Mikeyspencer13's Blog

Ancillary Tasks Done

mikeyspencer13 — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 13:13:49 +0000

I have also finished the production of my album cover and magazine advert for it. For the album cover i have tried to include the typical connotations of a Indie band into this, with a pint of beer representing the Indie scene as one let loose and having fun aswell as the blonde woman in the background backing this up. I have included a guitar in the background as i feel this is a strong part of any indie band as most are acoustically important. I have also added the recognition of gaining a newcomer award to the front of the album to give it a more realistic look. With the magazine advert i have worked to use the same image as the CD cover partiually in order to gain a consistent perception of the band, a technique that i talked about earlier in the course. I have also used black and white to gain a good contrast between the image and text used to make the advertisement stand out. I have used common factors such as the formats the album can be brought in, the bands website, a quote from a respected listener and the bands logo on the poster to gain a professional and realistic look.

Video Done

mikeyspencer13 — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 12:59:58 +0000

I have today come to the end of my music video production and I am pleased with the outcome. Although i did not include a narrative in the end i feel the video is still very effective with the live footage jumping every 3/4 seconds giving the video a Indie style and an upbeat tempo, a technique i was aiming to achieve. I have also included still image animation to go alongside the footage of beers getting drunk, this goes along with the ‘life of the party’ soundtrack.

20th April 2010 – Evaluation

mikeyspencer13 — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 11:19:32 +0000

My media products have used many typical conventions of an Indie band, the outcome i was aiming for. These conventions include jump cuts every 3/4 seconds in the video where i can make it possible, close ups of the instruments being played etc etc. I have also used common trends on my album artwork, with the bands logo and title of the album in the top left corner of the CD, and my background of a pint of beer, a blonde woman and a guitar a associated thing with the indie band stars. I have also tried to convey the Indie band look with the clothes they are wearing in the pictures and in the music promo video, for example skinny jeans, tight t-shirts, pointy shoes and neck scarfs. The combination of the music video, CD cover and album advert is effective as i have conveyed the same marketing strategy of my band all the way through, hopefully keeping the perception of the band consistent to fans so that things become associated with the band and awareness is raised of them. Examples of these are i have made sure there is convergence between the bands logo in all pieces of the work, and have associated a black and white style into both the CD and Magazine advert, creating an antique and vintage perception of the band, as if they are something to be valued and giving them an eccentric edge on other bands. This also creates a bit of mystery towards the band, sensing people dont know whats to come of them, making fans excited and intrigued about the unpredictability of the band. I have also gone with the technique i discovered of keeping the same picture in the magazine as the album artwork so that the bands advertisement is easily identifiable, one that i found in such adverts as Jamie Cullums the pursuit album. From feedback i have learnt that in order to make my video better i could have structured more of a narrative to go along with the lyrics of the song, breaking the live performance up more and giving the song more meaning. This would also mean an increased rate of jump cuts, something that people feeding back felt would have only added to the quality of the video making it a quicker tempo, more suited to the song and the Indie genre. It has also been suggested that i could have put the video in a black and white effect, further going along with the black and white themes that runs through the other two pieces of work. This would make the vintage and retro perception of the band i am trying to achieve stronger and would make it more likely that people would relate the effect with my band subliminally. One suggestion has also been that i could have used better lighting and better quality camcorders in the video in order to create a more sound picture quality during the video, as the video quality is slightly pixelated due to these two factors. Another problem that arose was after producing my CD cover in photoshop, when transferring it to a cd cover base the cover had line across it, showing a problem when transferring the data, this is a problem i could have avoided and made my work better. In the construction of my Media project i have used camcorders and stands from two angles to capture my video footage for the video, as well as using a mobile phone for the still images taken and the band pictures i have got. During the production of the pieces i have used programs such as iMovie, IPhoto, iTunes, Photoshop and InDesign in order to complete the project. In order to do research and planning i have used the internet to find the connotations and conveyances associated with Indie/Hi-Fi bands and have used Word to process this research. For the evaluation i have used the website wordpress to keep an up to date blog of what i have been doing in my project.

Friday 22nd January

mikeyspencer13 — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:12:48 +0000

Today i have added the soundtrack to my music vdeo footage however system problem caused implications so the amount of production i could get done due to a slow server was little, this has caused great difficulties in getting the production done and has effected my work. I have however got used to the iMovie program and feel confident in using it now.

Friday 4th December

mikeyspencer13 — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:10:38 +0000

Today i have come in with the live filming of my music production for my video completed and was ready to edit. Unfortunately due to technical difficulties in trying to import the footage onto the I-movie software i have not been able to start the editing process of my music video. This however has allowed me the time to work on a narrative to run alongside my footage and given me ideas for this. Next week i will work on editing the film and hope to have my narrative footage in place ready to collaborate. I have also started looking at magazine advertisements for albums to gain an insight into what the typical logistics of these are. From this i can transfer these techniques to my own work. Many of the advertisements use the same image as the one used on the album cover in order to keep the same trend and create a single strong imagery with the band and the current album, this is a technique that i will adopt.

Friday 6th November

mikeyspencer13 — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:08:09 +0000

Today have been working on picking up tips for music filming in order to make my shots as affective as possible. I am also starting to look at different and alternative shots to use, filling the video and giving it a very retro look. However this must go along with the way the band is represented whilst also relating to the song to make it relevant. If it isn’t this will look abnormal in my music video. I have looked at still shot animation and this is a technique i may include in my own music video. I have also started looking at album artwork to gain inspiration for my own when i produce it. A typical convention is creating some unknown about the band and attaching a narrative to the band.

Friday 9th October

mikeyspencer13 — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 13:55:45 +0000

Today i have gone about annotation websites looking for typical conventions of bands website. I have also researched my bands current marketing strategy and will link my production to this in order to go along with the bands flowing trend. I have looked up Music directors interviews and discovered that it is very important that in the music video the artist is percieved in a positive and effective way in order to gain fans. From looking at bands websites i have found a typical associatino with Indie bands to be the fashion, skinny jeans, point shoes, long scruffy hair etc.

2nd October 2009

mikeyspencer13 — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:06:06 +0000

Today i have gone about looking up codes and connotations for music videos. I have also printed off multiple music bands website homepages in order to annotate them and find the typical logistics of a music band homepage in order to produce this in mine.

Next week i will go about reading music director interviews to find out common creative and technological problems that arise when making music videos and find ways to get around these. I will also start to look at recurring motives in DVD packaging.

25th September 2009

mikeyspencer13 — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:51:25 +0000

I have began my project and decided that i am going to produce the music video piece of coursework. I have started to analyze other music videos of a similar genre and look to my band to find the typical conventions and connotations of these production videos so that i can apply these to my own in the future. This will give my video a more professional feel and will make it more effective.

I am also starting to research and annotate bands home page’s in order to get the same outcome as the above finding out what type of imagery is of regular occurrence and what information is provided for fans.