Sophiya Ali
YouTube was a cardinal tool through which we discovered our chosen artist; the raw, urban talent that is JR Aquino. The prosumer-friendly website proved most useful during the research and planning stages of our music video, for example, we used it construct a shortlist of potential song choices, to research pre-existing texts and to identify the codes and conventions of similar music videos.
YouTube is a primary example of how prosumers such as JR Aquino, who can freely produce and distribute media to a global audience, are becoming increasingly powerful and subtracting authority away for the monopoly of the ‘Big Media.’ Although media theorists argue that such user-generated content doesn't construct a new media language and fails to meet professional standards (e.g. JR often performs with his living room/bedroom as his backdrop, although viewers can find this to be endearing), the sheer fact that unsigned JR is using the Internet as a multi-media portal to showcase his talent and increase his brand, seems only logical. We aimed to take the concept of using the Internet as a digital platform to promote our music video, star and ancillary texts as a meta-narrative, a cohesive entity which would reach out to the early adopters and digital natives of the modern age, i.e. Olly Patriarca’s market niche of trend-setting adolescents.
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I made extensive use of other online uploading services throughout my blog such as Issuu, which enabled me to showcase my research and planning in a sophisticated presentation or flip-book format. Furthermore, I used the website Bubbl.us to create mind-maps of my creative ideas which I found more effective than handwriting a mindmap since it presented my ideas as an artistic, visual landscape.
Furthermore, myself and my partner created a private Facebook ‘Media Group’ at the beginning of the research and planning stages to exchange our ideas over the weekend, to note down the problems and issues we faced and possible solutions and to organise filming days. The ever-evolving technological convergence of electrical equipment allowed me to access the group from my iPhone so often when I was out and inspiration would take hold of me, I would simply note down my ideas on our Facebook group or alternatively text Monica. Such organisational skills fuelled by technology meant that we could instantly organise filming days without having to plan weeks in advance.
To film our music vide we used a Sony HVR-HD 1000E camcorder which we were already familiar with due to using it previously last year and this meant there wouldn’t be an issue with just delving into the filming process since using this camera was practically second nature to us. However, a disadvantage is that it’s extremely heavy and dosen’t allow for the greatest portability ir mobility on bustling London public transport. Reflecting back on the filming process, I would definitely use Monica’s Canon SLR camera to film our music video with instead, since not only does it provide superior quality and accentuate the faintest detail but it’s a lot more convenient in terms of portability, mobility and functionality, since we could have taken advantage of the various lenses and created the impression of a more distorted world for Olly Patriarca. We used the SLR camera for our location recce, artist and digipak photoshoots which overall, provided us with high quality pictures that possessed an air of great professionalism about them.
The most obvious way in which our quality of work have developed from previous years is the transition from the userfriendly iMovie to the professional and incredible functionality of Final Cut Express. Although it was time consuming to familiarise ourselves with, it was just a matter of sheer experimentation which would later unveil the great advantages this software can bring. The functions I found most useful was the array of transitions available which we made full use of to create interest within our music video e.g an array of cross-dissolves meant we could indulge in all Final Cut had to offer. Furthermore, the ‘colour corrector’ tool was an ingenious device which helped us to finetune out the overall tone of our music video and create warmer filters for the past memories in our music video and cool, dull grey tones to mesh with the harsh reality of the present.
Digipak ď‚Ą Not being too familiar with Photoshop, it was quite timeconsuming to adjust to the overwhelming functionality of the software. However, I came to discover that sheer experimentation/trial and error was the way forward and through combining the subtle enhancements Photoshop can produce (as opposed to an over-use of effects which can appear amateur) with the user-friendly Photoscape and Picasa, I was able to create a product which had a definite air of professionalism and simplistic beauty about it. Wix website ď‚Ą Wix is a user-friendly website constructor which was easy to use and highlights how the Internet is used as a marketing platform for the artist forming part of the meta narrative.