4. Evaluation Task 4- How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

3. Evaluation Task 3- What have you learned from your audience feedback?

From the feedback I have received from my friends and classmates, I have discovered that they really liked the way that the products were linked by the colours and font used, particularly the continued look of black and gold colour which they felt suited the song well considering the song's title! A highlight for a lot of people seemed to the performance of the 'singer' Niya, as he really performed his lip syncing well and was a great presence in the video. While some of the lip syncing wasn't spot on in timing, they still felt that he was perfectly suited to the role and that he could pass for being the real artist. They also thought that the dancers were very skilled and that even though the majority of the video was dance, they didn't find it boring like they would have thought they would. One of the people I asked during the planning stages of this music video about what they did and didn't like in a music video said that they didn't like it when it was just dance all the way through, however at the end, she was one of the people who was very impressed by the dancing and felt that the story expressed in the dance was enough to give it more meaning. Overall, I think my video and ancillary tasks were well received and people enjoyed them.

2. Evaluation Task 2- How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

1. Evaluation Task 1- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

1. Similar to many other music videos in this genre of dance-pop music, the video starts by introducing the artist and song name. From looking at a top 100 dance music videos of week website, it seems that most dance videos have a very varied and bright colour palette. I have chosen not to follow this theme and have stuck to a more muted colour palette of black and gold, in concordance with the title of the song.

2. This shot establishes the two main performers in an intimate way. A common theme in dance videos is that the dancing is often very sexual and bordering on vulgar. This dance however, contrasts with this as it is more styled around ballroom dance.

3. This shot and the entire section set in black and white take inspiration from Madonna's vogue dancing. The quick movements and emphasis on hands and arms as well as the black and white colour filter really link the two music videos. 

4. The use of light behind Niya adds a mysterious and edgy effect that creates shadows and looks like a golden profile of his face. This mimics the sultry and shady look of singers in dark clubs etc. 

5. As well as the previous style with the singer, there are also the shots where the singer's face is more visible, getting them the publicity and 'face-time' they need to sell their image.

6. Music videos often hold a new section/scene for later on in the video to keep the audience hooked. I have chosen to put in three sections of written lyrics to add something new about half way through the music video. 

7. I chose this shot as an example of the way I put an emphasis on editing to the beat. In this shot, the movement of her eyes is in time with the beat.

8. Another feature that I saved for later was when two of the sections, the black and gold dancers and the black and white dancer, merged together into the same scene. As well as what I mentioned before about how music videos often do this, it is also a feature of this genre to mix scenes and change the set up during the video. 

9. Few music videos in the genre of dance-pop contain a storyline but I felt that one was necessary to relay the relationships of the dancers and also create a visual that went with the lyrics, The story really comes into play at the end of the video, making the audience think back through the rest of the song for other moments that expressed the bitter-sweet nature of the song.

7. Ancillary Task 7- Digipak Flat Plan

29. Final Edit

27. Rough Edit

Here is my first and VERY rough edit for my music video. I need to sort of the lip syncing and there are a few shots that are either too long or not interesting enough that I want to change and swap with other footage I have.

Editing

I have been editing my footage. I first went through all the footage I got and cut it down to the usable sections where the dancers were in sync and it looked good. After doing this, I had about 30mins of raw footage! I knew that I wanted to do a lot of editing to the beat and so that meant a lot of short sections of film and quick edits. Here are some screen shots of my progress during the editing process.

26. Filming

Here are some pictures I took during the filming process. I now have all my footage.

3. Ancillarly Task 3- Features of a Digipak

2. Ancillary Task 2- Fonts

Here is a selection of fonts that could be used both in my video and my digipak. I decided to put them with a black background and has gold letters. My favourite is OSLO font, which is the 7th font down, second from the bottom.

1. Ancillary Task 1- Research into Branding

Progress

Here are a few clips of the rehearsals for the 4 dream dancers. I put a greyscale filter on one to give an idea of how the image might look.

25. Props and Costumes

I have collected costuming for most of my crew already. For Niya, I have chosen for him to wear a suit and black fedora hat. He will also be using a retro style microphone.

For the dream dancers, they will be wearing black leggings with black leotards and pin stripe waistcoats. They will have bear feet, their hair will be pulled back in a tight bun at the napes of their necks and they too will wear fedora hats. I also want to have them in contrasting black and white make-up. I have selected some examples that I will use as a guide.

And last but not least the costumes for Aaron and Kelly. Kelly is wearing a gold fringe dress and gold dance shoes. Aaron is wearing black trousers and a black shirt, smart and classy but simple too.

I chose a mostly black costume for the majority of the dancers etc because, apart from the Black and Gold section, the rest will be in black and white. Therefore, I needed costumes that would exaggerate this and produce bold and contrasting images. It also makes the gold seem more magical and brighter too.

24. Cast Choices

I have chosen Niya Clement- Hickson as my lip-syncer as I know he can express himself well while singing, understands how to perform and song and has a strong presence on stage. I know that Sam Sparro is white, however, he is often mistaken for being black because his voice is so rich. Therefore, I have decided to chose a personality that would suit the song rather than focus on being specific in these details.

For my Black and Gold dancers, I have chosen Aaron Simmonds to be 'Black' and Kelly Martin to be 'Gold'. They are both amazing dancers, with Aaron being a professional ballroom dancer and Kelly being a very experienced and talented ballet dancer. Kelly is blonde, further developing the whole 'Gold' personna and Aaron has dark drown hair.





















Finally, for my four dream dancers, I have chosen four girls who are excellent dancers. They are Lizzie Parker, Maddy Abbs, Laura Richards and Flora de la Mortiere (pictures in this order).

23. Locations

For my section 1, which is the lip sync section, I am going to film up at the Ogstoun Theatre. I have chosen this location because it gives me access to a full lighting rig, while also being a large, black space. There is currently a very big and grey set up but it still looks neutral and will be effective. With this section, I am going to film with my lip syncer in front of a black curtain, so that the colours are different to the other section (section 2).

Section 2, the dream dancers, is also in the Ogstoun Theatre, but this will be utilizing the full theatre space. I chose this one fro the lighting opportunities but also because it is a good and reliable space for the dancers to perform.

Section 3 is the Black and Gold dancers and that will be film in the upper level of The Services Center. The walls are plain and simple and I will be hanging black cloth on them and using an alpha pack and simple lighting. I chose this space as it is open and will be spacious enough for the dancers to perform while also being different from the other dance space.

22. Shot List

21. Animatic

20. Story Board of 3 Sections

Section 1- Black and White colour, male lip-syncer. Standing microphone, single spotlight, plain background.

Section 2- Black and white colour, four female dancers. Four blocks for dancing on, low level lighting, fedora hats, simple black costumes, black and white facepaint/make-up.

Section 3- Full colour image. Theme of Black and Gold, girl- gold, boy- black. Simple black backdrop with fairy-lights sewn in swirling patterns. Mood lighting.