"Endless" Zara Larsson completed music video (embedded from youtube)

Evaluation Question 4: How did you use media technologies in the construction, research and planning and evaluation stages?

Research and planning 

As part of the research and planning of the music video we used a a variety of media technologies especially you tube. Youtube was used when researching existing music videos enabling us to understand the conventions of a pop music video and plan what type of music video we wanted ours to be like. We also used vevo for this task where we watched three different types of music videos and from that made a list of 6 key conventions that we noticed in all three videos.

We didn't just use youtube for research we also used it for the construction of our music video we used youtube to download our audio from and download a green screen filter for us to make the home videos look more realistic.

As well as using youtube we also used Prezi and Emaze to present our ideas to an audience. To begin with we used Emaze to present our research ideas on when we where deciding who to pick for to be our chosen artist. Emaze is an online powerpoint software that offers several templates including 3D formats working on through a cloud-based system. Using Emaze also allowed us to present our research on our blogs tracking our journey and decision of our chosen artist "Zara Larsson".


We then went on to using Prezi which is another online powerpoint software apart from this has the ability to zoom in and out of slides making it more interactive to the audience. We used Prezi to present our planning and initial ideas for the music video.




To give inspiration and an understanding of our chosen song and build ideas on what we wanted to have for our music video we created a lyric analysis using microsoft word. We began by copy and pasting the lyrics in to word and as a team going through each line annotating what it could mean and how we could show this in our music video.

As an addition to this we also used word count. Word count organises words in to different font sizes according to how many times they are used. Completing this enabled us to find out what the song was really about and what to address to the audience in our music video, we found out that the song was mainly a love song therefore within our next planning stages we have made sure this is clearly shown in our music video and its about love. 

Evaluation 

The evaluation section required us to answer 4 set questions based on my A2 coursework. Therefore I decided to present each question in a different style. To begin with we presented questions 1 and 3 using Emaze which is a software we are already familiar with using. Within the emaze presentation for question 1 there were several images linking our work to existing products in the music industry. In question 3 we used Emaze again using a mixture of images and links to our audience feedback that we have collected throughout the process of construction.    

For question 2 we used another presentation software which was prezi, again similar to question 1 we used images showing the links between all three tasks. For Question 4 we used blogger and posted it as a blog post. Blogger is an online service which allows people to write their opinions or work online enabling everyone to read. 

Construction 

Whilst constructing our music video we used the Canon EOS 1100 d. We then used premier pro to edit our music video and photoshop to create our CD Digipak and music magazine advert. 

Overall I have used and learnt to use a variety of media technologies to make my work effective. 

Question 3

Evaluation Question 2: how effective is the combination of your main task or ancillary texts.

Question 1

Construction: Making of the music video

In order to edit my music video i began by uploading my footage on to the IMAC. As we had a large amount of footage the upload was time consuming. I then went on to uploading the footage on to premier pro which is a film editing software.   

I then downloaded my music using a youtube converter to download just the audio to use for the music video. I then uploaded this on to premier pro and started to edit some of our footage cutting it to sync with the audio. As we had very long shots and got our actress to sing the whole of the song every time we filmed, syncing our audio and film footage was straightforward. 

As part of our original filming plan we decided to incorporate a mixture of home videos and still shots of the actress singing in the locations we chose. To give the home video's more of a home video feel i decided to add a boarder of a recording frame over the videos using a green screen. 

