My Completed Evaluation (Finally!!)

Completed Evaluation Update

I am still trying to export my evaluation, so I can upload it on here, however every time I try, different parts have been going offline, so are blank or unrendered, I have managed to find all the parts missing, and put them on my digistick, so when I open the project, it can find them. However, it is still having difficulties trying to relocate the files, but I am frantically trying to solve this though, so I can upload it onto here as soon as possible.

Evaluation Editing Completed!

Today I finished editing my evaluation for the deadline, and it has been exported to the teacher's digistick for marking. I'm really glad I was able to complete everything by this deadline, as it's been very busy and stressful for the past few weeks, spending most of my free time on it! I will upload a copy of it on here as soon as possible, however I don't have a digistick large enough to hold the file, so once I have found one to use, I can then upload it on here.

Webpage Link

Here's the link to the fully working webpage I made for MGMT:

http://www.wix.com/stephi261/mgmt

Evaluation Progress

Well for the past week or so, I've been frantically trying to complete my evaluation, as I was only able to start filming it on Tuesday. However, I have now started editing, so I'm glad I've made quite speedy progress. I was held up slightly, as I wanted to make a few tweaks to my music video, by making sure there was no blank footage at the end, and adding in some video information, as many real music videos have. I wanted to do this on Monday, however, I have had to share a iMac with another group, and when I went to edit, they had beaten me to the computer, so I couldn't edit it until Tuesday morning. I have also been going into school an hour early to get as far as possible with my project, and managed to complete my evaluation filming on Wednesday morning, and have been editing since. I've almost finished editing the first question fully, including screen shots etc. but I think I will first make a rough cut, of all the talking parts, and then edit the questions, opening titles and screenshots etc. in afterwards, so if I do happen to run out of time, the content will still be there.
Thankfully, the deadline has been lengthened, as it's been very stressful trying to complete it fully, so the half term will be a welcome break, but it is a shame I can't do any editing in the holiday, as I don't have the equipment. But hopefully a week away from it will mean I can complete it quickly when I return, and possibly give me a fresher perspective. :)

Audience Feedback for Music Video

I showed my music video to a large focus group, and got them to write down good and bad points, and this is what they said:


Good Points:

• Very upbeat, fast pace, fits with the pace of the song, and colourful x3
• Good use of effects x4
• The use of Stop Motion x8
• Visuals represent the music very well, and is fun to watch.
• Nice elements of Bricolage x9
• Sky time lapse was cool x2
• Interesting use of effects to represent his thoughts and feelings.
• Good timing - Cutting on the beat x4
• Theme of 'Kids' shown well.
• I liked the end, when the crayons spelt out 'Kids' and 'MGMT'

Negative Points/To Improve:

• Crayons/Stopmotion overused x5
• Too much use of effects
• Cut stopmotion exactly on the beat, perhaps increase the amount of frames per second to make the transitions smoother.
• More performance, to stop him looking disjointed x6
• Confused by performance.
• Lip syncing was often completely out x2
• Some of footage I hadn't made x2
• Didn't feel like a music video.
• Too slow at the start getting into it.
• Too many shots.
• Camera moves a bit in animation.
• No sense of real narrative.

From this audience feedback, I can see that many people agreed on certain ideas about my film, such as the use of bricolage, when I incorporated old children's TV shows, and my use of Stop Motion. I'm quite happy with the positive comments given, as I think they convey the ideas I wanted the audience to interpret, and as many agreed, I think that shows I have managed to appeal to my younger audience, in a broad, direct way.


The negative comments seem to be quite varied, and it seems there are more, but I think as they are so different, that is just different peoples taste, as they all liked many points within it, so the negatives were not as evident, or negative. Also there is some contradiction, as many people liked the Bricolage, yet I had a few negative comments about the Bricolage, so this just shows how different people's opinions were. I know there was a lot of Stop Motion used, but it was a Stop Motion video, so that is why there was so much, as well as this, I chose it to be concept, as it was this format, so the comment about a lack of narrative, music videos can be Performance, Concept or Narrative, and I incorporated a little performance into my concept video.


