sorts to happen.
For the scene to looking mysterious we needed the light to be flatter and less exposed to natural light, hence the reasoning as behind we chose to film underneath a covered walkway, we figured that the weather conditions that day (Overcast) would be able to help us. With it being overcast it helped us because it allowed for much less natural light and absolutely no glare, this helped because we could take advantage of the darkness which you can see.

7. a shot that demonstrates your use of mise-en-scene

The shot resembles a factor of nervousness on behalf of the main character, the way he checks his empty wallet, his facial expression is uneasy. Maybe paranoid about what may happen to him, The birds eye view was important because it did show the viewers that the character doesn't have any money to hand so he won’t be able to pay off his outstanding debts to the dealers. In the scene there is a huge amount of jump cuts between several different angles, maybe there is a deeper meaning behind this, the sharp nature of the jump between shots resembles the characters life and his past, not sure what is going on and never really feeling safe or comfortable so he is always frantic. The camera stability is maybe an example of that too.

The mise en scene is ever present in the video but it typifies it in this shot as the parallel between the story of our video via lyrics in the scene's comes across in the shot with the character showing us as an audience that he doesn't have a single pound to his name, showing he is broke. He is falling down a long and deep path of poverty. 

8/9. Two shots which you feel demonstrate something which shows you have watched other music videos

Screenshot 8 is a shot we filmed out of my car which the Ford Capri (car in shot) then followed so we could get a cinematic shot, we planned to use this shot because we had seen it in several music videos and movies before. The colours are different to the others as the lighting is more positive and this could represent he is heading off to a better place, which could be portrayed as good. Screen shot 9 is displaying the coming together of the protagonist and the singer, who only belongs in the fictional world but it shows the parallel that anything can happen in videos. I know that in Hip Hop and rap there are shots similar to these two, for example Post Malone's White Iverson video feature's him on a Car while it is driver around and some of the shots are similar in some aspects too. We see close up's of the front of the car as it is driving along. In Congratulations (Post Malone) We see Post and His friend exchange fist bump, similar to what our main character's are doing in our music video.

1 - Coldplay / The Scientist. 

- A shot that shows a link between lyrics and/or music and visuals

The link between the lyrics and the music videos itself in this shot is that in the very beginning of the song, the lead singer of Coldplay begins singing along to the song, this is an immediate link between the video and the song. Coldplay don't have too many narrative music videos they are more simplistic performance based, where the lead singer is in a specific location but The Scientist offers a bit off both especially narrative, everyone knows that the song is about love and that is what is displayed within the music video. 

2 - Green Day / American Idiot.

- A shot that typifies the way a record company would want their artist to be represented

The record Label for Green Day will no doubt want Green Day to be perceived as a punk rock band, where they are very much performance orientated and love doing gigs, going wild and playing their music at all costs. The screenshot I have selected from American Idiot (Music Video) it shows the side of the bands performing nature, you look at it and see a rock band where their soul purpose is to create music for their fans. 

3 - Post Malone / Congratulations. 

- A shot that illustrates how your video uses music genre

The song falls under Hip hob and Rap, the genre is upbeat but is also somewhat laid back, the screen shot shows Post Malone smoking with a load of confetti around him, the confetti coincides with the song's name congratulations. 

The music video illustrated the genre because there are lots of media esc people who are producing music while smoking and drinking, then later on in the video they are partying, this stereotypically relates to the music genre of rap and Hip Hop.

4 - Post Malone / Congratulations.

- A shot that shows an intertextual reference (an image we have seen in another text already – a film, tv show or other music video, for example)

This screen shot shows Post Malone smashing a TV with a baseball bat, we have seen scene's like this so many times in the past in lots of music videos and movies. In this circumstance the destruction of the TV is lyrically implemented in the song. The video is a visual representation of the song to put it simple. An example of destruction in music video's could be in several of Green Day's video's where they smash guitars and TV screens just for the hell of it. 

5 - John Muir / Schoolboy Q 

- A shot that demonstrates your use of camera

The shot here is from a Go-Pro mounted on the right hand side of the rear wheel arch on the car. We tried to use shots like this in our own music video 'Still". We gained inspiration from this video by John Muir, the camera angle gives off a really visually satisfying cinematic look to the shot, you will begin to see more shots like this in years to come in video's as it is so accessible. 

