Pre Production: Preliminary Research

 This is the pre production and preliminary research for my music video

Reflection: This preliminary research was vital in helping our team know what kind of messaging our music video will use. even though we didn't really relied on it too hard we are still glad we made it because it taught us valuable things like, the feelings of the music video

Weekly Progress + Plan

 This is my weekly progress for my music video

Music Video Project
Stage	Week	Blogpost No.	Blopost Name	Description of Blogpost
Pre-Production	W1	1	Brief	Description of the brief, embed powerpoint
		2	Plan & Weekly Progress	A weekly journal that is updated at the end pf each week. Contains a list of what you do, problems, solutions, and a to-do list
		3	Team	Your team + Links ot their blogs
	W2	4	Classwork	Can be carried over from last project
		5	Preliminary Research	Research into variety of music genres
		6	Genre Research	Research into relevant music videos within your genre
	W3		Genre Research (cont)
				Deadline for Research (end of Week 3)
	W4	8	Statement of Intent	Proposal for the details of your project. Final product, target audience, Star Persona etc
		9	Storyboard	Scene by scene storyboard
	W5	10	Location Scout & Risk Assessment	Possible shooting locations, risk assessment table
		11	Filming Schedule	Schedule of when you will film, what locations, and what you need to prepare
	W6		Finish Pre-Production
Production	BreaK	Term Break Use your Term Break to Film 12 Behind the scenes What did you do on shooting days, your roles
Post-Production	W1	13	Thumbnail (Research & Development)	Research into similar thumbnails. Development of own ideas.
		14	Social Media (Research & Development)	Research into similar Social Media Accouts. Development of own ideas.
		15	Editing Process	How did you edit? Challenges, solutions
	W2	16	Research: Production Company	Who is a big producer of your genre. Who is an independent distributor of your genre
		17	Test Screening	Audinece Feedback
	W3		Continue Work
	W4
		20	Production Deadline	Final Music Video, Thumbnail, Social Media Account
	W5	18	Movie analysis	Text analysis of your film opening
		19	Critical Reflection	Self Reflection Essay
	W6		Continue Critical Reflection
	W7		Continue Critical Reflection
			Final (Submission)	Full Blog

-- Week 1 --

At first we got into groups temporarily to do research about our potential music video ideas, then we got a mini intro duction to media ecology on Tuesday to get us started after that. We did a proper introduction on Thursday what media ecology is and the 5 main points of media ecology we also started with our preliminary research.

- New technology competes with old (and replaces it).

- Every technological advancement = trade-off.

- Advantages/disadvantages never spread evenly.

- We shape tech → tech shapes us.

- Tech becomes mythic (irreplaceable)

We also got groups activities where we had to arrange prompts in the 5 main points of media ecology

and we also had a group activity about  answering questions about one of the main points of media ecology and had to criticize other groups answers about the questions and highlight about what good or bad points was given in those answers

Problem: Research task is not done yet

Solution: Get it done when I need too preferably early enough to where it wont be a problem in the future

To do: I need to finish my research blog and finalize my group

-- Week 2 --

This week we had a deep dive into McLuhan's theory of media ecology with 5 types of media convergences

- Technological Convergence

- Textile Convergence

- Social Convergence

- Industry Convergence

- Regulatory Convergence

We also has internet problems when we wanted to watch a classmates chosen music with Youtube being down site wide.

We also learned about technological ages with the global village theory and how it applies to the internet as a whole, and how it affects everyone around us.

Problem: Youtube went down

Solution: we just waited

To do: finish the research blog

-- Week 3 --

This week we did all Project lessons and we had to finish our bloges with bogies but for my I needed to finish my Storyboard. Me and Panji did a whole lot of work on the storyboard and helped a lot in filling his vision for the music video and was an invaluable source.

Problem: unfinished storyboard

Solution: make the storyboard

To do: get input from teammates for input for storyboard

-- Week 4 --

This week we started progress on our music video with planning everything Panji decided to choose a music video for us and I hope he chooses a good one, so that we wont regret it down the line. I also did some storyboarding for my group with a huge help from Panji to visualize it and I draw it down.

Problem: unfinished storyboard

Solution: finish the storyboard

To do: Get more input from teammates

-- Week 5 --

This week was a theory lesson and we learned about persona and Kpop artists that we need to use a case studies, we learned about how an artists persona differs from their real life personality and how a persona is manufactured by the industry.

Problem: unfinished classwork blogs

Solution: finish the classwork blogs before deadline

To do: Make the classwork blogs in canva

-- Week 6 --

This week was a simple project lessons and I made great progress on my role which is storyboarding which I am very proud of, I think I learned a whole lot more in this project by storyboarding than the other project I worked on as a story boarder. The teacher this week we also had a unit assessment on media ecology that I passes thankfully.

Problem: unfinished classwork blogs

Solution: finish the classwork blogs

To do: Continue the classwork blogs in canva

-- Week 7 --

This week my group was tasked to figure out our brand identity and to make up one for our selves this was a great opportunity to get creative, we also made a poster for it.