I looked at the lip syncing as I had a few negative comments, but after watching it many times and seeing if I could adjust it, I concluded that it was simply my singer's mouth movement that makes it seem like it is out of time. As we filmed it, the song was playing loudly, and the actor sang perfectly in time with it, as it can be heard on the original un-muted clip, but my actor, naturally doesn't open his mouth a lot when speaking, so when singing, it seems like it could be slightly out, when in fact, it is just his lack of mouth movement. When filming I could've tried to change this, by getting him to open his mouth more, however at the time, when hearing the music and him sing, I could tell it was in time, so it didn't seem an issue; as well as this, his singing may have seemed erratic, or unrealistic had he tried, so I think how it is now is best. I do value all this feedback, and have attempted to make changes where appropriate, but this is only a very small, albeit critical audience, as they were all media students, so it is slightly bias, and likely they would pick up on more issues as they are used to analysing music videos. Also I think some of this feedback, may not have taken into account how much I managed to achieve, working alone, I'm aware it is no reason for it to be lesser quality, but to have achieved that music video, with not a huge amount of negative comments really, I am quite happy with.

Completed Webpage!

Here's the link to my completed and published website for MGMT:
http://www.wix.com/stephi261/mgmt


I'm really pleased with the result, I have been tweaking certain parts, every time I looked at it, but I feel it is finished now. The changes I have made, include, linking the events page, to another page with events listed on it, and the merchandise advert to a page with t-shirts for sale on it.

This is the homepage of the MGMT website I created.

This is the events page, linking from the events text, on the homepage
I found the events on the real MGMT website, so the information included is accurate and working.

This is the merchandise page, linking to the "Brand New Merch Here" link on the homepage. The merchandise on here, I created using a basic t-shirt template, and incorporated the font on the website, forming a link between the two, and ultimately, the band, as this would encourage that font to be a recognisable part of them.

 When I first "completed" the website, I had links, but only the links to Facebook, Myspace and Amazon, to purchase the single were fully working. But, I decided to included a few other pages, to make the website a little more realistic, and give it slightly more depth than just the homepage.

Completed Music Video!

Today I finished the video! So I'm very happy that it is all done now, and that I altered the end result after some feedback I got when I first completed it. Yesterday I had completed it for the first time, but very few others had seen it, at least in full, so I got a group of people that hadn't seen any of it, to give me some feedback, and help me decide what looked good or bad, or needed altering. The feedback was very helpful, I got a really good response, and the comments I got were all very constructive, and helped me come up with the finished product here.
The positive comments I  got, were that they liked the cutting on the beat, and crayons changing colours, the way the crayons and buttons made a flower shape, and at the end spelled the name of the song and band out. I especially like that comment, as it was part of Goodwin's six, to make the band clear in the video, so although I only had a short amount of footage of the singer, the clips at the end worked to make sure they were aware. They also liked the time lapse sky shots I included, that change colours, the brightness and colourfulness of the video was also a common part people liked, as well as the use of children's TV clips and the graphic match from the singers face to buttons and a crayon. I was really pleased with all the positive feedback, especially as it was the first completion, so, there wasn't too much to change.
The criticisms that were made about the video, were that I should use a specific "indent" effect more on the crayon images, as it was the most liked effect. However, a big part of my feedback, was that I should use more effects on the crayons, to stop them becoming a bit monotonous, this really helped my video  I think, so I'm happy with the new dimension it gave to the stop motion. There was also a mention of some of the movement not being quite on the beat, which was due to the slight changes i'd made throughout, which added up, but I managed to fix them, so this was fixed. Those were really the only parts that the audience felt needed changing or altering, so I am very happy there were so few, and that I agreed and could change them easily.
This is the video, however there is around 4 minutes of black screen at the end, as I exported it before cutting the track where parts had been moved, lengthening it, I will cut it again.