6 - John Muir / Schoolboy Q

- A shot that demonstrates your use of lighting

I have selected this shot because the lighting is specifically chosen to be in this way because of the location. A dark alleyway in a poverty stricken residential location. The use of the other car on the other side of the road is shady and it can be seen as a dirty dealing that is beginning to unveil. The lighting gives off the eery atmospheric vibe that will make the audience want to keep watching as they re anticipating the move of the characters involved in the scene. The street lamps giving off a yellow light is good for effect too, as it is in the centre of the street and that leaves the edges in a darker light, which is where the two cars are placed. 

7 - Post Malone / Congratulations.

- A shot that demonstrates your use of mise-en-scene

The shot coincides with the song title, it shows Post Malone and a lot of music producers and girls dancing and parting with confetti and champagne, this shows they are 'Congratulating' something. The use of Mise-en-scene is specific for the song title, once again saying that the song is a visual representation of the story behind the song lyrics and that everything that is going on in the video is just to show visually what Post Malone was singing about. 

8 - Post Malone / Go Flex. - 9 - Mura Masa / Love$ick.

- Two shots which you feel demonstrate something which shows you have watched other music videos

In both shots from both music videos it is clear that the visuals used whether it be the cars or the outfits or general surroundings, they are all common things we see in music videos throughout so many different genre's of music, this is because visually it is appealing towards to viewer and also it is what best suits the tone and the role of the video. In Love sick you could see shots like that in grime artists music videos, general hip hop R&B and just plain rap videos. They're all things we have seen before, that is for a very good reason and shouldn't be criticised. 

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

The magazine advert below is the improved final version of our advert for 'Still'. The base design is still a black and white theme, we kept it black and white because it a continues flow throughout out the entire project, we wanted to colours to be the same through so everything would be in keeping with one another. The reason as to why the advert has been edited is because we wanted to make it look more visually appealing and eye catching. We overlayed other images that were taken throughout the filming process of the production, this was to make sure that all of the images included in our digipak and magazine advert are based around this production.
In the bottom of the advert we added in a shot we took from the weir by the river, it is of sticks stuck in the flowing weir, we thought it looked interesting and liked the way it blended in. The other image is taken from one of the rusting petrol pumps at the out of use petrol station. This is where we filmed our opening scene to the music video. I think in general this magazine advert is better to the previous one mainly because it fits our genre better, visually it looks better too. The editing has improved throughout the process so it only makes sense to have produced our best one yet at the final hurdle of the production. 

3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Above is a reacting video of our friends looking through our final music video, the second video being a feedback video. 
A lot of our feedback has been positive, a lot of the people who viewed our video reacted to it by saying they liked how the genre of the song fit very well with the way that we edited and filmed our video, making it come across as a realistic video that they would've believed is a real video associated with an actual artist. The colouring of the editing that Henry had used (filters) they were noticed in a good way, making the video look professional.
Toby made a good point on the fact that the fluidity of the costume's weren't in sync as he picked out that Jamal at one point wasn't wearing the same colour hoodie, he believed it looked "a bit out of place". Another good thing that was picked out was how towards the end of the video, the screen flashed along with the beat of the song. 
A constant point that had been picked out was that people thought the the timing for the singing was a bit off with the actual song. So that is an element we need to try and fix just to make it that much better. Jess and Mimi had opposite views on whether there should be more performance or narrative, Mimi thought there was more performance needed while Jess thought that there should be more narrative involved as she thought the story could've been easier to follow. The video exceeded people's expectations, coming out better as a few may have expected. 





Above is a video of our peer group about what genre they liked and why they liked it. Not all of them took it very seriously however, it gave us a understanding of what genre they liked and why.
We got to see multiple different opinions from a group of individuals.

Audience Research -
This graph shows the most listened to genre's throughout Great Britain, Spotify have gathered this information, as you can see Hip Hop is in the middle of the graph, showing it is popular but not as listened too as Pop because it is more specifically directed at a separate audience. 

