NEWS HAS BEEN TRANSFORMED IN THE ONLINE AGE “TO WHAT EXTENT DO YOU AGREE WITH THIS STATEMENT. APPLY CONTEMPORARY EXAMPLES TO THIS STATEMENTS”.

     I agree with this statement, news has changed significantly in the online age. It has become easier to reach audiences with news through posting articles online. It has also become more accessible for the public to view articles they are interested in, we have the vast amount of news websites, which focus on a wide range from politics to celebrities.

     A modern example that you could apply to this statement is the new campaign “Kony 2012”. This first surfaced by the effects of a short film premiered (March 5^th) on you tube created by the charity ‘Invisible Children’ and directed by Jason Russell. The video has now reached over 85 million views in less than a month. Online news has also allowed the public to comment on the articles. The Kony 2012 campaign disabled the comments section on you tube as the public were disliking the video and posting negative comments.

     The public have become much more important for the news in the online age. To grab an audience and to compete with other news companies the articles they put out have to be accompanied with either images, audio or video or all of these to make them stand out and be as interesting to the audience as possible. News doesn’t only get distributed on the companies websites but also via a twitter or Facebook feed allowing the audience/public have news delivered to their phones.

     The news in much more constructed and put together. The gatekeepers choose which stories to show and which to dismiss. They then construct the news stories with pictures/audio/videos and then they sell the story through having it has their headline posting it on their twitter site. Breaking News has become more accessible for the public as you are able to hear about it as soon as it is announced. The main aim of the news company is of course to make money. They achieve this through advertising revenue, this has an impact on news values and news selection.

     Tim Lee invented the internet thinking it would bring people together, which is what has happened through Facebook twitter etc. David Gauntlett says “He imagined that browsing the web would be a matter of writing & editing, not just researching and reading”. More than 1/3 of people in the world have a facebook account, this lets the news companies reach an audience through online networking, cheaply and effectively. More and more people and participating in online communities, which regularly revolve around current news stories (what happened with Kony 2012).

     Mark Poster says the internet provides a “Habermasian public sphere”, which means a cyber democratic network and points of view, which ultimately lead to a ‘public opinion’. The internet is also a huge source for the news companies to retrieve information. Also as the internet creates communities these communities are also brought together through news stories. Now the public/audience participate in news stories and contribute to the news. For example after 9/11 many videos/photographs/statements captured by the public were then transferred and printed/displayed across the globe.

     The online age has had a huge effect on how News is delivered the public. It is much more accessible that how it was before Web 2.0

Using Photoshop

When constructing our CD digipak and poster we had a photoshoot this allowed us to have initial material to work with and to manipulate. During the photoshoot we used a Cannon 500D, this allowed us to capture the detail and the clarity, which then gave us more flexibility when editing and manipulating the image.

We turned to PhotoShop to edit & perfect our pictures. We needed to create a 6 panel CD digipak and an  poster to compliment our pop promo video. Photoshop is a image manipulation device which allows us to create new images from outstanding ones. Perfecting our star image is crucial for us as her image is what will sell her.

The first thing we did before using photoshop was to chose the images we wanted for our products. We then started work first on the CD digipak. We sourced a template from the internet of a 6 panel CD pack and then layered all the images we previously selected up against this. The main image for us to edit was the front cover which we did by selecting the picture and then cropping it to fit the square frame. We then duplicated the layer to enable us to airbrush the image of our artist to create a flawless 1920's look. We the decided to create another layer to add the text. We chose a font that we wanted throughout the ancillary texts to create a sense of synergy. We got pictures of art deco frames and lines which we added ontop of our own photos to highlight the 1920's era and link the text back to our video. We then used the colour manipulation tools to alter the lighting and contrast of the image to look like the colours we used in the video. We did similar things for the other panels where we used the 'eye dropper' tool to choose a colour from our video and then place this on the panel.


As we were aiming to create an art deco/modern twisted album cover we needed to research and get inspiration for our album cover.

Modern album cover, showing iconic status (Marilyn Monroe), Sexual.

Art Deco design, Use of block colours, straight lines, squares, precise.

When creating our poster we chose to follow the idea of one of our digipak panels which would create a sense of synergy. We used the eye dropper tool to select the same colour as the panel and then chose the same silhouette image of the dancer to place on our poster. We did this by using the marquee tool to draw around one of the three silhouettes and then copy and paste it onto the poster. We then used the transform tool to scale it to the size we wanted. And added the same font in the similar positioning on the poster as on the digipak. We created a new layer to add text to the poster which included tour dates where the artist would be performing. We saved images of the twitter and FaceBook logo to place on the bottom of the poster in their own layers and then found a barcode on google to place ontop of the poster. Once we had created it we though somethig was missing so we added a new layer and used the brush tool to add a signiture of the artist in a similar colour as what would be found in the video, over the top of the silhouette.

We also created a few different posters in photoshop that we decided we didnt want to use as our final poster. These followed the same similar ideas as the final poster, we just used the colour contrast and highlighter tool to get the block effects which we then selected and added different colurs to.

Photoshoot & Digi-Pack

After we had finished the shoot we then started the photoshoot. We 

decided to keep the "Dancing Girls" as we felt they would compliment and create a more interesting frame around our leading cast member (Georgina).

We then decided to get shots of the Dancers so we could possibly use them in the digi-pack. When editing we colour corrected the photos so they looked old fashioned but still classy.

  We then needed to capture more shots of just Georgina as she is the artist/band we are selling. When editing this photo again we colour corrected the image like the one above to make it look classy and old fashioned.

