Final Music Video

Here is our final music video for Ivory's debut single, Like Me:

Final Digipak

Here is our final digipak for Ivory's album 'Elements':

Final Website

After some slight complications with our wix account we had to create a second website so here is our new and final website link:

http://iamivoryofficial.wixsite.com/iamivory

Here is a brief overview of our final website:

Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop and challenge conventions of real music video products?

These are 8 different gifs showing the best moments of our music video, these where chosen by the editing involved, how effective it is and how much impact is has on the video itself:

1) This was one our best clips due to the way in which the continuity editing makes changing location and scene very effective. This is done by having the artist cover the camera with her hand and then remove it in a different location. We used this as a transition because it is more creative than just a straight cut to the next shot, which is a technique we used throughout the video.



2) This is medium shot which can be seen int he chorus of the song. Editing is used in this clip to make the artist look like she is going "insane" which can also be seen through the costume, make up and scenery which contrasts how she is seen in the beginning of the video.



3) A reverse shot is used at the start of this clip which suggests she is reverting back to her "normal" self because in the next shot she can be seen looking similar to how she did at the beginning of the video. Although, the editing that can be seen (flashes of black) may suggest that although she seems "normal", her dark/crazy self may not be far.



4) This gif shows the contrast between the two personalities conveyed throughout the music video. This difference in personality is made even more clear as it fades from one personality, where she is "normal", to the chorus when she acts and looks "insane".



5) This clip has elements to it which are more mysterious thus reiterating the consistent change in personality throughout the music video. This is due to the editing as it makes the viewer believe the artist is in two places at once. However, we know this was done by cutting the clip after she lifts the camera up, moving to the center of the path and then re-filming the shot, thus making it seem as if she is in two places at once.



6) This clip consists of a series of short shots, each in a different location, with different costumes and make up in each shot. This clearly demonstrates our artist's colour scheme in terms of her image because although different outfits can be seen, the majority of her outfits are either black or dark colours which highlight the synergy which is present in all of her brand synergy,




Real music videos which influenced parts of our real media products:

We were influenced by this shot in the music video 'Faded' as it demonstrates a good way to change and show different locations in a short time frame through the use of jump shots. We used this idea but developed this to also show a change in our artist by showing personalities throughout the music video.


Faded- Alan Walker



We wanted our video to have a very rural and rundown feel which we wanted to convey through the locations she's in. This would help to both contrast and enhance her two different personalities thus making for a more effective music video. We found two music videos that featured over grown locations and greenery which we drew inspiration from. These were 'No Money' and an unofficial music video for the song 'Sail'.


No Money- Galantis 



We were influenced by this shot in particular because it shows the type of close up shots which we wanted to recreate throughout our music video.





This Prezi clearly outlines whether our music video conforms or disagrees with the 6 theories outlined by Andrew Goodwin and the 4 key concepts explored by Carol Vernallis:


Below is an emaze presentation which clearly highlights how our digipak and website uses, develops and challenges conventions of real media products. As well as this it shows what influenced us throughout the process and the clear comparisons between the website and digipak:

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

After a year of making our music video and ancillary products, we have filmed, edited, blogged and completed our final task. We are very proud of what we have achieved and we have evaluated our products and the overall experience.

We have been working hard on our music video and ancillary products since September now and we have grown very attached to ensuring it is to a high standard as possible. This presentation helps to show how we have achieved branding consistency and be consistent with Ivory's make-up, image, locations, lighting etc.

Question 3: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

During November we finished our first draft of the music video. We showed the video to our peers and media teachers to gain feedback. by doing this it allowed us to know the positives of the video and identify the negatives that needed changing. Below is the feedback we received:



From this feedback we constructed our final digipak, website and music video. The final digipak can be seen below along with out improvements and feedback:

Final Digipak
The yellow dots equal our feedback and the red dots show the response we made to the feedback.



As you can see the final digipak is a major improvement from the first draft. The digipak now has clear synergistic links with the website, video and social media.

We learnt a lot from our continued audience feedback and it was because of this feedback that we were able to perfect out music video and ancillary tasks. Our teacher feedback was helpful but it was our remaining peer feedback and audience feedback (from our target audience) that really aided our group in making final decisions and further improving our cross-media tasks.
By constantly asking and receiving peer and audience feedback we were able to ensure that we were branding our artist in an appropriate which would appeal to our target audience and her fans. By doing this we were ensuring that she fit into her genre of music and that every ancillary task including the digipak and the tour poster tied in with her brand and artist synergy thus making our cross media task more realistic and professional.
Audience feedback was invaluable to us throughout this process as it was essentially at the cornerstone of all our decision making; whether decisions were being made on the narrative of the music video or the pictures to include in our digipak, we were consistently thinking about our feedback and the impact our choices had on our target audience.

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

Media technologies played an invaluable role in every stage of our music video process. Here is our evaluation of the importance of media technologies in the stages of our project:

Website Updates

News Page:
























We've added a new story to our news page which links in with our magazine article and front cover. We spoke about Ivory featuring on the cover of the music magazine NME as a part of their ten year anniversary publications.

Home Page:

We've added the album release date to the home page, alongside the release of the single 'Like Me'. This will allow fans to pre-order and prepare for Ivory's album release.

Page Titles:

To all of the pages we have added social media links so that our fans can constantly access our social media pages and follow our artist. 

The buttons link to Ivory's Facebook and Twitter pages and are present on every page of our website.

