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

We were lucky enough to have two members in the group already a part of a metalcore band, so when it came to deciding what band and music genre we wanted to film, In Archives were an obvious choice. Zak and Kelly Pinchin have been part of In Archives since they were formed in 2010 and were looking for a music video to release alongside their new track ‘Step Down.’ When it came to researching music promos we used the internet with websites such as Youtube and facebook to look at band’s music promos and study the different conventions and elements featured.

The two cameras we used, both
had manual focus

We used two high quality cameras for the filming stages of our music promo, we preferred to use our own cameras rather than the schools own equipment which we felt would have lost the quality and crispness of the footage. We used a Canon 550D and a Canon 500D whilst filming the performance; having two cameras gave us the advantage of getting the same footage from different angles and when using them for handheld shots two members could be filming whilst the band performed. We also had double the memory as the footage was such high quality it took a lot of space on the memory cards so we had more space to save the footage.

Once filming was completed we uploaded the footage to Adobe Premier Pro, a state of the art editing software, to Zak Pinchin’s MacBook Pro. We wanted to use Premier Pro instead of iMovie as the footage we had needed a more powerful and advanced software to edit on as although iMovie is very useful, it is also quite basic with the effects, transitions and cutting of the clips. Editing was quite a tedious affair as the footage was of such high quality, Premier Pro often became quite slow and this took time with editing. However putting clips in and then cutting them was very easy and we were also able to colour correct a lot of the footage where the lighting had made the footage slightly brighter. 



A screenshot of Premier Pro, the editing software we used.



For the narrative we edited some clips on After Effects to alter the footage and make the narrative more exciting and different. When filming the narrative we recorded the actor looking into the mirror with his blindfold off and then we filmed him shouting into the mirror with the blindfold still on. When in After Effects we were able to put both clips on top of each other and cut around the edge of the mirror so we had the actor looking into the mirror whilst his reflection was shouting back out to him. This technique makes it look like the reflection of the actor has a mind of its own, which is reminiscent of the horror movie, ‘Mirrors’, which we took influence from for part of our narrative. The use of special affects in metalcore promos is not very conventional as normally they stick to band performance and a narrative that is filmed and edited together for a simple storyline. 

Here we have used the masking tool on After Effects to cut around the mirror which then
enabled us to put another clip on top, so we have the reflection having
a mind of its own whilst the actor is stood still

This is the final finished narrative which shows the actor looking

into the mirror whilst the reflection screams lyrics back to him

This is a screenshot from the horror movie 'Mirrors'

The reflection has a mind of its own which we took inspiration from this as we wanted our narrative

to be abstract and different and we felt that having the reflection

have a mind of its own fitted in with the metalcore genre perfectly

I personally learnt from my mistakes of last years AS thriller opening and made sure that when using the camera the footage we captured was well lit and of efficient standard. When doing handheld shots we put the cameras on tripods and then held on to them whilst filming. The footage was very smooth seeing as we were walking in between the band members whilst they were performing, as without a tripod attached, the footage becomes very shaky. We also changed the saturation on the camera settings to make the lighting moody and professional as originally the lighting was quite harsh on the lenses. Also when filming we made sure that we got enough footage to work with as in the previous year we didn’t have enough decent footage to edit together, overall making our final piece worse. I also made sure that when filming I filled the frame; we didn’t want any unnecessary background in the frame so when using the camera only the band member and his instrument was in the frame, highlighting his skill and importance. During the filming of the performance the capacity of the memory cards became a problem. The cameras we used captured extremely high quality footage and because of this, it took up a lot of space on the memory cards we used; this meant having to stop every twenty minutes or so to put the footage onto our laptops and then delete the footage off the memory cards to continue filming. We had rented the village hall for six hours to make sure we could get all the filming done but having to stop every now and then put us under pressure to complete it all. Although this was a slight inconvenience it was something we were prepared to work with to guarantee top quality footage. Another problem that we faced was the battery life of the two cameras; as filming isn’t the cameras usual setting, filming for long periods of time really ran down the battery quickly. We were able to get a lot of footage on both cameras and thankfully the batteries died on both cameras as we were finishing. Whilst filming the narrative we found that filming the scenes with the bookcase was difficult due to the size of it; it was very slim and we only had enough books to fill the top three shelves. Therefore when the actor searches through the bookshelf, we often got the wall space in the frame, showing how thin the book case was when really we wanted to make it seem larger and more intimidating than it really was. If we had access to more money we would have been able to rent or purchase more impressive props but we used what we had available to us and I believe we did a good job.

Using blogger was a very useful way of keeping our work in one place and organised; blogging is a very popular method of social networking but it is also useful for noting down ideas and work. Using this website has greatly helped us plan and produce our music video, documenting each idea and seeing it from start to finish. The internet has been an invaluable asset whilst producing our music promo as we were able to research different music videos to see how they made them and what was effective and what wasn’t.

For the design and creation of our two ancillary tasks; the digipack and magazine advert, we used Adobe In Design. This is a software system that is used to design magazines and brochures and we found this gave us a professional advantage when designing the two supporting products. The band’s logo was initially designed on this programme which was then put on the cover of the digipack. In Design enabled us to create the digipack to exact measurements and create a grid of six to design each foldout panel individually. We imported photos which where then put on the three inside panels; the opacity was turned down so they appeared faded whilst still continuing the theme of the wallpaper and dirt. We then incorporated the same wallpaper and dirt into our magazine advert whilst having the digipack cover the most prominent feature on the advert. We felt having the cover stand out the most with the In Archives logo meant that fans would instantly recognise the band and what was being released.