This is how i put the frame over the videos:

Whilst editing i found that some of our filming was slightly shaky especially on travelling shots. To overcome this i put a warp stabiliser over the shot, a warp stabiliser "removes jitter caused by camera movement, making it possible to transform shaky, handheld footage in to steady, smooth shots" 

This is how i put the warp stabiliser on:

Planning: Audience Feedback

Audience Feedback
I showed my Animatic to a range of people in my target audience. I asked them a few questions on how they felt about my plan for my music video. They gave me feedback about the changes i could make to improve me music video but also the positives that i had already included. By asking multiple people, I could also see what the majority of people said about my animatic and make changes so that the majority of my target audience liked the music video.
One person said "Your music video tells the story of the song and doesn't feel overly staged as you have included home videos. However, you must make sure the actors are good, as it will need to seem believable to tell the story properly".  I will ensure that i look at how my chosen actor performs in front of a camera before casting them and are able to use their facial expressions to tell story. Another person said 'You need to make sure that the costumes are appealing to the target audience at the time that the music video was released and make sure that the shots clearly show off her clothing that she is wearing as her target audience would want to take inspiration from her.' Because of this feed back I have added in shots focusing on parts of the body so the audience can see individual pieces of clothing but also made sure that her clothing covers a few different style types. 

Planning:Costume

Costume is a very important piece of Mise-en-Scene in any media product, especially music videos. There are key ideas to consider when looking for costumes:

• The costumes/s keep in the theme of the of the music video. Foe example, if someone was dressed in a football strip, the audience would automatically have an idea of that person's personality and, if too bright, may district from what the performer is actually doing in that scene. 

• The costume must appeal to the target audience. For example, Zara Larsson's target audience are teenage girls and young female adults. If the outfit worn was a full football strip, the target audience would not find this appealing and may dislike the music video because of this. The performer wants the target audience to like them and this can be done through outfits choices.

• The performer must be comfortable in the chosen outfit so that they are not visually unhappy as the emotions shown and portrayed in this music video need to be suitable for the chosen song.

• The  chosen outfit must be afordable. Although there are many many different costumes in my music video, i need to know all the cost as there is a budget to the amount of money we ca spend when making this music video. 

Our chosen artist is Zara Larsson, a 17 year old girl, who keep up the new trend and fashion that comes into the shops, just like most teenage girls.

One costume that we will use in our music video is when Zara Larsson will be wearing a dark green, long sleeved, crop top with some black jeans. This would be suitable for the character of Zara Larsson as the colour dark green in very fashionable at this time but is still in keeping with the time of year of this part of the music video. Crop tops has also become very fashionable for teenagers to wear and Zara Larsson is the type and age of an artist that likes to keep up with the in fashions.

Black jeans are the neutral  part of the costume. Black jeans can go with lots of different types of tops and is in keeping with the time of year that this costume would be used in the music video. Black jeans are very fashionable for teenagers so this is something that Zara, aged 17, would wear.
This theme will be  carried on throughout the rest our home videos used in the music video.

The makeup and hair would be very natural for this scene. Below is an example of what we will do our actor's hair like. I will be naturally curly/wavy and loosely put up into a ponytail. This will be done so that it is in keeping with the casual outfit that she will be wearing and with the other music videos from Zara Larsson that I have looked at. 

Zara's 'boyfriend' in the music video will also need to be wearing clothing which is suitable for the time of year and the fashion at the time of the music video. Because of this i have looked into what different famous, male music artist wear which are around the same age as the 'boyfriend' would be. I have also looked at Zara's previous music videos to see what they wear too. I have decided that in the home videos, he will be casual and wearing plain colours so that the attention is on Zara and not too much on him.
He will be wearing washed out grey jeans which are suitable for the age of the boy and the style at that time. He will also be wearing a black top which is in the style of a american football top. This is because these are very popular at this time with people in their teens. It is also not too bright so that it would distract the attention form the artist - Zara.








In the part of the music video where our artist is at a train station, the costume will need to be more suitable for traveling and for a colder time of year. to make her look like she is going away and staying away for a long period of time.



Yellow colours are very in season and will still be at the time of filming. This jumper will be eye catching to the audience as the colour will stand out and make the audience's attention be on our artist. This colour is also a colour that the target audience would be likely to wear as it is very popular with teenage people and young adults. The costing of this top is quite high, even though it is in the shops sale. I will have to look at different shops for similar products or ask people i know to see if they have one that i could use.


