Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 1

A2 Media Evaluation Question 1 from bobbysalt

The Bike Locks - Music Video

The Bike Locks - Audience Feedback

The following images are photos of our audience feedback. The class were all given sheets to fill out during/after watching a draft/nearly finished version of the music video. They ranked the video on a star basis (out of 5), gave positive comments, areas for improvement and then linked in concepts and theorists. The areas for improvement, plus verbal feedback given revealed to my group and I that the narrative wasn't clear enough for the audience, even if they had seen Reservoir Dogs. In order to fix this problem we went back and recorded some more footage, more specifically a shot revealing myself watching the film in order for the recreation/parody aspect to be more obvious.

The Bike Locks - Album Back Cover

In our video we used a classic Mini Cooper, we wanted to keep this as a running theme throughout and utilise such a classic item. Originally we were going to use the reversed front cover of the front of the Mini and simply use the exact shot but from behind as the back cover with the track list on the reverse side. Instead we decided to trace round the picture and just use the mini on the back as we had decided on a new front cover. The drawn style and colours match to the front cover and maintain a house style.

Original Back Cover Idea

Editted Computer Based Back Cover

Editted and Final Back Cover

The Bike Locks - Album Front Cover

The front of our album cover is based on the design of the "Stuck in the Middle with You" single cover. The original album cover is a parody of the Reservoir Dogs DVD cover in which the song is played in that famous scene. 

Stealers Wheel's album shows four of the men from the DVD cover as members of the band but in this version carrying guitar cases. Therefore we took this idea and created silhouettes of ourselves holding various instruments and items from our video such as a cut throat razor to give intertextuality. 

As on the Reservoir Dogs cover the band use a red blood splatter across the album and also add it to the shirts of the band members. We took this idea and created our own style splatter in blue to represent shaving foam as we parody Tarantino's scene in which an ear is removed with a cutthroat razor in our music video by giving the victim a shave instead. 

In terms of typeface we used exactly the same fonts as both Reservoir Dogs and Stealers Wheel. We wanted to keep this a running theme throughout and really mimic both of the origins of our cover. 

Reservoir Dogs Cover

Stealers Wheel Cover

The Bike Locks Cover

The Bike Locks - CD Insert

The Bike Locks - Behind The Scenes

Throughout the production process of our music video the group and I filmed some behind the scenes footage and posted it onto 'The Bike Locks' Youtube channel. The following link allows access to the content.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzuh1EfqM7y6V9ncb-l__qA

Adding Filters

Whilst editing our music video it became apparent to my group and myself that our shots, despite the similar setting and mise-en-scene, didn't look identical to the Reservoir Dogs clips and Stealers Wheel production. We therefore felt the need to add some form of colour scheme or filter in order for our production to look more retro/indie. All shots (performance, parody and behind-the-scenes) had the filter added to them in order for our chosen genre, indie/folk, to be obvious throughout our entire video. The colour scheme we chose and the saturation adjustment from the filter also made the clips appear more aged and 1970's based despite the modern, high quality camera footage. In order to gain the perfect filter my group and I decided to do some research into custom vintage filters and how to correctly adjust and apply them. The link below provided us with great help and tips on how to correctly pull off such a big change in saturation, brightness, contrast, highlights and shadows. http://blog.spoongraphics.co.uk/tutorials/how-to-create-vintage-video-effects-in-adobe-premiere

As you can see the filter and colour scheme we eventually chose highlighted and emphasised the reds and shadows of the shot, giving it a more vintage feel. The filter also dimmed/dulled down the bright colours of the performance shots as well as the behind the scenes footage, once again highighlighting the warmth of the shots. These adjustments created a much more vintage shot that suited our chosen indie/folk genre and also implemented a more frequent and continuous theme of 1970's throughout.

The Evolution of The Bike Locks' Logo

The evolution of the bikelocks pic.twitter.com/2jasRjXFBY

— The Bike Locks (@TheBikeLocks) March 4, 2016

The Bike Locks - Final CD Booklet

In addition to the booklet content, the 1st photo visible below is also the front and back cover of the CD case.

The Bike Locks - Website

http://thebikelocks.wix.com/fgmb

The website was designed in order to cater to our audience and allow all fans and new comers have access to any demanded resources. Features such as the band, or individual band member social media pages are available via a simple click on the facebook or twitter icons, as well as the band members names. Upcoming gigs, behind the scenes staff and contact details are also available. Photos and shorts videos are also up for viewing. As well as all this, band merchandise is also a potential addition to the site. The option to purchase any of the bands songs or artwork is also up for grabs.

