Swedish House Mafia - Save The World (Tonight)

Revised Final Cut

Save The World Tonight (Final Cut) from Jordan Thornhill on Vimeo.

Although we were happy with our final cut, through further evaluation and feedback we decided that an extra comical effect was needed during one of the scenes to cement the idea of a comic underlying theme. This is now our finished product.

Final Ancillary Tasks

These are the final ancillary products that we have created. There is a CD, a poster advertising the release of the single and a digipak that the single would come in. They were created in Photoshop and our aim was to create a Brand Identity throughout.

Evaluation Question 1 Video

Evaluation 2 Final

Evaluation Question 2 - Save the World from Jordan Thornhill on Vimeo.

Evaluation 3 Final

Evaluation Question 3

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Evaluation 4 Final

Evaluation 4 on Prezi

Prezi Second Draft - Evaluation 4

Evaluation 4 on Prezi

Prezi First Draft - Evaluation 4

Evaluation 4 on Prezi

This is the first draft of the Prezi that we will use to present our Evaluation Question 4. It is subject to editing and is likely to be changed, once we have more information, or when we have more to add to it.

Viral Marketing

The idea being to print these images and scatter them around, anywhere and everywhere. town centers, shopping markets/mall, colleges, schools, Friends and family. Get them seen everywhere as a way of targeting a younger dance audience.

Evaluation 1 (PLAN)

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

Our media product was a Music Video, Digipak and Advert for the song ‘Save The World (Tonight)’ by dance group Swedish House Mafia. To get some ideas we looked at existing videos from similar artists, such as Eric Prydz, Jason Derulo and Kid Cudi. These gave us a good idea of the general conventions of a Dance Music video. However we also looked at videos from other genre, looking at the conventions that were present in the majority of the videos. We saw that in a lot of the videos there were a lot of meat shots, a large number of shots and a mix of both a storyline and performance. We looked at two theorists in detail whilst planning this media product and they were Andrew Goodwin and Carol Vernallis who both looked at music videos closely and had theories about them. Goodwin says that there are 5 key concepts of music videos are:
• Thought beats
• Narrative and Performance
• Star Image
• Relation of visuals to the song
• Technical aspects of the music video

Thought Beats are the images you see on the screen that can relate to the sounds that you can hear through the music. It is used a lot in dance videos and similar genres like grime and hip-hop. In these type of video it is usually done by and aesthetically pleasing female, to grab the audiences attention. A good example of this is in the videos for Call On Me by Eric Prydz and Star Guitar by The Chemical Brothers.
Narrative and Performance is where you mix the showing of a storyline and the footage of a band playing their instruments and singing the song (lip syncing). This is usually done in videos for indie/ rock because they usually like to show themselves in a live situation, but also try to put a story to the song they are releasing. A good example of this is Weightless by All Time Low or If Today Was Your Last Day by Nickelback.
Star Image is a technique used by a lot of bands to promote not only themselves, but also their lead singer as his/ her own unique brand. This is a good technique to use because the lead singer of bands usually has an aura around them, were people watching the video look up to them and having them prominently in the video will only help sales. A good example of this is Misery by Maroon 5.
Relation of visuals to the song means that in the video they show what the singer is singing about. For example if the singer sings ‘I’m walking down the street’ the video will show him walking down the street. A good example of this is T.G.I.F by Katy Perry. This However they could also be less literal meanings, for example if the singer is singing about missing his girlfriend the video may show him at home alone. An example of this is Here Without You by 3 Doors Down.
Technical Aspects Of A Music Video are the basic things that hold the music video together. These are speed, camera movement, editing and cutting. These are the things, which act as the basis for the whole video. The extra things that are important are mise-en-scene, lighting, colour and the beats in the song. The whole surroundings of the video are important to give the right impression, for example you would have bubblegum pink walls and glitter in a heavy metal video. An example of when the mise-en-scene has been considered well is in the video for Oh No! by Marina and The Diamonds.

Vernallis says that there are 4 key concepts to a music video:
– Narrative
– Editing
– Camera Movement
– Diegesis
Narrative
She says:
– The video is a visual response to the music
– There is not necessarily a balance between narrative and performance
– The narrative is not always complete – it may be a partial, fragmented narrative
– The structure of the video may appear disjointed
– Something drives the video forward, but often it is not the narrative. It could be the music, the performance, a mixture or some other element
– There may not always be a clear resolution (closure) at the end
– The video may pose questions that it doesn’t actually answer
– There may be a narrative or theme running through the video, but in a montage style.

Editing
She says:
– Editing may match the musical phrases or the beat
– The video may break or disrupt many of the ‘rules’ of continuity editing – this is a clear convention of music video editing.
– Editing may become ‘foregrounded – the edits may be really obvious, to draw attention to themselves as opposed to invisible, continuity editing
For example, you may see:
Jump cuts, Breaks of the 180 degree rule, jumps in time and space, Extreme changes in pace, Juxtaposed frames, style of editing that runs through the video.