I will then add black skinny jeans to this outfit. This is so that the colour of the jumper does not clash with any blue jeans. This will also bring attention to the top as the audience will be drawn to the bright yellow colour of the jumper. Black skinny jeans are very in fashion and this will be something that many of the target audience will ow and wear.

The grey suede boots will bring a different edge to the look and will still not draw too much attention away from the yellow jumper. It will also make her look her age as many late teenager wear heeled boots and will also add to her hight so that she doesn't look too young. They will also be suitable for the time of year as it is colder than in the summer and will bring some sophistication to he look.










For our artist's hair will will make sure it still looks quite natural as this is what we have seen in other music videos that she has made. Her hair will be loosely curled and braided around the head, framing the face.


In our final scene we will have autumn themed walk around a park. Both characters will be in this scene and will be wearing autumn style clothes.
For Zara, she will be wearing lots of layers as it will be a chilly morning walk in the autumn and the temperature would be very low.

She would be wearing black wash out jeans and an black high neck top. This is because the colours are not over powering and will mean that the extra parts added to this costume will stand out more on a monochrome 'background'. She will also be wearing a grey pair of heeled boots and a navy coat. The coat will have faux inside and hood, these will stand out and have a bigger impact on the all black costume as they will be the brightest and boldest colours. The faux on the coat will be an orange/brown colour which will represent the colours of autumn. The boots will be suitable for this time of year as It will be cold and the boots would be warm and protect her feet. She will also be wearing the love heart necklace that she will have worn the whole way through the music video to represent the love throughout their relationship.

The male actor will be wearing black jeans as they are the fashion at the time and will be fitting in with the time of year. He will also wear a white top to contrast with the black jeans. He will also be wearing a navy faux coat which will show their similarities as a couple and fit in with the time of year. He will be wearing trainer as they will be going on a walk.

Planning: Filming Locations

House 1 - Kitchen

We have chosen this location because there is a lot of space in the kitchen. This will make it easier to film in as there will be enough space for the cast and the camera, enabling us to move around and get different shots and angles. The kitchen is also a well lit room and has basic colours therefore it won't distract the audience and will make them just focus on the actors. Although it is a bright room we may need extra lights as at certain times in the day it can get dark and we need to keep it the same contrast of lighting throughout so we can get a clean shot and if any re-filming needs to be done this can be completed.

House 2 -Kitchen 

We have chose this location is a different kitchen in a different location to the first one. We have chose to have this as it has an island in the middle of the room therefore we could have the actors around this and film from an appropriate angle allowing the audience to understand what they are doing. We have also chose to use this kitchen as it shows what type of relationship the couple have, going round to each others house and spending time with their families. 

House 2 - Back garden

We picked this location as this is a large grass area and links the kitchen to another part of the house. It is a suitable surrounding that has a lot of light areas which will allow our shots to be clean and clear.This is also a typical garden in a house that a normal family will have which we are trying to convey that our actors are just a typical couple teenage couple spending time with each other.

Park

We have chose to use the park as it is a place where a lot of teenagers hang out and families will go to. The park is also seen as a romantic place where couples will go to spend time with each other and we want this to come across in our video as the song is about love and being in a long distance relationship.

Train Station - Waiting room

This has been chosen as in the song it refers to a airport waiting room. Unfortunately there isn't an airport near by to where we live. So we have decided to use the train station waiting room instead as this is typically the same place but will avoid showing things such as train station signs in our shot. 

Car Park

This car park was picked because this was the car park outside the train station and replicates the one at an airport. It is also close to the train station waiting room so that we can change some filming of the actor walking away, into reverse for our opening of the music video. We are also using the car park as a place where the couple say goodbye to each other and also become reunited.

Bedroom

We are using this bedroom because this would be a place that a couple may go. It will be a bedroom in house 1. It has a mirror in and this will be good to use as we can film the couple in the mirror so that we can see them both in one shot.