Question 4: How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, and planning and evaluation stage?

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Question 3: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

 

We had teachers from different departments come and be our audience. Before the teacher asked the audience questions they were asked to fill out a questionnaire.

The questionnaire included a rate of how basic, proficient or excellent our variety of camera angles and frames, shooting material appropriate to the task set, setting, lighting, costume, facial expression etc. were. We got a mixture of basic/proficient/excellent for our variety of camera angles however it was more dominated by the excellent. The shooting material had been marked excellent throughout the different questionnaires, which exemplifies how well we have stuck to our research and planning. The setting, lighting and costume received basic, this was due to the fact that we had only filmed in one place and used clothing that was appropriate to our video. The lighting however was meant to be dark so that it could have shown professionalism, since the footage hadn't looked very appealing when the light was bright. Furthermore, we got proficient and excellent on how we've edited the video, the syncing sound, appropriate use of transitions, facial expression and body language. We would say that these were our strongest points throughout the video as the actresses really got into their role, especially the main actress who had lip synced. It was hard to place the clips on the right bit to where the singing was meant to be, however we've done it to a proficient level. Most of the audience had recognised the genre of the video which means we have done exactly what we've found out from our research. There was a subtle narrative to the video, however, the audience had still recognised we were going for a "strong, independent woman" as the narrative and some had recognised that R'n'B videos rarely have a narrative. The target audience had been reached as our audience recognised who the video is aimed at, which depicts us following our research. The weaknesses of the video was evidently the costumes, lighting and variety of shots.

If we had to do the video again we would have used a variety of settings - rather than just one - more appropriate costumes so that the actresses are more "glammed up" to match the R'n'B aesthetic. However, we would most probably still use the lighting we had used as it makes the video a lot more professional rather than it looking like a school project.

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

Question 1: In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Directors commentary of Diva

Making The Video

During the making of our video we added a bare minimum effects as our video was too upbeat to add any transitions in it and the lighting we had used during the filming worked well in our video. Here is a screenshot of our opening footstep scene that was reversed. We had to import the same clip into our sequence in order for the reverse to work because the clip would have been too short otherwise. We changed the speed to 100 to keep up with the song as well as frame blending it with the other clip.

We had changed some of the brightness and contrast on some of our footage as the singer had camouflaged with the setting. It was a trial and error as we first brightened it to 10 but that was too light and made the singer look grey scale. So, to avoid that happening we've simply changed it to 4 and then rendered it.

This is a screenshot of one of the footages being rendered. This was our longest bit of footage which took rending up to 2 minutes max. While the clips had been rendered, we were unable to do anything else to the footage as it completely locked the video.

At the end of the video we decided to add a fade onto our footage and music simply by going into effect > audio transitions > cross fade. We then set how long we wanted the fade to be and changed the duration to 5 seconds. This allowed us to make the music fade out at the end of the video.

Music Video Coursework 2015: Diva - Beyonce

Poster

We have created a poster promoting our artists tour which would have been found around cities, for example, on the underground in London. We've decided to keep the poster plain and simple as we compared it to artists posters such as Beyonce. We've kept it simple without giving out too much information to keep the fans anticipated for the tour and album of their favourite artist. We have used a big and bold font to draw attention of fans and other people who enjoy the genre but may not have heard of our artist. We've included the album cover and wrote underneath "New album out Autumn 2015"which again, would bring anticipation of fans.

Digipak

This is the digipak I have created for my artist as a part of my coursework. We have decided to make the image black and white as we had compared it to Beyonce album I Am... Sasha Fierce. The reason we had decided to make the front cover image into the letter "A" was because we had looked at another R'n'B artists front cover - Rihanna - who has an album with only the letter "R." However, she doesn't use the same style we have used but we thought we could have a unique turn to it. We've copied the front cover onto the actual CD to show a clear link in the digipak. On the back cover we used a bold font and black colour to make the track list stand out. We picked titles for songs that would have been generically found on R'n'B digipaks, including a remixed song. Underneath we included copy rights, websites that you can find the artist on, record label logo and the barcode, which are all typical conventions of a digipak. We had used a nude colour as the background to have the track list and front image stand out.

Filming and Editing Schedule

Feedback from Survey

In order to review what went well in our auxiliary task, we sent an email to our Media class and asked them to fill in a survey we created on surveymonkey to receive feed back.