FGMB - Production Company Logo

The photo below was our original production company logo. We aimed for our logo to be a basic yet recognisable design as it was only going to be on our band CD cover, back and insert. This original design set out a template for us to then go out and improve on. It was created using Adobe Illustrator and a bamboo pen and tablet. The entire aspect of an amp was decided in order to get across the fact that it's a music production company. In addition it allowed us to add our initials (company name) into the sound waves.

The picture below reveals the final draft of our logo and will be the forefront of our company: FGMB. The changes we made we're put into place in order to form a more professional, realistic and clean logo yet keep the original style. Little additions of colour were added to make it stand out just that little bit more.

Band Website - Research

The following links are guides on constructing and designing a successful music based website and examples of music websites, (more specifically band websites), that my group and I used before and during setting up 'The Bike Locks' website in 'Wix'. As we hadn't had much experience beforehand on constructing our own site we felt it would be beneficial if we did some research into how and what makes a music based site so successful and what features it has.

https://bandzoogle.com/blog/5-key-elements-to-a-solid-band-bio
http://www.notreble.com/buzz/2010/01/21/how-to-write-a-band-bio/
http://www.bmthofficial.com/
http://www.mumfordandsons.com/
http://createamusicwebsite.com/

The Bike Locks - Band Logo

To understand the logo you have to understand the name of the band. Context: the song my group and I chose to make our music video correspond to is "Stuck In The Middle With You" by Stealers Wheel. Our band name acts as pun towards the original band "Stealers Wheel", and "The Bike Locks" were formed in order to prevent anyone from "stealing the wheels". The logo was then designed based around the name, so we thought a side on shot of a "hipster/folk" type of individual wearing a bike helmet would be perfect as it was also suit the genre of the song.

Below are a few drafts of the logo that Frank put together and as he kept revealing his pieces to Gabe, Max and myself, we'd respond with any alterations we'd like to make. The last (and most hairy) logo is the final piece.

Location Scouting

Before going out and exploring potential sites to use as our production set, my group and I discussed sites we could already access through speaking to already acquainted contacts and possibly already owning certain land. For example Frank's auntie and uncle owned and lived upon a plit of land that had the barn (set 2) and a few of us were close friends with Charlie Yapp who's in a band that perform a sum of their gigs at the warehouse in Sheffield. We travelled via car to both Wingerworth and Sheffield and viewed the barn and warehouse before making a final decision on which site to use. Whilst the barn in Wingerworth was easier to access and provided us with more time to film, the warehouse in Sheffield suited our genre a lot more and made the video itself look a lot better. Along with the warehouse came a great selection of equipment such as lighting and instruments as well, giving us more elements to add to the production. The photos below are ones taken first hand when viewing the sites.

Risk Assessment

After exploring and analysing our set location in Sheffield my group and I met up and discussed what potential hazards there will be within our production and recording process. After noting these down and filling out the required form, we got the paperwork checked and authorised by our teacher, Mr.Welch.

Music Video - Storyboard

After several draft attempts and throwing together every different idea for scenes we had, Gabe, Frank, Max and I finally constructed our final attempt of our storyboard.

Theory - Uses & Gratifications

Blumler and Katz (1974) constructed and developed the 'Uses and Gratifications' Theory. The overall, basic idea behind 'Uses and Gratifications' is that people use the media in order to fulfill specific gratifications. This theory contradicts and therefore opposes the 'Hypodermic Needle Theory', which claims that the audience has no control over how the media influences them and that they just consume all forms of media naturally. However, 'Uses and Gratifications' argues that people are not just helpless victims (like the 'Hypodermic Needle Theory' states), but instead use the media to fulfill their own needs. These needs serve as motivations for using media in the first place.

The theory suggest that audiences USE media texts for  these various reasons:

Diversion  - To escape from everyday life.
Personal Relationships - Use the media text for emotional and other interaction.
Personal Identity - Create their own identity from characters in media text.
Surveillance - To gain information and knowledge.
Entertainment - For relaxation, enjoyment and emotional release purposes.

Theory - Hypodermic Needle

The Hypodermic Needle Theory implies that mass media has a direct, immediate and powerful effect upon its audiences. The message for the media is directly received and fully accepted by the user. Within this theory, the audience is considered to be passive entities that are left at the mercy of the mass media. It essentially suggests that the mass media 'injects' its messages directly into the passive audience who are immediately affected by these messages, which were designed with the aim to trigger a desired response. It also suggests that the mass media is a dangerous means of communicating because the audience is powerless to resist the impact of the message. However, this theory has little place in contemporary analysis of audience reception, although it is possible for audience to be influenced by what they see, these instances are rare and don't carry a great deal of momentum. Also, the theory is argued to be too simplistic as changes to attitudes and beliefs are not always observable or easily measured. Different audience interpret media differently.

VEVO - Case Study