The Treatment Process - (Change of songs) 

Our initial Idea was to use the same Video concept but to use a song by Kendrick Lamar called Levitate, we decided against using Levitate because it was too slow paced and a very repetitive feel came from it, it didn't fit the idea of quick cuts and lots of sequences, which is what we wanted to impose into the video and Levitate simply didn't fit the bill. So we drafted together some idea's and we came up with G-eazy's song Still. Still is a reflective, melancholic track that features Ashley Rose and finds the rapper reflecting on his success, past goals, come up, and the meaning of happiness and success. ~ "Hypebeast". We thought it was a better fit as it wasn't as repetitive and we could actually see the two idea's complementing each other in a positive way. We wanted the video to have a strong narrative side of it, to make the viewer really want to keep watching, we didn't feel as though we had much of a performance aspect involved, but that's down to the genre we tried to use. Still had much more meaning behind the lyrics than levitate did, levitate was based around drugs and getting high and obviously we didn't want that to be one of the key elements of our video so we had to make a change. We believe the change worked out well, it allowed us more freedom with the editing side of things as we could line things up in a good way and it fit the flow of the song very well. 

We had discussed our concerns over Levitate with Mr Milburn and he offered us his opinion on the matter and he agreed with us and advised us to go with Still. We also asked some of our friends for their opinions and all of them turned round and suggested us to go with Still rather than Levitate. 

Kendrick Lamar's album had bad reviews and it isn't too well known and the people who knew of it don't have much positivity to say about it. We didn't want the bad reviews and bad perception of the to negatively affect the outcome of our video itself. We didn't want the viewers to be bored because they didn't like the song, after all people only watch the music video if they actually like the song.

Evaluation Question 4

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

Blogger is the media platform that I have been uploading my work onto. Blogger allows you to create whatever you please and put a personal spin on it and set out your media blog in whatever way you choose with a lot of layout designs. The site allows our classmates to view our accounts freely and also allows Mr Milburn to look to see he can give us feedback on anything we have uploaded. Blog is a self publishing server which allows you to post whatever you wish and embed youtube videos from the HTML and compose tool. It also allows screenshots and photos onto your blog.

 
Final cut pro is a series of non-linear editing software and is used for the construction and the editing of our final piece of media. Final cut pro includes lots of useful tools to help edit our final piece of media. It had lots of effects, transitions, cutting and much more. This makes editing a lot quicker and easier.
 We didn't only use final cut pro for our final piece of media we also used it for the evaluation questions and audience feedback to make it look more professional and to put onto our blogs. Final Cut Pro was used throughout all of the editing that was done throughout the project whether it be behind the scenes or audience reaction videos. 








You Tube is world known as being the hub of free online video content where viewers subscribe to their favourite Youtubers and you can watch his or her's content whenever you wish to. I used You Tube to my advantage throughout our project. I implemented You Tube Videos's into my blog as back up resources, I searched for videos that could help develop my Photoshop skills and Editing skills on Final Cut, Also having used it for gathering information and resources to be able to carry out certain aspects of the project. 






Photoshop is an editing software which allows the user to completely manipulate the image to their liking. I learnt the basics of using Photoshop, this helped me with some of the editing and construction of our final piece of media. 
Photoshop is used by photographers, graphic designers, video game artists, advertising and meme designers. The software is available for a monthly fee, at this writing between $9.99 and $49.99 depending on the user's requirements and options selected. Photoshop CC is compatible with Intel-based Mac computers and Windows PCs. 




Camera Functions-

We used a Canon camera Canon DSLR Video Camera. The device was used for all filming and still shots. The camera overall was easy to use, the UI was simple and the touch screen worked as it should, it functioned and performed as well as we would've expected so we had no complaints.
The camera allows you to adapt the settings to be more suitable for specific types of photography. 
The video below shows how to compensate exposure on the camera settings, I put this video in because in darker lighting the footage varied in  and we had to change the exposure of the lens to be able to make sure the shot wasn't too dark or too light. We liked to keep the aperture on the camera reasonably low because this made the depth of field better and we personally felt that it gave the shots a much more cinematic effect. The settings on the camera massively depended on the day because obviously we cant control the weather so we had to do the best as we could and we had to compensate at times.

As our Camera we used a Canon DSLR Video Camera with a standard lens and a 300-700 sigma lens. This camera recorded everything we did when it came down to the visual footage, it did the job really well.
We used a road video mic attachment to be able to achieve better audio quality rather than use the on camera mic which doesn't do the best of jobs at picking up high quality audio.
The lens was very useful in focusing whilst we were filming. 
On the top of the camera there is a utility which allowed us to screw in our LED light which wasn't used to great effect.The point of the rode video mic was that it was aimed towards the direction that we filmed in and it picked up a much more intense and high quality audio in that direction, it only picks up audio in that direction so the background noise was pretty non existent.

Magazine Advert Final Edit (Time lapse of production)

Final Magazine Advert

Magazine Advert 4