Most of the feed back was very positive and helpful, it has allowed us to see what worked well and what we should work on. After we received the feedback we haven't changed much on the website as we decided the feedback allowed us to see that the website works well enough without needing to adjust it. 

Ancillary Task - Facebook Page

 We created a Facebook page for our artists as our auxiliary task. We created this page so that the artists can keep in contact with fans by updating her statuses frequently and checking in to various locations. We have followed the typical conventions of what an artists is supposed to have on their Facebook page such as a profile picture, a cover photo and added information on her about as well as inserting her website.

Requesting Location Permission

We have emailed the schools dance teacher requesting permission to use the dance studio to record the main footage for our music video.

Ancillary Task - Website

We have created a website for our artist on weebly.com. We chose to do a blog rather than a site because it was easier to maintain and it looked a lot better, as well as suiting our genre. At first it was hard to get about and how to actually edit our site, but we ended up doing a good job. We looked at the typical conventions of what an R'n'B artists has on their website. Majority of them had an about page and a contact page, including an area where fans can submit anything to the artist; whether its enquiries, questions or fan mail.

Digipak Photoshoot

Digipak photoshoot on PhotoPeach

​ As an auxiliary task for our media coursework we have to make a digipak. Rather than just asking our model to quickly take one image, we decided to have a photoshoot. The first photoshoot we had done was unsuccessful, as we did it in front of a brick wall. When we went to into Photoshop to edit the background, it was deleting bits of the models hair and looked very amateur. We decided to re-locate and found a blank white wall which worked perfectly for the shoot. We had taken various photographs with different poses, one serious and some that were considered as "silly" poses.

Ancillary Task - Twitter Page

We created a Twitter account for our artists as Twitter is one of the leading social media platforms currently on the Internet. Many people use Twitter to follow their favourite artists to keep updated on them. On our artists Twitter we decided to tweet music related tweets to engage our audiences. In the tweets there are emojis and x's to relate to the younger audience who use emojis everyday. We've added 'official' to the username as stereotypically famous people have this in their name to differentiate from fake/fan accounts. We've added minimal information to the bio about the artist - just her age and profession. We have also added a little promo which is what a lot of artists usually do to promote themselves to a wide audience. We have also included a contact for any bookings, which is again what artists do on their social media accounts. Finally, we included the artists website in the links so that its easy for people to be redirected to other social media platforms the artist may have.

Contact with the Band

We have written an email to Beyonce's management team requesting permission to use her track in our coursework. We have sent the email and are currently awaiting a reply.

Actors' Profile

Singer: Abrah Johnson (left)




Backing dancers: Ruth Osei (centre) and Cherrice Baffana (Right)

Name: Abrah Johnson

Age: 20

Occupation: Singer and Dancer

Email: abrahjohnson@grenquiries.co.uk

Contact: 06492805064

Abrah Johnson is singer/dancer. She is known for her great singles and empowering voice along with her most iconic dance routines. 

Name: Ruth Osei

Age: 21

Occupation: Dancer

Email: ruthosei@grenquiries.co.uk

Ruth Osei is a well known backing dancer and has featured dancing with many famous artists. She is most famous for her enthusiasm and professionalism in her choreography. 

Name: Cherrice Baffana

Age: 19

Occupation: Dancer

Email: cherricebaffana@grenquiries.co.uk

Cherrice Baffana is another well known backing dancers and has also appeared dancing with many famous artists, Ruth and Cherrice have worked together before in previous music videos and on stage and compliment each other. She uses her flexibility to her advantage in her dancing and has a vibrant personality which shows in her choreography.

REECE - Risk Assessment

We completed the risk assessment form for the places we will be filming our music video at and then signed it off. Majority of our risks were low/medium and easy to deal with.

Story Board

We have created a detailed storyboard of the first 16 scenes of our music video. We covered most of the things we will be using with props and different angles and what scenes have choreography in there.

Prop List

Props
We have chosen to use these props for our music videos as they link well with the lyrics of the chosen song. For example, the lyric "fifty million round the world" we thought the actress will spin the globe and where the lyric ends with "and they say I couldn't get it" the actress will stop the spinning globe and look into the camera with a fierce expression. The crown will be used as a part of costume for the lyric "the one that they call me queen" to emphasise the lyric as well as the royalty. For the money prop we've thought of linking it to the lyric "getting money, divas gettin' money" and have the actress use the money as a fan. The prop emphasises the idea of her getting a lot of money and being a "baller."