Final Tour Poster

After asking our class and receiving extensive feedback we have made some amendments to our first tour poster.
Here is our first draft and the changes we have made:

 



The changes we have made are:

-We changed our colour scheme from dark colours (black and purple) to lighter colours like blue and white. This was because the lighter colours were more suitable for Ivory's image and they match the synergy which is present throughout our work and her artistry.

-We made sure that the writing of the tour dates can be seen and that the dates do not cover her image.

 

Here is our final tour poster:

 

Music Video Feedback- Jake Wynne

Jake Wynne, a professional music video director, was able to give us feedback on our music videos which was amazing to receive as it helped us finalise our music videos. His criticisms and comments were invaluable to us during the final stages of this process because having someone, who has been successful in this industry, comment on our videos was incredible and a real help with our final feedback.

St. Dizier- Bang Bang: Nice framings, and interesting locations with a refreshingly different grade. However, the edit could have done with some more dynamics though to differentiate the build of the track.

Final Heidi- A good energy to the edit and a great use of the photographic technique which resolves nicely at the end of the video. Heidi's performance was consistently strong and her lip-sync was also good. It would have been nice to see a bit more this lip-sync through the video.

Love Now- Final draft: A great set up and concept with the first person perspective. Some really good  locations with amazing colours and vistas. Some more dynamics from the editing would have helped to drive this video along and give a better build to the day ending. It would have been nice to see a bit more of the lip-sync through the video.

Hypnotic Final Video- Really good use of the varying visual dynamics through different parts of the song. The edit picked out the changes in the music very well and the lip-syncing was especially strong. Good use of locations to give variety.

Rolling with Elephants- Great lip-sync, really tight with the editing and I really enjoyed the painted on digital effects. They worked especially well as outlines on the main performance.

I Don't Mind- Tori Lorente: A good filmic aesthetic to the video, with a nice use of colour. Some great framings and solid lip-sync throughout. A little more variety in the edit would have helped it build a bit more towards the end.

Final Video- Megan Thomas: A strong narrative thread that was well performed and consistent. The lip-syncing was very good and the emotion was conveyed very well. A good balance between the narrative and the lip-sync performance, with the cross cutting of both working well.

Ava Final Draft: Good use of varied locations and a strong narrative thread running through. Great lip-sync and a good balance between narrative and performance elements, resulting in a satisfying resolution.

Iuris- Something More: Innovative use of grading, and clever transition technique between shots. Strong lip-sync and some really interesting framing on the performance moments.

Ivory Final- Good strong editing, with clear definitions between verse and chorus. Interesting compositions and a clear filmic aesthetic. The lip-sync was especially good with a clear emotional drive and areas of light and shade.   

Avenue- Monday Morning (Final): A really clear beginning, middle and end. A well thought out video with endearing performances from the band with great lip-sync and fun energy. The comedy was well balanced and the view continued to develop as new scenes played out, helping to drive the story through.

Stay Draft 2: Once again, a lovely filmic aesthetic here, with very well composed shots pulling as much out of the environments as possible. The performances were well lip-synced, but at times I felt the emotions were not as clearly signposted.

Magazine Article: Ivory

After conducting magazine article research we wrote and constructed a magazine article for Ivory in the well known music magazine: NME.

Digipak Analysis

Here is a detailed analysis of our second digipak draft, which outlines the shot types and why we chose them for our album's digipak:

Filming Locations

Whilst filming we went to several different locations. Here is an evaluation of our third location:

Ivory Wins Best New Artist

Ivory has just received the Best New Artist award at the NME Music Magazine Awards after an astounding response from her newly formed fan base.
As the award was voted for by her fans this award means so much to Ivory and her whole team. Here is her acceptance speech from the award ceremony which took place in London last night:

Third Digipak Attempt

Here is our third full digipak:

Digipak Amendments

The amendments we made since the last digipak update:

• We've added Ivory's signature blue streak through her name to the front cover of the album.
• We changed the bottom left image from the image of the trees to an image of Ivory.
• The 'thank you' section of the digipak has been amended so that it is no longer just a quote and now surrounds an image of Ivory

Possible Digipak Ammendments: Signed CD

Whilst amending our digipak we played around with the idea of incorporating our artist's signature on the CD cover, here is the result:

Digipak Update

After receiving feedback on our first digipak draft we had to make a few amendments before creating and completing the final version. One of these changes was adding the institution information to the back cover. The institutional information is crucial and must be included on every digipak which is something we discovered through our digipak research.

After looking at several official digipaks including these:

We began to see similarities in their institutional and extra information. For example, both feature barcodes so this was something we added to our digipak. Secondly, both feature the artist's recording company and who distributed their album which is again something that we made sure to add to our digipak.

The institutional information we added went as followed:

Polar Republic Records Ltd.
Distributed by Sony Music Entertainment
All Rights Reserved
189 Soho Avenue, London, W1D 3AP







Here is our second digipak draft:

Polar Records Institution Logo

To complete our digipak, in particular the back cover, we had to create an institution logo for Ivory's music label- Polar Records.

 

 

Editing Techniques

Editing was invaluable to us when creating this music video because I often had to edit the original clips in different ways to help highlight the craziness/unhinged personality of Ivory during the chorus.
One example of this can be seen below. This is a gif which we made using a clip from the first chorus our music video. Here, Ivory can be seen with messy hair and a deranged look which I managed to enhance through the editing techniques used below.

1) This is a quick video which shows how I edited this sequence using Premiere Pro:





2) This is an example of a Jump Cut which is featured in our music video. Here's how we did it: