Evaluation - Callum

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

The song we chose was called “The B.P.C.” by a punk-ska band called The Filaments. When researching into the song and artist it was clear to understand that their genre features heavily on the idea of rebellion, the lyrics of the song were based upon the band’s lives growing up in a gang called “The B.P.C.” where the lyrics talk about partying hard, drinking and getting into fights. The rebellious attitude of the song helped inspire us with different ideas about how the video should look, one side of our ideas was to stick with the punk attitude and style that the band had already created, the other side was to challenge the convention by adding a humorous side to the video, this humorous side was not intended to be completely removed from the punk genre but to show rebellion in a more fun way that could help establish the video into a larger audience. By thinking up ideas such as running through the town wearing man thongs we were indirectly proving a point of rebellion that the band also make with these lyrics from the song “have a laugh that’s what it’s all about.” We wanted to show in our video that we could have fun without caring what anyone else thought, a lot like the band.
Our video carried many characteristics of a conventional music video used in Goodwin’s theory. Attaching music to visuals came about when first listening through the song, we found a large part of the song was instrumental, we noticed for this part we would have to create video that amplified the instrumental, we did this by using visuals such as smashing windows for beats in the trumpet breakdown of the song. The fast pace and energy of the song also meant our video had to match that by making lots of different shots that lasted for a small amount of time.
The lyrics and genre of the song inspired us with many ideas that we embedded into our video, many quotes such as “Nothing could be better than when I'm drinking with my friends.” Can be visualized were some of members in the video carry beers whilst performing, other ideas for our location came from lyrics such as “Hanging out on street corners” this helped us choose our locations for shots, which were very urban run down areas found on the council estates. We chose these as we thought they fitted in with “the B.P.C.” gang and they were the sort of places where they might hang out.
When “selling the artist” from Goodwin’s analysis, I believe our video did this very well. There are many close up shots of the performers individually and as a group. As the song was based upon the band in a gang it was easy to recreate this sense of brotherhood and friendship in many of our shots where we’re having fun, this type of perception for the audience can be seen in many artist groups such as “Blink 182” where they are seen laughing and having fun as friends.







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

When producing ideas for the ancillary texts we wanted them to reflect the genre characteristics from our music video, continuing our main themes of humor and punk rebellion. We decided to do photography based products that could easily convert our existing genre onto the ancillary texts.
Our main idea for the magazine advert was to create an intertextual reference to the famous “rolling stone” magazine cover that featured John Lennon curled up in the nude against his girlfriend Yoko Ono, making reference to our video by using the distinctive man thong and gold mask props. By doing this imitation we wanted to create the same unconventional, shock factor that made the original so famous. The way we are exposed in the magazine cover shows a way of rebellion by the fact that we don’t really care what people think, following the idea from the song.
Our DVD digipak cover followed a grittier punk feel. The front cover features a picture of hands holding up a camera phone and taking a photo of the two band members in the gold mask and thong outfits who are posing. We got this idea from the people we saw when we were filming who got out their phones and took photos to memorize the unique occasion, for me this shows our product is interesting and entertains. On the back of the DVD there is a fair amount of screens from our video, made into Polaroid type photos and scattered onto a dirty cement floor, the floor was to show the raw grittiness of the streets and the feel that we were trying to convey for the digipak.
Overall the DVD digipak shows a street, punk side that represents the song and band, the magazine cover shows a humorous individual side that represents our own input on challenging the convention and when combining these two sides it fits in with the of our final music video characteristics.

3.What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Our first audience feedback came from our rough cut, originally we had many good shots but not enough to keep up with the tempo of the music, this issue came across strongly from the audience and we were already thinking of new ideas and locations to help create a faster pace to match the energy of the song. After this feedback we identified the weaker points of our video and made plans to change them with something more exciting and effective to what our genre is. The performance side of our video was mainly in need of re-shooting as some parts that had bad lip-syncing degraded the feel of the video by making it look like we weren’t the actual artists. We used a wider variety of locations afterwards to help keep the video interesting throughout. What people liked about our rough-cut was the amount of funny, random shots we had, a problem with this though is while some shots worked well, others where seen as too random and didn’t embed well with the rest of the video. We gathered more unplanned footage by filming in between intentional shots, from this we could use small clips from the unplanned footage to cover gaps in the video, we also used them to work with the loud beats in the instrumental and parts of the chorus. The random footage that we got worked extremely well with the image of the band we tried to create, as it shows them in a genuine form of messing around and having fun.
Positive feedback from the audience also helped us re create more of what people liked about it, people liked the fact that we dared to do some of the things they wouldn’t such as running through town in man thongs using this feedback it helped us create our ancillary texts, which in both feature the man thong outfits. The feedback that was given helped us to look at the weaker sides and positive sides and overall improve the video by a large amount for the final product.

