Hero Of My Soul

1. Hero Of My Soul Evaluation Jade Rogers

2. Question 1 In what ways does your media products use, develop or challenge the conventions of a real media product? Answer ideas • Look at real music videos of the same genre • What do they normally contain • What are the forms and conventions • Comparison of Simons video and others • What conventions have we used • What conventions have we developed • What conventions have we challenged

3. Question 1 Simon Williams has described the genre which he feels he falls into singer songwriter, similar to artists such as Paulo Nutini, James Morrison, Newton Faulkner, David Grey and other similar artists. He decided to get into music and learning the guitar as he liked the band Nirvana, he liked the style and sound that they created. One of his main influences is some of Nirvanas lighter and less heavy songs, for example the cover of David Bowies ‘Man Who Sold The World’. We have created a music video that we hope follows the main convention of singer songwriter, but we also aimed to develop and challenge the conventions.

4. Question 1 The video is example of a classic layout of a singer songwriters video. It shows the artist, with close ups as a introduction and showing that he is the star of the video and he is the main focus point. There are very few shots that he doesn’t appear in where the scene is being set using establishing shots. We started looking at singer songwriter videos on you tube. This gave us bullet points on what was included within them. We looked at videos such as: James Morison’s - You make it real http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRxccy-zcJ8

5. Question 1 There is also a performance aspect of the video as well as a story throughout. This makes the music video better viewing for the audience for the following reasons: • Makes it grab the attention of the audience so they are focused on what’s going on within the story so they watch the video all the way through. • It also gives off a personal feel which creates a connection between the artist and the viewer making them feel more involved. • The main reason that the artists do this is to show that they are musically talented rather than just a voice you hear on the radio which has been edited and altered by the recording studio. This means that we can see them playing their instrument and properly singing. It shows they are an artist and that they can play for real. • It also by playing the guitar and just singing shows a form of rawness and purity which some genres do not achieve. Its like the artist can show a love for the music, that they enjoy it as much as the audience.

6. Question 1 The band nirvana made an iconic live sessions set which also fits with the convention of the use of performance to make the audience involved with the music and making everything more personal. The band did live sessions in New York, which was filmed and also watched by an audience. In doing this the band connected with the audience, which is what we are aiming to follow with our music video. The set for the performance was the band with candles dotted around them, the candles brought a homely feeling to the set and made the whole thing seem more inviting. We aimed to use this homely and personal technique in our own music video, but we did not want to copy it. So we pushed it by developing the candle idea which made it welcoming further to fit with the song that we had chosen which featured the lyrics ‘Live my life in a sleepy dream world’. To make the personal performance link to the song which other bands and artists of this genre have not done we designed the set to link to the lyrics. This was done by having a dark room where the performance would take place, representing the nights sky of the sleepy dream world, then candles which represent the stars. This I feel both worked with and developed the conventions of a music video of this genre.

7. Question 1 We also did not stick to a main convention of these types of music video. The slow motion effect is often used within the narrative aspect of the video. With the artist being shown in normal speed and the extras being shown in slow motion during certain parts. This is used to make the artist stand out against the crowd and not blend in. However we challenged this by not using crowds of being in our music videos narrative but just the two people. This made the main focus be on them and allowing the view to not be confused by so many people. This I feel not only kept the full attention of the viewer but also makes the Simon Williams video stand out.

8. Question 1 We also followed the conventions of the similar artists when creating our magazine advertisement for Simon Williams. This was done as we felt that following the conventions for this would show the readers of the magazine what kind of genre he might be without knowing about him or hearing his music. This will catch the attention of people and if the genre is portrayed by the advert people may look into listening to his music if that’s the genre that they like. Where as if we had designed a advert using gothic style the genre would not be portrayed correctly and would not encourage the target audience to listen to his music. Therefore we stuck to the conventions which we had researched and have posted on the word press blog. We looked into other artists font choices as well as their colour schemes. The links are shown below for each of these: Colour Conventions: • http://sandhurstmediagroup1.wordpress.com/2010/03/18/colour-research/ Font Conventions: • http://sandhurstmediagroup1.wordpress.com/2010/03/17/font-research/

9. Question 2 What have you learnt from your audience feedback: Link to our word press blog: http://sandhurstmediagroup1.wordpress.com/

10. Question 2 We created a blog to post all stages of the creation process of the music video, the magazine advertisement and the album cover. These will show our ideas and how we plan to do this then the actual process of creating them. Friends and family or anyone else who had an interest in what were doing were able to watch what we were doing then add their own ideas, suggestions and any other comments. This really helped us, we were able to know what the audience liked and did liked and therefore we were enabled to change certain aspects of our work to fit to the audiences tastes.