Audience Feedback on Digipak

Today, I showed a group of  7 peers the digipak I have created, to see what they thought of it. I showed it to them, after they had seen the video, so I could find out if they thought it seemed appropriate and related to the song and video. The response I got to it, was mostly positive, which I was happy with, there were only a few features that one person really didn't like, however, I have to allow for individual differences and preferences. The two favourite images were the button on the inside. and the picture of the singer also on the inside. They liked the foreground not being of the band, but showing they were there, and thought it matched the feel of the band. The back image was also very popular, but not really for any specific reason, they just seemed to like how it looked. The front cover however, caused some controversy. One person thought it was too empty, and could have more on it. I can see where they are coming from, but I wanted my front image to be quite striking, and I think the bright letters on the front give the impression, and attract attention, I believe in this case, less is more, but I am appreciative of their comments. Also the other comment was that, I feature crayons throughout my music video, but nowhere on the digipak, which was a fair point. I hadn't thought to put them on it, and it is a good idea, but from analysis of other digipaks, there isn't always a link between the video, they can often not feature anything that was in it, so I was unsure of what to make of that comment.
Some other comments, that I have now acted on, were that the colour of the track names on the back didn't look quite right. I was unsure about it too, so the audience feedback helped a lot, as I changed it to black, and has improved it I think. There was also a comment that I could add some information about the band, like who plays what instruments, which is a common feature on digipaks. I agreed with this comment, and added a small amount of information, and now think it is complete. The finished digipak can be seen in the blog post above.

Completed Digipak!

Here is the image of my completed digipak:

I explained about any other changes I have made to this in the blog post below, but overall, I am very pleased with the finished product, and think it correlates with the video well.
Also here is an image of physical version of the Digipak that I constructed:

Front and back cover -however these were the original images used, before my audience feedback, so the text on the back cover is all black, and on the inside left, there is some more text, but this is illustrated above.

Front Cover

Inside left and right

Inside Right

Inside Left

Webpage Progress

Today I chose to complete the webpage as much as I can, but I still need to upload the video to the page, so have not published it yet. Here is a picture of the progress I have made so far:

I am very pleased with the progress I have made, all that I need to do to this now, is insert some text relevant to the band, a few more photos to flick through, and the actual music video, once this is done the website will be complete.


I first started this page with this basic template:

As you can see, comparing this to the webpage I have created, you can see I changed the fonts, so the band name, has a retro feel to it, as much of MGMT's  music and artwork is styled like. I thought this would be good as it creates a kind of recognisable feature, that can be related with the band. I then changed the other fonts, to a slightly softer rounder style, as I thought this suited the page and band more. I moved a lot of the gadgets on the page, and got rid of some, as they weren't what I wanted to include, however most of them, were just in the wrong place, so I moved them to where I wanted them. I then uploaded some of the photos I took at the photo shoot, to get an idea of how they look, and will add more soon. Finally, I changed the image in the background to this picture made on adobe:

There were a few other backgrounds that I was choosing between, as the colour changed slightly when I uploaded it, and I wasn't sure of the texture. But after swapping it several times, I liked this background the most, as although it was vibrant, as it was the background, and behind a light layer, it didn't look to intense, and the texture added a new dynamic to the website, making it more aesthetically pleasing.

Digipak Progress...

This is a screen grab of the progress I've made so far, with my digipak. The photo I took was almost exactly like the one I put in my design, and am glad I could achieve that, as I wasn't sure if I could get the right shadows, but it turned out really well. As well as this, the large close up of the blue button I wanted I also managed to photograph in high definition, so doesn't lessen in quality due to it's size. I have also put a barcode onto the back panel, as authentic music digipaks have, I feel this small detail makes the digipak look far more professional than it did without it, proving the small details are very important. I hope to complete this very soon, I just need to choose the other two photos for the digipak front cover and inside left, then I can apply them, and add track information and will hopefully be finished. As you can see from the picture, I am currently in the process of taking the music details, copyrights, label names etc., and editing them onto the back of my digipak, making it look as realistic as possible, which is also why I am using the exact information from MGMT's album, so it is as correct as possible.

Digipak Images

The digipak is nearly complete now, all the images are in place, and some of the text, all I need to complete it now, is put the band and song title on the spine and it should be finished. I will post a picture of the completed design on here, and hopefully and image of it made into the actual product. However, due to lack of time, I intend to finish the webpage and make good progress with my evaluation, before I physically make it, to ensure I get everything done, and additional features can be added if I have time.