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

We relied on many media technologies throughout the creation our music video.
During the planning we used a variety of different web pages to learn about the genre of ska punk and the band we had chosen, the learning of the genre was the primary stage in which we built our ideas and themes on. Our ideas proceeded with humour and rebellion in which we used YouTube.com to draw inspiration from home made jack ass stunts and the character MC Devvo along with other funny things that we could re create within our music video. Using YouTube.com we could also analyse other punk bands music videos, this is where we found the Blink 182 video “What’s my age again?” which features them running through town naked causing havoc, the image the band portrayed themselves as was a key point in our inspiration and the feel we tried to give to our video.
When researching for our ancillary texts we first started by using web pages and like amazon.com to look at professional level media products, which is how we came across key aspects of our inspiration such as the John Lennon and Yoko Ono photo, we also looked at various other artist’s music DVD’s to learn what kind of promotions and special features that are put to use on the DVD covers, when doing so we were able to create a convincing expert level cover. Another use for the internet was our planning blog that we kept to record all sorts of information that was relevant to our video through the planning stages, this helped us kept track of our ideas and control all our focus into one area. The Internet played a key role in the inspiration and planning throughout our objective, which I believe had the biggest effect out of all new media technologies on our music video.
For editing our footage we used the software Final Cut Express, this program offers the usability and depth that was perfect for creating our music video all the way from the raw footage to the final product, for this reason I can see why Final Cut Express is used at a professional industry level. The organisation method of the software is my favourite aspect; with the two video displays and timeline we found it an extremely efficient way of editing.
Our ancillary products were created using Adobe Photoshop, although a deep and time consuming product to master we found it was worth the effort to create our professional looking products, particularly the range of fonts and texts helped us to create a great looking format that really reflected the unique look we were going for. By using these technologies I believe we have accomplished what we set out to do and I am pleased with the final products.

Magazine advert ideas.

When planning the image for our magazine advert, choosing an image that reflected the artist's was the most important thing to consider. The image I have chosen from our music video is about half way through, and shows the main 'artist's'/actor's in the music video. The artist's are represented as youthful, rebellious boys; they have careless attitudes and enjoy having fun. The image I have chosen shows the artist's in that way. Firstly the setting compliments the image; broken windows, the B.P.C logo in graffiti and generally the area of the image is not a typical area to be in, if they were law abiding youths. They're doing a dance/pose, this reflects their humorous selves.

It links to our video because it is following the theme of 'messing around' and having an enjoyable time with your friends. The artist's continue this sort of attitude throughout the music video, but I think this image reflects them in the most boisterous way.

The genre of music by The Filaments is ska/punk. The characteristics of ska punk often features fast tempos, guitar distortion, on beat punk-style interludes and shouted vocals. The fast beat tempo is reflected in our music video by the shots being very quick. The image I have chosen was from one of the many fast shots. The way ska/punk artist's usually present themselves is in the attitude reflected by the artist's in the music video. "Punk rock is meant to be our freedom. We're meant to be able to do what we want to do." - quotation describing punk beliefs.

The audience we have aimed our music video at is adults that enjoy this genre of music, mainly men. The track contains explicit language and behavior that isn't positively looked at for younger audiences to view. This image will appeal to the target audience because listeners of ska/punk embrace the amusing culture.

Digipak Final Cover

Magazine Advert Final

Feedback

- Liked the short pace of our clips, costumes and the random elements in our video.
- The group suggested that we use a 'man thong' image of the two running for our Digi pack. Or the three posing against the graffiti background.
- Thought the lip syncing could have been better, agreed that it was hard to do and thought we managed to successfully divert attention towards our other clips.

Final Video

Final idea for magazine cover

We've decided that we're going to stick with the idea of the John Lennon and Yoko Ono on the bed in our man thongs and gold masks.

What needs to go on the magazine cover

Photograph to cover page

Star ratings and reviews from well known magazines

Out when(date)

Myspace of band

Where to buy from ( logo of itunes, amazon etc)

Record label logo, website

Name of artist and song

Date of shooting- monday 23rd nov

Digipak ideas

Magazine advert

Needs to promote video and artist

Magazine

Name of artist

Name of album (featuring the track BPC)

Release date

Available from

Websites/myspace

Record Label

Reviews and ratings

DVD

Showcase the artist

Collectors item

Limited edition

Features-Out-takes, Documentary, making of, live, bonus tracks, uncut version, short films featuring artist, photographs

Rating-parental advise

Tuesday 10th

We've uploaded our footage, and made a good start into the editing of our video. The clips we got seem to fit really well, creating a better feel to the video that really grabs the viewers attention with lots of short effective shots. Overall we are happy with our progress.