Costume Plan

This is a mood board for all three actors on the video. One of these outfits - the queen outfit is specifically for the main actor of the video - are for the actors as in the original video they all wear similar costumes. We chose to look at cropped shirts to sexualise the women as many women in the R&B industry are sexualised. We chose to use heels to portray the message of power in the song. The queen costume is to emphasise the lyric "the one that they call me queen."

Branding/Style Construction

From researching existing record labels, we've designed our own on Photoshop. The record label are called Gold Recording (GR). We chose this style of font as it has a sophisticated and polished element and the colours represent the mainstream pop/RnB genre. We used a black background as we identified that as a typical code and convention of RnB record labels as it forces the letters to stand out. The 'G' is coloured in gold to emphasise and represent the name of our record label.

Production Company

Analysis of Chosen Song (Music Video)

The video starts off with the definition of a diva to define what she means by it to end the misinterpretation of a diva. The video has one location throughout the video which is an abandoned warehouse. Warehouses are stereotypically ran by men, and the idea of Beyonce being there portrays her power, specifically highlighting female power with her choice of shoes. Dancing in heels in an warehouse depicts women being able to do anything. The choreography and props fit perfectly with the lyrics of the song, as well as the outfits Beyonce wears throughout the video. The video has natural lighting as well as spotlights. The spotlights emphasise her as being the focal point of the video. The effect of the video being black and white is a dull way to show power, however there are certain objects in the video (such as the big golden statue and fire) that are in colour, which that indicates power. At the end of the video she throws her cigarette into a truck full of manikins and as she walks away from it the truck explodes. This dramatises Beyonce's power which is a good finishing touch to a dynamic video. As well as that, at the end of the video her next single starts playing which is a promotion within a promotion.

Lyric Analysis

Diva - Beyonce is a song about women gaining dominance and power, implying that men who believe they're superior aren't what they think they are. The alter ego in the song proclaims she is the 'number one diva in the game'. The alter ego is money orientated in the song. The lyric 'if you ain't gettin' money, then you ain't got nothing fo' me' puts an emphasis on her money orientated mind, she must stick to power and money portrays most power. She then goes on to say 'where yo' boss at?' again referring back to the power she is striving for. She clearly shows that she has no time for those who aren't in power. The constant repetition of the chorus is to emphasise the female power that is portrayed through this song, its to make it sound catchy and remind people that she is the greatest at 'the game' which in this case can be seen as the music industry. The lyric 'since 15 in my stilettos, been strutting in this game' implies how she has realised at a young age that she wanted to strive for power and dressing up to portray that power.

The lyrics link to my ideas sufficiently. Our idea is to create choreography that illustrates the lyrics well, for example where it says 'getting money, divas getting money' we have an idea of using the prop of stacks of money being used as a fan. A further idea we have for the lyric 'the one that they call me Queen' we'll have the star of the video to wear a prop of a crown and a big coat to emphasise royalty and have a spotlight shone on her.

Special Effects Research

What are special effects?

Special effects are the illusions or tricks of the eye used in the film, television, theatre, video game and simulator industries to simulate the imagined events in a story or virtual world are traditionally called special effects. 

Green Screen:

I have researched how to use a green screen on Final Cut Pro X by looking at different videos on YouTube. On these clips they use a green screen to change their backgrounds on a bigger scale to emphasise a professional setting. Many movies and videos use green screens as its much cheaper and easier to change the backgrounds rather than constantly travelling to different locations. This video shows that using a green screen is very straightforward to change the background as you go on effects and pick a background then simply drag it over to your footage and it works perfectly. However, in this video I have learnt that you need three different lightings in order for the green screen to properly work and have a professional looking background. I have also learnt that you can simply just crop the video in order to get rid of any unwanted lighting then the video looks professional.  In order to create a good video the green screen mustn't have a crease in it otherwise it wouldn't work properly. This clip will be able to help me when it comes to editing my own music video as I will know how to properly set up my green screen as well as obtaining the knowledge on how to edit a background onto it.

Slow motion
I have researched how to use slow motion on Final Cut Pro X by looking at different videos on YouTube. These clips all show that you must pick the perfect spot in order for the slow motion to work properly. You will also have to cut your snippet of the clip to where the slow motion will start and end for it to work. I learnt that when you are choosing how slow you want your slow motion it goes in percentages of 50, 25 and 10. I've also learnt that when you create a slow motion it slows down the audio as well as the video, to prevent this from happening you must right click on the clip you have edited and click on "detach audio" for it to not apply the slowed down audio. You can also go on the same drop down list and change the quality of your video to make it look more professional and nicer. This clip will be able to help me when it comes to editing my own video if I decide to use slow motion and has enabled my knowledge of editing videos.