This image will be behind where the CD sits, fitting the same shape, (the right hand panel) as I showed in my design ideas, I'm very happy that it turned out exactly like my design.

This will be the front cover, of the colourful fridge magnets, also as I drew in my design, I'm happy this turned out how I had imagined too - the picture is slightly cropped on my front cover, so there isn't too much blank space.

This photo will be on the inside left panel, with the lyrics on the left side of the picture. I chose this photo, from the photoshoot we had, as I thought it represented the singer quite well, showing they don't want to be the main focus, but are still present, much like the video. I also think it creates a sense of ambiguity, possibly encouraging the buyer to find more out about the band, boosting their promotion. I used this photo instead of the one I took that had the singer with a button where his eye is, as the placement wasn't quite right, so the wording wouldn't fit comfortably, and I just felt this picture suited the album more. The other picture, that I drew in my designs, will be feature somewhere on the website.

Finally, this photo is on the back of the single, this is also slightly cropped, and has the track information on the top left corner, and copyright info. on the bottom left corner with a barcode. I like this picture, as it's very simplistic, but looks quite striking and intense, almost. It is also essentially identical to the picture in my idea, which I think is good.

General Update

I have been working very hard to complete my music video, and it is now almost complete. I found out, that I am allowed to use some footage, that I didn't film, i.e. the children's TV programmes, but only 5% of my video. This is not a problem for me, as this allows me around 20 seconds of footage that I didn't create, and many of the clips I used are around eleventh's or twelfth's of a second, so am keeping below the limit. I also looked on the BBC's website about their policy for reusing footage, as that is where the show clips I gathered were aired on (I had intended to email them asking if it was okay for me to use them, but there was no such facility for my question). But I found that their policy for COMMERCIAL use of their video's is that as long as it has already been made commercially available, they do not mind it being used, so, as my video is not commercial use, as I don't intend to make any money from it, or use it for any other purpose than my coursework, I think that, as long as the clips I am using have already been shown and are available (which they are) then it is all right for me to use them.


But, overall the editing has been going really well, I only have around 20 seconds left that needs putting in, and then it is completed. I could have finished it sooner, but I felt I should take longer over it the first time I complete it, rather than finish quicker, and have to make changes afterwards, I also want to be completely happy with my end result, so have been testing different shots at different parts of the song to see how it fits, I didn't want to settle with what I had, if it didn't feel right. I am very happy with how it's progressing (although after hearing the song about 1000 times it's losing it's appeal!)


Also, today I managed to get the photo shoot I had been hoping for, for a few weeks. I was only able to do it today, as although the weather conditions were fairly windy to say the least, it was dry, and bright enough, to get some good pictures. Most of them will appear on the website, as I only wanted one picture of my singer in the digipak, as I explained in my design ideas. My friend Barny Mannox, helped me with the pictures, he is 17 and an amateur photographer. I wanted him to help me, as I thought his skill as a photographer would help me get certain shots, as well as him teaching me how to use his Digital Single Lens Reflex camera (DSLR) so I could take some of the pictures myself. The shoot went well, the photos were in a play-park, to continue the theme of 'Kids', and I think will look very effective.


I hope to complete the digipak and web-page very soon, I just need to sort through the pictures, to find which I wish to use, and that should be all, I will post again soon, showing my progress with the digipak and web page. :)

Using Children's TV Show Clips...