Monday 9th

We've filmed our final footage, and we feel it went quite successfully. We managed to get the clips that we needed, including footage that grasps other groups feedback.

Magazine Advert Research

For our Magazine Cover we've decided to stick with the man thong idea but mix it in with a famous image. The shot will be on a bed or carpet with Liam laying on the floor and callum laying next to him curled up with his body wrapped around him whilst kissing him on the cheek. We'll be wearing the gold masks and man thongs that we sported rather well in the Music video. The genereal Idea of the shoot is to re-create the John Lennon and Yoko Ono famous image from the cover of Rolling Stone magazine



The lighting in the original photo is quite dark and grainy but we're thinking of making it a brighter photo to help represent the way we want our video to be seen.

Analysis of Peer Feedback

Overall we're pretty happy with the feedback to our Rough-Cut, We have taken into account the criticisms and plan to change them with our upcoming footage E.g Shaking Moo, and other extended shots that dampen the fast pace to our piece.

Shots we plan to change:
- 00:09, Garage walk (too long)
- 00:20, Rojiar verse 1 lip sync
- 00:23, Gareth verse1 lip sync
- 00:55, Liam verse 2 lip sync
- 1:07, 'BPC' (too long, put in close-ups)
- 1:31, Cut down Slow-mo Boxing (Rojiar)
- 1:48, Take out 2nd wheelie bin shot
- 1:59, Edit ShakinMoo Dance Scene

Video Roughcut

After Half Term

Plans for After Half-Term:
- Gareth lip sync Verse 1
- Liam lip sync Verse 2
- 'Hey Hey Hey'
- More dancing scenes
- Ass Slap
- Reaction shots
- Slap round face with bag of flour
- Fruit throw
- Mini Mosh-pit
- More Random Footage

Ideas for the magazine advert

Costume: Callum and Liam in their man thongs and face masks.
Location/setting: either a white background or an area with graffiti (similar to the areas we filmed).

Production meeting

Shooting - Monday 12th:

Walking down from garages
Performance (verse 1)
Wheelie bin
Exercise balls
River jump

Thursday 15th:

Naked run
Dance with shakin moo
Boxing
Performance verse 3
Hey hey hey's


Equipment:

Camera
Tripod
G-clamp
Car
I-pod and speakers


Actors:

Liam - Man thong run, Man thong river jump, Performance, Exercise balls, Boxing, Dance
Callum - Man thong run, Man thong river jump, Performance, Exercise balls, Boxing, Dance
Rojiar - Performance, Exercise and Boxing victim
Gareth - Performance, Exercise Ball, Boxing
Shakin Moo - Gets bullied, Dance
There may also be a couple of random actors to perform Reaction shots.

Contacting The Filaments

Hello, we're four Media students representing Long Road Sixth Form College in Cambridge, UK.

For our coursework this year we've been asked to create a music video, we've chosen your song - B.P.C.

We hope that you'll be happy with us using it; and we'll be sure to send you the final video and welcome any feedback or thoughts on what we've produced.

Thanks very much.

More Inspiration

Goodwin's Points

To help us in our decision making process, and with the concept of our music video, here are Goodwins points.

1) Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g. stage performance in metal video, dance routine for boy/girl band).

2)There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

3)There is a relationship between music and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

4)The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).

5)There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

6)There is often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc).

Lyrics

Lyrics to B.P.C. :


Benfleet punx crew is the name of the firm so dear to me.
You'll see them on the cider
and keeping it real out on the street.
We like to drink with them and sing with them
thats how its always been.
We spent our teenage years like a punk rock family.

Through all the party nights and pissed up fights, - Callum
a lot of shit went down
But we always stand together, we're unified and proud. - Liam
Back to those early gigs we were kids, - Gazza
but we knew how it had to be
The beenfleet punx and chelmsford crew in solidarity. - Gazza

Hey!
Hey!
Hey!
The B.P.C.!(x3) - Callum

Hey!
Hey!
Hey!

Done down on southend seafront, a DIY gig.
The BPC gathers and they're busting out the drink
there gonna have a beer and have a laugh
thats what its all about.
And then it's back to Benfleet
the hometown have no doubt. - Callum + Liam

Hanging out on street corners
where its punx against the pricks.
nothing can confront us when musics in the mix
Nothing could be better than when I'm drinking with my friends.
BPC this one's for you united to the end.

Hey!
Hey!
Hey!
The B.P.C.!(x3) - Whole Group

Hey!
Hey!
Hey!

Hey!
Hey!
Hey!
The B.P.C.!(x3) All

Hey!
Hey!
Hey!