In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
One music video which was a large inspiration for our video was 'Pass Out' by Tinie Tempah. We used a shot which represents the inspiration. This shot is located in the middle-end of the song where Suhaib steps back into the dark. There is a similar shot in the Tinie Tempah video. We used this shot as we felt it went well with cut rate of the 'Bonkers' song and fit the theme of our video nicely. The shot was used as the low-key lighting, which worked well in Pass Out, was also very effective at creating a mysterious and intimidating character in our video.
The relation between our music video and the lyrics is clearly evident through out. Suhaib lip syncs the words for the majority of the video as we felt this was important to maintain consumer interest, rather than just having a song playing over a video which hardly relates to the video. We also used hand actions and body language to represent the lyrics. This is done simultaneously with the miming of the lyrics.Combining the two ensures we keep the viewers interest and makes the video more professional looking as this is a more common technique.
The features we have used throughout our video are typical of any modern dance/rap song. Fast cut rates, multiple effects and an over enthusiastic performer can all be found throughout chart videos of this genre. Our video has stuck to these principles and so has some similar features to the official bonkers video by Dizzee Rascal. We have used medium shots of Suhaib on random mulitple green screen backdrops to be consistant with the bonkers video. Also, at the start of the first verse, Suhaib wakes up from sleeping as Dizzee does in his video. This is done to reflect the meaning of the lyrics.
To summarise, our video has stuck to the conventions of a typical music video of this genre. However, some aspects of our video are original and are used to give it an independance. An aspect which conveys this is the ground run shot we have used. This has become a particularly effective shot after we sped it up by around 500% and added some colour lighting effects. The ground run shot now has a jagged look and matches the unique beat of the song. This shot is used at the start and towards the middle of our video to establish the area of our scene.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
The video, magazine advert and CD case complement each other in quite a few different ways. The first is that it is similar in design. It is similar in design because all 3 of our products featured bright colours which were used to catch the audience’s attention towards our product and also so we could promote it. We used bright colours because after thorough research in music videos, magazine adverts and CD covers related to our genre we realised that this was one of the main themes to promote and sell to the audience. Another similarity was that the singer was featured in all 3 aspects. We again used this idea because after research in similar stuff to our genre we noticed that the main singer was involved in all 3 aspects and we felt that we should add ours as well as it was a useful way of attracting the audience and also sell our products. We also used similar ‘bonkers’ type of writing in our music video, magazine advert and CD cover. We used this as a clever idea as our song was called ‘bonkers’ so we felt that we should add something ‘bonkers’ to these three products and that the best way to present it was in the form of writing and also ‘Bonker’ pictures of suhaib.
The advert helps to sell our product because the title contains three separate pieces of text, but in order to catch the eye of the readers immediately, we used a large bold font for 'Dizzee Rascal'. This attracts attention and once someone takes a closer look at the advert, the viewer then has the opportunity to read the smaller text which has more detailed information such as where they can purchase the single from. The blue text is also eye catching as it stands out from the yellow background. It promotes a competition which attracts viewers as it is a chance to win something and is the reason we chose the text to be blue. A second feature which we used to promote and persuade the audience is the addition of the CD cover. We also used bold text in capitals to inform the audience when the song is available to buy. The CD cover stands out as it is black and white with multi-coloured text and also features the main singer. This is very distinctive on the yellow background of the poster. We also used reviews from major companies as having opinions from big companies is a major factor in persuading audiences to buy our product and also be very persuasive in an audience’s judgement on our song. We also used a text code so that people could have a chance to win the album for free and enter a prize draw.
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
We felt as a group that sample of 5 would be right, as they would have to watch our 3min video and then answer questions it will be time consuming which many people may not be willing to do. We let our audience watch our video and then asked them 4 questions; What did you enjoy about our video, How did you feel our editing took a major effect, Do you feel our video will reach our target audience of young adults aged 16-24 & How could we improve our video?
What did you enjoy about our video?
1: "I really enjoyed the peformance as he was in time with the music and the miming of the lyrics were timed well to make the video believable."