Different Record Label Designs

This is Victory Records label logo. It is a simple logo with an illustration of a bulldog. Bulldogs are seen as powerful dogs in society, which is a good way for the label to present themselves. The use of the illustration emphasises the name of the record label and truly portrays them as being victorious and creating much success for their artists. Their choice of font is very simple and doesn't take away from the image.











This is Rough Trade's record labels logo. It's a very simple logo as they are a an independent label. It has very dull colours of black and white to suggest that it fits the genre that is records for. The font of the label looks rough, which interconnects well with the labels name.









This is Island record labels logo. It is a simple logo with an illustration. There is an illustration of a palm tree which ties well with the labels name. The font of the label is very simple and easy to read, portraying a calm feel to the logo. The colours are plain just like rough trade, however it shows that the label may be for mature teenagers and adults.










This is the logo for Sony Music record label. Just like the other labels, Sony also has a very simple logo. It's illustration is merely a paint swish which looks like its fast moving which connotes it's ideology of being up-to-date on the latest music trends. It has basic colours to suggest it being toward a more mature audience. The use of the colour red is not gender specific so it will appeal to both audiences.

Target Audience Profile Research

Pop fan 
The fans of the pop genre are mainly dominated by females aged 12-25, however there are also some male fans. Pop is largely influenced through social media, music channels, advertisement and radios. As you can see from the image, pop fans consist of mainly pre-teens possibly aged 13 and are mainly white. They are wearing pop bands merchandise which shows how bands in the pop genre are heavily influenced through advertisement. 

R&B fan

R&B genre has a mixture of gendered fans who are mainly young adults aged between 16-35. The high target audience may be because of the explicit songs many R&B artists release. Majority of the fans are females as many R&B artists release songs about love and heartbreak which stereotypically appeals more to females than males, as well as the representation of male R&B artists appeals to females as they are usually topless, however it works the same way with female artists since they are also overly sexualised. R&B fans are mainly female adults, possibly aged 23. R&B fans are mainly people of colour as they can relate to their artists as they have the same culture as them as well as the same features, a good example of this would be Beyonce.

Indie fan
Indie fans are mainly dominated by males who are aged 17-35, however there are many females who are also indie fans. The indie genre is mainly targeted at male adults because indie artists are primarily males with only a minority of indie artists being female. Usually indie fans are males aged 18+ who are primarily white, as well as females who are also 18+.

Rock fan 
The Rock genre is very male dominated once again, however there are also some female fans. Rock fans are usually ranged between 16-45 years old. Rock reaches out to older adults as the genre had started out when they were in their teen years, which makes them reluctant to change their music taste. Rock fans (specifically males) are associated with long hair and long beards who constantly throw the iconic 'rock' hand gesture. They are mainly white and wear merchandise from famous rock bands.


Rap fan
Majority of rap fans are black males aged between 14-30, however there are many white males between that age range who also enjoy the rap genre. Even though it is mainly male fans, there are many females of colour who also enjoy rap. Many people of colour appeal to the rap genre as it is dominated by people of colour artists, therefore they see themselves within the artists. Rap artists relate back to the issues that happen to  only people of colour, which makes fans feel a lot better about themselves.

Branding Research

One Direction
One Direction have become a brand within themselves as their abbreviated name "1D" is on many products such as clothes, dental hygiene, bed sheets and stationary. They have become internationally recognised not only for their music but now for the vast range of products they offer. Because there are a vast number of products they now have to house and sell these in their own "1D stores". By becoming a branded pop band they have commercialised themselves and some would criticise them not being "true" to the music industry. This is very typical for a boy band as seen previously with Take That and Boyzone where bands are heavily influenced by major record labels and the pressure of demands.


Beyonce
Beyonce's merchandise differs from One Direction despite them being in the same genre. Beyonce puts input into her merchandise unlike One Direction, however Beyonce has some fan-made merchandise that she has no input into yet her lyrics are on the jumpers. For her perfumes Beyonce tries to portray female power within the products name such as "Heat" and "Pulse" to show that they are powerful. She also puts her face on Pepsi which is very controversial as she is promoting unhealthy products to her fans increasing obesity. Beyonce is under Jay-Z's record label which would be beneficial for Jay-Z as it would be promoting his company.