Tuesday, 24 November 2009

Evaluation (Part 1)

In what ways does your media product use, develop, or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
We have used different types of shots which are related towards the original Jackson 5 ABC video of them singing live, with the use of head and shoulder close-ups and medium shots, which are the most popular styles of camera shots used within the 70's.






















As you can see the medium shots are of similar style and proportion to how they originally shot the video. With he camera placing also very direct, using a shot that shows all 5 members head on. We used this style as with the props that were used we figured this would be the most appropriate form of camera placement. After reviewing other 70's music videos it's noticeable that all the shots are of similar style, most likely due to the lack of technology when compared to todays music videos.
When it comes to editing we decided to contrast to the original video by using short snappy shots to fit into up beat tempo that ABC the song is. We also decided to add the idea of contrasting the video shots as we ended up filming on a dull day, and the expectation of the different types of coloring to our video would be bright and sunny. Therefore we used a contrasting effect in order for our video to appear slightly brighter than the original shooting.

The mise-en-scene had special relation to the original video as we decided to use matching outfits of various colours, similar to the image above, although due to budget issues we used outfits we already had and used different coloured t-shirts to contrast with the large coloured lettering props we had. We also had some large letters in our video which were often used, as we noticed some shots of Jackson 5 when promoting the video included some oversized letters. Therefore to relate to this idea we decided to make some letters which we could use in the performance section of the video.














The idea of this original front cover we also took for our digi-pack idea. As we took images of our group and superimposed them on to large images of the letters "ABC" as if they were interacting with the letters, similar to the image on the left.














We decided we didn't need to use many special effects but we had to use a rotation of one of the shots which included a tree and a love heart image, which goes with the lyric "without the roots of love everyday girl". At first the shot was taken upside down as a minor mistake, and we therefore had to use an effect which rotated the shot and add a background in order to fill the screen.

In terms of the magazine advert we used photoshop as the main programme with the idea of bright colours and a guitar which was one of the main props in the video. We couldn't find any original magazine adverts for jackson 5, so we therefore used our own ideas when designing and making the advertisement. The use of a black background and coloured guitar in the advert ensures the colours stand out more, and the title stands out more.

We attempted to relate the video to a younger audience using these features.

Thursday, 19 November 2009

Prop List

This is a list of all the props we have to gather before shooting takes place:


  • Large coloured letters (wood)

  • Different coloured T-shirts

  • Teachers Clothes

  • White Board

  • Desks

  • Chairs

  • White Board Pen

  • Colourd background card

  • Afros

Shooting Schedule, Shot List + Email of Certification

Shooting Schedule
This Shooting Schedule includes all the times, locations, props, and people needed at each time. Each group member had a copy of this so they knew where to be at different times during the day. A copy also went to out tutors so they knew where we were at each given time incase of any emergencies.
















Click on image to enlarge the shooting schedule


Shot List
This is a copy of our shotlist which we are going to use when shooting the video to remind us of the different types of shots we intended to shoot.

(click to enlarge)














Email of Certification
We attempeted to email the company who own the rights to use Jackson 5's song "ABC" but we never retained an email back.
The image on the right is a screen shot of the email we sent.
(clock to enlarge)


Sunday, 15 November 2009

Storyboard

This is the first story board me and my group have drawn up which shows the types of scenes we are going to be shooting and the props which will be used.


(click on image to enlarge)

















































(each story board is in A4 size as I was unable to find a A3 scanner)




Audience Research Continued...

Focus Group


Me and my group decided to set up a focus group where we gathered a small group of people and asked them specific questions about the song "ABC" and what they felt would be good when incorporating different aspects of the song into the video.
Getting personal opinions allowed us to continure our planning with new, fresh ideas in mind, to what the audience would like.