2: "I was particularly impressed by the ground run shot used at the start and middle of the video, which was one of my favourite parts of the video."
5: "The video was brilliant and i enjoyed how a bright character was performing in a natural dull church."
All 5 of our audience enjoyed our video and seemed please with our finsihed product. We also noticed a smile on a few faces whilst we showed our audience our video which is exactly what we want as it is a happy and jolly track. Also we are pleased people recognised the reason we performed in places like the church. We learnt that we put the performace spot on with the music and the performer was very convincing in his acting and singing.
How did you feel our editing took a major effect
2: "The effects used matched the enthusiasm of the actor. The editing and cuts went with the music."
3: "I loved the filter at the start where the colours were changing and when the actor throws a punch and the screen shakes that was defintely a HIT."
5: "The cut rate of the shots synchronized with the beat of the song and the video also made good use of colours."
We tried really hard in our editing and were pleased that it was recognised as all of our ediitng was done for a reason. We learnt that we could have added more colour filters in such as in the 2nd ground run shot as we used it in our 1st but not the 2nd. Also we learnt that planning our editng beforehand is very benificial.
Do you feel our video will reach our target audience of young adults aged 16-24
1: "Defintely yes as firstly it is a young adult performing and also it is a young adult targeted track."
4: "Yes because Bonkers is youthfull song and the video is also has a bonkers theme."
5: "Old adults wont be able to keep with the fast editing so it will meet your target audience".
Here we learned that we achieved our target audience, but the problem was the people we asked to give feedback were all our traget audience (aged 16-24). A way we can defeat this problem is by asking someone out of our target audience.
How could we improve our video?
1: "You could maybe have done some of your performance in bright colour filled place".
2: "Should have used a filter in the 2nd ground run shot like you did in the first".
4: " Not much you could improve on".
Imporving our video is what we did whilst editing as we had finshed weeks before the deadline so we just had time to improve our video. We learned that we definitely should have used a filter in the 2nd ground shot. Also we could have used better places which were bright but this is difficult as it was hard to film in places like the Manchester Arndale which require permission and is a long process, which we were not willing to take.
As a conclusion we were pleased with our feedback as we worked hard on our video. What we learned was the performance was spot on aswell as the editing as it was very convincing and went well with lyrics and the overall song. Another problem was we should have used a filter ont he 2nd ground run shot as we did on the 1st. We asked our audience to give a rating out of 5 and we got an average of 4.4/5 which we were pleased with.
How did you use media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages?
Media technologies used in the research stage of our production was the computer. The internet and www. were the main uses for the computer in our research. We looked at various songs which we thought would be suitable through websites such as Youtube. Search engines were also used (e.g. Google) to access blogger.com so we could set up our blog and update it.
Our video made good use of technology such as green screen, final cut pro and camera. To film our video 'bonkers' we used a camera. We used the camera in various ways to capture different angles of the locations and Suhaib. We used a variety of shots which the camera allowed us to use such as close ups, medium shots and high angle shots. This assisted in making the video diverse which keeps the viewer interested. The tripod was also used in conjunction with the camera. This gave the shots a steadiness which could not be obtained from being hand held.
The main piece of technology which was used was final cut pro. This enabled us to edit the shots in great detail and completely change the look of a shot so that it was more 'fit for purpose'. A feature of final cut pro which was of particular value to our video was the video transition. This has been used extensively as it allows our diverse range of shots to flow together seemingly easy. Without the use of video transitions, certain shots would look random and unprofessional. Another feature of final cut pro that was used to improve our video was video effects. A wide variety of effects are available which gave our video a modern look. An example of this is the line art used towards the middle of our video. This black and white look puts emphasis on Suhaib and as stated, gives it a modern look which relates to our mordern choice of music.
A green screen was also used to give our video a professional look. The green screen meant we could make it appear that we were in locations that were realistically inaccessible. We used Las Vegas as a location through the green screen and also use tv colour bars as another backdrop. Both backgrounds are slightly random and unique to use but work and so the bonkers choice represents the meaning of the song.