Camera Movement
She says:
• When it comes to shot types, extremes are very common.
• The style of framing and movement may run through the video and is distinctive to that video
• The camera may move in time with the music
• The camera may move on the lyrics
• The master shot (or other establishing shots) is used frequently, as are close-ups

Diegesis (The world of music videos)
She says:
• The diegesis may be revealed quite slowly
• Actions are not necessarily completed – they may be disrupted or interrupted in someway
• Character or object movements may move to the music
• There may be gaps in the audience’s understanding of the diegesis – in time and space, music, performance and narrative
• Some frames may be more important than others

Our music video uses Goodwin’s theory that a music video has the 5 concepts and has shown the parts, Thought Beats, Narrative and Performance, Star Image and the technical aspects of the music video.
We use thought beats in the parts filmed in a cafeteria and also when in one of the studio scenes, when the music is building up towards the chorus.
We used a narrative and performance structure for the video because it meant that we could have both a story told, but also makes it clear that it was a music video. We did this by shooting scenes in the studio and showing the members of the group playing instruments and recording the song into a microphone.
We used the Star Image part of the theory by using what we portrayed as the lead singer in almost all of the shots and also in the parts where we were recording the studio scenes. This was important because it meant we could sell the song and video through the star brand that we hoped to create by using this technique.
We looked very carefully at the technical elements of the video, creating good mise-en-scene and hoping that we had framed the shots correctly, giving them the meaning that we wanted to. We also looked at colour and lighting, ensuring that the video matched both the genre and pace of the song. This was important; as it was a dance song, and both the narrative and performance parts of it had to match this or the video would look very out of place.

We also used parts of the Carol Vernallis theory when it came to camera movement in particular. For example, we used jump cuts and extreme shots, like close ups to portray our story and to enhance the star image that we wanted to show. We also used her theory that the cuts and beats that you can see in the video and we tried to do this in the video. This was evident at the beginning where the cuts and the zooms all matched the ‘sweeping’ sounds that you can hear in the original song. As well as this we also incorporated the idea of extreme changes in time and space. We did this when we put a slow motion effect on the video to show the hero saving the people and obviously time couldn’t really slow down like that so this was a part of surrealism as well, which was another theory that we looked at. Surrealism is shown well in Drunk by Ed Sheeran, which shows a cat talking, playing the PlayStation and drinking cans of beer and cider, which you wouldn’t really expect to see.

We also challenged one of Goodwin’s theories because he says that music videos should have a relation from the song to the video that you see. However, we don’t have any of the literal meanings, in as much as there isn’t a point in the video that the song sings something while the character is doing it. There are some less literal parts to it, for example when the music says ‘Who’s gonna Save The World?’ it shows you him saving someone, but this isn’t as you’d expect from this theory. Similarly Vernallis talks about a ‘Master Shot’ which is used to bring back the story to a certain point but in our video we don’t really portray a certain point that shows a definite ending to the song, so we challenge her ‘conventions’ in this way.

Evaluation 2 (PLAN)

Evaluation question 2 plan – how effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts

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Evaluation 3 (PLAN)

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Points to be covered:

• Both positive and negative points came from the gathering of audience feedback.
• Audience feedback was gathered to make sure the products we had created suited our target audience (dance).
• Any flaws we might not see from a development perspective could be highlighted from a viewer perspective.
• Changes could be made to make sure the products were 100% appealing to our audience.
• We also made sure that the theme and brand identity was clear throughout, with recognition of concepts being easily noticed.
• We also used social networking as a way of communicating feedback on the product in a mass way, collecting feedback through Facebook and it's comment system. This was closely tied with a Facebook 'page' that was devoted to the products and record company.
• We believe Stuart Hall's Audience (Reception) Theory applies here. The idea that we ENCODED a story of someone wishes he was a super hero, and the audience DECODED this idea. We discovered that our proposed story was DOMINANT, however many also NEGOTIATED other similar story ideas, such as the super hero actually being a super hero outside of college/school hours. 
• • There are 3 types of audience decodings:
  • Dominant
  • Negotiated
  • Oppositional
  
  
  Dominant 
  Where the audience decodes the message as the producer wants them to do so and broadly agrees with it, eg watching a speech and agreeing with it.
  
  
  Negotiated 
  Where the audience accepts, rejects, or refines elements of the text in light of previously held views, eg neither agreeing or disagreeing with the political speech or being disinterested.
  
  
  Oppositional 
  Where the dominant meaning is recognised but rejected for cultural, political or ideological reasons, eg total rejection of the political speech and active opposition

Positives:

• We learned that the underlining comical theme was persistently noticed both throughout the video and the overall product.
• The effects used were suited to the aims of the video, giving a cartoony feel without being overpowering.
• The narrative kept the audience entertained throughout.
• The dance genre was clearly shown.
• The colour scheme was consistant and bright.