Problem: unfinished branding poster

Solution: finish the branding poster

To do: finish the branding poster

-- Term 3 --

-- Week 8 --

 This week we learned about the Theory of Stardom where we discus about our stars behavior to his fans and how that might effect how we produce and make this music video, maha was gone so we couldn't get his input. Our teacher made us make a social media account for our made up music artist I thought that was innovative 

Problem: unfinished social media posts

Solution: post some social media posts for our fake artist

To do: post some stuff

-- Week 9 --

This week was a focus on power & the media specifically the new topic relating to this Post-colonialism theory and how it effects media production and consumption. We also focused on our music videos post production. We also had to make an essay on power & the media

Problem: unfinished post production blog

Solution: finish the post production blog

To do: make the post production blog

-- Week 10 --

This week we learned about the Death of the Audience theory kind of morbid but alright, and Shirky theory, we also did Jenkins and fandom theory, the project lesson we also did some more post production, we also did more recording with my group and several outside persons that assisted us in making our footage for our music video.

Problem: unfinished branding poster

Solution: finish the branding poster

To do: finish the branding poster

-- Week 11 --

This week was all project lessons which was a life saver for gaining feedback and working on the final music video, our teacher gave us really good feedback and thank god we had something to show him to get feedback for as it was a really tough on for us to record.

Problem: unedited video with not yet implemented feedback

Solution: edit the video with the feedback

To do: edit the video with the feedback and export it

-- Week 12 --

This week was entirely consisted of project lessons which was vital in getting our blogs done before the deadline and to refine our music video even more with added teammate input. And considering this is the final week it is I think a very stressful time for everyone to complete their blogs before midnight.

Problem: unfinished blogs with no reflection

Solution: finish the whole music video blog and add reflection

To do: finish the music video blog with reflections before midnight

This project was surely a doozy because we had WAY less time to 1 record footage and 2 edit the video 3 get feedback and finally finish the blog, combined with the fact that shortly after this we had a long holiday which brainwashed all of us and made 0 progress after it ended. this truly is one of the media projects of all time.

My Team

 This is my Team for my music video

Final Documentary video and Thumbnail

  This is the final video and thumbnail

Video

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aU-i3o8TXUGLjQnmotvmHeNrg6tikqnH/view?usp=sharing

Thumbnail:

Creative Reflection

 This is my Critical Reflection by Alex 12B

CR (Critical Reflection)

CR 1	How do your products represent social groups or issues?
CR 2	How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of ‘branding’?
CR 3	How do your products engage with the audience?
CR 4	How did your research inform your products and the way they use or challenge conventions?

We had to make a crime documentary. We chose a school rivalry gone murderous, made for a predominantly teenage to young adult audience.

I made a sense of branding by making links with the documentary itself as we took heavy inspiration from the example crime documentaries Mr. gave us more specifically ‘What Jennifer Did’ the thumbnail was exactly what we wanted so we heavily based it off of the thumbnail as this also gave us peace of mind in not going out of our way to make a thumbnail from scratch. I also made a sense of branding by integrating the intense rivalry portrayed in the thumbnail (fig 3) and incorporating that in the video itself to correlate them together. This also coincides with the hermeneutic code of the antagonist which I portrayed as Rain and the antagonist which I portrayed as Hazel.  This smoothly integrates with the desensitization theory as the repeated portrayal of “nerds” being pushed to do acts of violence for recognition has been repeated over and over again and will probably lead to the viewer to not sympathies with the victim.

Previously we used heavy inspiration from ‘What Jennifer Did’ for our thumbnail design (fig 3). We also conformed with the documentary practice of having interviews because it's a great way of giving exposition and context to the viewer while also being in line with what a crime documentary is. I used intense music to amplify the feeling and the intensity of the situation which is a convention we abide by because it was easy and adds a lot of character while being light on effort. We deviated from the conventional practice within crime documentaries of showing crime scene photos. This is because of Livingstone and Lunt’s theory of Media regulation where media regulators need to balance protecting viewers and giving the viewer a choice for what they want to see. We subverted this because my team didn’t get any crime scene photos at all. We had ‘What Jennifer Did’ as our biggest inspiration for the thumbnail and video as we pulled a lot from that crime documentary with its interviews and editing style and the use of intense music to hook the viewer in.

Our thumbnail engages viewers by integrating the Netflix logo, (fig 3) signaling professionalism and high-quality media to attract interest in our crime documentary. The contrast between Rain (rich) and Hazel (nerd) is shown through their backgrounds Rain’s trophy-filled shelves emphasize recognition and talent, while Hazel’s empty space highlights his lack of acknowledgment. Rain’s slight smirk and Hazel’s flat affect hint at their rivalry, reinforced by Hazel’s red, shadowed showing animosity and bottled-up hatred. Both wear typical school clothing, subtly indicating the documentary’s setting. The chosen typeface conveys the prestige and pressure of the school environment. Overall, the thumbnail applies Reception Theory, requiring viewers to decode the imagery to determine the perpetrator and the victim.

