I think the main piece of new media technology I used was the blog as it exploits the new idea of web 2.0. It’s a real interactive way to communicate with an audience and with peers; that more intimate style means that it’s easier to be given feedback, as well as to display work. I’ve got several blogs in my personal life and therefore, I found it easier to integrate my school work with a blog like format. I used the web the most in my research. I used online Forums to get audience research and feedback for my tasks, this was perhaps a little bias as forums are usually about one topic, but due to the general forum I used, I managed to find a wide range of people, as well as people from all over the world. This would reduce the ethnocentricity of the video I was producing. It would also mean that I have produced something that is perhaps tailored to a wider audience. I think this, specifically was good for my music video, because of the audience of the band mainly being overseas. I used other web devices to contact the band, and find information about the record label, and copyright policies. I used the latest technologies in creating my media products, using iMovie as a piece of movie editing software, and Adobe Creative Suite 4 for my ancillary tasks. These are considered some of the best pieces of software for what I wanted to do, and so I feel it was necessary to stick with these programs. I had used the CS4 a lot, and so it wasn’t a complete novelty, I found this helped with the creation of my ancillary tasks; it seemed a lot quicker, because there was less experimentation of what different adjustments and masks do. With iMovie, however, I was a complete newcomer, and I found that I had to pour more time into working with that in order to edit my Music Video to a level that I felt comfortable with, that it was to the best of my ability. The technology I found hardest to work with is the video camera itself. Unfortunately, I believe it shows in my final piece with the limited skill in the shots. I think perhaps this lack of confidence I had with the camera is what held back my experimentation and exploration of more novel scenes in my music video. Overall, I feel that I have used a vast range of media technologies, especially new and up to date software packages and hardware. I think this is important, as how is one supposed to try to work at industry standard if there variables that could easily be overcome with newer software. I think for this reason, my use of technologies has been of a high standard.

In terms of the main task:
I have learnt that maybe I should have included something that ran on a larger scale; perhaps cutting in scenes at the end that concern the effects of the music in a vast area, like a common or a mall, instead of keeping it to a school environment. I think that was my main criticism, whilst the narrative isn’t traditional, in that there is no true storyline, but more an exploration of the feeling of music taking over emotions. I still think that possibly I could’ve included something elsewhere although it wasn’t entirely possible considering time aspects and severely bad weather. I was also complimented on the comedy aspect f the video, which I thought worked really well, overall the points where people should find amusing, were found amusing, and so in that respect the video worked really well.
In terms of the ancillary task:
I have learnt that my method of live tracing the images to create something professional works well with the band, I also asked for advice during the choosing of my fonts for the album and advertisement. I chose a font that fitted with the colour scheme, a font that was considered aesthetically pleasing by some of those who commented in feedback. It was suggested at one point that perhaps I add colour to the ancillary tasks to make it correspond more with the colour used in the music video, though it was also argued that the effect was consistent in its contrast. This point I think is really subjective, depending on what one personally wants to see in a band. Those that like darker music may find a darker looking album cover more aesthetically pleasing, as opposed to pop music that generally has an upbeat album cover to match the song tone and tempo.

I think the combination of my main product with the ancillary tasks was successful. Since the rise of the new fan base video, and it’s increasing popularity, I think what is required of the accompanying promotional material is something that also reflects that basis. I needed to include something that featured in the video, which I need with the models I used. I also used a monochrome colour scheme. Monochrome being a colour scheme that is considered seriously classic in terms of fashion and style, this provides a contrast to the type of music video I’ve produced. This does however, work well because it creates an identity for the band, it shows the amalgamation between the classic and the modern, something that’s a very harsh reality for modern media technology, especially with the rise of web 2.0. The two ancillary tasks themselves fit in with each other, with theme, fonts, and models. The consistency with models and tones creates a more professional look and so makes the band look better in terms of a brand identity. In the ancillary tasks I used real instruments instead of the original air guitar that I used in the video, this I think puts more emphasis on the fans being the band, or the band not being the real face of the music. This ties in strongly with the fan theme running throughout my music video. An issue however, is that my ancillary tasks are entirely in black and white, whereas my music video is put in colour, I am not too hung up on this because I don’t think if I put the music video in black and white, it would’ve created the real-life comic, atmosphere that I believe I did create with it. I like also, the way the album title “Expert” is paradoxical to the content, in that the fans aren’t experts, this creates a nice contrast, as though having a jibe at global record labels. This is to perhaps promote independent music labels, such as DFTBA Records; the independent label that Driftless Pony Club are currently signed to. This is different to usual global music labels because they try and make as much money as possible and use each form, both promotional material (video) and the cover for singles and albums, an example for this is the Black Eyed Peas’ “Boom Boom Pow” release, where the idea of the manipulation of visuals is carried through to the album cover.

I think this is effective as a final poster (:

As well as an image of another two members of the band, that was enhanced and then live traced;

This is Procol Harum’s Ad for their Ninth studio album, featured in NME back in ’67. Despite it’s age, the style and influences remain the same. All the necessary information is there, and the advertisement is simple and memorable. People don’t dwell too long on adverts when they look through magazines, so there should be as little writing as possible.

Voila!

Digipak done.

I got a DVD symbol also to add to the Digipak to show that it has a DVD bonus extra

I added parts to the digipak template, for a breif look at what it’d look like

Before adding in fonts and such…