11. Question 2 We have had lots of positive feed back on the blog and it had all been helpful to some extent, it helped us stay in the right direction and keep us on track. Some of the examples of how the blog helped the developing stages are shown on the next few slides are the types of feedback which we received and how this helped us with our work.

12. Question 2 We needed to choose a font for the album cover and the magazine advert. We found a website called DaFont where we were able to download these fonts for free. We looked through many fonts and narrowed it down to seven. We then posted this onto the blog to get an idea of the kind of font which stood out to the audience if they were to by this album or look at the advert .

13. Question 2 Below is one comment left on the blog which we received for the font. More can be found using this link : http://sandhurstmediagroup1.wordpress.com/2010/03/18/font-ideas/#comments

14. Question 2 • The comments generally liked signature fonts, as they are personal to the artist. After much thought we went with the 4th font, which was liked by ‘Chloe’ and ‘Felicity’. Its shown below:

15. Question 2 I feel that all of the feed back helped us as a group to some extent and I defiantly think that it has improved the overall finished products for both the music video and the ancillary tasks. At the end when the finished video was posted the comments on the final edit were all very positive and allowed us to see that what we have created suited our target audience and was a success. Without the blog we could not have been able to get as much feed back as we did, as we could not have reached as many people as we managed to. This gave us the ability to have much more feedback.

16. Question 2 Below is the link to this feedback and also some examples of what people said: Very good song!! and the Video is as good as the song!! Very well put together and I thought the filming was good and the whole video flowed really well!! GREAT JOB!!!! - Ashley very well made. good use of camera angles and imagery. looks really professional - Rosa Really nicely done – good edit – great song. Well done. - Mike http://sandhurstmediagroup1.wordpress.com/about/

17. Question 3 How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? • Camera (video) • Camera (photographic) • Apple Mac Laptop • Final Cut • Photoshop • Word Press Blog • iTunes • Internet • Text (Simon & Vickie) • Facebook (Simon & Vickie) • Ipod (song)

18. Question 3 – Video Camera • Advantages: • The video camera enabled us to not only achieve hand held shot but also tripod shot which allowed us to achieve the shots that we required. • - The camera and all the equipment that we required was lightweight and was then able to move it from location to location. • - The camera allowed us to pan, zoom and tilt to get the desired effects. • Disadvantages: • - The camera may not work when the weather is bad. The rain and wind may make sound and effect the vision as well making the quality a lot lower than we would like. We used this to create our music video. We planned the shots that we were going to film then used the cameras to shoot the footage. These cameras enabled us to achieve handheld shots as well as still ones using a tripod.

19. Question 3 – Word Press Blog • Advantages: • Connection with the audience allowing us to cater to their tastes and make sure that its suitable for the target audience. • Receiving ideas and suggestions from people. • Knowing that we were on the right track as the audience would let us know. • Disadvantages: • Some of the audience were confused by the word press blog and did not know how to comment. This helped us log all of our research and also what we are planning to do and what we have done. The blog also connected us to the audience who could comment with suggestions, what they liked and other ideas that they had. This enabled us to know what the audience liked so we are then able to change certain aspects of our work.

20. Question 3 – Digital Camera • Advantages: • The camera allowed us to take as many photographs as we liked because it was a digital one and we could retake, delete and alter them on location • We could add effects or alter the quality of the shot as we were there with no editing software • Very transportable and lightweight. • Disadvantages: • The display screen if fairly small so you cannot really see how good the shot is before uploading them onto a computer however its an ok guideline of the quality. • There are better quality cameras available which will give much better results. We used a camera to take photographs for the album covers artwork and also the magazine cover. These were taken in colour as the could be changed to black and white during the editing stages. Photographs link below: Link : http://sandhurstmediagroup1.wordpress.com/2010/03/07/photo-shoot-samples/

21. Question 3 – The Apple Mac Laptop • Advantages: • The laptop allowed us to use the best editing software for the music video as it allowed us to lip sync, add transitions, cut lips down, move clips and make sure it looks correct simply • We also used these to access the word press blog so we could upload what we have been doing quickly and easily • Disadvantages: • This software for editing was a lot more complex than the software which we used for AS, and took some getting used to. However once we’d learnt how to use it became much simpler and much better in the long run. We used apple laptops to blog, research and to edit the footage which we have captured using the software called ‘Final cut’. Final cut is editing software which enabled us to select clips which worked well, lip sync and put transition and other effects into the piece. This software really worked well with what we were aiming for.