Negatives:

• In some areas, especially on the products, the colours did not vary as much as they could.
• The digipak lacked a large amount of text, resulting in it looking bare.
• Cross branding could have been more persistent.
• The 'comic-book' effect used in the video was seen by many to be used sparingly.
• A 'fade-in fade-out' effect was suggested for the ending of the video, with company and band logo.

Overall it's clear that the gathering of audience feedback has helped greatly in developing our products and understanding the audience we are attempting to appeal to. Through first-hand feedback we are able to address any issues that may divert away from our aims, such as a clear basic colour scheme, so that we can quickly and efficiently fix them before any further development is made.

Evaluation 4 (PLAN)

Evaluation 4

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

Construction

To construct the media products (Video, DigiPak and Poster) we had to use a variety of programs. These include:

Final Cut – This was the main tool that we used to edit the film and to put all of the clips together and make the video a professional one. We were able to edit the timing, positioning and length of shots, meaning that we were able to edit the parts that we wanted to and put the parts where we wanted to. Some of the tools that we used in Final Cut were: the razor cutter tool, the in and out markers and the time changer. The razor tool that we used allowed us to cut out certain parts and then if we didn’t think they fit, we could move them around. The in and out markers allowed us to select certain parts, and we could then edit these parts, either with the tools available in Final Cut or the ones in Photoshop.

Photoshop – This was the tool that we used extensively to edit the photos and was the tool that we used to create the digipak, advert and CD for the Ancillary task. It was good because it meant that we were able to change/ add different dimensions to the products, which originally were just pictures from a photo shoot. We used filters, background erasers and filler tools to create this effect. Although we mainly used this for the ancillary tasks it was also useful for the creation of comic effects in the video, for example the bridge between cartoon and reality scenes. To perform this task we had to take stills, frame by frame, and then import them into the program. Once they were in Photoshop we added a filter so that we had a comic effect and then if they needed extra editing this then we would add extra effects. For example we could have added blurs or fades on the pages.

Canon XL2 – This was the camera that we used to film the video and because it was a high quality camera we were able to get professional looking footage. We used this with a tripod, which meant we were able to get steady shots and this meant that the shots we needed didn’t wobble or distort. With this camera we were able to frame a variety of shots, including overhead shots, meat shots, close ups and establishing shots.

To research the media products that we created we used:

YouTube – We used this as a major part of our research into the video part of the eventual media product. We were able to look at similar videos from the same genre and this was able to look at regular conventions and we were then able to add these conventions to our planning stage. We could also look at the original video for this song and look at the themes that the song has had portrayed by the original artists.

Google – Using this popular search engine we were able to pretty much find all of the information that we need to construct a professional media product. It gave us the links to millions of websites and these were what helped us to get ideas and advice on creating the products. This was helpful for all 3 media products; Video, Digipak, Poster.

To plan the media products we used:

We used lots of programs for planning the media products. These included Prezi, Wordle, Blogger, Microsoft Word and Microsoft PowerPoint. Prezi, Wordle and PowerPoint were very good for presenting our ideas, which was good because it meant we could show people and could get early audience feedback. Blogger and Word were more used when we wanted to make a note of our ideas and so that we had somewhere to record it, and could use these as a document of our work and we can see how far the planning went. We had to ensure that our work wasn’t lost in the case of an accident so we always ensured that we had work backed up in a separate folder, meaning that it was highly unlikely that we would lose any work that we had previously created.

To evaluate the media products we used:

Social Networking Sites – Sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube were very good to use when we were seeking feedback from our target audience, which was more of a teenage audience and these were the people our channels/ profile would be likely to attract. They were good because it meant that people were able to see the video easily and could comment or ‘like’ it on the sites. This meant we could get feedback and could look at said feedback and possibly change our video if we felt that it was necessary.

Prezi – We used a Prezi to display our evaluation as we felt that it was a good way to display all of the text and pictures that we wanted to and it also meant that we didn’t make it so complicated that it was impossible to read.

Video (Using HD Cameras) – we filmed videos for some of our evaluations so that we were able to visually represent ourselves whilst evaluating our media product. This meant that we could use the studio, with green screen, and this added a different dimension to the evaluation stage.

Class Evaluation - we got people in our class to watch the video and because they were all 17 or 18 years old, they were the perfect audience to use to evaluate. We asked them to watch our video and then look at our ancillary tasks and then asked them to write down what they thought of each text. In a similar way to the social networking sites we could look at this feedback and then decide if it was relevant enough to mean that we needed to make a change. If we had to then we would make this change, usually if it came up a few times on different peoples answers. Once we had done this we could show the same people the video again and then they could add more feedback and this meant we could keep improving it until we had a media product that everyone though was of an excellent standard.