Well today I began inter-cutting a few very short clips of children's shows that I had downloaded, and I thought they looked very effective and created the exact tone I was aiming for. However, I came across a dilemma, as, after editing a few of these into my video, I found out that the specification includes some rules about using other people's footage, which concerned me hugely, because I felt the clips, were a perfect match for my video. The specification basically said that, and clips I include, that are not my own work, won't be marked, and can only be used if the original audio is not used, that the image is distorted in some way and that the usage was limited. This news relieved me a little, as none of the clips I had used, or intend to use have any sound, as I wanted my music to be playing over the top; also I had decided to distort the images (as I stated in a previous post). All the clips I would like to use, I have distorted the colour, or changed the shape or view of it, sped it up, and used various other filters and effects. I chose to do this, as the shows would link with the title and nature of the song 'Kids' and put a spin on the recognisable shows, as the distortion would create a sense of unbalance, as the altered clips, were not expected to be what I changed them to. This is also similar to the official video, that has a small child being scared, by people with monster-style masks, implying that children see adults and others in a much more twisted way, to fit the song, and is a theme I wanted to convey in my video too. Also, complying with the spec. the length of any of the clips I use a very short, definitely no longer than 1-2 seconds, which is only when I want a specific part, but most of them are around a thirteenth of a second long, and I am in no way intending to use them to simply fill up time, or create any kind of narrative.


I really liked the idea of using the clips, as they break up the large amounts of stop-motion, creating a new dynamic to the video and keeping up the pace. I am aware that the clips that are included, I could have attempted to create in some way, myself, but I wanted the contrast between my attempt of creating a child-like themed animation, and well known children's shows to be clear. Also had I made my own 'children's shows' they may not have necessarily been interpreted in that way, as they would have never been seen before, so would just be a part of my video, rather than an emblem of children's televised youth. I wanted the clips to highlight the constructed nature of the much larger percentage that I developed myself (which is slightly post-modern, as is the band and song I have chosen) showing how different the two styles are, but also, with the distorted clips, linking with my slightly off, playful, but slightly more sinister youth themed video. Finally, I liked the clips being included, as it gives the audience something to relate to, it allows them to recall their own childhood, or any memories associated with the shows, creating a more welcoming attitude to my video, as it includes something they can relate to, in a slightly more mature way, and incorporated in a popular song. I found this effect was successfully created, as a peer of mine wanted to see the progress I had made, and commented on the clips, recalling them with much joy. I am not using the clips as my own, but almost an homage to them, as by simply showing a twelfth of a second of any of them, they are easily recognised, and fondly remembered. I felt I should post this, to show the detail and thought I have put into the use of these clips, and why exactly, I feel they will enhance my work.

Editing Continued...

Today I continued editing my music video (hence the title) and have around 2 and a half minutes completed now. Today was the first time I tried inter-cutting clips of children's TV shows, to break up the stop motion, and it seems to be a very effective technique. The variation prevents the stop-motion from becoming too monotonous, and gives the video a bit more depth. I hope to use this technique throughout my video (only where appropriate), but I have found cutting the clip to the perfect length, but still including the action I want, is a little difficult, and requires a lot of precision and time, but I think the end result will make it worth it (it's also quite fun watching old clips of Sesame Street!)
As I have been editing the video in different sections, there are some gaps between the parts I have done, which I find is helpful to work out exactly where I'm lacking footage, and what needs to be done, but I hope to fill in a few of these soon, so I can put a few clips on here to give an idea of the progress I have made.

Music Video Editing So Far

About a fortnight ago I uploaded all my footage onto the Macs, and have been editing it on Final Cut Express since. I have made a fair amount of progress, and about 1.30 to 2 minutes is edited, however I have been editing the song in small chunks, not in order, to get the more complex parts completed, such as lip syncing. However at the beginning of the editing process, I was unable to do a lot of work, as I had shortened the 5 minute version of 'Kids' to around 4 minutes, )as it would have been far too lengthy) - on and older version of iMovie (for ease), but it would not transfer to Final Cut. So without the actual track on Final Cut, I was fairly limited to what I could do. I had sought help to solve my problem, but after over a week, I still hadn't been contacted with a solution. As I couldn't waste any more valuable editing time, I tried to find a shorter version of the song that I could buy, and found a radio edit that was 3 minutes 50 - a perfect length. The song has now been successfully uploaded, and my editing has gone smoothly from there, I have had to alter the lighting in some shots, for continuity and clarity, but apart from that, the editing has been straightforward.

Digipak Design Ideas

I drew up a couple of designs for my Digipak, so I can have an idea of how I want my finished product to look. I may combine features from the two ideas, as I like different aspects in both of them, and allows me more freedom, when making it, to combine the best parts to make something even better.