22. Question 3 – Photo Editing • Advantages: • Allowed us to add effects to the photographs as well as altering, cropping, adding text and other features. • This enabled us to use the sketches and ideas that we had come up with and turn them to a real product. • Allowed us to merge to photographs together easily and effectively • Disadvantages • The software did not always give the desired effect as well as we would have liked, as it is not the top editing software, however I feel that it still gave good results. • Also it took some learning and playing with effects to learn how to use the software correctly. We used Photoshop to edit the photographs and place them into the album cover and magazine advert which we made in the software package called PhotoDraw, this enabled us to use text and other effects to create the look we needed. I feel that using these two pieces of software allowed us to create the look that we desired with ease and gave us what I feel is a good final product.

23. Question 3 – IPods and ITunes We used iTunes briefly to upload the track to an IPod so we could take an IPod docking station with us to the locations of filming so that Simon could mime the words in time so we were therefore able to lip sync easily when editing. • Advantages: • This allowed perfect lip syncing to be achieved as Simon could follow the song exactly. • Also allowed us to hear what part of the song we were on whilst editing the footage • Disadvantages: • The music was not very loud when we were on location, however this was ok and did not effect us too much

24. Question 3 – Text and email • Advantages: • This allowed us to always be in contact with the actors and each other and allowed them to also contact us if they required to. • These allowed us to allow the shooting events to run smoothly. • Disadvantages: • Sometimes we were un-contactable for some reasons and could not reach each other if needed, or if the emails were not checked regularly . We used texting and emailing to contact Vickie and Simon about shooting dates, what they needed to do, what they needed to wear and any other details. This enabled us to always be in contact with them and really helped with our organization and preparation for filming.

25. Question 4 How effective is the combination of the main product and the ancillary texts ? Answer Ideas: • Looking at each of the products • Combining them – do they work well together?

26. Question 4 First and foremost the limited colour palette that we used (in the form of the sepia colour we used on the advert for release and also the tint on the cd background) links in quite well to limited colours that we used throughout the video (for example the hotel room is mostly cream, the only colours visible in the performance aspect of the video is the brown of Simons shirt and the red guitar). This wasn’t intentional but ultimately my feeling is that despite this it works very well, it goes very well together and reinforces the simple image of the singer songwriter genre.

27. Question 4 Secondly the star image through out both the supporting texts and the video, Simon is portrayed as a very down to earth man, nothing ostentatious and true to the singer song writer genre. This is portrayed with his costume (jeans, shirt and a leather jacket), a very simple attire and very in keeping with the singer song writer genre. This simple attire is carried through to the video as well and in fact gets even simpler with the hotel sequences – he is wearing a t shirt instead of a shirt.

28. Question 4 However with the supporting materials there isn’t any support to the key lines in the song (e.g. Live my life in a sleepy dream world). This is however an idea that we toyed with at the original conception stages of the project. This is totally contrary to the video – for example on the line, “live my life in a sleepy dream world” we have a shot of Simon singing the line in a close up which places extra significance on it. This is something that I feel could have been perhaps carried over to the supporting materials.

29. Question 4 My personal feeling is that both our video and the supporting materials do conform to the codes and conventions or a singer song writer, the colours aren’t heavy and add to the light and breezy feeling that is shown in the advert and in the story segments of the video. Simon is prominent throughout all bits and is shown to the be the artist as is the norm for most singer song writers and first album releases. The setting itself also backs up the codes and conventions of a singer songwriter, the majority of it the emphasis is placed solely on Simon and the only other person is Vickie which makes them appear to be the two most important people in the video.

30. Question 4 Ultimately I feel that the combination of our video and our supporting material is very successful, the muted colour palette transfers well between the video and the supporting media artifacts, the star image is portrayed well through out and the idea of a genuine singer song writer I feel is portrayed very well through out. This gives out a personal feel to the final products making them more attractive and eye catching to the audience which we have targeted.