DigiPak Ancillary Text Feedback Sheet

A sheet was used to gather further feedback from peers on if the product matches criteria, and any flaws/positives the product has.

Strengths of the ancillary texts so far

• Great colour scheme that matches the overall products throughout.
• The shots used relate back to shots present in the video, making a clear connection between the two.

Areas for possible improvement

• At the time of review, there was little text on the digipak. This is now fixed as the likes of a track-list has been added.
• More colour was needed to make the digipak stand out from the crowd, so this was reviewed.

How effective is the brand identity

• The logo relates to the genre it's trying to represent, and is appealing to look at.
• Consistent throughout the products.
• The logo is simple and easy to recognise.

Our evaluation of feedback...

We agree with the feedback such as the idea that we need more colour, as this was something we were currently working on. The other weakness mentioned, the lack of text, is not a priority to fix however as the effect of simple & effective was the desired image. The positive feedback has helped cement the idea that some of our products near completion, and that some changes are not required. We will use our remaining time to finalise our products, using aids such as this feedback to shape the overall outcome.

Additions To Rough Cut

Comic fight Effects

Drawing inspiration from already existing comic fight sequences, we added our own 'pow' effects to cover up the fake contact, and relate back to the underlying comic references throughout the video. An animation path was also added so that the overlaying effect moved with the punches adding more flow. Finally the composite effect 'screen' was used so that the image merged more with the clip, rather than being totally contrasting. 

Independent Frame Tool 

The independent frame tool was used on a end-of-the-scene clip to create a still image, referring again to the comic style. A overlaying image was added and finally a effect was also added to create a more cartoony style to the image.

Addition of Overlaying Images

A running feature throughout the video is the hinting to comic qualities, which helped underpin the idea behind the story. Original images were imported into the timeline of the video and placed over specific clips at designated spots, disappearing and appearing when fitting (ie. lyrical prompts). Some images also had effects added to enable a smoother integration.

Second Rough Cut - Swedish House Mafia, Save The World

Rough Cut 2 - Who's Gonna Save the World? from Jordan Thornhill on Vimeo.

This is the filming and editing done so far. This rough cut is used to show a work-in-progress and give a brief insight into how the music video will appear and the techniques that will be used. The video also enabled us to experience some of the tools available to us in Final Cut, and gain first-hand knowledge on what beat matching and timing will be like throughout filming and editing. Some of the techniques used are cuts to the beat using audio waveforms, zooming and cutting, beat matching, trimming and a variety of shots (POV, over the shoulder) to create the overall scene.


This has all of the footage that we are likely to use on our final product. It has all of the scenes in it and the only thing that would be left to do will be the special effect editing. Also we need to fix some of the scenes in it and make sure that they all match up and are fit for the purpose we want them to be. Also we need to add some titles and possibly some sort of ending screen to fit the whole story back together.

Second Rough Cut - Feedback From Peers

Positives

• Lip Syncing and Narrative matched well to the storyline.
• The thought beats, in the lesson and with the musical instruments, matched well and gave a good effect
• The studio scenes were shot well and it fitted in well with the rest of the storyline.
• The footage that matches up to the sweeping pads in the background fitted in well and made sure that the transition from shot to shot was smooth.

Negatives

• Out of focus shots - these have now been fixed in the video that we expect to be the final one. We have shortened the clip so that it is more controlled and because it was a bit too long, we have added other clips in its place.
• Black Widescreen Borders - Because we zoomed in on one of the shoots using Final Cut and not a camera the borders disappeared. This was a problem as the whole video was in widescreen. We fixed this by adding two black borders, that we created using Photoshop and then imported into Final Cut to fix the product.
• Special Effects in fighting - In the fighting scene it was obvious that none of the hits were making contact. This made the video seem unrealistic and unprofessional. However, we had already thought about this and have put in special effects (See previous posts) that will combat this as they will cover this up, as we wanted it to, and also give a more 'Superhero Comic Book' sort of theme. It also takes away the seriousness of the video and makes it more accessible for a wider audience. 

Rough Cut

This is the filming and editing done so far. This rough cut is used to show a work-in-progress and give a brief insight into how the music video will appear and the techniques that will be used. The video also enabled us to experience some of the tools available to us in Final Cut, and gain first-hand knowledge on what beat matching and timing will be like throughout filming and editing. Some of the techniques used are cuts to the beat using audio waveforms, zooming and cutting, beat matching, trimming and a variety of shots (POV, over the shoulder) to create the overall scene.

The rough cut only contains one main scene (the introduction), therefore around 3 more 'main scenes' are required for the filming to be complete. Further editing is also required, including in this scene, to create a smoother visual experience and add more related flare to the overall video (for example, a title).