The social groups I included were Indonesian students who are predominantly teenagers or young adults because our actors are nothing but and it would be difficult to find another age demographic who will act the majority of the time. So in that sense we’re forced into an inevitable unchangeable demographic. We also chose rich kids, nerds and teachers. We depicted the rich kid as popular and also smart (fig 1). This correlates with the representation theory with stereotypes. Which is a subversion of typical depictions of rich kids at school in other forms of media at school which would be inept. We also depict teachers as attentive towards their students as I depicted her having concerns for the nerd and the rich kid who would ultimately be the victim. I presented issues of over competitiveness and where that can lead people to as revealed in the documentary murder, this teaches the viewer that in life this whole situation of being valedictorian in the grand scheme of things wouldn’t matter as they are teenagers to young adults, and the nerd ruined his life over it The technical elements include hand held shots of Rain’s friends playing with him showing that he’s popular, while in contrast with Hazel long extreme long shots of the CCTV of him alone in a classroom working on his notes (fig 2) showing that he doesn’t work well with friends or that he has very little friends.

(fig 1)

(fig 1)

(fig 3)

Behind the scenes

 This is the behind the scenes blog made by Kimora

Documentary opening behind-the-scenes

Thumbnail

 This is the thumbnail for our crime documentary, it is made by Bams 12A

The software that I used would be paint.net as it includes simple features such as removing the background easily from images, being able to have a wide variety of fonts that can be used for our thumbnail and etc. 

RESEARCH THUMBNAIL 

Overall overview of most crime documentary within Netflix

The crime documentary thumbnails mostly stick to the conventions that crime genre has such as mugshot looking type and dark colors especially the red colors as it represents danger, crime, and violence. This would help us attract our target audience and what would be expected inside of the documentary. Based from the overall view on the image on Netflix's crime documentary search most of the thumbnails show the prepetrator's face or vintage and polaroid type pictures, this gives off a sense of tension and seriousness, so thus the audience would expect real and possible disturbing crimes. 

Here are two examples of the thumbnails that interests us:         

 

This is our start to our thumbnail...

More information is that when I started to use paint.net again and due to because that paint.net didn't have enough of the effects I had so the downside was that each time I had an idea to make the actors have more meaning towards them I had to switch back and forth to my editing software (Vegas Pro 18) to edit the photo and input back into paint.net. So this was technically the rough buildup of making the thumbnail.

Step 1

I masked out the paper overlay to match hazel's picture

Step 2

I delete the left part of hazel to fit rain into the other side of the picture to let it look like it is connected and it would fit our thumbnail like "Making a Murderer"

Step 3

I resized rain's image to fit into the thumbnail as previously it was too large and it wouldn't fit the thumbnail and make the thumbnail look stretched and compressed, which is not wanted in a thumbnail.

Step 4

I added vignette to the image to show that there is some sort of dark side on Hazel and give it that eerie feeling towards Hazel.

Step 5

I added the black and white filter on Hazel and gives off a gloomy mood towards him.

Step 6

I added the left side of Hazel again to be able to mask Rain onto the thumbnail and this is the result I got from doing so...

Result

I asked feedback from my team members and the teacher and due to the bad "ripped paper" overlay, I had to change the paper aswell as conform to other thumbnails such as the "What Jennifer Did" thumbnail from Netflix. The feedback that was given was that :

- The paper layer was too thick 

- It doesn't show the emotions of the two characters easily 

- The images were disproportionate

- The mouth and the clothing should match with each other so it looks like its connected

I took the feedback for the thumbnail and this is the final result...

THUMBNAIL :

The “ripped paper” effect down the middle suggests the different sides of people that could relate to the documentary as the audience would expect that the crime was caused by those two people. It also connotates that the left side which is Rain, the rich kid shows trophies and awards which is academic achievement, he is also seen using a light brown jacket this gives off that elegant vibe to him and the gold trophies behind implies that rich friend more. The right side which shows Hazel is in a deep red and shadowy filter this connotates violence, anger or possibly even obsession as Hazel was considered in the documentary to be fairly obsessed with getting valedictorian and studying. This contrasts heavily with the left side showing that it was bright and celebratory to imply that there was a cost or dark truth behind the success of becoming a valedictorian. We also decided to put the “N” (Netflix) logo to suggest this is a presented like a documentary so the audience would expect a serious and intense, story rather than something lighthearted. Thus, the viewers that would see the thumbnail would be led to feel curiosity, tension. Which hints that behind that polished image of a high achiever has a side of him that is evil.

TYPOGRAPHY :

For the typography, I used “British Green” font for the word VALEDICTORIAN on the thumbnail as it is often associated with formality and prestige which for the looks of Rain shows he comes from a wealthy family. This choice for the typeface reinforces the connotations for academic exellence and seriousness which fits the title of valedictorian. The title is also written in all caps, giving it that bold, commanding and powerful tone to the audience which could lead them to thinking like “ why is valedictorian that important to them both?”,  “what conflicts did it cause? “.  

The typography is also large which immediately draws the audience’s eye to the title before the details of the image, also the placement being a bit to the bottom left visually reinforces the conflict between the two people shown.

This is our crime documentary's thumbnail but inputted into the Netflix library to see how it would match with the other documentaries.