Lyric Analysis

Michael: a buh-buh buh buh-buh
J5: a buh-buh buh buh-buh
Michael: you went to school to learn, girlThings you never, never knew before...
Jermaine: like I before e except after c...
Michael: and why 2 plus 2 makes fourNow now now, Im gonna teach you...
J5: teach you, teach you
Michael: all about love, dear...
J5: all about love
Jermaine: sit yourself down, take a seatAll you gotta do is reapeat after me.
Chorus:
J5: abc
Michael: easy as...
J5: 123
Michael: or simple as...
J5: do re mi
Michael: abc, 123, baby, you and me girl!
J5: abcMichael: easy as...
J5: 123
Michael: or simple as...
J5: do re mi
Michael: abc, 123, baby, you and me!
Tito: come on, let me love you just a little bit!
Jackie: come on, let me love you just a little bit!
Jermaine: Im a going to teach how to sing it out!
Michael: come on, come one, come onLet me show you what its all about!Reading, writing and arithmeticAre the branches of the learning tree
Jermaine: but without the roots of love every day, girl
Michael: your education aint completeT-t-t-teachers gonna show you
J5: show you, show you
Michael: how to get an a!
J5: nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah!
Michael: spell me you
J5: add the two!
Jermaine: listen to me baby, thats all you gotta do!
Repeat chorus
Bridge:
Michael: sit down, girl!I think I love you!No! Get up, girl! Show me what you can do!
Shake it, shake it, baby, come on now
Shake it, shake it, baby, ooo oooh!Shake it shake it, baby, huh!
Abc, baby, oo ooo!
123, baby, nah nah!
Do re mi, baby, huh!
Thats how easy love can be.
J5: abc
Michael: abc, its easyEasy as123Its like counting up to 3
Or simple as do re mising a simple melody
All: thats how easy love can be!

From these lyrics we can incorporate some of the ideas from out audience research into relation to the words of the song. e.g. the ideas of love and education can be added in when the lyrics talk about school and getting A grades.

Audience Research

QUESTIONNAIRE


For part of our audience research we have created a questionnaire which we have handed out to ten people of different ages, ethnicity and gender.
We have 8 questions in total, all to do with the track and original video of ABC by Jackson 5.
We played them the track and showed them the original video throughout the process; the video we showed them can be seen through this link:



A plain example of our questionnaire is presented below and a completed example:


(click on image to enlarge)









































RESULTS

A various range of results were collected which allowed us to open our minds to new ides which we could incorporate into the video.

Question 1 - 8 people knew the song and 3 didn't. This proves we have chosen a popular song which most people know or have heard of.

Question 2 - The majority of people claimed the music was 'Poppy' or 'Motown' although 1 person said they though the song was of 'Jazz' genre.

Question 3 - 5 out of ten said they though the theme of this song was love, 4 people said about learning and one said they thought the song was about enjoying life in general. Therefore from these results we can think of ideas which would appropiately incorporate these themes in to the video.

Question 4 - 4 out of 10 poeple said they associated the song with colours, 3 people said children, 2 people said building blocks and 2 person said happiness. Again with these results we can add these ideas into the music video using different scenes and props.

Question 5 - 3 out of 10 people said the song made them feel like they want to dance, 3 people said the song made them happy, 2 person said the song made them feel joyous, 2 people said lively, and 1 said average. From these results we get an understanding of haw we are expected to make out audience feel once they've watched the video.

Question 6 - we decided to write all 10 individuals answers in:

  • Growing up and having an easy social life
  • Childhood
  • Relationships
  • Not Sure
  • An individual who is learning about metaphors to capture a meaning
  • Moving forward in life
  • A song to cheer people up
  • How easy life is
  • Happiness, Love and fun
  • Young love

from these results we can incorporate what people believe the meaning of the song is and use this in the various performances we are going use.

Question 7 - 8 out of 10 people said they thought the original music video went well with the song, and 2 people said they though the music video didn't go with the song.

Question 8 - For this question I have decided to include each individuals answers again:

  • Less distractions
  • Sesame street theme
  • Different races of people dancing
  • more people dancing and more characters
  • Building bloakc and childrens games
  • Rabbits
  • More scenes
  • Storyline
  • Animation of a school theme

These results give us a varied idea of different thing we may incorporate into the video, and ides which the public /audience would enjoy.




Monday, 9 November 2009

Further research in to Jackson Fives song ABC allowed me to analyse where the song is used in todays media and the influence its has on particular products.



The most recent Aero advertisment uses the song as a background music to create a catchy, light feeling towards the areo bar it's self. Therefore influencing the publics perception of an Aero chocolate bar.






The song ABC has been used in another advertisment for Evian water. The songs colourful sound and catchy lyrics suit with the amusing notion of babies rollerskating.


(click image to enlarge)
Me and my group collated lots of jackson 5 images as this provides us with inspiration towardas particular mise-en-scene such as the clothing styles and hair styles.