DESIGN 1 INSIDE
The picture on the left, actually has a sunset, in front of the silhouette,
 however after being scanned in the colour has been lost.

DESIGN 1 OUTSIDE

DESIGN 2 OUTSIDE
The image on the right also had colour, split into four, with each quarter a
different colour, but again due to scanning, it has been lost.

(Also the colour of the fridge magnets, and button below, is slightly off)

DESIGN 2 INSIDE

Adobe Photoshop

Yesterday, I had a lesson about how to use the graphics editing programme Photoshop, that I can use when making my digipak for my song. I was mildly familiar with the programme, as I have used it before, at home, however, I was learning on a newer version, that has even more effects and tools. I only really learnt the basics, such as selecting, and the different ways, and played with a few of the different effects that are available, to acquaint myself with the programme. The different methods of selecting, were hugely helpful to learn, as it is essentially the base for everything else to work on, without selecting parts properly, I would have much more trouble. I also learnt about the different layers, in that, every image, or added item is on a different layer, and also that naming each layer may be useful, to help me stay organised within my work.
Overall I think it is a very useful programme, and although I do not know how to use all the different features, what I have learnt, I think will be very useful to me and I will be likely to use Photoshop again when designing my digipak.

Final Cut Express

Today I had a brief tutorial on how to use Final Cut Express to edit my footage. I learnt mostly the basics of the program, like how to import the footage, what to do with it once it's in Final Cut, and some basic ways of adding effects. I also learnt how the viewer and canvas work, and 'in' and 'out' points within editing (the beginning and end of what is being cut). I like Final Cut, as it is more sophisticated than iMovie, and once I have learnt how to use it fully, I think I can achieve something really good with it. One thing I like about it, is that the original footage is never deleted, but that essentially a copy is being edited, so you can always get the original back, no matter what. Apart from it being quite complex to learn, due to so many elements of it, the only thing I don't like, is that the edits have to be rendered fairly often, which is slightly awkward, as you can't watch the entire piece until it's rendered, and I find that a little too final, but as the original is still there, it's not quite as bad.
Anyway, that was just a little update about one of the new skills I've had to learn for this project, and the next post will be either an update on how my editing is going, or some more information about my ancillary texts - see you soon.

Filming Completed!

Yesterday all the filming needed for my music video was completed! I went to the play park that I wanted to use for my video, and filmed all of my Point-of-View shots that I will use at the beginning of the video, and anywhere else I deem necessary. It was fairly cold, but this was to my advantage as it meant the park was empty, so I could use it when I intended to, rather than being delayed. Also, as it was cold, the sky was quite white, so the lighting was gerat for filming, and not too dark. I used the camera free hand, without a tripod, as it is supposed to be a POV shot, so I wanted the shots to be shaky and not exact. I also filmed the footage I wanted a few times, to give my self a selection of shots I can pick from, as well as some shots being slightly different, to see which variation looks best. I will only be using short clips from the footage I took, about 4-5 seconds at a time, possibly less, but no more. I also decided, as I had some time left on the tape, and the sky and cloud formations looked quite interesting, that I would film them for a short while, so I could use some time lapse footage, if I wanted to, as I was going to in my original idea, until I decided to remove that part from the song, as it was 60 seconds of an instrumental break, and would make the total time of the song over 5 minutes. I got a total of 25-30 minutes of the sky, it was moving fairly quickly, so once sped up, will only be a few seconds or so, but that was all I had wanted, so if I feel I need to add something different to my video, I can use it.


These are the locations shots I took before I began filming:

Whilst filming, I came up with another idea that I can use in my video, should I not have enough footage, which has been a concern of mine, which I have stated in past posts, hence me filming extra footage whenever I film. The idea I had was to get some clips of children's TV shows, and possibly distort the colours and shape, and edit them in, in a subliminal message style, so have them flashing up, at certain points in the song, like the bridge, or the chorus, I will also use a TV static clip or shot, in between, to enhance the subliminal idea, and make the audience more aware of it. This idea wasn't in my plan, or storyboard, so I have not accounted for using it, but I will gather the clips I want, and see how they look once edited, or if I will need them at all in the video.