EVALUATION: Question 4 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

click here for Powerpoint Presentation - click here

EVALUATION: Question 3 - What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Sophie - media question 3 - click here

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

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

Sophie - media question 1 - click here 

Summary of problems faced in group work - editing and decisions made

Throughout the whole process of filming and editing our footage we came across a few problems, however Tyra and myself quickly and effectively solved these issues. One example of an unexpected issue that crept up was the weather. This was especially an issue when filming our footage as we could not control the weather, and on one of our planned days to film, there was heavy rain, which was an effect that we had originally planned. Even though this was the case, we continued to film through this weather, hoping that some of the clips we could soon later use. Despite this, the weather did soon clear up and we re-filmed the scene. An additional issue we discovered before it occurred was the battery life of the camera on our filming trip to Brighton. We realised that there was nowhere in Brighton that we could charge the camera once the battery life runs out. Tyra and myself therefore had a discussion on what we should do in order to come over this, and concluded that we should just fully charge the camera before we go, and make extra care to turn off the camera between clips to save the battery as much as we could. As we thought of this before hand, we managed to make the battery last the whole time we were in Brighton, meaning we did not have to return to Brighton another day to finish off the clips. 

During the filming process, one of the main issues that occurred was synchronizing the artist’s mouth movements to the lyrics of the song. While filming, we realised that Tyra would have to sing at the same speed as the real song, so when we upload it and edit it, her miming is in sync with the song. Tyra and I once again had a brief discussion as to how we were to over come the problem, and decided that we should play the song out loud on our iPod and place it in her pocket, so she could simply sing along to the words of the song. We found that this was a very successful technique.

During the editing process, Tyra and myself found that we did not come across many issues; the only main apparent one was the time it takes to upload footage. We found that a lot of class time was wasted by simply sitting and waiting for the footage to be uploaded. The first time this occurred we discussed this problem and decided the best thing to do next time was to upload the footage at the beginning of the day, so when it comes to editing in lesson, the footage was there waiting for us to start. We carried this out when uploading our performance scenes, and we found this saved us a lot of time!

Evaluating my album artwork

Before I created the album artwork for 'Crystal Code', I did some research into other bands' album artwork for their CD's. I discovered that a lot of album artwork had extreme close-up pictures of the artists face as the main image, and thought I should attempt to do the same with my own. Examples of other bands' that use this as their CD cover is Pixie Lott, Lady Gaga and Kelly Rowland. I also think that close-up shots of the artist help the audience to identify with the artist, and so they feel more connected with the artist and therefore more likely to buy the album, which is what the artist is hoping for.

 I also decided to use the 'Scribble' font to present the album name which I downloaded off the free font website 'dafont' to go along with the eerie and emotional meaning behind the song 'Lost' that we have used as our song for our music video. I also decided to use dull colours on the CD cover again to link in with the disheartened themes that run throughout. I also came to the decision to link the back cover picture to the front, so chose a grey eerie picture of trees to follow the themes. When choosing the font to represent the names of the songs in the album, I once again chose this off the website 'dafont', which I think links with the past and the old fashioned type writers, again giving a eerie feel to the album. I also think it is eye catching, which is essential in order to grab the audiences eyes upon the album, especially in CD shops.

Close-up shot of Pixie Lott's face

Again, a close-up shot of the artists face

A close up photograph of Kelly Rowland's face on CD album cover

 After showing a fellow student my album artwork, I recieved feedback that it is effective in portraying the dark and emotional themes that are present in the song. They commented on the effectiveness of the tree that comes across as evil and sinister. The fonts used were also said to be eye catching and 'different' which can link in with the indie style of the song. They also commented saying that the album artwork looks proffeshional and that they would expect to see that CD in store.

Diary Entry 13 - FINALLY FINISHED!

Yesterday, Tyra and I worked in our free periods and our lessons to complete our final music video. WE HAVE FINALLY FINISHED! What a relief.