In this photo below instead of correcting the colour we decided to put the photo into black & white, which made the photo look more sophisticated. This seemed to fit well with the theme of the music video.

For the photo below we tried editing it and changing the colours in the photo but none of them could match the original colour photo. This photo is a close-up of Georgina. We all agree that this photo has potential to be used for the digi-pack or the poster.

In the photo below of Georgina we tried to edit to make it seem aged and grainy to portray the era of the original track "Why Don't You" by Peggy. I feel the photo is slightly to edited but think it has potential to be used somewhere in the digi-pack or poster if we spend more time on it.

Gramaphondzie (Directors Commentary)

Feedback - Directors Commentary

Excellent and considerate understanding of the technologies used in production of the video for example After effects and FCP..  There are evident links between creative decision making and use of technology on both productions of the video using professional digital cameras (e.g focus pulls) and in the post production editing process – in discussion of continuity.  This is sustained and thorough and accurate in discussion of the art deco themes of the MV.  The commentary shows a discrete awareness of the use of new media technology and uses discriminating examples really well in terms of graphic design and animation.  Excellent command of terminology and well presented.

Covers sound and technology. Exemplifies After Effects well and the use of chromokey as an effect.  Excellent commentary, well done.

Feedback on Director's Commentary

Evaluation Task 4

Task 4: Media Technology in Pre-Production

Before we started filming & editing our music video, we instead drew out a storyboard of what we visualised our shots to look like. We then put our storyboards up on the wall so we could film each 'shot' that was drawn out. We used a Sony NX 5 to shoot them and then we edited all these shots together using Final Cut and synced the shots up to our song. Therefore, we basically had a rough cut of our actual music videos. This proves how media technologies allowed us to get a feel for what our music video would look like and therefore change anything which we didn't thnik fit the song. This was crucial as our storyboard animation allowed us to realise that we had some shots at the end that were too slow and that we did not have enough intense action in our video. We then had time to think about this and establish the changes before the shooting day. Thus, this media technology was a significant part in our pre-production and our music video may not have turned out as well without our storyboard animatic. We researched all of our material using new media technology (Google, Youtube, Flickr). 

Feedback on Evaluation Task 3: Audience Feedback

Can you please comlpete over the weekend.  You need to address the evaluation task set and in relation to reception theory and the strengths and weakness in your production work.

What's the point of doing a FOCUS GROUP?

doing a focus group will allow us to get audience feedback and see what our video accomplished and also what the video lacked.

We will be asking our target audience (mainly female, 16-25).

We will be asking questions like;

- What did you enjoy in the music video?
- What did you not enjoy in the music video?
- Do you think our target audience is the right audience?
- Where would expect to see this music video (MTV)?
- Do you think there should be more narrative?
- Do you think there should be more performance in the music video?
- What else would you want to see in this video?
- Does the music video seem amateur?
- Is the editing smooth or unnatural? and is this effective or not?
- Would you watch this video again?
- Does the music video show the "Star" in a positive light?
- What does she portray (Fashion Icon, Celebrity)?

Example of a focus group, which we can take advice from.

Feedback

The presentation is proficient which has a clear presenation of how your MV and ancilliary tasks work together. I feel you have been clear in what you want have wanted to promote with the artist image and thought carefully about product placement. However I do feel that you need to discuss the star image of your artist in relation to Dyer and consider how you have branded the image you wanted to. Then address the the effectiveness of the question set which is asking you to evaluate how well the products work together in a marketing mix - as per the argument of Philip Kotler (please refer to your class notes).

Media task 2

View more presentations from 12Mantca

Digi Pack/Music Video Conventions TASK 1

Image of Star: This is a vital part of the campaign to market & distribute the artists music. As our artist is a        newcomer this was even more important so that the audience knew who the artist was.

Main Title: Having a title on the CD is another crucial part of promoting your artist, it lets the audience know who they are listening to. On our album we used our artists name, which is common is albums.

"Featuring No.1 Single Why Don't You" = This lets the audience know that the artist is popular and will urge the audience to buy the album. This is common marketing.

Linking Our Digi Pack & Music Video Concept Ideas: We wanted to make our Music Video & Digi-Pack similar so thats why we added an Art Deco pattern as a border round the front panel of the album cover. This also gives the audience an idea of what the music style is.

Above is "Night & Day The very best music of Cole Porter". This album cover shares the same concept as ours but also has the same conventions but also goes against a few. It has a title naming the artist. But what it lacks is the star image.

The conventions that are shown on the back panel of the album. These are the record label. The record label the artist is signed to is always on the back of albums, this allows the consumer to know what type of genre it is and also what the scale is (commercial or independent).

As we listed our tracks this means we conformed to the media conventions of a CD digi-pack. The track listing sometimes could suggest the genre of the music and the style, if the songs were titled "it's all about love" then you would know its a pop commercial album but if they were more edgy you would know they were more indie.

The bar code at the bottom left conforms to every possible media product.

The art deco patterns around the album is our theme, which is another convention as most albums would have a theme. This helps build our star image.

The art deco patterns and colour also relates to our Music Video, this links our products together starting a 'mini' franchise.

We also added a copyright sign, which again conforms to every media product to stop people stealing the product.

Last of all and probably the most obvious we had the CD digi-pack square, this conforms to most if not all CDs.

Feedback

Can you please post evaluation task 1 and email me when this is completed.  Thank you.

Music Video Conventions